A reboot of Neon Geneses Evangelion
Genre(s): Mecha, Psychological, Drama, Sci-Fi, Action
Age-Appropriateness: 17+ (Violence, gore, language, brief nudity)
Platforms: None
Episodes: One 1 hr. 40 min. movie
TheAwersome Rating: 8.5 / 10 (Sooo nice)
Premise: In a post-apocalyptic world, the last remaining human settlement in Japan is the heavily fortified city of Tokyo-3. Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari is brought to the headquarters of Nerv, an underground organization lead by his estranged father, Gendou. He requests that Shinji become a pilot of an “Evangelion,” a colossal android built to fight against monstrous and destructive alien creatures known as “Angels” that wreak havoc on the planet and threaten the survival of the remaining human race. Although initially reluctant, Shinji is swayed by the idea of reconciling with his father and agrees to aid in mankind’s perilous endeavor against its alien threat, as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. Thrust into the midst of a dangerous battlefield, Shinji must find the necessary courage and resolve to face against the Angels’ incursions before it is too late.
TheAwersome’s Thoughts: This is the start of the movie reboot series of Evangelion movies, “The Rebuild of Evangelion.” This movie covers roughly the first six episodes of the main series, with a few tweaks and changes for the reboot. Animation quality is vastly improved over the original series, and a lot of Angel designs are revamped/redesigned to re-instill all the horrifically unsettling elements with a vengeance. My only complaint would be that it really does assume you’ve watched the main series first, because the pacing otherwise feels rushed and confusing if it was someone’s introduction, I feel.
It was so nice to see crisp HD updates and detail, with more focused storytelling with pieces of the fat trimmed out, but this first movie is mostly the same story you know.
TLDR: A completely revamped and beautiful beginning to a different Evangelion story
This was originally titled “Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone” when it released in theaters, but for the Blu-ray/DVD release they updated a few bits of animation, and therefore call it “Evangelion 1.11.” There are two more entries in the Rebuild series that have been released, and the fourth and final movie just started airing in Japanese theaters March of 2021. Following this movie is Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance.
At a Glance Anime 