Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: you are (not) alone
I was initially very sceptical of an NGE remake due to the cash cow-milking that the show has suffered from during the past thirteen years already; as much as the original series and cinematic alternate ending have been instrumental (pun intended >_<) in my interest in anime, it’s always felt like an exercise in taking a good story and squeezing as much money out of it as possible. Not that this stopped me watching the first Rebuild movie anyway, you understand.
My reasons for having any faith in this new Eva outing are largely centred round the fact that many of the key staff from the original series are on board, from the likes of Shiro Sagisu and Yoshiuki Sadamoto (soundtrack score and character design, respectively), Gainax alumni Kazuya Tsurumaki and Masayuki, not to mention the main VA telent; it’s like catching up with old friends. Even the maestro himself, Hideaki Anno, is sitting above them all, supervising with an eerily Gendo-esque air of Just As Planned on his face. When he’s revisiting his most famous creation after so long it certainly suggests that he has a damn good reason to revisit it.
My first thought of You are (Not) Alone was that it looks a lot prettier than the original. If you ever wondered what would happen if the high-res glow of EoE were applied to the TV material that preceded it (I know I have), you’d find your answer here: it’s smoother, shinier and inevitably includes some up-to-date CG at points, which mercifully doesn’t look too out of place. I thought the shape-shifting of Ramiel was a bit overdone (it looked more menacing somehow when it was an unchanging, huge-ass crystal just floating there) but overall the combat was every bit as visceral and awe-inspiring as I remember, just that little bit more visually impressive and with more gunfire. The backgrounds might finally garner the admiration they deserve with this outing since NGE always was a very pretty vision of a post-apocalyptic world - the feature-film budget can finally allow that aspect to realise its potential.
The narrative is a condensed version of the first six episodes, trimming away the filler and generally streamlining it comfortably from an episodic chain of events into a discernable story arc with a beginning, middle and (temporary) end. While the stranger Anno-isms weren’t prevalent as early on in the story as this, Tsurumaki and Masayuki wisely opted to include the nuances of his distinctive style as well as lifting whole lines of dialogue from the original script, which maintains that edge he and his original creative team gave to the production as a whole.
Only Anno could make angst and isolation look so pretty
If there’s one thing that stops me slapping a full 10/10 to this in a fit of fanboyish glee it’s the fact that You are (Not) Alone doesn’t actually include anything *new* for long-standing fans to get our teeth into. Granted, there are short scene cuts that are original to the movie but these are mostly for the purpose of moving things along after the fillerish scenes from the series were dropped. My question of “Why remake this at all?” wasn’t fully answered until the scene towards the end showing Kaworu on the Moon (I can’t wait to see where the hell they’re going with that) and a delightfully authentic next episode-style preview complete with Misato voiceover that promises the introduction of the Ginger Whinger, Eva Units 2-4 and a few other changes.
The new approach offers an opportunity for even long-standing fans to stop and think about what the piece as a whole is trying to say though, as well as tying in the title of the movie to the story’s overall themes; it seems more confident somehow and, inevitably, has an air of maturity thanks to 20/20 hindsight. From the extended opening sequence with ominously red-tinged waves washing the shore the movie not only knows that it wants to mess with your head but this time seems to have a plan of action right from the start. Packaging the first six eps into a self-contained feature does draw attention to certain important aspects of the story too, such as the relations between Shinji, Gendo and Rei; there’s a fantastic extra scene taking place in a brilliantly re-decorated Terminal Dogma, in which Misato gives Shinji another reason to keep fighting.
This new scene is partly reiterating what she tells him when they look upon the saved Tokyo-3 after his first battle, and is just as powerful in meaning. It also exemplifies how Misato’s character positively shines in this movie; more so than the corresponding scenes in the series. Her humanity, conviction and emotional strength come across much more clearly and draw attention to the fact that her part in the conflict is indirectly as important as Shinji’s is.
That is to say she is an adoptive mother, sister and confidante all rolled into one; debate on the validity of motive for Shinji’s emo-ness all you like but she’s the emotional anchor that brings him back from the brink every time. The significance of her character then cannot be emphasised enough; Hige certainly thinks so and I can’t agree more.
Interestingly Shinji comes across as more deserving of viewer sympathy since the shortened screen time doesn’t give as much opportunity for him to repeat “I mustn’t run away!” ad nauseam and get on the viewer’s nerves. Because he’s thrown into the thick of it more suddenly the movie gives the same tantalising hints to the background without explaining much. It gives an overall feeling of “WTF is going on?”, but in a good way; it leaves newcomers eager for the next movie and reinforces Shinji’s feelings of helplessness and confusion for the rest of us.
As a whole my main complaints of the series, namely the inconsistent animation and pacing, are thoroughly resolved so I’m only mildly disappointed at the fact that everything else is pretty much the same. As the old saying goes, if something isn’t broke don’t fix it; I’m expecting Anno and co to save the more significant changes for the subsequent films. While it doesn’t add much new stuff until the final scenes it at least retains the important factors that made the early episodes of the series so special; long-term fans will dig the touches that were retained (Pen-pen FTW!) while it is careful to cater for those who haven’t seen any NGE before.
Bravo to Mr Anno for reminding me once again why I think you’re a genius.
Posted on May 7th, 2008 @ 12:04 am
I have to agree whole-heartedly that Shinji is simply a ‘better’ character in You Are (Not) Alone, who acts far more like an actual slightly hormonal teenager rather that just whining as he tended to in the original show, there were some really nicely done changes on that point.
To be honest though, I found the whole experience a bit hit and miss, and found myself with about an equal number of good and bad points when I ‘Blogged about it. The animation is much improved, there are some brilliant new scenes which really add something, but I found some of the visual changes a little over the top to the point of being distracting, and I really felt that they messed up the pace of the whole battle against Ramiel.
Despite all that, I still ended up buying the Japanese limited edition release, complete with original film cell.
Posted on May 7th, 2008 @ 1:44 am
Rebuild’s new paint job goes to show that the original had some overlooked beauty to it (the backgrounds especially). When I first started up the film I wondered if I had the new version or not because it looked quite indistinguishable in many places. The increased sense of moment was noticeable, though. I hope they do something really dramatic with the action scenes ala End of Evangelion now they’ve got the budget. Tsurumaki must have some tricks up his sleeve.
As for Misato, she seems to be one of the three core female characters that embodies the mother/sister/lover triad most comprehensively. Asuka and Rei violently fluctuate between them throughout the series but only Misato strides between them with any subtly. Granted she isn’t at the centre of Rei’s particular mother-related bombshell, nor is she the object of Shinji’s lust like Asuka, but she feels like a true realisation of one of Anno’s big female-related themes. She has the benefit of being apart from Shinji’s pubescent urges, too, which saves her from his clumsy attempts to compartmentalise her in his life. If anything the show concentrates on how he fits into her life. That alone makes her special.
Rebuild is a curiosity in how its awareness of its own material’s ubiquity liberates it and allows for more subtly, too. The lack of Shinji’s famous catchphrase demonstrates this – he doesn’t say ‘I mustn’t run away’ as much because the viewer implicitly knows that’s what’s he thinking from prior experience. I thought this gave the film much more weight, allowing more room to breathe and concentrate on other things.
Posted on May 8th, 2008 @ 12:20 am
@Hanners: I think you nailed it with your own blog post. Ramiel’s CG makeover was overdone for instance but when the spirit of the original is intact there’s not that much for fans to complain about. Well done on getting a limited ed disc - I’m holding out for the blu-ray version, limited or otherwise! Maybe I was just hoping to be a little more surprised with the way the story unfolded.
@Hige: it’s a good update visually but yeah, I wondered if I had downloaded the Platinum by mistake (which I already have on DVD) or whether the entire storyboards had been recycled! I guess that, to put it crudely, this is merely foreplay and the real headf*** happens later. Point taken on Misato though - I could probably devote an entire post to explaining why she’s such a great character, but I’m not sure who’d want to read that sort of fanboy rave!
Posted on May 10th, 2008 @ 1:15 am
When I was watching this, I found it hard to describe the feeling of familiarity. I think “Catching up with old friends” is about right. It’s pretty much the same story for everyone but with newer, smarter clothes.
I like what they’ve done, it’s very polished, but I wonder if the story makes sense to people who have never seen Evangelion before?
Posted on May 10th, 2008 @ 4:16 pm
Great to hear you really enjoyed it. I haven’t watched it yet, but I sure as hell can’t wait to see it!
Posted on May 10th, 2008 @ 8:58 pm
I hope the Kare Kano Rebuild is this awesome! I also hope they have an ending for it!
Posted on May 11th, 2008 @ 12:57 am
@Teeif: it’s tricky to gauge how newcomers will view this movie - I can’t wait to show it to non-NGE fans I know (at the cinema, hopefully!) and see how they react to it.
@Citizengeek: I’m hoping the licence is picked up sooner rather than later. It will happen of course but I’d like to see a limited cinema run within the next few months and a DVD/Blu-ray release announced before the year is out too. I’ll wager the likes of ADV and Manga Ent are putting their bids into motion already.
@Beyoz XXI: if there’s one series I wish were finished properly, Kare Kano would be it. I doubt Tsuda would let Anno near it again though, and of course the Gainax staff have moved onto other things. The original manga is superb by the way.