Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most popular anime in recent history.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most popular anime in recent history. The combination of innovative mecha designs, a compelling story, and heart-pumping action has enthralled many anime fans.



However, along with its immense popularity comes a boatload of hype. Anyway, I'll try to cut through some of the hype and provide a fair review.


In the 21st century, humankind faces a threat from giant space creatures known as "Angels". To combat this threat, an organization known as Nerv is formed. They proceed to build giant robots called Evangelions and use 14 year-old children to pilot them.



First, I'll tackle the bad. Evangelion features passable artwork, though nothing terribly striking. The animation however, isn't very good. The battles themselves were generally well animated, but we get treated to a lot of still shots and some re-used stuff as well. In a lot of anime, usually only the character's mouth will move when they're speaking.



Here, that sometimes isn't even the case. During long conversations the characters will conveniently hide their mouths with something, usually a coffee cup. Other times, the scenes will be shown from a distance so that no character animation need be shown at all. The final two episodes are made up of almost nothing but still shots and re-used animation. The visuals in Evangelion definitely won't win any awards in my book.



The dubbing job is very well done, in my opinion. The character's voices all fit their personalities quite well. I've seen both subtitled and dubbed versions of Evangelion, and confess that I prefer the dub. The music is also very pleasing to listen to. The main theme and battle music are two of favorite anime songs.
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