Evangelion (エヴァンゲリオン)

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/ Ikari Shinji / Nagisa Kaworu / Ayanami Rei / Asuka Langley / Makinami Mari Illustrious /

I am sure everyone including people who are not familiar with anime and pachinko know of “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. It used to start at 6:30 p.m. for a half year from September 1995. It could be showed in the evening probably due to the lax censors of that time.
After that, the Eva boom caught fire during the midnight rebroadcast and it has been a huge hit. In 2007, the animated film “Rebuild of Evangelion (Evangelion New Theatrical Edition)” was released. I will talk about the New Theatrical Edition this time.
I think this series is popular among many kinds of people, such as ones who haven’t watched the TV series or ones who knew Eva thorough pachinko or other mediums or of course, fans of the TV series.
Three of the film series, “Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone” “Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance” and “Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo” have already been released now. All of the fans are waiting for the follow-up report about the final one now.

I was thinking that the movie series has the almost same stories and characters as the TV series, but the next one will reveal the new truth that the TV series and the first three films didn’t show us.
For that reason, even old fans will surprised at the new setting and characters.

The beginning of the movie series is that Shinji Ikari receives a sudden summons from his father who Shinji hadn’t seen for three years in Tokyo-3 as same as the TV series.
He gets caught up in the fierce fight between the UN forces and the mysterious, large creatures the Angels and then, he ends up in the NERV that exists in the underground of Tokyo-3.
Gendo who is the commander of NERV appoints Shinji to be a pilot of Eva. He rejected the sudden offer, but he finally boards to Eva instead of a wounded pilot Rei Ayanami.

Since Evas are androids, they have human-like motions unlike robots. When they jump or grasp something, their motion is kind of graphic. I think the designs and motions of Angels add eeriness to the story. Actually, I sometimes feel they are cute… like Sachiel’s face…

I personally like Asuka. I knew her character and appearance in the TV series, so I was looking forward to the entrance of her on the movie.
She comes to Japan on “Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance”, shows her bossy behavior and gets rid of Angels with her ability. What a high-spec girl!
She lives at Misato’s place with Shinji, but she doesn’t get along well with him because he is a sissy. She is also is annoyed by Rei who never shows her emotion.
The missions eventually deepens their relationship and she allows Shinji to call her just Asuka, but... what merciless treatment! Since then, I have not recovered from the shock even after a movies’ original character Mari and a mysterious boy Kaworu.
But Asuka still appears on “Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo” wearing an eye patch and nicknames Mari “Konemegane or Four-eyes in English”. I was relieved to see her energetic appearance. I want her to survive the fights and be happy.
Only thing that we can do now is waiting for the final one, so let’s watch the previous ones again and enjoy the finale!