The series has been described as a deconstruction of the mecha genre, and features archetypal imagery derived from Shinto cosmology and mystical Judeo-Christian traditions, including Midrashic tales and Kabbalah.

Shinji witnesses United Nations forces battling an Angel named Sachiel, one of a race of monstrous beings whose awakening was foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Because of the nervous system synchronization, Shinji is overwhelmed by the pain and loses consciousness, causing the Evangelion to go berserk and savagely kill the Angel on its own.

Evangelion Unit-00 is repaired shortly afterward, and Shinji tries to befriend its pilot Rei Ayanami, a mysterious and socially isolated teenage girl.

Misato forces the scientist Ritsuko Akagi to reveal the dark secrets of Nerv, the Evangelion boneyard, and the Dummy Plug system, which operates using clones of Rei, who was created using the DNA of Shinji's mother, Yui Ikari.

Throughout the series, he says to himself "I mustn't run away" as a means of encouraging himself to face the threats of the day, and this sometimes actually gives him bravery in battle, but he has a lingering habit of withdrawing in response to traumatic events.

[15] The withdrawn and mysterious pilot of Evangelion Unit-00, Rei Ayanami, is a clone made from the salvaged remains of Yui and is plagued by a sense of negative self-worth stemming from the realization that she is an expendable asset.

Asuka Langley Soryu is a child prodigy who pilots Evangelion Unit-02 and possesses a fiery temper and an overabundance of pride and self-confidence, which often gets her in trouble and difficulty, especially during battles.

Gendo salvaged the remains of his dead wife's body to create Rei, whom he viewed as a mere tool at his disposal to defeat the Angels and enact Instrumentality.

He is depicted as relentless in his drive to win, a man who "takes drastic and extreme measures, by fair means or foul, or by hook or by crook, in order to accomplish his own purpose.

[21] The distinctive aesthetic appeal of the female lead characters' designs contributed to the high sales of Neon Genesis Evangelion merchandise.

[26] Anno began the development of the new series in 1993 around the notion of not running away, the underlying theme of Uru in Blue, focusing on a protagonist accustomed to avoiding personal responsibility who finds himself trying to save the heroine of the story.

[52] These episodes feature heavy use of abstract animation,[53] flashbacks,[54] simple line drawings, photographs, and fixed image scenes with voice-over dialogue.

[60] Complicating viewers' attempts to form an unambiguous interpretation,[61] the series reworks Midrash stories, Zohar images and other Kabbalistic ideas developed from the Book of Genesis[62] to create a new Evangelion-specific mythology.

[100] Ten months prior to the television broadcast of Evangelion, the character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto illustrated a manga version of the story, initially a supplement meant to promote the anime series.

[110] Classical music by Ludwig van Beethoven,[55] Johann Sebastian Bach, Giuseppe Verdi and George Frideric Handel[71] were also featured throughout the series and the movies.

[111][112] Fifteen years after its release, the theme won JASRAC's annual award for the royalties it continues to generate from its usage in pachinko, pachislo, karaoke and other venues.

A fifteenth and final release for Laserdisc, entitled "Genesis 0:X", contained the broadcast versions of the episodes from the twenty-first to the twenty-fourth and was a special mail-in offer for fans who purchased all fourteen discs.

[117][118] The Japanese-only, nine-volume "Renewal of Evangelion" DVDs were released on June 25, 2003,[119] with improved acoustic effects, remixed dialogue and remastered soundtrack for 5.1 stereo sound.

[123] Following the bankruptcy and closure of Gainax between May and June 2024, Anno's current animation producer, Studio Khara, officially gained the full copyright of the Evangelion franchise.

[152][153] On May 30, 2020, British anime distributor Anime Limited announced it had acquired home video distribution rights for the original series, Evangelion: Death (True)² and The End of Evangelion in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with an Ultimate Edition Blu-ray release scheduled for 2021, marking the international release of the original series on Blu-ray.

Even fans of the sci-fi genre who avoid anime altogether have likely heard of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell, which were each landmarks of both style and substance.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Neon Genesis Evangelion, both a cultural touchstone for Japan and an uncompromising auteurist vision by creator Hideaki Anno, doubles as an enthralling apex for the mecha anime genre and as a harrowing exploration of depression – making for a wholly singular epic about angels and inner demons.

"[173] Following the conclusion of the series' original television broadcast, the public and critical reception to Neon Genesis Evangelion was polarized,[174] particularly with regard to the final two episodes.

[181][49] The show has received review by critics, academics and sociologists alike, including by Susan J. Napier, William Rout, Mick Broderick, Mari Kotani,[182] Shinji Miyadai,[183] Hiroki Azuma,[50] Yuriko Furuhata, and Marc Steinberg.

[215] In Japan, Evangelion prompted a review of the cultural value of anime,[216] and its success, according to Roland Kelts, made the medium more accessible to the international youth scene.

[218][219] The show's regular reruns increased the number of otaku,[220] while John Lynden links its popularity to a boom in interest in literature on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Kabbalah and Christianity.

[221] Critics traced Evangelion's influence on subsequent anime series, including Serial Experiments Lain, RahXephon, Texhnolyze, Gasaraki, Guilty Crown, Boogiepop Phantom,[71] Blue Submarine No.

[245] The show's mixture of religion and mecha also influenced subsequent Japanese video games, including Xenogears[246] and El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron.

[271] According to anime critic Guido Tavassi, the series contributed significantly to the spread of the DVD format in Japan and generated a considerable impact on the Japanese economy, calculated in billions of yen.