Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

I feel like a score of 10 on an iconic anime like this looks fake, but I assure you it had to work to get it. After all, I had many more negative assumptions about this anime going into it based on the limited number of things I’ve seen about it. First and foremost, I thought it was going to be boring and confusing. I heard about all of the religious symbolism in it and I thought the whole anime would be waxing messages at me and/or speaking in riddles. Basically, I thought it was only praised BECAUSE of the symbolism instead of being enjoyableto the layman, an experience like most books you read in English class. Second, I thought Shinji was going to be an unbearably depressing antagonist, whining constantly due to the “Get in the mech” memes making him seem stubborn and things like the chair meme making him seem depressed (basically, I thought he would be Depressed Simon in Gurren Lagann). Third, I didn’t think it would look good because, hey, it’s an old anime. Thankfully, I was wrong about all of these.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is just plain enjoyable to watch. Obviously there are mech battles, but they aren’t slugfests and are more involved. Enemy encounters feature tense moments like the planning stages and thinking on their feet when something goes wrong, be it dealing with the enemies’ abilities, compensating for mech pilot shortcomings, or other issues. Furthermore, there’s a lot of technical jargon being said by the engineers, which I found cool to listen to. I also found the politics held a proper place in the narrative. Basically, I found that a lot of Evangelion is interesting and easy to get invested in, to say nothing of some of the things that happen later on.

Then on top of that are plenty of fun, casual moments to give you some brevity. Alongside all the heavy discussions the characters have, it fleshes everyone out and makes them compelling. Shinji is far from monotone, and the reactions to the trials he goes through are definitely reasonable. Rei was a bit too quiet for my tastes, but at least it makes sense as the mysteries around her unfold. I can see people finding Asuka annoying, but I felt she definitely helped bring life to the cast. Otherwise, I really liked how the higher-ups were also given as much screentime and development as the pilots. I see people say the characters are too angsty, but I think the situations they find themselves in make their distress fair and, as mentioned, they aren't ALWAYS like that.

As for the presentation, I was very pleasantly surprised. The “old anime” style doesn’t appeal to me at all, so Evangelion not even looking that old and wonky is icing on the cake. The soundtrack also helped set the various moods, and the songs were recognizable (especially when the bongos or heavy drums started up). The Japanese VAs did an amazing job emoting. Evangelion gets the little things right, which goes a long way in keeping it compelling.

As for the theming and religious undertones and stuff, they aren’t intrusive at all. The first part of the anime felt right at home with me. Things like crosses and Bible references are pretty obvious, but didn’t feel suffocating (besides maybe a lot of religiously themed names for projects and things being rattled off at once). The ending episodes start to get a little confusing, but I’m as dumb as they get and could piece enough of it together on my own eventually, so you should be fine. And man, that ending hit me hard. I guess you could complain about some of the awkward moments, but I think they handled most of them well because you know they’re supposed to be awkward.

So overall, I think Evangelion has earned its praise in spades. You can tell it was written to keep the watcher invested without using any cheap tricks to achieve it, and the presentation only makes it better. And this is all written before I’ve even looked into analyses and stuff. At worst, there are lines and animations that repeat to drive a point home that get too repetitive, but I can’t think of anything bad enough to shake it out of a 10/10 experience.