Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

There comes a time in everyones life when they have to deal with the errors they made in the past, but more oft than not, people choose not to. I however, have a tendency to go into fits of introspection and retrospection, which makes that time pretty easy to deal with. This is of course what brings me to doing this review. And surprisingly, the fact that it is not present can be what turns a person away from the series. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a pretty popular series among anime fanboys, not so much now as it was in the nineties but the point stillremains. Because of its popularity, it has two very dominant viewpoints; those who adore it, and those who find it atrocious, that is not to say there is no middle ground, but that's not the point of this review. What I will now do is examine one of the series I formally consider one of my top anime. So without further ado, let's begin.

Story:
Amongst the two prominent views of NGE, you'll find that the fans love it because it's supposedly deep, and that the haters hate it because it's incredibly not. The truth of the matter is that both parties are wrong, and fail to realize that there is middle ground, for fans, I'll elaborate later but for haters, I'll elaborate now. While NGE isn't the type of story that has you on the edge of your seat, worrying about the welfare of the characters, there are particularly enjoyable moments that can leave you with a smile. When it's not wrought with angst, NGE is an amusing show that can leave you satisfied on a few occasions. The problem however, is that there is a story there but because of bad characterization, it can go unnoticed. This is what makes the haters wrong in say that it's not deep, NGE is in fact layered, but unfortunately, it forces you to go through several feet of concrete before you find the layers.

Art:
Considering what I know about this series, I have to say that the art is pretty good for its time. Again, like the story, it won't take your breath away but in all twenty-six episodes it doesn't manage to break. NGE can't be compared to the work of Shinkai Makoto or Hayao Miyazaki in scenery porn, but it doesn't do bad for what it has.

Sound:
Considering the solemn and grave mood of the series, and the particularly angst ridden characters the sound track is actually very likable. I can't exactly explain why Fly me to the moon, of Frank Sonatra fame is used as the ending theme, but it should be a testament to the quality of the music. One episode even show classes this with a choreographed fight, synced with classical ballad. It's not Yoko Kanno in the slightest, but the sound track is far from awful

Character:
As I mentioned in the story part of this review, fans and haters have opposing opinions that don't have any middle ground. While haters are wrong to say that the story lacks any depth, fans are just as at fault to say that the characters are anymore than what they are. To be fair, the reason I initially liked this series is because of the look into Shinji's mind but what subtracts from a rather interesting concept, in a field where most anime characters are one dimensional (more so now than then) is the fact that there's no character development. It is clear from the beginning that Shinji has problems but he is never seen coming to terms with them. Some may say that the original ending was actually meant to do that, but that's arguable, and even if they are right there are still other characters in the show. While diving into Shinji's psyche is an intriguing concept, it doesn't do us any good when he, like others, is one dimensional. The earlier parts of the show actually tried to resolve this with him becoming less angsty and more arrogant through constant victories, but he still suffers his overwhelming emo appearance, that is unfounded considering his connections with at least Misato, who provides a rather stable home. Shinji, as well as the other pilots Rei and Asuka, are the embodiments of the archetypes that were used to construct them, and because of that, they never manage to escape their clutches. This is to say nothing of the other characters.

Enjoyment:
Despite my view on the characters, I originally watched this at a time when I was less critical, and to be fair, you have to be like this if you want to enjoy it. While you don't have to throw away your brain like you do when watching senseless dribble that can be called Moe, you will have to turn it down some in order to over look the characterization. Because this was made at a bad time in GAINAX's life, it's done badly and it doesn't help that director Hideaki Anno was going through psychological problems of his own. When going into this anime note that, and you'll be able to milk a bit of enjoyability from it, if you don't get out right annoyed by the characters first.

Overall:
To say this series is without problems would be to cast delusion onto yourself, but to say it is the epitome of crap would be to ignore what exists in today's anime community. If anything makes Evangelion bad, it is that its two lesser concepts take away from each other. The angels are apart of the plot, but they aren't nearly as important as the characters themselves and because the characters don't seem to grow, it's easy to go through this series and find no merit.

While I've seen my share of anime that are significantly better than this, I've seen an equal share that is completely worse and for that reason my final judgement is that this series gets a 6 out of 10.