Fifteen years after a global cataclysm called the Second Impact, teenager Shinji Ikari is summoned to Tokyo-3 by his father Gendo Ikari, the director of the special paramilitary force NERV. Humanity is facing an existential threat called the Angels, a race of colossal, powerful beings with impenetrable shields called AT Fields. NERV’s gigantic humanoid Evangelion bio-machines, which are synchronized to their pilots’ nervous systems and possess their own AT fields, are the only weapons capable of fighting the Angels. NERV officer Misato Katsuragi escorts Shinji into the NERV complex beneath Tokyo-3, where Gendo pressures him into piloting Evangelion Unit-01 against the Angels.
Hakone is the city mainly featured in the original anime, while glimpses of Ube and Paris are shown in the reboot films, especially 3.0 + 1.0. Both Ube and Hakone have held extensive Evangelion-themed tourist promotions including stamp rallies, posters, and exclusive merchandise. Both cities seem to have sculptures of Evangelion’s Lance of Longinus in a public park.
Outside of these central Evangelion hubs, Toei’s Kyoto Studio Park has a partial full-scale Unit 01 photo op. There are Evangelion merch stores in Shibuya, Ikebukuro, and Hakone. Small Worlds Tokyo also has some Evangelion-themed miniature displays.