As humanities war against the Angels intensifies, Shinji
and Rei find themselves joined in battle by two additional Eva pilots: the
fiery red head Asuka and the battle loving Mari. With new pilots and new weapons on their
side, NERV is set for any Angel threat.
But new and far more chilling conspiracies and revelations lay deep
within the organization that threaten to destroy everything NERV has worked so
hard to achieve. Soon Shinji and his
allies are fighting not just to save humanity, but their own souls as
well. The question now is: how far is
Shinji willing to go to protect those he loves?
Even though the first chapter of the Rebuild of
Evangelion saga didn’t start introducing new elements to the saga until the
tail end of the film, I was impressed by it and eager for the
continuation. And the wait was worth
it. Not only did You Can (Not) Advance
deliver on the promise of bold new direction for the legacy of Evangelion, it
also delivered an epic so fun and amazing it might kind of rival The End of
Evangelion…that isn’t easy.
The new story begins to breathe a bit more and while
there are still plenty of scenes from the original series present (and
beautifully updated animation wise), the movie still feels like an original
work rather than the almost beat for beat retread that the first film was. Those new story beats also gives us new
character beats. The biggest winner in
this regard is Shinji, who continues to evolve from his isolated and alone
predecessor into a young man with something to fight for and the drive to get
the job done. It’s ok to root for him
now. Same goes for close second Asuka,
who seems to be able to open up to people more than her original
incarnation. This is evidence enough in
the films update of the infamous elevator scene with Rei and Asuka, a definite
improvement over the original. Plus,
Asuka’s original English Voice Actress Tiffany Grant joins fellow US Eva alums
Spike Spencer and Alison Keith in reprising her original role as the fiery red
head of Eva fame.
It should be noted that the original release schedule of
the Rebuild Saga hasn’t gone according to plan.
However, the unexpected extra wait times between movies is evident in
the films animation. This is above and
beyond the original series and the old movies and is probably what Evangelion
was always meant to look like from the get go.
The mechs move faster, the Angels look fiercer and scarier, and the city
of Tokyo-3 can be shifted into one big Eva playground, it’s astounding how much
everything has changed from the mid 90’s when Neon Genesis Evangelion first
appeared. For me, it was worth it to get
to the stellar final act of the film, which looks amazing, feels genuine and
vastly improved from the original series, breathing a bit of hope absent from
that iteration. Maybe the is the result
of a less depressed Anno? Whatever the
case, I love it.
There is one big disappointment in this piece and it
unfortunately lies with the films biggest anticipation: the newcomer Mari. While she is impressive as a pilot, pushing
her Eva’s farther than anyone has before, she is only in the film for a short
(an I mean short) period of time and only for action sequences. I get that this is only the second of four
movies but still a little character development would have been appreciated for
a character made specifically for the new Evangelion. From an action standpoint, Mari
impresses. From a character development
standpoint, she leaves much to be desired and I really hope we see more from
her in the future.
Evangelion 2.0-You Can (Not) Advance may be the half
point of the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, but it many ways it’s just
getting started. The setting, the
characters and the Evas themselves all look like new life and new direction has
been given to them. And if the final
scenes of the film are any indication, the series is set to move farther away
from the original than ever before. This
is an Evangelion for a new age and it is well working its way above the
original in every way. And yet it still
manages to stand tall alongside the original...and like I said when youre as
good as The End of Evangelion, that is far from easy but man…somehow it did it.
9/10
BTW
let’s just say Chapter 3 was not quite as good as the first two entries. How bad was it? Here, you can check out my review of Evangelion 3.33-You Can (Not) Redo from
2016 when I saw it at Katsucon right here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2016/02/evangelion-333-you-can-not-redo.html
No comments:
Post a Comment