Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

What I was promised: a mecha anime with themes exploring interpersonal relationships and mental health. What I got: A convoluted mystery box that cares way more about symbolism and waxing philosophical than it does about ever explaining (or even hinting at) what’s going on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for themes and symbolism. But not when it comes at the expense of worldbuilding and plot. By the end of the show I had about the same understanding of how the world works that I did after episode 3. This is because this show does a horrendous job at establishing it’s setting or constructing it’s narrative. Bythe end things are kinda just happing without you understanding what’s going on. Because all the characters who actually have agency over events are super cryptic and don’t actually do anything relevant on screen. That combined with a number of scenes that caused me to question how literally I should take them because symbolism made it so that I ended up having to rely on outside sources to piece together what even happened in the ending.