Evangelion was the hottest anime series in Japan and probably in the world for it's time. The original series ended in Japan in 1996/7 (i think) and the tapes were available in US under ADV Films last year. The series is about plots to end humanity in order for it to evolve to the next stage. Throughout the original series you see Nerv, who is given the task to prepare humanity for the next evolution, sending out their Evangelions (40 foot tall clones of the first Angel, Lilith) to fight Angels (beings from space who takes the names of angels). Angels were sent to earth to retrieve Adam, the second Angel who caused the second impact in the year 2000. NERV's duty is to prevent the third impact by preventing angels from contacting Adam. The story goes that if Angels were to contact Adam, the world will end.

The plot rotates around two characters, Keel Lorentz and Gendo Ikari. Gendo Ikari controls Nerv and Keel controls Seele (the mother company of Nerv). Both have different plans in order for the third impact to occur. Keel wants the third impact so that he could finally rest, while Gendo Ikari wants the third impact so he could finally meet up with his wife whose dissapearance is explained in the series. By using Lilith as the catalyst to the third impact instead of Adam, Gendo and Keel plans to launch humanity into their next stage of evolution. According to them, mankinds evolution has come to a stand still, the only way we could evolve further is for mankind to be eradicated and reborned into another form. The person who controls the third impact will be able to determine the future of mankind based on what they will it to be.

When the series ended, the last tape was really confusing. It consist of cut-scenes from all the previous 24 episodes being flashed across the screen. The original ending starts with the third impact already occured. Episodes 25 and 26 basically talks about Shinji choosing between reality and his dream. It is very confusing because I think it was meant to be. Because the fans hated it and also because Gainax, the company who created Evangelion, wanted more money, they redid the final episodes into a movie, The End of Evangelion. In this movie, they explain how the third impact occured. It is a 100x better than the original ending. A lot of questions were answered and also a lot of new questions sprouted. If you watched the original series, this is one movie you won't want to miss. If you haven't watched a single episode of the original movie, you might be a little lost but the movie is pretty much self explanatory. For cool mecha action and superb animation, this is one show you won't want to miss. Overall, this is one anime worth your time watching.