"Neon Genesis Evangelion" is one of the best anime shows ever made, in addition to being one of the most influential. This is a bleak yet ultimately hopeful anime that starts out simple enough, with a dystopian world under siege by alien creatures known as Angels, who can only be defeated by sending literal children off to war on giant biological mechas known as an Evangelion to fight them. Creator Hideaki Anno had more than a simple "robots fighting kaiju" story in mind when he made the anime, and even in the first half, there are elements of a deeper drama with introspective moments in between the giant mecha fights.

But the second half of the anime, where Anno goes deep into the show's mythology and the characters' psyche, gives audiences one of the most harrowing, dense, and complex works of fiction. The result is a hugely influential TV show that has inspired countless anime,...