Eva Unit 01 News

"The visual work called Evangelion is composed of a variety of desires.
And it turned out the best way for us do that right now is to redo Evangelion for the theater. "
 
Original Story, Screenplay, Chief Director
Hideaki Anno (Sept. 28 2006)

It was many years ago that I first got hooked on the anime classic Neon Genesis Evangelion and it's several different movies that were each labeled as the "true end". While the previous movie End of Evangelion stood as the latest 'true end'. Now, has begun another dramatic retelling of the Evangelion series. Rather than just blowing up the classic frames of the anime for the theater. The entire series was sent back to square one for the animation in rich high detail perfect for the Blu-ray generation, This is a review of the first Blu-ray in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone.
 

Evangelion 1.11 Blu-ray Features

Included- 20 page guidebook

• Disks: 1

Audio Options:

• English (dub)
• Japanese (w/subtitles)

Special Features:

• Rebuild of Evangleion (Shiro Sagisu ver. / Joseph Maurice ver.)
• Angel of Doom Promotional Music Video
• News Flashes
• Movie Previews - Evangelion 2.0 & Evangelion 1.0 (Fly Me to the Moon ver. / Beautiful World ver.)
• FUNimation Anime Trailers (Dragon Ball Kai, Darker Than Black, Soul Eater, ect.)

This purchase of the DVD was mostly unplanned. I was taking advantage of the last day of the Amazon discount on all anime blu-ray. It was one of those impulse buys that I'm so happy I made. I have other Blu-ray discs, but this is the first one that I've watched start to finish since I got the HDMI cable for my PS3. For every frame of this recreation is stunning. So much detail to the movie. As much as I would like to see these films on the big screen. At home and on a high def TV really is the way to watch this. Plus side, no jackass talking through the movie.

The packaging for the Blu-ray is a bit different than the standard blue-plastic case. It comes in a plastic and board folded case adorned with images of Rei Ayanami on the front and Shinji Ikari on the back. It's held in a holographic board sleeve. The disc itself is a plain minimalist orange.
 
Guide Book
The guide book included with the disc is twenty pages long. It has images of art work, an introduction by series creator Hideaki Anno where he talks about the plans for this new rebuild project, a basic introduction, production notes, a description list of the cast and The Angels, and a glossary of series terms (Second Impact, AT Field, LCL, ect.). So, if you are new to the whole series of Evangelion. This booklet does a good job of holding your hand through some of the more vague details. A helpful addition given that this 100 minute film sums up events from the first six episodes of the TV series.

Special Features
Rebuild of Evangleion (Shiro Sagisu ver. / Joseph Maurice ver.): This is a special featurette where they analyze the production notes and all the layers of computer animation used in creating the Evangelion 1.0. It breaks it all down piece by piece for many of the most dramatic scenes in the movie. The two versions are actually the exact same thing set to different music.

Angel of Doom Promotional Video: This feels less like a music video in the traditional sense. It's several random scene from the movie set to instrumental music and lasts about 1 minute 14 seconds. It's still pretty good. I loved the scene this song was used in during the movie. I would suggest you watch the full movie before watching this.
 
New Flashes: Again, I couldn't really call these news flashes. They're closer to teaser trailers that were more than likely used to promote this rebuild project years ago. They are two thirty-second screens of black and Japanese text that are translated to the Western audience.
 
Movie Previews: The movie previews for the disc starts off with the "Fly Me to the Moon" trailer for Evangelion 2.0. The following six are just trailers for Evangelion 1.0 set to either "Fly Me to the Moon" or "Beautiful World". There are three versions of each of these that just have minor changes to the end.
 
Trailers: These are a list of trailers found on this Blu-ray. All are for FUNimation dub releases. An odd omission is a lack of a trailer for D.Gray-man. Seeing how that trailer opens before the main disc menu. All these trailers have horribly over the top narration done for them. It makes each one seem incredibly campy.

1. Dragon Ball Z Kai (teaser)
   
2. Darker Than Black
3. Soul Eater
4. Nabari No Ou
5. Kenichi
6. Tower of Druaga
7. Gunslinger Girl
8. Aquarion

 
I hope you found this review of the Blu-ray helpful and detailed. If you are a fan of Evangelion, I really see this as a must buy. Newer fans can't go wrong either and it's easier than trying to track down the entire season of the first anime. There is a lot of potential in this movie series, and I look forward to seeing it all play out.
 

Blu-ray Review Verdict: 4/5

It's a good movie on Blu-ray. Just as far as the special features. I would of liked to of seen a bit more variety, maybe some behind the scenes, or cast commentaries. A series this detailed deserves it. A solid purchase non the less.

Please, enjoy the following trailers and movie clips.

Watch the first 8 Min. Courtesy of FUNimation

Evangelion 1.0 movie review

Rating: TV-14
Length: 1:40:00

In the year 2000 was the Second Impact. In the wake of this devastation half the world's population was wiped out. Fifteen years later, a young boy named Shinji Ikari is called upon by his father, the very man who abandoned him three years ago. Without even knowing the purpose, he has arrived, and placed upon this child's shoulders is not just the duty of piloting the Evangelion Unit 01. With it is the task to prevent the Third Impact and the fate of all humanity. Surrounding him is a mysterious girl named Rei and his self-appointed guardian, Misato Katsuragi. How can he flight for a world that has done little else but give him pain?

I am almost always against random remakes of movies and other such things for Blu-ray or other platforms. They are normally just slightly tweaked versions of the original and nothing much is ever really changed. Much in the same way they are constantly re-releasing Star Wars on new formats and the most they do is add one or two small things to warrant another new purchase. This is completely different. These rebuilds come right from the series' original creator, Hideaki Anno; and every bit of animation was done from the ground up. This is no polish job.

The Good

Firstly, this movie is a visual masterpiece. You will be hard pressed to find a frame in this movie not filled with amazing detail. Despite being animated you can nearly feel the depth. On Blu-ray only made this even more appealing. There is also the dub work done by FUNimation. They brought back almost the entire original cast for this movie, and everyone is still at the top of their game. The most dramatic change would be the replacement of Amanda Winn Lee as the voice of Rei. She is now voiced by Brina Palencia. For me, Allison Keith steals the show. She has a long experience with the character and knows what notes to hit.
Normally, I listen to original Japanese work with subtitles on animes almost exclusively and watch the dubs once to see what it's like. That was completely turned on it's head here. The English work is top notch dramatic reading. I've watched this movie five times since I got it in my hands. Only once was I watching the Japanese voice work. Not that it's in any way, shape, or form bad. FUNimation just did exceptional work. I only wish more series were dubbed this well.
 
For all the people that like to say Shinji whines too much, but how many others could go through the same thing and not complain at all. Everything that happens to that Eva he literally feels. So much to the point that he's nearly killed in this movie, but everyone expects him to keep getting in. That fact is what saves him from being annoying. He does keep getting in and tries.

One of the more touching scenes has to be the moment Misato clutches Shinij's hand when she tries to give him an ideal of what there is to fight for, and we see him squeeze her hand back. I love little touches such as that. Still, my absolute favorite was Shinji getting up to take the second shot at the angel at the finale. It's hard not to see the parallels of the sniper scene and the X-Fighter assault on the Death Star in Star Wars. I may get a lot of haters for saying this, but I like this Evangelion scene more. Watching him get up to pick that giant rifle while Misato cheers him on was really exciting and moving. As she's talking to Gendo Ikari in that scene. It almost feels as if she's talking to the audience, as well. Telling us to have more faith in him.
 
The Angel redesigns were all improvements. The best one has to be the angel Ramiel. The original version had him in a constant geometric form, but this movie it changes shapes with each new tasks it takes. This gives much more of a feel of the power behind the attacks. Watching it change shapes and the sound effects gives it all weight. It's wild to watch as you see the beam literally melt half a mountain.
 
After the credits there is a preview for the next movie. Much in the same way with the original anime, and overly chipper sounding Misato talks briefly about the coming events of the next movie and promises a little fanservice.
For a TV-14 rating, there is some nudity of fully exposed breasts of Rei. Not meaning to sound greedy, but I'd prefer to see more of Misato in the next film.
 

The Bad

One of my biggest complaints against the movie would be in time. At 100 minutes, it's hard to feel that they are capturing much of the subtext that made this series so great. This movie does do well. I just feel going for a more solid two hours would be better. To be honest, I would also be happy if these were three hours, but I'm not sure many others would be. It still manages to seek in many of my favorite scenes and add in some new ones.

What's weird is just how relaxed people always seem to be during these Angel attacks. People are always walking casually about from place to place. All while the fate of humanity is on the brink of possible eradication.
 
This movie doesn't make it at all clear just how Toji and Kensuke could of possibly learned that Shinji was the pilot of the Eva. As a long time fan of the series, I already know the answer, but someone new might be confused. For this particular movie, these two guys feel kind of pointless.
 

Verdict 5/5

One of the biggest challenges is to try and not spend the whole review just making comparisons to the original. This should more be about judging the movie on it's own merits. That's just hard to do when the original is so well known, but I think this movie actually benefits from the comparison. That's because in nearly every way this movie proves strong.
 
What I notice is how some of the relationships have changed slightly. Many of those scenes of Shinji and Rei have been pulled back, but the ones with Misato seem stronger. Even later, Ritsuko sort of talks about how there could be something romantic between the two, but she could of been teasing.  I'll be interested to see if that gets pulled back at all when Asuka and Kaji are brought in for the next movie.
 
I was cautious about these movies originally. I thought it would all just be a more detailed version of End of Evangelion in the end, but the introduction of new characters and events actually has me curious where this will all end. We could get something really different.

I've been a long time out, but I'm certainly right back in the thick of it, now. This movie is a solid 5 out of 5 for me. All the good stuff more than outweighs the bad.

Favorite Moment: Shinji prepares to take a second shot

Least Favorite Moment: Shinji's walkabout

WTF Moment: Note- Use public transit in Tokyo 3. Cars are screwed.

Favorite Character This Episode: Misato Katsuragi

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @ animevice / @ FoxxFireArt