SYNOPSIS

Neon Genesis Evangelion (if you haven't already figure it out) takes place in the year 2015 A.D.  The story starts out with Misato Katsuragi on her way to meet 14 year old Shinji Ikari.  During this time, Tokyo-3 is under attack by an ANGEL.  ANGELs seem unstopable due to their AT-field (Absolute Terror Field) which protect the ANGEL like a force field.  And so it is only possible to defeat an ANGEL through hand to hand combat and thus Evangelion was developed (Eva for short).  When Misato and Shinji finally arrive at the NERV (the creators of Eva) base, after almost getting blown up at an atempt by the army to destroy the ANGEL with and N-2 Bomb (the most powerful bomb available), Shinji sees his father after many years being apart.

There is much tension between Shinji and his father, Gendou Ikari.  According to Shinji, he was abandon by his father soon after his mother's mysterious death.  Shinji has only known about NERV and Eva for only a matter of minutes and already his father asks of him to get inside Eva and operate it.  Shinji is outraged and does not wish to piolet Eva with the arguement that he has never seen this machine before in his whole life and now his father wishes Shinji to get in it.  He refuses his father and then they bring in a very battered Rei to enter Eva.  Seeing Rei in her condition changes Shinji's mind and he decides to get inside Eva even though he has no knowledge of the machine.

When Shinji is lauched in Eva-01, can only attempt to walk but stubles and falls.  He is then attacked by the ANGEL only to find that he feels the pain Eva receives directly to his nerves.  Unable to do anything, Shinji is knocked unconscious when the ANGEL's blow goes right through the head of Eva-01.

A jump into the future takes place and we see Shinji in a hospital bed.  After that which Misato takes on the responsibility of being Shinji's guardian instead of him living on his own.  Being the glorious lazy bum and drunk she is, but not without her great military strategies and seriousness on the job, Shinji gets most of the chores.  When he goes to take a bath, he meets Misato's pet, hot springs penguin Pen Pen.

When Shinji goes to sleep, he flashback to the battle.  After the badly beaten Eva is seen we find chaos in the NERV control room concerned with life or death situation of Eva-01 pilot.  But then, Eva-01 restarts with and unconscious Shinji still inside.  Eva, out of control, attacks the ANGEL with full force.  However, before Eva-01 can destroy the ANGEL, it self-detonates and Eva still remain alive after the major explosion and walks away and everyone is amazed by the power Eva possess.  We then see Shinji looking out from a hospital window to see the clean up of Eva in the street.  As Eva's head is being lifted by cables, some of the head is exposed and we see the eye open and look at Shinji who then screams.

For the rest of the series, more ANGELs and more characters appear.  However, Evangelion is also a very intelecual anime.  Throughout the series, we examine the minds of Shinji Ikari and the other characters.  As a matter of fact, the last three episodes are all about the intellects of each character.

MAJOR CHARACTERS

Shinji Ikari
Shinji is a quiet 14 year old boy.  Throughout his whole life, his choices and actions have been the result of his constant need to please others so he would not be hated or judges by others.  That is also the reason he pilots Eva-01.  He feels that people like him because he pilots Eva.  However, he becomes the good at being the pilot of this machine and destroys most of the ANGELs himself.

Rei Ayanami
Rei seems the favorite of Commander Gendou Ikari.  See keeps to herself, and like Shinji, has a hard time making friends and getting along with other people.  She is as well 14 and is in the same class as Shinji.  Rei seems to have few if any emotion around people except for Commander Ikari.  Rei pilots Eva-00, the prototype unit.

Souryu Asuka Langly
Asuka is a very proad person.  The reason she gives for piloting Eva-02, the production model, is the glory gained from being one of the few who can pilot Eva.  Of German origin, Asuka saw her dead mother hang limply from a rope right before her eyes.  From then on she was raised by a foster mother.  From the time her mother's death, she sworn never to cry, or look weak again.

Misato Kasuragi
Misato is the head of military strategy at NERV.  While having a totally serious face on the job, she's a very lazy person and likes to get drunk.  She basically only has beer and relish in her refrigerator.  However, she is very thoughtful of towards Shinji's feelings.  She also has a pet hot springs penguin Pen Pen.  Misato is not in on the conspericy that goes on inside NERV.  Misato was a surviver of the Second Impact, in which her father died and she was left with a tremendous scar on the front of her body running from her chest to her waist.  She has always worn the cross that hangs around her neck since the second impact.  And her only real love was her former boyfriend/lover, Kaji.

Gendou Ikari
Commander Gendou Ikari is the head of NERV, an organization founded by him and he was also a major part in the development of the Evangelion.  Gendou is also the father of Shinji Ikari.  When Shinji was a young boy, his mother died a mysterious death.  When Shinji and Gendou got to visit his mother's grave, Gendou reveals that his mother is not in her grave.  To get a better understanding, read my spoiler.

Ritsuko
She is the head scientist of NERV.  She cares for the biological damage done to the Evas and the biological structures of the ANGELs.  She is also a long time friend to Misato and Kaji.  Her mother helped to develop the NERV super computer MAGI.  Being head scientist means that she is more well informed than Misato.

Kaji
Kaji was once the boyfriend of Misato but once again comes into her life when he works for NERV.  Kaji and Misato once again become involved.  He is also more informed than Misato.  He informs her on some of NERV's most best kept secrets.  I have to watch Eva again to remember his last name.

Fuyuzuki
Fuyuzuki is Commander Ikari's right hand man.  When Ikari is away, Fuyuzuki is second in command.  We don't see too much of him and all we know is that he knows all that goes on inside NERV.

Maya
She is one of the many people in the main control center inside NERV headquarters.

Touji and Kensuke
They are both friends of Shinji.  At first Toji hated Shinji because he pilots Eva.  In the first battle that Shinji fights, Toji's little sister was badly hurt.  Later on they both enter the plug (cockpit) of Eva-01 and see how he suffers and they become friends.  Asuka thinks that they are both jerks.

Hikari
She is the class president of which we find all of our characters in.  Hikari is also the friend of Asuka.  Also she has a crush on Touji because he's "kind," meanwhile, to the rest of us he's a jerk, but he has his moments.

PenPen
PenPen is Misato's pet hot springs penguin.  He livesin one of her two refrigerators and takes hot baths.

To understand Neon Genesis Evangelion a little better, see my spoiler.

EVANGELION

Unit-00
Eva-00 is the first working/surviving  Eva developed in the entire world.  Unit 00 is piloted by Rei Ayanami, who is the First Children.

Unit-01
Eva-01 was the second Eva produced and is piloted by Shinji, the Second Children.

Unit-02
Eva-02 is the final type of Eva.  It is the production model, which mean unit 02 would be the model for all of the Evas to follow.  This is piloted by the Third Children, Asuka.

WEAPONS

Prog Knife
The Prog Knife is a standard weapon of an Evangelion.  The Prog Knife is found within the shoulder.  It is ejected from the shoulder and then pulled out manually.  As this occurs, the knife extends.  The Prog Knife produces high frequencey vibrations to cut effectively.  The Prog Knife can also be seen in the picture of Unit-02.

Rifle
The rifle is used very often.  During battle, the tallest of the cities buildings receed underground and some building remain standing to provived weapons and power cables to the Eva.  Rifles are hidden in these building and are used when necessary.

AT-field
The AT-field stands for Absolute Terror field.  The AT-field is a kind of force field.  The AT-field is produced by both ANGELs and the Evangelions.

You can also read my review for Neon Genesis Evangelion and other anime titles at my review section.

For more information on Neon Genesis Evangelion, visit these web sites:
A.D. Vision Films
Gainax