Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

This is one of those animes I've heard about and never intended to watch. It's also one of those animes that's as popular as much as it is hated. I'm somewhere in the middle of hating and loving this anime. I like it well enough due to the intense moments Shinji and the other Eva pilots experience while fighting these monstrous beings called "angels." While it feels like there are some huge biblical/religious undertones, this is actually far from the truth. This anime isn't a retelling of the bible nor is it adapting any stories from the bible. It contains elements from the bible (name-wise andtheme-wise) but otherwise, this is just another of those Mecha/Action/Psychological animes. And yes, this is a psychological anime.

The story feels a bit lacking on occasions but I feel this is more character-driven than anything. Like we're viewing the post-apocalyptic world through the eyes of the characters, who are all connected to this military and research facility called Nerve. While there are a few other similar organizations in the show, the characters within Nerve are the main focus, especially Shinji, who is the main character of the series.

Shinji is a shy, cowardly boy, who has no social skills or backbone to boot. But he slowly grows a backbone as the series progresses but his major story arc is all about Shinji wanting nothing more than to please his estranged father and figure out how he really feels about the world around him.

The second main character, Rei, is an enigmatic quiet girl with little to no emotions unless of course, she's interacting with Shinji's dad, Gendo, to whom she thinks highly of.

Then there's Asuka, who's probably the angriest female character I've ever seen in any anime. And she seems to be messed up psychologically, more than Shinji or any of the other characters in the series. With her constant anger yet somewhat attraction to Shinji and a seemingly prideful attitude, Asuka is my absolute favorite character, even if she seems to vent out her anger on Shinji and Rei a little too much.

I love how all the characters play off each other and interact. The voice actors bring the characters to life and you always feel for the characters, even if Asuka's explosive anger is a bit over the top and Shinji's constant whining and moping get a bit tiresome sometimes.

The opening of the anime, Cruel Angel's Thesis, is absolutely amazing though I kinda can't say the same for the ending which sounds a little too romantic for Evangelion, but Fly Me to the Moon is a great song itself. All the other sounds, the explosions and when the evas hit the angels, etc, are all clear and crisp. And the English dub of this isn't too bad either.

The animation and art of this show, though a bit dated, are still beautiful and despite the financial failures Gainax was going through at the time of making Evangelion, I feel that the cast and crew did an amazing job. Everything flows smoothly and it's fluid. It's all I can say.

If there's anything I have to complain about in this series, it's the last two or three episodes. But given that the company was going bankrupt and Evangelion's creator (can't think of his name at the moment, sorry) was forced to change the ending he had originally planned just to try pleasing the fans, I can forgive the confusing open ending. I actually enjoyed the brief moment of Shinji dreaming that he, Asuka, and Rei were ordinary high school kids. The last two episodes, despite being confusing as hell and feeling rushed, does give a lot of good insight to what Shinji and his friends are traumatized by the most and what weighs heavily on their minds and hearts (ie Misato being afraid of becoming like her father and Asuka having mommy issues).

Despite all of this and the big religious elements put into the anime, I highly recommend this show if not for the way it gets you to think about your own life decisions but for the fact that this is an iconic anime and it's one of the best character-driven psychological mecha animes there ever was. And with a few funny perverted moments, Neon Genesis Evangelion won't slow down for even a second because even the quiet moments in this show carries the plot on and has a lot of significance, and the show keeps going on.

Now I'm left wondering if this show really was a cruel angel's thesis?