Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime series created by Gainax. It began broadcasting in Japan on TV Tokyo on October 4, 1995 and ended on March 27, 1996. WOWOW aired the series again during 2003. It was written and directed by Hideaki Anno and produced by Project Eva, which included TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems (NAS). Evangelion is an apocalyptic mecha action series which centers around the efforts by the paramilitary organization Nerv to fight monstrous beings called Angels, primarily using giant mecha called Evangelions which are piloted by select teenagers, one of whom is the primary protagonist.
The series was first aired in North America on San Francisco-area PBS member station KTEH in 2000. Later, the first two episodes saw nationwide broadcast in edited format on Cartoon Network as part of Toonami's Giant Robot Week on February 24–25, 2003. Both episodes were edited for content. Later, the entire series then aired on Adult Swim from October 20, 2005 to April 21, 2006.
In 2004, A.D. Vision, the English language licenser, released a director's cut versions of episodes 21 through 24 with its Platinum Edition DVDs. The director's cuts included several new and reworked scenes to better explain the events that occurred in The End of Evangelion.