Some religious gobledegook plastered over a series about giant robots and their inevitably teenage pilots, but it works suprisisngly well.

I agree with a lot of what Magnus said. A lot of the mystery which is built up turns out to have no pay-off. If you want an obvious US analog to this, try The X-files in its later years.

On paper there is nothing about this series that I should particularly like. It has kids kids piloting giant robots against marauding, mysterious aliens, and it has a load of pseudo-intellectual/religious rubbish inserted near the end to make anime fans think it's deep.

And yet the thing is still done with a good sense of drama, some emotion, and it does suck you in, even if you don't really know what you're being sucked into. I will say this for EVA - and it's no small thing, really - it was the series that got me interested in anime again when I thought it was a totally lost cause.

But since then I've seen a lot better.

This is probably the most overrated anime series ever. Not because it's bad, but because it's a good series which can't possibly live up to its fan hype.

This series is a great production--the creators put a lot of work into it, and it shows--but certain aspects could have been improved or even changed altogether, mostly in the way the story was organized. I don't know much about the technical background behind this show's creation, but I have heard that the creator (whether or not it was Anno Hideaki) was under extreme pressure from the show's producers, and had a bit of an emotional meltdown when it came time to end the series, resulting in the show's original ending. Afterward, an alternate ending was made in the form of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Movie. I have seen both endings and neither of them struck my fancy, but of course for this review I'm focusing on the series (don't worry, no plot spoilers).

First off, I have to say that there are good reasons for this show's legendary status. Any true animation critic will agree that giant robots have become a cliché among anime shows and movies...it seems like two thirds of the genre consists of giant robot lookalikes fighting each other. But miraculously, NGE has managed to rewrite the giant robot idea so efficiently that many modern animes now seek to imitate its style. First of all, the robots, or Evas, are not really robots at all, but heavily armored artificial cyborg lifeforms created by NERV to protect citizens from the Angels. I would describe them in more detail but I want to avoid spoilers...let's just say if you contrast the Evas with the ACTUAL giant robot that is the topic of one episode, you'll see the difference more clearly. Secondly, the appearance of the Evas is a huge deviation from the bulky, spikey, flashy look that all giant anime robots had since the Gundam series, or even earlier than that. The Evas show off a sleek, streamlined style that makes them look simultaneously more alien and more natural. Combine a Star Wars Stormtrooper with some kind of slender humanoid lizard, and you might almost have something that...really...does not resemble an Eva at all...I guess you just have to see a picture of one. The Angels are fascinating, too; each one is unique and incredibly strange, so it's always fun to find out how and IF they can be defeated, which as written in the previous reviews here, pretty much sums up the events for a large part of the series, aside from numerous character interactions...

That said, the problem I have with this series is that it builds up mystery...and I mean a LOT of mystery, and a lot of DIFFERENT mysteries. Mysteries about the Evas, mysteries about the Angels, mysteries about Shinji and his father, mysteries about NERV and the history of the Second Impact and even the FIRST Impact, and the list goes on. Of course, the element of mystery in a series or movie can be a wonderful and powerful tool; but if you make a series based on mysteries, you need to resolve them once in a while. Part of the appeal of a mystery in a TV show comes from the hope that you will find some answers in the future. It's good to leave the viewer thinking, as long as what the viewer is thinking is not "Who the heck are these people??" and "What the heck is going on??" Questions like these are just a little bit crucial and really deserve clearer answers than this show provides, or in some cases does not provide. Then, just when you think the mystery can't build anymore and you'll finally get some answers because you're at the end of the series, you discover that you were both right and wrong about the ending. You were right to think that the mysteries could not possibly build anymore...at some point, the series seems to have raised unanswered questions about every single character, structure, and organization. You were wrong, however, to think that you would get answers to these questions.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating...some interesting information is revealed now and then in the series. But my impression is that NGE focuses more on emotion than information. Aside from the battles with the Angels, much of the story is about Shinji's depression, his relationship to his father, his depression, his interaction with Misato and the Eva pilots, his depression, the mysterious character Rei, and also Shinji's depression. The ending for the series emphasizes these topics even more than the rest of the show, and I strongly feel that a more concrete and conclusive ending should have been used. I still say this after having seen the NGE movie.

So that's what I have to say about NGE. However, just about the entire anime fanbase would be dying to argue with me over the negative points I've made, so maybe you should just see it for yourself. It's certainly worth the watch.

Why is it that when legions of fans always say "such and such anime is the greatest because it is so dramatic and heartbreaking and will leave you in tears" I always wind up thinking it's more than just a tad overrated? While this IS one of the most important animes ever for revolutionizing the genre, anime fans also place it on a pedestal as being "a god among animes", and it's this view I must disagree with.

Watching this on Cartoon Network, I get the feeling I must have imagined what made it so great and should adjust what I said in my review of Escaflowne accordingly. The animation is astonishingly bland, even by the mid-90s standards. The moments of beauty come when the characters finally head outside and hop into their machines to do combat. Like most animes, NGE is somewhat repetitive. Angel attacks. Throw out a whole bunch of dialogue. Find angel and kill it. Repeat. This show is famous not so much for how much carnage the battles between the machines and monsters can throw out but more for its analysis on the state of humanity, both on the outside and on the inside. This is one of the elements that separate this show from most other mecha animes, but if you're not the type to enjoy heavy-handed religious and psychological allusions, then you probably won't like this show. What upsets me is that when they do finally get to the angel, more often than not, the battle is over without much of a struggle instead of a biblical clash of giants that it should be. However, there are other elements that elevate this above most other animes, particularly the way the characters unfold and interact before your eyes, and also the fact that every angel has to be battled differently because they each have different traits. One of the highlights that I like is a scene where Misato flashbacks to when her father saves her life during the Second Impact when a rather large angel ravages the planet with an explosion bigger than most nuclear blasts. It's only but one of many scenes that hint at the seriousness buried within this show.

Fans of the show claim that the series gets darker as it goes along and whole characters start to fall apart, but I'm already halfway into the show on Cartoon Network and I have yet to see something different other than the "Find Angel. Kill Angel." cycle. I doubt the average person would like to wait what's practically the equivalent of a whole season for a western cartoon just for some kind of revelation. A good animated show, whether it's anime or western, should slowly grow from the very first episode. Even if a world-shattering "twist" is hidden a dozen episodes or even two dozen episodes down the track, the audience needs to be constantly fed with an ever evolving and expanding plot that ties in with the "twist". Or at least fed tidbits and hints here and there.

But at any rate, this anime is still enjoyable, and perhaps more importantly, it's a historic show that was revolutionary for its time. But I disagree that it's "the best ever."

Whoa, I'm the first one to say something about this amazing, dazzling masterpiece of TV animation?! Great! :)
As I said in my review for "Grave of the Fireflies", I wasn't to fond of japanese animation for a long time. I saw a fair number of titles, including "Lily C.A.T.", "Blue Submarine No. 6" and "Spriggan" but nothing that blew my away till "Fireflies" came along. The same I can say about japanese TV animation. I loath "Pokémon" and all its rip-offs and series like "Agent Aika" struck me as being more silly and dumb than everything else. "Neon Genesis Evangelion" changed that.
A friend of mine recommended the series to me and I half-hearted decided to give it a chance. The first episode struck me as nothing special but after a while (when I had nothing better to do I must say) I watched some more episodes and I thought: "Hey, that's not bad. Not bad at all!" The second episode was better than the first one, the third better than the second one and so on. The characters really grew onto me, I loved their relationships and how their complex character traits were realized. Plus, "NGE" has some very good fight scenes to offer. In my opinion this series has everything: great action, a story that's not dumbed-down and takes its audience serious, well-developed characters, all with their own unique traits, good music and well-made animation. Another great thing about "NGE" is that you also have to think for yourself. The creator of this show doesn't tells you everything, some (most?) of the question raised in the course of the story you have to answer for yourself. It's really an intelligent show that can keep your mind busy for days, weeks, months or even years. And that's a special quality that's really rare on TV, in an animated series or otherwise alike.