Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone
(2007 movie)
So apparently the people who made Neon Genesis Evangelion agreed with me that the show could have been better, and not just in the ending. Fortunately they've been given a pretty good budget and new technology has become available which will help them toward that goal. Now the only obstacle is in the writing – can they do better with this reboot of the franchise?
This first installation already shows some promise in that it is very well done for what is essentially a compilation movie. I've seen a few compilation movies, and the thing about them is that they tend to suck. A lot in terms of story and character development tends to get lost, and continuity can become an issue because most compilation movies try to use as much of the series it was based on as possible, and only do a limited amount of new animation as required. But to be frank, Evangelion was extremely slow in pacing and could stand to have a lot of fat trimmed. Thankfully, this translates very well in this movie, which is basically a compilation of the first six episodes or so of the original series. Not only does it look great, what with all the newly redone animation, but the writers actually did a pretty good job of getting all the important stuff in without really losing anything, and in getting everything to flow smoothly while doing so. In fact, if I hadn't seen the series, I probably wouldn't even notice where the story basically jumps ahead, or where something new has been added the way someone might with say the Blue Gender or Gurren Lagann compilation movies.
As for what's different this time around, a lot of it has to do with pacing. For one thing, there is no mystery made out of the existence of Lilith being kept down in NERV's basement. Misato just takes Shinji on an elevator ride and opens the door right up to show him. Another more noticeable difference is that Misato is a lieutenant colonel rather than a freshly minted major, and she's a lot more involved in NERV's operations. She actually seems to be on more equal footing with Ritsuko Akagi compared to the series. Other than that, there isn't a whole lot that's different from the first episodes of the series.
Now, for anyone who hasn't seen the series and has no idea what I'm even talking about, the story revolves around a child protagonist, Shinji Ikari. He is the pilot of a giant, mostly organic robot called the Evangelion Unit 01. There are actually a few of these, all with different numbers and slightly different designs, and all of them have child pilots. They all seem to be in the 14-ish age range, which is why some of the fan service in this movie and in the series it was based on is actually one of the many disturbing things about this show. Others may feel differently, but the whole jailbait thing isn't really something I feel comfortable with. That goes hand in hand with the way it is more than hinted at that Misato Katsuragi, his commanding officer, legal guardian, and roommate, might have romantic feelings toward him, and Ritsuko also seems to think this is okay, apparently. There's a similar problem in regards to Rei Ayanami, the first child pilot, and NERV's commander, Gendo Ikari. There isn't a lot of that in this first movie, but I doubt that'll really change much since the way Gendo has planned out Shinji's life and his growing romantic interest in Rei has remained pretty much the same. Which is another thing that adds to the "ick" factor, but that also comes out later on. Anyway, the main plot is that this secretive organization called NERV has to prevent the end of humanity by destroying these giant alien "angels" which randomly appear to attack whatever happens to be in their way on their way to attack NERV headquarters. They are all apparently trying to reach and bond with the "Lilith" creature I mentioned earlier, which will apparently result in the death of all life on Earth. There is something of a secretive plan going on in the background which frankly doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's part of the larger story as everything progresses. I have to admit I'm kind of curious to see how this is done in the rest of these movies.
The story moves at a fairly good pace from the beginning through to the end. We're introduced to everyone, Shinji is put through the paces and fights a few monsters, a lot of important plot information is told or shown to us, and all without seeming all that rushed and without too much exposition. This is a definite improvement over the series and bodes well for this Rebuild of Evangelion project. The last battle in this movie is actually one of my favorites, as it involves a very powerful and very strange "angel", which is normally shaped like a giant diamond, but can take on complex geometric shapes to defend and attack. Which actually brings me to what is probably the biggest appeal of both this movie and the series it is based on – the eye candy. The series was okay, especially for the time and in light of the limited budget the animation studio had. The movie, however, does a really great job. I have to admit that this is something of a double-edged sword where I'm concerned, because when the eye candy overshadows the story, that's usually a sign of a bad writing. That isn't especially the case here, though. The main weak point of this movie is actually that it is simply the introduction to a much larger story, so there isn't a lot to go on just yet. But, the writing isn't bad in this movie, and as I mentioned it effectively introduced us to quite a few characters and concepts while throwing in some action to keep things interesting.
As for the characters, again, there isn't much of a difference from the series. Shinji is still a whiny loser, and he really makes me hate the way anime tends to let us hear a character's internal dialog. I was kind of hoping based on something I read that Shinji wouldn't be as bad in the Rebuild, but I can't see any difference in this movie. The same could be said of Rei being the meek little robot girl, which I guess is supposed to make her mysterious and interesting. I know the way Shinji notices that she isolates herself and ends up reaching out to her is supposed to be the highlight of all this, but I just can't get over the ick factor. The fact that the two of them are so young makes it disturbing enough, but add the fact that Rei shares some of Shinji's DNA, and now we have an incest angle to make thing that much more disturbing. Gendo is a bastard, as always, and nothing highlights that better than when Shinji is pressured into piloting Unit 01 for the first time. I'm glad that Misato has a greater role within NERV in this movie, though. While she's just as messed up as pretty much every other character in this franchise, at least on the job she's presented as being competent and able. She's also probably the only character I really much care for outside of all the random crew people in the control room at NERV headquarters.
So I'm sure some of you are wondering one of two things: 1) how much different is 1.11 from 1.01, and 2) if I haven't seen the series, should I bother? To answer the first question, there isn't a whole lot that's actually added. I think it amounts to maybe about 5 minutes total of added scenes, and most of that is toward the beginning of the movie when Misato picks up Shinji during the first angel attack we see. To answer the second question, that kind of depends. If you’re willing to sit through what's probably some of the most boring anime you'll ever see, it might be worth it just to see for yourself what's considered to be an influential series. If you do that, I recommend that you skip the last two episodes and watch End of Evangelion instead. Myself, I didn't like the series. It was boring, and while some of the eye candy was cool, that didn't make up for the other failings of the series. I don’t regret watching it, but in some ways I think I'd have rather just seen the movies if they actually do turn out to be better than the series. So far, things are looking up. 8/10.
(2007 movie)
So apparently the people who made Neon Genesis Evangelion agreed with me that the show could have been better, and not just in the ending. Fortunately they've been given a pretty good budget and new technology has become available which will help them toward that goal. Now the only obstacle is in the writing – can they do better with this reboot of the franchise?
This first installation already shows some promise in that it is very well done for what is essentially a compilation movie. I've seen a few compilation movies, and the thing about them is that they tend to suck. A lot in terms of story and character development tends to get lost, and continuity can become an issue because most compilation movies try to use as much of the series it was based on as possible, and only do a limited amount of new animation as required. But to be frank, Evangelion was extremely slow in pacing and could stand to have a lot of fat trimmed. Thankfully, this translates very well in this movie, which is basically a compilation of the first six episodes or so of the original series. Not only does it look great, what with all the newly redone animation, but the writers actually did a pretty good job of getting all the important stuff in without really losing anything, and in getting everything to flow smoothly while doing so. In fact, if I hadn't seen the series, I probably wouldn't even notice where the story basically jumps ahead, or where something new has been added the way someone might with say the Blue Gender or Gurren Lagann compilation movies.
As for what's different this time around, a lot of it has to do with pacing. For one thing, there is no mystery made out of the existence of Lilith being kept down in NERV's basement. Misato just takes Shinji on an elevator ride and opens the door right up to show him. Another more noticeable difference is that Misato is a lieutenant colonel rather than a freshly minted major, and she's a lot more involved in NERV's operations. She actually seems to be on more equal footing with Ritsuko Akagi compared to the series. Other than that, there isn't a whole lot that's different from the first episodes of the series.
Now, for anyone who hasn't seen the series and has no idea what I'm even talking about, the story revolves around a child protagonist, Shinji Ikari. He is the pilot of a giant, mostly organic robot called the Evangelion Unit 01. There are actually a few of these, all with different numbers and slightly different designs, and all of them have child pilots. They all seem to be in the 14-ish age range, which is why some of the fan service in this movie and in the series it was based on is actually one of the many disturbing things about this show. Others may feel differently, but the whole jailbait thing isn't really something I feel comfortable with. That goes hand in hand with the way it is more than hinted at that Misato Katsuragi, his commanding officer, legal guardian, and roommate, might have romantic feelings toward him, and Ritsuko also seems to think this is okay, apparently. There's a similar problem in regards to Rei Ayanami, the first child pilot, and NERV's commander, Gendo Ikari. There isn't a lot of that in this first movie, but I doubt that'll really change much since the way Gendo has planned out Shinji's life and his growing romantic interest in Rei has remained pretty much the same. Which is another thing that adds to the "ick" factor, but that also comes out later on. Anyway, the main plot is that this secretive organization called NERV has to prevent the end of humanity by destroying these giant alien "angels" which randomly appear to attack whatever happens to be in their way on their way to attack NERV headquarters. They are all apparently trying to reach and bond with the "Lilith" creature I mentioned earlier, which will apparently result in the death of all life on Earth. There is something of a secretive plan going on in the background which frankly doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's part of the larger story as everything progresses. I have to admit I'm kind of curious to see how this is done in the rest of these movies.
The story moves at a fairly good pace from the beginning through to the end. We're introduced to everyone, Shinji is put through the paces and fights a few monsters, a lot of important plot information is told or shown to us, and all without seeming all that rushed and without too much exposition. This is a definite improvement over the series and bodes well for this Rebuild of Evangelion project. The last battle in this movie is actually one of my favorites, as it involves a very powerful and very strange "angel", which is normally shaped like a giant diamond, but can take on complex geometric shapes to defend and attack. Which actually brings me to what is probably the biggest appeal of both this movie and the series it is based on – the eye candy. The series was okay, especially for the time and in light of the limited budget the animation studio had. The movie, however, does a really great job. I have to admit that this is something of a double-edged sword where I'm concerned, because when the eye candy overshadows the story, that's usually a sign of a bad writing. That isn't especially the case here, though. The main weak point of this movie is actually that it is simply the introduction to a much larger story, so there isn't a lot to go on just yet. But, the writing isn't bad in this movie, and as I mentioned it effectively introduced us to quite a few characters and concepts while throwing in some action to keep things interesting.
As for the characters, again, there isn't much of a difference from the series. Shinji is still a whiny loser, and he really makes me hate the way anime tends to let us hear a character's internal dialog. I was kind of hoping based on something I read that Shinji wouldn't be as bad in the Rebuild, but I can't see any difference in this movie. The same could be said of Rei being the meek little robot girl, which I guess is supposed to make her mysterious and interesting. I know the way Shinji notices that she isolates herself and ends up reaching out to her is supposed to be the highlight of all this, but I just can't get over the ick factor. The fact that the two of them are so young makes it disturbing enough, but add the fact that Rei shares some of Shinji's DNA, and now we have an incest angle to make thing that much more disturbing. Gendo is a bastard, as always, and nothing highlights that better than when Shinji is pressured into piloting Unit 01 for the first time. I'm glad that Misato has a greater role within NERV in this movie, though. While she's just as messed up as pretty much every other character in this franchise, at least on the job she's presented as being competent and able. She's also probably the only character I really much care for outside of all the random crew people in the control room at NERV headquarters.
So I'm sure some of you are wondering one of two things: 1) how much different is 1.11 from 1.01, and 2) if I haven't seen the series, should I bother? To answer the first question, there isn't a whole lot that's actually added. I think it amounts to maybe about 5 minutes total of added scenes, and most of that is toward the beginning of the movie when Misato picks up Shinji during the first angel attack we see. To answer the second question, that kind of depends. If you’re willing to sit through what's probably some of the most boring anime you'll ever see, it might be worth it just to see for yourself what's considered to be an influential series. If you do that, I recommend that you skip the last two episodes and watch End of Evangelion instead. Myself, I didn't like the series. It was boring, and while some of the eye candy was cool, that didn't make up for the other failings of the series. I don’t regret watching it, but in some ways I think I'd have rather just seen the movies if they actually do turn out to be better than the series. So far, things are looking up. 8/10.
