Neon Genesis Evangelion - Reviews

i don't know if i'm fucking dumb or what

Story: Initially greeted with something similar to an episodic plot we start off with our protagonist Shinji who is introduced with humanities greatest enemy known as angels. He is then taken in by Misato to a secret underground base where NERV (organization created by UN) operates where he is asked by his father, Gendo to board EVA unit 01. At first Shinji refuses because of either his pride or hate against his father but he boards EVA unit 01 (biological mech weapon) anyways out of pity for Rei's condition that he saw and that's where his story begins with his battle against humanities greatest enemies. Nothing much happens after that since Shinji goes on missions to kill angels but he does go to school considering his age and he interacts a little more with Misato and Rei up until we're introduced with another character known as Asuka who also pilots the Eva units much like Rei does. The trio goes on to fight these angels throughout the series but much later on Shinji goes on to realize that he feels his mother's presence in EVA unit 01 and is temporarily merged with it. After some more fights we learn from Ritsuko that Rei are just clones and that the EVA units are created from angels. Kaworu is sent by Seele who is a final angel in the form of a human to merge with the first angel known as Adam but he realizes that the the angel in possession of NERV is in fact not Adam so he comes to another realization in which he asks Shinji to kill him so he does. The last two espidoes don't really matter given the end result but what's truly disappointing is that NGE suffers from a clear case of the villain of the week trope and not anymore of the background gets disclosed unless you watch the movie. 

Animation: For a TV series, it's pretty high quality for the time. 

Sound: I didn't find anything special about it. 

Characters: Shinji is hardly what anyone could describe as brave at first given that he wants to avoid confrontation altogether but he changes this later on to get his fathers approval and another issue is that he takes on an isolationist attitude. We also have Misato who serves as Shinji's legal guardian who's rather disorganized and has a slight temper. Ritsuko serves as one of the main scientist of NERV who has jealousy and mother issues. Gendo is arguably a manipulative bastard in which he tries to get everyone to do his bidding (who we still have yet to know his true motives) even going so far as start romantic relations with Ritsuko and her mother. Rei is a cardboard character who would be described as stoic rarely putting on any expressions on her face. We've got Asuka who is a possible trendsetters for tsunderes and later on turns into a vegetable.  

So this is one of those animes that nearly everyone tells you is the mother of all anime and so awesome, and it's the best thing ever, and how you have to watch it.  If you ask me...it's only a half-step above crap.  I know, I know, it was one of the first of its kind and it set the table for so much of what has come since, but even giving those props where due, it's a mediocre power-up mecha with really mediocre characters and a horrible, horrible, (did I mentione horrible?) absolute rubbish ending...I'll get into that later I'm sure.

Anyhow, so this was one show that I tried watching early in my anime career and I just couldn't take it serious. The premise is silly, and Shinji looks so dopey I couldn't even force myself to play the second episode.  I'm glad I did go back and force myself though because now I can say I've watched this "gem" - perhaps there is some hidden value in that.  Right?

Positives: Ok, so I gave this a three so obviously I didn't find it completely unwatchable.  The characters, while rather one-dimensional, were fun and I enjoyed some of the interactions between Shinji and the older woman (sorry, I forgot her name...it's been too long).  Rei was mostly boring, and I really wish there was a lot more development of the backstories of the pilots and all, but instead we got a constant barrage of mecha power-up combats which by the end got really boring.

Crud, I'm in the positives section...

So the story wasn't great, but there were some fun plot bits and as I mentioned, if this had been more realistic and scripted perhaps as a seinen anime I think it might have been one of my favorites, but as it is there were too many parts that reminded me of watching Voltron or something like that as a kid.

I actually really had started to enjoy things after the first half dozen or so episodes and would have been pleased to have found that Evangelion turned into a gem I'd once passed over, but eventually that joy faded as we got more of the same and eventually we got to the end...

Negatives: Heh, I know I've mostly whined so far, and it's probably unfair, but there were just so many things I was disappointed with in this anime.  I'm not even going to critique the art as it's pretty old and for it's time it was probably great, and besides, there are enough bits that I can harp about without going so low.

The ending.  *sigh*  Please don't tell me I just didn't get it.  The ending sucked and here's why.  It had next to nothing to do with anything.  I heard a rumor (truth?) that the writer went nuts and had a breakdown or something when finishing up the story.  The fact that I can believe that to be true should tell you something.  The ending is horrible, horrible, rubbish.  I've also heard that there is an alternate ending out there.  The fact that there is one should tell you something about the original ending.  Why even make an ending that veers so far from the everything you've developed for the last 20 or so episodes?  Sure you touched on a few of the bits in it...but even stylistically it was garbage.

Another thing I really hated was the constant power-up storylines.  I pretty much loathe every anime which is about the one guy getting his next upgrade and then you have to get yours and you constantly 1-up each other until you get the super, universe-smashing, deluxe, master weapon of ultimate mangledom.  I realize this is a core concept of most shounen anime, but I think it's really boring.  I can put up with it to a degree, heck TTGL and Code Geass do the same thing, but there's a limit to my patience with plot.  Getting the next big weapon is not plot.  Seriously.

Hrm, well this mostly turned out to be an 'I hate Evangelion' rant, but I did give it a 3/5.  I recommend it to anyone who has more time than I do and is a huge anime fan simply for what it is, but if you're short on time and only looking for anime that's really great, then there are a LOT of options that will reward you much more than this show.  Seriously.  LOTS of options.

Note that this is my first 'serious' review, so if it's bad, whoops!

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of those all time classics. With 20 years old, this anime is still one of the most famous anime of all time. So since it's such a classic, I decided to watch it. And I've never been more forked up by an anime in my life. And I've seen some stuff *Cough* Tenkuu Danzai Skelter Heaven and Mars of Destruction *Cough*

Story:
I liked the story. Ultra Depresso kid gets a purpose in life. (Aaannddd got more depressed :l) Pilots a giant robot and gets beaten up. And in the last two episodes: congratulations, depression cured. That was Evangelion in a nutshell. Even though I'm not a mecha fan, the story was nice.

Characters:
Everyones personalities were in some way the same. It was like the director said: 'YOU HAVE DEPRESSION, AND YOU HAVE DEPRESSION, EVERYONE HAS DEPRESSION!!! LET'S ALL HAVE DEPRESSION(TOGETHER)!!!!' and I get that he was depressed and that this has some kind of deeper meaning, but I just want to watch an anime where at least ONE person doesn't have depression. First, the only depressed character was Shinji, I could handle that negativity level. Then in a few episodes, everyone was revealed to have had depression all this time, and I believe it is Shinji his negativity's fault for triggering it.

Animation:
I honestly can't say anything about this since I've seen 2 different types. The not so very licenced one on google *insert lenny face, because I'm sneaky*, which I watched before it came on Netflix, and the Netflix quality, let me tell you the difference.

Not licenced one:
The quality was trash, but not, 'I can't see anything' trash. Just bad... But I at least got to hear 'Fly me to the Moon' before Netflix decided to delete it from the face of the earth.

Netflix:
When I watched this, I literally felt my eyes go 'omg, so this is what quality is. My gosh, this... Quality... What is this blessing that came upon us(my eyes)? What did we do to deserve this?' yeah, that's how bad the non licenced was.

Voice acting:
There is no possible excuse for this, but I watched the dub(for some reason). And thought it was absolutely hilarious. So moments of pain and agony sounded not serious and really dumb. Even I could scream better(But don't trust me on that). The only thing that was better in the dub than in the sub, was Shinji's rant. I strongly believe I watched all that funny voice acting just for that one moment, so don't tell me otherwise.

Edit from 07/01/2020: Well, at least A Cruel Angels Thesis was good.

This show annoyed me to death, BUT I CAN'T STOP WATCHING IT! I don't know if I hate or like this show. I just can't stop watching the movies, even if I hate watching them, I just can't stop myself!
So my conclusion is that Evangelion and me have some kind of hate-love relationship.
And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch another reïncarnation of Evangelion.

There are huge confusions over this anime. Its really just crazy, you've got high reviews and low ones and not much is given in them. Sorry fellow reviewers but, I just gotta say no to this one.

Neon Genesis revolves around a completely 'normal' protagonist boy. He is unexcitedly pulled into a situation where he has to pilot a humanoid robot/alien. Now, they've chosen the route of beginner becomes better. This comes with a huge issue of many episodes (/viewer's time) being taken up by the main's lack of enthusiasm (to save the world, uh huh). Either way, if you've loved or hated the anime up to this point then you're overall opinion is set. He gets in it eventually and is still bad at it. He meets other pilots (some unexpanded romantic interests). No matter what, you'll see an almost '!' amount of hesitation in the boy. Fast conclusion: nothing changes.

Animation is not worth commentating on, its as bad as it looks, and yes that is mostly to do with the date it was released.

Soundtracks leave so much to be desired it will give you a heartbreak. OST, OP/ED all suck.

Characters are mostly stereotypical, the main is as 'normal' as a person can get. He doesn't level up or gain new skills so no suprisement there. Romance would be appriciated, one-sided on both sides and unconcluded is a poor way to leave an anime. As I've already highlighted, the main's lack of interest is a huge mistake and it drops my review points by 2.

Overall, it is just something I had to say, I can only sympathise with any other <5 reviews for this anime. A huge flop is the wrap up of the anime. This was apparently 'corrected' in several 'alternate story' movies. I think 2.0 is the most favourited. Anyway, what you see is what you get, i dropped this anime several times and finished it out of obligation (if you're another user who has seen this anime, please give comments). If you don't like it in the first 5 eps drop it.

Thanks for reading.