Heya everyone,
I know I’m about two weeks late on the bandwagon, but theatres were so insanely packed for this movie that I couldn’t get decent tickets. After the first movie my love for Evangelion had dropped to new lows. After all, the so called “bold reimagining” of the original series in Eva 1.0 was nothing about less than 10 minutes of new footage in total. However, with the persuasion of three Japanese coworkers I decided to go watch it. The spoilers and plot summaries have been covered by stunning number of English blogs despite the fact that the movie is only available in Japanese with no subtitles, so I’m not going to do that. I guess I’ll post a few impressions and call it a day :P. *Makes sad face* I guess knowing enough Japanese to watch the movie isn’t anything special :(.
Eva 2.0 Movie Poster
A very interesting tidbit of Japanese trivia to start with. Apparently, Evangelion is still really popular in Japan. Not not “popular”, popular to the point where every major theatre in Nagoya was sold out for an entire week. It’s one of those few animes that transcends the otaku barrier and is fascinating to even normal people, somehow. Every one of my coworkers was interested in seeing it, from the older generation who are 40+ and those who are in the 20’s. I can’t think of an another anime that could do that. It was seriously nostalgic to hear Asuka’s “Anta baka?” and “Baka Shinji”. Reminds me that the last time I saw Asuka animated was more than 10 years ago.
A lot of websites were covering how there are also a bunch of limited edition goodies that were being sold with movie tickets for Evangelion. I was enough of a fan to buy them, though after seeing the movie I sure wish I did. What I did get was this amusing Asuka combo for 1,500yen. Though after watching the movie, I wish I didn’t. (Hint: Something nasty happens to Asuka). I wasn’t even planning on buying the combo, but I’m a sucker for limited edition items aka 限定品 gentei hin.
Asuka Combo, with limited edition Asuka figure
I guess I’ll just post a few thoughts about the movie as well. This movie is the start of the “bold new imagining” of Evangelion. There isn’t a single moment of the original material that is reused in the movie. The material is so new in fact that several of my coworkers who are Eva fanboys were left a little dumbfounded by how the canon has entirely been retconned. Several old scenarios are borrowed from the series, but now involve different characters entirely. Asuka is now far more tsundere than yandere, and the Shinji + Rei “romance” is now no longer so one sided. I know I cried about the first movie being the same, but now I also dont’ really like the new movie for being SO different. Completely hypocritical, I know. I’d elaborate, but you could read that elsewhere.
There’s a new character, Mari that’s introduced in the film. She has a total of maybe… 30 minutes of screen time? She’s an amazing character and the voice is even more awesome, but she was probably written into the story in the worst possible manner. She doesn’t mesh with the old cast, in fact doesn’t even meet most of them. She never explains what the heck she is doing, no one in the New Tokyo Branch of Nerv even bats an eye at her, but somehow she has the authority to run all over the facility and steal Evas :S. Then she also has… secret powers to unleash limiters on someone else’s Eva…. someone PLEASE tell me who she is. She has an amazing opening scene, but that scene is completely disconnected from the rest of the movie as well… Here’s to hoping she fits in the next movie!
Mari - great character, just wish she meshed more with the old crew -
Well finally, just an interesting tidbit. The first 5 minutes or so of Evangelion 2.0 are entirely in English :S with Japanese subtitles. It was a hillarious reversal where my friends were reading the subtitles and I was listening for a change haha. They actually bothered enough to hire actual English speakers to do the English, so it’s undestandable. Unfortunately, Mari also speaks in English for about a minute and it’s god awful :P.
Well, WFAC, I hope you don’t let us down this year and not show Eva 2.0. This is far more worthy Eva 1.0 ever will be. I’d enjoy seeing it with English subtitles just in case I missed something too.
Oh one last thing, I have discovered what I want to watch next! It’s a movie called Summer wars from the same crew that made The Girl who Leapt Through time, so it’s bound to be good.
A Foreigner's Tale in Japan 
“Asuka is now far more tsundere than yandere, and the Shinji + Rei “romance” is now no longer so one sided.”
Thats a really nice spoiler…:)
Joking…I really hope Gainax can sell the EVA 2.0 dvd before the end of the year at least…They sure take too much time.
Summer Wars looks really cool too.
I don’t think it’s Gainax’s fault that the localization takes so long. Most of it is due to the licensee.
They might have limited screenings of the show in North America with English subtitles like they did for Eva 1.0
/jealous
“Well, WFAC, I hope you don’t let us down this year and not show Eva 2.0. This is far more worthy Eva 1.0 ever will be. I’d enjoy seeing it with English subtitles just in case I missed something too.”
Are you being sarcastic in this statement or is it just a slight wording error?
I’m probably one of the few anime watchers that haven’t seen this series yet…only read the manga adaptation up to vol.9 so far.
Still, movie looks cool.
Why would you read the manga adaptation instead of watch the original work?
Now you don’t even have the excuse of saying not enough time!
It was a disappointment for 1.0 @ WFAC due to low quality image, no surround sound……only thing I liked was the ending song.
@ Aaron: there were no Rei combos?? Or were there only just Asuka?? What about Shinji combo?? haha ^_^
Glad to hear you’re back into Evangelion once again ^_^
I guess the conditions weren’t perfect but at least we all got to see Eva 1.0 early.
I wouldn’t mind too much if they showed eva 2.0 under similar conditions. I really do want to see the show with English subtitles to make sure my conclusions are correct.
oooh, looking forward to Summer Wars as well. I was never an Eva fan, so can’t really comment on that.
as a yaoi fan, i’m obligated to love Kaoru. (and he has pretty eyes)
my failing as an otaku is that i can rarely critique anything… loved both movies ^^;; loved reenjoying the recycled stuff just because i hadn’t seen eva in so long… loved the new stuff in the 2nd movie probably for the same reason i love the 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 碇シンジ育成計画 manga. As konata says, 一粒で二度おいしい ^^
i guess the way i see it… i’ve already enjoyed the eva where all the characters personalities are taken to extremes… pulling them back a little allowed for more and new interactions… so while i understand some may not like it for straying from the canon, that’s exactly what i liked about it ^^;
anyhow yes, i was also amused by the english in the beginning… though wished they could’ve executed it better… they sounded terrible ^^;;;
I know I’m going to sound completely stupid for asking this, but in the movie, did Mari wear a pink plugsuit? I remember all the footage I saw of her and she was wearing this awesome green plugsuit.
Did she have to change plugsuits when she stole EVA 02, or something?
I’m so confused 😦
She was wearing the green plug suit with her first eva unit *the rolly one :P*. I can’t remember which number it was. When she parachuted in on top of Shinji to join his harem, she didn’t have her plug suit with her, so I believe she takes one of Asuka’s plug suits or at least a plug suit of similar color as Asuka is “dead”
Don’t read this if you didnt see the movie
why the hell did asuka have to die!!!!!!?
how will they make the next movie without her???
sniff… sniff… why, why?
@rubble400: She isn’t dead, just unconcious… Didn’t Ritsuko explicitly state that she’s too valuable a test specimen to get rid of her? And besides, she’s in the trailer, equipped with a horribly cool eyepatch of doom! That doll she carries around has ‘plot importance’ written all over it… Maybe they’ll include her Backstory from the original Series and that’s the Doll her insane mother mistook for her daughther?
@Elven: The green plugsuit is the one she wore in her Original Eva, unit 05. Sadly, she had to self-destruct her EVA to kill the tunnel Angel – What a terrible waste, it was sooo coool!
I guess there are different kinds of Plugsuits in Rebuild. There are the classical ones (like Rei and Asuka wear them) and the ones for the more advanced evas, which don’t have that V-Shaped design, but something that looks like an ultrashort skirt, like for example, Mari’s green plugsuit.
This is just my theory, but it makes kind of sense since Asuka had to wear one that looked like Mari’s for a er… test in another EVA (I’d be a mayor spoiler if I told you which one), just that the white part was red and the green part, well… transparent orange. It’s probably meant as an in-joke or a lampshade, since even Asuka herself complains about it being too revealingXD As for Mari, when she hijacked Unit 2, she had to get herself a ‘classical’ Plugsuit. I think it’s pale red, but most say it’s pink and I’ve even heard someone calling it ‘purple’. It has little green accessoires, and white ‘boob protectors’ (you know, like Asuka’s, but shaped a little differently).
According to Mari, the ‘classical’ Plugsuits are more comfortable to wear because they support her breasts better XD I want one, too! I can kind of relate to Mari because I’ve gor large breats, too and no matter what people say, they’re freaking unpractical! XD
@Meropan: Finally someone who agrees with me! The fans of mindfuck, ‘deep stuff’ and/or Asuka already got EoE! Now it’s the Rei fan’s turn, and besides, Anno’s gotten over his depression is has finally decided to give his poor characters a break.