Neon Genesis Evangelion is possibly considered one of the greatest Anime series ever made by many fans. The Japanese series has received critical acclaim, it has spurned a big commercial franchise and has a massive influence on pop culture. The series is themed on religious views like Judeo-Christian and refers to biblical literature mainly from the book of Genesis.
The series takes place in a post apocalyptic world in the year 2015, half of Earths population has died as a result of the global catastrophe called Second Impact that took place in year 2000. It follows the actions and events of the organisation NERV including several of its staff members and the teenage Evangelion pilots who fight to save mankind from the Angels until the eventual apocalyptic end. It shows the emotional and troubled relationships between the characters as they come to face and re-live their painful pasts. Near the end of the series the characters begin to show signs of their mental illnesses that they inhibit.
The history of the story spans from just before the event known as Second Impact. The real cause of the event was covered up with the manufactured story of a meteor hitting the South Pole at nearly the speed of light. This resulted in a massive explosion causing the Polar ice cap to melt. The collision caused the Earth to tilt on its axis leaving season and climate changes but also caused the sea levels to rise. The aftermath was tsunamis that submerged cities and parts of countries. Outbreaks of violence was caused due to lack of food and resources this created many refugees trying to flee the chaos that ensued but this eventually led to wars between surviving nations including the use of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons. After a treaty came into effect ending the wars, the damage was excess with billions dead, cities destroyed and landscapes once countries lay under water.
The true cause of Second Impact was kept hidden from the public even many years after the event. What really happened with Second Impact was kept secret but certain members of NERV (previously known as GEHIRN) and SEELE knew the truth. They were the organisations responsible for the cover-up and fabricated story.
Second Impact was caused by a contact experiment with the first Angel Adam, this was carried out by GEHIRN in particular Gendo Ikari. The experiment was to use the Lance of Longinus to fuse DNA with Adam. When Adam was pierced with the Lance he reacted by generating an anti-AT Field and during a transformation melted the South Pole ice cap causing what is known as Second Impact. His transformation reverts him into an egg but the experiment carried out on him by GEHIRN was no accident but intentional.
Fifteen years after the events of Second Impact GEHIRN now is transformed into a secret military organisation known as NERV, this is headed by Gendo Ikari. NERV’s mission and goal is to defeat and destroy the remaining Angels as predicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls. SEELE’s goal is to try and mastermind their own Human Instrumentality Project with aid of NERV, in the Dead Sea Scrolls it predicted the Second Impact, the coming of the Angels and the eventual Third Impact that would wipe out mankind. SEELE wants to initiate its own artificial Third Impact with the Human Instrumentality Project that will join all human physical life and minds together to become one single united soul. The purpose of creating their own Third Impact is SEELE’s belief in mankind reaching a dead end with evolution and wants to bring about the next step in completing mankind’s existence.
NERV and in particular Gendo Ikari have their own agenda with the goal of the Human Instrumentality Project and the expected Third Impact. This is not apparent to SEELE until the end of the series. By destroying the Angels, NERV is stopping them initiating their own Third Impact that will destroy all human life this will also leave the way clear for mankind to initiate it for themselves.
As predicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls the Angels begin reappearing in the year 2015 and start attacking Tokyo-3, a military city that has a spherical cavern know as the GeoFront that houses NERV headquarters. The GeoFront located under Tokyo-3 is the Egg of Lilith not created by humanity but found by GEHIRN at its location with its current condition. The Angels are resistant to conventional weapons therefore NERV uses its own weapons that are equal to the strength and ability of other Angels, these weapons are called Evangelion or nicknamed EVA’s.
The Evangelions are large mecha units which are revealed towards the end of the series that in actuality the EVA’s are in fact cybernetic with living tissue. The armour and plating covering the EVAs are there to constraint and control the living organism. Most importantly is the fact that the EVA’s are derived from Angels themselves which does not become apparent at first.
The main protagonist is Shinji Ikari a fourteen year old male, son of Gendo and Yui Ikari. His persona is somewhat complex as his relationship with his father is distant most likely caused by the death of his mother when he was young, his emotion towards others is seen as blocked and shielded. Shinji is the pilot of EVA Unit 01, and makes his appearance from the first episode.
Rei Ayanami is another pilot about the same age as Shinji, her parents are never identified in the series as it is believed she is cloned from one of the Angels and Yui Ikari. Rei has a more withdrawn personality as she never really socialises with the other pilots and always shows little or no emotion but her origin and secrets involving her are kept from the others. Rei is the pilot of EVA Unit 00.
Asuka Langley Sohryu is another female pilot but unlike Rei she has more of an attitude and often a bad temper. Asuka has painful memories from her past which has left her with this characterised attitude towards others. She pilots EVA Unit 03 and is proud of the fact that she does giving her a popular status among the other children and her friends.
Misato Katsuragi is the commanding office in charge of the children and their combat operations her chief and commander is Gendo Ikari who can be classed as the real antagonist along with SEELE. Gendo uses the EVAs and their pilots to carry out his own secret agenda.
The EVAs are piloted by children chosen by NERV in which each of them is linked to the EVAs in someway with the soul of each Evangelion a parent of the child. This is more obvious with the children Asuka and Shinji with each of their mother’s essence are someway contained in the EVAs. In the case of Rei she is a partial clone of Yui Ikari so she is able to control Shinji’s EVA Unit 01. The souls within the EVAs help the pilots sync with the mecha units.
The Evangelion units are the last and only defence against the Angels and throughout the series numerous of times they are called into action. After the final Angel is destroyed there are two separate endings that includes the OAV series but also the last two episodes were remade into the feature length movie The End of Evangelion. The reason behind this was the unclear and often confusing ending left by the series. The End of Evangelion only improves on this slightly as many consider the style not to be in keeping with the series and often found the ending of the film to be still unclear.
