On October 4, 1995, at 6:30 p.m., the first episode of Evangelion aired on Japanese television. Shinji Ikari was first commanded by his largely absentee father to pilot a special mech that may or may not have been his mother. Twenty years later, that day is remembered as the beginning of an era in anime history.

Official Evangelion site; "Thanks for 20 years."

Hideaki Anno expressed his own feelings on the episode's 20th anniversary.

"I'm incredibly grateful to the dedicated fans and staff," Anno said. "It was only thanks to them that I could have made it this far. Thank you for the past twenty years."

Several companies and franchises have offered up congratulatory statements and special tie-in events.

The "Congratulations" messages shared by the companies mirror the anime's final moments of the last episodes when the cast of characters congratulate Shinji.

Throughout the year, other companies have expressed congrats through events and products. For example, pictured above is apparel store Rumi Rock designing special Eva-themed towels for their shops.

The episode was streamed on nine giant Street Vision screens in five cities throughout Japan. Hosted in part by Niconico Live, the viewing was also streamed live on the internet. The Akihabara venue wasn't initially made clear, so many patrons gathered around the biggest screen near Akihabara Station (as pictured above) — only to discover that it was on another screen on the other side of the station, causing everyone to head to that screen in a mad dash.

[Via Minna no Eva Fan]

Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, vangelionite88