Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

"Endeth mine life, f'r I hast committ'd the sineth of watching Neon Genesis Evangelion." - karlstein12 2k15. You ought to be living under a stone all this time if you are reading this review in order to understand or what is Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's a show every anime fan knows of. Although I've known this show for quite a while I needed the help of the Internet and some dank ironic meme pages to go an actually give it a shot. NGE starts off like almost any other typical Mecha anime you see these days but soon transcends all the barriers any anime at thetime had the audacity to. We get into the show with a 14-year old teenager named Shinji Ikari, who is called over to a mysterious organization "NERV" who is fighting beings known as the "Angels" who are trying to invade the city of Tokyo.

While the storyline doesn't seem to be legendary in any way, it's the characters that are one of the strongest points of success for Neon Genesis Evangelion. Below is the list of four of the main characters in the show.

Rei Ayanami: The first child to pilot the Eva Unit 00, Rei seems to be a cold and a character with little emotions and doesn't get along with people at first. She is seen for the first time in the starting episode of Evangelion as she is rescued by Shinji following a shake when an Angel attacks.

Shinji Ikari: The main protagonist of the show, Shinji is a 14-year old kid who is summoned to pilot Eva Unit 01 and is the third child to do so. Throughout the entire show, Shinji is depicted as a very isolated person who fears being alone and who believes he has no sense of self-worth whatsoever. If I do say so myself, Shinji is one of the most relatable characters in the entire anime history.

Misato Katsuragi: FANSERVICE. The one thing Misato's character is for for almost the entire show. Although quite cheerful and enigmatic, Misato's backstory is quite similar to that of Shinji's. As a young kid, she was saved from her Father from the Angels, and whom she hated for not spending and caring for his family. She then joins NERV in order to take her revenge and defeat the Angels for good. Oh and she's also the guardian of Shinji while they both work for NERV.

Asuka Langley Soryu: Asuka is mostly like Misato, enigmatic, cheerful and quite arrogant. She's the second child and the pilot of the Eva Unit 02. Asuka is the exact opposite of Shinji. Confident in herself and the things she does, but also gets along quite well with Shinji. Both have a pretty good relationship in the series before Asuka moves into a depressive state because of losing the lead spot to Shinji as Eva's pilot.

Asuka's childhood is pretty dark, where she lost her mother at a very young age and since has taken an oath to herself as to never cry and depend on others. She's the type of character either you love the most or hate to the core. Much like the anime itself.

Considering Neon Genesis Evangelion came out in 1994, the art is pretty nice and packs a punch. Although at times it gets really underwhelming, a good example is the last two episodes of the show. Other than that, the art done by Gainax is fine and watchable to say the least.

"A Cruel Angel's Thesis" is a true classic and stands out throughout the show. You'll never get tired of hearing it and it's still one of the greatest opening theme songs ever made to date. The soundtrack of Neon Genesis Evangelion is really good. The battle themes, slow paced scenes and almost in any other part of the show it's well done. The ending, "Fly Me To The Moon" is a classic ending as well. It has multiple versions, even for the characters like Asuka and Rei, which perfectly suits the personality of the characters and also that certain episode.

All in all, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a classic and a joy to watch. Although a deconstruction of the Mecha genre, which is the first of its kind and not suitable for everyone, this still stands out as one of the most influential anime's to this day.
As of now writing this review, I'd like to mention that I have yet to watch The End of Evangelion, which is the true conclusion of the controversial episodes 25 and 26, the show still did enough for me. Even if I don't watch EoE(Which I will of course) the ending was satisfying although it did not completely tell some of the plotholes left in the series such as "What is the Dead Sea scrolls?", "What are the Angels actually?", "What's the human instrumentality project?".

And since I'm a good guy I'd like to give the people who have yet to watch the series a piece of advice: Go into watching Neon Genesis Evangelion in a positive way and don't overhype it. If you do that you might actually enjoy the series for what it is.