The watch order for Neon Genesis Evangelion used to be simple. At best, you’d end up watching a recap movie that you didn’t need to watch, but the rest of it fell into place pretty simply. Then the Rebuild movies came out and everything got a little more complicated.
Regardless, if you are looking to get into this philosophical mecha classic now that it has been conclusively ended (Well, we’ll see.) with the final Rebuild movie,we got you.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Watch Order
How to Watch Neon Genesis Evangelion in Order
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) – The Platinum Collection is best, but the Netflix version is fine too. Most importantly you just want the Director’s Cut of Episodes 21 – 24, since it holds crucial information. Both versions have that.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (Recap Movie) (Optional)
- End of Evangelion (Movie)
- Petit EVA: Evangelion@School (Comedy ONA) (Optional)
- Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (Movie)
- Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (Movie)
- Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (Movie)
- Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (Movie)
What About Death and Rebirth / Death (True)?
Evangelion Death and Rebirth are basically a non-linear recap movies of the anime (Death) and the first bit of End of Evangelion (Rebirth). Death (True), also called Death2, is still the same non-linear recap with a few added scenes. Neither movies are considered necessary to watch.
What Are the Rebuild Movies, Exactly?
The Rebuild movies are essentially a retelling of the original anime. It expands upon the entire thing quite a bit and adds a lot of new content to it. Because they are new, they look great and are well worth the watch.
However, the Rebuild movies should not be used to replace the original anime.
Yeah, that merited it own paragraph and ye ol’ Bold text formatting. The Rebuild movies do require the basic knowledge of the anime series in order to get the full scope of things. So watch them after the anime series. If you are going to tackle this beast, tackle it right.
