Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

WARNING: This is going to be a very long review, as there's a lot of content to cover. Bear with me, please. Also, note that I watched the remastered version of the series, and the Revival of Evangelion (which contained only the Death segment of Death and Rebirth, combined with the End of Evangelion). Also, this review may contain some SPOILERS. Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion Manga, Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion has, at this point, three manga incarnations. The first, which shares the same title as the anime, was released to drum up interest for the anime TV series, though originally publishers thought thatit was too out-of-date to actually earn money. It was authored by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (famous for his character designs for the .hack series and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), and began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Shonen Ace in the February 1995 issue (actually released on December 26th, 1994), and is still running at this point in time. Viz has licensed it Stateside, and it stands at 10 volumes of the 11 currently published volumes, with a total of 12 volumes planned. The second, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days, is an alternate retelling of Evangelion, using the high school romantic comedy scenario shown briefly in Episode 25 and expanded upon in the video game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2. It was authored by Fumino Hayashi (who is also working on a Terra E spinoff called Aoki Kobo no Kiss for Square Enix), and was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Asuka from the November 2003 issue to the November 2005 issue. It has been licensed Stateside by ADV Manga, and ran in Newtype USA from the August 2005 issue to the January 2006 issue, and the sixth and final volume was released on August 31st of 2007. The newest incarnation, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku, focuses on Shinji's attending NERV Academy, and being roped into helping the Samash Guardians (Rei, Kaoru, and Asuka) find and protect Cores, which are gems that, if they fall into the hands of Angels (which are only consciousnesses, not actual physical beings) will end up in humanity's destruction. It's authored by Min Min, and began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Asuka in the October 2007 issue, and is still ongoing. It also has yet to be licensed Stateside.

At this point in time, Neon Genesis Evangelion has four anime incarnations, three of which are movies and will be covered later in this review. Neon Genesis Evangelion's original anime incarnation was a twenty-six episode series that ran on Japanese TV from October 4th, 1995 to March 27th, 1996. It was produced by Gainax (famous for their work on His and Her Circumstances and FLCL), and directed by Hideaki Anno (famous for his work on the original Gunbuster OVA and His and Her Circumstances). It has been licensed Stateside by ADV films, and the latest remastered box set was released on November 22nd, 2005.

Story: After not seeing or hearing from his father for several years, Shinji Ikari is summoned to Tokyo-3, Japan's new capital after the original capital was nuked in the chaos after the Second Impact, which was caused by a meteorite slamming into Antartica, killing off about half of the world's population, submerging a good deal of the continents, and tilting the Earth's axis, which caused major climate change. He is then ordered by his father to reluctantly pilot a robot known as the Evangelion Unit 01 in order to defeat a strange invaders known as Angels.

So, yeah. Sounds fairly generic, right? And for about the first half of the show, Evangelion is not really anything new in the post-apocalyptic mecha genre. Episodes are, for the most part, either Shinji angsting about piloting the Eva or a monster of the week episode, and you can start to predict what's going to happen after a few rinse and repeats. The characters that are introduced are all fairly messed up, and you might form attachments to them, but it's not enough to really keep you interested. I was seriously considering dropping it at about the halfway point.

And then the second half of the show hit, and it hit hard.

The second half starts to focus more on the psychological aspects of the characters, and the truth behind NERV and its goals. You knew before that these characters were messed up, but now you get to find out just how messed up they are. And the unfolding mysteries behind NERV and the Evas are nothing short of amazing. It also gets a lot more violent and sexual.

The reason that this change happened was partially because it was already in mind, but had to do a lot with what was going on behind the scenes. At this point in time, Anno was suffering from severe depression, and you can see it reflected in the show and its characters. Also, right around this time, funding for the show was starting to run out, and they were failing to meet deadlines.

And, then, of course, there's the infamous Episodes 25 and 26.

Oddly enough, the original ending, while it didn't address any of the issues and mysteries that had built up over the last half of the show, was actually kind of satisfying to me. It shows the actual process of Instrumentality, even though it doesn't really explain what it is, and it ends up being a kind of cracked-out therapy session for the major characters of the show as they take part in Instrumentality.

Also, know going into this that there's a lot of psychology and philosophy and religious symbolism in here, that, if you know it, will definitely help with your understanding of the show. On the other hand, if you don't, be sure to keep Google up, or see if you can find a version of the show with the equivalent of footnotes.

Overall, the story's a bit dense, a bit generic for the first half or so, and doesn't really resolve its issues, but, once it gets to the second half, it kicks into high gear and doesn't look back.

WARNING: As you get into the second half of the show, there's a lot of graphic violence and gore, and offscreen sexual happenings. Be aware of this going in.

Art: Compared to other shows that were airing roughly around this time (Fushigi Yuugi and Sailor Moon SuperS and StarS), the animation, for most of the show, is pretty good. The designs for the Evas and Angels are amazingly varied and just amazing to look at in general, as are the character designs and the way the battles are done.

There's a fairly obvious dip in quality towards the end of the show, but, again, that has to do with the fact that they were unable to meet deadlines and were running out of funding for the project in general. Though I have to admit that they did come up with fairly creative ways to work around the lack of budget, even if some of them could probably cause seizures.

Music: The music for Evangelion is done by Shiro Sagisu and is one of those soundtracks that sticks in your head and one that you actively notice throughout the show, like I did with Gankutsuou, Bokurano, and Code Geass. I'd say some of these themes are probably some of the most recognizable from any anime. And there are some classical themes that end up being used for background music in some of the more EPIC moments of the show, which only helps the moment.

The OP, "Cruel Angel's Thesis", is amazingly catchy. And the ED, a cover of "Fly Me To The Moon", has several different variations that are used, depending on which episode it is.

All in all, awesome music.

Seiyuu: There are some fairly well-known seiyuu in here. Misato's seiyuu, Kotono Mitsuishi (aka the voice of Sailor Moon and Juri Arisugawa in Revolutionary Girl Utena), Shinji's seiyuu, Megumi Ogata (aka the voice of Sailor Uranus), Rei's seiyuu, Megumi Hayashibara (aka the voice of Atsuko Chiba and the title character in Paprika and Lina Inverse in the Slayers series), and Aoba's seiyuu, Takehito Koyasu (aka the voice of Touga in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Hotohori in Fushigi Yuugi) all do excellent jobs for thier characters, and it's nice to see them in this production.

Length: Overall, pretty good. It doesn't feel like it drags in any places, though, realistically, they could've cut out some of the filler at the beginning. They didn't really address all of the mysteries of the show, but, then again, that's what the three movies are for. Still, twenty-six episodes is pretty solid.

Overall: An excellently scored and seiyuued show that starts out generic, but, with budget cuts, deadline issues, and the depression of the director in the second half, takes the story into new, violent, symbolic places, even if the quality of the art goes down a bit and the ending doesn't quite resolve things.

All in all? A fairly solid series.

Story: 8/10
Art: 7/10
Music: 9/10
Seiyuu: 9/10
Length: 8/10

Overall: 41/50; 82% (B)