Neon Genesis Evangelion if

Neon Genesis Evangelion if (Japanese: 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン if Hepburn: Shinseiki Evangerion if, lit. "New Century Gospel if") is a Japanese mecha anime series produced by Gainax and released on October 11, 2021, on Netflix.

The series is, as the title implies, a "what if" scenario where several plot points have been changed and warped to fit the series' story. The series is told from the perspective of the original series' protagonist Shinji Ikari and his deuteragonist and tritagonist, Asuka Langley Soryu and Rei Ayanami.

Synopsis
Main article: List of Neon Genesis Evangelion if episodes

The series begins similar to the original series but slowly starts splitting off. Like the original, the series follows the characters Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Asuka Langley Soryu and is split into chapters, each of which follows a different one of them.

Shinji, the de-facto protagonist of the series, is a 14-year-old boy whose mother died at a young age and whose father abandoned him. Many years after his father's abandonment, Shinji is contacted by him in order to pilot a large mech called an Evangelion, or Eva, and fight against monsters known as Angels which threaten to bring an apocalyptic event called "The Third Impact".

Along the way, Shinji meets fellow Eva pilots Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu. Rei is a borderline emotionless blue-haired girl that has trouble understanding people and who was raised by Shinji's father. Asuka, on the other hand, is an anger-prone redhead who is mixed-race Japanese/German and has an odd love/hate relationship with Shinji.

Main

 * Casey Mongillo as Shinji Ikari
 * Ryan Bartley as Rei Ayanami
 * Stephanie McKeon as Asuka Langley Soryu

Recurring

 * Carrie Keranen as Misato Katsuragi
 * Ray Chase as Commander Gendo Ikari
 * Clifford Chapin as Kaworu Nagisa
 * JP Karliak Kozo Fuyutsuki
 * Erica Lindbeck as Ritsuko Akagi
 * Johnny Yong Bosch as Toji Suzuhara
 * Benjamin Diskin as Kensuke Aida
 * Abby Trott as Hikari Horaki
 * Greg Chun as Ryoji Kaji
 * Daniel MK Cohen as Makoto Hyuga
 * Christine Marie Cabanos as Maya Ibuki
 * Billy Kametz as Shigeru Aoba
 * Cherameigh Leigh as Pen Pen

Production
After seeing how many new fans the series attracted when it was released on Netflix, Gainax decided to bring the series back for at least one more series. Not wanting to just remake the original series, Gainax decided they wanted to go in a different direction with the series' story, similar to the Rebuild of Evangelion.

After working on the idea for the series for some time, it was eventually pitched to Netflix, who were more than happy to bring more Evangelion content to the masses and accepted in a heartbeat. The series was produced under the codename "Baptism Redo", a reference to both Evangelion's biblical theming and the fact it was more or less a reboot of the series.

The fact the series was an Evangelion relaunch was eventually revealed at an anime convention in Japan on March 16, 2021, and the first trailer of the series was dropped at the same convention. Afterward, questions were accepted about the series and the "what if" concept of the series was revealed.

The reveal that the series would make major changes to the series' plot sparked some controversy, but it died down slightly after Gainax released a post more or less stating that they hope fans enjoy it anyway and if they didn't they will always have the original. Seven months after the reveal, the series was dropped on October 11 as a Netflix Original.

Reception
The series received praise from critics due to its incredible cinematography and animation. They also praised the writing, claiming it showed that that the Evangelion characters could be placed in almost any story and it'd be incredible. Other critics, however, claimed the series wasn't needed and that the series should've ended with the Rebuild of Evangelion.

On the other hand, the series has received mixed reviews from audiences and fans of the original series, who disliked the changes made to the original's plot, with many claiming the series would've been better if it wasn't connected to Evangelion at all. Others have argued that the series' tone fits perfectly within the Evangelion universe and making it anything other than Evangelion would've caused people to call it a rip-off.

Trivia

 * The original title of the series was simply "Evangelion", but it was decided against due to it both sounding too generic and the fact that fans scrolling through Netflix might confuse the series with the original.