Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Disclaimer: As of writing this review I have not watched any of the movies or additional material. I've just watched a few analysis videos and the show itself. I will amend/adjust this review in the future should I watch the movie and think it deserves modification. Neon Genesis Evangelion (Eva) is a show that I wouldn't recommend. Some people praise it as a timeless classic but in my opinion it simply is not worth the praise and is to date the worst anime I have watched (aside from Alfheim, that shit is atrocious). The Plot: The plot of Evangelion is strange. On one hand I think it hadreally cool potential and whilst watching it I found myself genuinely intrigued about what the Eva's were and what the Angels were and how the story would play out. Were they human? Were they monsters? Who was right? Where's the twist? Spoiler. There is no twist and almost none of those questions get answered, at least not to a sufficient degree. During the middle portion of the show it adopts a "every week there's a new enemy" approach which got old after about 3 episodes. Then the story develops back to being interesting with more information about the Eva's being gradually released and the incredible scene of Shinji's Eva being pulled from his control. Its a shame that the show just destroys all of that in the final episodes which are a monotonous mess that end in such an unsatisfying way I stood up from my seat and just said "what?". Maybe I'm just an idiot that doesn't understand the "greatness of Evangelion" but whilst that is a possibility I'm far more inclined to believe that the show just has a terrible ending which is a shame considering the show actually has an interesting plot which had a lot of potential.

Characters:

When Eva is mentioned everyone instantly talks about the characters and how great they are but in my opinion I don't see the appeal which is very bad when the ending of the show depends on your attachment to the characters. Shinji is a boring protagonist with daddy issues and social anxiety. Now whilst I agree that Shinji is a well created portrayal of social anxiety and how it affects people's daily lives my issue with the show is that I just don't care. The show never made me feel any attachment towards this character and therefore I simply do not care about his development because, well, I don't care about him. He's just not enjoyable to watch. And when you think that his character is finally going to get development at the end of the show (which he does) it ends before you can even see the developed character in action leaving an empty sensation of just wasted time. As for the other characters like Rei and Asuka I personally did not care for them either. Asuka was a massive prick and Rei was such a blank slate that she may as well not have been present in the show. That being said I don't actually mind the premise of Eva's characters, I just hate the way it deals with them, offering little to no interesting development throughout the course of the story. The only characters I actually enjoyed were Ikari, Misato, Shinji's two friends and Misato's boyfriend that I'm 90% sure eats a fat bullet by the end of the show.

I feel that Evangelion creates characters that people are supposed to relate with and therefore become attached to and I can see that side of the argument. I can understand why some people like Shinji because maybe they are a little Shinji on the inside and feel like he's an accurate portrayal of inner emotions they were never able to express. The issue here is that I related with none of the characters and therefore hated them. Its just a shame that the shows awesome potential is wasted as the entire finale depends on your enjoyment of the characters rather than an overarching plot. Maybe this issue is resolved in the movie but as of now I have little to no intention of watching it.

Sound and Animation:

I like the animation and I like the sound. There's not much to say here. Eva actually has a good soundtrack. Its not Attack on Titan or Death Note level good but its still enjoyable. A Cruel Angels Thesis may be one of the most overrated openings of all time but that does not change the fact that it is amazing and I never skipped it once. The animation is also done well despite the older art style. Overall I have very few issues with this portion of the show.

Enjoyment:

I disliked the show on almost every level but can see why people enjoy it to some extent. I guess I'm just a bit annoyed that the director decided to develop the characters and do nothing with them rather than the plot. My opinion on the show would be very different if less time was spent getting past Shinji's daddy issues instead of answering interesting questions the viewer is asking themselves. If Evangelion had developed the characters AND the plot my opinion and enjoyment of the show would be extremely different. But it didn't, so it hasn't.

Conclusion:

If you are a heavily character oriented person you may enjoy Evangelion. However if you are anything like me, a sane minded individual that watches Anime for an pleasing story, then I doubt you'll enjoy Evangelion. A lot of people are probably going to disagree with me and call me a shounen-loving-kirito-man that hates seeing good characters in a show but that couldn't be further from the truth. I've sat through the whole of Monster and rated that show far higher than Eva so I do understand what good character writing looks like. Its just unfortunate that in my opinion, Eva does not fit that view.