Time for another installment of Reccomended Anime/Manga! This month of July, we'll take a look at Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the earlier works of the famed anime studio, GAINAX (responsible for the creation of Gunbuster, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and FLCL). And in all honesty, it's a bit difficult to describe. Basically, NGE takes place in the near future, after an incident called Second Impact, which destroyed Antarctica and plunged the world into what'squite literally a "hell on Earth" sitiation. The Second Impact was caused by a race of aliens called Angels. In all honesty, I don't know much about the plot beyond there, since it's so damn hard to understand.

But let's get off the subject of plot and onto other matters. To begin with, this is not really a mecha anime, despite the looks. The mecha are actually genetically modidfied versions of Angels (or that's my understanding of it), which is why these things BLEED when they are injured. The series does not focus on the mecha. Instead, it focuses on the character Shinji Ikari, who is constantly mentally scarred every time he enters the cockpit of these mecha, which are, by the way, called Evangelions, Eva units for short. He's forced into the role of the world's savoir with two other Eva pilots: Rei Ayanami (the silent one) and Asuka Langley Souryuu (the loud German-speaking bitch), the latter of the two he does not get along well with, despite having to live with her a third of the way through the show.

The animation work is incredible, and easily stands the test of time. Each and every frame of animation is carefully animated to perfection, with almost no animation errors to speak of. Even if you dissect each frame to find them, you probably won't. The music is an odd mixture of heart-pounding suspenseful tunes, moth-bitten classical scores, J-pop and J-rock, and each episode ends with a different vesion of the classic song "Fly Me To The Moon". The acting in the Japanese dub is outstanding as in most anime (with the occaisional exception of Asuka TRYING to sound German), while the English dub does a good job of portraying the characters in their own way. It works for the most part, but Shinji's dub voice can grate on your nerves.

Overall, I highly reccomend NGE. Despite being hard to follow, the show is a very thought provoking and well-made anime show. I give it a 9/10.

And now, PirateLordRidley's viewon the show. Trust me, his review is way better than mine...

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of those shows that cant be described how deep the stuff makes an impact. created by Gainax, this show is probably one of the most well known for being the "Revolution of Anime". At first glance, it looks like your typical, super-action mecha fighter, but really, after a few action-packed episodes,the plot becomes darker, deeper and more disturbing.

The story follows young Shinji Ikari, a boy with a depressing past, as he is taken out of the comfort of his life by his father and thrusted into the responsibility of being the pilot of the super "mecha", Evangelion (Eva for short). Serving under secret goverment branch Nerv, his father and the whole world, Shinji battle against nightmareish creatures known as Angels. along the way, He befriends the mysterious, silent Rei Ayaname and Egotistical ,German Asuka Langely Sohryu. Both girls who also happen to be Eva pilots with dark pasts. Playing "heroes" isnt what it seems for our three, because when the plot unravels itself, they will face things that might even drive them into insanity.

when it comes to voices(im only going to compare the jap. and eng. dub, due to the fact that this show hasbeen dube in so many languages), considering that, both dub and sub has its own charm and i do enjoy them both. The English dub offers more depth, but when it comes to Rei speeking or Shinji screaming, volume control would be neccesary

After viewing the series, please watch the End of Evangelion movie, for this takes the show into a exciting,but disturbing, alternate ending. Also, check out the new Rebuild of Evangelion quadrility. Though with only the first movie recently released, this four piece movie set retell the series with new,remastered visuals and audio, so please check it out as they release it over the year.

Now for the rating. despite being my all-time favorite, im going to give Neon Genesis Evangelion a 9/10, due to being a total mind screw.