Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

I watched Evangelion over winter break last year. I started watching the show with the intention of in-taking a supposed classic and an anime regarded as one of the best of all time, and I must say - I am very disappointed. I'd like to say I didn't go into the show with any pre-conceived expectations and thought to enjoy the show for what it was and leave it at that, but I'd be lying if I did. I went in expecting the writing to be phenomenal, the characters to be more so, and the story to be one for the history books - andit wasn't. I'll try to review the show fairly without any bias on that end, but I won't make any promises.

First The Story - 6
Now, Evangelion is my second Mech anime, after Gurrenn Lagaan, but I can say with certainty, that teenagers using giant robots to fight aliens is not the most... original plot. But that was okay for me, and it didn't bother me at all as I watched it. The recycling of the "Character has Problem" "Monster Appears" "Problem causes character to Fail" "Character Bonding Moment" "Character wins on second try" Did get tiresome after a bit tho. However, Eva's use of philosophy and character flaws as its main driving force was such a great idea and was executed for the most part well.
My main gripe with the story is the reason why I'm giving it a 6, and it's the fact that Evangelion does the opposite of Exposition dumping. Now I know we all hate it when a character just barfs out the plot, for no other reason but for the audience to know, as it breaks immersion and fluidity, is lazy, and frankly has the ability to ruin stories. However, no telling us key elements of the stories just because it wouldn't naturally be told by the character is a nono. It creates a loss of tension, it instigates confusion with our audience, and it can also ruin a story.
I would absolutely hate it when Evangelion dropped a bombshell of a plot twist and I wouldn't be able to care cause I didn't know what it meant. Gendo has Adam? Really?... whos Adam? What? The Spear of Longinus is missing?... that's cool. Huh? Gendo is a fuckboy? Who knew. Like, it really hurt the plot when I had no idea what was going on. Why do the angels only attack Nerv, and nowhere else? Why did the show start with the second impact and not the first? If Shinji doesn't want to pilot the robot, has commitment issues when he does, is a crybaby, and has no self-restraint, why is Nerv expecting him to use an Eva? A bunch of plot points were opened up and then left there, some were never even opened, and then some were closed for absolutely no reason. I know the answer to all these questions, but the fact that I had to look them up on a wiki, and none of those answers were even hinted at in the show has to mean something. and I'm sorry Anno, but the ending sucks just because you didn't close it properly. You opened a bag of Doritos, took out one chip, and then threw the bag in a dumpster somewhere, and I didn't appreciate that.

Art - 8
The art style was very enjoyable and amazing for its time. The designs of the Evas, Angels, and the futuristic technology were all fun to look at, and inspiring for an artist such as myself. Not really any complaints there, except for the usually bland scenery, and the dry-cut character designs - Asuka and Misato stand out, and maybe Rei, but besides that, all the other characters weren't that great, and the scenery blended too far into the background. Maybe it was the intention, as the city is admittedly not an important part of the story, but it detracts from the vibrant colors of the Evas and Angels in a way I didn't like.

Sound - 8
A Cruel Angels Thesis? Bop
Fly Me to the Moon? Bop
Classical emulated soundtrack with a mixture of tension-filled and happy-go-lucky pieces? Loved it
Almost all of the music in the show was phenomenal I would have to say, but some of them were placed weird - music was sometimes played when it wasn't needed, and vice versa, but a lot of the time the music landed well. I especially loved it when the music played COMPLETELY contrasted the gravity of the scene. It was a very nice touch.

Characters - 4
Oh boy. We'll take these in order.

Shinji is a Bitch, for lack of a better word. I hate him. I hate his character, I hate his character arc, I hate his interactions and his thought process, I hate the attention the show gives him, and the lack of importance that comes with it, and I actually hate him as a person. It never occurred to me, that I would ever not feel sympathy for someone going through depression. To not love yourself is a terrible thing, and to find a reason to is something of invaluable importance that should be taken seriously for everyone going through it. Shinji is by all definitions, undeserving of that seriousness. He's unappreciative of the things around him, has no respect for himself, and thus none for others, he sulks all the time and uses his depression as a crutch, which he doesn't need until he breaks his leg with it first. It annoyed me to no end because there was literally no reason for him to be depressed "Hur, hur, my dad doesn't love me" Is literally his only gripe throughout the show, when literally countless other people actually cared for and loved him, and he would push them away, and then complain to them for not helping him when he needed it [cough cough, he didn't, cough cough]. And it wouldn't have been that bad if the show didn't pretend like his depression was its main point when it had much more interesting lines to follow, but for some reason... didn't. His not being willing to improve himself and his lack of change made him an absolutely terrible main character, and the show's inherent focus on him made a lot of the episodes suck because it was usually just him bitching about something.

Asuka
Asuka is a great character. I really love the way she's built and how she interacts with the show's characters because it makes sense. She is a tsundere, granted, but there's more to her than just that. Asuka has a severe inferiority complex, one which she strives to fight by being the best that she can be [unlike someone], leading her to be pompous at times, but really lovable when she tries. Without spoiling too much, her backstory was very impactful and had a lot of meaning to me as I watched the show. Every time she faced a conflict I felt for her and connected with her, which I think every good story should be able to do with a character to at least some extent. Her character arc is one I'm glad we got to see completed in End of Evangelion, and is honestly, one of the only parts I enjoyed in the movie

Rei
Rei is my favorite character, and I love her. Out of everyone's inner monologues, hers are the most interesting, her interactions with others change her the most, and she really grows over the course of the series, which is an attribute I value the most in a character. Her unexplainable love for Shinji (well...) and her change from a robot to a caring person was written fabulously, and her back story made her all the more interesting, but it was never revealed to the main cast, except for that one person, but it changed literally nothing, so it didn't really matter

Misato
I think, Misato is the best-built character in the show, with every action she takes in the show defined by her beliefs, and as the inherent mother figure of the show, having the most weight with them (in the Eva universe, not really within the show) she always presented herself as strong and composed and struggled with the idea of her dependency complex for years, and it builds up another nice subplot that is never completely followed up on at the end of the story, smh

Gendo
He's a fuckboy, who fucked literally everyone after his wife died, for no reason

Ritsuko
Is a ho

Kaworu
Gay

Kaji
Dead but no one really cares except Misato for like 5 minutes

Seele
I just wanted to touch on this... I still don't understand the reason behind 12 men with power higher than the United Nations, all unanimously deciding that combining every conscience in the world was a good idea. Like it made literally no sense. "We do it, for every conscience makes up for the missing pieces of another" Okay, so you all combine into one cool Megazord, then what?... I'm waiting... oh nothing? Then why would you do that?

All the other characters weren't important and weren't developed enough which made me sad, especially for Toji because him becoming one of the main characters was a really interesting plotline that opened up a lot of pathways for the story to follow... but they didn't want Shinji to leave so they merked him, and he never appeared for the rest of the show.

Enjoyment - 8
This is where I feel my own personal bias is gonna interfere, I think. I'm rating this bit on how much I enjoyed it, which I did a lot, but I attribute that to one of my special skills - Ignorance. Throughout the course of the show, if a character, plot point, event, or scene, ever made me even slightly upset, I would ignore it. Any time Shinji was being annoying, I wouldn't let myself think and be absorbed into the screen, so I'd enjoy the good parts, and gloss over the bad ones, and because I binged the show, I never had time in between to process my thoughts. I can say I'm glad I watched it this way, because if I didn't I never would have watched the show to completion. Thinking back on it, there were so many times the show annoyed me, from ignored plot points, to annoying characters, and general incoherence, that would have made me drop any show, but I stuck with it. I can say I enjoyed the Power Ranger-esqueness of the show to a certain degree, and the philosophical points delivered by the show were interesting, and fun to listen to, so I'm letting the 8 slide.

Overall - Evangelion is a good show, don't get it twisted, but there are too many flaws in it for me to call it a masterpiece like so many people have been telling me. Its ideas were great, and its execution of some of them was great too. The art, animation, and music really make the show shine for its time, and really say something about current anime as a whole. However, due to the suffering of the characters and the plot, the two most important parts of a show, I'm giving it a 6, which is lucky... Evangelion had a lot of potential, and I'm both upset that it didn't reach that expectation and that I was lead to believe that it did.