Neon Genesis Evangelion Highly recommended

Publisher
ADV
Director
Hideaki Anno
Production
GAINAX, NAS, TV Tokyo
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1995

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Collection 0:3

By John Huxley
20th May 04

Neon Genesis Evangelion is back for more giant mechs, teenage fumblings and apocalyptic prophecies.

Starting where the last episode left off, Asuka has enrolled as a pupil at Shinji's school and quickly rises through the ranks to become the most popular, most talked about girl in the schoolyard. All thanks to her exotic good looks and bubbly personality, no doubt. Shinji, however, sees her as an irritating nuisance with a bad attitude. When the pair are forced to live together in Misato's apartment, the results are predictably troublesome.

Still having difficulties accepting Misato as a mother figure, Shinji must now deal with the prospect of Asuka acting the role of his sister. It's an uneasy situation for both parties, considering the unspoken attraction between the pair and the outward distain they share for each other. As discomforting as it is for the on-screen characters, this foster family scenario makes for excellent viewing. Watching this threesome go through the emotions in such forced, close proximity is like watching the highlights of a prepubescent Big Brother - there's even a bit of fumbling under the sheets.

Away from Shinji's troubled family life, the Angels continue their assault upon the people of Tokyo-3. There's a whole host of kooky monsters lining up to take on the evangelions, each more bizarre than the last. How about a huge spider with one big eye that pours acid down below? Not strange enough? Alright, how about a giant diamond with a drill? No? An enormous black and white ball of shadow death? A suicidal space-bourne eye the size of a small country? The only thing these monsters have in common is their size - they range from big to bigger and really, really big.

Each Angel poses a new and different challenge for our heroes and heroines. Some challenge their athletic prowess, some require teamwork and kinship while others question their mental stability. Each and every one of them offers more than a simple battle; they all offer some kind of character or plot progression. This ties everything together nicely and avoids the feeling of yet another tacked-on action sequence.

The fanservice, however, does reek of afterthought. Perhaps all those unnecessary shots of Misato's hind quarters are supposed to let the viewer more easily associate with Shinji's attraction to her? I don't think so...they're just in place to appease the fans and keep them watching.

On a totally unrelated note (promise), Evangelion is quite the looker. Now, I've talked a little about how important Evangelion was, and still is, to anime. A big part of this is the way in which the directors handle the lengthy television series format. Before Evangelion, the format of choice for anime was OAV or OVA, video only releases averaging around six episodes in length. Television series were still popular during this time, but they almost always had a much smaller budget and so couldn't afford the quality of animation seen in OAVs. Although this is true of Evangelion, the way in which they chose to spend their limited budget has given the series a unique and unarguably beautiful appearance.

For every minute of animation in Evangelion, there are two that feature none at all (this is just a fake statistic to prove my point, so don't quote me on that). I've lost count of how many times I've seen Misato talk behind her beer can, or Gendo conveniently resting his hands in front of his mouth while he divulges important plot details. You know how many frames of animation they had to draw for those sequences? One. Not five, not ten. One. Although it's almost laughably noticeable, it is a great cost-cutting exercise that gives the animators more time and money to concentrate on those scenes that really matter: namely the action sequences. As a result, the animation is almost flawless, even if it isn't the smoothest around.

Evangelion has just begun to hit its stride. All the major players are in place, the story is beginning to unravel and the characters feel like familiar faces. I won't pretend this is the best Evangelion has to offer; that comes much later, but what is available here is anime of the highest calibre. Engrossing, entertaining stuff that shouldn't be missed.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English, Spanish and Japanese audio, English subtitles, character bios, clean open/close, ADV previews

Notes: In keeping with the last two volumes, this disc doesn't really offer much over the main feature. The only difference from the last outing is the back cover design which has been re-designed to be clear, concise and more attractive. The new multi-colour border mimics the computer screen displays seen in the anime, which is a nice touch.

-- John Huxley 20th May 04

Neon Genesis Evangelion Images