He couldn't have been more correct.
Now, before watching, I had had some previous exposure to this series. I knew how it ended, or, perhaps, how it didn't end. I mean, how could anyone have gone this long without knowing about that whole "Congratulations" scene. But I digress.
Story: 10
In constructing Evangelion, Hideaki Anno created a bizarre and multilayered universe, which, on the surface, doesn't look too terribly different from our own. Really all that's different is the whole angel thing (and that's if you aren't including the setting in all of this). When you first get into it, you make all kinds of fundamental assumptions about the EvaVerse, the most important one being the origin of species. I'm not going to spoil it, but let me just say that no matter how you think that humanity came about, it ain't got nothing on EVA's background. On top of the worldbuilding aspect, there's plenty of fun to be had following the twists and turns of Shinji's adventures in the Evangelion, although that last bit may have painted a picture of a typical shounen action series, which EVA decidedly is not. No, Evangelion starts off somewhat cheerful (well, as cheerful as an anime set in post-apocalyptic Japan can get) and grows progressively darker from there. I don't remember at which exact moment I realized "holy f*ck this got really dark," but it was probably somewhere between episodes 16 and 18. Overall, the story is so complex, it's impossible to understand it after just one run-through, to the extent that there is an entire wiki dedicated to in-depth analysis of this series.
Art: 8
While I would not go as far as to call the art of the series beautiful, I definitely liked it. I really like the designs for the "monsters," a term I'm using somewhat generally to refer to both the angels and the EVAs. First of all, the angels do not look like your typical Judeo-Christian conception of what an angel looks like. They aren't pretty, they don't have halos, (except some of them do and they all do in the Rebuild movies) they don't play harps, and they certainly aren't messengers of any god that I'd like to meet. They look like how many angels in the Bible are described. For instance, the sixteenth angel, Armisael resembles the angels, called Thrones, described in the book of Ezekiel as "Wheels within wheels." The EVAs, on the other hand, are much more humanoid in appearance, except for certain aspects of their design, meant to invoke demonic imagery. In their preliminary design stages, they even had horns, playing them counter to the "heavenly" aspect of the Angels. Hell, EVA Unit 01 is referred to as the Beast while in Berserker mode, so it's not even that much of a stretch.
As far as character design goes, I definitely liked the way they look. I feel like the best-designed character would be Gendou, both in appearance and as far as his costume design goes. Every bit of him just exudes an air of malicious secrecy, telling us that he knows something that we don't, and probably never will.
Sound: 7
The sound design and music was actually incredibly good. However the sound quality is quite lacking. Now, I gave it some leeway due to it being more than a decade and a half old, however I'm taking a somewhat holistic approach to this, embracing both the English dub and the original Japanese. The Japanese is nearly perfect. There are a few hiccups with the voice acting, but that's to be expected, all things considered. It's the English voice cast that brings the sound quality down for me. They just didn't seem to match in a few ways, the most glaring one being that the sound quality of the voice acting was leaps and bounds better than the background music and sound effects. However, there is one thing that saves it, and that is the performance of the voice cast. Spike Spencer as Shinji, Tristan MacAvery as Gendou, Allison Keith as Misato, and Tiffany Grant as Asuka stand out to me in particular, among a cast of scenery chewers and character actors.
Character: 9
I don't like Shinji. But then again, we're not really *supposed* to like Shinji. He is pretty much universally referred to as the whiniest protagonist in all of anime. He is entirely passive, doing only what other people tell him to do, especially when it's something that he doesn't want to, like piloting the EVA. But, as a character, I really like Shinji. He has realistic wants and fears. He has a motivation.
Asuka is not a well-adjusted individual, but in the world of EVA pilots, being screwed up in the head is pretty much a requirement for the position. She's clearly got daddy (mommy?) issues and is, once again, an interesting character with a deep background and realistic desires.
I think that it's unfortunate what's happened to Rei. When this was made, the idea of a short, blue-haired, emotionless girl character was rare, if not original. She's well-constructed, overall, however I just can't look past the way that her character has been copied to death, and occasionally even being done better than the original. It's nothing personal, Ayanami. I've just seen it all before. I'd probably have a different perspective if it were 1996 and I still hadn't watched, like, any other anime, but it's not. It's 2014 and the waters have already been poisoned.
I really like Gendou. I don't think that can be overstated at all. He's like what you get if Machiavelli decided to have a kid and also human instrumentality second impact giant fighting robots desu. He's sort of set up to be a bit of a minor villain, and, well, once the threat of the angels is dealt with (as if there was any doubt that it wouldn't be) he gladly steps toward that role, even if it is eventually filled by the other shadowy government organization. He also has some really interesting relationships with other characters. His nurturing relationship with Rei is possibly the polar opposite of the way he treats Shinji. There's just so much going on inside that calculating head of his.
Ritsuko is kinda screwed up, but then, if you had to deal with the stuff she's had to go through, so would you. I like her relationship with her late mother, the way that, even though she sees herself as the opposite of her mother, she has stepped in to essentially fill that role. Even her relationship with Gendou is exactly the same as the one her mother had with him.
Misato hides her pain behind a thick barrier of booze and duty. Fifteen years after her father's death in the Second Impact, she is still reeling from the loss. She refuses to reach out to anyone, as she fears that she might get hurt. She took a chance in taking Shinji in, and that led to some great times for the both of them (and also Asuka once she joins the party).
Enjoyment: 10
I liked it a lot. Especially when it got dark. It was fun. As this is a qualitative measurement, there's not much else to say.
Overall: 10
This anime is not for everyone. But if you like giant mech battles, Christian imagery, and Immanuel Kant, then this is the anime for you. Also, if you enjoy being congratulated. That's definitely an added bonus.
