It took me a long time to get into the Evangelion series. I know that makes me unusual as everyone seems to have loved it from the start. I think my problem was I started it backwards. I watched the Evangelion: Death and Rebirth movie first (which as you know, ends the series), fell in love with the weird, macabre, tragic angst of it all, and then went to watch the TV series from the start. To say it was jarring would be putting it mildly.

The TV series suffered from the director/writer changing his mind about what the series was about midway through (nervous breakdowns will do that to you). It starts off being a light-hearted romp about teenagers with tragic pasts who have to save the world and by the end it’s a disturbing roller-coaster ride about teenagers with tragic pasts who have to save the world. The shift was really jarring for me and I could never really forgive it for not being the twisted tale the movie was all the way through. (And for not having more Kaworu screen time, but shhh).

That being said, I am really digging the new movies coming out. They are retelling the TV series and doing a really good job of it. I see it as them ‘fixing’ the original. It starts out and stays dark, scary and griping all the way through. It’s not a perfect, darker copy of the original series either.  The team has changed the story around, added new plot points, and just fleshed out of the story more in general. The budget is also a lot bigger than the TV series (Yes, I know Gainax was going bankrupt at the time- I will forgive them for that) so the fight scenes between the EVAs are things of beauty.

For those of you who have been living under a rock and have no idea about the story, it starts off as a typical fourteen-year old boy must pilot mecha-ish…thing to save the world. Throw in that the world is almost already destroyed to begin with and that the big bads are ‘Angels’ and things start to get interesting. The story does a good job of asking who the true villains are and that it might all be up to your perspective.

Again, I wouldn’t say this would be for the kiddies. There is a lot of violence and fan service. Even if you aren’t into mecha anime, I would say give this a try. It’s not really “true” mecha and the twist with the EVAs boarders on epic.