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NEON
GENESIS EVANGELION
END OF EVANGELION
Plot
An alternate ending to the original 26 episode television series,
End of Evangelion presents a completely different take on the
show's conclusion, and it better covers all aspects of what the
show was. Where the first ending only really dealt with Shinji,
End of Evangelion is about not only Shinji, but the Angels as
well.
As End of Evangelion begins, Seele advances
its plans by attacking NERV headquarters. They meet little
resistance, as NERV was not designed to repel a military attack,
but rather, attack by Angel. From then on, it's a struggle
between NERV and Seele with the fate of the entire world hanging
in the balance and Third Impact being a very real possibility.
Can't really say much beyond that without spoiling...well, the
entire thing.
Characters
No new major characters are introduced during End of Evangelion
(though there are, of course, some new minor characters). Shinji
Ikari returns as the reluctant pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, Rei
Ayanami as the stoic First Child, and Asuka Langley Sohryu,
determined as ever to be the best. Misato Katsuragi, Ritsuko
Akagi, Fuyutsuki, Gendou Ikari, and everyone else who was still
around by the end of the TV series makes some sort of appearance
here. Shinji remains as he always was, but other than him, just
about everyone experiences some new character development. I
don't want to go too in-depth, because I might spoil some plot
stuff, but the characters are as good as ever here.
Animation and
Sound
End of Evangelion has
wonderful animation, just as the TV series had. The thing that
surprised me, though, was its incorporation of some live-action
footage. A little more than halfway through episode 26, "A
Pure Heart for You," End of Eva actually has some video of
different scenes from Japan. While it caught me off-guard at
first, it complimented the scene nicely. However, aside from that
live action is the true animation, and as I said, it's still
excellent. The action scenes are fluid and very well-done, and
even some of the little things that always seem to be some of the
hardest to pull off (such as simply walking) came out great here.
As for sound, it's also pretty good. Most of the music is from
the TV series, but there are some new songs here and there (most
notably the ending theme). Something that the TV series did
really well, in my opinion, was the use of music where it was
needed and silence where it was needed. Once again, silence is
actually the best sound for the moment in a lot of cases, and it
wasn't ignored that it might be best not to use any music for
some parts of End of Evangelion. While none of the music is
particularly memorable or great, it does work very well for the
scene it accompanies. There's one 
stretch of six or seven minutes in episode
26 that uses the same song the whole way. I don't want to spoil
things, so I won't go into detail, but certain things that
happened while this song was playing are things that would
generally go to a tune completely different, and yet, it all
somehow seemed appropriate. In my opinion, one of the hardest
things to do would be to use a song that seems completely
inappropriate and then make the viewer see the scene from a
different perspective with that song, and show him why it IS
appropriate. End of Evangelion did an excellent job with that
whole sequence.
Other
aspects...
End of Evangelion
certainly isn't for everyone. For one thing, if you haven't
already seen the entire TV series, you can forget about watching
this. You won't have any idea what's going on through the entire
thing. It's also got a fairly confusing plot, though if you pay
attention, you shouldn't have much trouble getting through it
pretty well. It is certainly the definition of "messed
up," though. Furthermore, parts of it are quite depressing,
and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if many people dislike
it just for that. I really wasn't very happy with it at first,
and even now, I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it.
Overall
End of Evangelion is definitely and odd one. Like I said, it is
depressing and it is screwy, so be warned about that before you
go into it. Though something just a bit more cheerful couldn't
hurt, I enjoyed End of Evangelion and thought it was a fitting
end for...Evangelion. To anyone who's seen the TV series, I'd
recommend getting your hands on EoE as soon as possible. And to
those who haven't seen the TV series, I'd like to ask you why the
hell not. Though there are some out there who consider Evangelion
overrated, it is definitely a great series.
95%
Format:
Episodes (Two, approx. 45 minutes each)
- Air, Love is Destructive
- A Pure Heart for You
American
version available from:
Manga Entertainment (coming Halloween, 2001)