Customer Reviews

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Resurrection (Director's Cut, Episodes 21-23)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I suppose, since I bought this DVD as soon as it became available that I have finally become a true Eva-Otaku. After all, I already own the DVD set and the films. Somehow, though, I've never thought of myself as one. I find Evangelion a fascinating artistic effort, one that manages to cross cultural lines even as it creates something uniquely Japanese. But I haven't memorized the scripts yet. But in absorbing this new DVD I discovered that I'm still not tired of watching the episodes.

A lot of director's cuts really are just collections of deleted material pasted back on. With some frequency, the cuts were made for a valid reason. On occasion, the cuts were made to accomplish something arbitrary (to get a better rating or meet a length requirement). That is the case here. These episodes represent a return to Hideaki Anno's original concept for the series and provide considerable insight into the confusions of the first US release.

Episode 21 has been filled out considerably, providing a better picture of the progression that led to the birth of the Evangelions and the inception of NERV. While most of the information can be gleaned elsewhere, this makes the story gel for the view. You will immediately become aware that you are watching a redubbed Japanese product, not a re-localized cut (which is what the original release was. This creates a bit of visual confusion until you adjust, but actually presents considerable new information, as many of the subtitles are different or new.

Unfortunately, is also becomes apparent that the entire production has been redubbed and John Swasey has replaced Tristan MacAvery as Gendo Akari. While it isn't Swasey's fault, the acting lacks the edge of the first release, and sometimes the dubbing proceeds on blindly, paying no attention to changes in the subtitles or the Japanese. Minor annoyances when you consider the improved clarity of the episodes.

Episode 22 is the first indication that something major has happened. The material reintroduced to the episode focuses on Asuka's development as a character. Introductory material about he has been added, and the fight scene where she suffers a breakdown and failure has been significantly changed. Anno makes much use of echoing images in the series, but what we discover is that the released cut greatly reduced his artistic contribution. With al this restored the story leaps to life as it never had before.

Episode 23 continues in this vein. Although the changes are not so dramatic as in 22, Rei's fight scene has also been expanded internally, some material has also been deleted including a bit of brief nudity that also refocuses the intense of another scene. In fact, many of the cuts originally made in both 22 and 23 were made to diffuse some of the latent sexuality of the invasions of both Asuka's and Rei's psyche's. In retrospect, this is a surprising discovery, since Evangelion has always been aimed at a young adult audience, and there is nothing particularly offensive in the new versions.

Both versions of the episodes are provided so save popping DVD's in and out. The only additional material is a 15-minute marketing interview about the Evangelion live action film that raises as many misgivings as it does interest.

If the remaining episodes in the director's cut series are as changed as these were then this is required viewing. Hideaki Anno's work opens up layers of Evangelion that previously were obscure tot he viewer, especially the English language viewer. I would recommend tracking them down even if you are only a casual watcher of anime. If you have become an Eva-Otaku then ownership is both required and a delight.

I love 'Evangelion' and I have watched it several times over the years since its release. I enjoy discussing with friends what the show is about and I am one of those people who liked both endings of the series. I pretty much love everything about it, but only a few themes of the show make it less enjoyable then it could be for me and these Directors' Cuts make one point stand out.

For how great Eva is, for how well it digs into the emotions and personalities of its characters, 'Evangelion' gets very depressing by the end of it. When the show hits its 20th episode, almost all the humor has been put to the side. It gets very serious and very thought provoking. Watching Asuka (played by Tiffany Grant at her best) get torn down and fall into a wreck is gut wrenching to watch. The added scenes make this even harder to watch, but you just can't help but stare and listen. The added scenes of Rei II's (Amanda Winn-Lee) death are fascinating and almost feel out of place after years of seeing the original version.

In all, the added scenes make the show even better, but also make it harder to watch. To me, this is not the kind of show you can just sit down on a lazy Sunday afternoon and watch in your bathrobe. It's the kind of show you watch when you want to be moved and not stop thinking about it for a week. You watch 'Evangelion' when you want to feel something. Unfortunately, some of those feelings won't be pleasant and will make you sad, but that is the whole point in the first place.

If you need an excuse to buy this, tell yourself it's a present for that *real* otaku in your life, that's all ... but you don't need an excuse. You need this if you are still dissatisfied with, or puzzled by, Evangelion. I pre-ordered it (not for me, no, it was a present ...), half-expecting to be disappointed -- instead we were dead silent, other than the occasional muttered "that's new" & some snorting at the subtitles, which are, shall we say, less than smoothly done this time around. Lots of clarification. Lots of back story. Lots of new images. Yes, I've pre-ordered the next one (but it's a present, really).

Evangelion is dark, no question, but for truly depressing viewing, watch the preview of the live-action version: a long dreary interview with two guys from Weta, interspersed with sketches of the characters. Shriek in terror at the characters' new & improved names. Throw up your arms, or possibly your lunch, at the pronunciation of Eva & of Evangelion (had they actually seen the anime?). And find a body language expert to explain what it means when X is droning on & on, & Y is sitting quietly beside him doing some very peculiar things indeed with his hands.

...but not because this DVD is the best around. Its the best at the moment because you get more for your money with this one than with the original 0-6 release. It holds both the original and the director cut episodes and features some extra's with regards to the (possible) upcoming Evangelion live movie as well as some audio commentary (even though I find those things awfull myself; its just people chatting while the cartoon is running, most of the times they don't even pay attention at all to what is happening).

So where money is concerned this would be your best choice at the moment. But if you simply like the series without being a "die-hard" fan then I'd advice you to steer clear of this one and get the original instead.

When watching this DVD I only used the English sub and even though it has some very nice extra's when it comes to the Director Cut episodes (the guys from SEELE really sound more creapy) it can be an annoying experience in the overall. Some of the main characters (Ikari, Ibuki and the "long haired" collegue of Huga) got totally changed voices. Although Ikari's voice isn't as annoying the others are just totally wrong choices. In some cases it really does not reflect the personage.

If you're just looking for something new on the Evangelion front then I'd really advice you to wait for the moment where the currently being released platinum collection reaches this number. Its almost as if the released movies and Director cuts were the tests for the Platinum series. Everything which the movie or director cut lacks (wrong voices, weird animation) is totally made up in the Platinum series. That is truly a "blast from the past" re-run.

ADV completely re-dubbed the English for no needed reason on this DVD, with significant changes to the voice actors. Tristan MacAvery >DOES NOT< reprise his role as Gendo Ikari - which just plain and simple ruins it. There are several voice changes with the minor Tech Assistants as well. The stupid thing is that Gendo, the Techs, and all the others had >NO NEW< or changed lines from the series!!! The approximately 5% of new scenes for this Director's Cut >HAD< the original character (Asuka, Kaji, Fuyutsuki) voice actors reprising their roles - These new scenes plus the old dub track for the other 95% >WOULD< have been perfection - but they blew it!

The new scenes flush out some back story on Fuyutsuki and a small bit on Kaji and Asuka, expanded EVA fight scene on Rei's saving of Shinji, and why Kaji was...

There are some minor changes to the visuals on some scenes such as the Terminal Dogma grave yard, the dummy plug tank, and Rei's mind chat with the Angel.

This DVD does also include the 3 original dubbed/subbed (no French or Spanish) series shows (without the new scenes), and a chat with Weta Workshop on the proposed Live Action Evangelion Movie.

In one word: awesome. I've seen these cuts before (btw, episode 24's WILL blow you guys away, lol) and on DVD, they're even better. ADV has finally completed the Eva series with this and I'll be darned if it ain't their best seller in DVDs. Episode 21 don't have much. Episode 22 is the best Asuka ep. The part where there's hooded figures around her are pure horror & creepiness. Episode 23 rules all, because of the foreshadowing of the End of Evangelion. It also tells who created Rei. All in all, even if you got the original release of Collection 0:7 & 0:8, these new releases are well worth it.

This DVD is aimed at die-hard Evangelion fans. It also coincides with preproduction of the live-action movie. Evangelion is the Holy Grail of anime TV series.

One of the cool things about this DVD is it includes the original episodes and the new versions. Of course, fans will already have the originals, but it's a neat feature.

No, there are no previews of the live-action movie, just a Q&A with two production guys from "The Lord of the Rings." They're "really honored to work on this project." You get the idea.

Check out: www.shoyustuff.com for more.

Evangelion fans will surely rejoice on some level that their beloved series is being somewhat redone. This is the first of two director's cuts, and the change are simply astounding.

One thing nobody's said yet is that this is actually a remaster as well. Seems ADV lifted the redone video from that Eva project in Japan that cleaned up the video and gave it a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The colors are more vibrant, the lines more distinct, and scene changes less visually jumpy. There is no Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, however.

Not much is different in episode 21, however, things change with episode 22. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that there is an incredibly powerful new scene involving Asuka...the fact that it wasn't included in the original is apalling. The eva battle in episode 23 is COMPLETELY different then in the original, and gives loads of new insight not seen before. This newly redone battle sequence somewhat hints at what's to come in End of Evangelion.

One bad thing is that there's a redub, and while I didn't mind the fact that some actors were dropped, it does seem that nearly everyone is far less enthusiastic. You can tell that, upon listening to it, most of them are thinking "I've gotta do this again? I thought I was done with Evangelion years ago." One exception is the voice actress behind Asuka. She's actually improved since the series, and her presence is every bit as powerful and moving as it was on End of Evangelion, if not then more so. This is definately good, Asuka's new scene is, without a doubt, the most important addition to the disc.

There's an excerpt on the Eva live movie with Weta workshop, which would be some of the lads behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This would be a good thing for fans, but it ended up being more like a rude awakening. One of the men being interviewed continuously refers to the series as "Evanjellion," which makes me question just how do care about the series. A concept drawing for one of the female characters in a blue suit had the name "Ray" on it. These things and their vague explanation of what the series was about was enough to destroy whatever faith I had in the project.

Well, after years/months/days of waiting, it's finally here: episodes 21-23 in all their "director's cut" glory. And quite honestly, I was in the purest of ecstasies when I first purchased it. Immediately afterwards, an innumerable amount of questions raced through my head: "What could it be like? Sure, the cuts have been DESCRIBED to me, but how do I know they're not completely wrong?... God, I can't wait to get home." And so, when I was home, I quickly shoved the disk into the DVD player to see...

Yes, another Anime Network ad, but that's not all! When the menu popped up on the screen, my eyes did a 180... this was not quite the menu of old. It looked the same, but it was so much cooler this time around... all grey and red and whatnot. And, as I do with all of my DVD purchases, I quickly checked the extras to find... next to nothing. Clean opening, clean closing, and... what's this? An interview about the Eva live-action movie? Well, since I expected it to be there, I decided to move onto the episodes instead of watching it first.

First thing that struck me about episode 21: Holy shiite. NO MORE SUPER-IMPOSED TEXT! ADV finally decided to put a big fat brain in that space between their ears. Just seeing pure, unadulterated Japanese text in these episodes makes me yearn for the TRUE versions of episodes 25 and 26. And yes, to see the opening sequence from Death worked into an episode was truly awesome.

Then came the opening theme. They retranslated the opening theme! Why should I be mad about this? Well, it's much more accurate this time around, but I must ask, why did it take them THREE translations to get to this point? And it's still flawed.

But I decided not to let it get to me. Still, something was bugging me during the whole experience... of course! The episodes have been retranslated entirely! What's more, it seems Matt Greenfield, while writing the ADR script, lost his thesaurus. So often three or four of the same word will be repeated within a sentence. Yes, it bugs me, because I'm an English freak-o-matic. For example, the line "someone who keeps cats to keep loneliness at bay" is a bit to repetitive on the "keeps" for me-self.

But that was fine with me, as long as the new scenes were there and were as wonderful as I expected. I'll let those of you who haven't seen the new versions know this: IT WAS BETTER THAN ANYTHING I'D EVER EXPECTED. Simply... Godlike. Then came episode 22.

Asuka fans rejoice! The director's cut of this episode is truly for you. Asuka's breakdown is longer... and much better as a result. This is also the longest episode of the three, which was most likely the reason for all the cuts. But Asuka's character is finally done justice, and Lilith finally grows legs (as she should). And of course, I was ready to praise "At Least, Be Human(e)" as the best cut of the pack. However...

First, let me state this. "Tear(s)", for years, has been my favorite episode of Evangelion. It provided the greatest amount of exposition on my second favorite character of the series, Rei. And it was the first death in Evangelion that was actually worthy of a tear (unless you really really liked Kaji). Well, while watching the director's cut, I discovered this: the original cut of "Tear" didn't make any sense at all! It didn't even show how Rei killed the angel! Now, with this cut, we have little Reis growing on Shinji's thumb (which sets the stage for a whole lot of End of Evangelion) and a good picture of exactly what happens when you invert an AT field while an angel's in it. And don't forget that wonderful one-frame shot of angel Rei. KABOOM! And this was all cut for TV broadcast... for no real reason at all, as far as I can see. Oh well. These little flashes of comprehension make "Tear" the best episode of the set.

And so... that was an AMAZING experience. Now, as much as I hate to do so, I must overview a few other sections of the DVD. Now, please note this: I do not hate the dub of Evangelion. I, in fact, consider it to be one of the better dubs out there. And thus, what they did to it in these newly cut episodes is blasphemous. THEY RE-DUBBED IT. Not only this, but it seems that the entire reason for re-dubbing is the apparent absence of Tristan MacAvery as Gendo. Note this: not having Tristan MacAvery as Gendo in the dub is the equivalent to taking Allison Keith or Spike Spencer out. Essentially meaning they ruined it. This new guy has an accent... boy, is it annoying. Luckily, however, Allison Keith, Spike Spencer, Amanda Winn-Lee, and Tiffany Grant are still here. Speaking of Tiffany Grant, take a look at episode 22. Her performance is ASTOUNDING. This also further proves my theory that the more Tiffany Grant performs as Asuka, the better she gets. Unfortunately, Allison Keith's Misato doesn't seem very excited about redubbing. I wouldn't be excited about redubbing either if I did the exact same crap two years earlier for Death and Rebirth.

So I had basically finished watching the episodes in both forms. Now I needed to check out that interview. Very surprisingly... it actually made me excited for the live-action Eva movie. The designs were astoundingly detailed and... quite well done. In fact, I can't wait until it comes out. However, if anyone says "Evan-JEL-ion," I'm going to run out of the theater.

Overall, despite ADV's constant attempts to sabotage the project, the episodes alone garner the DVD four stars.

I'm an old-school Eva fan... I watched it all on VHS with english dub. And the old English dub was AWESOME. This one mediocre. Tiffany (Aska) did a pretty cool job, but otherwise... it just doesn't have the same magic.

The new visuals are spectacular. I would buy the DVD just watch it with the mute button on the whole time. So much is clearer; there is a clearer progression in many scenes that were partially edited before.

Alternatively... this version is not as clean as the previous edit. When I watch eva on a regular basis, I'll still watch the old edit because it's cleaner, simpler, more graceful. But I'm glad to have this one for the additional scenes. They add alot of background information and further understanding; they're also much more synchronous with the presentation of Instrumentality in the last two episodes and the movie.
The director's cut may not be the best thing for people who haven't watched Eva twelve times and memorized everything, but for us who have... it's great.