finished the first version of death and rebirth, have the first version of end of eva next. i had forgotten how rebirth started right until i got there and just though 'oh no i hope no one walks in on me right now, i don't want to have to explain the plot of eva to them for this'
reliving some of that old gainax magic (not managing the budget properly and running out of money at the end of the series), although i still think it's interesting
also found it funny that the original series ended with showing a normal possible reality where there's not angels or evas or anything. which is the way thrice upon a time ended
i watched the series originally as a depressed 14/15 year old and i don't think i've managed a full rewatch since (mainly due to how bad i am i finishing series, i can think of like a dozen i haven't finished not out of disinterest but just some weird inertia where i don't watch an episode for a few days and then never get back to it). but rewatching it now, as a depressed adult, maybe i should rewatch at least ep 26 annual until i absorb its message fully
i don't seem to be able to get through end of eva undisturbed, i've had to stop at the intermission/eye catch and the credits of 25'/air so far and it feels like i'm watching a tv show more than a film
seeing the asuka vs eva series fight but in bluray quality brings back memories of when it was first released on dvd and i went to buy it and death & rebirth at the shop like a real weeb. and i remember the shock of seeing the end of the fight. and even though i knew what was going to happen this time, it's still pretty shocking. damn.
also misato best girl (tied with every other girl i love them all) but i don't approve of you promising to sleep with a 14 year old. ma'am you're 28.
She's twice his age, has multiple positions of authority over him, and could have easily used Asuka (who he was openly pining for) as incentive instead of herself, but it's the end of the world SO IT'S OK RIGHT
I mean, the woman knew she was dead in less than 2 minutes, she was just talking lol. It's literally last minute motivation before impending death. She didn't mean it.
With all of the romantic subtext between them, both in that scene and in general, there's more to it than just talk. Even the kiss itself is a visual callback. And again, why dismiss Asuka and insert herself? The only two things that ever motivated Shinji to get in the Eva are 1) Gendo's praise and 2) saving the girl. Misato knows this, since it was her 24/7 job to motivate him. Sex is probably the least effective carrot, as she knows from episode 23.
I dunno, I think Misato has her own traumatic issues and such with sex but I don't think she'd literally do Shinji. She's fucked up but I don't think she's that fucked up.
I guess whether she was offering sex to Shinji in episode 23 is sort of the "did Cloud and Tifa have sex under the Highwind" of Evangelion. The fandom is still pretty divided over it. To me it's obvious, especially given the way he responds, and also the way she screams about hating herself later in Episode 25 when that scene replays. And then there's the Newtype film book which says "she might be about to give her own body to soothe Shinji". Plus I've seen other shows where girl touching guy's hand in a bedroom is really obviously initiating sex (don't have video links for all of them, but here's one).
There's some other damning sources, like the EoE movie pamphlet saying Misato was Shinji's first woman and calling them lovers (among other things, obviously they have far and away the most complex relationship on the show). And then there's an old interview with Anno answering the question "who does Misato love the most?" with "I might lean toward Shinji"... and Misato's poor VA trying to steer the conversation in a legal direction and Anno contradicting her. (Link to raw in case that translation is off)
Dunno. Misato's my favorite character - or co-favorite with Asuka - and I hate being this hard on her, but it's also like the show understands she's crossing a line and expects her to be judged. I interpret it all as her failure to be Shinji's mother, and giving him the only thing she has left.
Wasn't there a scene where it's implied she's propositioning himfor sex? I don't remember what episode, but something bad had just happened that left everyone sad, and she comes into his room and sits on his bed, and when she reaches out to him he recoils.
i think it's the episode where rei self-destructs fighting the penultimate angel? (big wormy boy) then between everyone thinking rei was dead and misato getting the call saying rei's in the hospital, she goes into shinji's room and says 'this is all [she] can do' and goes to put her hand on his then he pulls it back. whether that was propositioning him or just merely trying to hold his hand is ambiguous imo
which lends credence to my theory that shinji is struggling with his sexuality. compulsory heterosexual makes him try to take an interest in girls, but he's scared of them. in end of eva he has a disgusted look on his face watching misato and kaji together. misato tries to hold his hand and he draws it back. but he lets kaworu do the same thing. when he sees giant lilith-rei he's freaked out, but when it's kaworu he's happy. in conclusion, little homie gay (i'm half joking)
anyways, i have now rewatched all the original series and films. i also watched the test screening version, and i don't know what differences there was?? except for the little trailer/announcement thing for love and pop at the end (which i assume i have, on the bluray boxset of anno's pre-godzilla live action films that i have right next to the eva boxset). i was looking and i couldn't pick up any differences. maybe hyuga got an extra line in the final version? i feel like he said something when the eva series were eating unit 2 but i don't feel like putting the disc back in to check.
i'm now on disc 8, which is the last blue disc (which are the ones containing the series/films, the last two are black and i think are all bonus materials). this is death^2 true/25'/one more final and it's 2 hours and 40 minutes so i might break it up a bit. but i'm 3 discs away from having seen it all.
i had the impression that end of eva had a bit of a downer ending, which after rewatching the same film twice in two days (i'm serious what's the difference in the test screening one) i think that's probably down to the last scene. i feel sure there's a term for this but i don't remember it, but the final shots of a film can change how you feel leaving it.
in pulp fiction since it's not told in order, it ends with vincent and jules walking out the diner when chronologically vincent has been killed by the end. iirc test screening audiences didn't like that, but by having it end with vincent being shown alive it was received differently
it's been a long time since i've watched end of eva, and the things that stuck in my mind were the visceral stuff (the shot of asuka reaching her arm out and then it splits in half freaked me out so much when i first saw it) and the last scene. even though there's dialogue prior saying that people can will themselves back into existence now, the images you're left with is a desolate beach with the dead remains of the eva series and lilith, rei being a spooky ghost or something and a make-shift grave for misato, and the only two people seen are shinji and asuka. at which point shinji tries to strangle her and she says 'disgusting'. then since the credits are at the end of 25' and it just closes with that and 'the end'.
and that's the final image it leaves you with, and i think that's the reason i had the image of it being a more pessimistic ending. with the dialogue more in mind it has the potential to be a positive conclusion, theoretically everyone could come back i guess if their soul is around (so no yui/kyoko i suppose but ritsuko and misato pls come back), but it's left vague if they do because we don't see anyone. compared to thrice upon a time where it's a similar ending but you actually get to see a bit more and shinji doesn't try to choke mari or anything.
so yeah, it's not a 'bad' ending but it leaves you with a sour note because of what is shown.
paused to read the letters which i would have struggled with reading when i first watched it. most aren't 'hate mail' which i remember being commonly said in the english fandom. i think it might slightly skew towards favourable, there's one negative email?/blog/forum post? and pictures of vandalism against a gainax building and the 'i'll kill you, anno!!' one. the rest are positive and a lot of them repeat. also these are written by the staff and not real people's letters apparently (the interview anno says this is apparently on the shiki-jitsu bluray, which i own and should check out). i got the feeling when the first couple of images were of the same letter but seemingly with different handwriting and stationary. but i assume they're at least based on real ones? i will work from that assumption
a common theme on the favourable ones seems to be people seeing themselves in shinji. and it made me wonder if some part of the polarised reaction to the end of the tv series was related to that. people who related themselves to shinji seemed to approve of the original ending. if you were just watching the show for the plot rather than character drama, were you more likely to be disappointed? idk i am making stuff up now
also i found the audio of the auditions interesting and contrasting how the actors changed their delivery for the actual series, it was weird hearing classic rei lines but spoken in a more regular tone with feeling compared to the series' rei and her more flat emotionless reading. there's not been many extras yet but i have watched them all, except the 5.1 soundtrack for end of eva and reading the scripts on a tv screen (but i did download rips of them)
there's a couple of lines about shinji doing nothing, and i wonder if misato telling shinji to do nothing in rebuild 3.33 is meant to be a call back or something
anyway best megumi obata shinji scream for me is from 3.33 where shinji throws the sdat player at the wall. idk why but that's a good scream
So, I just grabbed up the Platinum Complete set off someone on eBay for $172 (I made an offer slightly below their initial ask). Thanks to @cold_spirit for helping me verify the authenticity and that I was choosing the best set.
i only owned an imported american edition of the perfect collection (still think it had the coolest looking box with the black and red). i think they released the platinum collection domestically in the uk as well, i remember seeing copies in shops with the silvery covers but i never got it. probably because i had hardly any money at the time and already owned a copy. and i don't know if i should be disappointed with myself about that. but i don't want to hunt down a copy now with the inflated prices and bootlegs floating around.
even though i am still thinking about getting that archive of eva dvd set from japan. and even started thinking about looking for laserdiscs and the original dvds. not vhs because let's not go nuts. although maybe. possibly.
in the meantime, i will be trying to get through the rest of the manga (i'm only on volume 5 so far) and then that spin-off one set in a school and then the anima light novels. then i might get really into gundam
edit; also thinking about finding out my uk copy of end of eva on dvd and watching a dub for the first time in god knows how long (i don't think i've ever watched it fully?), just because i remember it getting flack. i remember listening to at least some of the commentary track and hearing them talk about the original's sound design and idk, i found it disrespectful to be bad mouthing it?
I definitely needed serious guidance on this purchase, because you'd think the Platinum version in the thick shiny silver cases with the booklets and bonus features would be the overall best version to get -- not so. As @cold_spirit was able to explain to me, the Platinum Complete set in the skinnier cases has better fidelity on the tech side of things.
So confusing. Thank goodness these waters have already been charted.
Happy to help. I answered your question the way I wish someone had answered my same question a month ago. In fact, here's the DM for prosperity:
The main editions you'll see in order of release:
Perfect Collection (8 disks, standard DVD cases, box set)
Platinum (7 disks, thick DVD cases, separate or part of a box set)
Platinum Complete (6 disks, thin DVD cases, box set)
It's unfortunate the names all sound so similar.
Let's break it down. All quotations below are from "Eva Monkey", an Evangelion fan who you'll no doubt come across in your research. They've been around for years answering questions on everything from lore to merchandise.
Perfect Collection vs Platinum
The Perfect Collection contains all 26 on-air episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. However, this version is notorious for looking pretty bad. "The encoding technology wasn't very good at the time" says Eva Monkey, resulting in "noticeable jitter between cuts of animation."
All future Platinum releases fixed this issue. Furthermore, future Platinum releases feature the director's cut versions of episodes 21-24 along with the on-air versions. The director's cuts are not included in the Perfect Collection.
Platinum vs Platinum Complete
The original Platinum release featured thick DVD cases, each housing a booklet, along with a variety of bonus features on each disk. Later, a thinner box set called Platinum Complete was released, which removed the booklets and bonus features.
It might sound like Platinum is the clear winner here. However, the removal of the bonus features allowed them to encode the episodes in a higher bitrate, resulting in the best looking version yet. This is a good trade because, according to Eva Monkey, the bonus features are "of little interest... with little repeat value, especially to the more knowledgeable and invested fan." Also, Platinum Complete is "a third of the size as the full set of Platinum", saving you that valuable shelf space.
If you're looking for the best version of Neon Genesis Evangelion featuring "Fly Me to the Moon", the most recommended version is Platinum Complete.
It should be noted that End of Evangelion has never been included with any DVD box set of Neon Genesis Evangelion. You'll need to buy it separately, though fortunately there's significantly less versions to consider.
It should be noted that End of Evangelion has never been included with any DVD box set of Neon Genesis Evangelion. You'll need to buy it separately, though fortunately there's significantly less versions to consider.
is that the one case the bluray set would be fine? all the vocal songs are originals and i don't think it uses an instrumental of fmttm so there shouldn't be any licensing issues. assuming it's the same transfer as the japanese set, then it looked fine to me (and i'm about to watch it for a third time in a week)
if you want a pal dvd copy though, i will sell mine
It's a shame if the dub is a sticking point because Blu-ray preorders are $37.99 at Amazon right now. Search your feelings, you know you'll watch the subs anyway. And if we're talking EoE screams then Ogata >>>> Mongillo > Spencer imvho.
