the first half of the series is a fairly generic technobabble heroes fight robots anime

the second half is when it gets experimental and weird, it delves deep into the psyches of the characters and how they're dealing with the world around them, what's the cause of their negative outlook on the world, etc.

as someone who dealt with (and still deals with, but to a lesser degree) self-hate and loneliness, the anime really fucking hit me and affected me.

also the angels are cool as fuck, ramiel-chan best waifu

It's relatable to anyone who's very suddenly found themselves at the helm of an unfathomable and unwieldy giant construct which seems to have thoughts and urges all its own, while being told that everything is at a crucial point and it all depends upon you, by unseen forces who brazenly pursue their own agendas and could actually not give less of a fuck about you.

In other words, adolescence.

Also the creator is either an amazing artist or an amazing troll and quite probably both. You thought the ending was too abstract and confusing? Here, let me give you another... HAHAHAHA NOW YOU'RE EVEN MORE SAD AND CONFUSED.

Kaiju + mommy issues

so yea other people mentioned it, it starts off as a p standard mecha anime, but as the series keeps going, it becomes less about the mechs fighting cool monsters (the cool monsters still are around til the end of the series, dont worry) and more about depression, loneliness. all the characters are kind of fucked up because of their own personal shit going on. the mech pilots are 14(?) year old kids who are anxious and depressed and terrified of being a child soldier in a war they don't really understand.

i wasn't a huge fan of the last 2 episodes of the main show, but the end of evangelion movie has some of the weirdest and most unusual visuals i've seen in anything (at least in mainstream media). i'm not a person who gets too attached to a lot of characters really in anything, but some character deaths hit me HARDER than i ever thought it would. the last few frames (with the mechs on crosses) is kind of burned into my mind because it just stands out.

i do need to watch it + end of eva again to get a better grasp of what happened but i really loved my first time through. i'm sure each angel symbolizes something, i'm sure i've missed a LOT of stuff ofc. i just really enjoy the turn AWAY from being exclusively about fighting the angels.

I watched it when I was just a bit older than Shinji and in a very similar place mentally, so I was very immersed in the series from the beginning, which made it even more mind blowing to watch the series go from kinda generic fun Mecha show with an MC who was basically literally me to completely batshit insane philosophical and psychoanalytical deconstruction of the characters, including Shinji and ergo my own psyche. But that wasn't all, cause then End of Evangelion came around and completely changes how I view art, film, myself, my relationships and life in general. I haven't been exposed up to that kind of shit before that point, especially not something that hit this extremely close to home, I didn't even know how to process it or what to think, so I just kinda hated it for a while LMAO, but it remained on my mind for a long time and I started to appreciate it more as time went on and my puny high school brain managed to digest it all. It legitimately wouldn't be a stretch to say it changed my life.

Now, many years later, yeah I recognize some things don't hold up LOL, especially parts of the original series, but I still uphold End of Evangelion as one of the most meaningful and heartfelt pieces of art I've ever come across, especially when you take into account not just its place in the context of the show, but also how much of it is some very weird meta-commentary about Anno's own mindset as he was making it. If you haven't watched it yet, I 100% recommend you finish the Evangelion TV series just so you can watch this movie, might not be your cup of tea but it's a must watch regardless :epsteingelion:

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How far in did you drop it?