Has everything already been said about "Neon Genesis Evangelion"? Sure, but it's always good to remind how groundbreaking it was for its time and still is after 25 years. Netflix gave me the chance to finally re-watch it as an adult and connect with the material on an even deeper level.

The action and comedy bits didn't age too well, but that has never been the main focus of the series anyway. The classic anime tropes are there only to make you feel comfortable before Hideki Anno starts scraping off the facade and dig deeper and deeper into his characters' psyche and expose their complexity and ambiguity. It faces critical issues of Japanese society like depression, loneliness, suicide, sexual taboos, repressed emotions, fear of human contact, all without any kind of sugar-coating or whatsoever. It's a journey through personal demons as much as it is a (fucked-up) coming-to-age story, but it sometimes insists a bit too much upon silly sexual overtones that felt just like fanservice and end up being detrimental to the moments where sexuality is being used for a purpose.

The controversial ending, which totally gives up the pretense of being a straightforward robot anime to solely focus on the character introspection, is one of the most creative and innovative ways to deal with budget cuts and still deliver the important message, yet I still understand all the backlash it generated. I have a weak spot for dreamy films and psychological tragedies, but that felt like a too easy way out rather than a serious attempt to properly close story arcs and [unfold the various mysteries behind Adam, Eve, Lilith, the Angels, and the Human Instrumentality Project.
Overall, I got the impression that after taking their time for the first dozen of episodes, they ended up without budget halfway and rushed the rest, with compressed story arcs and lots of recycled or still footage. [spoiler]The development of Kaworu and Shinji's relationship is the thing that suffered the most from the cut. The little time they spent together hardly justifies the impact his death had on Shinji's psyche.[/spoiler] A few more episodes or a more balanced distribution of events would have definitely helped.

The feature film "The End of Evangelion", which goes alongside the last two episodes of the series, luckily provides a more satisfying explanation of the events, accompanied by lots of fucked-up yet equally astonishing visuals, and of course some boobs and robot brawls for the nerds. It's a mandatory watch to the point that it should be considered as an integral part of series rather than a related work, and that should be avoided at all costs if you haven't watched the series first.