Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone Review

"You Are (Not) Alone" *****SPOILERS***** Synopsis:

The year is 2014. Shinji Ikari is a fourteen year old boy who has come to Tokyo-3 at his father's beckoning. However, the city has come under attack from a giant creature called an Angel. He meets Misato Katsuragi, who takes him to an underground fortress where his father works for a group called Nerv who battles Angels. There, Shinji discovers he's been chosen to pilot an Evangelion, a synthetic, humanoid weapon, called an Evangelion. Reluctantly, to prevent the further injuring of another pilot, Rei Ayanami, Shinji elects to pilot the Eva Unit 01 and fight the Angel, Sachiel. Shinji uses the Evangelion, but loses consciousness during the battle. The Eva Unit goes berserk on its own and destroys the Angel.

Shinji recovers at the hospital, and is put in the care of Misato. She shows him the city's true nature, a fortress to defeat the Angels, and takes him home to live with her. There, Shinji meets Misato's pet, a warm-water penguin named Pen Pen. Misato thanks Shinji for what he did earlier. The next day, Shinji enrolls in school, but is beaten by a classmate, Toji Suzahara, whose sister was injured in the battle with the Angel. Another Angel, Shamshel, appears and attacks Tokyo-3. Again, Shinji is deployed in Eva Unit 01. Touji and his friend Kensuke leave the safety of an emergency shelter to see the combat live. Shinji is forced to bring them onboard the Eva for their safety. When his battery cord is severed, Shinji is told to retreat, but chooses to attack the Angel head on with the progressive knife. He manages to slay the Angel before his power runs out. After being chewed out by Misato for disobeying orders, Shinji wanders the city for a day, eventually allowing Nerv to collect him.

Shinji begins to wonder about fellow pilot Rei when told a story about how his father was quick to assist her after a disasterous test of Eva Unit 00. He is told to give Rei her new identification card, and he goes to her apartment, where he accidently sees her nude. Following her to Nerv HQ, he is surprised she isn't afraid of piloting her Eva again, and she slaps him when he says he doesn't trust his father.

Ramiel, an octahedron-shaped Angel, appears, and tries to break into the Geofront. When Eva Unit 01 is deployed, it fires a high energy beam at it and Shinji is injured. The Evangelion is force retrieved. At the hospital, Rei offers to pilot in Shinji's place, but he ends up showing up to take on the Angel by Misato's plan. To gain his trust, Misato shows Lilith, an Angel hidden deep within Nerv HQ that they're trying to prevent from coming in contact with the others. Misato's plan to defeat Ramiel is to use a positron rifle powered by Japan's electricity to penetrate its AT Field. Shinji and Rei prepare for the operation.

When the operation begins, Shinji misses the first shot, and Ramiel fires a beam that wipes out part of a mountain. Hesitating to set up the next shot, Gendo almost cancels the operation, but Misato pleads with him to give his son a chance. Shinji aims the rifle again, but Ramiel attacks agian. Rei shields Shinji, and he fires, killing the Angel. Shinji goes to Rei's aid, much like his father once did, and she smiles.

Meanwhile, on the moon, a grey-haired boy awakens in front of what looks like Lilith, wanting to meet Shinji.

Comments: Hideaki Anno's Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most significant anime of all time, certainly within the subgenre of "mecha" programs and definitely of the many Gainax titles. It's a show that has sparked controversy that continues to this day, much to the delight and dismay of fans worldwide. It's significance arises because both its content and reaction, and draws conversations of both the involved and dismissive, raising hope and ire alike. But, that aside, how does it remain relevant in modern anime? The proliferation of discussion? The integrity of the show itself? Or is it, as many claim, simply the continuing milking of the franchise through merchandise and re-releases? It's probably all of these. In 2006, Hideaki Anno created his own anime studio in conjunction with Gainax, called Studio Khara, with the sole purpose of creating a set of movies to retell the story of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The movies are known, collectively, as Rebuild of Evangelion. There are slated to be four of them. The first, subtitled "You Are (Not) Alone", was released in Japanese theaters in 2007. It's North American DVD release was November 2009, having been licensed by Funimation. The first movie follows, roughly, the storyboards of the first six episodes of the television series, refreshing it with brand new animation and some minor changes. Visually, it's a pretty stunning difference from the television series it was spawned from, which often had budget problems that cut into its animation quality. It introduces most of the main players, the Evangelions, the Angels, and Shinji's relationship with the distant and aloof Rei Ayanami, covering the first few arcs of the show. It occured to me during my viewing just how crazy it was that Shinji Ikari agreed so readily to pilot the Evangelion in the first place. Sure, it took a bit of guilting for him to do so, but you can't just call your estranged son in to pilot a machine he's never even seen before against a monster that's been swatting down the military at ease and expect him to just say, "All right!" That's sort of the point the show was making in the first place by deconstructing that trope from super robot programs where the son pilots the father's robot. That Shinji eventually pilots the Eva at all, even considering Rei's condition, is a no small miracle in itself. I noticed in that scene, though, something that they cut out from the series, namely the Even Unit 01's arm shielding Shinji from falling debris. This part established the bond between Shinji and the Evangelion early, what we would later discover is a much deeper bond than you'd expect from boy and machine. It's exclusion makes me wonder if the nature of the Evangelions are slightly different in this incarnation of the story, or if it was simply cut for time. Personally, I felt it was one of the best parts of the first episode, especially when debris flies up towards Gendo Ikari and he just stands there as it smashes against protective glass. In fact, he does a lot of standing casually while dangerous things happen. If he has such nerves of steel, maybe he should pilot the Eva. One of the strange things about the visuals is the effect on Eva Unit 01 when we first see it in action: it glows in the dark. It looks like giant glow decals had been put on it, or reflector plates. They really put the "neon" in Neon Genesis Evangelion (you know I looked forward to making that crack). I guess it makes sense, since you want people to know where the Eva is when it's in action, but it does a little silly. I hope they didn't do that thinking it would look cooler that way. Who am I kidding? Of course they did. I disliked how they just threw us from the defeat of the Angel and Shinji's settling down in Misato's place right into Shinji hitting the pavement from Touji's punch. We don't know who these two are and we don't know how he suddenly got into a school setting. It would have been nice to have at least the scene where he's in class and the other classmates ask him if the's the Eva pilot via his computer, like in the series. Or maybe just via cellphone text message, if you want to update it. I like that they kept the SDAT machine for the movie, though. It sort of enforces Shinji's difference from other people. I felt better about Shinji's first trip away from Nerv. It seemed less like he was running away and more like he just needed a break, a breather, from everything, and he elected himself when he'd return. He looks a little less cowardly, and yet retains his discomfort and frustration. It was a neat little compromise. Though, I did sort of like him hiding out in the movie theater in the series, as two movie-goers groped and fondled each other. We also miss his discussion with Kensuke. I think one of the best additions to the story in this movie is a scene where Misato is talking with Ritsuko, and mentions Shinji's relationship with his father. It's something that was missing from the series. We never really got any particular comments from Misato regarding their relationship, and Misato, having had a similar relationship with her father, and so likely recognizing what was going on, seemed a little insensitive because she never said a thing about it to him or anyone else. I don't think anyone in the show had a healthly relationship with their parents, though, so maybe it would have been stating the obvious. What I'm wondering about is what the "contract" with Lilith is and why Misato already knows about it. You would figure that somebody with some good sense would simply destroy Lilith if she's that dangerous to keep around. I mean, obviously SEELE and Gendo want to use it for something, but everyone else is just sort of going along with it? Just get rid of the damn thing, and there you go, the Angels will stop hassling you. Seems pretty stupid to build a city over something like that and have to worry about collateral damage and loss of life over something you could bathe in acid and destroy without incident. Maybe I'm being too critical, though. The big climax of the film is the battle with the crystalline D8-looking Angel, Ramiel (though in the movies, they don't seem to even name the Angels), which in the movie has the ability to change into different geometric shapes. This adds a little more flavor to the battle, at least visually, and makes it one of the more interesting differences between the series and the film. The battle, much like a lot of the rest of the movie, is accompanied by a lot of "epic"-style music. Sometimes it sounds like the studio's trying too hard, but it does mostly suit the scenes it's in. Sagisu's music remains pretty solid throughout. The visuals are of course, gorgeous, and the tensions are high. It pays off in the last scene with Shinji and Rei. The final scene in the movie, just before the credits, has Kowaru Nagisa on the moon with a second Lilith. I'm not sure where they're going with this, but how the hell can Kowaru breathe, let alone speak, in space? Who does he think he is, the Goddamn Batman? Taking extra care not to overcomplicate with religious symbolism or overlong scene pauses, I find the movie to have a more streamlined approach to it. However, it also seems a little more by-the-numbers, especially in its direction. It even feels a tad watered down at times. Some of what seperated Evangelion from other anime is the willingness of the director to do scenes that were strange, and even a little frustrating, to watch. Not just for the sake of doing them, but because the scenes strengthened the discomfort of the situations in an anime largely about awkward people who fail to communicate well. With that missing, it feels like a more straight-forward mecha anime experience. I'm not saying I don't appreciate the removal of overcomplicated symbolism and the franker approach to certain aspects of the show, but it does feel like Anno is showing us Evangelion from a clearer lens, and perhaps we weren't meant to see it out of that, because the characters don't. The Japanese voice actors are in their usual good form, with Megumi Ogata's wonderfully soft-spoken, but anguished screaming Shinji, Megumi Hayashbara's ephemeral Rei, and Kotono Mitsuishi's strong Misato Katsuragi. I only wish there was a bit more of Tomokazu Seki's Touji nd Tetsuya Iwanaga's Kensuke, they play well off each other. You never have to worry about the Japanese cast's performance. The English dub provided by Funimation is marginally better than ADV's awful hack job from nearly a decade ago, but it still seems lacking. Spike Spencer's Shinji has improved, but he still sounds needlessly whiny. Allison Keith, who also returned, is a bit stronger as Misato, but sounds a little too throaty and weathered. I find myself missing Amanda Winn-Lee as Rei at times, because everything Brina Palencia says as Rei sounds too abrupt and urgent. Colleen Clikenbeard's Ritsuko took some getting used to and Kensuke's voice is painful to listen to, but still, the overall quality of the dub is much better than ADV's. Justin Cook, for instance, was a smart choice for Touji. Kent Williams' Fuyutsuki no longer sounds like some random extra. John Swasey's Gendo sounds a lot like the Japanese voice. I'm curious as to see how they'll handle the second film, especially if Tiffany Grant reprises her role as Asuka. Rebuild 1.0 is, essentially, the first few episodes of the series with some cosmetic changes, but it may add up to more later in the game, as 2.0 is much different, and some of my feelings about the changes here may end up being justified later on. It's not one of those great masterpieces films on its own, but I see it as being part of something greater. I hope I'm not disappointed. Overall Score: 4 out of 5 (Needs more Pen Pen!)

Recent Comments