About This Site _ What is Evangelion?

What is Evangelion?

"Shin Seiki Evangelion" aka "Neon Genesis Evangelion" is an animated television series consisting of 26 episodes.  It premiered on October 4th, 1995, and ran until March 27, 1996.  It was directed by Hideaki Anno and produced by studio Gainax.

Evangelion is the story of the fourteen year old Shinji Ikari, who is summoned to Tokyo-3 by his father, the supreme commander of the special agency Nerv.  He is summoned there to pilot a giant robot known as an "Evangelion" against unknown attackers referred to simply as "Angels".

While this may seem like every other anime in which an untrained adolescent inexplicable finds themselves as the pilot for an advanced robot, it is distinctly more than that.  Evangelion is a series which weaves numerous references and influences from the mecha genre into a collage of religious symbolism, psychological drama, and emotional catharsis.  It begins light heartedly, and once the situation and characters have been thoroughly defined, the show takes an immediate reversal and tangents into an intensely personal and disturbing look into the lives of the characters, which is what the show is ultimately about.  The director's intent was to burn his thoughts and feelings into film, and he does so in a unique and powerful manner that is undeniably the reason for Evangelion's continued success and popularity.

Evangelion's most peculiar aspect remains its TV Series ending, which more or less ignores the primary conflict and plot of the series, and instead focuses entirely on the characters themselves.  The specific circumstances are ambiguous to this day, however we have been led to believe that there were issues of budget and time, as well as pressure from the network that the show be toned down, as its content had rapidly exceeded the age level of its primary demographic.  Due to these various factors, the originally intended ending was not completed, however it was later reworked into the feature film "The End of Evangelion".

If you are interested in learning more about Evangelion, the following resources may be of interest:

A Look at Evangelion
(My own work, a [relatively] spoiler free guide to the various components of the Evangelion universe)

What were we trying to make here?
(Hideaki Anno's "confession letter" from before Evangelion aired on Japanese television)

Speaking Once as They Return: Gainax's Neon Genesis Evangelion
(One of the first English language articles on Evangelion by Carl Horn)