Anime Review: Neon Genesis Evangelion

In the year 2015, the Angels, huge, tremendously powerful, alien war machines, appear in Tokyo for the second time. The only hope for Mankind's survival lies in the Evangelion, a humanoid fighting machine developed by NERV, a special United Nations agency. Capable of withstanding anything the Angels can dish out, the Evangelion's one drawback lies in the limited number of people able to pilot them. Only a handful of teenagers, all born fourteen years ago, nine months after the Angels first appeared, are able to interface with the Evangelion. One such teenager is Shinji Ikari, whose father heads the NERV team that developed and maintains the Evangelion. Thrust into a maelstrom of battle and events that he does not understand, Shinji is forced to plumb the depths of his own inner resources for the courage and strength to not only fight, but to survive, or risk losing everything.

(Source: AniDB)

Neon Genesis Evangelion Genres: Action, Drama, Mecha, Psychological, Sci-Fi

Neon Genesis Evangelion Synonyms:

Neon Genesis Evangelion Studios: Gainax, TV Tokyo, ADV Films, Kadokawa Shoten, NAS,

Neon Genesis Evangelion Review

NGE is one of most pivotal of anime shows, shaping the industry, and has definitely become the poster child of mecha.

Neon Genesis Evangelion has, across multiple generations, spawned varied responses. Some respond with utter glee, others still pride themselves on the sole fact that they understand it, and others yet equate it to the Mariana trench (that is, 2deep4you). While clearly, it's faults cannot be downplayed enough, there is no doubt that Evangelion has made a spot for itself in the history of anime (and maybe even entertainment in general). After all, its been almost 20 years since it aired, and we are still talking about it. How many series that air today will be mentioned twenty years down the line? In fact, how many will even be remembered after a month? Still, Evangelion lives on in history, for what though, still remains.

img(http://i.imgur.com/Fu88CKo.jpg)

Artwork and Animation (3/10)

While NGEs animation was top of the line when it released, nowdays, it just looks like absolute trash. While NGE in itself shouldn't be blamed for the technology of its time, I must take into account what a person watching it now must go through, and the artwork stands as the biggest hurdle between you and NGE. First of all, the problems start with the fact that while NGE aired (1995), TVs used to be round screen and CRTs were the shit, a HD720 flat screen monitor was almost science fiction at that point. From that perspective, it is no surprise that NGE was never made in 720p (or a higher quality), and as such, a release of that quality cannot exist. So the best you can possibly get off the web is a 700~ x 480. Not even 480p. Oh, and this pseudo 480p release? Yeah, even that is upscaled. No wonder your viewing experience will be terrible.

img(http://i.imgur.com/s6nw5aR.jpg)

>pic related. See how bad it scales?

While the choppy animation in itself isn't all that terrible -more like, you can get used to it- the artwork is bad. Yeah, twenty years of technological enhancement really spoils people.

Any more on the art section is pointless. It is horrible (even the anilist icon for it is an exaggeration) , get used to it if you feel like watching NGE. Still, I'm going to rely on the pictures from the TV series (mostly the OP since it has much, much better artwork), just maybe you will get acclimated to it by the time we are done here. Maybe.

Sound and music (9/10)

Let's start with the Voice acting. Almost all the releases that you can find on the web today are dual audio. Now, even though I'm no fan of dubs, the english dub is decent enough to be watched. Still, my preference goes to the Japanese dubs.While the voice acting for the Japanese side is fairly good, it isn't all that clear in terms of quality (not by modern standards anyways), though that can be chalked down to poor equipment more than anything. The environmental noises are great (2D4U's release somehow has 5.1), so there is something of value there.

Now, let's talk music. You know how all the old timers keep talking about how the music was better in their time? Yeah, well get in your seats for the greatest OP you ever listened to. Cruel Angel's Thesis (by Yoko Takahashi) is by far one of the greatest openings of all time, and its music video is extraordinary (if a bit mature) to say the least.

youtube(3nQNSLB3Lpk)

But we aren't done yet, the ED, Claire's "Fly Me To The Moon", is iconic in its own way, but its a sad thing that its actually just a copy paste. Not that you would realize if you were born in the 2000's or don't listen to Frank Sinatra.

Story (29/30)

Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up, back up. Did I honestly, seriously, crazily just say that a story was 20/20? Why, that is the same thing as saying its perfect and perfection doesn't exist!

Admittedly, 20/20 is a bit...too much, but I must say I'm impressed by the story. More impressed than I have been of anything. Some people like to point out (repeatedly) that NGE is 2Deep4you, and that that is a fault. To which I reply, how is deep anything but a compliment? How is, saying that a story is meaningful and complex possibly a fault? Do you not like an engaging story that keeps you at your wits end? Do you not like a story that all but blows your mind with its sheer size and complexity?

If you said "I don't" to even one of the above, then you are a hundred years too early to ever watch (and enjoy) Evangelion. I suggest you flock to SAO or To-Love Ru for mindless grazing on the plains of fap material. See ya when you get bored of watching the same shit over and over.

img(http://i.imgur.com/OFyapjc.jpg)

__Premise__ - The premise of NGE relies on a dystopian world set in 2015 (almost there!) when out of absolutely nowhere -for the second time- an angel attacks. This isn't your average god's messenger though, it is a big fucking robot/alien thingy which blows everything to bits, because why the fuck not - explosions are cool. The United Nations responds like it always does - with a LOT of firepower. Sadly, their firepower falls flat on their faces, because, well, its a fucking angel. It doesn't give a fuck about your democracy. At this point a secret branch called NERV comes in, hoping to destroy the angel using their own brand of killer robot - but science hasn't progressed far enough for the killed robots to be properly utilized. Half the time, that shit doesn't even launch and its a big thing if it can walk. Can humanity really save itself from getting rekt at the hands of the thirteen angels that will bring doom upon earth?

img(http://i.imgur.com/BOaFwAD.jpg)

__Execution__ - Say what you will about Evangelion, but the hard fact is that its execution couldn't be better. If you are even slightly impressed by the story before ep13, get prepared to get blown off the ridge. Because when I say NGE is extreme, I mean it. You will never see the turn on the road and half the clues will slip right by you. But when they come together, you will go "holy jesus fucking christ on a moped! That was awesome! Where did they pull that out of? I never noticed"

And that my friends, is what a story is. Something that keeps surprising you, something that engages your mind -fucks with it even- and most of all, something that makes you say "What happens next?". Evangelion puts a big red tick in front of all of those. Its almost akin to playing a card game, just that Evangelion's entire hand is filled with trumps and every card it plays hits you, and as you get _ just _ that much closer to knowing what's in store for you the next turn, you get hit by yet another trump.

If, even after finishing it, you feel like you don't understand something, then /a/ occasionally has "ask any eva question" threads. Just post (do lurk before though) and some kind anon will probably answer you within five minutes.

But the biggest problem with Evangelion is that it only has 26 episodes, and you _ will _ want more. In that case, I would suggest you to follow it up with the Eva movies, which are quite brilliant (Actually, they are better than the TV series, especially "The end of evangelion"), and even have better artwork and animation. After that? After that you wait until 2015 for Evangelion : Final.

Characters (24/30)

The crew of Evangelion was as real as real goes, but not a single person was likable. I'll explain that statement.

First, the reality part. From the start, I could see where Eva was going with the characters, the dense guy, the girl that fawns over him for no reason, the trauma'd girl and the overconfident tsundere with the god complex. It couldn't have been more clear.

And I couldn't have been more wrong. When the characters suddenly started changing, NGE dragged me out of my comfort zone. This isn't how it was supposed to be! Well, no-fucking-pe. Combined with the steep change in the direction of the story, I was suddenly in a unknown land. This wasn't the series I have been watching for the past 14 episodes! I had that one figured out till the end!

Yeah, sure the characters seem cliche at first glance, but it suddenly changed as all the pieces fall into place and people's ulterior motives come to light.

img(http://i.imgur.com/2Jqy2NC.jpg)

On the other hand, there was no one on the character board that I did like - as is what happens when you completely bare your characters to their innermost, most fucked up, thoughts.

And then there is Shinji. I didn't like the other characters, because -as I pointed out- they bared themselves and changed too much. Shinji on the other hand is a dipshit crybaby. Honestly. I hate that guy. All he does episode in, and episode out, is whine about his crappy dad and his crappy life and his crappy *insert moronic teenager bullshit here*. Like, honestly, I think he might be a faggot, and I don't mean gay, I mean a faggot. Gay isn't an insult, faggot is.

Enjoyment (16/20)

NGE's sole source of enjoyment is its extremely great storyline. Sadly, even that is hampered by a technological gap in the art department which all but wrecks the series if you can't handle low resolution. If you can, though, you just hit the metaphorical goldmine of anime. While other factors may hamper your ability to handle Evangelion, if you actually sit through it, you won't be disappointed.

__Final Verdict - 81/100__

img(http://i.imgur.com/kZbyzOi.jpg)