Rating: 
Summary: God is in the details...
Review: I have to admit, I agree with all the people who criticize this series' philosophical pretenstions. Still, in light of what's been accomplished, it's more than forgiveable. The series isn't about giant robots. They're just sort of there, the same way it happens to be set in Japan.Evangelion is about the incredible skill and attention that went into making it. My favorite scene in the series isn't any of the disturbing revelations near the end, like the tank full of bodies, or any of the fights, or any of the emotionally-loaded exchanges; it's Misato's promotion party in one of the early episodes. It's pure class. The dialogue is flawless. And in the episode where Asuka first appears - when Misato and the Admiral are talking on the bridge, watch Kensuke running around in the background. When most of the cast is jammed in an elevator, pause the DVD and take a look at the expression on everyone's face. Pay attention to the tempo of the dialogue. The grander aspects, also, like explosions and limbs rending, are perfectly timed and pictured. You could watch this series with the sound and subtitles turned completley off and it would still be an edifying experience. Also the characters. It's difficult to believe that a single person as convincing and interesting as Misato could have been the result of so many different minds; the series creator, the character design guy, the animator, and the voice actor. What you have here is four or more minds working in perfect synchrony. It's more convicing than live action somehow, at times. This is one of those works of art that makes any discussion of medium or genre ridiculous; it's just pure art. No home should be without it.
Rating:
Summary: Simply breathtaking...
Review: For the record, I am not a huge fan of Anime. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places, but everytime I start to watch a series it ends up as mindless action or mindless comedy. I've only seen 2 that can truly be called intellectual. Serial Experiment: Lain was one. Neon Genesis Evangelion is the other.
I cannot say enough good about this series. It it quite simply the best piece of work to ever have been broadcast. Anywhere. Nothing to come out of America, nothing to come out of Japan, nothing anywhere can meet the sheer brilliance of the 26 episodes of this most disturbing, heartwarming, and beautiful anime.
Evangelion starts out simply enough. Ikari Shinji is a 14-year old boy who gets called upon to pilot a giant mecha, called an Evangelion. He, Rei, and Asuka are the three children that have the ability to pilot these machines. Simple enough, right? The first 3/4's of the series deals with the relationship between these 3 and the various leaders of NERV, the organization they work with. It is highly entertaining, beautifully drawn, and very engaging. Alot of the middle episodes are very light hearted, and nothing too fantastic, but enjoyable in their own right.
It is in the last quater of the series that it becomes brilliant. Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Misato (one of the leaders of NERV) become very introspective. By this point their back stories and personalities are developed beyond any rational expectation. I don't want to spoil the moving experience of this anime, but let me just say that it is incredibly philosophical, psychological, and depressing.
Oh, and for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT listen to anyone who tells you not to watch the last 2 episodes. They are, simply put, fools. The last 2 episodes are jarring, disturbing and very hard to watch. They do not give perfect closer to the whole series (don't worry Plot [enthusiasts], End of Evangelion, due out in September ties up all the loose ends). But they made the series for me. You have to see it to believe it and I am not going to spoil it by saying anything more. Just trust that it is simply breathtaking...
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest of them all!
Review: Well, the greatest is a big word. But this serie is so good. It can't be explained, you just have to see it. It's partly mecha fight's and just normal action. Partly deep, intresting, wonderful and amazingly cool in it's way to tell us the story. A must have for anyone that likes good anime. And for you who don't, you might have to change your opinion after watching this.
Rating: 
Summary: its more for the little kitties... to cheesy!
Review: The story is ok(when compared to other great anime like "cowboy beebop") and so is the little action scenes they do have(which is only 10% of the sereis). But character personalites and dialoge scenes (which constitutes 90% of the sereis) are so BORRING and repetative. they keep asking the same melow dramatic question answeard with the same melow dramatic, cheesy lines.THE FIRST FOUR DVD'S OF THE SERIES WERE UTERLY BORRING AND USELESS, ID NEVER WATCH THEM EVER AGAIN! the animation is pretty WEAK except for the actions scenes which are rare. Buy Cowboy Beebop instead
Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece of all anime
Review: Evangelion is one of the most contriversial and most talked about animes in the business. The studio who originally made the series (GAINAX) took a relatively large risk in releasing Evangelion. Although there were many other animes that had incredible but gory action, heavy placement on psychollogy, and mechas, (TRUCKLOADS OF MECHAS) Evangelion managed to create something that was very unique and not seen before. There was a lot of preproduction on the series. (like most anime series) Every detail of every episode was planned out. (except some minor details that could be worked on later) The Director Anno Hideaki took the series to new heights by adding his own personal touches that made Eva more realistic down to earth than many other mechas. (.....but then again he did pretty much MAKE Evangelion.... No Anno Hideaki= No Eva) The first half of the series focused on introducing the characters, their motives, pasts etc. The first half had a good balance of humor, some of the BEST mecha fights in the business (beautifully excecuted), and some character developments to boot. The first half generated great interest in the show. (They got girls to watch eva by adding a cute penguin in the series, PenPen) The first episode even included a cross (obvious symbolism) to almost permanantly distinguish Evangelion from other mecha series. The introduction was simple enough, Shinji Ikari (14 years old... 13 in most Western countries) comes to Tokyo 3 in order to confront his father. He ultimately ends up being a pilot of a giant robot known as Evangelion. As the series progresses, his motives, wants and pasts become more clear. He even improves his psychological condition. He even becomes very likeable halfway. The first half really didn't prepare the viewers for the second horrific half. Gainax is known for not having a budget.... And it shows in Eva. Even though Evangelion had an OVA budget, (higher than most television series budgets) it still went overbudget halfway. The creaters tried to create an anime that could use only a limited amount of cells per episodes so they often froze on scenes for long periods of time or reused some cells. Even though such techniques were employed, the creaters managed to mask a good deal of the fact that they were running low on money. (the genius of Anno Hideaki) By using good use of cinema techniques and "the moment" they managed to create animation quality that did not differ greatly from the first half. (at least until episode 24) The second half itself was a very gory piece. It used a great deal of symbolism which confused many; however, a good deal of the symbolism used represented something. Even though some things that were very important to the plot flew past the viewers originally, after rewatching many times, the viewer can get the full meaning and picture. Seemingly random symbolism can be defined as something, no matter how insignificant it seems at the moment. Episode 25 and 26 were the episodes that the budget problem caught up with. It was VERY obvious to the viewers that Eva went overbudget by this point. While the episodes will anger many (it already did and GAINAX as well as Anno Hideaki received a lot of hate mail and death threats...) it is a very good ending. If one wants the recieve the full meaning of the episodes and get a real good appreciation of the episodes, one must watch End of Eva, the remake of episode 25 and 26 in movie format. (by the way only buy End of Eva, not Death and Rebirth.... then again it did have good music..... and some added scenes....) So if you want to buy the series, buy the movie End of Evangelion with it. The series is worth every penny. It will give you great new insight on many things and entertain you until the end. This anime is one that is not to be missed. (P.S. the director's cut of episodes 21-24 is now available in America. The episodes were remade with better animation and additional scenes that makes the movie easier to understand.. although they do rip you off......)
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe not all it's cracked up to be
Review: With "Evangelion", anime fans seem to be split into two camps--those who really, really like it, and those who don't. (An apparently small but occasionally vocal minority.) Many of the reviews here (I can't say most, since frankly I haven't read all 228 evaluations of this item) seem to be from the former group. I'm here to present a dissenting, though hopefully level-headed, opinion. The series starts out with a lot of promise. A potentially very interesting plot and cast of characters, boosted by some very intriguing foreshadowing. Unfortnately, this holding of the proverbial carrot in front of viewers' noses goes on for the entire first half of the series, with far more questions than answers being dispensed. In the second half of the series, the story itself begins to short-circuit--ANNO Hideaki, the director, wrote this more or less as it came to him, and it shows in the way that the actual plot never quite comes together. (The last time I watched this series, I tried very, very hard to make sense of all the divergent plot points we're given, and although in several episodes everything comes really close to making complete sense, it ultimately dissolves again each time. The only thought I have on this is that Anno himself didn't really know what was going on while he created the series, and it hurt the plot badly.) While the comprehensibility quotient of the story goes down during the series' second half, the strange symbolism quotient rockets up, compounding the issue severely. This is really the deciding factor: many fans seem to love the apparently random barrage of symbolism (which in an interview, Tsurumaki, the co-director, admitted was largely a meaningless lark), and mind-boggling amounts of literature has been written about this show. (It also plays this symbolism very straight and serious, which makes occasionally feels odd.) If you're the kind of person who is okay with that, or even enjoys it, then by all means, buy this show. If you're like me--someone who doesn't really appreciate symbolism where the creators didn't seem to have any intentions at all and it's up to viewer to impart any meaning at all to it--you may want to be careful. As an aside, I also don't feel that the characters are advanced at all over the course of the series. I think the manga remedies this immensely and recommend trying Sadamoto Yoshiyuki's ambitious reinterpretation of the series even if you didn't like the show. That said, Eva is also home to some very impressive mecha battles--the climax of episode 24 is, in my opinion, one of the most thrilling battle sequences to come along in quite a while. Nonetheless, I urge everyone to see this show at least once, whether you buy it or borrow it from a friend. Why? Well, whatever you or I may think of "Evangelion", it is inarguably one of the most influential anime shows of its era--I can't bring to mind another series that has been more widely or more passionately discussed and debated by this generation of fans. If you are an anime enthusiast, it beehoves you to see this show if for no reason other than to know what people are talking about with it and so you can know where you stand when the issue comes up. I'm hard-pressed to say that "Evangelion" is an unequivocally bad show, because it does have good points. But amidst all the fan-love usually directed at this series, newcomers may want to take it with a grain of salt.
Rating:
Summary: neon genesis evangelion
Review: okay everyone should get this, thats shure! its gory! gory good!
its a bit confusing thou, it only has 26 dvds 5 each except the last one has 1 episode.
the story
eva short for evangelion are like clones of the first angel sent to earth in 2000 15 years before the show, the first angel is adam. there 13 or 17 angels i cant remember, sorry! well when shiji the main chariter going to pilots the eva unit 1 the 3rd angel attacks! like they know! but if their messagers of god they know i guess. theres about 5 evas only shows eva 0 eva 0b eva 1 eva 2 eva 3 which turns bad eva5 only in movie!
eva blew up! well this show is bible like its cool more like religious! its the best! um the cariters are shinji pilots eva 1 purple rei ayami pilots eva 0 yelow and blue asuka pilots eva 2 red eva 3 toji for like a day! black eva4 doesnt even show eva eva 5 none ai. its the best!!!!!!!!! you should get it! the bad thing is toysrus it cost alot so i advise you to go to "
" deepdiscountdvd.com, its only $101.94" but heres cool to also deepdiscountdvd has free shipping and overnight abd 5-10 days 3-5 days and more but you have to make an acount thou. well please give me ggoooodddd rating! jk! lol! also get
SAMURAI X! ITS THE BEGINNG OF RUROUNI KENSHIN! at deepdiscountdvd its $40 todays 2/26 so its soldout thou...to bad but you can preoder it!!!!!!!!!!yeah! well bye have a good day!
Rating:
Summary: In Other Words.........
Review: This is not a show about the Massive monsters (called Angels) that come to town and the giant robots that fight them. Those things are simply the backdrops. The fight scenes are glorious to see and take up a large portion of each episode, But Ultimately this is a show about the three young pilots who defeat the Angels and how emotionally fragile and broken they are. The story starts off simple. A young boy named Shinji is tapped by his estranged father to become a pilot for an Eva. Shinji eventually settles into this routine with the other two pilots A quiet sometimes eerie girl named Rei, And a fiery egotistical girl name Asuka. The young pilots try to lead a semi-normal life while saving the world. However at some point the story spins off into wildly confusing directions. Every character in the show is dealing with their past and emotional demons. It's very interesting to learn what makes all these people tick. You do have to work a bit to see the core of all the characters since many would be much happier to simply crawl into a dark cave and hide crying then to really deal with what is going on around them. Shinji the main character spends a lot of time unhappy and does complain a lot. The Angel battles are very well thought out with some great effects. Each of the angels attack in a different fashion so all the battles are unique. And the battle music is some of the best I have every heard. The music falls sometimes on the dramatic Armageddon variety, but sometimes switches towards a classical vein or even a hymn that works beautifully. There's a good deal of mythology and symbolism that at times is really obscure and hard to understand. References are drawn from Judeo-Christian beliefs but even delve in to the realms of psychology and philosophy. Some of the symbolism may be offensive to some and confusing to others, but I really enjoyed a lot of the references. I didn't understand them as I saw them but after hours scouring the Internet for explanations to a lot of the imagery the answers and explanations made me appreciate just how deep and complex this show is. Evangelion is eight years old but the show has held up reasonable well through out the years. At times I was bothered by the softness of colors but nothing major to detract from the overall enjoyment. A couple other points worth mentioning though is the final two episodes. While I won't give any spoilers it's actually because there aren't any to give. The last episodes buck the story completely to present more of a psychological portrayal of inside of the character's minds. The back cover of the DVD calls the ending controversial but I'm guessing it's because a lot of people hated it. I really liked the last two episodes and thought they made a lot of good points about how we can live our lives better. But my perspective was that as soon as I finished those two final episodes I had the special ending movies that were recently released to find out what happened. If I had to be content with a philosophical essay as the ending for a few years I might have been a little pissed too. The other point is the special ending movies. The movies while I guess a fitting end take the story too some truly psychotic and sick places. And in the end open up some new questions that I'm guessing may never be truly answered. I love so much about the Evangelion series that it stands as one of my favorite pieces of work. The story is an elusive puzzle that isn't for everyone, and as much as we hypotheses few will ever truly understand its nuances. But Evangelion does get under your skin and make you think. And I believe it's worthy of the controversy and fame it has received
Rating:
Summary: A Groundbreaking Masterpiece
Review: It's difficult to describe Evangelion. There's much to be praised, much to be explained, and much left to the imagination. Now, I read reviews and see how people claim that this series lacked too much to be considered a classic, how the characters were too flawed, and how the story itself was too confusing and difficult to follow. Let me clarify a few of these misconceptions; 1) Evangelion is one of the greatest series ever created, whether or not it lacked the mindless action you craved. If that really is the case, go back to DBZ. 2) The characters were not flawed, they were unique. So Shinji was a whiner? So Asuka was a brat? So Misato was slightly irresponsible? So what? The characters personality broke free from the shackles of your conventional anime (1 main charcter who was perfect in every aspect). What you call flaws, I call realism, because the truth is, nobody's perfect. 3) The story wasn't supposed to be some repetitive drek that could be resolved in 2 episodes. The story had enough allusion to make it throughly complex. Sorry that you had to think when you watch TV, but God knows you probably don't do it enough anyway. Now, I can understand some people being displeased with the comic relief, but in this kind of story, it's neccesary so that the viewer doesn't lose themself in depression or thought. You see, the series is not your typical anime where there's happiness and flowers and sunshine and skipping and the whole world joining hands in song. The series is a dark epic into both the relationship between man and God and the interior of the human personality itself. The character development is superbly done in Shinji, and Asuka's is done well also, even though her development is rather negative. There is a very good amount of action in this series, but be warned: there is much blood, and some of the scenes can be disturbing depending on your constitution. The artwork is very nice (at least until the later episodes when Gainax's budget was cut. The animation is still good, but there is a slightly noticable decline in quality to the trained eye). The story is well done, though I would have preferred the series to go on longer, because not only were there a couple unresolved conflicts, but the Human Instrumentality Project could have used a bit more explaining. The music was excellent as well, especially the opening theme (A Cruel Angel's Bloody Thesis). If your looking for a dark, well done robot anime with a perplexing plot that makes you think, then Evangelion is for you! But if your not in to something so depressing, I recommend two other nearly perfect giant robot animes: Gundam Wing and Escaflowne.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: (2 1/2 stars)
*SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW*
I hate comic relief. I hate fanservice. They completely rob an otherwise credible and serious art-form of its legitimacy and power.
There, with that out of the way, this mostly had the potential to be a great anime- were it not for those two things. As the series went on, and the plot thickened, so to speak, both problems became smaller and smaller, until they finally disappeared in the End of Evangelion.
I often hear how this anime is "ground-breaking". Perhaps it is, in its field. I am certainly not an expert on Japanese animation, though I'm not a complete novice, either. What I can say is that I've seen just as much symbolism (Judeo-Christian or otherwise) woven into stories just as sweeping just as convincingly on countless occassions- in books, movies, and even video games. Evangelion didn't shock me, disturb me, play with my perceptions of the universe, or anything like that. I already had seen, read and experienced things for more eye-opening than this program before I watched it. It's good; it's solid; but it's not totally unique.
I didn't like the characters a bit, excepting Gendo Ikari, actually. Shinji was a wimp, and Asuka was a brat, and nothing was shown to me that gave them anything like an excuse for their behavior- at least, not in such extreme form. To Shinji's credit, he does change at times, but he always relapses. Asuka never has a redeeming moment, however. I've read plenty of excuses culled from the series, but let's face it, most people on this planet have problems in their personal lives far bigger than Shinji's, and many people's are far bigger than Asuka's, and they don't turn out like these characters. I suppose my dislike for Shinji, in particular, is due to the fact that I just can't empathize with him. It's a rare time when I agree with his posturing (moral or otherwise), even when the director clearly intends the viewer to do so (such as his reluctance to pilot in general, to battle Angel #13, etc).
I wanted more information. I don't mean that I wanted the symbolism explained to me. I 'got' the story just fine (up until the ending scene of End of Evangelion, anyway, which is actually more a matter of distaste than misunderstanding), but there wasn't enough backstory. What I really wanted to know- what I was actually watching this entire series to understand- was:
-Where did they find Lilith?
-Why does contact between an Angel and Adam begin 3rd Impact?
-Why are there Angels at all?
-Where (physically) did the Angels come from?
-Where did the Lance of Longinus come from?
-Why is Rei the only one who can carry a soul?
-How did they transplant human souls?
...and many more. Even the answers to just a few of these questions would have been nice, just for curiosity's sake. However, all these pale in importance to the one over-arching question:
-Why were any of them doing any of this?
The one character who's motivations the series explores in-depth is Shinji- specifically his motivations for piloting the EVA- but that was one of the few actions in Evangelion that I had no shortage of answers for. More importantly, why does SEELE think 3rd Impact is such a great idea? Why do the Angels want to begin 3rd Impact? Why does Ikari want to begin 3rd Impact? For this last, we are given a purpose in End of Evangelion- that he wants to see Yui again. However, this is an incredibly weak motivation. Aside from the sheer idiocy of destroying all life on Earth as we know it for that, Yui Ikari would never have died had they not needed her soul for EVA-01. Gendo was planning to begin 3rd Impact before Yui died. This leaves only one other option, and that is that he simply disdains life on this planet and wants to return it to its beginning. I can't begin to understand or empathize with this belief, but that's beside the point. What really matters is that this is also SEELE's motive. So, why on Earth are they at odds at all?
When I just forget about this last thing and watch the series, I enjoy it enough to give it a higher score. If they fixed this and dumped the comic relief and fanservice, I could in good conscience have given this 5 (well, 4 1/2) stars. As it is, it's better than the majority of anime available, but it's also a case-study in what keeps anime beyond the fringes of legitimate art.
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