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The world’s a wreck; devastated by a catastrophe that reduced the entire planet’s human and animal population to but a fraction. Every so often, Angels, giant celestial monsters from beyond, decide to wreak havoc on the surface, each attempting to start the next impact, and likely the end of the world. It’s clearly a problem for Earth’s inhabitants, so they’ve established a military organization named NERV for the specific purpose of fending off the Angels. Our fourteen year old protagonist, Shinji Ikari, is invited by his father and commander (Gendo Ikari) to join NERV in the city of Tokyo-3 (the last two were blown up ... it seems). It just so happens that Shinji is the one who gets to do the heavy lifting (see: fighting monsters), via a giant mech suit called an Evangelion. Go ahead and watch those too if you are able.

It appears to be pretty standard fare upon first glance: Shinji meets his robot, beats the bad guys, and will clearly save the world, but that’s not where the show went, and the direction it took with the plot was what made the series so endearing and influential on the Anime Industry.

You see, this story is one of its characters. Shinji, and many of those closer to him, are subjected to an intense psychological gauntlet of events over the course of the series. Every person of note has some serious flaws, and they maintain and nurture these flaws rather than having them ironed out, as is the typical pattern in many stories. Occasionally, during moments of strength and courage, Shinji will make a stand and confront his fear of close relationships. As he jumps a hurdle, he’ll smack into the 10-foot brick wall that is his true nature. He’ll brood over why he pilots his Eva unit, why he even bothered to make contact with his rather indifferent father, or the fact that he even deals with people in general. The rest of the cast is just as interesting to watch: Asuka’s independent and perhaps sadistic nature makes her a both hilarious and painful character to watch. Rei’s closure from the world makes her both a mystery to the audience as well as a subject of empathy. The best parts of the show occur when all three of these characters are interacting together, as the chemistry between them is both unpleasant and volatile. Again: It’s a character study. A character study with GIANT ROBOTS. Unfortunately, not all is good with a critically acclaimed series. Shinji is famous for sounding like a whiny bitch at times, and not without due credit. Gendo Ikari is really just an asshole, and the lack of ballsack on nearly every character is frustrating to watch at times.

Visually, this anime holds up well. The animations are a little jerky compared to modern animation, but the character designs (count the amount of times I say character) are clean and easily discernable. The unique, organic-yet-mechanical look of the Eva units making a lasting impression on viewers. Still rather disturbing on several levels are the angels, with their otherworldly appearances bordering on the edges of Judeo-Christian aesthetic (I still don’t understand the inclusion – Lots of explosions are portrayed as bright crosses of light jutting from the Earth’s surface)). The action’s no slouch, and combined with the fantastic scene direction, makes for some wonderfully awesome scenes; The first battle where Eva Unit 01 goes berserk stays in the memory of even the passing fans. Opening up a can of unnatural whoop ass tends to do that. One thing of note: The animation studio, Gainax, began to run out of animation budget towards the end of the series, leading up to what is perhaps one of the most controversial endings the history of the entertainment medium. It left fans with a very bitter taste in their mouths, and led to the creation of two movies in an attempt to patch up the ending: Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion.

Anyways, I’ve mentioned before that Neon Genesis Evangelion was a darling to the anime industry. I’m not kidding, either. It is, quite literally, the series that made North America pay attention to this new Japanese fad; made famous because of the mature issues that it addressed, unlike the other shows grouped with it during that time. If you are a newcomer to this sort of thing, or are a fellow anime fan who has managed to miss this work, I highly recommend it to you.