Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

I'm quite late to the party on this one but I just finished Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time and if you are someone like me who never watched the anime during its run then I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how well this anime holds up. NGE has a lot of charm, the characters are distinct and memorable with nice character designs and solid voice acting (Netflix dub). There are plenty of enjoyable action sequences and the writing is quite humorous at times. The show is also pretty well paced (for the most part) and regularly introduces new ideas/concepts that keepyou invested in what is happening.

Although I quite enjoyed this show, there are definitely some problems that hold it back from being 'amazing' for me. The episodes quickly become formulaic which can be quite off-putting if you plan on binging the series as it falls into a set routine, the visuals are mostly good but the animation quality dips at times, the plot is often nonsensical, the last 3 episodes are an incoherent mess that come across as not only rushed but pretentious . Characters go from being interesting and likeable in the beginning to whiny nutcases walloping in self pity at the very end. There are also a few instances where the show will have a 'pause' moment where characters stare at each other that I guess is supposed to be 'deep' but the pauses go on for way too long and end up feeling awkward as a result.

All in all, I quite enjoyed this anime for its characters and fight scenes but it loses its charm by the end and leaves you scratching your head due to poor writing and lack of context. I plan on watching The End of Evangelion next and hopefully that will fix the mistakes that they made with the ending.