So about that new Eva movie
This post will have spoilers. Just so you know.
Saw that new Eva movie. Something like the first 50 or so minutes are just prettier scenes from the TV show cut together. The cutting probably feels a little jerky to someone like me who’s seen the show something like 50 billion times, but I guess to a newcomer it’d be ok. The only cut that really struck me as really rough was how they introduce Toji with him punching Shinji in the face. Maybe it was just because I was watching the movie raw, but it still didn’t seem like there was much of a segue to that scene. In any case, it’s a lot smoother than the Zeta movies, but that’s not saying much at all.
After they rush through episodes 1, 2 and 3, and cut episode 4 down to a mere scene, the movie ends with completely redone versions of episodes 5 and 6. I swear to god, basically none of the shots are the same as in the TV series, save one or two. Everyone’s heard about how they made Diamond-Angel (I can never remember their fucking names) shape-shift so I won’t go on about that. Basically they just made those two episodes a lot better than they already were.
While the movie is mostly recap, they do mix some stuff up which could make for interesting plot changes in the coming films. Like how there is one Lilith down in Central Dogma, but its mask is like Sachiel’s face, and there’s another one on the moon hanging out with Kaworu. Also, why did Misato bring Shinji down there so early in the game? Maybe I missed it because it was raw, but it seems somewhat less shocking seeing that so early on, whereas in the TV series it was like “WHOA ZOMG WUT.” I dunno, like I said, it could just be because I’ve seen it already so it doesn’t really shock me anymore. Maybe it shocked the two people who were seeing Eva for the first time, I dunno.
I watched a cam of the movie, but it was surprisingly good. Scenes with lots of lighting looked good, and scenes that were dark looked like that bad copy I have of My Youth in Arcadia. Sound is kind of tinny, and it’s hard to make out a number of lines. Not like it matters, none of you know Japanese anyway.
For recap, it was pretty good. It nice to see Eva presented in the kind of epic format it truly deserved. The animation is great, and for a show in which the scenes were all 4:3, they make the transition to 16:9 pretty well. Music is mostly the same, with some additions. Some scenes had completely redone pieces, and I’m not sure how I feel about them at the moment. I’ll have to see it again, which will probably be after I preorder the DVD from CD Japan with the money I don’t have.
The movie ended with a preview for the second movie, and it seems like it’ll cover up to episode 18-ish based on what they show, and if I remember the TV show correctly. There’s some old stuff, some new stuff and a lot of shit that leaves me scratching my head, hoping it’ll all make sense in the end. But yeah, it’s a lot better than the poopy Zeta movies, so WATCH IT.