Third Impact

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone - Review

Originally posted on The Grey Line

No other series has awed me as deeply as Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion, anime or otherwise. I was enamored with the complexity of its narrative, full of references to philosophy and psychology, and its rich, emotionally stricken, characters. To this day I haven’t encountered anything that compares to the experience I’ve had with the story of Evangelion? Not even a live-action movie, and you know I love movies (it has a lot to do with the 2 hour structure of a feature film vs. the 10 hours of a 26 episode series).

As clearly expressed above I’m of fervent fan of NGE. An animated remake of the series, then, is titillating notion for me. When the Rebuild of Evangelion, a 4-part animated movie remake with an all new alternative conclusion, was announced I went off the walls both in doubt and excitement. The first of the movies, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone was released in Japanese theaters last year. Just weeks ago it made it to DVD (in Japan), as well as on P2P sites. At last, nearly 8 months after its Japanese release, I was able to watch this new take on Evangelion!

So what did I think of Evangelion Rebuilt: part 1? Well, I loved it. But, again, I am an Eva fanatic.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are Not Alone is a nearly step-by-step summation of the first 6 episodes of the original TV series. If you’ve seen the show you know the story: Shinji Ikari, an insecure 14-year-old boy, is chosen to pilot Evangelion Unit 01, a prototype humanoid weapon. His father Gendo Ikari is the head of NERV, a special organization assigned to protect Tokyo from the monstrous Angels, and also the producers of the Evangelions. Rei Ayanami, an emotionless 14-year-old girl, was the first chosen pilot. She joins Shinji, with her own Eva, to defend Tokyo 3. Misato Katsuragi—female, 29 years old, and NERV operational director—mentors the pilots and leads them into action.

The jargon above may give the impression that Evangelion is only for the sci-fi enthusiasts. The start of the series, and therefore this movie, mostly concentrates on the fight against the Angels. But let’s give it more thought. The notion of labeling the enemies as “Angels” alone is implication of something much deeper than the ordinary robot mech sci-fi narrative. Psychological motifs and allusions to philosophy are not apparent in NGE’s exposition, and since the movie only covers the first 6 episodes, there’s no focus of Evangelion’s deeper themes—save the brief mention of the hedgehog’s dilemma— in You Are (Not) Alone. Plus, at least 40 minutes of possibly insightful content from the original show is cut from the movie. This rundown version may result in a bland impression for anyone unfamiliar with the series.

The compression of events doesn’t affect the overall quality, really; it’s actually paced well, especially in the later half. As any devoted fan, I did notice when a scene was missing. Personally, I would have liked it if Hideaki had not left out the nuance of the seemingly insignificant scenes. Then again, I understand that a 90 min. film is far more appealing to a wider audience. As for the scenes that were not cut, they remained virtually untouched.

About 80% of the movie is identical to the what was seen in the original show, albeit redrawn. Some scenes, such as the Eva training simulator sequence, have been enhanced with computerized effects. Further detail is applied to the art but generally the animation and storyboard goes unchanged. One notable inclusion was that of Rei’s nipples, most visible in the famous scene where Shinji tumbles upon just-showered Rei. Aside from the Director’s Cut and End of Evangelion, such details as areolas were always vaguely drawn, if drawn at all.

The most noticeable alteration has to be the climactic battle with the 6th Angel Rameil (5th in original). While its diamond-like shape is still its primary form, Rameil is now shown in various transformations as it attacks and defends itself. No worry, this addition is a good one.

Completely new content, however, is sparse until the last half-hour of the movie, when two important plot tweaks present themselves (they’re partly done to hurry the plot). No big narrative shifts are present in You Are (Not) Alone. For that you’ll have to wait for Division, the sequel.

Just like in the TV show the movie ends with a “to be continued” message on a black screen and, following the credits, a peek at the next episode. This clip shows a new character. At its end it’ll leave every Eva fan exasperated with anticipation for the next film.

But I doubt non fans will feel the same. The movie is essentially for the fans. They’re the ones who are going to eat it up. Looking at the movie objectively, it looks like a long episode from a science fiction anime series and nothing else. There’s little sense of conclusion or accomplishment, unlike say in The Fellowship of the Ring, part of the LotR trilogy. Not much happens but the three battles with the three Angels, and there’s barely any development in the characters. It’s a drawback of adapting a TV series that doesn’t really kick off until its later half. I’m sure the sequels will be far better. I just don’t think that the first, You Are (Not) Alone, will provide enough incentive for anyone not in love with series or into sci-fi anime to continue with the later films.

Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone’s direction and art is of high quality because of its source material. It’s a good recap of the early episodes but there’s nothing too spectacular about it. If you’re going to watch it, I’d advise to first see the complete original series if you haven’t already. Though if you don’t have many hours to spare and want to know what all the rave for Evangelion is about, then watching the Rebuild film series is a good idea. Just know that you won’t be too ecstatic about Eva until the sequels arrive. Still, I’d recommend to watch the series afterwards. And if you are an avid fan like me then you need no convincing; Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone cannot be avoided.



Released in Japanese theaters Sept. 1, 2007
Past theatrical release dates… (US date incorrect)

DVD release (Japan only):
1.01 Limited Design Edition - April 25, 2008
Normal Edition - May 21, 2008
Blu-ray: ????

US DVD release: ???? not yet licensed - Prediction: Late ‘08 - Mid ‘09
Internet release: DVD-Rip fansub torrent available


Official Evangelion Site (Japanese)
Trailers
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (Wikipedia)

Other reviews (possible spoilers):
Heisei Democracy (by Shingo with alt. take by Shipon)
Swifty, Writing: Justin’s IM Chat Review
Japanator Review (by God Len)

[Update] Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone: Released on the Net!

Originally posted on The Grey Line

(DVD-Rip sample image)
The first movie of the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, was released on DVD in Japan yesterday, April 25th. In no surprise, a DVD-Rip also surfaced on the Internet the same day. This is the first opportunity fans outside Japan have to watch Evangelion 1.0 in good quality (CAM version was released earlier this year). The film still has no distribution outside of Asia, and currently there is no word on when it will be released in North America or Europe. We can presume that ADV (licensed original series) will pick up the rights by the end of this year and hopefully release the film on DVD. I highly doubt it’ll play in theaters. As of now the released video can be considered an unlicensed fansub and legit for download outside Japan.

Of course, I already downloaded it. I’ve watched the first minute only to make sure it wasn’t a fake. All I can say is that the first minute looks almost identical to the first minute of the first episode of the original series. There are a few new shots, it’s in widescreen, and the animation looks cleaner and more vibrant. But it’s still Shinji at the pay phone attempting to call Misato who doesn’t pick up; he looks at that hot photo of hers and then sees a ghostly Rei in the distance followed by a flock of birds, then the earth shakes. That’s where I stopped. Granted, it is a remake of the series and that was only minute one. From what I hear there are new plot changes, so it’s not going to be another Death & Rebirth.

As soon as I watch it in its entirety I’ll report back with a detailed review. Download links are provided below. The only problem I found with the video was that is was slightly stretched vertically. This can easily be fixed by adjusting the aspect ratio to 16:9 (in VLC player: Right Click>Aspect Ratio>16:9).


Torrents:
[Final Update]

Latest working releases (The Pirate Bay)

[IZ-DVD] Evangelion 1 01 - You are (not) alone (.mkv)
[IZ-DVD] Evangelion 1 01 - You are (not) alone ENG SUBTITLES (.srt)
(Place .srt file in same folder as video file. VLC will automatically apply subs to video)
[update] best subtitles : alternate subtitle file(.ass) | info on .ass files (save as .srt in notepad or change ext.)

[Update 2]
Alternate Recommended Torrent File:
[NF] Evangelion 1 01 - You Are (Not) Alone (x264-AAC) mkv
Subtitles included. In VLC: left click>sub track>track 1

Don’t forget to adjust aspect ratio to 16:9.

[Update 3]See comments for more on the quality of the release.

Can’t play video file? Download VLC Player

Comparison screen shots between Eva 1.0 and Series (Flickr)

previous: Evangelion: 1.0 - Trailers News Break: Rebuilding Evangelion

Originally posted on The Grey Line (see full post)

… Last but definitely not least more Eva news. Here’s a trailer of the new game based on the show, which will most likely only be released in Japan.
Plus if you’ve seen the series and movies this is the the funniest thing ever.

Rebuilding Evangelion - New Animated Movies

Originally posted on The Grey Line

If you haven’t seen Neon Genesis Evangelion you don’t know what good anime is. The movie The End of Evangelion is at the top of my favorite movies of all time, including live-action(real actors). Maybe most if not all could care less for my interests and me saying good things about NGE won’t compel you to go and watch all 26 episodes plus the 2 movies. This is not going to stop me from delivering the news.

It’s good news for people like you who haven’t seen NGE. See, it was just announced that GAINAX will be making 4 new animated films of the series. The project is entitled Rebuild of Evangelion. The first three movies will be a retelling of the TV series, similar to Death & Rebirth except it’ll be spread out between 3 films instead of 1. The final one will be a completely new conclusion to the series. Being a huge EVA, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about these new movies.
Good news is that Anno Hideaki(creator/writer/director of original series) will be writing the first film and be general director for the whole project. However Kazuya Tsurumaki will be in the director chair for all the films. The first is to be released in the summer of 2007, second January 2008, third+fourth summer 2008.
You could wait until then to experience the magic and remember there’s even a live-action version in the works said to be released around 2010, but I would highly recommend seeing the original series first. If you’re low on cash you can rent them. I know the local Hollywood Video has the series. I’ll let you borrow mine!

Anyway it is good news that an animated Evangelion project is on the way and It’ll be interesting watching another alternate conclusion to the series. (It’ll be the third alternate ending. Episode 26 was original ending. The End of Evangelion movie was another, better ending IMO although the original was still majorly excellent)
I really really hope it turns out great.

Rebuild of Evangelion [wiki]
Japanese Site