Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime television series made by Gainax that began broadcasting on TV Tokyo in October 1995.

Hideaki Anno created and directed the original story, which was not adapted from a pre-existing publication. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto designed the characters, and Shiro Sagisu composed the orchestral and choral music.

Fifteen years after a cataclysm known as the Second Impact devastated half the globe, hostile giant entities named Angels attack the fortress city of Tokyo-3. Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari travels to the city at the summons of his estranged father Gendo, the commander of the paramilitary agency Nerv. Gendo pressures Shinji into operating Evangelion Unit-01, an enormous biomechanical mecha engineered to combat the invaders. Shinji agrees despite his dread and lack of preparation, entering hazardous combat alongside Rei Ayanami to defend the remaining civilian populace.

Megumi Ogata voiced Shinji in the Japanese audio track, while Megumi Hayashibara performed the voice of Rei. The single television season ran for 26 episodes, concluding its run in March 1996. Gainax followed the broadcast with two theatrical films in 1997, titled Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion. Decades later, Anno wrote and directed the four Rebuild of Evangelion films, consisting of installments released in 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2021. The fourth film, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, finished the cinematic retelling.

North American viewers first saw an English-dubbed release on home video cassettes in 1997, before the full series aired on cable television on Adult Swim in 2005. Readers of Animage magazine voted the anime the top prize in the Anime Grand Prix in 1995 and repeated the selection in 1996. The Agency for Cultural Affairs presented the series with an Excellence Award at the inaugural Japan Media Arts Festival in 1997. That same year, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan presented Anno with the 18th Nihon SF Taisho Award.