Neon Genesis Evangelion: The most influential anime of the 90's, and arguably of all time. This anime entirely changed the rules regarding what an animated series could convey and how it could convey it. Virtually every anime released after 1995 draws at least some inspiration from NGE, meaning that the anime industry itself would not be what it is today without the not-so-simple simple tale of a quiet boy named Shinji Ikari.
Don't get put off by the first episodes if you think they're weirdly paced or whatever, this show really relies on getting to know you before you start to really like it which is exactly what it is trying to do. This show is extremely smart and uses a number of visual and audio techniques to manipulate your emotions to what it wants to get across. I don't even like anime shows but this one is pretty great.
me after episode 1: wow! cool robot
me after episode 26: wow! cool emotional trauma
I really wanted to love this and I tried hard to enjoy this more than I did. I'm disappointed that I can't rate this higher; I see why its influential, it has top animation and sound design (I watched the new Netflix dub) but I was just bored with this and struggled to get the end of this. Glad I've seen it and happy to tick it off the old bucket list but that was a slog.
This is the single best piece of fiction I have ever experienced. It has fundamentally changed how I interact with those around me, how I view people, and how I view myself. Everyone needs to experience this at one point or another.
Watch 'End of Evangelion' after the 24th episode.
Has everything already been said about "Neon Genesis Evangelion"? Sure, but it's always good to remind how groundbreaking it was for its time and still is after 25 years. Netflix gave me the chance to finally re-watch it as an adult and connect with the material on an even deeper level.
The action and comedy bits didn't age too well, but that has never been the main focus of the series anyway. The classic anime tropes are there only to make you feel comfortable before Hideki Anno starts scraping off the facade and dig deeper and deeper into his characters' psyche and expose their complexity and ambiguity. It faces critical issues of Japanese society like depression, loneliness, suicide, sexual taboos, repressed emotions, fear of human contact, all without any kind of sugar-coating or whatsoever. It's a journey through personal demons as much as it is a (fucked-up) coming-to-age story, but it sometimes insists a bit too much upon silly sexual overtones that felt just like fanservice and end up being detrimental to the moments where sexuality is being used for a purpose.
The controversial ending, which totally gives up the pretense of being a straightforward robot anime to solely focus on the character introspection, is one of the most creative and innovative ways to deal with budget cuts and still deliver the important message, yet I still understand all the backlash it generated. I have a weak spot for dreamy films and psychological tragedies, but that felt like a too easy way out rather than a serious attempt to properly close story arcs and [unfold the various mysteries behind Adam, Eve, Lilith, the Angels, and the Human Instrumentality Project.
Overall, I got the impression that after taking their time for the first dozen of episodes, they ended up without budget halfway and rushed the rest, with compressed story arcs and lots of recycled or still footage. The development of Kaworu and Shinji's relationship is the thing that suffered the most from the cut. The little time they spent together hardly justifies the impact his death had on Shinji's psyche. A few more episodes or a more balanced distribution of events would have definitely helped.
The feature film "The End of Evangelion", which goes alongside the last two episodes of the series, luckily provides a more satisfying explanation of the events, accompanied by lots of fucked-up yet equally astonishing visuals, and of course some boobs and robot brawls for the nerds. It's a mandatory watch to the point that it should be considered as an integral part of series rather than a related work, and that should be avoided at all costs if you haven't watched the series first.
A good show but not the groundbreaking masterpiece people claim to be.
A Teen-Mecha-Drama that explore Depression, Social anxiety and Existentialism, it is full of imperfection but the Direction is exellent and the clear budget limitation are smartly used in a nice and poetic way, this is a show full of great moments, there is confiness, comedy, reflexion, tension, action and arthouse, even a still frame of one minute can become powerful and memorable.One of the best Anime of all times.
Just finished watching it (including director cut and end of evangelion). Well, it's good, i kind of get what they wanted to say/give. But damn if i hate Shinji (main character). For me it would be a 10/10, but it loses points:
1 point because you can put inside all the art and the concepts that you want, you can go wherever you want with the plot, i don't mind, as long as you don't leave holes. I don't want to spoiler here, but be aware that a good part of the things you will hear/see concerning the world of this anime will never be explained. So if you don't plan to make a deep analysis (probably on youtube already) just pass on every name, code, terminology that you don't understand. In the end most of the wierd names used to describe the technologies or whatever could be changed with banana/kiwi/avocado and nothing would change.
2 points are lost because the main character is just awful, painful, stupid little brat 100% of the time. There is a tiny window where i though: "wow, maybe we are going to see this character growing." But no, not even at the end of the end he could have a 1% of spine. God i think that he's one of the most awful main character EVER. And yeah child trauma, stressful situations (caused 99% of the time because he's basically useless and just cries all the time, then bad things happen and for what, a little of development? Are you crazy? Is obviously so he can cry again until the next opportunity of moving half a finger, but instead just cry some more, and repeat in cycle the same thing.
Sometimes you see his eyes changing in reaction to something bad, classic trigger before "i kick your ass" moment. NEVER. Crazy demonic eyes, let's get back to scream and cry mode.
For the record i am not complaining about the fact that he's not a super bad ass hero, i'm complaining because for every single reaction of this guy i was thinking "oh my god this guy" and hoping (i knew it was impossible, but i was desperate) that he would have died bad like at half of the serie. Unfortunately i have big problems if i can't "connect" at all with the main character and this is the case.
Anyway worth watching.
Absolutely incredible. Some of the best written characters in any piece of media ever (I consider Shinji to be THE best-written character I've ever seen, with Asuka close behind). The only downside is that it can feel repetitive between episodes 12-15 on your first watch, however in later viewings you can really appreciate them as they hide so many details which you would only see after finishing the story. There are so many themes and meanings that can be taken away from this show and it's improved my life in so many ways that you wouldn't think it possible for just a TV show. 9.2/10.
Started off great, ending was masochistic depressive bs (change my mind)
I really don't get the hype about this show...
if it were created in this generation of anime (with better animations) it still wouldn't be anything better than Mid tier... 6/10
This series feels like it slowly loses its mind over the course of its runtime, but there’s something worth admiring about a man putting his pure, raw emotions to the screen. It’s a very brave decision, but there’s far too many hurdles in the way of this series being at all approachable for it to be considered a high-quality story by me.
A story where the personal and the cosmic struggles end up being one and the same. Without hyperbole, the boldest and most ambitious show of all time (and imo, the greatest). But don't let others' opinions sway you, just watch it and decide for yourself.
Banger throughout the whole saga traumatic at many points but still iconic
Ignore any and all claims of 'satire' or 'incisive psychological analysis'. Much like his Western counterpart, David Lynch, Anno uses esoterica solely as a means of misleading uneducated viewers into believing that Evangelion bares any relation to historical world culture. If symbology is to be employed in an artwork, it must substantively relate to that which it signifies and it must also expand upon the signified content. It must dialogically - and more importantly, dialectically - relate to that which is signified. Anno's haphazard use of this kind of symbology instead amounts to a 'private' language which both feigns substance and reinforces the depressive-narcissism Anno seeks to aestheticise. As a result, Anno has created a flock of lonely young men who perceive art as a means of seeking comfort in their own misery. You would do far better to read The Bible or Civilisation and Its Discontents than devote any of your time to this.
It is certainly among the most socially destructive artworks of the past 30-40 years.
An emblematic piece of art that is as transcendent as it's gripping. The astuteness of the show is wonderfully complemented with good action, multi-dimensional characters, and a deep commitment to exploring the psyche of the human mind. Though I didn't enjoy the last two episodes as much as I wanted to, it's still an impressive piece of art.
Over hyped series with a terrible ending. RahXephon is a million times better than this.
The ending (which is pretty controversial) is exactly what makes this show a masterpiece. Without it you're left with a hollow nihilist work done to push anger and pain out in the world. It's the ending which makes it all work, which let's you know why art is fucking beautiful and why right now you're allowed to be ecstatic and not worry. Just go out there and living your little Anime Life.
This is a really strong Anime with an emphasis on character development that many other (even much more recent) Anime cannot fathom the depth. The show is very bluntly about child abuse, unrealistic pressures, fear of failure, and most importantly, suicidal thoughts and heavy depression. Many have said that the writer/director was heavily depressed while working on the series, and that the show stems from his experiences. You can truly feel the pain and the self-loathing through the repetition of phrases like 'I hate everything' and 'I hate myself.' You can't always hear when someone else is suffering, but this Anime makes their feelings heard.
The series is quite chaotic, but it was still an excellent work of art that really tried to put something special out there for the world to understand. It tried to convey some of the deepest of most complex human emotions, and that is an especially difficult task.
The psychological ending (ep 25-26) was filled with primarily dialogue and it was quite tough to get through, however, it did make a lot of sense for the characters and was important for the coming of age and self-realizations the characters needed to have. But it was just portrayed in such a low-budget way that made it hard to enjoy, even with the context of the 1990s graphics.
For those watching on Netflix, I would recommend watching the series (the episodes on Netflix are the Director's Cuts with extra important bits on the last 4 episodes). Then watch The End of Evangelion afterwards. Personally, I think of EoE as a sort of alternate ending, so be prepared for a very different style of ending than presented in the original series. But still a very important contrasting perspective that accents the series quite nicely.
Absolute dumpster fire and complete waste of potential.
It didn't appeal to me, it was boring to go through it all in the hope that it got better as it progressed but I felt that it started to decline half-way through. This show was awfully confusing, especially towards the end with the flashbacks attempting to flesh out the superficial characters, chief among them Shinji. Probably doesn't help that I didn't watch this 25 years ago, it was probably a pioneer back then... but yeah, no trip down memory-lane for me and so this show failed to capture any sort of lasting emotion.
That I think the first truly, really great episode is "Lilliputian Hitcher" (the 13th one) makes me feel like I was watching the series wrong a bit, since the reason is a change of pace from sidelining the three kids, expanding its world by having the adults dealing with a problem by themselves, and thus modulating the angst down a tad for once. I know about the series' background, including Anno's depression reflected into his characters and expressionistic animation. But when the first half's characterization and storytelling don't catch up yet with this self-expression, it often leads to a bluntness that overwhelms everything else. The second half is significantly better though, as the story gains more complexity and epic sweep to match its frenzied emotional style. And if the final two episodes don't fully satisfy, their unconventional, ultimately therapeutic expressionism are bracing enough to compensate as an end point.
The first half is fairly slow and makes it kinda hard to get into. The last two episodes are also optional because you can just watch kino EoE instead.
Edit: I'm not saying the last two eps are BAD but they are skippable imho and should be watched after EoE if you want to better understand why Anno actually received death threats over the original ending (EoE also helps you better understand the last two eps).
rewatches just get better and better ^^
there is literally nothing bad about this show
This truly is a must-see anime series, and is listed as such by many professional reviewers of the genre. The ending is complex and confusing - but its intended to be, as its supposed to make you think about the complexities of the human condition. If you're struggling with it; watch 'Death And Rebirth', and 'End Of Evangelion' for some plot guidance - or at least just feel satisfied by the giant robo carnage you witnessed. If you are still looking for greater insight, watch the originals with audio-commentaries enabled.
When you're done with the original series, be sure to check-out the new multi-movie revisionings: 'You Are (Not) Alone, You Can (Not) Advance, and the yet unreleased sequels to them. They are simply amazing eye-candy, and contain new/alternate elements to the original story-line.
Shout by batfosBlockedParent2018-11-03T11:14:57Z
Neon Genesis Evangelion is (not) “that anime”… (not) about robots/monsters/etc… (not) an entertainment… it’s more than that—it’s a work of art… Evangelion is about human… human relationship, life… truth.
Do (not) try to understand it… feel it.
Images, sounds (and music), time… sets the moods.
How to watch (the original) Evangelion: “Angel Attack” (1) – “Take care of yourself.” (26) ➝ “He was aware that he was still a child. (New Production Cut)” (21’) – “The Beginning and the End, or ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ (New Production Cut)” (24’) ➝ “Love is destructive.” (25’) + “I need you.” (26’) = The End of Evangelion ➝ “Do you love me?” (25) – “Take care of yourself.” (26) ➝ “Love is destructive.” (25’) + “I need you.” (26’) = The End of Evangelion.