Evangelion 2.0: You can (not) advance

I saw the new Evangelion movie on Monday and I thought I could write a few words about my impressions. A caveat to all readers is that all subsequent views are from a fan boy whose Japanese skills can best be described as ‘shocking.’

The previous movie, “Evangelion 1.0: You are (not) alone” was a streamlined take on the beginning of the TV series, with much better animation and more invasive product placement. Although a few new scenes were added and parts of the story were moved around to make things make sense in the context of a movie, the story remained as canon as Shinji’s SDAT stuck on loop. The new movie throws the previously established story out the window (or into a garbage can, as is the case with the SDAT) in the first five minutes with a new Evangelion, a new pilot and a new angel in Antarctica. The time line for this movie spans from the introduction of Asuka to the highpoint of the 14th Angel fight- a lot of story and five angels to cover in two and a bit hours.

I feel the urge to treat this movie as if it were an animated fanfic, talking about who is out of character and so forth. But I will soldier on without giving a total list of all the things I thought were cool (something I’ll write once this is all done). There is a surprising amount of character moments in the movie, considering how much they have to fit in. Shinji, Asuka and Rei all have their moments in the sun, along with the supporting characters. Asuka has a lot of new scenes to herself which make her a much more sympathetic character. Even PenPen gets a fair bit of screen time.

The new character of Mari is certainly a presence in the movie and has a lot to do, although it’s mainly away from the main cast. A lot of the famous scenes from the show and manga are recycled, often involving different characters and sometimes much different outcomes.

I had some problems with the music choices in the later part of the movie, and the double whammy of the 13th and 14th Angel felt drawn out and tiring. I would also have preferred more time with the established cast rather than Mari, who while interesting enough takes up too much screen time.

As for the things they changed… by the end of the last battle, the TV show and the movies have seemingly diverged. People are dead, Evangelions are destroyed and the only thing standing in the way of Third Impact is the last thing NERV can trust. Yet there is, undoubtedly, a love story in there, too. Whether it survives a third movie reboot will have to wait for a few years for us to find out.

The Eva movies so far can be summed up as “Boy meets girl. Boy meets giant robot. Boy uses giant robot to save the girl, even if it dooms the world.” The characters are different, but in the end it’s still following the path laid down in the TV series.