Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion
Before I go on to only say negative things about this show, I'd like to say that underneath my criticisms is a show that is wonderfully unique with a very interesting story and well developed, uniquely interesting characters. Now I'm just gonna talk about the things I didn't like about it. This show is confusing; this show is very confusing. If you told me that you understood all or even most of this show's critical plot points on your first watch I would call you a liar. Critical bits of plot are mixed into dialogue in a show that is all about dialogue, some of this dialogueis nonsensical without a background in strangely specific topics, such as Jewish mysticism. How are you supposed to determine what is important to the plot and what is intellectual nonsense? I don't know watch it again I guess.
Or watch an "Evangelion Explained" video which is probably what most of the people watching the show did. On your first watch, you probably don't know what the EVA units even are. If you did I applaud you but there are so many other questions that are answered in confusing ways often outside of chronological order that I'm not even going to bother listing any of them because I could actually be here all night.
What do I think about 26 episode shows where rewatching them at least once (probably more to the tune of 3 times) is required to have even a basic understanding of the plot? I think that you're doing your audience a disservice and either didn't try or actively tried to make your show confusing. I don't think a show being confusing is a positive, I think it is a negative, it means that you didn't explain things well enough to be picked up even by perceptive viewers. If you love shows like this though, and consider rewatching a show multiple times to be an enjoyable part of 'puzzle solving' then you will love Evangelion.
If you're like me though, and don't typically rewatch shows, especially not immediately after your first watch, then you will be very confused and have lots of questions, and you will probably have to watch an "Evangelion Explained" video on Youtube. If that's something you actively want to do then you'll probably like Evangelion, I don't mind being confused and I enjoy having somebody put the pieces together for me afterwards because it's satisfying, which is why I give Evangelion an 8/10/. I don't however, like this more than being able to watch the puzzles fall into place myself, which is why I don't give this show a 10/10. I think it's kind of lazy of a show to rely on your viewers to make videos explaining the show for you because the show doesn't do a good enough job on its own, and has an allergy to answering more questions than it asks, even when the show is already packed to the brim with questions.
There are 2 big flaws with this kind of writing. The first flaw is that big reveals and important story moments might fall flat on some viewers, but be loved by others, because what each viewer understands on their first watch will be different, and thus the writers can't rely on viewers knowing certain things and can't really reveal anything big without risking ruining important moments. The show attempts to avoid this by never really having these types of reveals; this makes the show even more confusing but at least there aren't huge thrilling moments that are ruined because I didn't catch that the previously revealed Adam is actually subtly re-revealed as Lilith all along. That's right, one of the show's big reveals is actually a red-herring all along and the actual reveal is another strange dialogue moment which is easily missed. Even the few and far between moments where Evangelion decides to answer a question, they lie to you, because the show wasn't difficult enough to follow already.
The second flaw with this kind of writing is that the writer has no control over the quality of the "Evangelion Explained" videos that are made, and what content the viewer watches after they finish watching the show. Much of your enjoyment of the show might come from how good the explained video you watch is, or how well put together the wiki is, or what links you click on in what order, etc...
My final small gripe with the show has nothing to do with it being confusing, however. The first 5 episodes were very very boring and difficult to watch for me. After this, the show becomes enjoyable until the final 2 episodes which I'm well aware aren't even exactly canon. You can skip these last two episodes and watch the movie instead. The movie is great, except it is also very confusing. It starts off strong by answering some questions and baits you into a false sense that the movie might actually just tie up all of the perceived loose ends (most of which are just things you missed, not actual loose ends, but there still are plenty of loose ends). This is not the case, however, because the show ends in one of the trippiest confusing sequences in the history of anime so hopefully, you enjoy watching another explained video for the movie as well because you'll need it.
TL;DR This show is confusing on purpose, it ties in crucial plot points in dialogue along with pointless references to religion, biology, etc, most of which you will probably mistake as crucial plot points, some of which are important but literally cannot be deciphered without extensive background knowledge in fringe subjects. It starts off boring as well. Other than that the story is actually very interesting and the characters are very unique, if the show did a better job of making the show digestible on your first viewing then it could have been a 10/10 for me. Unfortunately, you WILL have to watch an explainer video or rewatch the show multiple times to understand it. It's worth the watch despite these flaws though, in my opinion, unless you don't like being confused from beginning to end with very few "aha!" moments, in which case don't watch this show.