This is the anime that launched millions of dedicated fanboys and countless obsessions.
And this is the anime that has an unbeatable level of character depth and symbolism.
So lets get down to the basics:
Story-10: There's nothing I can say to prepare you for the level of depth in the story, although giant mechs being piloted by anxty teenagers who are fighting against giant monsters has been done over and over again, no over anime can even compare to the deepness of the symbolism in the series and more importantly the psychological struggles of the characters. Though the first 15 episodes are action focused and like I said earlier, have been done before, from episode 16 onwards the plot shifts its focus onto the psychological side of the characters, with some episodes taking place entirely inside the character's mind.
Art-8: Although its dated now, at the time the animation of the series was truly spectacular and raised the bar for what was expected of anime art. But it still continues to look great, this is mostly due to the stunning lighting effects of the animation where the art's only real downside is in the character designs, which, apart from a few, are rather boring despite the fact that rei, asuka and misato have millions of people of all ages obsessing over them, myself included.
Sound-10: Not only is the soundtrack truly spectacular, with my personal favourite being "hedgehog's dilemma", but the sound effects are also triumphant especially in the amazingly detailed effects of the physical damages, every bone that cracks and snaps, every vain that gets sliced open, every organ that oozes out-all of it can be heard perfectly.
Character-10: The depth of these characters is truly remarkable, and even though the series's main character is famously a giant pussy, the level of depth in how he is evaluated truly explains his lack of manliness fully. If I say any more I fear I might ruin the mystery of these characters so lets just skip ahead.
Overall-10: Interesting, mysterious, powerful, emotional, intense, visceral, haunting and overall: Fucking amazing.
