Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genesis 0:0 - In the Beginning1995

90/100 For most of my life, I never quite understood when people said a piece of media "fundamentally changed their worldview." However, over the past few years, I've encountered two pieces of media which have done this to me. First was the internationally renowned Fight Club, a movie I'm very excited to discuss, but second and perhaps more important is this series, one which is so impactful I'm afraid to even try to explain it. Don't get me wrong, Evangelion is not a show to be enjoyed only by pretentious tryhards. The first half is one of the most entertaining pieces of media I've ever seen, combining spectacular animation with intense battle scenes. Each Kaiju (or "Angel" as they are called here) is unique in its own way, providing a good supply of fun. The story is also good, slowly unravelling the mystery of NERV and the Angels while still leaving a lot up to the viewer for interpretation. The characters are also good, with almost every one of them being likeable in some way yet flawed in another. Shoutout to best guy Kaworu, by the way. The second half is really when this show starts to shine, with intense psychological episodes leading the viewer to question their own psyche. The tension and psychological horror of the thing keep on building until the finale, one of the best to any show I've seen so far. It's really good and I can't wait to see how End of Evangelion explains the weirder aspects such as the Human Instrumentality Project. Despite all these, however, the anime is still subject to a few problems. First, I know I said the second half of the series is where the show starts to shine. However, this kinda makes it both better and worse than the first half. Stuff gets seriously depressing at times, and while that's stuff I'm fine with, a lot of stuff also goes unexplained, which is harder to justify. In addition, while most characters are fleshed-out and likeable, some are just purely unlikeable, and there's no better example of this then Gendoh Ikari. I know that was the intention, but that still doesn't change the fact I'm not having a good time whenever he shows up. Furthermore, some other characters feel like they're wasted potential waiting to be explored, such as Maya and Hikari. I'm not really satisfied with this review. A true dissection of Evangelion would also require a deep dive into my own mind, and I don't think I'm quite ready to do that on Letterboxd. Still, it's a testament to how well this series understands people, and the lengths to which it goes. It's fun, its despairing, and above all, its just superb. Its a challenge at times, but its worth it. Definitely check it out.