Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series began airing on TV Tokyo in October 1995 and ran until March 1996. Hideaki Anno wrote and directed the show while facing significant personal struggles during its creation.
Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Asuka Langley Soryu formed the core group of child pilots who operated giant bio-mechanical warriors named Evangelions against the Angels. Their relationships grew increasingly complex as they navigated their duties and psychological trauma throughout the series.
The Japan Media Arts Festival awarded the series an Excellence Award in 1997 and it won the 1997 Kobe Animation award for Best Music Score under Shirō Sagisu's composition. The film The End of Evangelion arrived on the 19th of July 1997 and won Most Popular Film at the Japanese Academy Awards.
The final installment Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time released on the 8th of March 2021. Studio Khara began producing the Rebuild of Evangelion films in 2007 with Hideaki Anno serving as writer and general manager while Kazuya Tsurumaki directed the individual films.
The franchise generated over ¥700 billion in revenue from pachinko machines alone by 2015. More than two million such machines were sold across Japanese parlors during this period.