I wasn’t planning on making an Evangelion 2.22 post since everyone has already written reviews/impressions of it and I can’t imagine what more can be said. But…I had a lot to say about it anyway and I just couldn’t keep it to myself XD This post is sort of a review, but it’s mostly my thoughts and impressions after finally watching the movie last night…
It’s been over a year since I watched the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie. If I recall correctly, Eva 1.11 had very little content that was different from the first six episodes of the TV series. It was pretty much just those six episodes with updated animation and a few slight differences. However, 2.22 is vastly different – not only is the majority of it made up of brand new animation, the story also diverges quite a bit from the original.
First thing I should point out is how incredible the animation in this movie is. Unlike the previous movie which gave a face-lift to old animation, Eva 2.22 is mostly comprised of new and gorgeous looking animation. I was particularly impressed with a few scenes that focused specifically on the daily activities of Neo Tokyo III – the details on the streets, buildings, trees, people walking, etc, were absolutely stellar.
And of course, the action scenes with the Angels and Evas were very well animated and exciting. The fast-paced movements of the Evas, the bizarre designs of the Angels, the wicked brutality that occurs when they clash – it was all quite engrossing.
It’s amazing that after fifteen years, all the original Evangelion seiyuu still play their roles perfectly. I always love hearing one of my most favorite singers and seiyuu, Megumi Hayashibara (voice of Rei). As for music, there was some new music and some old music from the TV series. All of it was great, but my only complaint was the couple of gentle little insert songs played during really dramatic moments that just seemed out of place. The remix of “Beautiful World” during the end credits was nice though.
The very first difference we see in the movie is the addition of a new Eva pilot, Mari Makinami.
After seeing her in the very first scene, I was expecting her to play a bigger role. But she ended up having just a couple of cameos in the rest of the movie and only got to take center stage briefly towards the end in her battle with the Angel.
She seems like an interesting character so I’m hoping we’ll learn more of her backstory and see more of her interactions with the other characters in the next movies.
The main reason I was looking forward to this movie more than the first is because of the return of my favorite Evangelion character, Asuka!
Pretty much every scene with Asuka is different from the TV series. I feel like the movies are trying to make her more appealing and less bitchy than the original – she’s still her hot-tempered, arrogant self, but she seemed nicer in some of her interactions with Shinji and Rei, for example, wanting to cook for Shinji, the scene where she gets in bed with him and asks him to call her by her first name, wanting to help Rei by volunteering to test Eva Unit 03 and smiling at her thanks on the phone.
And most notably, the famous scene with her and Rei in the elevator. Rather than hitting Rei and yelling about how much she hates her and everybody else in the TV series, Asuka’s reaction to her was much more subdued in the movie, again pointing to the fact that I feel the creators want to make her more likable than the original (perhaps her new last name is another sign).
I enjoyed pretty much all the new scenes in the movie – the trip to the aquarium was a great way to showcase character interactions as well as finding out a little more about the environment they live in (nice to see Pen Pen get more screen time too!) The subplot of Rei trying to plan a get together for Shinji and his father was nice gentle drama amongst everything else.
There were new scenes that focused on character development for Shinji, Rei, and Asuka that I particularly liked. My favorite would probably be Asuka’s phone conversation with Misato before she pilots Unit 03. So much was revealed about her character in just one short scene, and it again points to the fact that she’s appearing more likable in the movies.
Another new scene I liked was Shinji’s mind trip where he explains why he uses his portable cassette player.
That’s another thing that should have been developed in the TV series, and I liked how the cassette player continued to have significance in the movie up until he takes it back from Rei upon rescuing her.
Probably the most shocking difference in the movie compared to the TV series is the fact that Asuka rather than Touji is the victim of Eva Unit 01’s attack on Eva Unit 03. I’ll admit I was a bit frustrated that we didn’t get to see what happened to her after the attack besides the fact that she’s being quarantined.
But I’m glad she made a quick appearance in the next movie preview, eye patch and all XD
Another big shocking difference was Kaworu’s appearance so early on, and the fact that he has his own Eva.
The movie ends with yet another major divergence from the TV series – how Third Impact came about and its initiation at this stage in the story.
The emphasis on Shinji and Rei’s bond near the end of the movie was quite dramatic, though I’m not sure how fitting it was at this point (guess I’m more of a Shinji+Asuka person).
The movie ends with the impression that Third Impact will be interrupted. I’m not sure why they decided to have it happen so soon when there’s still more movies left, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Eva 2.22 ends at quite a cliffhanger (and I still need to know what’s happening with Asuka!) so the wait for the third movie is going to be tough.
I don’t think it’s so much that they wanted Asuka to be more likable, but more that they wanted to be more blatant about how she feels. As I mentioned in my post, in the original, Anno spends so much time trying to loop his thoughts around and obfuscate the real meanings of interactions that, even if you do manage to figure out how much Asuka cares about her compatriots, the series refuses to tell you directly. That’s all that I think the movie did – clearly state her purpose instead of wrap it up in backwards storytelling.
I don’t really get all the people thinking that Asuka was so different in the movie in terms of her feelings. It’s the same… just more clear, better perhaps, and a revelation of what always should have been.
@ digital boy
Heh, I probably would have mentioned that if I had read your post before writing mine XD But I think the fact that we’re seeing her act more blatant about how she feels is precisely what’s making her more appealing. Because we’re seeing her better nature as opposed to just her hateful, angry side, she’s more accessible.
I agree, she’s still the same old Asuka to me, we’re just seeing different sides of her that were perhaps lying dormant in the original.
I was watching this in cinema without having seen the first one yet. Having read that the first one was just a re-run of the first part of the series, I was hoping to catch up pretty quickly. Took a bit to get used to when the first scene was the fight involving Mari! My friend and I were like, this was definitely not in the series before! Overall I really enjoyed the film. Was a big thrill to see it on the big screen (had to wait about 3 weeks to see it with my friend who was visiting, constantly fearing that it might leave the cinema any day!). It would be interesting to hear a non-fan’s reaction of this though, if only just to see whether the story itself is coherent enough or can stand on their own? We all (I presume) saw it after having liked the series so our opinions are pretty biased one way or the other…
As for Asuka, it’s interesting way of condensing the whole emotion spectrum from the series into the movie. I think they did a good job and like digital boy mentioned above really makes her character much clearer. It’s a bit of a shame that Tohru gets so majorly sidetracked in this rendition of the story. Can see why it needs to be done (no need to reintroduce a new character and allows further emotional development on existing one).
Another anime cliche in play, your eva gets bashed to smitherines and all the damage she has to show for it is a cool eyepatch (if that is of course not just some dream sequences or hallucinations)! Exactly the same tragedy that befalls the likes of Nice Holystone from Baccano!!
@ aquabluesweater
You’re so lucky to have seen it in the theater! It must have looked incredible on the big screen.
I agree, it would be interesting hearing a Rebuild of Evangelion review by someone who has not seen the TV series. But since Eva is one anime that just about everyone who cares about anime has seen, such a person is surely hard to find.
Who’s Tohru? (do you mean Kaworu?)
@Yumeka
I meanted Toji. Mistype on my part… Apart from the ending, the bit that most stuck with me after watching Eva was the episode with Unit 03, which is completely rewritten in this new version. Hmm, that might be something I have to conciously try to push to any friend I want to make watch anime, to go check out the movies first!
the majority of the non action BGM (IE the BGM during the talk of Ritsuko’s past) was recycled from Kare Kano, another one of Gainax’s works back in 1998. It was a completely different Anime from eva so it’s kind of interesting to see how well it fit here.
@ arimpact
That’s really interesting. I watched Kare Kano a few years ago but I didn’t remember the BGM.
Er… the Third Impact was interrupted. When the godlike Eva was powned by Kaworu and the lance.
And I love the fact that Shinji seems to be growing at least a pair. The final scenes of the movie were GREAT. I was rooting along with Misato. :P
But Im wondering if Rebuild is a direct continuation or a remake. The Red Sea, the sayings of Kaworu… I smell Oyashiro-sama!
Very nice writeup and selection of images! But to add fuel to what is possibly a dying fire, I’m of a camp that is ready to believe that this is all in fact, a sequel to the original series. The seed for this was planted within the final moments of The End Of Evangelion, where Shinji rejects Instrumentality. What has been set in motion is an endless series of loops and iterations of the same choices that have been made since the tv series. Much of what the beancounters at Gainax really wanted out of these films have rung false as Khara has been calling the creative shots with the films (with Anno & tsurumaki at ground zero) This would actually explain all of the strange elements scattered throughout the films. (most notably the Moon Base at the end of 1.0, the Red Oceans,and markers left from EOE) And the fact that Shinji is still looping within the phantom densha in 1.0. The changes within both Asuka & Rei are evidence that they two are evolving with every rendition of events. Think of it as a much more emotionally charged Endless Eight where the characters are on a voyage of redemption set forth by young Ikari who within the first attempt exposed a “worst case scenario” for the end of humanity.
But since then, he has finally attained a grasp of his own real reason for piloting.
Rei finally is taking action to keep friends happy. And denies Asuka’s attitude toward her. She is no longer the doll she was intended to be. This is a big extension of her changes during the last episodes of the series. This could also help give rise to the thought that Mari is merely in this rendition to help close this endless cycle by way of personal vendetta. Of course, I could be utterly wrong here, but after re-watching both films several times, it truly feels as if Khara are giving us an EVA more in-tuned with how the directors are now with the world at large, as well as their fans. Gone is the piss and vinegar of the 90s, and more of a wiser, patient outlook, allowing our characters to grow in ways the show had little chance to examine.
Now if only the films were a little more relaxed in presenting this..
One more clue that may help clarify this. If you can find it, Studio Kimigabuchi’s EVA RE-TAKE is an impressively moving doujinshi that must have made waves all the way up to Khara/Gainax. The eyepatch thing is in full-force there, and serves my theory in many ways.
@ Mike
Wow, that’s a really interesting viewpoint. But if it’s a sequel to The End of Eva, which ended with Shinji and Asuka as the only two survivors, would these new movies take place many years in the future after End of Eva? (are we now seeing “reborn” versions of Shinji and Asuka, since they don’t retain any memories of End of Eva in these new movies?)
You certainly know a lot more “inside” info about Evangelion than I do XD I hope the next movie will be even more revealing. I’m curious to see if it will continue to support the sequel viewpoint.
I thought that Asuka started out exactly the same, if not MORE jerky/ambitious/disturbed, but developed into a different direction. Instead of breaking down and starting to hate everything and everyone, she learns that other human beings (like Rei, Shinji or Misato) don’t always have to be Rivals, but can be just nice buddies to have a good time with.