Anime Week in Review: Evangelion 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance

Evangelion 2.22 is the second movie in Hideaki Anno's Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy and this movie is an awesome thrill ride of mech action that any fan of anime needs to check out.

The Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy is a remake of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series. The intentions of this film series is to give fans of the original series or movie a new outlook on the story, as well as bring in new non-fans of the series and make it more accessible to them. I don't blame them, the story in the original TV series did get very weird at times specially towards the very end. To avoid any spoilers I'm going to keep my synopsis brief and let you guys decide if you want to find out what happens in the end. I highly recommend you do pick this up and the original movie. Evangelion 2.22 continues the story from where Evangelion 1.11 left off as NERV continues to battle the Angel threat to Tokyo-3. The story of the Evangelion series follows Shinji Ikari, a young boy who has been chosen as the Third Child. The pilots of the Evangelions are children of around the age of fifteen years old. In the first movie, Shinji was seeking the approval of his father, the second movie doesn't really alter this story mechanic. He relationship with his father has grown since the second movie with his father actually making attempts to spend time with Shinji this time around. The movie also continues to focus on NERV (the organization Shinji works for) and there battles with Angels. The movie can be broken down into roughly four battles through out the film. This is where the movie as a whole really shines, the battles are amazing to watch and keep you on the edge of your seat till the final blow is dealt. No battle ever feels repeated, each Angel has it's own unique attacks and appearance to keep things fresh and never dull.

The biggest addition to the series is the introduction of Mari Makinami, a brand new character to the Evangelion series. I was a bit disappointed because the movie has a bunch of marketing relating to this new character but the film doesn't really feature her all that much. She only appears in roughly three different scenes of the film for at most only five to ten minutes at a time. Though she is involved in a very sweet battle scene at the end of the movie. The movie does make up for this by introducing a fan favorite from the original series, Asuka Langley Shikinami (the last name was Soryu in the original). She's a great addition to a cast of very shy and dramatic characters that were introduced in 1.11. She is self absorbed and almost always make fun of Shinji (I think it's because she secretly likes him). The one thing I couldn't understand is that they didn't have her speak any German, it's not a big deal but I know fans of the original will complain about this.

Funimation does yet another superb job of dubbing with Evangelion 2.22. The entire voice cast from the Evangelion 1.11 returns. With Trina Nishimura as Mari and J. Michael Tatum as Ryoji Kaji joining the cast. Tatum wasn't the original voice actor for Kaji, but did a great job just like Aaron Krohn did ten years ago. Trina does a great job of voicing the mysterious Mari even if her character only speaks a handful of lines. The video quality is done in 1080p  HD 16 X 9, so I highly recommend everyone pick it up on Blu-ray if your able to. I've seen only a small amount of anime on Blu-ray but the Evangelion movies make my jaw drop every time I see them. Audio is offered in two formats Dolby TrueHD English 6.1 and Dolby TrueHD Japanese 6.1. Subtitles are only offered in English, so unfortunately if you speak any language other than English you won't be able to understand the movie. Inside the case is a twenty page guidebook that gives you information on characters and other aspects of both movies. Funimation does offer a good amount of bonus features this time around which is nice since most of the time they only include trailers for other shows. Special features include a U.S cast commentary, deleted and alternate scenes, Japanese trailers and TV spots and a rebuild of evangelion 2.02 feature. The rebuild of Evangelion 2.02 feature shows scenes from the movie as they were being produced in the studio. Your basically watching the movie "come to life."

Evangelion 2.22 is a must buy movie for fans of the original and newcomers to the series. Great action and a much easier story to follow this time around make for a great viewing experience that every anime fan needs to enjoy over and over again. Remember you mustn't run away, go pick up your copy today.

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