Neon Genesis Evangelion is a really confusing show. It has a lot of philosophy in it, and some scientific things too.
Okay in the year 2000, The Second Impact occured. It was a major catastrophe that annhialated 1/3 of the Earth's population. Now, 15 years later, a secret organization called NERV is working to prevent the third installment to the series (hahaha). In other words, they are trying to prevent the third impact, or the same event from occuring again.
Well how do you think they go about this? They take poor parentless 14-year old children and make them pilot huge mechs called Evangelions. There is Shinji Ikari, who is pulled into this all not by choice, but by force. He is the third child they have called upon for this mission, and pilots Evangelion unit 01. Rei Ayanami is the "emotionless" girl who is pushed into piloting because she has nothing else in the world waiting for her. She is basically a puppet.... for stupid Gendo Ikari (Shinji's Daddy-poo. I know I stated the children were parentless, but Gendo's not much of a dad. TRUST ME. And trust Shinji. He says his dad hates him all the time). She pilots the beserk unit 00, and when it brutally attacks her they need to replace it with a different unit 00. Hmmm.... why does it attack her??? Then there's Soryu Asuka Langley. Just Asuka. She speaks German and Japanese (and in the dubbed, english too!) Anyway, she is the second child and pilots the wonderful unit 02. She will not allow anyone to touch her Evangelion and she thinks the world of it. It's not THAT great, Asuka...
There is another pilot, but I can't say who it is, because that's a major spoiler. But he pilots the really cool unit 03. He is the fourth child, naturally.
The problem is, the children don't really like piloting the evas. Well, Asuka does, but she's constantly in competition with Rei, because Rei does everything perfectly. Rei's eva constantly goes beserk when fighting, and Shinji's moves without his commands. Something's not right here....
The object now is to keep the third impact from occuring, as I stated before. They use the Evangelions to do this. But what are the Evangelions used for exactly? They use cool weapons to fight angels. Yes, angels. These angels are fallen angels with horridly strong souls. The souls can be projected to for AT (Absolute Terror) fields. These form a barrier so the Evas can't defeat them. Their goal is to destroy the evas and get into Central Dogma. NERV is built on Central Dogma. So.... they have to get through some very disturbed children's barriers. Doesn't sound too tough. But for some reason the Evas seem to take care of the problems on their own. And why do we need the pilots if the Evas do things on their own? Are they really robots? Whats in Central Dogma that the angels want? Why do they want to create a haven for themselves on earth?
Too many questions.
Oh yeah- and if you are really religious (in the christian faith)- DON'T WATCH THIS SHOW! When angels die, they go up in a flaming cross. This is kinda offending to some people. Also, people mock god in their own ways by... playing god. So just a warning. There is a lot of nudity (undetailed... usually) and sexual content. They don't show anything, but you can... hear it. There is enough swearing to go around, but not really serious. And there is A LOT of violence. Most of it is extremely disturbing towards the end, and some people may not be able to watch what happens to some people. Not to spoil anything...
5/5 Great story, end sucked.
Character Development
5/5 Very good on everyone except Kaoru.
Plot Depth
5/5 Very deep and becomes way too... philisohpical.
Music
5/5 Cruel Angel's Thesis... come on, that song is great!
Sexual Content
4/5 Misato and Kaji...eeeeeeewwww
Nudity
4/5 Some public shower scenes and Shinji's dream ("do you want to become one with me?" etc etc)
Violence/Gore
3/5 Lotsa blood, guts, being torn apart, etc etc
Animation
5/5 Very good and detailed most of the time.
Profanity
4/5 Occasional swear word
Overall goodness
5/5 I loved it, the ending SUCKED.
Totals: 45/50, or too bad the ending was poopy! And just a comment here: I talked a lot up there. If you don't understand the plotline, you probably won't understand it in the show. I simplified it A LOT. I left a TON of details out. If you want, check out some spoiler pages. They'll tell you everything in great detail. If you did understand, kudos to you and may you do well in a philosophy/religion class!
Now--on to the good part!! In 2000, the Second Impact happened. September 13, at 6:38 PM! A major catastrophe happened, and wiped out 1/3 of the world's population. (that's how we solve the population problem, people!! Just kidding) Now, a "top-secret" organization, NERV, is trying to prevent the Third Impact. But how do do such an impossible thing?
Well, why don't we just go and get some kids? Yeah, they'll do. The children we have chosen are-Shinji Ikari. He is fourteen, as all of them are. And he hates his dad. But he wants to love him, he really does. But hey, Gendo is NOT exactly Mr. Cuddly. I hate his guts and he is the worst human being to ever grace us. (well, Ajo, Hojo, Nakago are close, too. But I have no sympathy for any of these people. They get what's coming to them.. hopefully) Shinji has lived alone all of his life. Since age three, when his mother died in a freak accident, his father left him alone, and he's been forced to fend for himself. But he is not very strong. This is one of those kids you just wanna hug. He was forced into this by his dad, who called him because he "had a use for him now". Now--on to Rei Ayanami. 14. Emotionless. Blue hair.. red eyes... o_o.. She does everything perfectly. And she is the sole reason I did not wreak havoc upon Gendo Ikari. He treats her so well. At least the man is a human being. She is in this because.. well, Rei's got nothing else. She has no other life besides this Eva she has... and Gendo. (she is seen naked most, for you hentai Rei fans) She's.. something you don't forget. She does one of the most noble things possible. And then Asuka Langely Soryu. She's rather arrogant and big-headed. That's because the kid is a genius, and wants attention desperatly. Her mother had some serious problems, and little Asuka hasn't been the same since. She wants to be loved, but doesn't know how. She... she's one of the characters that I felt the worst for. What happens to her.. it's horrible. But I have warned you aplenty. Then, KAORU!! I loved him a lot! He was awesome. He was also something you don't forget so easily. And he made Shinji feel loved. That was what I liked him for. He reached out to Shinji when no one else could. (you'll understand soon enough) But alas... *sob breaks out while remembering all of these people*
Now, the Eva's. Shinji pilots Unit-01. Purple!! YAY! It tends to move without Shinji being concious inside of it! How very strange. The the Unit-00. It WAS orange, but after an incident, it had to be replaced, and they made it blue then. Unit-02, the red one. Asuka's beloved Unit-02. It was a good Eva, and it was cool! All the Eva's had really good weapons.
The angels, now. Their goal is to kill off the human race. To make Earth clean, and make a sanctuary for the fallen Angels, the angels of God. They aren't your typical, white winged human beautiful things. They are ugly and not what people think angels to be.
I haven't cried like this in a long time. And I don't do it often. Please listen to me. This is NOT a kiddie show, even though it's an animated cartoon. Man, if you show this to some six year olds, you're gonna give em permanent disturbity!! This is very adult. And the characters.. oh, the characters. I loved them, I really did. You get attached to them, you want their pain to end, and even though they may lose hope, you try not to. For them. And may I add one more thing- As I remembered this all for my review, I cried. Yeah, I'm a cheeseball tonight.
5/5 It was.. um.. I can't find a word to describe it. I loved it, is that good?
Character Development
5/5 Good, but the last episodes were a little rushed.
Plot Depth
5/5 very deep and deals with our (humans) reason for being, Gods, etc. etc.
Music
5/5 There is excellent music
Sexual Content
4/5 Misato got her wish to ruin her reputation. Desperately.
Nudity
4/5 Aw, plenty, and (usually) undetailed.
Violence/Gore
3/5 A LOT. There is a ton of this. Some is senseless violence. (Tape 9, episode 18) But most is justifiable. Don't get me started.
Animation
5/5 MOST EXCELLENT
Profanity
4/5 Shinji and Asuka can have potty mouths.
Overall goodness
5/5 It was a very good storyline
Totals: 45/50, or wonderful. I apologize, I got just a teensy bit wordy up there. But there's so much to be said about it that I just had to say it. I can't recommend this to anybody without knowing you personally. But might I add, it's really good, confusing, and everything. VERY PHILOSOPHICAL. Oh, my, your head hurts if you watch too much at once. Or, if you read all our reviews for that matter! Sorry.. uh.. try not to get us started, for once you do, we do not stop!! ^_^
TOTALS: 45/50 We both loved it, but we both hate the ending! AND WE ARE WORDY!!
***Rented. (dubbed) Soon to be owned. (dubbed)***