Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

There two major flaws to Neon Genesis Evangelion - sometimes messy, confusing story, and quite a bothersome ending. Such imperfections would be critical to any other anime/movie/book/(insert your media). But Evangelion is truly a special snowflake. It compensates its flaws with outstanding achievemnts in animation and sound. This, to me, outweighs its story problems big time. The angles and pacing of scenes, as well as lighting and overall visual flow should be compared to the levels of cinematography by Fellini or Kubrick. The cries of Evangelion units, and the sound of tight rubber straining in the middle of the fight - is otherworldly and plain simply cool-sounding.The music is memorable, shifting through different moods of the show rather gracefully. The voice acting (I watched in Japanese) was also at a high level. All the main characters are easily recognizable by their voices that suit them perfectly.
Character writing is also great. All of them act and feel like human beings who are unclear of their future. The main character, Shinji, clearly evolves through the show - just not in a way you expect him to. To me, it's still a positive growth for a very faulty human being, but some other viewers saw it as a disappointment.
There are also beautiful romantic side-stories to Evangelion that are often overlooked. They also make Evangelion very moviesque - again, a very unique quality for a TV show.
"The depression" part of Evangelion starts rather late in the show. The first 18 episodes are full of intelligent action and humor.
There is a serious tone of realism to Evangelion - but it's still an anime. The story has its plot holes, which you may not see in your first watch. If you want to completely understand everything - you won't be able to. The "lore" of this anime is very, very messy. But it's still thrilling and quite original.
If you enjoy beautiful cinematography, unusual post-apocaliptic landscapes, fast-paced mecha action with screaming - this is a must-watch.
And it is also a hugely influential, landmark anime, so go watch it anyway.