• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Rebuild of Evangelion is ten years old today

Status
Not open for further replies.
10 years ago today the mistake started

FPBP

Rebuild 1 has a special place in my heart because of the reimagined Ramiel fight.

It's an audiovisual orgy and probably my most rewatched scene of anything ever.
The buildup sounds. The screams. The beam attacks. It's just special.

Rebuild Ramiel best Ramiel.

Get the hell out. Rebuild Ramiel is what a 12-year old would imagine an Angel. Unnecessary CG bullshit all over the place just because they can.

Does the initial anime still hold up? I've been meaning to start watching this whole series.

The anime *is* Evangelion (as is EoE). The Rebuilds are a souless, carboard caricature of what Eva really is. People who bang up only on 3.0 clearly weren't paying enough attention - the bad stuff came as early as 1.0.
 

Ratros

Member
evangelion 1.0 debuted when I'm still in junior high; now I have finished grad school and 4.0 is still nowhere near the horizon. Anno-san, I understand that making good anime takes time, but this is a little bit too much.
 

MadeULook

Member
So if I'm not too familiar with the series should I watch the original show or these remake movies?
Watch the original. 1.0 is basically cramming in the first six episodes of the TV series and 2.0 goes to about 20-21 before doing it's own thing if I recall correctly. Been awhile since I sat down with 2.0.

3.0, as has been mentioned many times, is just a goddamn mess with a fantastic soundtrack.

That and the rebuild movies don't even compare to the original. It forgets everything that made the original a classic.
 

Pau

Member
As someone who never watched Evangelion as a kid or teenager, I liked the first Rebuild movie better than its corresponding episodes. That's not saying much though considering I only liked certain aspects of the show.
 

Zaru

Member
Get the hell out. Rebuild Ramiel is what a 12-year old would imagine an Angel. Unnecessary CG bullshit all over the place just because they can.

A 12 year old's imagination of an Eva Angel would be a faceless, screaming geometrical construct?
You must know some pretty weird 12 year olds. Next you're gonna tell me Leliel is too generic or something.
 
I watched Eva when it first aired on TV.

I watched movies when I was in college.

I hope I can watch the ending before I die.
 

Chuckie

Member
Rebuild 1 has a special place in my heart because of the reimagined Ramiel fight.

It's an audiovisual orgy and probably my most rewatched scene of anything ever.
The buildup sounds. The screams. The beam attacks. It's just special.

The charging of the Sniper Rifle was much cooler in the original series though.
 

Replicant

Member
Because it was incredibly stupid. People use "insane" as an excuse for things that make no logical or narrative sense, but it's a weak excuse. When you watch a movie and the entire time you're thinking "This could be avoided if x person explained things to y" and it happens over and over and over, it's inexcusable. "Insane" doesn't mean blatantly illogical for no good reason

This. So much. Is it so hard to just talk to each other or at least explain to Shinji what's going on?

I guess I can understand if they were going for "humans have problems talking to each other honestly" but there wasn't proper set up for it. They dropped us and Shinji in the middle of distrust-ville.
 

Ralemont

not me
There is actually an extremely good reason all the characters are assholes, it's sort of the thrust of the entire movie.

There is a reason, but it's not a good one. There's zero reason Misato doesn't just explain things to Shinji, besides there not being much of a movie after because the movie is built on flimsy character motivations and a shitty plot.

I believe this remains to be seen. By the end of 3.0,
Shinji (and the viewer) still does not have a full understanding of the world around them, what happened in the time jump, and where the story is going. I think it's easier to love something like EoE because it's out, complete, and ripe for analyzing. I don't like 3.0 because its "lol so random," but because of the doors of possibility it opened. I think it's totally possible that 3.0 will age really well when the final movie is out and people can pick apart the series as whole.

It still won't make 3.0 itself enjoyable to watch. It'll just be "that shitty 2 hour movie we have to get through to get to the cool stuff in 4.0"

Like, what they were going for in 3.0 could have been way better across the board, in every category, and still gotten to where they wanted to get to.
 

daveo42

Banned
Jesus...10 years?

1.0 and 2.0 were really good. 1.11 being a nice blitz on the first half of NGE just to get back into the swing of things and 2.22 going hard for some changes after the first half of the film. Both were what I wanted out of Rebuild, with the end of 2.0 is probably one of my favorite moments in the entire series. Then we got 3.0...

I think the time skip could have been done well, but it seems like an insert just to confuse the viewer with little to no pay-off by the end of the film. It's a confusing experience where everyone hates Shinji after doing something that happens off-screen and then never explains what he did or why he should totally just hate himself. It's a film and conflict resolved within five minutes with a brief summary of what happened between the end of 2.0 and the start of 3.0 instead of the "let's treat Shinji like shit" show and expect him to make informed decisions. Seriously, I blame the 4th Impact on Asuka, Misato, and the rest of WILLE.

Man, fuck 3.0. I don't think anything done in 3.0+1.0 will undo all of the problems introduced in 3.0. At this point, I'd stop after 2.0 and ignore the teaser at the end.
 

Elandyll

Banned
Jesus...10 years?

1.0 and 2.0 were really good. 1.11 being a nice blitz on the first half of NGE just to get back into the swing of things and 2.22 going hard for some changes after the first half of the film. Both were what I wanted out of Rebuild, with the end of 2.0 is probably one of my favorite moments in the entire series. Then we got 3.0...

I think the time skip could have been done well, but it seems like an insert just to confuse the viewer with little to no pay-off by the end of the film. It's a confusing experience where everyone hates Shinji after doing something that happens off-screen and then never explains what he did or why he should totally just hate himself. It's a film and conflict resolved within five minutes with a brief summary of what happened between the end of 2.0 and the start of 3.0 instead of the "let's treat Shinji like shit" show and expect him to make informed decisions. Seriously, I blame the 4th Impact on Asuka, Misato, and the rest of WILLE.

Man, fuck 3.0. I don't think anything done in 3.0+1.0 will undo all of the problems introduced in 3.0. At this point, I'd stop after 2.0 and ignore the teaser at the end.

Isn't it implied that
3.0 happens after the end of the tv show, the instrumentalization has occured and Shinji messed it up by rewinding and cancelling it because he refused to accept that evolution?
I have had 3.0 since release but have held off on watching it because I wanted to wait for 4.0 which "surely" would be coming in the not too distant future.

Joke's on me...
 

Grisby

Member
I actually finally watched the third rebuild movie a few days ago.

They uh, kind of went off the rails. While I thought the big departure was interesting I don't think it was handled well (and the action wasn't as good). It's the weakest one for sure.

Now to settle on for my 40th BD when I'll finally get to check out the next.
 

RaoulDuke

Member
AkfK03F.jpg


A fan of the film? Frustrated at the slow release date? Completely confused at what is actually happening?

All of the above!
 

daveo42

Banned
Isn't it implied that
3.0 happens after the end of the tv show, the instrumentalization has occured and Shinji messed it up by rewinding and cancelling it because he refused to accept that evolution?
I have had 3.0 since release but have held off on watching it because I wanted to wait for 4.0 which "surely" would be coming in the not too distant future.

Joke's on me...

Nope, it's that
the entirety of Rebuild happens after the end of EoE. 1.0 even starts with the shot of the red sea along with several other changes to the eco system and surrounding architecture. He basically hits rewind at the end of EoE and that's where Rebuild 1.0 starts.
 

grumpy

Member
I lost all interested after the horrible 3.0 movie. More specifically, everything after the part where Unit 2.0
transforms into a fucking dog
is a blur that I barely remember cause that was the exact point I said "fuck it" and gave up on the reboot series.

Evangelion will always have a special place in my heart but I just don't see myself ever being excited for a sequel to 3.0...
 

Anth0ny

Member
1.0 was good. Pretty much the same as the tv series start.

2.0 was cool. Half the same as the tv series then the last half goes somewhere different but awesome.

3.0 was shit. FUCK that 10 year time skip.

yup. 3.0 fucked it all up and now I couldn't care less about 4.0.
 

Ralemont

not me
Also how brave of Anno to criticize otaku lifestyle and still keep 14 year old Asuka after a timeskip for otaku wanking

What a statement, a real revolutionary that guy
 

DarkKyo

Member
I lost all interested after the horrible 3.0 movie. More specifically, everything after the part where Unit 2.0
transforms into a fucking dog
is a blur that I barely remember cause that was the exact point I said "fuck it" and gave up on the reboot series.

I'd say more like some kind of jungle cat.

I agree that is the worst part of 3.0, but it didn't ruin 3.0 for me. Still very excited for the 4th movie.
 
Does the initial anime still hold up? I've been meaning to start watching this whole series.

Yes,I watched the new movies recently and now I started re-watching the original show, oh man I thought I remember everything but there were so much stuff I forgot about.
IMO the movies are not meant to replace the OG show, they are more than a re-make despite the first movie being almost identical to the first episodes of the OG show, second movie starts to veer and veer and by the third movie you realize you've been had and this is a sequel.
Movies and tv show complement each other. Now if Mr. Anno will be kind enough to drop the 4th and final movie would be nice.
 

CassSept

Member
3.0 craziness isn't the reason people dislike the movie. The script of the movie is simply a dumpster fire. I know people try to rebut these claims with the most common arguments being 1) interpersonal communication issues being one of the major motifs of the series (true) 2) people hate the movie because it went in unexpected direction (fair enough that it did and some may be against it, but remember that change for sake of change is not a positive in on itself).

However, even beyond the common arguments, the script is a total mess. The pace of the film is abhorrent, it's set up as three act movie, within which the acts don't flow well and don't mesh at all with each other, which makes the experience even more disjointed. Characters motivations are non-existent, the characters are self-conceited and do nothing but sulk around gloomily - it's post-apocalyptic EVA alright, but there's a limit to how the entire cast (sans Kaworu I guess? I don't remember that well at this point) can do nothing but further complicate the situation. You think one bloody person would grow up and tell Shinji what happened, or that Shinji wouldn't act like a crazed moron in the ending starting yet another freaking apocalypse. What's also perplexing is that 3.0 does not progress the plot. Literally. At all. We know nothing about what happened between 2.0 and 3.0, 3.0 does pretty much nothing to push the plot forward and it hits another giant reset button at the end. We will see if 3.0+1.0 ever comes out, but you can bet you could go from 2.0 to 3.0+1.0 and you wouldn't miss anything of substance. That's... not good, really, in any sort of episodic series. Not to mention an array of littler befuddling decisions like that pilot don't age asspull designed to keep all the pilots in their teenage years. What a mess.

I used to care about the Rebuild. Hard to care about it now. Waiting for 3.5 years to receive 3.0 killed my interest in the series. Now it's been 5 years since then and we know nothing about 3.0+1.0. Who cares at this point?
 

grumpy

Member
What I enjoyed most about the original TV show (and that no other anime has managed to replicate for me) is that despite it having such an outlandish, sci-fy concept at its core (i.e. alien kaiju invading earth, giant robots fighting them etc) it was actually quite down to earth and restrained in its way of presenting that struggle.
It actually made you believe that if that event ever happened in our world, the world's militaries and governments would react the exact same way.
In the original anime you have things like:
  • People taking time to discuss the logistics of running a giant robot operation
  • The impact that "giant robot vs kaiju" fights have on the world
  • You see them dealing with bureaucracy of all things, even when the world is on the brink of destruction
  • The giant robots are not entirely within the control of their creators, either going berserk or for whatever reason are unable to function as they should and have a shitton of limitations like: being tied to power cord at all times, limited battery operation, monetary issues involved with their repairs, the afforementioned bureaucracy hindering their deployment etc. All of them are what basically created tension in the show.
  • They giant robots are not being kept in some hightech-looking, scify-inspired environment but in a gritty-looking, realistic prison. You see people doing manual labour trying to get them repaired and deployed and restrained.
  • Their pilots are basically child soldiers who suffer from PTSD and a large part of the show is dedicated in exploring the damage that piloting their half-living, half-dead, cyborg abominations that may or may not be the prisons of the sentient souls of their dead mothers and that they are causing them a crapload of physical pain in addition to emotional torment is doing to their psyche.
And many more that I can't remember right now.

The Rebuild series, despite doing a lot of things right (at least 1 & 2), threw all that out of the window and replaced them with what I like to call
"Super Saiyan" transformations
,
flying, evangelion-powered ships
,
evas that turn into dogs (or jungle cats)
and other crap that wouldn't feel out of place in a shonen series.

tl;dr: NEVER give any director unlimited money and/or Carte blanche, despite their previous accomplishments.
 
This isn't true, I don't blame you for thinking that however, it's just narrative people made up, his disdain was aimed at himself if anything.


The TV series is the best place to start, it's out of print in the west however and can be very very pricey on the second hand market. the Platinum DVD Collection is typically the one you want to go for, you can find single volumes out there. They released the series on Blu-ray in Japan but it doesn't come with English subtitles or audio.

It isn't out of print in the west. The DVDs are widely available on amazon for like 17€.
 

Nuu

Banned
3.0 is extremely by far and wide the best one. 1.0 was a boring retread, and 2.0 is meh. At least 3.0 attempted to do something different and was entertaining.
 

Ralemont

not me
3.0 is extremely by far and wide the best one. 1.0 was a boring retread, and 2.0 is meh. At least 3.0 attempted to do something different and was entertaining.

2.0 is the one that tried to do something different.

3.0 is the one you finish and think "Not this shit again."
 
3.0 is extremely by far and wide the best one. 1.0 was a boring retread, and 2.0 is meh. At least 3.0 attempted to do something different and was entertaining.

I back you up fam, I liked 3 as a dark-all-is-lost-post-apocalypse-middle-chapter movie, 3.0+1.0 will make more sense out of it.

Bu bu bu bu why did nobody explained anything is this movie to Shinji!!!

Same thing happened in the original show, nobody told or explained Shinji shit, who was the 4th children? nah, "I just couldn't!!" everybody in Evangelion has communication issues (except Tabris) be it the show or the movies.
 
Loooooved 1.0 and 2.0. I own 3.0 but haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Heard a lot of negative stuff about the 3rd, so gonna try and go in with tempered expectations.

I personally don't mind the wait (fuck take as long as FFXV/Versus XIII if need be) just make the 4th one great and give the animation quality all the care, effort and time it needs. Especially if the 4th is gonna be the finale.
 

muteki

Member
Reserving judgement for 3.0/rebuild as a whole until the last film is out. I enjoyed 1.0 though, and some of the changes in 2.0.

TV series is the best though, and unfortunately (fortunately?) some of my favorite episodes were skipped over by the remakes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom