Neon Genesis Evangelion

If you know me, you know I'm not much of a TV viewer, though what I do watch is fairly unusual.

Digimon on FoxKids. Yes, I've seen the entire series. Several times over. My favorite digimon? Well, first season, Ikkakumon, and his ultimate form, Zudomon. ("Gomamon digivolve to Ikkakumon!... Ikkakumon digivolve to Zudomon!!!") Second season, Shakkoumon. ("Ankylomon and Angemon DNA-digivolve to Shakkoumon!") And third season, the various digivolutions of Renamon. ("Renamon digivolve to Kyubimon!... Kyubimon matrix digivolve to Taomon!... Renamon biomerge to Sakuyamon!")

Asuka, Shinji, and Rei, with Unit 01 The X-Files. I've been following the bizarre adventures of Mulder and Scully for years. Alien abductees? Black oil? Bees? A worldwide conspiracy? Alien-human hybrids? And now alien replacements? No, I don't know what's going on, either. Though I do have my paranoid theories. Oh, and hey, I think Agent Doggett is cool.

I liked Millennium, though of course they went and cancelled it. I sort of identified with Frank Black, if you can credit that. "This is who we are."

And I've at least got to mention Twin Peaks and American Gothic.

But my favorite has got to be the Japanese anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Look for it in the anime section at the video store. Yeah, it's about some giant robots (the Evangelions) fighting creatures known as the Angels which are attacking Tokyo-3 in the year 2015. Fifteen years after a catastrophe known as the Second Impact, which wiped out half the human race. Only a few select youth are capable of synchronizing with the Evas and piloting "mankind's ultimate fighting machine" in the battle against the Angels.

Weird conspiracies, cosmic mysteries, dense plotlines, and intriguing character development. Rocking battle scenes. Strange Freudian motifs. And I'd bet all that kabbalistic symbolism flies right by most viewers. For instance, the Human Enhancement Project is nothing other than the kabbalistic "mending of the vessels," with Eva Unit 01 as Adam Kadmon...



Rei Ayanami
The First Child
Pilot, Eva Unit 00

Shinji Ikari
The Third Child
Pilot, Eva Unit 01
Asuka Langley Sohryu
The Second Child
Pilot, Eva Unit 02


Unit 00



Unit 01


Unit 02


Commander Gendo Ikari
Director of NERV



Dr. Ritsuko Akagi
Head Scientist, NERV


Captain Misato Katsuragi
Chief of Operations, NERV


Neon Genesis Evangelion images
on this webpage used by permission
of GAINAX Co., Ltd.

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