Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Hideaki Anno from Neon Genesis Evangelion fame have been given this opportunity. They were given four feature length movie to play with the reinvention of the Evangelion franchise. In the anime world, this is no new news. It's been going on since 2007 in Japan. As for the USA, we get a two year delay.
To be perfectly honest, I've only watched the two available movies twice each. I know for me, this is not enough to truly analyze the differences and improvements that were added. But here are a few things I thought of:
Dislikes:
1. In the first movie, it lacked a lot of the humor that occurred in the series. Let's be honest, Evangelion gets into psychological heavy shit. As a watcher, we need those humorous breaks. Otherwise, we all want to eliminate human kind to soon and not on Gainax or Seele's schedule.
2. They changed Asuka's last name. Not only is she not in the first movie, which should be its own dislike, but they changed her last name. Why does everyone else have the original name and change her's? It doesn't make sense. And get Asuka on screen sooner. Plus, they changed her entrance and softened the reason for her and Shinji living in the same house.
3. Gendo Ikari is even more of an ass than I thought possible. I know they relived some of his ass moments because they were an emotional push for Shinji, but they added some even ass-ier moments of him. He was to the point of sadistic.
4. They took away some of the close personal conflicts that affected Shinji. Toji's sister isn't in the hospital for long and he seems to only take a brief revenge for it. I just think all of the small social conflicts of existing in a society were taken away. Those twinges of pain we all feel.
Likes:
1. The graphics are freaking off the chart amazing! Watching anime like this is kind of why I got a Blu Ray player. The color and movement and visualizations... Wow. Just stunning. You just need to see it.
2. I really liked how in the second movie at the end there was a pending evolution and it was stopped by the Lance of Longinus. It makes more sense coming down from the moon. Plus, I really like the idea of a moon base, although they should have named it Zappa. It was also a good intro for Kaworu Nagisa versus his other gay/ vulnerable Shinji thing.
3. Rei wants to be a person. She wants to see others and even herself happy. This is a major shift to being a hopeless doll of Gendo Ikari's will.
4. I like the adding of the fourth true Evangelion pilot. It adds that element of intrigue and spying that the series tried to project with Kaji, but never really went into true fruition. The Antarctic base part was weird and this girl is definitely psycho. But if you're watching Evangelion, you like psycho.
Fair to Middlen:
The one thing I'm on the rocks about it Asuka being absorbed into Unit 03 when it turns Angel. I like the idea of there being "Mental Contamination" so she locked up all secret like in what seems to be a medically enhanced vault. But, that also leaves it so that Shinji doesn't have the absorption experience. Asuka's future looks pretty vague. But, she's a strong character. She'll be back.
That's my breakdown for now. I know the more I watch it, which will be a few more times each easily, I will think up and see more of the awesome craziness. Stay tuned for updates here and there.
Leave any of your Evangelion thoughts in the comments.
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