Reviews for Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Ha (6.97) 4c4p16

First of all: This is not a review from a person who just “likes” NGE, I'm a die-hard NGE fan. I own one of the old DVD Box collections and have the 1.01 Evangelion movie as a Steelbook Edition.
I basically devoted years of my life to this franchise and it’s many forms of media it was presented in. If you look into my anidb profile I have NGE as #1 and End of Evangelion as #4 of my all-time top favorite anime. Plus, I gave the first movie a 10/10.
This is also going to be the “target audience” for this review, die-hard NGE fanatics.

There will be some spoilers in the story part, since I have to point out the faults in this movie. Otherwise my review would be completely useless. However, I will make extra notes before starting the spoilering and when they're over.

Let’s do this in the order of anidb’s rating system:

† Animation †
Let’s start out with the best part of this movie.
I haven’t seen such good work on animation, 3D models and character designs in a long time. It’s clear from the very first second that this movie had a huge budget. You can see an enormous amount of details on screen, especially during the fighting.
The combat choreography was very similar to that of the main series. A lot of running and at times very intense close quarters combat.
Some of the shots very downright jaw-dropping and very imaginative.
However, at times it felt like the artists were trying to make it look artificially more “epic” and thus distracting from what was actually going on.
Most of the nods to the old series were very nice placed, with some were distinctively different.
I have to say I don’t like Kaji’s new face though compared to the old one. He looked much more like a nice guy back then, but it’s not like it’s horrible now.

† Sound †
The voice actors/seiyuu do a great job and bringing across the emotions of the characters. Though I didn’t check, I think many of the voice actors from the series reappear to lend their voices to the characters. The only downside here was Kaji’s Engrish…
What also reappears are many of the songs from the NGE OST. They always make me feel nostalgic and the time when I first watched the show.
The new songs they implemented felt really off at times and it was just too clear what kind of mood they were trying to create inside the viewer’s mind.
This is never a good thing to happen. The viewer should get the feelings naturally and not have it presented on a plate.
The sound mixing wasn’t done too well either in the second half of the movie. Voices were too loud and the background music was nearly nonexistent. E.g. during the dummy system fight, it would have been much more powerful if the song was a lot louder and the actual on-screen action was played dull.

† Story †
NGE has always been about flawed characters and an overarching story of massive scale. While this does mostly apply to this movie too, the transfer from the story ideas to the actual movie is extremely lackluster.
It’s a mess, the story is all over the place at times. Nothing is explained and several things exist for no apparent reason.
And worst of all, the pacing is horrible.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

First of all, why call Soryu Asuka Langley now Shikinami ? A useless change. It’s as if the authors were thinking “Oh ! We have to make something even more different from the original show… let’s change Asuka’s name !”.
Film making 101: Do not introduce new story elements that seem to serve no purpose during the story, have no reason for existence and could easily be replaced by other things.
I’m talking about the new kid, amongst several other things. She wasn’t really introduced and never was it known why she does what she does.
Maybe it will be answered retrospectively in the 3rd or 4th movie, but I have to judge it based on the events that happened in this movie.
Another thing that makes absolutely ZERO sense in the canon of the original show is her “activation” of the berserker mode (or “hanten mode” as she calls it) just by calling out a commando. Berserker mode can only be triggered by reaching a high synchro rate and the pilot’s mind melting with the UNIT.
Another thing that annoyed me was the fact that Kaworu was introduced so early but was absolutely not used. (they did that in the first movie already, as some sort of preview for the second movie)

[SPOILERS OVER]

One thing that was hugely distracting were the panty shots and suggestive sexual stuff. Sure, the joke Kaji played on Shinji about dating was hilarious, but why do they have to suddenly show Rei’s nipples ? Why does one of the scenes where Asuka’s lying in her bed has to start with an ass-shot ? Did I miss anything in the original show by not seeing this ? Absolutely not.
It had it’s kinky moments, sure, but those were not so blatantly sexualized and had more of a giggle-worthy character.
If you look NGE for ecchi stuff, you're watching the wrong show.

† Character Development †
Ok, let’s be honest, the character development was slow in NGE. It’s nice that they’ve speeded it up a bit in the movie.
But the problem is there’s not enough time to bring all of this together so it makes sense for the viewer in a 2 hours movie. The first one was great when you looked at it’s pacing. But in the second movie so much was left out…
We got to know NOTHING about Asuka’s background story for example. Now, I’m not an Asuka-Fan (yeah, I’m with team Rei), but at least in the show you were able to understand quite soon why she’s become such an uptight arrogant person.
I already talked about the new kid in the spoiler section above, so I won’t repeat myself here.
They did a great job with Shinji however. While he’s still the same Shinji overall, his actions are better understood now.

† Value †
This is a tough call.
As an NGE lover it is interesting to watch and to see the characters again after so many years.
However, if you’ve never seen the NGE series, this movie will be extremely confusing if all you saw was the first Rebuild movie.
Rent it, if you’re somebody that knows the story of NGE already, for all the others, wait until the 3rd movie comes along and maybe you can watch them in a double-feature so you won’t walk away from the 2nd movie thinking what a mess this was.
Alternatively, watch the original show.

† Enjoyment †
Constantly through the movie I had to think where this is going.
I noticed many differences from the original show, which is good, because a 1:1 retelling would have been completely useless. This does not mean you have to change things just for the sake of it though ! :cough: Shikinami :cough:
The worst thing is, it made no sense and there was rarely any progress at all for the characters through the events during these 2 hours.
Parts of it were amazingly well done, so it's not a complete letdown, but some were just disappointing.

I gave it an overall 6.5/10.

I became interested in watching this because I liked the series for a number of reasons, but I thought that a lot of things weren't explained clearly, that a lot of story was left to individual interpretation, and that the ending could've been much better. I hoped that this remake would make things clearer, giving an official interpretation/perspective, and improve upon the series. Along with the high ratings and positive comments from Eva fans, who are supposedly insightful with their multi-page walls of text to explain their rational perspectives, I watched this with high expectations.

Visuals: 8/10
Visuals are much better than the original series, which was top class in its time, but it seemed like they didn't take too much advantage of current techniques to really make visuals blow you away. It's in HD, it has colors that aren't washed out, lots of glow, and lines are much sharper throughout. It's good, just not very good compared to other movies, like Eve no Jikan, which set the current standard for amazing visuals.

Audio: 6/10
Audio is average. The sound effects are great--no complaints. It's also great that they got all the original voice actors to do the voices for this, but I think they weren't really that great to begin with. The original series was probably the only anime that I found my preference for Japanese voices to be no higher than the English voices. They have talent and played their role well, but I think it sounds odd; it kind of sounds like they chose seiyuus that sounded more western, despite basing the setting in Japan. The BGM was the same classic stuff from the original, but cranked up so loud, in comparison to the dialog volume, that it was overbearing. When the only music that I really liked was the "danger" music, that kind of ruins the experience. The whimsical/country music that played during the character interactions didn't seem to fit with the overall story. I got an overall impression that they really wanted it to feel more western (western to the Japanese) and it just didn't have a positive effect on me--it reminds of many of the Japanese's other attempts at "Engrish", which tend to fail.

Story: 4/10
The series had an interesting (not great) story, but there's only so much that you can fit within the time-frame of a movie, so I'll try not to be too critical. This was supposed to be a new and improved remake, but there wasn't much added to the story, except for a little background about what the world is like now, as shown on that tour to the marine-life sanctuary. The things that made no sense in the series returned, but seemingly magnified unfortunately: where are all the people, why are there late 1900's weapons present in a post-modern era and why do they keep showing up despite being ineffective? Just to blow up into a cross? I know it's iconic to NGE, but after seeing it so many times, it just got cheesy. There's absolutely no tension in the battles--one Eva goes down and the others show up to help or the Eva just goes berserk. The injuries the pilots sustain as result of being linked up to the Eva through their nervous system, are apparently no problem here. What is this, a typical shounen battle anime now? I didn't even know why an Eva went berserk until an Eva fan told me. Where's the sense that the world is coming to an end and the terror that the next angel to come will be when humanity is wiped out? It feels like a game now; you just have your main characters and pit them against the enemy in a setting and it doesn't matter if buildings and such get destroyed in the process. I had a high impression of the NGE universe due to the post-modern apocalyptic image, with the retracting buildings and underground self-sustaining geospheric habitat, but there's hardly any focus on it. There's no tension whatsoever when the angels discover and target NERV HQ and the geosphere, since there's lack of meaning given to it. Things in general are just too clean, neat, and "beautified" to offer any sense of continuous struggle of survival as a race. Also, what about the other nations? It's a huge world and I suppose it's only Japan's problem? The only hint of help from other countries is Asuka and her Eva unit, but even that's seems to have it's own set of mysteries that never get explained. I understand the "Second Impact" had something to do with it, but I got the impression that was a band-aid cover-up. It's not like what you hear with a large meteor crashing into Earth and sending a bunch of particles in the air which trigger the next ice age. In the NGE universe, the condition of the Earth looks good. If they try to give the impression that such a disaster seized the progression of tech and they're stuck in an era trying to recover, how the heck can they explain NERV, Evas, the holographic meetings Dr. Ikari has, n2 mines, and all the other new tech. It's no wonder NGE nerds put up multi-page walls of text to try and explain these holes. I didn't expect much depth in the story, but it's just a mess and previous knowledge from the series doesn't help fill in hardly any of the holes in the movie.

Characters: 5/10
The characters seemingly got the majority of the attention in this movie. Unfortunately, the characters themselves have flaws and don't fit in the story well at all. From the perspective of someone watching in modern society, it's hard to believe that someone like Kusaragi, considering her general demeanor, is a high ranking official. They kept the pointless penguin pet--I bet they thought is was a good idea because it'll get a few smirks and is original! They twisted the hot-headed hotshot pilot chara/persona and turned it into a "hot loli tsundere pilot"--they must've thought the audience will love it! Make a young, vulnerable, quiet, and shy, but oddly capable Asian girl that would be as normal as possible--I guess they hit the jackpot here, since a huge cult following worshiping her emerged. This cast, in a serious atmosphere, just makes the typical formula with a noobie maverick, clumsy cowardly ive cutie, strict but caring leader, and vet tactician seem so much more welcoming. Their overall development seemed to be limited to the "basic programming" of the character personalities, though it Rei seemed to be tweaked from the start compared to the series. When something tragic happened to them, even in heroic sacrificial fashion, I didn't feel moved at all. I didn't even think, good riddance. I didn't hate the characters, they just seemed badly done. Again, where are all the other people? I see a few classmates of the pilots, but wait, they still have to go to normal school under these circumstances? The director must've been watching a lot of harems, since he added the "glasses" girl, except he made it so she wasn't the nerdy type, but the gung-ho jock type--something original for the guys who like girls with glasses? Much of the movie followed the girls with Kusaragi and Dr. Akagi appealing to the older guys with a playboy like Kaji helping to show their sensual side and the pilots appealing to the younger types using a wide variety of fan service techniques. NGE just changed genres; NGE is now a fan service harem show and that tries to cash in on crossing the line of general morals by including a pedophile (Dr Ikari). Apparently, according to some NGE fans, it's always been this way and is part of its appeal, but that doesn't change the fact that such fan service does nothing for me and seems like a waste of screen time, which could've been used to add substantial depth to the story.

Value/Enjoyment:
I found this to be very disappointing. You're not missing much if you skip this and if you do end up watching due to the inflated ratings, this movie may just leave you confused and disappointed if you were expecting a top quality film worthy of its hype for having an epic/deep setting and story. It makes me kind of wish the NGE universe would just end here, yet I still hope that they improve on it, since there's still great potential. The movie has nostalgia value, but that's it. This is more or less simply fan service for NGE fans in which they doll up the characters and present polished up "cool looking" action sequences (old tech weapon volleys and explosions) and try to milk more money out of the franchise without spending any effort on creating anything original that would actually be good. They worked on "beautifying" the things I found most questionable rather than making them fit in better, so the end result is something along the lines of a polished turd in my perspective.

I just finished watching "District 9" movie and somehow I felt like watching NGE 2.22 again. I already seen it few times but I just had to do it. I didn't like the movie before and, not sure why, I thought I give it one more chance. Well, it failed just the way it did before.
Animation
Great, just great. Really, there's nothing else to add. That's probably why I enjoyed it so much the frist time I watched it. 10/10
Sound
Overally it's OK. There's two things that really hurt my ears though. Firstable... Japanish... I mean J-English or whatever you call it. I'm not a native English speaker, but it still damn hurts my ears when Kaji starts to talk to blue-eyed deamons (it seems that's how Japanese tell the difference between Japanaese and non-Japanese in Anime) in this... language-thing... I wish he just made those clicking sounds as those aliens in aforementioned movie. The other thing that got on my nerves is music. Who cares if it's classic (partially)? I think we all agree that soundtrack should fit what's going on screen. I see that most people say it does fit, but I'd like you to notice one thing. Take a sountrack from any movie, anime or whatever and find me a track with vocals. You did? Good job, now recall when did it play. You say after the movie, credits, right? Well there are exceptions, but usually the background music is without vocals and I see no reasons why it should be any other way. Well maybe I am going too far, but somehow I think there was way too much of singin' in this particular movie.
Story
I just don't get it. I mean, not the story itself. More like- what the hell was the director thinking? The first movie was more like a remake, no, it was a remake. It was both it's best and worst side, if you know what I mean. The second one is a total spin-off. Why the change? Well anyway it's kinda funny. It is similar in this point to the first movie. Being different from original series is it's best and worst side :] Some changes were good, others, not so good, but it's maybe because of being used to the original? Anyway I didn't like it, but I might change my mind with next movies, because they maybe explain some confusing parts of this one.
Character
I wondered how will they pull it out. As other reviewers said there was a lot of character development in NGE and it was rather slow. It was obvious they had to change/squeze it a little bit to fit a form of movie. That's why IMO including another character was a mistake. Not only did they cut off a lot of things, but they had to make up something for the new one. Well in fact they didn't do anything- there's actually no background no nothing about the new character except for her name. Hopefully next movies will reveal something. Huh, I think I know more about Hatsune Miku than about Mari ;)
Value
Many people have complained about the first movie for being just a well-made remake. You know what? I liked it that way. I liked the original series and enjoyed watching it in beefed up version. It's also good for the people who didn't see the original. Now what kind of value can the second one have? Sure there's a lot of new content, but often it's fuzzy, confusing or just plain wrong (I mean contradicting to the original). To tell the truth it didn't made me look forward to the next one as much as every episode of the series.
Enjoyment
Despite many disappointments it still managed to entertain me. Maybe I just expected something else? I'm not trying to be objective now. From my point of view even though it deserves this "6" I gave it, it is a huge disappoinment for a NGE movie.

First of all, english is not my native language so I might have a hard time communicating my thoughts and there'll probably a lot of english mistakes during the review. Please excuse my bad english.

So, I've been an Evangelion fan since my teenager days, and this was the first series I watched as a teenager(I mean, not as a kid), and it happens to be my favorite anime so far.
One of the main reasons I love Evangelion is not because of its deep story, character development or splendid visuais and animation(for the time obviously). It's because its a series that matured alongside me. Since my teenager days I surely grew up, got interested in another things like history, psychology, philosophy, classical music and everytime I watched NGE I discovered news aspects in its intricated storyline and amazing characters. It was something that never got old with me.

When I found out Evangelion was being remade through a series of movies I immediately went "Dammit, they're gonna fuck up their own masterpiece". But later I thought about it in different way. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if they tried to approach the original series with a different view on things, or maybe add a more modern touch to it. As far as animation goes, the trailer made me sure that at least that part would be awesome. But I wasn't so sure about the history itself.

Then came Evangelion 1.0 You are (not) alone. And damn, it blew my fucking balls off. Not only the animation were EXTREMELY detailed and well done, but the characters were awesome again, they were well developed(to a movies extent of course) and the action scenes were great and they added some things that reeeeaally caught my eye in a positive way, like making the angels a bit more "human", with screams and lots of blood. That was awesome, since the angels were very similar to humans, it brought us together with them in a interesting way. They made little modifications in the plot but nothing that would fuck it off for me. I was fucking anxious to see 2.0 You can (not) advance.

So, after a long time of wait, I got my hands on the blu-ray release of the film. I already heard the good criticism about it but I couldn't help but feeling sceptical about it. I tried not to read too much about the plot, I preferred to watch it completely unaware of what would happen.

Now for the film, don't read it if didn't see the movies. There will be spoilers along the way.

I won't try to go into every detail like value or enjoyment especifically, but they'll be analysed all along the review.

The opening scene is about a new character which I had already heard about -Mari Makinami-, and is about a angel attack, surprinsingly, not in Tokyo-3(why the fuck would an angel not attack Tokyo-3? I'm not sure yet). But anyway, all I can say about it is "holy fuck". Once again my balls got blown a fucking mile away. The animation is superb, the sound really draws you in and it has that "evangelion" feel about it, with those abrupt cuts and changes in the rhythm of the scenes. That's what I'm talking about. It's fucking NEON GENESIS EVANGELION.

Animation


As I already said, the animation couldn't be better. Everything is well detailed, the scenario, the characters and oh yeah, the angels. They were completely remade and every each one of them, ironically, looks like the goddamn devil.
I was a bit unconfortable with the visuals on the first angel that appears in the movie, fighting Mari in the opening scene, but I thought it was ok.
I must give a special thumbs up to Sahaquiel (the angel that falls from the sky). They totally redesigned it and it looks fucking formidable, and the moment it nearly falls into Tokyo-3 is certainly one of the highlights in the film. This time not only Unit-01 prevents it from falling into the city, but is attacked by it while trying to hold the damn thing, it's so crazy and intense I can't even describe it by words. They made a really good job on this one.

Sound


Once again I can't complain as far as the sound goes in this movie. In addition of the original seiyu, there are moments when the characters talk in english and it contrasts very well with the new political and international affairs more present in this movie than in the original series.
The music is very intense too and as I already said, is succesful into drawing you to the film. I suggest you watch it with a powerful home theater set. It's a wonderful experience. I'd also like to point out the song that is played when Unit-1 is activated through the Dummy system and anihilates Unit-03. Even though the scene is totally barbaric and violent, the song really helps into simbolizing Shinji's heart at that very moment. The grotesque nature of the scene contrasts very well with the calm and melancholic scene. It's a powerful and touching scene, not only because of its visuals and sound, but also because -SPOILERS- Asuka is in Eva-03. I'd say it's one of the highlights in the movie, maybe even the best sequence.

One thing I have to say about the music: I miss the old fashioned classical songs like Beethoven's 9th, Bach's Air and Handel's Hallellujah, just to mention a few. I think those songs fit very well with the celestial and metaphysical concept of the series and give a melancholic atmosphere, that usually set the mood for many scenes in the original series. Maybe they decided to remove those because it's wouldn't have a lot of value between the young audiences, so they swapped those for more modern songs. :sad:

Story & character development

Here's where this movie distants itself from everything that has ever happened in Evangelion. It's now clear that these movies are a declared spinoff from the original series, and that is certainly not bad. They couldn't get it as right as they did in the 90's so it's best to do a different approach.

Now i'll go into maybe, one of my complaints in the movie, if I can call it a complaint, and it is about the new character Mari Shikinami. As far as the second film goes I don't really get her importance in the plot. I can't help but feeling like there is no greater importance in her, and I don't get why they decided she should "replace" Asuka. My questions might me answered in the next movies. Even though, I think she is a pretty interesting character. When she fights Armisael, the looks like a fucking demon, and goes as far as removing Eva-02's limiters(w00t!!) just to have her ass handed to her by the angel. Whatever.

SEELE(or maybe not) is developing a new Eva unit in a moon base, apparently, instead of producing the Eva series in colaboration of other countries. This has not been developed and explained very well, but it's got something to do with Tabris(Kaworu Nagisa). We'll have to wait for the next movies to find out more about this, but it looks like an interesting spinoff. I always wondered why humans would not live or use the moon or another planets, since it's an act of "defiance" to god, it would add a great touch in the story, since Evangelion is all about challenging God.

The movie has a much more political and sentimental mood than the original series. It develops very well and clearly a (in my opinion) romantic relashionship between them, not as "pure" and romantic than the original series(as far as my interpertation goes), and even raises a question about incest, since Rei is partially his mother. Rei even goes as fas as inviting Shinji and Gendou to a dinner, in an attempt to bring them together, which is an unprecedent fact, but it doesn't work in the end.

Shinji and Rei have a lot of screentime in this movie and that leaves the rest of the characters a bit undeveloped. Some might complain that Asuka is a bit left off and they might be right. Even the new character Mari doesn't have lots of screentime, so we don't know much about her so far.

I'll not try to go and detail every change in the plot but all I can say is: If you want a loyal remake to the original series you'll NOT find it here. You should just broaden your horizons and accept it as a spinoff e more modern approach. It succesfully links some scenes and dialogue from the original series but with a differente concept. If you watch it with an open head you'll probably like it. :thumbup:

However, I could write about this movie everyday but that's not the point here. I'll let you watch ans decide your opinions on your own!

Neon Genesis Evangelion forever <3

Anno attempts to make the series better and reboot it for the teenagers who were not born around the time the old series came out. But this was a failed attempt to modify an already flawed series and making it worse by changing some of the characters and the animation while deciding to make a 2-hour long franchise of movies to try to squeeze in all the depth of the series.

Asuka has changed from a depressed kid with mommy issues to a wise-talking gossiper with an aloof personality. There is little depth to her and she is now more interested in puppets. All we get is that she is captain and her name has also changed. Misato is more tactful when it comes to arguments. Kaji is more boring as he seems to serve no purpose.

And that Spider Girl that is, Mari is not needed. There is some fanservice here which is probably going to please the boys. And Asuka has replaced Toji in being Eva 3.0's pilot. Which caused me to drop it and I had enough of seeing my favorite character tortured.

Shinji's face is too goofy-looking for me but other than that, the updated animation is kind of special to watch but the series is a little too old to be remaking so that we can use this style of animation. Unless they can try to find a way to use animation that's closer to the original series.

Now, I watched this before I watched Kare Kano but when I watched it, I noticed that its music has been copied onto here, making it unoriginal. The characters' voices are different from what they used to sound like.

Anno needs to stop giving this overrated series a new makeover just to please the fans of it.

Critic's Log - Earthdate: January 23, 2013. Review #31: Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance.

Now that I've reviewed Evangelion 1.0, Here is Evangelion 2.0: You Can
(Not) Advance, or Evangelion: Break, or Evangelion 2.22. *Hard Sigh* You
get the picture. HERE'S EVANGELION 2.0!

Under constant attack by the Angels, NERV introduces two new pilots unto
the fold: the mysterious Mari Illustrious Makinami and the intense
Asuka Langley Shikinami. Parallel to the incursion, Gendo Ikari and
SEELE proceed the secret project that involves both Rei and Shinji.

That's the premise of Evangelion 2.0 and that's all I can explain about the plot. To be technical, this is a Studio
Khara production and this is obviously a sequel to Evangelion 1.0 and
this sequel does not disappoint but it might play with your expectations
if you haven't seen this but have seen the Original series. I can tell
you one thing is that the animation in this movie is absolutely gorgeous
and some of the action scenes are just epic and a visual treat to
animation buffs out there. The 2-D and 3-D integration doesn't
disappoint either. The animation alone will simply not disappoint

The music by Shiro Sagisu is another thing that does not disappoint. The
soundtrack is EPIC! But I think it's a little too epic, he may have
overdone the epic factor in the music because nearly every fight theme
sounds like a final battle theme, "The Final Decision We All Must Take"
is the highlight song in the movie and it's a great theme that
compliments the scene greatly. Besides that, the soundtrack is amazing.

When it comes to voice acting, I will say this once more... The Japanese
cast is excellent as always since the original series. Megumi Ogata is
great as Shinji (as mixed reactions are probably involved with his
character). Megumi Hayashibara as Rei, what more can you ask for? She is
perfect as Rei for the show. Yuko Miyamura reprises her role as Asuka
and she is wonderful as always. Kotono Mitsuishi is also great as Misato
Katsuragi. Kouichi Yamadera reprises his role as Ryoji Kaji, which he
still gives Kaji that cool deep voice. Fumihiko Tachiki is still LIKE A
BOSS as Gendo Ikari. Last, but not least there's Maaya Sakamoto as Mari
Illustrious Makinami and she was terrific as Mari. Like I said, the
Japanese cast is excellent. So what about the dub? Like the first movie,
the dub is a lot more tolerable than the ADV dub in the Original
Series. Spike Spencer is pretty good as Shinji, Brina Palencia is okay
as Rei in this movie but I think some parts sound a bit off. Tiffany
Grant comes back as Asuka and all I can say is that when I heard she was
coming back as Asuka, I only had one word to say. That word was...

To sum up Ms. Grant's performance, it is indeed Wunderbar. I think I'll
have a beer for that one. Oh wait, I got a review to finish. ZHE BEER
VILL HAVE TO VAIT FICKEN DUMBKOPFS! Allison Keith is once again much
better as Misato Katsuragi than the Original Series' dub, Kudos to Ms.
Keith. John Swasey is terrific as Gendo Ikari LIKE A BOSS. Trina
Nishimura plays a very convincing performance as Mari because as much as
I like Sakamoto-san as a seiyu and her role in this movie, Trina
Nishimura also gives some credit in screaming her heart out while
sounding either pissed off or just going fucking crazy in the heat of
battle. Ms. Nishimura did give Mari quite the mouth in a couple for
saying lines like "JUST...FUCKING...DIIIE!!!" and "POINT BLANK,
SHITHEAD!". Ms. Nishimura doesn't deserve any props for this, but this
is one little surprise to the dub for those that get surprised over a
few swear words. Performance-wise, Ms. Nishimura was great as Mari and I
look forward to hearing more of her in the movies to follow. So there's
the good stuff in the cast. Now I'll mention a few that I think sound
off, Colleen Clinkenbeard once again doesn't sound right for Dr. Akagi.
As much as I like J. Michael Tatum, I was not in favor of him this time
in this movie. Why can't anyone get Kaji right in any of the dubs?
Besides the good and bad, it's a tolerable dub compared to the Original
Series' dub. Please note that I don't think Colleen Clinkenbeard and
J.Michael Tatum are terrible voice actors, they are both great if given
the roles just right. I will say this one last time, the Japanese Cast
is excellent, the Dub is great too, Mike McFarland's ADR direction is
just as good as the first movie. Moving on.

When it comes to characters, Shinji Ikari does whine a bit in this one,
but with reasons. Rei Ayanami has resemblence to the plot throughout the
movie. Asuka is like her old self except with a few new twists. She
doesn't have a thing for Kaji and Thank God that's over with. I thought
the whole "14 year old girl having a thing towards a man twice her age"
scenario to be unsettling (but there was a reasoning to this in the
original series). Another new twist is that in the Rebuild series, her
name is Asuka Langley Shikinami instead of Asuka Langley Soryu. I don't
know what else is different about her. Her EVA's debut was awesome in
this movie though, so she makes quite the introduction in this iteration
of the franchise. Misato is an interesting character from time to time
just in the Rebuild alone at this point. She was also interesting in the
original series as well. Kaji is alright, Mari is a nice addition but
her character development is a bit poorly done. I'll it that for a
fictional character, she's kinda hot. Honestly, they could have made her
both hot and interesting at the same time. it's not that hard. Even if
Mari's character development is a bit weak compared to the others, The
characters are great, some minor characters are not getting as much
development this time around.

When it comes to story, it's very mesmerizing and that's how the movie
works. It mesmerizes viewers as well as blowing them away with awesome
action scenes to go with the mesmerizing experience. It starts off nice
like any sequel would, then it slows down and then you get some awesome
fight scenes and the mesmerize factor doesn't let up until the credits
roll. The story is actually interesting even though it's familiar to
those that watched the original series, for Rebuild alone, The story is
great for a sequel.

I guarantee you that you will not be the only one that finds this
awesome. This movie has Michael Bay by the balls, and this is only an
animated film. Up yours Michael Bay for royally screwing Transformers up
the ass. What really makes the movie mesmerizing is its atmosphere
combined with the soundtrack and visuals as well as a story that's good
as a sequel even though it's a remake.

If you got a home theater system and a big-screen TV, you are in for one hell of an experience.

Evangelion 2.0 is available from Funimation

With that all said, Evangelion 2.0 is a mesmerizing sequel to Evangelion
1.0 which some people felt was nothing new except animation and
Ramiel's drastic change. Evangelion 2.0 makes up greatly for some minor
nitpicking from the first movie, Evangelion 2.0 isn't perfect by all
means because there are some slight bumps in the character writing and
the story is great too for Rebuild alone but it isn't perfect and it
doesn't have to be. This is a sequel that will play with your
expectations if you liked the Original Series, for the most part, it is a
mostly satisfying sequel to the beginning of the remake of a
revolutionary mecha series.

I give Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance a 9.5 out of 10, It is EXCELLENT!

Feel free to comment below, and don't run away.

Compilation/Alternative Version Review
This material is a movie/OVA compilation or alternative version of an original work that was previously aired in TV format. The review will only comment on the differences between those works, therefore those who want a full analysis of the show must read the original review before this. I won't be reducing the scores solely because the work is a retelling, my scores will reflect the work as a standalone as far as I can.

Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Ha (Evangelion 2.22) is the second movie of the tetraology that rebuilds the classical Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE). However, unlike the first movie that was basically a remastered version of the first six TV episodes, this time we have quite a deal of new things poping and some events that promise to lead the series to a completly different second half. Those who want a better understanding of this review must also read the review of NGE and the first movie.

Differences
Studio Kara once again manages to assemble the same cast, now ed by a few new characters and consequentialy new voice-actors. However, unlike the overall nostalgic feel of the first movie, most elements here are completely new, from sound effects, background themes, and most importantly, the plotline.

1. New Start, New Cast
   Right from the start we can see new things here. A new character, Mari, is presented, a new unit is quickly shown before being obliterated, and everything that was only barely mentioned in the original NGE gains a bit more juice, even though it looks somehow more a fanservice type. The girl herself doesn't bring anything new to the show, she's completely useless for now and had zero development, but she s the cast promising for more changes in the last part of the story, especially with the secrets she knows that makes her feel a bit like a femme fatale here. She's still a kid and worked only as "one more girl" by now, sadly.
   
   Asuka!
   First thing the purist fan may find to complain is Asuka's nonsensical change of last name. She now responds as Shikinami, but well, she still has the same personality and the rest of her names remain the same, so it's just a useless and non-impactful change. However, this change is not the only one here. What we have in this second movie is Asuka taking the spotlight and even earning more attention than Shinji. She robs the test pilot place from Touji, which makes sense considering how things progressed in this new plotline (and even more sense than in the original), and she'll prove to be more important to Shinji because of this.
   
   More Scenes, More Quality
   The first movie was quite superb, it took NGE's great quality and remade it with CG elements and better combat animations. This second movie is more aggressive, with lots of new scenes, all of them with far more fluid animation, and more action sequences filled with giant beams, huge explosions, impactful fights, and other impressive occurences. Colors and the art style remain classical, but now are more fitting to a movie-quality standard with all the improvements in other areas. As a consequence this part is even more action heavy than the first and makes for a far better shounen experience.
   
   However...
   As fights, animation, sound, and everything else got a tune up, something needed to be tuned down. And what happens here is that we don't have that much of inner debates and daily life as NGE had, which means less character development and less psychology to a show that won its place in the sun exactly with these. We still have a superb storytelling, and maybe we'll get more of Gainax's mind-twisting plays in the last two movies, but in fact it looks like the complexity of the plot only grows here in number of and not explanations. In the original NGE we didn't have that many cliffhangers delivered by now, especially the big ending. Anno Hideaki tossed many and references far too early, and we still have not a single resolution by now.
   

Comments
Secret Eva modes, new branches of Seele, moon base, Kaoru, many things are brought to screen now, so we need to wait until the next movie to see if they'll manage to explain everything or if we'll need to figure most things by ourselves, which I hope not. As a entertaining experience this is certainly even better than NGE's equivalent part. We had outstanding fights, classical scenes, tension, action, some bits of psychological plays, etc. Sadly, this starts to look like a Bones show, which means they throw so many , weird relations, references, symbolgism, and unexplained things all at once that it's a bit overwhelming and grows convoluted and wasted. They could have waited for the next movie to throw these plot elements, but if they manage to resolve this pendences quickly the harm will be small.

Anyway, NGE fans may be pleased now because things are new, but also may find that these changes may not exactly be what the series needed. Perhaps it would do better with a less flashy direction, but maybe this choice of making more impact now can be a good marketing tool to lure newcomers and to make the next movie even more of a hype. Let's see, but I'm happy with how things are going.

Average Scores of the Movies