Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Jo
[Score: 82%, a minimum "Buy"]
- Drama: Med/High (much simpler story this time with fewer side arcs)
- Comedy: None/Low (most of the funny scenes from the series are missing)
- Action: High (even more focus on the mecha battles than in the series)
- SciFi: Med (many elements remain obscure at this stage, so technical understanding isn't that important)
- Ecchi: None/Low (basically the Misato/PenPen scene that was adopted from the TV series)
Presenting a gloomier mood than the original, this movie manages to keep its promises - to be more accessible and simpler than the series and to give the NGE fans enough new and interesting material while at the same time possibly attracting a new audience with the additional 3DCG footage.
- The first third is a mere rearrangement of episode 1+2 material, and as such disappointing;
- the second third is a condensed and slightly modified version of episode 3-5 with lots of new 3D graphic, and as such interesting;
- the last third is a rewritten version of Operation Yashima from episode 6 plus two important elements from later in the series moved to surprising new positions in the time line, and as such a great experience and sufficient for watching this movie.
Structure comparison:
- The movie (97 min) ends after the events of episode 6 of the original (Rei II), thus covering 120 min of series material (not counting the songs and previews). Certain scenes with foreshadowings of events that happen later in the series (such as Misato's cross, a chibi Rei, Shinji's monologues in the fictional train, and some dialog between Gendou and Yui) are inserted here already.
- Due to not being a series, the events of episodes 1 and 2 are now shown in chronological order, during the first 31 min of the movie (making the events easier to follow but less surprising). This part has the most scenes reused from the series and felt more like another Director's Cut than a "rebuild"; I easily remembered too many of the original scenes simply being reused to get any feeling of a "new work".
- The middle part covering episodes 3+4 (condensed to 18 min) contains a lot of new footage but basically the same dialogs while drastically reducing the scenes at school - all that remains of episode 3 is Touji beating up Shinji and then the battle against the 4th Angel (with the exact same action sequence but completely new animation, and no quarrel between Misato and Ritsuko). Episode 4 (Hedgehog's Dilemma) has been rewritten/simplified in a surprising way (leaving out the scene at the railway station, focusing more on the dialogs). Certain scenes, like the conversation between Misato and Ritsuko after the first battle or their "Hedgehog's Dilemma" conversation, are now using different video footage (mostly stills); some 3D material has been added (appearance of Neo Tokyo-3, Shinji's first shooting training, animation of the 4th Angel). From the moment these modifications became more dominant the movie began to give me the impression of indeed being a new work.
- On with episode 5 now. Misato's failed attempt at cooking (and teasing Shinji for having fallen for Rei) is replaced by a conversation between Ritsuko and Misato in a bar; the scene of Shinji visiting Rei's home up to Rei's test is basically unchanged despite a lot of new Art&Animation. This episode is condensed to 14 minutes - but then, the first battle against the 5th Angel... wow! (Ramiel is the star of this show, folks. Period.)
- And then 31 minutes to go, with the big surprise - some important material from later in the series used in a significantly different way (it's interesting to ponder how that will impact the story of later parts as some clock can't be turned back now). Finally, Operation Yashima as the great showdown... and when you think it's already over, a nice surprise in the final minute of the movie.
- Plus five minutes of end titles, and a 30 seconds of preview for the second movie, similar to the TV series (including Misato's "Service, service!").
Technical aspects:
- The scenes are cut in a way to make the whole story more serious - most of the funny dialogs featuring Misato have been shortened or even eliminated, Shinji doesn't gasp for air when he's drowning in LCL, fewer Kensuke scenes, fewer Pen-Pen scenes etc. so there's hardly any comedy remaining (while the episode 2 fanservice is left intact).
- There are musical tracks I didn't recognize (mostly during the early battles) but all of my favourite themes from the series are being used here as well (the "Rei I" piano theme that I like so much, the silent suspense theme while waiting for Operation Yashima, and the "Decisive Battle" theme during Operation Yashima) while all the funny tunes from hillbilly to jazz are gone. No OP song though; the ED song is nice and melodic but not really impressive.
- Certain cool key scenes are missing (e. g. EVA-01's eye isn't blinking when Shinji picks up the wounded Rei from the ground, and EVA-01 didn't protect Shinji against the falling metal parts, thus somehow reducing EVA-01 to a mindless beast) while others are there (e. g. Rei appearing on the street during Shinji's telephone scene).
- The SEELE scene layout has been replaced by material from later in the series, making SEELE more mysterious and completely faceless. Horaki Hikari's first appearance (where she already cares for Touji) has been removed, Kensuke's field camp scene as well; in general, all side characters get less air time (and character development) than in the series.
- EVA-01's first battle operation now takes place at night... but don't expect too many scene changes here, they basically replaced the colors, making the scenes more gloomy and flashy (bilious green, yuck!). In general, a lot more scenes are playing at night, probably for having more effect in a dark cinema hall; I dislike this change, NGE shouldn't try to be a flashy horror show IMHO. Somehow you get the impression everything of importance happens at nighttime in this movie.
All in all this version of NGE feels more like movie mainstream, reducing the slice of life and character development elements, reducing the psychological elements and the importance of side characters, simplifying the narration form and focusing on the battles (that have the most footage changes), and on whether Shinji is "alone". Most of the changes remove elements that made NGE what it was, and thus are not of my liking; consequently this version barely made it into a "Buy" for me.
The dialog deviations between Original and Rebuild are few but some of them are significant for the further story development; I have posted my thoughts about this here.
My rating for this movie in comparison to the original:
- Art: 9 (down from 10, too many scenes take place at night now and the whole show looks too gloomy and lacks visual details)
- Animation: 9 (up from 8, the animation for Sachiel is cool and the one for Ramiel is a visual feast)
- Characters: 7 (down from 10, character interaction is obviously lacking here as the omitted scenes are mostly from this department, and that's horrible for a show about character interaction)
- Music: 8 (unchanged from 8, the significant tunes have been taken from the series, the good OP from there is missing but the horrible ED has been replaced for the better)
- Series Story: 10 (unchanged from 10, it perfectly delivers what it was meant to deliver - a more accessible version of the hyper-complex original, suitable for a movie)
- Episode Story: 7 (down from 9, the whole thing still feels rushed and too focused on action to someone who loved the complex original plot and the character interaction there)
Last updated Friday, May 02 2008.
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