Watch up to the last episode, then watch End of Evangelion for the canon ending. And/or watch the rebuild movies for a condensed retelling that goes in its own direction.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago

Last 2 episodes you mean. I think.

[–] OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Which is generally accepted to be the better? Just out of curiosity

[–] Eccitaze@yiffit.net 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They're both extremely excellent. The original series is a fair bit darker and more depressing, and End of Evangelion is definitely a lot more WTF than anything that happens in the rebuild movies (which isn't a bad thing necessarily). The rebuild movies,meanwhile, have much higher production values, and the fights are generally much better--most of the gifs of Ramiel you see are from the rebuild. The characters are also a lot more mentally stable--they're all still depressed and dealing with heavy shit, but it's "I'm taking my meds" depression instead of "untreated spiral" depression.

[–] OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Cool. Thanks for all the information :-)

I'm kinda in a dark place mentally right now, so might check out the rebuilds.

[–] Eccitaze@yiffit.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, do NOT watch end of Evangelion if you're in a bad mental headspace. The original series ending might be better for you despite the "ran out of money and cobbled together a clip show" values, since it at least has a relatively upbeat tone. EoE starts with "all the main characters are comatose or going through a mental breakdown" and it gets worse from there.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You'd better not expect a satisfying conclusion. They ran out of money and couldn't make the final episodes, so it's still images of characters on white backgrounds with no real closure.

[–] Zozano@lemy.lol 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly any first time watcher should just expect not to know what the fuck is going on.

Unless you watch a comprehensive video essay, you're probably not going to understand the >!religious significance behind many terms!<, >!why the main characters pathologies lead them to their own existentialist hellscape!<, >!the history of the aliens relation to the cosmos !<, >!and why Shinji's hand is sticky!<

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

The knowledge that they received cloaks from Galadriel that can hide them was pretty important in the second film when they do just that. For people who hadn't seen the extended edition of the first film it was very confusing when they turned into rocks suddenly.

[–] CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I mean then they got more funding and made more stuff that is weirder but well animated.