Letterboxd faced a major backlash after removing End of Evangelion from its top-rated movie lists, a decision that angered its passionate user base. The platform, which generally allows reviews of miniseries and TV movies but not regular shows, stated that the removal aimed to align with its policy of prioritizing standalone films. However, fans saw this as dismissive of anime, sparking intense discussions on Letterboxd, Reddit, and X, with some accusing the platform of cultural bias.
The controversy even attracted directors' attention, underscoring how deeply End of Evangelion resonates with its fans. The film returned to the lists after only 48 hours, showing Letterboxd’s responsiveness to community feedback. This incident highlighted the growing pains of maintaining curation standards within a passionate community and Letterboxd’s struggle to balance user expectations as it continues to grow.
Discussion (1)
Interesting to think that an “anime movie” caused such an uproar. It says a lot about how film culture is changing.
It does make me wonder how they make these decisions..? whos in charge of curation, and are they just a bunch of film school dudes who only watch French New Wave and Martin Scorsese?