Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

I'd like to start off by stating that I'm well aware of how beloved and critically acclaimed this anime is. And, after watching it, I 100% understand why. That being said, it is crystal clear to me that it's very much a hit or miss kind of show in which those who view it favorably really, really love it and those on the other side find it lackluster and overrated. I fall into the latter camp. Granted, as a person I'm probably very far off from the target audience of this show. This should, and does, appeal greatly to those fascinated by philosophy, fascinated by Christianityand those who are insecure, struggling with self-doubt or generally don't feel very sure of themselves or good about themselves. None of those categories are applicable to me so the show simply didn't resonate with me the way it does with so many others.

I found several of the characters really unlikable and obnoxious. Shinji is frustrating levels of whiny and annoying, Asuka is just a constant bitch and Rei has, more or less, zero personality. In each of these individual cases there are plot-related reasons for why these characters are the way they are, and that's fine and well, but that doesn't make me enjoy them as characters.

As mentioned, all the philosophical and Christianity stuff is not my cup of tea so those sections, which are frequent and heavy-handed and not the least bit subtle, were uninteresting to me and didn't keep my attention. If you take those away, which you cannot because the show is heavily based around them, you're not left with a whole heck of a lot- just a mediocre mech show.

There's also smaller things such as the graphics not aging well and the voice acting leaving something to be desired but ultimately, even if both of those aspects were perfectly on point, it wouldn't change my overall opinion of the show as the core concept simply didn't resonate with me.

If you enjoyed Serial Experiments Lain, Ergo Proxy and that kind of anime this will be right up your alley. I see many similarities between those and this. I didn't care for either of those shows nor this one so for me, while I can respect and appreciate things that are not for me, this is, nevertheless, not for me.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 8-8.5
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6