Sitting down to watch Hideaki Anno’s magnum opus, Neon Genesis Evangelion on Blu-ray for the first time ever, we realised just how much this show means to us. Hearing the OP, one of the greatest of all time (covered by everything from gospel choirs to the Japanese navy), still gives us goosebumps, and so does the show itself. When people talk about classic, iconic anime, they’re talking about shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion.
NGE takes place in Japan in 2015, 15 years after a cataclysmic event called the Second Impact, which led to half the world’s population being wiped out and threw Japan into a state of perpetual summer. The show opens with 14-year-old Shinji Ikari arriving in ‘Tokyo-3’, summoned by his estranged father, Gendo. He is told that he’s there to pilot an Evangelion, one of the titular giant mechs, to fight against equally giant otherworldly creatures, Angels that are attacking the earth.
He is joined by two fellow teenage pilots: the quiet and mysterious Rei Ayanami and the hot-headed Asuka Langley Soryu. Together, the three of them must battle to keep their city safe, all while dealing with the realities of everyday teenage existence depicted in the show’s often comedic slice-of-life moments.
All of this makes NGE sound like a fairly typical mecha anime. However, the worst thing you can do is go into this show thinking it’s actually a mecha anime. For the first 15 episodes or so, it certainly feels like one, with plenty of absolutely awesome battles on a gigantic scale, but then it takes a very different and much darker turn. Anno himself has said that Evangelion represents his four-year depression, and it shows.
Indeed, NGE is an exploration of the darkest parts of the human psyche. It deals with serious issues like abandonment and suicide, it tackles parent-child relationships, sexual awakening, sexuality, and that’s just scratching the surface. Watching Evangelion feels like an extended therapy session but its goal is, ultimately, to make you feel good about yourself.
All the while this is going on, you’ve got a sci-fi plot that is so complicated that saying it ‘keeps you guessing’ would be doing it a disservice. You never know where the show is going or what’s going to happen next, and the things that Evangelion ends up showing you are almost beyond comprehension.
It’s probably fair to say, then, that Evangelion is not an easy, accessible watch. This is not a show that does exposition beyond giving you the tiniest hints that there is something far, far bigger going on. At times it might feel frustrating, but it does mean that every single moment of Evangelion feels like a surprise.
The story is so intense and engaging that everything else almost seems irrelevant, but Evangelion also happens to look and sound incredible. It has a gritty, hyper-real and ultra-detailed look to it which you just don’t get with modern anime, and every frame, every scene, every moment has meaning beyond what you can see on screen. Anno is a master of his art, and everything has a purpose – so much effort has gone into crafting every second of this show that it’s mind-boggling.
The soundtrack is no less inspired. Beyond that legendary OP, you’ve got the pounding battle theme, the incredible use of classical music, amazing sound design and intense voice acting, courtesy of the Japanese cast.
Moreover, this Blu-ray release also comes with The End of Evangelion (the movie that was released a year after the series finished airing, and which serves as the conclusion to the NGE experience) which delivers a conclusion that left us in absolute awe and is a cinematic experience like no other.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is not for everyone. It is a very divisive show, and there is a lot here that people will struggle with, such as the abrupt change in direction partway through and the deep psychological core of the show. That being said, if you can allow yourself to really get on board with Evangelion, you will realise that it is something truly special. In fact, it is a masterpiece.
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