‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ is Coming to Netflix

One of the most popular and prolific series of all time also happens to be one that’s tough to watch legally. Neon Genesis Evangelion fans have fought tooth and nail to legally support the series for a long time, and soon the fight will be over.

Netflix has officially announced that Neon Genesis Evangelion will be available for global streaming on the service next Spring. You can check out a cool teaser visual for the release below.

Along with a slick teaser trailer confirming that Neon Genesis Evangelion will be available in Spring 2019, Netflix also confirmed that along with the 26 episodes of the original anime series, the films Evangelion: Death True 2 (Death & Rebirth) and The End of Evangelion will be coming to the service as well.

Unfortunately there are no details as to whether or not the English dub of the series will be available as well, but fans will be excited nonetheless to finally be able to watch the series legally without hunting down various scattered home video releases.

This is only one of the ways Neon Genesis Evangelion is being kept alive, however. The series will be releasing its final film, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0, in 2020, and while that seems like a long time from now it’s an even longer wait for those who have been wanting to see the final film since it was announced in 2012. If the film does release in 2020, it will be eight years long in production. Though it’s a relief to hear it’s still being worked on.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a psychological drama by way of giant monster versus mech anime. The franchise debuted as a television series in 1995-1996 with two films following in 1997. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is an one-part drastically abridged retelling of the first 24 episodes of the television series, and one part new animation. The End of Evangelion, the second film, would incorporate some of Death & Rebirth’s original animation and offer an alternate take on the original series’ controversial final two episodes.

The series follows Shinji Ikari, who is recruited by his father to pilot the giant mech Evangelion in the fight against giant monsters known as Angels in the futuristic city of Tokyo-3. But Shinji is unwilling to bear this huge responsibility and is often conflicted about taking part in a war he was dragged into. This conflict of emotions leads to many introspective episodes that cover the range of religious, philosophical, and existential concepts.