Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

My first review ever, I just felt compelled to write one. NGE is a disaster, atleast the series, the movies are pretty nice but the series in and of itself is simply bad. Just an advice, if you aren't mentally depressed or dealing with anxiety/stress etc. you will more than likely not enjoy NGE at all, at its core its not a giant mecha anime but an anime about depressed kids. Oh and even though it may have good animation for its time, the year is 2020 and it's barely watchable today. I will keep it spoiler free, basically the story is centered around Shinji Ikari, a14 yr old boy who is compatible for operating giant mechs to save the planet from angel attacks. For the sake of understanding the gloomy atmosphere of the anime, consider everything from the POV of Shinji, this makes a lot of sense as the characters you see go from being unbearably horrible to somewhat understandable.

Story: 5/10 - It's a pretty decent story, beings called Angels attack humans for reasons unknown and a military organisation uses their own technology to battle against them. The odd elements that it brings is somewhat interesting but that's it, there's no backbone to the story. You might even say the entire anime is like a biography of Shinji Ikari. No concept is explained, cool odd terms are tossed around to make the story sound like it's complex but it's hollow, those terms dont mean anything usually and even if they do they are never explained in the show.

Art: 6/10: The artstyle is pretty good, even though it's 20+ yrs old , the 1080p prints are amazing. It did appear to be a pre-2010 anime but it probably did it the best. Just that there are some points where it's pretty repetetive (literally) and that kinda ruins the overall experience.

Sound: 8/10: Probably the best aspect of the show, the sound effects and soundtracks were very well selected and I enjoyed them.

Character: 3/10: I gave it 1/10 but had to give a few more points since the main character is depressed so it kinda makes sense to see everyone else down as well. But damn where do i even begin, let's start from Shinji himself, he was very well explained and it clearly appears all the budget went into personifying him but even so you can only take a whiny depressed child so much after which you just want to skip the whining and complaining.

I didn't hate any character, they were well in line with the stuff that was told about them, a 14 yr old depressed child is indeed very annoying and they did a damn fine job of making that clear. Shinji did become better with episodes and he is suddenly the reliable main hero he should have been but cheesus they introduced Asuka, the most annoying character I have ever seen in any anime in my 5 yrs of watching animes. Shes always angry, hates everything and everyone, gives completely oblivious hints to mc while being a complete mess . Every scene you see her you'd want to punch her and never see her but since she's a kid in puberty it makes sense so the least you would feel comfortable with is just not seeing her in any frame at all. Every other character has some dark/tragic past associated with them but they are bearable.

Enjoyment: 4/10 : I purely enjoyed the show because I love mechas and enjoyed the military aspects of it.

Overall: 6/10: The show is watchable, it's not completely bad but probably not my cup of tea. The year is 2020 and the animation just doesnt fit my alley, the nauseating scenes make my head hurt and I am someone who love gore (like in Dorohedoro or Dororo) . The only reason why the show is still relevant is because at one point of time mechas were not a common trope in anime and depression wasn't a much acknowledged condition.