Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion is undoubtedly one of the biggest anime's of all time, famous for its psychological plot and creating/bringing light to the beginnings of the "tsundere." That being said, this show could have been executed so much better and is a waste of such good potential. I don't write reviews about shows I don't enjoy, but everyone always gets upset with me whenever I say I didn't like Evangelion, so I came to explain myself I'll be reviewing each part of the series ( NOT INCLUDING THE MOVIE ), and as always skip to the end for the overall/conclusive review. Thanks for reading :) --- Art and Sound: 9/10
I'll start with the easiest to review out of all, the actual animation/art and sound. I absolutely loved the art style of the show, the Evas were animated and designed well and the landscape shots throughout the show made me want to continue watching. The character styles were well made and Evangelion was a great show to watch, just for the visuals
As for the sound, I would say it was great overall. The voice acting matched the characters and the OP is one of the best OPs of all time. My motivation for watching another episode was so I could enjoy the OP again, it was that good.
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Story and Plot : 6.5/10
This is where Evangelion began losing my interest. At the beginning of the show I was genuinely interested in the Angels and Evas, the characters, NERV and the people working in it etc. etc. etc.
The main problem I have with the series is that the first half of it is beyond repetitive. We all know what happens; the problem comes up, Shinji and co. try to stop the Angel, doesn't work, people at NERV gotta figure out a solution, Shinji and co. try to stop the Angel pt. 2, and it works! yay! teamwork!
Another problem I had with the plot is the fact that so many things are thrown at you without any warning.
What I mean by this is the countless organizations, terms, and events that are mentioned throughout the show, and they're obviously important to the plot, but the viewer never really receives an in-depth explanation of them, and I was genuinely confused.
Listen I spent over an hour trying to figure out what the hell was the first and second impact, who even was Adam and Lilith and why the Angels were attacking in the first place. Don't ask me what the "Human Instrumentality Project" is, because to this day I don't even know.
And instead of giving the answers to these questions, the show throws in this half-developed psychological aspect in order the "deepen the plot and characters." Now, this is where I thought the plot would be redeemed, but boy was I wrong.
Listen, a lot of my favorite shows are focused around mental illness and asking existential questions, like what does it mean to be happy and who deserves happiness, but both of these topics were handled horribly in Evangelion.
As a viewer, I was confused by the original, mecha, plot-line but it upset me how in this confusion I wasn't given answers, but rather Shinji and Rei moping around. It was beyond annoying, and with that, I'll move onto characters.
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Characters : 5/10
I feel bad saying this, but all of the characters in this show were devastatingly empty, and it hurt to see characters with such good potential fail to meet my *low* expectations. I'll keep this one short because it genuinely gives me a headache thinking about these characters.
- Shinji -
Depressed, daddy-issues, identity crisis. That's Shinji right there for you. I just described almost every American teen ever, so maybe that's why people enjoy his character because it's realistic. But for me his lack of personality and motivation was such a turn-off, I didn't find myself rooting for him to win, and I didn't care if he lost. At the beginning of the series, I felt bad and resonated with his struggles to find happiness and human connection, but his lack of character development made me lose whatever ounce of care I had for him.
- Rei -
..... I literally couldn't tell you anything about Rei. She supposedly represents the "broken" character, which I understand, but she does, says, feels, nothing at all. I will say it was nice to see her evolve from a robot to someone who began to care for Shinji, but I would've loved to see her past, not even as a happy person, but at least someone with a sort of motivation or idea of self-worth.
- Asuka -
Asuka was the only character I felt something for. Now her personality doesn't go far from just reiterating whatever Shinji says with a bit of *sass*, but her back story didn't make me completely hate her as a character. That being said I disliked her attitude in general, but that's more of personal preference. I won't go as far to say that she was a good character oh no no no, but I will say there was at least some weight to her
As for the other characters, specifically Gendo and Misato, I would've loved to see more of them and their personalities. Gendo's personality shouldn't just revolve around his relationship with his son, and I wish we saw a development between him and the other characters, including Shinji.
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Overall :
At the start of this show, I enjoyed the visuals and plot of Evangelion, and although I was confused about certain aspects of the plot and didn't feel a connection with the characters, I continued watching for the development and answers to my questions. That's where Evangelion fails as an anime, the list of never-ending questions were never resolved and the characters continued to have no personality or development.
A third into the series I wanted to drop it, but I stuck it out since the ending had so much hype around it. I thought to myself, the ending will make the show as amazing as everyone says it is. I hate to say, that the end was one of the most over-hyped and underwhelming things I have ever watched.
I did NOT sign up to watch these characters have a group therapy session, I didn't CARE if they were depressed, I didn't CARE if they "came to terms" with their past. And the reason why I didn't care is that I lacked any sort of connection with these characters.
Maybe its because I'm emotionally insensitive, but its nothing new for someone to want to be happy. Everyone wants to be happy at the end of the day, and everyone struggles with finding that happiness. Shinji realizing this at the end of the series was so underwhelming to me, and if this is what made Evangelion so popular, you all must be impressed very easily.
Evangelion's ends with the concept of finding your identity and what it means to become happy, but this is a concept that is seen in so many other shows and executed to much better. I understand there's a movie that provides another / deeper ending, but I honestly can't find it in my heart to watch it after spending so much time trying to teach myself the plot and having such high hopes for the ending.
To end if you are looking for something physiological, I recommend "Perfect Blue" that in my opinion deals with mental illness and identity a lot better than Evangelion did.
I didn't write this review to come for your favorite show or waifu ( I'm talking to all the Asuka stans rn ) but I'm genuinely sad to see such a hyped show not live up to the hype at all. And if you did manage to enjoy this show, good for you! Maybe it's a difference in experience or preference, but hopefully, I'll bring myself to watch it again to see if I was truly missing something in the show.