Neon Genesis Evangelion Kicks Back Into Action As Iconic Original Dub Makes Its Way To Streaming (TV-MA)

When it was announced that, due to a licensing agreement with the distributor GKIDS, the Criterion Channel would be adding Evangelion to the platform, fans recognized that this was soon to be a monumental moment in history for the show.
by ​Delano Sutherland

​Neon Genesis Evangelion has gained an iconic reputation due to how ahead of its time it was and, additionally, how it subverts the mecha genre with surprising psychological realism and deep philosophical themes. When it was announced that, due to a licensing agreement with the distributor GKIDS, the Criterion Channel would be adding Evangelion to the platform, fans recognized that this was soon to be a monumental moment in history for the show.
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ADV was the first studio to dub Evangelion into English in 1996, with successful DVD and VHS releases until 2005. However, in 2009, due to multiple factors like declining DVD sales and an inability to renew most other shows' rights, ADV went bankrupt and closed its doors on September 1, 2009. All of ADV's Evangelion DVD releases went out of print, making it harder and more expensive for newer fans to officially own it on DVD, which stayed the same for eight years until November 26, 2018.

It was announced in a Twitter post that the global streaming rights were bought by Netflix and the series would be streaming on the platform on June 21, 2019, with no confirmation of whether it would be the ADV dub or a possible new dub. When the day came, people were shocked to find out that instead of it being the ADV dub, it was a new English dub by VSI Group that Netflix specifically commissioned. The reception of the new dub was mixed, with fans having issues with the many changes VSI Group made, like toning down the semi-gay relationship between Shinji and Kaworu, cutting out most of the profanity, and utilizing a more literal translation. This was inevitable since, if Netflix tried to acquire the ADV dub, they would have had to deal with a complicated legal limbo from trying to license it back. Additionally, Studio Khara, the Japanese rights holders, wanted a new dub so they could have better quality control and supervision over it. Things would change in 2026, though.

On July 30, 2026, IGN announced that the original ADV dub would be making its rerun via streaming on the Criterion Channel on September 1, 2026, with all 26 episodes, The End of Evangelion, and Evangelion: Death (True)². This coincidentally happened to be on the same day that ADV officially announced it was shutting down 17 years prior. Fans were actually excited about being legally able to watch the iconic ADV dub for the first time in years, but when the day actually came, fans soon became both confused and mad about what Criterion did. Instead of the ADV dub they had promised to offer, it was the Netflix dub yet again for some reason.

After being in a state of purgatory for almost two decades, you can officially watch Neon Genesis Evangelion as it was originally dubbed in English on the Criterion Channel today.