Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion for me is a throwback series for me. It may not be for some others but for me it was different. I wasn’t around on Evangelion’s heyday because to be honest I wasn’t born in the 1980s or anything like that I didn’t go watch the End Of Evangelion in the cinemas 1997 and got nightmare fuel thanks to its grotesque imagery but my first encounter of Neon Genesis Evangelion was in 2011 when my old friend came to my house and brought his now extremely expensive Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum collection that comes in a tin that contains all 26 episodesremastered and uncut. After my first watch of Evangelion, I really like it for its complex characters, amazing music and well story that contained a lot of great social topics and themes however that was 2012. Fast forward to 2018 where I had a huge backlog of anime to re-watch just to see what series held up since my last viewing of it. Neon Genesis Evangelion was one of those animes that I decided to re-watch because I honestly want to see how well this so-called groundbreaking anime held since my last viewing of it.

So does Neon Genesis Evangelion still hold up to this day or its another case of anime that I loved based on nostalgia? You’re soon going to find out.

Story.
It is the year 2015. Fifteen years after the global cataclysm known as the second impact which was the worst disaster in recorded where over two billion people in the southern hemisphere were killed by the tsunami and rising water levels. The story follows an emotionally sensitive man named Shinji Ikari who is summoned to the futuristic city of Tokyo-3 by his estranged father Gendo Ikari, director of the special paramilitary force Nerv. Before he can adapt to his new location Shinji witnesses the united nation forces fighting an angel named Sachiel. Soon Nerv officer Misato Katsuragi escorts Shinji into the Nerv complex beneath the city, where his father pressures him into pilot EVA Unit one and from there Shinji battle the physics-defying beings known as Angels to prevent the third impact from happening.

The story for Neon Genesis Evangelion is pretty great the most part. Sure it starts off as the monster of the week type of show where the Eva units have to defend city from an attack from set angel but as the series goes on as well entering the second half the show becomes more than its standard monster of the week as it evolves into one of the best psychological character dramas I have ever seen in any anime as we see characters go through mini character arcs that were told and impactful to the audience.
The shows tackle themes and social topics such as abandonment, running away from your problems, understanding one another, death hedgehog’s dilemma, escapism, and depression and the way the show explores them was great.
The worldbuilding in Neon Genesis Evangelion was great and well explained. It does an awesome job a building a believable world and the way the characters interact with the world was amazing.
The show also does a great foreshadowing of later events and it does them with care and respect
If I had any complaints about the story it would be the pacing in certain areas of the story as well the last two episodes were kinda rushed due to budget issues but otherwise the story was great.
9/10

Characters.
The chararters in Neon Genesis Evangelion are amazing and complex for the most part.
Shinji is one of the most realistic anime protagonist ever. Many people may call him an unlikable coward and a pussy but despite what others say I really love Shinji. I adored his journey from start to finish as we the audience got the see the highs and lows from this character.
His character development was amazing and I really loved his character arc of not running away from your problems even if things are almost impossible.
Easily one of the best males leads in anime ever thanks to well written and he is my second favorite character in the show.

Now let’s talk my favorite chararter in the show Misato.
She’s is just a wonderfully written character from start to finish. She’s very likable, she is a great motherly figure for Shinji, her backstory was well told and justified, I loved how she influences Shinji to learn to open up and interact with people. She’s is by far my favorite character in the show and the one that I forward of seeing the most.

Rei is a pretty interesting character. Unlike Shinji, she seems to be on good terms with Gendo aka Shinji’s father and she performs her duties without question. Like with Shinji and Misato she is a very complex character that is surrounded by mystery. Unfortunately as much I want to talk about more about Rei I can’t because talking about Rei as a character would lead up to spoiler territory. Besides that Rei is a great character that I really liked even if I can’t talk about her that much due to spoilers.

Asuka is a badass character that I really liked. Unlike Shinji, Asuka is more outgoing and competitive in nature.
She uses her superiority complex to cover up her issues. Some people may call her annoying for being a total bitch to people but personality her bitchy nature didn’t bother me that much. Plus like Shinji, Rei, and Misato she has a great complex backstory that perfectly showed how Asuka became the person that she is.
The rest of the characters are pretty good overall, however, I felt like some of them were underdeveloped. The characters in Evangelion are damaged people who all have emotional issues as well as having they own issues that they have to overcome. This is easily one of the best characters that I have ever seen in anime and even if some of the side characters were underdeveloped the main four completely make it. Just a wonderful charterer cast.
10/10

Visuals.
When it comes to the visuals for Evangelion I thought it was pretty solid overall. Yes, I know that this show budget was pretty low for the most part but the visual directing for the most part completely makes it up the show shortcomings.
The characters designs are pretty great overall and I have no complaints. The mecha and the angel designs are pretty cool and unique.
As for the animation, I thought it was decent overall. While at times the animation can be very incredible to the point where it actually has some of the best animations in the 90s the show animation overall is honestly okay that has a lot of issues especially when you get to the last 3 episodes of the show where the budget literally ran out and it got to a point where not even visual directing can’t save it at times even though some of the animation techniques that were used in the show were pretty creative.
I know this was a problem in some of the earlier episodes of the series but the last 6 episodes really got carried with this to a point where you clearly see that they clearly ran of money. It didn’t bother me all that much since am already used to seeing anime that take shortcuts visually but I acknowledge that it’s a problem especially for newer anime fans who never seen EVA before.
While the show was lacking in the animation department it completely makes it with direction for the most part. One of my favorite directing tricks in Evangelion includes a shot where a character would quickly mo,ve to get our attention then the camera holds it over the length of the show before another quick of movement occurs at the end leaving us anticipating what will happen next. Another favorite directing tricks in EVA is how nearly every explosion in the series is preceded by a flashing light serving as the setup to the explosion punchline which adds more suspense and impact to the scene. Also when an EVA unit pulls back they fist as it ready to deliver the final blow to the victim we the audience would often see the victim face for a split second before the fist makes contact to the face which creates an extra build up of that scene and it makes the impact much more intense.
Overall despite the limited animation in some areas the show visually is good for the most part.
7.5/10

Sound.
The soundtrack for Neon Genesis Evangelion is amazing that contains a wide range of emotions in its music including the very laid back Misato, the very intense action paced Decisive Battle/The Beast to the ominous Do You Love me and the list can go on. What makes this soundtrack so great how well directed it was as each track manages to fit perfectly into the scenes tone and narrative, for example, every time almost all the light-hearted and comedic scenes in the show would play the track Misato and the track would play until the lighthearted scenes are over and transitions into more serious tracks of the soundtrack. The track Misato is one on of my favorite anime light-hearted tracks of all as it perfectly captures the tone for the more light-hearted scenes in the series and it was just a very catchy track overall.

The opening theme A Cruel Angel’s Thesis by Yoko Takahashi is a great and catchy opening theme that perfectly fits with the tone and setting the show
The ending theme Fly Me to the Moon is one of the most unique ending themes of all time as every episode would always feature a different version of the same ending theme.

Now for sub vs dub.

The sub is great overall and every single Seiyuu in the show did a brilliant job voicing they respective characters.

The dub on the other hand not so much. The voice acting of the dub felt flat in a lot of areas, the audio quality, especially for the earlier episodes, was abysmal and dub version had a lot of mistranslations that completely butcher the themes, tone and characters of the show. The only good performance in the dub was Allison Keith as Misato. Spike Spencer as Shinji and Tiffany Grant as Asuka were absolutely terrible and it made the dub version of Evangelion nearly unwatchable.

As a person who loved English dubs as a whole, I was greatly disappointed with the dub for Evangelion. Avoid the dub like the plague and stick with the sub.
9/10

Final Thoughts.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a fantastic series that I truly respect. The story is very well written that is very complex that is filled with great theme exploration. It has some of the most interesting and thought-provoking characters in anime. Despite its limited budget at various times the show has great visual directing and animation and the music is amazing. It may have few problems such as a shitty overall English Dub as well as pacing issues in a few cases and the final 2 episodes could have been a lot better. This show may not be for everyone but like myself, we see past the few flaws it has and sees something that is truly unique and brilliant.

Neon Genesis Evangelion to this day holds up very well when compared to most animes in the 90s as it was one of the animes that changed anime as a whole.

If you looking for a great mecha anime to watch that deals with sensitive themes and topic as well as complex characters than I strongly recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion to anyone.

Final Score 9/10.