Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion. NGE. A BIG name in anime. It began airing in 1995, so it is an older show. It went on to win several animation awards, and was highly influential to later animes.

NGE is also famous for being a highly controversial show. You either love it, or you hate it. Personally, I side more with the latter. For my tastes, it was just too… WEIRD. Haruhi was weird, but NGE takes it to new levels. The ending especially so.

For the first 24 episodes, it tells the story of giant robots called Evangelions, who defend the world from Angels, which are some form of alien creature. Shinji Ikari is the pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, and is the son of Gendo Ikari, who heads up NERV, the organization who creates the Eva units. Gradually, you learn more about what NERV does, and what the Evas are, but you never get an answer to the ultimate question: “JUST WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED HERE?!” A lot of people, myself included, were left screaming that question after the two final episodes. I was expecting some epic conclusion after the build-up of the first 24 episodes, but then you get some bizarre psychological thing happening entirely in the character’s minds.

So! The creators made End of Evangelion, which is an alternate ending to the series. Or, depending on your interpretation, it is the ‘real-world’ events during the end, rather than what’s going through the character’s minds. But even this left me with a ‘What the heck?’ stance.

And that concludes my thoughts on the series. Is it an overrated show? In my opinion, yes. But maybe some of you reading this will enjoy it, and that’s fine. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

You can watch Neon Genesis Evangelion online here:

http://www.veoh.com/collection/NeonGEvangelion/watch/v36981312fpJ7P2W