It Begins: I remember it to be rainy night, in 2014. Death Note impressed me immensely but Berserk and Oyasumi PunPun failed to reach my expectations, I found the violence and excess sadness unimportant. That night, I booted up my crusty PC to surf through some anime. One caught my eye. "Neon Genesis Evangelion". I always loved Science Fiction so I checked it out. I was quite... intrigued by the beginning few episodes so I stuck by. And I still dont know if that was a good choice or a bad choice. I probably wont even have made this account if ... I didnt stuck by Evangelion. Well the ending dissapointed me gravely, so much that I just quite anime for a few weeks. Of course then I started Naruto, AOT was in the shelves as well, I was rewatching it, I watched Monster and that was an absolute masterclass in storytelling and took my No. 1 spot.
2015: Second trial of Evangelion begun and as I had seen many different videos(Gigguk) and other great animes of the same decade(Cowboy Bebop, etc), well I really liked it, until the ending. Again. I just couldnt understand. Why? Why was it so popular among the veterans, who I respected. They recommended Macross, Bebop, Monster so they knew what they were talking about. When I told about me rewatching Evangelion and still not liking, they told me to see the film. "End of Evangelion", it was called. I saw it. And again. And again. I just couldnt grasp what made the film so bloody amazing. Like seriously, it was perfect. I told them about it. Then they told me to rewatch the series and to see something called the 'Rebuilds'. I viewed all of them and my experience was impeccable. Watching the Third Impact in a rainy night is still one of my favourite experiences till date.
Rewatches: But the issue was that I still couldnt understand it. Like it was good and all, the philosophy everything, made sense, but there was something missing. I still didnt like ANY of the characters. They were are whiny(except kaiji). Then after an event(Some people here know of that event), my entire life was thrown on its head. I couldn't understand anything. Mind you, its 2016, there were multiple great shows going on, but still I decided to see Evangelion. Again. And holy shit. It might be the first time I understood the inside of all the characters. Hideaki Anno is someone who put pieces of himself on the different characters, thats why they feel so real. Because they are. When you delve deep into their mental illness you only hear a man, screaming for help. This is one of the few pieces of media which seems like the complete unbridled emotions of the creator.
Endings: The endings seem... incomplete. Just like the soul of the creator, he is trying to piece himself together. The futher you go to Evangelion, chronologically, you see that the characters become a lot more coherent, but the story becomes completely unrecognisable. The insane shift in genre between Episode 19 and 20, will always be remembered by me. The rebuilds were good, but again, it felt incomplete. Like an important piece was missing. It seems like the creator still hasnt left his past. Well, I did. So many damn years, and there was other anime going on, Blue Lock was at its peak, COTE was publishing masterpieces after another, AOT wasnt a steaming pile of dogshit, but the biggest name in the entire industry. It seems like the entire world, along with me , had forgotten about the Rebuilds. But Hideaki Anno had different ideas.
The Last Dance: When a swan dies, he sings a song, having stayed quiet for most of its life, and its known as the Swan Song. There is no better fitting to this final film. Finally, after such a long time, the Evangelion which I wanted came back. Its 2021, I finally booted up my PC, feeling like the same kid, such a long time ago, mesmerized and terrified by Evangelion. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the symbolism, the mental illness, the insanity, Asuka and Shinji's screams, the blood, death so much more. But this final iteration reminded me what Eva was. No, WHY it existence. It was resonance. There is a reason why I talk about Evangelion so less, mostly because there is no other show which is so dear to my heart. It can't be understood in a traditional way, you have to FEEL every single thing which the characters are saying. Put them in your shoes, and see how you would react.
It has (not) ended: Debates on the endings will never end and never will any fan stop thinking about them. There is no other anime which has impacted such a huge audience as Evangelion has. The reason is simple. The pure unadultrated feelings of the creator. This is what happens when a man releases his emotions. Entirely. It seems like, Evangelion is finally complete. No matter who you are, where you are from, I believe, that everyone has something to take away from Evangelion. Are you an Asuka? A Shinji? A Misato? It helps you discover yourself. It helps change you, with the profound idea that a piece of entertainment can be so close to your heart, that you start identifying with the characters. For better or worse. Everything has a reason. Learn to appreciate yourself, more than others. Only you can understand yourself. No one else.
Goodbye, and Thank You, All of Evangelion.
