The fate of the world is threatened by seemingly monstrous entities known as Angels. NERV is an organisation set up to counter this threat and it is up to young pilots to protect Earth but exactly what are the real motives behind NERV? The film focuses on a young teenager named Shinji Ikari, who is asked to pilot a mecha known as "Evangelion Unit-01" to protect the world from mysterious creatures known as Angels. The plot is largely a point-for-point adaptation of the first six episodes of the original anime. While some scenes and events are replications of the original series, others unfold differently with new or omitted scenes and newly-available 3D CG technology. The film received a positive response from fans, with Hideaki Anno himself calling it a "faithful remake of the original series". The film was ranked as the 4th-highest grossing anime film at the Japanese box office during 2007, earning a total of 2 billion yen.

A teenage boy finds himself recruited as a member of an elite team of pilots by his father. When the Angels start attacking the planet Earth in the year 2015, only a handful of 14-year-old EVA pilots are able to stop them. Young Shinji Ikari suddenly finds himself forced to pilot EVA-01, a giant organic mecha, designed and constructed by NERV, that is the only thing that can stop the Angels.