Evangelion Movie 1: Jo

In a post-apocalyptic world, the last remaining human settlement in Japan is the heavily fortified city of Tokyo-3. Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari is brought to the headquarters of NERV, an underground organization lead by his estranged father, Gendou. He requests that Shinji become a pilot of an "Evangelion," a colossal android built to fight against monstrous and destructive alien creatures known as "Angels" that wreak havoc on the planet and threaten the survival of the remaining human race.

Although initially reluctant, Shinji is swayed by the idea of reconciling with his father, and agrees to aid in mankind's perilous endeavor against its alien threat, as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. Thrust into the midst of a dangerous battlefield, Shinji must find the necessary courage and resolve to face against the Angels' incursions before it is too late.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ayanami, Rei Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Ikari, Shinji Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Katsuragi, Misato Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Nagisa, Kaworu Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Pen Pen Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Ikari, Gendou Supporting

Tachiki, Fumihiko Japanese

Akagi, Ritsuko Supporting

Yamaguchi, Yuriko Japanese

Suzuhara, Touji Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Aida, Kensuke Supporting

Iwanaga, Tetsuya Japanese

Ibuki, Maya Supporting

Cook, Justin Producer

Ogasawara, Muneki Producer

Anno, Hideaki Director, Script, Storyboard, Key Animation, Creator, Screenplay

Tsurumaki, Kazuya Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Oct 2, 2024

decco6226

Recommended

The year is 2007. "Neon Genesis Evangelion" has been out for over a decade, and has taken Japan by storm, surrounding the country in an/ almost "Eva-phenomena" for otakus, spawning video games, merchandise, and over 19 million dollars in the box office for its "End of Evangelion" film, even cementing the age-long tale of which girl is better, Asuka or Rei. However, Hideako Anno has an idea to "Rebuild" the series, recreating it after his initial spout of a three-year depression that caused the creation of the beloved mecha-anime. He needs to build off of his original idea, improve, and yet, keep the original idea ... intact. And the result was "The Rebuild of Evangelion", specifically, the first of a four-movie series.

"Evangelion 1.0", plot-wise, is essentially a shot-for-shot (as well as pretty much a line-for-line) remaster of the first six episodes of the original "Neon Genesis Evangelion". It follows Shinji Ikari being summoned to Tokyo-3 to pilot an Evangelion - a giant biomechanical robot - against oncoming Angels - essentially extraterrestrial beings. If you've seen the original series, the movie ends after the fight against the Angel Ramiel. However, there are some slight changes to the plot - which I will talk about later.

Character-wise, as always, we're brought with the original cast of characters from the first six episodes, such as Shinji, Rei, Gendo, and Misato. All are the same in this shot-for-shot remake regarding their personalities, stories, etc. However, since we've - mostly all of us - seen the original series, it's refreshing seeing how they were in the past in the nineties versus now in the twenty-first century.

Now, where the movie of "Evangelion 1.0" really shines is in it's visuals. "Evangelion 1.0" spares no expense regarding animation, color, visual beauty, and even having the money to use actual product placements now, such as Doritos and UCC canned coffee. The astonishing effects of the updated animation, how characters move - specifically the Evangelion Units - explosions, gun firing, everything just pops, and watching it for the first time can remind a lot of people when they play remastered versions of video games like "Bioshock" or "Call of Duty", giving a sense of watching something they've already seen, but for the first time.

Music, as always, has been taken over by the masterfully perfect Shiro Sagisu, and like the visuals, he's also done remastered versions of his original soundtrack of the original series. Done in either more masterful, more intense rock or metal versions of the original songs, or changing the instruments slightly so that the pianos echo more, or the string instruments sort of "plink", as a sense of familiarity with the songs we've grown accustomed to for 26 Episodes and a movie. Yet, they're new, and like taking a fresh breath of new air that we never knew we needed or craved.

And the art of The Rebuild of Evangelion that I love, is that it was made for the viewer to know all of the plot twists from the original series. For example, the movies know that we all know what's happening and what's being hidden in Terminal Dogma, so they waste no time in telling Shinji - who doesn't know in this "universe" - what's down there, so they can get to the new storyline. They expect you to know all these plots and twists from the original show so they can throw more interesting ideas at you. They trust the viewer to know, and thus, we get rewarded with an even deeper storyline and are left with a sense of catharsis and enjoyment for being trusted as a viewer, and a lover of this series.

All in all, I enjoyed it as a remaster of a series' original six episodes. It was like rewatching them for the first time, and even with the surprise aspects of them throwing the original plot twists in our faces, almost as if saying "We know you know, so let's do something new about it" left me with a sense of respect for Anno, showing us that this new take on a series we love - beautifully remastered visually and audibly with its music and voice lines - is going to be different. In the same "universe", and yet, in a different one, and to get prepared for a new path on a land we're already familiar with; one that will get more wild with each movie.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 19, 2024

darkplonzo

Mixed Feelings

Neon Genesis Evangelion is my favorite anime of all time. This film, for most of it's run time, is the first 6 episodes of the original NGE, but worse.Most of the shots in the movie are taken 1:1 from the original with different background details and a more toned down color palette. This is until the last 20 minutes or so when there is a major plot divergence and film starts actually doing it's own thing visually. During this final portion the film becomes Evangelion, but different. I just wish this whole movie was Evangelion but different, rather than Evangelion but worse.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 19, 2022

WebbedBed

Not Recommended

As far as shot-for-shot retellings of the first six episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion go, Rebuild 1.0 is good. The updates to animation look nice, the few lines of dialogue/scenes added to the story are fine, the pacing is well done, and everything comes together in a way to make a fine, singular movie. Rebuild also does some great stuff! Ramiel looks amazing, the finale comes together to do justice to one of the best scenes in EVA as a franchise(Is any retelling of EVA complete without Rei's smile?), and the fact they made it come together to be its own movie is admirable.

But ... there is very little reason to watch Rebuild 1.0 if you already own NGE. Not even if you want to watch the second Rebuild, you can just watch up until the end of Rei II from the original series, slot in Rebuild 2.0, and congratulate yourself for saving the money you'd normally spend on this movie. But if you can watch Rebuild 1.0 for free or as part of a subscription or really in any way that's not putting your hard-earned money up for this product specifically, there's no harm in watching.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Poll: Rebuild of Evangelion: 1.0 YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Kurai-- - Apr 9, 2008	281 replies	by TomoyArt85 »» Sep 22, 5:37 PM
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	Gendou's Parenting Skills KelpRings - Jul 27, 2022	0 replies	by KelpRings »» Jul 27, 2022 4:11 PM

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