Following the Second Impact, what remains of Japan is Tokyo-3, a city under assault by giant creatures called Angels that are determined to wipe out humanity. Having not seen his father in over eight years, Shinji Ikari receives an urgent phone call telling him to report to NERV Headquarters, the organization responsible for fighting the Angels using giant mechs known as Evas. Shinji's task is to pilot Eva Unit 01 and cooperate with Ayanami Rei, the pilot of Eva Unit 00.
Note: The film exists in several versions, distinguished by version number:
• 1.0: Sep 1, 2007 - Original theatrical release
• 1.01: Apr 25, 2008 - DVD release with minor adjustments and fine-tuning of picture, editing, and sound quality.
• Explanation of Evangelion 1.01 - Bundled with the special edition DVD release of 1.01, this feature overlays large captions that provide the "official designations" for people, locations, weapons, technology, and the like.
• 1.11: May 27, 2009 - Blu-ray/DVD re-release adding 3 minutes of new animation to the first 15 minutes and correcting video issues present in the previous release.