please post your thought on evangelion dvds (1 Viewer)

[felix_suwarno]

i am considering to purchase it sometime next month, please post a review or two. is it worth it?

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

Felix,
Take a look at the reviews section of http://www.animeondvd.com and you'll find plenty of reviews.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Compared to the VHS tapes, their pretty good, but compared to the Cowboy Bebop DVDs, the video and sound are sub par. The story rocks and that makes it worth buying alone. But buy the boxset so you get the remastered first disc.

 

[Wil_J]

Is it possible to get the remastered first disk seperatly? I have all the Evangelion DVD's except the first one.

 

[felix_suwarno]

i didnt find evangelion reviewed. but i saw goshogun - the time etranger!!! i saw that flick when i was about 12 years old!!! ahhhh

now i saw startrek tng dvd review.

damn.

evangelion or startrek?

is evangelion a good anime? i have never seen evangelion before, but the premise of the story sound really good and captivating. thats why i tried to find it from grokster, but most of the files didnt have sound in it. and some hometheaterforumers jumped on me accusing i am a pirater...i guess they were right to a degree, thats why i am asking you guys this question : is evangelion dvd set worth the price???

i do care with the video quality, sound quality, extras ( i love extras ), but my real question is whether evangelion has a good story or not. what do the critics say?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Personally, it's my favorite anime series. I actually don't have disc 8 yet, though. . .I'm debating selling all my discs 1-7 on eBay and just buying the set.

 

[Brian E]

Felix, try here http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews/ca...egory=1&view=4 about half way down the page you'll find all kinds of Neon Genesis DVD reviews.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes, you can buy the first disc separately, and yes, Eva has a good story.

The reason why the transfers aren't as good as bebop is A-Bebop was mastered digitally from the get-go, as well as Eva's master tapes being about 4 years older than Bebop.

Getting the digital masters from Japan would be a whole new kettle of fish, and frankly, because of certain issues and such (which I will not elaborate on here) would be very unlikely to happen

 

[felix_suwarno]

brian, thanks.

i was looking on "E". should have gone to "N".

i am tempted!

135 bucks is the cheapest i could find, and that is still expensive for me. duh.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Neon Genesis Evangelion is my favorite anime series EVER. I love Cowboy Bebop and Lain, but NGE is in the top spot, mainly for its story.

The only thing is, they had problems making the last two episodes. Due to a lack of funds (high production values + 26 episodes = little money left at the end), pressure from the Japanese PTA, and some other smaller issues, they couldn't use the original scripts for the last two episodes, so they rewrote them and made them all f'ed up. The second movie has the original scripts for both (extended, actually, I think) but that is supposed to be released this summer/fall (and was originally coming out over a year ago, so don't depend on that).

The 2 movies are comprised of 3 parts (we'll call them a, b, and c). The first movie (Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (TRUE)^2) is part a, then b. The second movie (Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion) is part b then c. So both movies put together would be the equivalent of a movie and a half. The second half of the first movie is the same as the first half of the second movie...got that?

There is also a story behind the name of the first movie. They continued to add footage to it (there are 3 versions, each one only accumulating footage, not losing any) so there is D&R, D&R(TRUE), and D&R(TRUE)^2 (the version being released in America).

 

[felix_suwarno]

is there a search engine to find the cheapest price for evangelion dvds?

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

The only thing is, they had problems making the last two episodes. Due to a lack of funds (high production values + 26 episodes = little money left at the end), pressure from the Japanese PTA, and some other smaller issues, they couldn't use the original scripts for the last two episodes, so they rewrote them and made them all f'ed up. The second movie has the original scripts for both (extended, actually, I think) but that is supposed to be released this summer/fall (and was originally coming out over a year ago, so don't depend on that).

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Shayne-

Maybe, but the thing is

the ending for the movie and the series is different. In the series, everybody dies and Shinji decides to go along with the whole human instrumentality plan, but in the movie, he decides to go against it by spending some time on the Earth with Asuka (since he loves her and she loves him) so he can think about what to do next.

The endings are different, yet they tie in. In the final episodes (I think 26 actually)

there is a shot of Asuka sitting in Unit 02 underwater. Without the explanation of the movies as to how this came to be, there is no possible way this would make sense based on the information given.

So to me, the explanation I gave seems more plausible. The final episodes are more of an expansion on a "certain part" of the second movie and go more in depth, but only because they lost the budget and confidence of the studio to produce the final episodes as they wanted to, so they had to skip all the action and get right to it.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

So the story goes, 25 and 26 are what's going through Shinji's head when he's been absorbed by Lilith.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

Here's yet another view, lifted from the web.



As for the ending... in the original series ending, the "good" ending is assumed to occur, and the final two episodes trace what happens to Shinji as he merges with the souls of his cloest friends. (The ritual that triggers this is left undisclosed.) I thought it was a great ending - however, it left a lot of questions unanswered, and many fans complained. So, Gainax dragged Anno back, and released the movie End of Evangelion, which presents a different ending. In EoE, the ritual and creation of the group being is very explicitly shown, along with the freeing of all souls on earth - however, at the last minute, Shinji (inside EVA-01) rejects the new life form, and it all falls apart. The movie doesn't say what happens to the souls of humanity explicitly - they're shown coasting back to earth, and most people figure their bodies will reform.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

And here's one speculating that the writer was, in fact, mocking anime fans with EoE.



I think Gainax panicked when they quickly announced the movies soon after the end of the series caused controversy. Hideaki Anno himself didn't approve the projects, but did participate. He also said in the interviews that he is satisfied with the original ending. Everyone feels out-of-character in EoE, and there seems to be a strong "F U" attitude aimed at the fans demanding "real" ending. Next time you watch EoE, think Shinji as yelling otakus, and Asuka as Hideaki Anno and the NGE series. It's kind of funny how everything fits

 

[Brian E]

is there a search engine to find the cheapest price for evangelion dvds?

Try http://www.dvdpricesearch.com
IIRC Outpost.com had it for $79.99 a few weeks ago. Don't know how they are, never used them before.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I think there is probably truth in all of the ideas on how the movies came to be.

One thing I'm sure of is that one ending is happier than the other. The real ending was probabaly made to show how Shinji's pain and sufferring paid off in a good way, while the movie ending is good in a different way. The series ending (ending 1) was happy because everyone is existing as one soul and mind, while the movie ending (ending 2) has Shinji realizing that he desires to be connected with people (like he is in ending 1) but realizes that he should not be able to force people to exist with one soul just to satisfy himself.

Anywho, I still think that the original scripts were cast aside because of several issues and then we rewritten for the series. That would explain the shots of Misato and Ritsuko being dead (without a logical explanation until the movies) and Unit 2 being underwater (also without a logical explanation).

And my interpretation of the ending for the movies...

Shinji was left to be God. Since he was left to decide the future of the Earth (Adam, the creator of humans, could undo everything or redo everything and since Shinji's soul blended with Adam's body and his mother's soul, he "became" Adam) he decided to not go with the original "everyone becomes one soul" idea and decides to be left alone with Asuka (the one who he truly still loves) so he can decide.

Though I could be wrong. Its still pretty open ended compared to the series' ending.