Kinoko Nasu
The Animé Café's Japanese reviewer Akio Nagatomi described the animation as "average" for a TV serial and praised "some interesting creature and mecha design", but also criticized the premise of the story of a young boy who fights alien beings as too derivative. The December 1995 issue of "Newtype" magazine praised the episode's dense amount of information but also noticed "it can confuse some viewers". Daniel Dockery (SyFy Wire) described Sachiel's debut as "terrifying", but considered it reminiscent of "a bunch of giant monster tropes". Critics, including animator Yūichirō Oguro (writing for "Newtype" magazine) and Anime News Network's Nick Creamer, appreciated the episode's direction and editing. "Newtype" wrote, "the many elaborate camera angles may tickle fans hearts" and "the eye-catching titles are also well placed". For Alex Crilly-Mckean (WatchMojo), the episode sets up "all the madness that is yet to come in the most perfect way". Max Covill (Film School Rejects) similarly placed "Angel Attack" third among the best "Neon Genesis Evangelion" episodes, praising it for its visuals and introduction of mysteries of the series; he also praised one shot of Shinji reading a book with the hand of an Evangelion in the background as a "symbolism of him being just a tool to accomplish a goal". Kinoko Nasu, writer of "Mahōtsukai no Yoru" and "Fate/stay night", began his career as a writer after seeing "Angel Attack", an episode that according to him "can't have been ignored by neither I nor my contemporaries".