Without question, Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most mind-bending and unbelievable anime of all time. The show begins as a seemingly simple mecha anime, but it quickly embraces a much darker tone and the director’s own depression begins to infect the anime. The result is a one-of-a-kind experience that’s still being dissected decades later. Truth be told, it feels more like a project from David Lynch than an action-packed anime about giant robots.
Neon Genesis Evangelion has made its mark on anime and is getting through to new audiences now that its cinematic remake series is nearing its finale and on top of that, it’s been recently added to Netflix. It goes without saying that the original anime is a genre classic, but does it deserve such high praise? Here are five ways that Neon Genesis Evangelion is a timeless anime and five ways that it’s overrated.
10 IT'S TIMELESS: The Theme Song
Something as superficial as a catchy and evocative opening theme song shouldn’t be that big of a deal but in many ways, it’s the audience’s first taste of the series and what throws them into the story before each episode.
There are many great theme songs out there, but Neon Genesis Evangelion’s “A Cruel Angel Thesis” by Yoko Takahashi is transcendent. It’s frequently been voted the best theme song of its era and it’s gained a timeless quality, even spawning countless memes and parody edits. This opening not only sets the mood, but builds up sheer excitement for what’s to come.
9 IT'S OVERRATED: The Rebuild Films
Neon Genesis Evangelion’s original run from 1995 to 1996 was iconic, but the ending turns into such an unusual black hole of despair that the idea of retelling the series through a number of films was put into practice. This is where the Rebuild series of films comes in.
The Rebuild of Evangelion movies look gorgeous, but they reinterpret the source material in surprising ways. Each film takes greater liberties and with where Evangelion 3.3 ends, it looks like the final movie in the series will verge into completely new territory. That’s exciting for some, but many have felt betrayed by the direction the movies have taken.
8 IT'S TIMELESS: The Ending(s)
Endings are everything and unfortunately a poor one is enough to sour the entire reputation of a series, even if an anime is stunning on every other level. As the conflict between EVA and Angel intensifies and the world heads closer to annihilation, Neon Genesis Evangelion goes especially off the rails.
Originally, a very unconventional and esoteric two-part finale plays out that really raises more questions than it gives answers. The movies Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion then finish off the original story, but they also take a surprising path that makes the series stand out on another level.
7 IT'S OVERRATED: It Throws Away Its Plot
There’s a lot going on by the time that Neon Genesis Evangelion enters its endgame. The fate of the world is at stake and there’s a lot of ground to cover. Despite these obligations, Neon Genesis Evangelion throws convention out the window and instead delivers a much more philosophical stream of consciousness style ending.
The insane turn that everything takes is one of the reasons that the show is so memorable, but for those that are interested in closure, it’s an inevitably frustrating finish. It’s intensely weird, but some feel that this shouldn’t come at the expense of story.
6 IT'S TIMELESS: Its Look At Depression
Neon Genesis Evangelion tackles a lot of themes and at its surface level it dresses itself up as an ordinary mecha anime, but the more that the series goes on the more it becomes a deep dive into existential depression. Shinji struggles with self-hatred and depression on a literal level, but the imagery and path of the series also reflect this.
The series’ director, Hideaki Anno, was suffering through depression himself at the time and its influence on the anime is substantial. In many ways, the series becomes an anime that’s about depression.
5 IT'S OVERRATED: Shinji Is An Annoying Protagonist
Shinji Ikari is a difficult character to properly understand. He’s a teenager who's already in an awkward period of his life, but the decisions and responsibilities that are suddenly thrust upon him would be enough to break most people.
Shinji does his best, but a lot of the series is him whining and too afraid to actually jump into action. It’s a realistic look at fear, but his inactive state is too much for some people. Even if it’s easy to understand Shinji’s cowardice, there are still more dynamic ways for the series to portray it.
4 IT'S TIMELESS: Its Vision Of The Apocalypse
The threat of the Angels in Neon Genesis Evangelion pose a threat to Shinji and the other EVA pilots that fight against them, but they also put the whole fate of the world at risk. NERV’s efforts to battle the Angels are to avoid Third Impact, an apocalyptic event that will level the world.
End of Evangelion brings this terror to life and the way in which Evangelion depicts this bleak and hopeless world is uniquely disturbing. It’s such a different vision of what a broken world would look like.
3 IT'S OVERRATED: The Animation
A stellar story and enjoyable characters go a long way in building an audience for an anime, but it also has to look pleasing to the eye and feature something that doesn’t feel lazy or derivative of the past. Studio Gainax brings to life some thrilling sequences and surreal visuals throughout the course of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it’s not as groundbreaking as it could be.
There are also simpler moments that lack in complexity and the character models are also on the more basic side. The anime doesn’t look bad and it's very of its time, but the animation is far from the selling point.
2 IT'S TIMELESS: It Reinvented The Mecha Genre
The mecha genre is extremely popular for anime and there are dozens of series that try to subvert the giant robot tropes and go somewhere new with the idea. Neon Genesis Evangelion actually achieves this goal.
Its designs for the EVA units, as well as the Angels that they engage in battle with, are very atypical. They become these weird meshes of robot and animal as circuitry combines with blood. The way in which the pilots engage with the EVA is also a lot more draining and intense than the standard mecha series.
1 IT'S OVERRATED: The English Dubs
The debate between dubs and subs for anime continues to rage on, but the bottomline is that some people simply won’t watch an anime if it isn’t dubbed. The English dub for Evangelion that was done in the ‘90s is iconic, but it does feel like a relic of its time in many ways and it’s not perfect. Nostalgia has informed a lot of the love that people have for it.
However, the more recent dub that has come out on Netflix’s release is far from an improvement. This less loving version that’s now out undermines the series.