Reviews for Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Jo (7.54) 2z1p6r

Critic's Log - Earthdate: January 21, 2013. Review #30: Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone



Today is my birthday and I have just turned 22. With Evangelion 3.0
being released a while back and the fact that Evangelion: Final is
slated to be released this year. I decided to tackle the Rebuild of
Evangelion series since I already have seen the original classic. Since
it's my birthday today, I will call the shots on what I want to review
today, and here's the review for Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, or
Evangelion: Beginning, or Evangelion 1.01/1.11, OH JUST GIVE IT ONE
FRACKING NAME ALREADY! Here's Evangelion 1.0



It is the year 2015 A.D. and Shinji Ikari
is summoned by his father who works at a secret organization called NERV
and his father requests him to pilot a giant humanoid (or Giant robot
if you like to call it that) in order to defeat a giant being known as
an "Angel". Did I already mention this in my review of the original
series? Yes I did, so what's the damn point in me mentioning this? Well,
this comes as to no surprise that this first movie of the remake is a
retelling of the first six episodes of the original series. So that's
pretty much the premise of Evangelion 1.0.







To be technical, this is a Studio Khara
production and this is their first release. Studio Khara was founded by
Hideaki Anno himself and this is probably why this movie is his first
release under the studio name Khara. Putting studio technicalities
aside, The animation is eye candy from beginning to end and it's really
hard not to look away either because it looks gorgeous for the most
part. Allow me to clarify something, The animation is great. Even though
it's mostly done on computer, the CGI integration is also great and
should put Studio Gonzo to great shame. The action scenes are
spectacular and are much better than the original series. I should point
out that when the movie first came out, it had a big problem, it was
dark and certain scenes were hard to see everything to. This is only in
the "1.01" release of the movie. A second release of the movie which is
simply called "Evangelion 1.11" fixes the darkness issue and adds a
couple minutes than the original and is easily the preferred version of
the movie. This absolutely has nothing to do with the animation, I just
thought I'd point that out.







The music from the original series is
mostly heard in this movie, which is totally fine considering this is a
retelling of Episodes 1 - 6, which the story is pretty solid for its
first act. so was the music for those episodes, so I have nothing to
complain about too much about the same music being used in particular
scenes. The music sounds slightly different in the remake compared to
the original. The only scene I didn't like the music to is when Shinji
is told by his father to pilot the Evangelion, why? Because the music
playing in the original scene was pretty effective. I didn't find it
effective that much in the remake. That's just a minor nitpick. The
music by Shiro Sagisu is what you would expect, it sounds epic at times,
and there are some tracks that compliment certain moments greatly. The
"Angel of Doom" track is simply a great song, too bad it's overshadowed
by the themes in the remake's sequels.







When it comes to voice acting, The Japanese
cast is excellent as always and since the seiyus have aged since the
original, some characters do sound a bit older than what they sounded
like in the original series. Megumi Ogata is pretty good As Shinji even
though she had to act nearly the same way she did in the original
series. Megumi Hayashibara is terrific as always as Rei, Tomokazu Seki
is great as Toji. Fumihiko Tachiki is great as always on playing the
role of Gendo Ikari LIKE A BOSS! Kotono Mitsuishi sounds a bit older as
Misato Katsuragi and she's great in the movie. So the Japanese cast is
great here. When it comes to the Dub, I was skeptical when the dub was
announced because I was not a fan of the dub in the original series
which was done by ADV films, it's listenable to some extent but I think
it had some moments that were not performed right, also The End of
Evangelion as well as Death and Rebirth has some of the worst dubs I've
ever heard and they shatter continuity between the show and the movie.
The director's cut dubbed episodes also do this too for some unknown
reason. After hearing the dub of the remake, I can say that the Remake's
dub is more bearable to those that did not like the dub in the
original, but it still has some problems though. Spike Spencer is more
experienced this time and he plays Shinji just fine, but whether you
like his voice or not is up to you. Brina Palencia is pretty good for
the most part as Rei, Justin Cook was the perfect choice as Toji and he
deserves props for being the best voice of Suzuhara-san in any of the
dubs. John Swasey is great as Gendo Ikari for the most part. Kent
Williams sounds a bit too young as Fuyutsuki but I'll let this .
Allison Keith reprises her role as Misato and to my surprise, she's
great in Rebuild compared to her role in the original. Colleen
Clinkenbeard is a voice that gives me a bit of a mixed reaction when she
was the voice of Ritsuko Akagi. Ms. Clickenbeard has done better but I
just can't see her pulling off Dr. Akagi, she's not terrible in this
one, I just think someone else could've voiced her and done it better.
The low point in the dub for me was Greg Ayres as Kensuke Aida (The
nerdy friend of Toji) His voice really doesn't fit the character at all,
I know they were trying to give him a nerdy voice but it doesn't stick
to me at all. The Japanese cast is obviously the superior one, but the
dub is great too to some extent, and much more bearable to the ADV dub
from years past. Mike McFarland's ADR Direction is much more better than
the original show's dub and that's saying a lot. Also, Mr. McFarland
was the ADR Director for Fullmetal Alchemist and its remake and he
doesn't disappoint us with his direction of the dub, even though not
every single voice is spot-on though.







The characters are pretty much the same
like the first six episodes. Shinji is interesting if you've only seen
this movie, he's a bit of a mixed bag since the end of the original
series. Shinji is not too bad of a character in this movie because even
though he whines and gets angry in a couple of scenes, there's a reason
for it. The way Shinji reacts and develops is actually not bad and gets
overlooked. If you didn't like Shinji Ikari in the original series, he
is more tolerable in this movie. Rei is still a bit mysterious and
there's not much to say about her in this movie. Misato is actually
interesting in the first movie for a specific scene which I'll get to in
a minute, Gendo Ikari is LIKE A BOSS and STILL DOES HIS POSE! 'Nuff
said. The characters are good for the most part.







When it comes to story, It is very faithful
to the original source material from the first episode to the 6th, I
will say the same towards the animation. The only problem I think some
otakus will have is that this looks nearly just the same as the first 6
episodes its based on. Honestly, I have no problem with this because the
animation is ten times better than the original series, The earlier
episodes didn't look so great at first but the episodes are ok for the
most part. If this problem I'm referring to annoys you, then allow me to
convince you on one thing. That last third of the movie makes up for
that. That third would be when Ramiel shows up. Ramiel had a drastic
change compared to the original series. Ramiel went from fighting like a
Death Star to a shape-shifting Angel that can really tear shit up.
Don't believe me? Watch this



DAMN!

If you got a home theater room with good
speakers, turn the speakers as much as you want because Ramiel really
makes some noise. This last third is undeniably the highlight of the
movie. There are some differences between the first six episodes and
this movie. The first Rebuild movie interestingly shows Lilith instead
of revealing her in the middle of the series. For Angels, Sachiel is
completely unchanged, Shamshiel is improved but appearance hasn't
changed much. Ramiel on the other hand I already mentioned, Ramiel is
the only one in this movie compared to the original counterpart that had
a drastic change. Misato knows about Lilith for some reason which
actually is a bit interesting, Some fights look the same, but have a
bigger emphasis on action. Then there's the final scene that shows
Kaworu, Kaworu appears in only one episode in the original series, now
Kaworu is getting more than just one appearance which is fine. With all
that mentioned, even if this movie seems like a repeat of stuff from the
original series, The intent for this series of movies is for both fans
of the original series and to those that are new to the series. I
guarantee this movie won't disappoint.







Evangelion 1.0 is available from Funimation.



With all that said, Evangelion 1.0 is a
wonderful experience with gorgeous modern animation and visuals. This
first act of a promising remake of a revolutionary classic is proving
itself that the first 6 episodes are solid in of visuals and so
forth. This was made to make it look better and show people that this is
something they could've done if they had the budget for it. The Rebuild
movies do have a higher budget to make this possible. It doesn't
disappoint but it has some bumps which is why I don't deem it to be
perfect. For the most part, Evangelion 1.0 is a solid first act.



I give Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone a 9.3 out of 10, it is EXCELLENT!



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