Director Hideaki Anno's Seminal Series Makes its Criterion Channel Debut September 1

“...ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL, VISUALLY STUNNING, INTELLECTUALLY PROBING ANIME IN THE MEDIUM'S HISTORY.”
– Allegra Frank and Aja Romano, Vox

"THE REACH AND INFLUENCE OF THE SERIES CAN STILL BE FELT TODAY...EVANGELION REVOLUTIONIZED A GENRE AND ITS DEPICTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN AND MACHINE.”
-Maya Phillips, The New Yorker

The boundary-pushing franchise that propelled anime to new heights of psychological, moral, and philosophical complexity, NEON GENESIS EVANGELIONremains a landmark of both adventurous visual storytelling and profound existential inquiry. Set in a postapocalyptic world where teenagers pilot giant Multipurpose Humanoid Decisive Weapons–artificial humans known as Evangelions–to defend humanity from mysterious beings called Angels, the story evolves from high-stakes action spectacle into a deeply introspective exploration of identity, trauma, loneliness, and human connection. The original twenty-six episode series is presented here in both its Japanese-language version and the Classic English dub–the latter of which is made available on streaming for the first time. Revised and expanded by its acclaimed companion films THE END OF EVANGELION and EVANGELION DEATH (TRUE)², NEON GENESIS EVANGELION represents narrative and aesthetic world-building of the highest order.

Series
NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, Hideaki Anno, 1995–1996

Features
THE END OF EVANGELION, Hideaki Anno and Kazuya Tsurumaki, 1997
EVANGELION DEATH (TRUE)², Hideaki Anno, 1998

1995-1996 / Japan / 624 min
1997 / Japan / 87 min
1998 / Japan / 69 min

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION will be joining the Criterion Channel's other anime offerings, including Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, The Garden of Words, and K-ON! The Movie.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, THE END OF EVANGELION and EVANGELION DEATH (TRUE)² come to the Criterion Channel from North American distributor GKIDS, whose past titles featured on the Criterion Channel include Academy Award® nominees Boy and the World, Chico and Rita, Ernest & Celestine, My Life as a Zucchini, the early works of acclaimed director Makoto Shinkai, and more.