Edit: After seeing the final Rebuld 3.0+1.0 I had some additional thoughts and rewrote a little of my initial review to reflect what I now know. My personal thoughts are under spoiler and simply reflect my personal interpretation of the series. Feel free to ignore all that if you only want a general recommendation. My overall opinion is that Evangelion is a great series and theres nothing quite like it out there. The movie series really needs to be enjoyed as a whole and not as a standalone production. With that said here is the review and my thoughts: The Evangelion series is one of the most influential series in the anime medium. People have been discussing it since it came out in the 90s and many people have taken different messages from it over the years. Everyone who has seen the original NGE seems to have a bit of their own take on it ranging from empathy with the characters to dissecting the quasireligious symbolism to more simply just enjoying giant mecha fighting interesting monsters and all variations in between. People write dissertations inspired by this anime. Many character archetypes were solidified by this anime and for better or worse the industry was forever changed after this show became popular. My previous experience with NGE the series soured me on the anime. While I enjoyed the first half of the show and its world I was turned off by the second half of the show and the somewhat bizarre resolution and ending that felt out of place in its general tone. While the show had the tools to be a pretty great mecha show it failed for me because it was ultimately secretly hiding a message in the spectacle and then garishly shoving it into my face and forgetting to actually resolve it in a way that wasnt preachy at best and pretentious at worst. The movies make the message a bit clearer as they have stripped away a lot of the scenes from the show and by nature of only having about two hours to tell significant portions of the story it is a lot more succinct than the televised anime was. Because of this I enjoyed the movies far more than the original series once I accepted that the general theme of this anime was not to actually tell us a mecha story per se but tell a message through a mecha story if that makes any sense. With regards to the technical aspects of the show they are very good. The world of Evangelion has been cleaned up and polished and it definitely looks and sounds quite a bit better than the original series from a visual standpoint. Things are far more fluid and the action feels more immediate. The voice acting and sounds have been cleaned up a bit as well. Technically this show feels very polished compared to the original. The additional care and budget over the original are shown well. With regards to actually reviewing the anime itself Evangelion is tough to dig into without waxing philosophical and throwing personal interpretation into what one sees. After watching the movies and the original show one more time drinking quite a few beers and collecting my thoughts I will offer my unnecessary interpretations. I suppose Ill spoiler here as this is more of a personal interpretation that some may not care to read if they just want a final score and is it worth watching. So Anyway thats my interpretation of the second movie specifically. Beyond my unnecessary 3000 or so word interpretation is this a good movie to watch? I would say that it is. I had a fun time with this show. Its more enjoyable than the main series from an entertainment perspective although its a bit less thoughtprovoking than the original series. HOWEVER it should be watched after going back and seeing the original series for context because as a standalone work of fiction this isnt that great when viewed outside of the other works in the franchise. I would strongly recommend watching the first movie in the rebuild series as this movie would be difficult to follow without at least watching that. As I mentioned in my NGE review different people are going to get different things out of these movies and it is up to you to interpret Evangelion for yourself. It is also an important tool in your arsenal of understanding modern anime as well it would easily be in a top 10 or even 5 most influential shows of all time. Evangelion for better or worse is one of the must watch anime series out there for the sheer influence that its had on the industry and culture. Beyond the importance to the medium itself this anime is generally entertaining or at the very least thought provoking enough that just about anyone can get something out of it. While the story has a few issues to it and at times goes a bit far in places its enjoyable to watch if you enjoy mecha and a bit of psychological fiction and metacommentary. At the time of this writing the 4th and probably final movie in the series is scheduled to be released so its also great to catch up to where things stand as well. The movies and series get a strong recommendation.