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Neon Genesis Evangelion seems to be one anime series viewers either love or hate. I have seen no shortage of reviews hailing it as the greatest work in the past century, on par with War and Peace or Beethoven's 9th Symphony. At the same time, though, I've seen plenty of criticism for its difficult and confusing style, and especially those infamous last two episodes. Just as a warning, do note that this review will contain massive spoilers.
The year is 2015 and the Apocalypse has finally arrived, not in Megiddo as expected but in the recently built Tokyo 3 (but again, this is anime, so that's bound to happen). It all started in 2000 when an angel living in the South Pole exploded, causing world-wide cataclysm and heralding the beginning of the end for the human race. Protecting the Earth against God's army of giant, laser-shooting angels (who invariably attack one at a time for some reason) is the secret organization NERV, which relies on enigmatic mecha (the titular Evangelions) to fend off this holy menace.
A careful selection process ensures that only finest are chosen to pilot these most advanced machines, and the chosen pilots include a notoriously dour milquetoast, Shinji, a Spock-like albino girl, Rei, and a perpetually ill-tempered German, Asuka (or half-German rather who somehow got red instead of blonde hair), who are, for some reason, exactly 14 years old. Nonetheless, they make remarkably good mechanized cavalry (it would seem that opposition to child labor, teenage soldiers, and apparently even slavery, since they don't get paid a dime, has all but disappeared, presumably when 2nd Impact wiped out Amnesty International).
The series itself begins with our hero Shinji being summoned to NERV as an semi-aquatic humanoid giant said to be an angel marches into Japan, protected by an AT field and destroying the many defenses levied against it with ease. The only hope for humanity's survival lies with the immensely powerful Evangelion Unit 01, which only Shinji can pilot. Reluctantly, he enters the vaguely phallic entry plug, which slides into the back of the Eva and heads into battle. However, as one would expect, he fails outright (it's not like he has any experience at this at all), the mecha literally falling flat on its face. The angel quickly demolishes the Eva, gouging out an eye and breaking an arm. Then, mysteriously, the nigh-dead robot reactivates and runs out of control, mauling the angel and revealing its true form and organic interior.
Needless to say the series only gets weirder from this point on, culminating in the notorious two part finale and the equally perplexing alternate ending provided by the film End of Evangelion.
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