They were fun and entertaining! Not to say they were merely that and nothing else, but it was a fine spinoff. It was very sweet seeing the characters in a different timeline and having brand new interactions and friends. I never expected it to live up to NGE (a spinoff doesn't need to), but my only complaints were that a lot of it felt like word vomit, and the CGI went way too far in certain scenes, to the point where I felt no sense of importance or understanding of what was happening in the story because the visuals were throwing me off so badly.

Animation drifted between 10/10 and 5/10, so it's hard to say. In some parts the CGI was done perfectly, and in others it was a gross mutation of anime :/ The colours weren't as good as the OG, not in any technical sense, but it failed to deliver atmosphere with its restrained and sterile palette in scenes that desperately needed it. Introspective and metaphysical scenes that thrive on choppy, flashing slideshows, unusual character shots and vivid colour choices fell flat here :( To add some credit, I enjoyed the linework and character design a lot. Everyone looked beautiful, even without the charm of the true NGE style.

Story was alright. I could tell they were expanding on NGE's surface (mecha, apocalypse, action, divinity), so it wasn’t the worst they could’ve done. As I mentioned, I felt like a lot of it was word vomit. The psychological scenes weren't as strong as NGE in both their weaker dialogue and inferior visuals and that's fine, it just felt a bit awkward to sit through them. I didn't feel like much of the information presented was meant to change my perception of the characters. The scene that escapes this critique is toward the tail end of the story, where we learn Ikari Gendo's social upbringing. 6/10

Dialogue and character interactions were fun, I liked them! Especially the arc where Rei helps out the townsfolk, and Asuka does her best to get Shinji up and running again. 7/10

Voice acting was always amazing, I love the seiyuus so much. 10/10

Soundtrack 9/10

Sound design.. I didn't pay that much attention. I'd say 8/10

Mari was.. interesting. I don't mean to say she felt like that much of an invasive species to the story, nor was she a nothingburger, but her presence felt so strange to me. I loved her as a pilot, her enthusiastic attitude towards combat and her dynamic with Asuka though, the whole Your Highness x Four Eyed Crony stuff.. I bet that's inspired some beautiful yuri fanfiction.

GOONER'S NOTES: Asuka, Rei, Mari looked sexy as fuck. Misato was attractive with her new jacket and militaristic, steadfast disposition, but I didn't like her hairdo. Kaworu is so beautiful I want to kiss him. Shinji was a cutie in his little kill-on-demand collar. Sad Ritsuko got that chopped ass hair later on. Love the way fanservice was done in the movies. It wasn't overdone, nor was it subtle. It was just plain sexy.. like a lingering upskirt glance, rather than obscene groping, you know what I mean? 10/10 pantyshots!!!

The ending felt wildly unsatisfactory, and to me it betrayed Shinji's journey. I would've liked to see him surrounded by more people, his friends or something. Not running off into the wild with Mari, with whom he had <10 real interactions with. WTF was that? Felt like a crack-ship more than anything else. 4/10.~~~~~~