When it comes to anime there quite alot of legendary anime out there alot of which are ones that you pretty much have to watch at least once even if it's not all the way through. As is the case with the episode that i'm about to review for you all today as it's the debut episode of a really legendary anime that is still being talked about to this very day and so then join me as I review the episode that introduced the world to Shinji Ikari with the episode in question being called simply just "Angel Attack" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when the future city of Tokyo-3 finds itself under attack from a giant monster young Shinji Ikari must decide if he wants to fight or if he wants to sit there and do nothing. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot of the actual episode that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as it was a rather simple plot but at the same time tho the plot of this episode was also a rather thinly drawn out plot as well with the plot whilst it is indeed a really good plot for this debut episode to have isn't that strong of a plot as this is the first time that we the audience are getting to see these characters and yet when you have the main character unsure of what to do even tho he's been living in this world it doesn't really make sense for him to question if he wants to fight or not with the plot of the episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Casey Mongillo as Shinji Ikari , Carrie Keranen as Misato and Stephanie McKeon as Asuka. Also starring in this episode is Ryan Bartley as Rei Ayanami , Ray Chase as Gendo Ikari , anime voice acting legend Erica Lindbeck as Ritsuko Akagi , Tom And Jerry: Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory star J. P. Karliak as Kozo Fuyutsuki , Benjamin Diskin as Kensuke Aida , Greg Chun as Ryoji Kaji and Power Rangers star Johnny Yong Bosch as Toji Suzuhara.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episodes cast members turning in some really good performances and while yes not alot of the actors that have been listed appear in this episode it was hard to get a complete cast list for any version of the show and as you can no doubt work out this review is being based off of the Netflix dub of the show which wasn't that bad with all of the actors that do actually appear in this episode turning in some really solid performances which does make as someone like Erica Lindbeck is a really good voice actress and both she and the rest of this episodes cast do turn in some really solid performances with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all the actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is is something that really does help tom raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Gainax. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty shockingly good which was something that really surprising as you don't think of good animation being in nineties anime unless it's in a feature film as alot of anime series from that time period really don't have animation that hold up really well and that's not the case with this episode as this episodes animation really does hold up well and at times as in the above picture look like visually stunning and look like a piece of art as that's how good alot of this episodes really can be at points and all it does is make you wonder if the animation in this franchise is going to be as good if not better then the animation that we got in this episode which does go to show you just ho good the animation really was.
To give this episode some credit the characters in this episode are some really well written characters but at the same time Shinji Ikari is still just as annoying as he is in Evangelion 1.11. As all he does in this episode is spent alot of the episodes running time either crying or yelling and very little time actually acting like a normal and not annoying person and while it is understandable for the character to act this way in the first episode as this is only the first episode of the show at the same time tho it doesn't really give you a reason to like this character either and while that might be something that does get fixed in later episodes the first episode really needs to start of with it's best foot forward and that includes making your main character less annoying with the character of Misato is a good example of a good character as she's a fun character to watch in this episode who isn't afraid to be who she is but when the situation demands it she really can be just as serious and really just as demanding of the pilots as anyone else who works at Nerv.
One of the things that this show is known for is it's use of fanservice and that is something that's all over this first episode. As we get to see Misato in all kids of positions and revealing outfits that are fanservice and are there just because the makers of this show gave her a good body however while that would be seen as a bad thing by today's standards it is something that also proves a point as even tho she does look and in some cases act like a ditz alot of the time she is also who knows what she's doing and knows how to get Shinji to do what he needs to do at the end of episode which proves that she has more brains then what she's letting on and it also proves that there's more to her then just her looks with this further being proved in the scene where she and Shinji witness a bomb going of and she names the type of bomb despite them being nowhere near the bomb in question in order to get a good look at it and while she does admit to getting lost in the Nerv base something which we find out happens quite often the reasoning behind it does make sense as it's a new base and it's something that would happen if this was an old base that they'd been at for say a few years.
In a scene that does both feel pointless for this episode but is also needed for the franchise as a whole we do get to see that whatever damage the Eva takes the pilot also feels that damage and gets hurt as well. While a scene like that does feel pointless in this episode as it's something that adds to this episode at the same time it's something that adds something to the franchise as a whole as it says to us the audience that every single time that Shinji pilots his Eva he could die not just his mecha but him as a person and that is something does add an extra level of threat to an already threatening situation while a scene like this one doesn't really work in this episode as we the audience still don't know why the human race are fighting these giant monsters and would it be much better placed in say episode three maybe episodes two or four as by then the world of this show could start to developed alot more and that moment of seeing Rei basically close to death would make the whole situation and the whole idea hit home and hir alot more harder then what it does in this episode as it's something that really isn't needed in this episode.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty three minuets and thirty seven seconds. Which is a bit on the short side for an episode like this one to have as the episode really does have more then enough plot to cover at the very least forty five minuets and with that running time the episode could delve into the world more and it could start to develop alot of it;s characters alot more then what they already because as things stand alot of the characters don't get alot of time to get across what it is that there personality is even meant to be and in the case of Rei despite her being a main character she only gets a few lines of dialog near the end of the episode which does make sense as the episode really is meant to be about setting up Shinji but if the episode did have a slightly longer running time it would mean that the characters would get more of a chance to shine and whole yes the episodes plot is really thin at best the idea is there to really sustain a longer running time and the episode would benefit from having a longer time and it really would also mean that the world that this show really takes place in would really get more of a chance to really be fully fleshed out then what it already is in this final cut of the episode but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. However that's also the problem as this episodes action isn't all that good either as all it is is the monster just getting getting attacked by the military and that's really it which is fine for say a Godzilla movie where you can also change it up by having Godzilla use his powers to keep things interesting here tho you don't have that advantage and as a result of that is the fact that you have to keep on creating interesting action scenes and having the military just pointlessly attacking this monster that they know they can't stop while it starts of good just slowly gets more and more boring however to this episodes credit having the episode basically be one long action scene is a good idea and it's during this episodes action where the animation really does come alive and leap of the screen as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this was a solid if a somewhat flawed episode to start this legendary anime out on and it;s quite clear tom see that even from this episode this show really did have alot of potential and while it did reach that potential in the end this episode really didn't do it any kind of favours whatsoever in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the and things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Evangelion fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Evangelion fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode and are really of course up and really on the official Evangelion fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.