Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion
If you’ve been an anime fan for long enough, you’re bound to have heard about how Neon Genesis Evangelion is a masterpiece and the best anime ever and before you shrug me off for (somewhat) agreeing, please listen to my perspective. • Covering all that Evangelion encompasses is a hefty task, but I’ll do my best. This is probably an abridged version of what you may hear, considering how many interpretations, commendations, and anything else that could be said about this seriesーwhich you probably have probably heard people yammer about in gratuitous amounts. • I had absolutely no spoilers going into Evangelion, when I first insertedthe disc into the DVD playerーI was twelve. Internet culture wasn’t as big back then and none of my friends had seen it yet. I picked up an imported three disc set from a used book store and decided to give it a try.
• My only exposures to mech shows at that time had been: G Gundam, Gundam Wing, Big O, and FLCL. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into, I didn’t even know that Evangelion was psychological or a raved about cult classic. My first impression upon watching it was that I didn’t understand the complexity of the characters, I was too young to at the time, but I knew that it looked goodーI think I was more drawn in by the fact that I had never seen anything that looked like it before. The closest thing was Kidou Senkan Nadesico.
• I watched blankly for a few days, until the series got to the middle point and I really started feeling things. I was engrossed, but I didn’t know what I was watching. I was captivated, but all of the adult emotions made little to no sense to my young pre-pubescent mind. I was saddened by the character's losses and I understood Shinji’s adolescence of alienation, confusion, fear, and hatred.
• People aren’t exaggerating when they tell you that every time you watch Evangelion, you notice something different. Neon Genesis is made from a genius formula in Hideaki Anno’s mind that is able to deceive you into seeing something new every time. Neon Genesis is like Rorschach of your own mind and state of being every time you see it.
• It is such a undeniably human series. You may relate to a different character each time, or realize that you share similar flaws, or find truth in the nihilistic representations in it all. Evangelion clicks with some people more than others, just like Space Runaway Ideon and other Tomino works tend to click with me more than other people who think Tomino has a syphilitic mind and that his character writing is completely bonkers.
• All prefacing aside, if you don’t like giant robots. You may still like Neon Genesis, if you’re looking for a humanistic piece that is deeply psychological and psychedelic and breeches territory that anime had never and has never reached before, then this is probably the series for you, or frankly anyone interested in anime as an art form. If you think a series like Cowboy Bebop is anything close to Neon Genesis Evangelion as far as a lasting effect on the medium goes, than you’re sorely mistaken.
• You may be wondering why people preach about Evangelion like it’s a new religion, but at least watch the fucking series to have an input on it. The show covers feelings of alienation, isolation, and being rejected by your fellow man with eloquence. The original series is nearly perfect, the Rebuild movies are another matter.
• The film for Evangelion is more complete than the series, since Anno lacked the budget to end the show how he would have liked to. It’s a deeply introspective auteur film, that makes Pink Floyd’s The Wall look like baby food. I think the film is slightly better than the series.
• I was appalled at watching the movie, because I watched it at the ripe age of thirteen. I had just visited a Suncoast video store in the mall, and this guy in his twenties with an industrial piercing asked me if I had seen the movie. “No, but I watched the series,” I said, “is the movie good?” He paused, and said with averted eyes, “There’s a really cool fight scene with Asuka! You should watch it!” He then went on to tell me that he was repurchasing the new Platinum edition and selling his old collection.
• I ordered a used copy on Amazon and eagerly awaited the much anticipated conclusion. I ignored the NOT RATED marking on the back and I plugged it into my DVD player. I was horrified, so much so that I had to put it away for two years, before revisiting it as a high-schooler. At the time, I didn’t understand why there wasn’t a happy ending or what the white stuff on Shinji’s hand was.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion was the first fictional medium that taught me that in real life, things don’t always end happily, and life isn’t fair or kind. I went on to do my final lecture in Speech class in high school on the End of Evangelion, I spoke about the references to Freudian and Jungian psychology, as well as the abundance of symbolism, and upon re-watching it, I realized how blind and stupid my previous perspective had been.
• Evangelion is not only an anime to grow up with, but an anime to grow old with. It’s a timeless masterpiece that we may never see in anime again. I rewatched the whole series and both movies at twenty-five and I still cried during Asuka’s meltdown. I give the original series a 8/10 and the End of Evangelion a 10/10. If you’re an anime fan, you absolutely have to watch this series to understand the culture of contemporary anime. Evangelion completely changed my life and my perspective as a young person, as well as cementing my diehard love for anime.