The original ending to eva is still my favorite, even if it's very confusing. I was really depressed and didn't really know it when I watched this, I would just stop going in to school completely and play video games because I thought that's what made me happy. I had massive anxiety in school because I was behind in work from skipping class, so I skipped even more class to avoid confrontation which only made things worse. I was really struggling to find a reason to live beyond mindless consumption. Watching this scene, where Shinji accepts that running from his problems only makes them worse, where he learns to risk the anxieties and failures that come with living a real life, that meant a lot to me. And then when Shinji gives himself a chance and smiles, I kinda realised I had been doing a lot of things wrong.

Evangelion isn't my favorite show, because it's not really that enjoyable compared to others, but it is definitely the one that is most meaningful to me