The Armchair Empire - Anime Reviews: Neon Genesis Evangelion


Related Links: Action Figure: Evangelion Unit 01 Test Type Anime: Akira (DVD)	<MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/thearmchairem-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth

It's been years in the process, and finally in 2002 MANGA released the much-awaited Evangelion Movies onto DVD and VHS around the world. The first movie, Death & Rebirth (D&R), was originally released in Japan in 1997 as an introduction to the series for those who hadn't seen the full 26 episodes, and was intended to substitute the series so that everyone could still see the mind-blowing finale, End of Evangelion. Instead, I feel D&R is more of a set of Evangelion cliff notes, covering the original series in an hour and then teasing with the beginning of End of Evangelion.

Both movies are in two separate parts; End of Evangelion (EoE), which I'll take a look at later, consists of Episode 25, "Air" and Episode 26, "My Purest Heart for You". Death and Rebirth is split into Death, the summation of the Evangelion series (bar the 25th and 26th episodes), and Rebirth, the opening of "Air" from End of Evangelion. Many fans have disowned D&R as it is mostly footage borrowed from the series and from EoE, although the DVD package created by MANGA is definitely a worthwhile purchase for any fan of the original series, with a nice amount of extras and a great soundtrack in the original Japanese with subtitles, and with a great dubbing using (most of) the original English voice actors from the series translation.

Advertisement

Death is presented as a symphony in which each of the characters from Evangelion is revealed and judged, joining each other to play in a String Quartet as their stories are retold. This is a very different, very effective way of recounting the series, although it will be difficult for those without prior knowledge of everything to stay focused, as the movie leaps back and forth between plotlines at the speed of light. It begins with the First Impact, the

Advertisement

Revelations events that caused the death of a third of the world's population after a strange giant of light was seen over Antarctica and the southern hemisphere became an ocean of blood – 15 years later, several children are selected to man a series of enormous robots called "Evangelions", robots to fight Angels, enormous strange aliens which are attacking the Earth. Although this sounds like a thousand other mecha animes in which only young, busty teenagers can fight oncoming attackers in robots, Evangelion has its characters seemingly young and unknowing, allowing them to grow and develop as time goes on.

Rich with undecipherable meaning about the end of the world, Biblical Prophecy and a message of hope, the Evangelion story is excellent and backed up with great animation. The widescreen 1.85:1 pictre of the DVD is beautiful, with concise cinematic colors and great images from the Gainax material. As Death recounts the lives and deaths of the characters from Evangelion, it grows to a peak with the death of the last Angel and prepares us for the next part of the saga, the End of Evangelion.

Although most of the footage from Death is from the series, there are many new scenes previously unseen or censored from the series, including a better look at second impact, scenes between Shinji's mother and Commander Fuyutsuki, and a strange scene in which Adam is melded to Gendo's hand. This is all must-see material for Evangelion fans that want to see everything, and Death is indeed worth watching. Rebirth is the rebirth of NERV and the Hostile Takeover Phase of SEELE's plans, including some of the most awe-inspiring and violent scenes ever from Evangelion. As a teaser for EoE, it's suitable to hold interest and to conclude the movie.

The sound for Death & Rebirth is excellent. The soundtrack is in English Dolby 5.1 with excellent use of the rear speakers in the loud, intense fight sequences with a great English dubbing like the Madman-dubbed series. Some of the voices have changed from the original English dubbing due to miscellaneous changes with the cast, although this doesn't affect the experience too much. The original Japanese soundtrack is also on the disk in Digital Stereo 2.0 sound - completists would have preferred it in 5.1 but I'm not too bothered. Overall, the sound quality is great, especially the sounds of the string quartet. Subtitles are also available in English.

In addition to the movie, the DVD also features many special features of interest. To begin with, the full Magi Archives are a great resource for those after Evangelion information, including many bits and pieces missed from the series. Each of the Angels, Evas and technical/Biblical terms are discussed and referenced, an awesome extra for the Eva completist. A feature called "Mokuji Interactive" can be played in the movie, showing graphics of information during the film from the Magi Archive, allowing viewers to get extra information about the series and some of the more confusing bits and pieces while watching the film. Trailers for Death and Rebirth, End of Evangelion and the original series are included, as well as propaganda for other Madman products including Vampire Hunter D, Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Armitage, Gundam Wing and Blood, the Last Vampire. An interesting although disappointing Audio Commentary is featured on the disk from the Co-Producer Jason Lee, the English language director and voice of Rei Amanda Winn Lee, and an Anime enthusiast, Taliesin Jaffe. (They're at there best when they're on the topic and not treating everything like an in-joke.) Finally, there is a nifty photo gallery with various uncensored images from the movies.

The DVD is wrapped up with a Scene Index and impressive animated menus (featuring music from the String Quartet, suiting Evangelion much better than the terrible animated menus from the series DVDs). This is a DVD definitely worth owning for the completist and the Evangelion fan, though I recommend watching the whole series in it's goodness before seeing this movie and the next.

- Shocka

(April 12, 2003)