Neon Genesis Evangelion Death & Rebirth Review

 Director: Hideaki Anno



Starring:

JAPANESE: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara and Yuko Miyamura

ENGLISH: Spike Spencer, Amanda Winn Lee and Tiffany Grant

Release Date:

JAPAN March 15th 1997

NORTH AMERICA July 26th 2006





  When Neon Genesis Evangelion finally finished airing fans were a bit upset, to put it lightly. Studio Gainax suffered multiple vandalizing incidences and received hate mail multiple times. Series creator Hideaki Anno also regularly received death threats from fans, so after one year Anno decided to create an ending that would satisfy fans, the format he decided to produce this work was in the form of two theatrical releases. The name for this project became known as the End of Evangelion, the first part of the two part movie series was Death & Rebirth. Death & Rebirth was released on March 15th 1997,the final part titled the End of Evangelion was released on July 19th 1997. Both films together create quite possibly one of the most appealing and interesting conclusions to any anime series of recent date.

  The first part, Death & Rebirth, is a 90 minute summery of the entire 26 episode series. The second part titled Rebirth is the first fifteen minutes of the End of Evangelion. I could find someone watching this after finishing Neon Genesis to feel quite annoyed that they have to rewatch the entire series mashed together while the information is still fresh in their mind. This movie of course is shot and put together wonderfully but looking back at the film now it seems out of place within the grand scheme of Evangelion. Of course the composition section includes some extra information, but this is information that could easily be accessed if you have the director cut episodes or have the Internet (which you do if you are reading this). This is a movie that really is only suited if you need a quick fix, if you want to have an Eva marathon without trudging through the original series (but why would you not watch it anyway?) or if you are a diehard Evangelion fan. Maybe its because of where I live but this movie is fairly hard to come by, the only Evangelion films that can be accessed are the two Rebuild films. Of course you could torrent the film or order it on Amazon.



My major gripe with the film is that the quality of the animation is really granny; this is a shame since this DVD got released after ADV produced the Platinum Collection which was completely remastered. Even the End of Evangelion looks better and more polished than this film. You could easily watch the Rebirth section and put it right next to the End of Evangelion and you could see the quality difference. I don't know if this is a fault of Manga Entertainment ( who gained the rights to the movies after ADV went under) or just  the resolution of the original home release of the film since it was released ten years before it came over seas. The audio for this movie is also fantastic; I have always found that Evangelion had an exceptional cast even for the English dub which was almost unheard of when the show was first released.


  Like I said before the film is really put together in an interesting format, acting as multiple flash back sequences while the four Eva pilots (Shinji, Rei, Asuka and Kaworu) practice the cello and other musical instruments.

I give Neon Genesis Evangelion Death & Rebirth a

7/10

Of course it is just a simple rehash of the original show so its not that compelling, if you just finished the series and decide to trek through this movie you might find your self wondering when you will actually see anything new. Even when the newer scenes present itself in the final portion of the film that is even best left alone since you can just watch the End of Evangelion to see it in its entirety without a cliff hanger ending.

The movies original purpose was to help re-tell the story of the series and to give a bit of a tease on what is to come. This movie really has no purpose anymore but it is still a very interesting summery of the entire series that should be seen at least once.








Of course you never know when exactly this takes place in the series, I like to think its takes place either during episode 24. However by the point Kaworu enters NERV, Asuka has gone  missing and has a complete mental break down, while in this you see her practicing the cello and is back to her normal self so it might even take place all within Shinji's head during the climax of the series.  If you haven't watched Neon Genesis in a while this movie is the perfect refresher course, you get to see the Eva’s battle all 17 Angels, although most Angel battles get only a few sections of screen time. The battles that get the most attention are against the Third and Seventeenth Angel due to their importance in the story since they are both Shinji's first and final battle against an Angel. Of course if you haven't yet watched the directors cut episodes yet this movie gives hints as to what Gendo has done with Adams embryo, what exactly is up with Rei (if you haven't figured it out already) and exactly what Seele’s ultimate plan for Gendo and NERV is. Of course everything involving Seele’s plan is revealed in the Rebirth section but I would honestly just skip it in order to not have to rewatch the same scenes in the End of Evangelion.