Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime series produced by Gainax and Tatsunoko Production and directed by Hideaki Anno.
It centers on a teenage boy recruited by a paramilitary organization named NERV to control a giant cyborg called an Evangelion to fight monstrous beings known as Angels.
Initially ignored (although received positively by those Gainax fans invited to early screenings), viewership grew slowly and largely by word of mouth.
However, the tension of the staff as we all became more desperate and frenzied certainly showed up in the film ... About the time that the production system was completely falling apart, there were some opinions to the effect that, "If we can't do satisfactory work, then what's the point of continuing?"
On home video, Episodes 21–24 of the television series were eventually re-edited with extended and new scenes to set up the events of the alternate ending.
[5] The series aired in the United States for the first time English subbed on San Francisco–area PBS member station, superstation KTEH (now KQEH) on March 5, 2000, as part of its Sunday late-prime sci-fi programming line-up.
Rebirth comprises the unfinished first twenty-five minutes of Episode 25' and ends as the Mass Production Evangelions under the control of SEELE sortie to combat Asuka under command of NERV.