No one comes to this one anymore, do they? This is the less loved film of Evangelion, I guess.
"...and everything under the Sun is in tune, but the Sun is Eclipsed by the Moon...." -DSotM.
This is the ultimate shiznit, but for nerds raving on about evangelion, go to an Evaboard or something. www.evamonkey.com
sharefunny, because this was the first thing i ever saw about neon genesis: evangelion, and it's still my favorite. not knowing the first thing about NGE made Death and Rebirth a fascinating, if somewhat disturbing, experience. the amount of information being conveyed is vast. anyone who says this is just an incomplete distillation of the show is not giving D&R its credit, because it actually tells you everything you need to know about the entire series on an almost subliminal level (and no, i'm not talking about the 'subliminal' effects of the flash frames, i am talking about a much more sophisticated kind of subliminal operation). i have since watched all of the series, and while it has been greatly satisfying, very little in the series was surprising and most of it seemed like the natural extension of D&R, and this is the great achievement of D&R in how it so successfully plants the seeds for understanding NGE as a whole.
shareWell, I just came here, didn't I??
I feel late, having 'discovered' the NGE universe in 2006, instead of 1996. Oh well, late is better than never. This series 'changed my life', to coin a phrase.
I own (on video) the 26 regular episodes, as well as 'End of Evangelion'. I don't own 'Death/Rebirth', but I rented it several months ago.
Having just finished my 2nd complete viewing of the series, remind me - is it 'Death/Rebirth' where you get all the classical music scenes? I can't find them anyplace else. If that's the case, it alone means I'll have to own this as part of the complete collection.
To make clear, based on my recollection - 'Death/Rebirth' in it's FIRST HALF presents 'new' material by revisiting the whole series but in a new way (and I think that's where the music comes in). On the other hand, the 2nd half of 'D/R' is nothing more than the first 30 minutes of 'End of Evangelion', so HERE you get the redundancy. But the first half ALONE, I guess, is worth having.
I'm a 50 year old Neon Genesis Evangelion FREAK (or 'nerd', as quoted elsewhere). What can I say? At last week's Chiller Theater convention, I spent my money acquiring NGE posters and a copy of Hideaki Anno's 'Love & Pop' movie.
Few series have affected me the way that this has (maybe 'Firefly' comes close - I'm a latecomer to that, as well). I will spend my next 50 years watching this over and over - and I can only hope that artists can create new material on a par with this.
And as for the continuing discussion regarding which ending scenario one prefers ie. 'End of Evangelion' vs. 'Final Genesis', I must say that I love them BOTH - but am still looking forward to the recently announced NEW CONTINUATIONS which will start showing in 2007. Neon Genesis Evangelion FOREVER!
This was the first proper thing of Evangelion I saw myself; I watched it and end in one sitting. I'd seen various clips and AMVs and heard good things from my friends and read up on the series beforehand. But it was this that got me hooked on the show. I thought the classical music links worked very well.
I admit I am slightly hesitant about the new films; but I remain optimistic.
"The music is the magic carpet that other things take naps on"- Tori Amos
so EWS1212 tell us, why has this series/movie had such an effect on you?
shareWhy NGE had such an effect on me? Well, I must clarify my definition of 'effect', and the personal relevance to why I watch movies and how I choose which movies are personal favorites, to be revisited again and again.
When I see a movie, I want to get personally involved with the characters - to the point where I understand their motivations and their thinking; to the point where I care how life turns out for them, whether they live or die, etc. etc.
Some of my good friends criticize me for some of my movie reviews, when I complain that I just couldn't get involved with any of the characters, and thus had nothing to care about. For instance, I just watched with a friend the classic Kubrick film 'The Killing' - this is about a team of criminals who plan and execute a robbery at a race track; things go awry. I thought this was 'good moviemaking', I enjoyed the direction, the music, the acting. But I was not moved; I did not care about any of the characters or get involved with them. I have this problem a lot in films about criminals, hit men, etc. - since the motivations and thinking of these individuals is so alien and repulsive to me, I just don't care what happens to them. 'Prizzi's Honor' is an example. I can admire the film as a 'classic', but just not get personally involved with it, and thus don't really care whether I see it again (perhaps 'The Usual Suspects' might be an example of this).
But I can be extremely moved by characters in movies that I care about; moved to the point of viewing while experiencing physical reactions: heavy breathing, chills, elevated heart rate, and even tears. These movies don't have to be 'classics' - they can be minor films, and even very flawed, but if they provoke those reactions, then they are what I seek in motion picture entertainment; I want to see them over and over, and feel that my 'life is enriched' in that, by relating and understanding the motivations of the characters I can incorporate and grow from that understanding and sharing. To name a few movies that I put in this category, I'll go with 'Run, Lola Run', 'Donnie Darko', 'Ms. 45', 'Bad Day at Black Rock', 'Serenity', 'The Wrath of Khan', 'Ghost World', 'Crash (Haggis)', 'Assault on Precinct 13 (Carpenter)', 'The Seven Percent Solution', 'The Ninth Configuration', 'Eyes Wide Shut' (naturally) and, I guess there are a few others. And I should add that frequently an important part of the experience for me is the musical score - notably excellent (and manipulative) in most of these movies, and certainly in Neon Genesis!
To get to Evangelion now, we have Shinji - his flaws and emotional insecurities were the result of his childhood; his mother's death, his father's distance. Despite his feelings of terror and revultion, he manages to find the courage and convictions to act. This is an illustration of personal struggles that all of us (or most of us - maybe not Paris Hilton) must face to get through our lives. 'Rise, young boy, emrace the sky and become the legend!' Asuka is even more flawed, and her childhood was even more traumatic then Shinji's. Despite her frequent cruelty and frivolity, you always get the feeling that she doesn't really mean it; wants to do good and just doesn't understand how. When she experiences failures in Unit-2, her emotions project right out to me, and I can feel the frustration as well. Rei is such a mystery of emotion and motivation - what does she really want? Well, of course the mystery gets explained, but in her few scenes of action and reaction (such as her shower-encounter with Shinji, here elevator conversation with Asuka, her one sentence uttered to Kaoru, and her selfless sacrifice in Unit 0, you are conviced that there is somebody real in there - not just some sort of robot; and these little bits of herself that are exposed leave you wanting to understand her more. Misato has also been scarred emotionally by tragedy in her life, but has risen above it; she is the most grimly determined and most competent 'soldier' in all of Nerv. The fact that her flaws affect her dreams and her private life (she won't allow them to affect her professional one) leads me to feel how much emotional pressure she must be experincing, and keeping bottled up. As much as I love all of the women in the series, if I had to pick one to spend my life with, I guess Misato would be the one. And how about Gendo Ikari? Is he really the 'heavy' that he's made out to be? He, too, has experienced personal tragedy but more than the others - his tragedy is entirely due to the Angels (Adam and Lilith); it's possible to understand what his motivations are (and saving all of humanity can not exactly be classified as 'evil'), and one can almost sympathize with the way he treats others (who aren't Rei, that is). I can easily add comments about the other players - Prof. Fiyutski, Ritsuko, Kaji, Toji, etc. etc.
So for me, I can get involved to the point of emotional reaction watching these episode over and over, because it is possible for me to become personally involved with the characters. This, to me, is Anno Hideaki's brilliance, as we know that all of these characters were created as reflections of his own life, mind, and emotional turmoil. Now, is that really 'life changing', per se? Possibly the phrase is a tad of an exaggeration; I'm not about to build myself a giant robot. But the knowledge that I can experience this series over and over; the knowledge that there may be more; the thought that I can learn even more about the characters, Anno, the human mind, and maybe even myself as I experience the joys and sorrows of Neon Genesis Evangelion for years to come - well, I guess you could at least grant me 'life enriching'.
I've read comic books (American) all my life, but had not really been interested in Manga and Anime; my experiences had been slight (AstroBoy, Gigantor, 8th Man, and American takes such as Dunn's 'Warrior Nun Areala') until my friend's daughter (some 30 years younger than me) started pushing me to read some of her Manga collection. She picked out NGE as being my best place to start, and I read her 7 volumes (subsequently buying 8 & 9); this interested me in the series and the characters, and shortly thereafter I located a boxed set of all the videos in a used CD store. I bought these, viewed them, and the rest is history! Oh - my friend's daughter is now pushing me to read the 'Death Note' series. I haven't, as of yet, but so far she seems to be batting 1000!
(You asked; you got an answer.)