Netflix announced that it was bringing Neon Genesis Evangelion to the streaming platform for the first time ever nearly four months ago. We haven’t heard much since. However, on Friday night, the company finally announced the release date for the show via a YouTube livestream: Neon Genesis Evangelion will arrive to Netflix on June 21.
Evangelion is one of the most famous and well-regarded anime of all time. The mecha series quickly became a cult hit after debuting in 1995, thanks to large part to a complex sci-fi universe that dealt with themes like existential uncertainty, the difficulties of growing up, and the influence of religion on culture. Creator Hideaki Anno set all of this against a plot about a bunch of giant robots fighting even bigger aliens in an attempt to save the universe.
But, in the years since concluding, Neon Genesis Evangelion fell into numerous rights disagreements that prevented anything like what Netflix is doing. For the most part, there simply hasn’t been a legal way to watch the show at all. DVDs and Blu-rays were made of the series in the past, but each time the run was limited and out of print in a flash, making the sets extremely rare and expensive. With Netflix stepping in, it seems the show will have a new semi-permanent home.
While there have been a few questions about the specifics of Netflix’s deal to bring the show to streaming, the majority of fans are simply glad they can soon watch the show at all.
When the show arrives on Netflix it will be one of the most complete versions available anywhere. Which means it will include all 26 of its original episodes as well as the film The End of Evangelion and the film/extra episode Death & Rebirth — really a slightly edited version known as Death(True)2.
