>>1026276a catastrophe happens in the south pole when mankind discovers the embryonic form of a progenitor being called Adam, who births creatures that are absolute and self-contained called Angels, while another being like Adam, called Lilith, is the mother of individual, separated beings who are not perfect, who inevitably hurt and reject each other in their relationships
so its a study of the human condition through the eyes of a sad 14 year old kid who cant accept the dark side of other people's selves or even his own, and as the series goes on the characters' personalities are revealed to be various defense mechanisms and walls for their loneliness, and it's even revealed the Angels are fundamentally lonely beings
the driver of the action is the angels themselves, who wreak havoc through the Japanese countryside in a kind of biological directive to unite with their source, Adam, and complete themselves, which eliminates humanity in the process. eventually, an illuminati-like organization gets wind of all this crazy metaphysical shit and orchestrates a series of events to hijack the process for humanity, and revert all individuated human souls to a kind of prenatal oneness, where there is no ego and everyone exists as everything and nothing, ie the only cure for the pain of the human condition is death.
the series is pretty much shinji finding a will to live amidst the damaged and broken souls around him who have given up on healing themselves and the world and would rather hit the reset button. its a story about lack and human intimacy kinda refracted through a 90s mecha anime sensibility, with some really heartfelt shit you can tell anno had to dig deep for, to ground it. 10/10 senpai
