FOREWORD: This post was made to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Evangelion franchise.
I actually heard the anime Evangelion or Eva around several years ago from my otaku friends and the peeps who were grown knowing the series (and it was actually aired on ABS-CBN in the Philippines during the late 90s), but it wasn't until only in 2013 when I began doing a marathon of it starting with the 26-episode TV anime and the movies, which I still doing so far up to this day. So I would considered myself as a "next generation" Eva fan because the first installment was aired in Japan during my infancy (I was 2 years old during that time).
And speaking of which, on that day: October 4, 1995, a lot of anime fans have been waited to watch the pilot episode of the first ever franchise installment that started it all. This is Neon Genesis Evangelion!
That's right, Neon Genesis Evangelion (or Shin Seiki Evangelion, literally "Gospel of a New Century" or "New Century/Era Evangelion"), commonly referred as Evangelion or Eva, is firstly aired in Japan from October 4, 1995 to March 27, 1996 and it was produced by the two of the most notable studios in the anime industry - Gainax and Tatsunoko Production (the team that was behind the notable series such as Gatchaman, Yatterman and Robot Hunter Casshern) and broadcasted on TXN by TV Tokyo with a hot-headed 26 episodes. The OST music was provided by the great Shiro Sagisu, who was known also in providing music as well for some anime like Attacker You!!, Macross II, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (one of the earlier works of Hideaki Anno), His and Her Circumstances, Bleach and recently, Black Bullet. NGE was also produced by Noriko Kobayashi and Yutaka Sugiyama with character designs done by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, one of the founders of Gainax as well as credited in some of his works like Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, The Girl Who Leap Through Time .hack//Sign and Diebuster plus the manga adaption of NGE; and of course, the man who behind every successes and downs in making the Evangelion franchise into reality, director Hideaki Anno, who was notable in animating Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (his first major work after attending the Osaka University of Arts), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind of the great Hayao Miyazaki, Gunbuster and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.
After NGE, the franchise has also received 3 movie series (5 overall, with a 6th one which will be released in winter 2015): Death and Rebirth (1997), The End of Evangelion (1997) and Rebuild (2007-). The current Rebuild movie was classified into 4, namely: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, 2.0 released on September 1, 2007; followed by 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance on June 27, 2009, 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo on November 12, 2012, and the 20th anniversary feature and the finale of the Rebuild movies that is 3.0+1.0 (known as Evangelion: Final), which was said to be release in winter 2015, but a final release date is still unknown.
The story was set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo-3 15 years after the Second Impact, Shinji Ikari was witnessed about the battle between the NERV forces and an Angel: one of a race of giant monstrous beings whose awakening was foretold by the Dead Sea Scrolls. NERV's giant Evangelion bio-machines, synchronized to the nervous systems of their pilots, are the only weapons capable of keeping the Angels from annihilating humanity. NERV officer Misato Katsuragi escorts Shinji into the NERV complex beneath the city, where his father pressures him into piloting the Evangelion Unit-01 against the Angel. Without training, Shinji is quickly overwhelmed in the battle, causing the Evangelion to go berserk and savagely kill the Angel on its own.
Following hospitalization, Shinji moves in with Misato and begins settling in to life in Tokyo-3. In his second battle, Shinji destroys an Angel but runs away after the battle, distraught. Misato confronts Shinji and he decides to remain a pilot. Evangelion Unit-00 is repaired and Shinji tries to befriend its pilot, a mysterious and emotionally withdrawn teenage girl named Rei Ayanami. With Rei's help, Shinji defeats another Angel.
Ritsuko Akagi, NERV's chief scientist, reveals that the Second Impact was not caused by a meteor strike as officially reported, but instead resulted when the first Angel to arrive on Earth, codenamed Adam, exploded in the Antarctic. The pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, teenage girl Asuka Langley Soryu, moves in with Misato and Shinji and joins her fellow pilots in defeating the new Angels. Shinji's schoolfriend Toji Suzuhara is selected for Unit-03, but during his first test synchronization with the Evangelion, Unit-03 is hijacked by an Angel. When Shinji refuses to destroy the rogue unit, his control over Unit-01 is cut off and supplanted by a prototype autopilot system; his Evangelion rips apart Unit-03 and crushes Toji's cockpit. Shinji is devastated and quits piloting the Evangelion, but is forced to return to destroy an Angel that has defeated both Asuka and Rei. Asuka loses her self-confidence following her defeat and spirals into a deep depression. In the next battle, Rei self-destructs Unit-00 and dies to save Shinji's life. Misato and Shinji later visit the hospital where they find Rei alive but claiming she is "the third Rei". Misato forces Ritsuko to reveal the dark secrets of NERV, the Evangelion graveyard and the Dummy Plug system which operates using clones of Rei.
Asuka is reduced to a catatonic state by her depression, and Kaworu Nagisa replaces her as pilot of Unit-02. Kaworu, who initially befriends Shinji, is revealed to be the final Angel. Kaworu fights Shinji, then realizes that he must die if humanity is to thrive and asks Shinji to kill him. Despite his initial hesitation, Shinji kills Kaworu. This act triggers the forced evolution of humanity, termed the "Human Instrumentality Project", in which the souls of all mankind are merged into one. Shinji's soul grapples with the reason for his existence and reaches an epiphany, enabling him to destroy the wall of negative emotions that torment him. (From Wikipedia)
The errand main guy in the show, Shinji Ikari, was provided by the husky Megumi Ogata (Yu Yu Hakusho/Ghost Fighter's Kurama/Master Jerico, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters' Yugi Motou/Dark Yugi, Cardcaptor Sakura's Yukito Tsukishiro/Yue, Sailor Moon's Haruka "Sailor Uranus" Tenou and Assassination Classroom's Itona Horibe), whilst the legendary singer-seiyuu of all time and one of my faves that is Megumi Hayashibara (Pokemon's Jessie/Musashi, Ranma ½'s female Ranma Saotome, Shaman King's Anna Kyoyama, The Slayers' Lina Inverse, Sorcerer Hunters' Tira Misu and Saber Marionette J's Lime) voiced the quite mysterious Rei Ayanami, as well as Pen Pen; the Eva-01 unit and its host, Shinji's late mom, Mrs. Yui Ikari; Asuka Langley Soryu meanwhile was done by Yuko Miyamura (Pokemon's Whitney, Great Teacher Onizuka's Nanako Mizuki, Wedding Peach's Hinagiku "Angel Daisy" Tamano, Clamp School Detectives' Utako Okawa and Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger's Souffle).
Other cast members include Kotono Mitsuishi (the titular character Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena's Juri Arisugawa, Sugar the Snow Fairy's Ginger and Suite Pretty Cure's Hummy) as Misato Katsuragi, Fumihiko Tachiki (One Piece's Don Krieg, Bleach's Zaraki Kenpachi, El Cazador de la Bruja's Ricardo and NANA's Ginpei) as the estranged commander of NERV and Shinji's dad, Gendo Ikari; Yuriko Yamaguchi (Pokemon's Nurse Joy, One Piece's Nico Robin, Eureka Seven's Sonia Wakabayashi and Full Metal Panic's Nora Lemming) as the scientist Ritsuko Akagi, Takehito Koyasu (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing's Milliardo Peacecraft, Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002's Kojiro Hyuuga in adult version, Futari wa Pretty Cure and Pretty Cure Max Heart's Takeshi Misumi, Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!'s Scorp and Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!'s Oresky) as Shigeru Aoba, whilst Koichi Yamadera (Cowboy Bebop's Spike Spiegel, Ghost in the Shell's Togusa and Ranma 1/2's Ryouga Hibiki) as the easygoing agent Ryoji Kaji, Tomokazu Seki (Futari wa Pretty Cure and Pretty Cure Max Heart's Mepple, Full Metal Panic's Sousuke Sagara, Kanon's Jun Kitagawa and Cardcaptor Sakura's Touya Kinomoto) as the Fourth Child Toji Suzuhara and a lot more.
The opening theme song for NGE (and one of the best anime songs of all time), "Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis" or "A Cruel Angel's Thesis," was originally done by the great Yoko Takahashi, the sister of the all-time manga artist that is Rumiko Takahashi. It was also include in various compilations and anniversary albums of Evangelion in different formats as well as it has a rendition by Shizuka Ito, the seiyuu of Hinagiku Katsura, and used as an insert song in one episode of Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd Season. "Fly Me to the Moon," the ending song on the other hand, was remaked by Claire Littley or by the stage name CLAIRE along with some various versions (and a duet one) by Rei Ayanami (Hayashibara) and Asuka Langley Soryu (Miyamura).
Now if you ask me what anime recommendations to watch, then you should watch also the classics just like Evangelion and you would know why in the world it was made years ago and some other sort stuff, then you might be part of the next generation of fans like me. *winks* And to those who had been grown with this amazing anime, well thanks for knowing about that franchise very well.
So, relieve the not-so controversial scenes and hot-blooded moments of NGE by rewatching or to the newbies, WATCH IT AT YOUR OWN RISK! And to end up this post, enjoy the TV size videos of the NGE OP and ED as part of the nostalgic feels fest.
エヴァンゲリオン幸せな20周年! (HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY, EVANGELION!)
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