I’ve wanted to try Evangelion but I have no idea what’s the right way to watch it 😂
Just watch it through, or the way like from that pic. End of Evangelion is an alternate version of episodes 25 and 26, and the rebuild movies are meant to be watched afterwards
Not necessarily an alternate version. The End movies shows >!what’s happening outside of Shinji’s psyche.!<
- Original series (all 26 episodes)
- End of Evangelion (optional, but recommended. This happens chronologically at the same time as Ep 25 and 26)
- Everything else (optional, not recommended)
The OG series is the story Anno wanted to show. Some fans wanted a more concrete ending, so Anno gave them a concrete ending in EoE. Then some fans wanted a happy ending where Shinji gets the girl so Anno said fuck it, sold out, and made a series with a happy ending where Shinji gets a girl. But now some fans want a happy ending where Shinji gets the right girl so Anno gave up on them as lost causes and went and directed Shin Godzilla.
I disagree. There’s a YouTube video essay series that breaks down the timelines and I really like their interpretation. Each Eva is the story Anno wanted to tell at each point in his life, as he grew and became a healthier person. Anno wanted the darkness when he was younger. Anno wanted the hope as he got older. I’ve watched all the Evas and I think I actually like the rebuilds more.
Each Eva is the story Anno wanted to tell at each point in his life, as he grew and became a healthier person.
Sounds like something someone who sold out would say! (/s)
Anno wanted the darkness when he was younger
I still like the OG ending. I think the ‘darkness’ of EoE was partially a reaction to the death threats he got, and the Rebuilds feel unnecessarily convoluted (but the animation was great). Anyway, to each their own.
I wouldn’t bother with anything weird, just watch the series through and then the movies in release order. It might not be “optimal” but I don’t think it needs to be. You can skip Death, though, since it’s just a recap (there was originally a year between the end of the series and EoE)
Evangelion is sorta important culturally and historically in anime, but honestly I wouldn’t call it good, even though it was one of the early ones I grew up on (along with Ranma 1/2 and Rurouni Kenshin).
I have the opposite experience, I only watched it a couple years ago and thought the hype would totally kill it for me, but I actually ended up really enjoying it and EoE in particular stuck with me. I loved the idea that love is born of the risk we take of truly being known by other people.
I will say that the quality of the Netflix dub probably helped a lot. I know they changed some translations which kinda sucks, but overall the voice acting is so much better. No hate to Spike Spencer, he’s obviously a very prolific voice actor, but I think his performance of Shinji is at least part of why people thought he was so whiny. We were originally going to watch through the rebuild movies dubbed, too, but it was so bad we decided to switch to sub.
