What is your favorite, and least favorite, Evangelion episode and why?

[justyourlocalme]

What is your least favorite and favorite episode and why? I cant say I dislike any eva episodes, but I do have ones I like less, for my favorite I dont know what I would pick because I like them all, but some of my personal favorites are: "The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still", "Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!", "Rei II", and "Take care of yourself". My least favorites are either, "A Human Work", or the recap episode, but i still like the least favorites, please share your opinions below! if you need a list of the episodes to decide, heres one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... n_episodes

[BusterMachine4]

Well, I can't decide for sure, but if I could say the three best episodes:

Episode 16:
The moment the show went from being good to being great. It set the trend for the trippy psychological sequences that make Evangelion such a unique show.

Episode 19:
A great episode all around. Not only is it a key turning point in the story, but it includes action sequences that wouldn't be matched until EoE.

Episode 23:
A seriously underrated episode. It provides great character development for both Rei and Ritsuko, two characters who had been feeling neglected previously.

And if I could say the three worst episodes:

Episode 10:
An easy choice for number 1 worst episode. All the bad parts of the Action Arc are at their worst here, with fanservice and comedy in excess.

Episode 14:
This episode is the definition of padding. The stock footage is blatantly obvious, and Rei's speech feels like it was written by Deepak Chopra.

Episode 25:
The moment when the show sacrificed the story in order to save budget. Remaking this episode as the first half of EoE was a great idea.

[BernardoCairo]

It's funny, because I've just recently shared my personal tier list of episodes in another thread here on the forum. I've also addressed some of them in more detail, including my favorite one. So, I will be using that as a base to answer your question. hahahaha
BEST ONE: 22 - Easily the best one of the series, in my opinion. Never before had I seen a segment in which anxiety and self deprecation were so well represented. Asuka is my favorite character and I see myself a lot in her. So, watching this episode (and reading volume nine of the manga) made me feel very uncomfortable and powerless. I just couldn't do anything but sit back and watch those horrible events unfold. I remember my brother begging me and my stepfather to stop watching after this one hahahaha.
WORST ONE: 10 - I believe we can all agree that episode ten is by far the weakest one in the series. Not that it's bad, but it's not on the same level as most of the other episodes either. Still, we have a lot of funny moments here! The way it explores Shinji and Asuka's relationship in a more "mundane style" sets the stage for events like the kiss scene in episode fifteen and also pleases me in a way. In short, it is not the most interesting segment of the story, but it is "ok".

[YTPrenewed]

Favourite: I'd say 26. Maybe it's partly because being the last episode gave it 25 episodes' worth of buildup to it, but apart from that, it's also the philosophical themes, the mood-whiplash of going from that to slice-of-life comic-relief and back full circle, and that beautiful buildup to that "be good to yourself" message accompanied by everyone's smiling faces looking at Shinji against a heavenly blue sky; a perfect bookend against everyone's worried faces looking at him against the backdrop of the EVA launching room from ep 1.

Least favourite: Episode 14. Come on. We don't need a clip show. If we were truly lost; and didn't want to be; we'd re-watch earlier scenes ourselves.

I wouldn't quite call 10 my favourite, but I've never understood the dislike for it. I had already heard that Shinji jumped into a volcano for Asuka, but seeing the buildup to that was nice.

[Javi2541997]

My favourites episodes:

Episode 5 because it is the first time when you know more about Rei. How her apartment looks like gives me chill and nostalgia memories. Also the scene between Shinji and Ayanami is so epic.

Episode 16: Dialogue between Shinji and Leliel is so awesome. Also the context about Didrac's sea and Misato discovering a bit more what is going on Nerv. This specifically episode shows a beautiful sunset scene in the train what I like the most.

Episode 13: It shows how MAGI works. I remember it like one of the best episodes I ever watched by far. Ritsuko is one of my favourite characters so this is special because she is the main protagonist.

The episodes I less likely:

Episode 18 because I feel bad of how all the characters treat bad Shinji. No one tell him Toji is in the new infected EVA. Also his father treat him so aggressively looking like he does not care if his friend could die or not. It is true that Misato tries so hard explaining Shinji who is the new pilot but she cannot arrive at time.

[Kendrix]

That whole ep would have gone so different if Misato had been at HQ at the time.
There's a reason Gendo pays her to be operations director.
She would've managed to wrangle Shinji or concocted one of her usual crazy optimistic plans to extract Touji intact

[Javi2541997]

Yes! It would have been so much different if Misato were there at the HQ. As you said, probably she could have done something strategic to save Toji and everyone being happy. Nevertheless, despite the fact she wasn't there I feel like in that episode everyone treated Shinji like trash because they didn't tell him Toji is the new pilot and also actin in an indifference perspective in what can happen... They were like "let's see if Shinji cannot know Toji is the new pilote because his emotions will crash but it ended up crashing anyways"