Megazone 23 and the theatrical premiere of the final Rebuild of Evangelion film, I found myself comparing the two franchises whilst in not-so-splendid isolation this past year as the world around me seemed just a little too eager to collapse. Though the former has had new projects successfully crowdfunded and the Neon Genesis Evangelion brand has been greatly enhanced by the Rebuild films, I am mostly concerned with their earlier entries. Long venerated by aging otaku and cinephile subcultures across oceans, these mecha-themed masterpieces helped redefine the anime industry in their respe...