 Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion has been a most amazingly powerful experience for me. I remember having to force myself to only watch one episode per day, because the tension it built up was so great. I actually became sad as I was reaching the final few episodes, knowing that the whole experience was almost over. Yet how wrong I was. I still remember my reaction to the last couple of episodes. For days, I journaled and I obsessed about the meaning of life. I wound up taking up meditation as a result, and it was probably one of the deciding factors in starting me down an accelerated path of personal growth.
That's just my experience though, and your results may vary. Maybe I was just at a point in my life where everything in that series resonated with me. On that note, if you want to get the best experience, you should watch the series, not the rehashed movie version, and you should definitely resist the impulse to watch several episodes at once. Many of the episodes usually left me thinking about them throughout the rest of the day, asking myself questions. Whenever I watch two episodes at once, I almost always lose the lingering message from the first one.
Vision of Escaflowne was a great series as well, probably the series that got me hooked onto anime, even before my NGE experience.
I'll refrain from comments on Lain and Elfen Lied, as I'm still watching them.  |