Hi, I'm Jon, and I'm a staff member over here at the animation crew. You may remember me from such places as anime boards, your ICQ and AOL list, yesterday's math class, and even fighting in one of those big robots. Which takes me to the meat of this review, no more cow dung/waffle let's start on the review of the famous series- Neon Genesis Evangelion. Evangelion, NGE, Eva, and many other short forms exist to compensate for this series' long name. It's a 26 episode series with an alternate ending movie. To clarify this, the episodes did have an ending but a large number fans didn't like the ending. Therefore the director made an ending movie that starts off at the end of episode 24 different from the ending in episodes 25 and 26. I recommend watching both the series and the movie Evangelion: Death and Rebirth along with End of Evangelion if you get a chance to. Evangelion is difficult to classify in genre. It could fall into action, mech, comedy, trauma, and philosophical. It was finally done in mid to late 1990's and has finally worked it's way America side. The story begins as a boy is called by his father to work in his organization. Some say the first half of the series was good but when it started to get weird it lost their attention. For me and lots of people I know, we loved it to death the whole way through. How Evangelion incorporates so many aspects of anime- the big robot fighting, the comic relief, troubled lives, the end of the world, and things making no sense whatsoever makes it one heck of an anime. It creates a well balanced diet for anime. Big robot fighting, one of the prominent and exciting.

Who doesn't enjoy seeing skyscraper high monstrous robots fighting with big guns or tooth and nail against same size or even bigger foes? It's not just the big robots, it's what they are, how they operate, and their originis. They're not your normal well oiled mechs that can be seen in other animes such as Gundam, Macross, and Nadisco. They seem more organic than metal. There is a cockpit for human operation, but having the pilot needing to sync with it totally? It sounds just like me trying to become one with my sword. Only god knows what they really are, and how they were found and made? So many questions yet so little answer. Something as big as the action is the comedy. Most action theme animes have little comedy or comic relief to compensate for the stress and seriousness created by most events. But in Evangelion there's as much comedy as fighting. For the first half of the series I laughed so hard I died, but that's beside the point. Especially the first few episodes. The reference to Shinji's genitalia's was too much. First it's toothpicks then it's thermal expansion.

Pen-Pen is another form of comic relief, why would a lady have a penguin as a room mate. I still find it hard to believe that characters with such stress and troubled lives can be as hilarious as characters from comedies. But who cares because it's funny, and that's all that matters. Most people have a few, little problems, but the character in Evangelion have lots of big problems. Family traumas, unbelievable stress, physiological problems, doubts of living, social problems, and who hows what not. Every episode you'll say "Dang, that must suck". For the protagonist and all other characters that are introduced. They either have, had, or are going to have big problems. Did I mention death in any of this? Oh yeah, there's death, and lots of it. Just another problem added to the list. What do we all love over here at Jonarts? The end of the world. I'm not going to say how, or why. I'll let you figure that out. Like in other animes, the end of the world is the focal point. And they actually portray it as a really serious thing, you'll be at the edge of your seats almost every episode. Sometimes the protagonist doesn't always win, good isn't always good, and God isn't who we really think it is. There are many characters in Evangelion, and a wide variety. From cowards to self-centered people and your room mate of penguins to scientists, you won't be bored of the bunch. Lots of character development and relations going this way and that. Plot goes up and down, forward and back, twists, and goes in circles. So will you once you get to the later episodes. Never a dull moment in Evangelion, from big robot fights to who the heck are you, really? I don't know, you just have to go see the series if you're ever thinking of it. You will be pleased from beginning to end.