Netflix has a legendary anime with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes but I prefer Amazon's remake

EntertainmentStreamingNetflix has a legendary anime with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes but I prefer Amazon’s remakeThe Evangelion franchise raises two big questions: which to see first, and what the hell is going on?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

The Evangelion franchise raises two big questions: which to see first, and what the hell is going on?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Studio Khara/Amazon Prime Video)

Still from Evangelion 3.33 on Amazon Prime Video

(Image credit: Studio Khara/Amazon Prime Video)

Unfortunately, Netflix just can’t catch a break right now. It just so happens there is also a newer version of Neon Genesis Evangelion that in my opinion iseven betterthan the original… and it’s onAmazon Prime Video, Netflix’s arch rival. Curse youAmazon PrimeVideo!

Admittedly, for real OG fans of Evangelion, the idea that the movie series remake/remodel that Anno assembled between 2007 and 2021 beats the original TV series is rather contentious. That’s because they grew up with the TV show, and the movies – there are four in total – start out a lot like that show, but then start to deviate in a number of key ways. For those who grew up with the original, these changes are bound to seem jarring.

I am not even going to attempt to explain the complete plot of the films or the TV series here. Not least because I still don’tfullyunderstand either of them. You can watch Evangelion and dive into all the lore online, and try to piece it all together. To give the very loosest outline, our hero is Shinji Ikari, an Eva pilot whose father, Gendo Ikari is the head of an organisation called NERV, tasked with protecting the world from the invading Angels, who have already destroyed much of the world in an earlier attack.

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That’s how the story starts, anyway. That very brief précis does not even scratch the surface of what follows, all of which has a quality that I can only describe as sheer, brain-melting WTF-ness.

(Image credit: Studio Khara/Amazon Prime Video)

Still from Evangelion 3.33 on Amazon Prime Video

(Image credit: Studio Khara/Amazon Prime Video)

The genius of Evangelion is that it combines violent mecha-on-monster action with some unusually deep philosophising on the nature of human relationships, faith, and loss. And let me tell you, as a result of that, there is alotof moping and anguish. Shinji Ikari must be one of the most complex and – at times – infuriatingly passive leading characters ever devised, while other characters run the full gamut from massively irritating to deeply flawed to totally untrustworthy. These are complex characters, written with a lot of nuance – but boy, did I feel like giving them a slap, at times.

It’s generally agreed that Hideaki Anno became clinically depressed while making the original series, and that depression is reflected in a lot of slow-paced, gear-grinding episodes. The movies recreate this to an extent – there are long periods, especially in the third film – Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo – where it feels like nothing is happening, and what is happening is largely incomprehensible.

However, there’s more going on in the films, and it all looks absolutely breathtaking. The first and second films – Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone and Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, which are relatively faithful to the original series – are often purely enjoyable, as well as being thought-provoking.

The fourth film – for some reason called Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time – is simply stunning, though. One widespread criticism of the TV series was that it rather petered out. Anno tried to address this once before. He released an earlier movie adaptation, The End of Evangelion, which went for a more traditional ending rather than the philosophical musings of the original. It was a rather unpleasant conclusion this time, which left a rather bitter after-taste. With Thrice Upon a Time, however, Evangelion and its characters finally get a satisfying conclusion. Appropriately enough, it too has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

When I finally reached the end of the last movie, I was blown away. The experience of watching Evangelion all the way through is a bit like running a marathon. There are moments of pain, periods of boredom and I found myself wondering why I was putting myself through it, and wanted to give up. At the end, however, I felt an incredible catharsis and looked back on the whole experience with great fondness. And, just like a marathon runner, I wanted more. So I moved on to the legendary TV series on which the movies are based. And don’t get me wrong, the show is great too, but I am glad I started with the more handsome, better structured and slightly less epically long, filmic version.

For me, the movies are the definitive Evengelion, although I am probably in a minority with that viewpoint. As the film title says, You Can (Not) Redo – I’ll now never know what it would have been like to see the TV series first. But I’m fine with that.

One final word of caution: these are adult cartoons and they feature violence that is genuinely nasty. The Eva are not your standard mecha suits and the Angels are not your normal alien monsters. Seeing them tearing each other apart is genuinely disturbing at times. There is also a lot of human trauma, both physical and mental, and it must be added that some of the characters and plot points are… problematic, let’s say. Even so, with that health warning out of the way, I still recommend Evangelion unreservedly to anyone who can stomach its bloody and complex WTF-ness.

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