Neon Genesis Evangelion

On 20190919, Netflix determined the show for me as a 98% match. I decided to give the show neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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Watched (English audio, sometimes English subtitles)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-1996) Hideaki Anno. 10 hr 24 min.
*Shin Seiki Evangerio

Shinji Ikari

Relevant Links:
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Wikipedia.org)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (IMDb.com)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (RottenTomatoes.com)

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20190921 Comment:
I finished the series today. I was excited to get to the finish and I was let down. The ending in and of itself is interesting but I felt it was disconnected from the rest of the series. Apparently they produced it in a rush. Doing some reading, there is an alternate ending. On Netflix, this can be viewed by watching Death (True)2* and The End of Evangelion. I will watch them tomorrow.

Even without the ending, I felt as if the show failed to tell a compelling story. In particular, the show had the problem of using concepts and people without first properly introducing them. For example, "First Children," "Lilith," and "Selle." Perhaps, in part, this is due to the director's choice to shift to a character-based story midway through the series.

*20190922: In my opinion, it is not necessary to watch this after watching the television series.

[20190921][20190922 Edit]

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Misato Katsuragi

S1:E1
Ha. The year 2015. [The anime was released in 1995]
An "angel"
"No Miss Misato, you don't seem to act your age either."
Sounds like ay-vahn-ghell-lee-an (hard g) whereas I read it as e-van-jel-lean (soft g, though in hindsight I realize that the last part was totally off). Regardless, the way I read it was similar to the pronunciation of the word "evangelism." [Apparently in Japanese it's pronounced like "e ban ge ri on"]
Lol. If a car was actually on top of that elevator, it would not have been able to move out of the way in time.
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S1:E2
Ice, snacks, and beer.
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Rei Ayanami

S1:E3
Ouch. Feels bad. Got hit a second time after saying "I don't pilot that thing because I want to."
On the one hand, it's true that he'd be to blame for injury, but consider the alternative: the angels lay destruction on the city and likely everyone dies
4th angel.
Ah. Kensuke lays out the logic for Toji
Umbilical cord severed!
I think the good thing about these battles so far is they are not drawn out and fantasized.
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S1:E4
Hmm. Shinji leverages the fact that only he can pilot the Eva
It's definitely a lot of pressure on Shinji since he's already aware of Rei's condition.
I didn't expect this show to have so much emotion. (Shinji shouts back to Kensuke and Toji)
I expect he'll decide to stay (that he isn't on the train which is departing)
Heh. They just stand and look at each other for a long while (about forty seconds).
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Asuka Langly Soryu

S1:E5
He shows concern for Rei.
Hahaha. Bazoongas.
A simple "Could you move?" Almost robotic.
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S1:E6
"He missed?" Hmm. Technically he was on target.
As mentioned in the previous episode, the episode focuses on the story more than the action.
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S1:E7
Not sure if the credits changed in a previous episode, but I noticed the credits in this episode seemed to have details not in the credits of the first episode.
"At first it surprised me that you weren't married at your age."
Haha. The red tape involved in shutting down this unit.
"Sometimes you do what you gotta do. You wouldn't want to live with regrets." - Miss Misato to Shinji
Wow. That was intense.
Hmm. Was it Ritsuko? [The following scene answers]
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Gendo Ikari rescues Rei

S1:E8
HA! (treat scene)
"Does she still make a fool of herself... when she's sleeping?"
They keep talking about Second and Third Children but I don't think that's been explained up to this point. [So it refers to the order in which the pilots were chosen. The First Child is Rei, the Second Child is Asuka, and the Third Child is Shinji. Note that the Japanese dub uses the plural children. For example, Rei is the First Children.]
Haha. Strong-willed. "You're coming with. Is that clear!?"
He looks like a girl. Actually, in the first episode, when I first saw Shinji, I also thought he looked like a girl.
Lol. Thinking in Japanese.
More strong-willed. "Who's to say you can't without giving it a shot."
Haha. Why exactly is Shinji piloting unit 2?
More synchronization. I guess two heads are better than one.
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Shinji piloting Unit 1

S1:E9
Hehe. Asuka and Rei
Ha. "Rei... demonstrate." Rei matches Shinji's playing perfectly.
HAHAHA. Perfect until the very end causes them to blab about their near kiss. [Though it would be fair to say that Asuka baited him.]
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S1:E10
Clutch.
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S1:E11
HA! Standing in a bucket of water. Smart.
Rei lands gracefully.
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Ritsuko Akagi

S1:E12
Asuka lives with Misato, but doesn't come home in the same car.
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S1:E13
Priority to unit 1.
"Screw you Ikari"
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S1:E14
New opening credits.
For some reason there's a recaps the episodes.
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Asuka piloting Unit 2

S1:E15
It felt like how a mother would wring out a cloth.
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S1:E16
"I thought you were going to scold him."
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S1:E17
Haha. "Have tea with me." "But I'm not a girl."
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Rei's Eva gets it's arm cut off and she feels the pain

S1:E18
Asuka's infatuation with Ryoji is getting annoying
Holy crap... That was intense.
Hmm. Misato messed up big this time. Well, I suppose Shinji's father is partially to blame too. Like personally I would have come up with a plan to dislodge the cell and then neutralize the Angel.
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S1:E19
They could program smarter neural connections to have smarter outgoing connections and shutting down incoming connections which are unnecessary to user performance.
LOL. 400 percent.
Gruesome.
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S1:E20
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Asuka and Shinji

S1:E21
Seele pronounced like "Zeal-la"
Plot twist on Ikari.
This episode does a lot of digging into the past.
Wow. How could she strangle Rei like that?
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S1:E22
This episode revolves around Asuka
Asuka accuses Rei of acting like a doll/puppet
Hmm. Does it make sense for the Eva to generate a force that can throw a spear out of Earth's orbit?
Oh, I didn't understand what she meant until the next episode. Asuka said something to the effect of "Of all the people who saved me, why did it have to be her?" I didn't know who she was referring to but I reasoned she was referring to Rei.
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Rei

S1:E23
That exchange between Rei and the angel is confusing. I didn't know which one was the real Rei [Apparently this is what went down:

The angel, Armisael, appears to Rei in the form of Rei.
Armisael shares her feelings with Rei.
Rei identifies the feeling as loneliness.
Armisael indicates it doesn't understand what it's feeling.
Armisael then tells Rei she is also lonely.
Finally, Rei sheds tears.

]
[Apparently the imagery used relates to conception, pregnancy, menstruation, etc.]
"It's probably because I am the third one."
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Shinji (in Unit 1) takes aim but holds his fire against Unit 3

S1:E24
This fifth child brings a lot of story quickly.
Holy shit, this episode was all over the place. (Unit 1 is holding Kowaru in it's hands for many frames, about 1 minute 10 seconds)
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S1:E25
The narrative of this episode is strange.
@14 I feel like they overdid it. Currently in the case of Ms. Misato, I feel bored.
@16 Who is asking the questions?
@17 Why is this episode so different from the other episodes.
@17 Sometimes I feel like the series doesn't prep the story well enough.
Perhaps some partial explanation at the end.

Asuka (background) and Rei (foreground)

S1:E26
@7 I can hear the voices go across left to right or right to left in my headphones
@8 UGH. THIS IS BORING.
@12 Some philosophical bullshit.
@13 Like they just start spitting out a bunch of random philosophical concepts.
Congratulations. WHAT THE FUCK!?