The Armchair Empire - Anime Reviews: Neon Genesis Evangelion


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Neon Genesis Evangelion:

The End of Evangelion

After the hugely popular hit Neon Genesis Evangelion concluded, many fans were unimpressed with the series' strange finale - the final two episodes of the 26 episode series were too confusing and anti-climatic for many, and a more obvious ending was demanded. In response, two movies were made - the first, Death & Rebirth, combined the series into Death (for those who hadn't watched it all) then had a teaser for the big finale, called Rebirth. The main feature is what I'm looking at today, the End of Evangelion, the amazing finale for Evangelion which is, essentially, just as deep and intelligent as the original 25 & 26 ending - and just as complicated.

The End of Evangelion has been a while in the making to get to our shores, and MANGA have done a fine job polishing it up onto a nice DVD package with the original movie in Japanese, an English Dub featuring the fine voice actors from the series, and various extras. Split into two parts, EoE begins with Episode 25: Air, which shows the aftermath of the destruction of the Angels and the fate of the NERV headquarters and the Evas, and concludes with Episode 26: My Purest Heart for You, in which the big finale takes place. I don't want to spoil anything, but while the movie answers a lot of questions it also provides many more in the amazing, intense yet cryptic finale. You'll spend a while online pawing over message boards and explanations before you get close to what might have happened.

The 1.85:1 transfer is splendid - the images of Evangelion are incredible and are shown in wonderful beauty with rich colors, some 3D animation and later some real time footage which all looks just as I imagine Anno intended. The animation of Evangelion takes a step-up from the anime series over this movie - the combination

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of different visual effects is stunning, supporting the richness of the story material. The best scenes, including the dramatic Eva 02 fight sequence and the ending, are a labor of love, and great transfer gives the film the treatment it deserves.

The soundtracks are also excellent - the EoE DVD includes the original Japanese cinematic soundtrack in wonderful dts 6.1, a near-perfect English 5.1 dub, plus

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Japanese 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks that I'm yet to listen to. The former two are immensely effective and give wonderful clear, moving sounds - one of my favorite aspects of the Evangelion series is the wonderful soundtracks, including intense and classical music as well as the impressive English dubbing.

The extras are sparse compared to the Death & Rebirth package, but you wont be buying this for the extras - you'll be getting this disk for the movie. Included on the disk is a commentary track by Co-Producer Jason Lee, the English language director and voice of Rei, Amanda Winn Lee, and an Anime Enthusiast Taliesin Jaffe, as well as trailers for EoE, D&R and the series, as well as Madman Propaganda and beautiful animated menus. The commentary track was recorded a day after the commentary for Death & Rebirth, and isn't as insightful as we'd like as a discussion of the movie and it's depth - instead it's more like a few giddy Eva fans talking about whats onscreen and some of the effort that went into making the English Dub. Perhaps most interesting is the scene in which Gendo tells Ritsuko the un-hearable lines, in which the commentary reduces the clever and powerful scene into a comedy skit. While this doesn't take anything away from the film, there are some extras I would have preferred - the Red Cross book for one, and a breakdown of the soundtrack and music - although I'm more than satisfied with the DVD as it is.

This is a highly recommended set - I adore this movie and this set has been worth the wait. I haven't talked too much about the movie in this review because it's really something that has to be experienced - see the series and then see this movie. You'll never be the same again.

- Shocka

(April 19, 2003)