By Literati 8.5 out of 10 There is no bigger EVA fan than me. Maybe there is someone else out there, but while anime has always been a main source of entertainment for me, nothing took my appreciation for the art form into the stratosphere like EVA. With a mind-bending (or nonsensical depending on who you ask) story, classic characters, great mecha design, an awesome score, and revolutionary direction by the apparently unstable-at-the-time Hideaki Anno, GAINAX’s cash cow exemplifies why I love anime. So why am I not more excited about this release, the first EVA production in a decade?
To those rare anime fans unfamiliar with the Evangelion saga, this film compresses about the first couple episodes of the series which debuted on Japanese TV in 1995 and became a smash hit. The series follows Shinji Ikari, a lonely teenager with problems connecting to other people, who is sought out by his father to help pilot a giant robot as mankind’s last defense against the Angels which threaten to eliminate the human race. While that doesn’t sound too groundbreaking, Hideaki Anno and the team at GAINAX took a fairly standard premise and added a conspiratorial plot involving a shadowy organization, deeply flawed protagonists, and avant gard editing techniques to peer deep into the psychological depths of the emotionally scarred heroes. It mixes controversial Judeo-Christian symbolism and Jungian psychology and asked questions about identity in ways that few anime dared to before. Its mech designs and combat scenes were revolutionary as well, far more visceral than anything that came before. The series finale led to an outrage by fans since it left many questions unanswered, and the series was followed by two films, Death and Rebirth, and End of Evangelion. While they answered some questions they also asked as many as they answered, leaving much of the series open to constant and ongoing debate by fans worldwide. With this new release Anno and his new team consisting of some former GAINAX staff are attempting to create a more satisfying version of the saga which was enthralled fans worldwide for well over a decade. So why am I not more excited?
Maybe it’s because the first episodes have always been the sort of expository episodes establishing the strange world in which a climactic incident known as Second Impact has decimated half the human race and led to dramatic climate changes among other things. These episodes are of course necessary and entertaining enough, but they have never particularly been my favorite. EVA uses some fairly standard tropes in these early episodes, such as kill-the-monster plotlines most anime fans are too familiar with by now, and these episodes are mostly reconstructed scene by scene here in this movie, albeit with improved animation. The major criticism of the series from the time it aired lay mostly with its protagonist, Shinji, a spineless, whiny teenager who hopefully isn’t that relatable to most audience members. There are a few scenes in which they emphasize a simmering assertiveness underneath all his timidness. Most everybody else is as we remember them, Gendo Ikari, Shinji’s father, is seemingly cold and uncaring of his son, Misato is a care free lush, Ritsuko is the “worker bee”, and Rei is the mysterious girl from the series. Not to give anything away however, but (spoiler alert) Lilith and Kaouru are introduced far earlier in the plot than in the TV series. The finale however, takes the events of episode 6 and creates a satisfying cinematic conclusion as Shiro Sagisu adds a great choral track which adds to the ominous foreboding of the proceedings. So if it’s got so much of what I loved about the series, why am I not more excited?
Well to be honest, most of the movie feels like a cheat. GAINAX, like George Lucas and Square, manage to repackage their classics every now and then to bleed loyal fans like me dry. I was a huge fan of ADV’s Platinum Collection, consistently amazed by their remastering process which managed to take the technically imperfect original print and give it new luster and polish. So why am I supposed to be excited about a slight cosmetic upgrade in 1.0? Until the final 30 minutes most of the differences in actual depiction and story were minor and often involved re-editing sequences for the different pacing requirements of a theatrical feature. Make no mistakes the animation is great, but it’s not End of Evangelion quality which would have bumped my score up 11 (I know, I know). Until the climax most of the film feels more like Super Mario All Stars than a brand new take on the familiar material. You know, updated graphics, a few character redesigns, enhanced audio. As I, like most American EVA fans will watch this on DVD, or god-willing Blu Ray, the difference isn’t that apparent to justify this as a standalone release. That being said, seeing as how it is part of a series of films, and the previews after the credits looked outstanding enough to nearly induce a nerdgasm, I will see how it fits into the more drastic changes promised in the later 3 movies. If you have seen the series already and didn’t see what all the fuss was about this film won’t change your mind. Only for the diehard fans and neophytes.
