List of Neon Genesis Evangelion episodes

Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

series created by Gainax

Gainax

is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as Gunbuster, The Wings of Honneamise, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which have gone on to critical acclaim and commercial success, as well as for their association with...

. It began broadcasting in Japan on TV Tokyo

TV Tokyo

is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...

on October 4, 1995 and ended on March 27, 1996. WOWOW

WOWOW

WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...

aired the series again during 2003. It was written and directed by Hideaki Anno

Hideaki Anno

is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...

and produced by Project Eva, which included TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems

Nihon Ad Systems

, NAS for short, is a Japanese anime production and character merchandising company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the advertising agency Asatsu-DK. The "Ad" in its title is an abbreviation for "Animation Development". Along with animation studios Sunrise, Toei Animation and TMS Entertainment, it is...

(NAS). Evangelion is an apocalyptic

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...

mecha

Mecha

A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...

action series which centers around the efforts by the paramilitary organization Nerv to fight monstrous beings called Angels

Angel (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

In the anime and manga Neon Genesis Evangelion, are beings which attack Tokyo-3 over the course of the story. They are the main antagonist of the series and were designed by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.-Description:...

, primarily using giant mecha called Evangelions

Evangelion (mecha)

In the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, , are the fictional mecha piloted by the Children chosen by the Marduk Institute . The Evas were created by Nerv. Their principal purpose is defending Tokyo-3 from the Angels...

which are piloted by select teenagers, one of whom

Shinji Ikari

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. The protagonist of the series , he is the Third Child and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01...

is the primary protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

.

The series was first aired in North America on San Francisco-area PBS member station KTEH in 2000. Later, the first two episodes saw nationwide broadcast in edited format on Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network (United States)

Cartoon Network is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting which primarily airs animated programming. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992 after Turner purchased the animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991...

as part of Toonami

Toonami

Toonami was a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly showing American cartoons and Japanese anime, originating in the United States on March 17, 1997 and ended on September 20, 2008.The...

's Giant Robot Week on February 24–25, 2003. Both episodes were edited for content. Later, the entire series then aired on Adult Swim

Adult Swim

Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...

from October 20, 2005 to April 21, 2006.

In 2004, A.D. Vision

A.D. Vision

A.D. Vision was an American international multimedia entertainment company headquartered in Houston, Texas, prior to its collapse and distress sale to four other Houston-based companies in 2009...

, the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

licenser, released a director's cut

Director's cut

A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...

versions of episodes 21 through 24 with its Platinum Edition DVDs. The director's cuts included several new and reworked scenes to better explain the events that occurred in The End of Evangelion

The End of Evangelion

is a 1997 Japanese animated science fiction film written and directed by Hideaki Anno along with Kazuya Tsurumaki; it ended the anime releases in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy remakes were announced in 2006....

Airing history

After several episodes were produced, the first episode aired on October 4, 1995, long after originally planned. Initially ignored (although received positively by those Gainax fans invited to early screenings), viewership grew slowly and largely by word of mouth.

The 16th episode marked a distinct shift that would characterize the second half of Evangelion as being more psychological than action or adventure. This change in emphasis was partly due to the development of the story, but also partly because by this point, production had begun running out of funding and failing to meet the schedule; this collapse has been identified by at least one Gainax employee as the impetus for Evangelion's turn into metafiction:

I didn't mind it. The schedule was an utter disaster and the number of cels plummeted, so there were some places where unfortunately the quality suffered. 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?" However, I didn't feel that way. My opinion was, "Why don't we show them the entire process including our breakdown."

But nevertheless, by the 18th episode, it had become enough of a sensation that Eva-01's violent rampage "is criticized as being unsuitable on an anime show that is viewed by children", and episode 20 would be similarly criticized for the offscreen depiction of Misato and Ryoji having sex. With this popularity came the first merchandise, "Genesis 0:1" (containing the first two episodes). Beginning a trend, it sold out. As the series concluded on 27 March 1996 with "Take care of yourself.", the story apparently remained unresolved: Third Impact and the Human Instrumentality Project are implied to have begun or even finished, but the episodes focus largely on the psychology of the characters, leaving deeply unclear what actually happens. The End of Evangelion

The End of Evangelion

was meant to replace or complement the original episodes 25 and 26, in order to better explain the events of the ending.

Episodes

Each episode has 2 titles: one is the original Japanese title, and the second is an English title that was chosen by Japanese studio Gainax itself. Most often, the direct translation of the Japanese title is not the same as the official English title that was chosen. For example, the direct translation of the original Japanese title of episode 2 is "An Unfamiliar Ceiling", but the English title chosen was "The Beast". Sometimes, however, the two titles are either similar or exactly the same, as was the case with episode 10 "Magmadiver". Many tracks on the original soundtracks are named after the English episode names in which they are first used.

No.	Episode title	\| Director	\| Writer	\| Original airdate

Complementary ending

No.	Title	\| Director	\| Writer	\| Original theatrical release date

Reception

While the entire series has received wide attention, individual episodes have also earned praise and occasionally been recipients of awards.

Animage: Anime Grand Prix awards

The following episodes were awarded placement in the Anime Grand Prix, an annual reader's choice award contest hosted by Animage

Animage

is a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Hayao Miyazaki's internationally renowned manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, was serialized in Animage from 1982 through 1994...

magazine. The 19th Annual Anime Grand Prix in Animage (June, 1996), volume 228, was held shortly after the conclusion of the original broadcast.

External links

"'Evangelion' episode synopsis -- Episodes 1 to 5" -(Mainichi Times, Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...

backup)
"'Evangelion' episode synopsis -- Episodes 6 to 10"
"'Evangelion' episode synopsis -- Episodes 11 to 15"
"'Evangelion' episode synopsis -- Episodes 16 to 20"
"'Evangelion' episode synopsis -- Episodes 21 to 26"

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