In the fall of October 4, 1995 Gainax released Neon Genesis Evangelion, the story of an apocalyptic future revolving around Earth’s last stronghold and defense against the incredibly powerful creatures known as Angels. Evangelion, with its hyper violent mecha action, deep emotional character development, and intrinsically puzzling philosophical and religious themes, was an instant hit. Forever polarizing its place in the annuls of anime history. But if you’re like me, and you sat through all twenty-six of those epic episodes, you know that the original ending left much to be desired in the way of resolution. Director Hideaki Anno felt the same exact way. Due to time and budget constraints, NGE was left with a less than stellar ending for two years before Gainax attempted to give viewers the ending the series truly deserved. Unfortunately, after attempts like Death and Rebirth, The End of Evangelion, and the Revival of Evangelion viewers were no closer to closure of any kinds and left even more confused than we were after the original ending.
Can you really take one of the most visually stunning and story driven anime series of our age and transform it into a finely craft cinematic masterpiece? Yes. Yes you can. Director Hideaki Anno has taken twenty six episodes and masterfully condensed them into Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone and Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance. Somehow, Gainax has managed to condense, what is an immense story involving many characters and many themes, and not only expand on it but improve upon it. Armed with the new 3D CG technology, Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 is gorgeous. Accompanied by Dolby DTS 5.1 and stunning audio track you get to feel every devastating battle, every primal scream, and every single whiny Shinji rant in full audiophile glory
Without posting a Spoiler Alert, I will just say that 1.11 and 2.22 will answer more questions than they ever asked in the OVA and do so in such a manner that will blow all of your preconceptions about what you know about NGE or of the water. So, yes go pick up this masterpiece. Yes, it is in sexy BluRay. And finally, yes I would recommend this and I’m posting a link: Evangelion: 1.11 You Are Not Alone [Blu-ray]
