Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion also known as Eva, or Evangelion, is a Japanese anime that began in October 1995. The anime was created by Gainax, written and directed by Hideaki Anno, and co-produced by TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems (NAS).

Evangelion is an apocalyptic mecha action series which revolves around the efforts by the paramilitary organization Nerv to fight monstrous beings called Angels, primarily using giant mecha called Evangelions which are piloted by select teenagers, one of whom is the primary protagonist.

Events in the series refer to Judeo-Christian symbols from the Book of Genesis and Biblical apocrypha among others. Later episodes shift focus to psychoanalysis of the main characters, who display various emotional problems and mental illnesses; the nature of existence and reality are questioned in a way that lets Evangelion be characterized as "postmodern fantasy". Hideaki Anno, the director of the anime series, suffered from clinical depression prior to creating the series, and the psychological aspects of the show are based on the director's own experiences with overcoming this illness.

Evangelion began as a 26-episode anime television series but quickly evolved into a cottage industry of models, merchandise, feature-films, and even a sort of quasi-religion.

Teenager Shinji Ikari is summoned to NERV, a secret organization headed by his estranged father Gendo. Huge creatures known only as Angels have mysteriously appeared and are ravaging the earth, and only NERV's gigantic humanoid Evangelions can defeat them. Shinji must enter into the Evangelion and control it in hand-to-hand combat with the Angels if mankind is to survive. Together with fellow Eva-pilots Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Sohryu, Shinji must work under the guidance of his commander and surrogate mother Misato Katsuragi to defeat all 17 of the enigmatic Angels and prevent the dreaded Third Impact which will trigger the end of the world.

Evangelion: Death and Rebirth & The End of Evangelion

Evangelion: Death and Rebirth is the first movie in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It consists of two parts, Death and Rebirth, respectively. It was released, along with the follow-up, The End of Evangelion, in response to the success of the TV series, and also of a strong demand of the fans for another ending.

Death, is an hour-long re-edit of the first 24 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. New scenes were added to the film, which were eventually added in to the television show itself in the "Director's Cut" versions of episodes 21 through 24 which were released in the Japanese LaserDisc release and the Platinum Collection DVD release.

Rebirth was the second part of the movie which consists of an entirely new animation and storyline which follows episode 24, and is a remake of the final two episodes of the television series 25 and 26. Due to time constraints, The new animation wasn't fully completed when the movie was released and only the first 27 minutes out of the total 40 minutes were shown in Rebirth.

The End of Evangelion was the second movie released a few months later. It featured the complete Rebirth animation, which was released as Episode 25: Air, and Episode 26: My Purest Heart for You (Sincerely Yours). The version of Rebirth included in Death and Rebirth is basically the first third of End of Evangelion, ending just as the Mass Production Evas arrive to battle Asuka. The final version of episode 25' (the first half of End of Evangelion before the intermission) actually concludes with the end of the Mass Production Eva fight. This consider was the alternate ending to the popular animated series Neon Genesis Evangelion.