Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone DVDFUNimation Productions
Release Date: November 2009
SRP: $29.98
Studio: Gainax
Creators: Hideaki Anno
Format: 1-disc (98 min.); Color; NTSC; Anamorphic Widescreen
Age Rating: PG-13
ICv2 Rating: 4.5 Star out of 5
Evangelion 1.0 is the first of a four-film “Rebuild” of the 26-episode 1995 Neon Genesis Evangelion TV anime, which defined the apocalyptic mecha genre for the decade of the 1990s and beyond. The four “Rebuild” films are basically a “do-over” for NGE director Hideaki Anno who ran into financial and creative problems when he reached the final episodes of the TV anime.
Evangelion 1.0 covers the first six episodes of the TV anime and sets up the basic situation. In a world already devastated by a “Second Impact,” alien beings known as Angels are ravaging Tokyo-3. Mankind’s only effective defense has been created by a mysterious UN-controlled agency called NERV, which is headed by Gendo Ikari. NERV has fashioned giant mecha units known as Evangelions, which apparently can only be piloted by teenagers, most notably Gendo Ikari’s estranged son Shinji.
Evangelion 1.0 is an attempt to make the NGE saga, which was famously opaque due to its overlay of symbols appropriated from both the Old and New Testaments and its convoluted plot involving the “Human Instrumentality Project,” more accessible. Judging from the first of the four “rebuild” films, Anno appears to have attained his objective without “dumbing down” the deep dish concepts that made the original NGE series so much fun to discuss. The Rebuild also looks fantastic with much smoother animation and a subtle integration of computer-animation effects that are used skillfully to create the world of post-apocalyptic Tokyo-3 and powerfully in the intense Angels vs. Evangelion conflicts. Evangelion 1.0 also adds a visit to the enigmatic Lilith, who is kept deep under NERV headquarter and who is identified as the Angels’ objective, which should clarify things somewhat for new viewers. A final scene on the moon hints at more substantial changes to come in subsequent films.
The first Rebuild film moves like a freight train, which is to be expected as it boils down three hours worth of TV episodes to just over an hour and a half. The original NGE series spent a lot of time detailing the angst of the EVA pilots, especially Shinji, a world-class whiner, who is the original emo-boy. While this characterization was one-note in nature, it was layered and provided a depth that is relatively rare in anime, and it is the major element of the original that has been lost in the Rebuild.
The film is rated PG-13 for violence and nudity, which is about right since it is basically very mild, though it does contain such anime staples as the nude (above the waist) shower scene and accidental breast grope.
-- Tom Flinn