Neon Genesis Evangelion--Review and Reaction

After somehow NOT seeing it for this long, I finally finished Neon Genesis Evangelion. What did I think of the series? Well, I'd have to say my feelings are pretty mixed overall.

Earth, 2015, fifteen years after the Second Impact. The Earth is getting bombarded by mysterious alien beings known as the Angels. Fortunately for humankind, NERV has something to say about this, and their response are the mecha known collectively as Evangelion, humanlike robots piloted by 14-year-old children. However, the Third Child, Ikari Shinji, has his own demons, such as his own father, to deal with in addition to protecting mankind in EVA Unit 01.

What I have to credit GAINAX with in this production is the very high production values. For an anime series made in the mid-1990s, the visuals are pretty lush. The mecha designs are very original, I'd have to say and the action scenes are generally very well-done. Of course, since I'm a guy (^_^) I'd also have to credit GAINAX for designing some of the most gorgeous female characters to ever grace an anime series.

Also, I'd have to say the voice-acting in general was pretty good, particularly Ogata Megumi (lead character Shinji) and Hayashibara Megumi (Ayanami Rei). However, I'd have to say the music was a mixed bag of either really good or really average tunes, though thankfully nothing is bad. Both "Cruel Angel's Thesis" and "Fly Me to the Moon" were very good opening and end themes. However, I felt some of the tunes (i.e. the drum tune every time an angel appears) get overused quite a bit.

Now we get to the story. Sadly enough, I feel this is the part of NGE I simply have to criticize. I think I can sort of divide the series into three "phases". The first phase served primarily to get Shinji and co. together into one setting and give introductions to all the major players of the story. The second phase felt more like filler with "Monster of the Week"-type episodes where Angels appear and NERV figuring out ways to defeat them; very little in the way of character development goes on at this point. The last segment of the series, particularly the last two episodes, launches into what seems to be ravings of a manic-depressive. Director Anno Hideaki was apparently on antidepressants while making NGE, and it sure shows towards the end.

In addition to that, I feel half of everything pertaining to NERV was not explained. A lot of this had to do with the ending, which served to be a pretty amazing letdown. I was watching until the end primarily so I could get some sort of closure which I ultimately never got. I simply failed to see how the rest of the series led up to the last two episodes. A pretty good chunk of the major characters had no explanations for their motives, and I felt that I honestly only really knew Shinji, Misato, and Asuka by the end of the series, partly because the ending served as character studies for them; I'm not exactly spoiling anything since the ending is such that it is pretty much impossible to spoil (or even explain).

The ending may at least be partly the result of NGE, like many other anime series, going overbudget before the end. Already, you can see an increase in the use of still cels in lieu of animated motion and other animation shortcuts. Thus, Anno and GAINAX were probably just looking for a way to end the series quickly and economically while letting Anno still have a say in the storytelling.

In conclusion, would I say Neon Genesis Evangelion is a bad anime? No, but I definitely have seen better. Nonetheless, NGE is a classic that should be seen by nearly every otaku primarily for its importance in the history of anime, but (at least in my opinion) certainly not for those expecting solid storytelling or anything else that generally does not resemble ravings of a depressed lunatic.

Overall: 2.5/4