What separates Evangelion from many other world-famous anime is its complex intermingling of both Western and Japanese ideology, iconography and especially entwining of Biblical themes and references with its breath-taking, and at times, unnerving mecha battles against the Angels that descend unto Earth.
Some have argued that Neon Genesis Evangelion is in fact a deconstruction of the very anime sub-genre it appears to be, and is undoubtedly one of the most laudably philosophical and intelligent anime series, with fans still unpicking and deciphering characters, themes and plot points since its initial debut in 1995.
There have been several retellings, additions and sequels to the Evangelion world with the connectivity between them somewhat blurred, so here's how to watch Evangelion in order.
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The initial Neon Genesis Evangelion series kickstarts the anime exactly where you'd expect and concludes with the Death movie. Creators decided the final wasn't dark enough and decided to create The End, another movie, to wrap things in an even more confusing, blood-soaked bow.
Several years on from the original release, Evangelion received a remake but ended up with a reboot. The decimal additions add new fights, characters and events in never-before-seen content.
It all sounds confusing but the watch order is relatively straight-forward:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Gainax
You really shouldn't miss a single episode from any of the instalments. Evangelion is confusing enough without skipping over dialogue so we advance you to hunker down and watch the anime in its entirety.
It's a faithful adaptation to the manga and everything you're shown has a direct knock on effect to the battlefield and sanity of the characters.
The original Neon Genesis Evangelion series, including the Death and The End movies are available to stream on Netflix.
The decimal installations are available online via Prime Video.
Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide or Streaming Guide to find out what else is on.
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The Neon Genesis Evangelion watch order, on the face of it, looks simple: a 26-episode series, a movie, then you're done.
Unfortunately, it's not quite that straightforward. Thanks to the inclusion of director's cuts and a series of 'Rebuild' movies that act as sequels, reboots, and alternate timelines all in one, it can be tough to get a handle on how to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion in order.
Below, we'll clear up everything so you get in the damn robot and experience Shinji's story from start to Impact-ful finish. That includes the full picture of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, the four Rebuild movies, and everything else (skippable or otherwise).
For more, be sure to check out the best anime to watch right now (a certain Neon Genesis Evangelion makes the cut) as well as a larger look at the new anime in 2024. We also have guides to Demon Slayer season 4, Jujutsu Kaisen season 3, and how to watch Attack on Titan in order.
(Image credit: Netflix/Gainax)
Watching Neon Genesis Evangelion in release order is undoubtedly the best way to do things. That’s helped enormously by Netflix having the worldwide streaming rights to the mainline series, including the director’s cuts of episodes 21-24.
The original versions of those episodes are harder to track down and, honestly, not worth it. The director’s cuts are more comprehensive. One thing to note is the subtitles for the Netflix versions have been tweaked slightly – and led to some controversy over the relationship between two of the characters. The choice is yours, but Netflix is far more accessible.
So, that makes it quite easy: watch all 26 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Then, you’ll need to complete Shinji's story with the feature-length End of Evangelion movie (also on Netflix).
(Image credit: Gainax/Studio Khara)
In the 21st Century, show creator Hideaki Anno decided to retell the story of Evangelion in a series of four movies called the Rebuild of Evangelion. As you might expect, they are confusingly titled: Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time.
For their home releases, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 were all given extended cuts with additional scenes, called 1.11, 2.22, 3.33. They’re the ones you need to seek out – and they’re all available on Amazon Prime Video.
For pretty heavy spoiler reasons, these should be watched after the mainline series even though they are (mostly) separate versions of the same story and stand alone as their own adventures. Here’s the order – making particular note that, again, you should watch 1.11 instead of 1.0, 2.22 instead of 2.0, and so on.
As they're all available on Amazon Prime Video worldwide, you’ll need both an Amazon and Netflix membership to get the complete picture of the series outside of forking over serious money for the physical releases.
TL;DR? Watch all 26 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion on Netflix, then End of Evangelion, then the four Rebuild movies. Simple! The Neon Genesis Evangelion watch order looks like this.
Now, it’s going to get complicated. You can duck out at this point, as we’re heading into light spoiler territory – with a heavy chance of plot-related headaches forecast.
(Image credit: Netflix/Gainax)
Honestly? Watching Neon Genesis Evangelion in chronological order is a tough ask. Mercifully, the first 24 episodes can be watched as normal. Then, it gets a little tricky.
Series protagonist Shinji then becomes part of a major event that technically takes place during episodes 25 and 26 and also the End of Evangelion movie. If you want to go super in-depth and granular with the chronological order, you can watch episodes 1-24, the first hour of End of Evangelion, then episodes 25 and 26 for a more introspective look at the main characters during a significant plot beat. Then you’re free to finish up End of Evangelion before moving on to the Rebuild movies.
We’d recommend just sticking with the main order above – but the option is here if you want it. At the very least, it gives greater context to the utterly bewildering final two episodes of a series that, famously, ran out of steam (and budget) during its original run.
(Image credit: Netflix/Gainax)
The only skippable piece of mainline Evangelion media is a curiosity that can also be found on Netflix called Evangelion: Death(True)2, otherwise known as Evangelion: Death and Rebirth.
The ‘Death’ portion of the movie is a recap of the entire series with some newly-drawn scenes, as well as some larger world-building that's covered in the series' director cut episodes. The ‘Rebirth’ section is just the first third of End of Evangelion – and was released as a teaser for Japanese audiences in 1997. Our advice? Skip it. You’re not missing out on anything important, but it does technically come after episode 26 and before End of Evangelion in terms of release dates if you're in a completionist mood.
Phew. We made it! For more, check out the best Netflix shows and the best Netflix movies.
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