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[NOTE: Mild SPOILERS in this review]

I just got back from seeing Evangelion 1.0 in theaters, and it was some experience. Though I didn't end up bringing the boom box playing a ripped CD of Prince's 1999 (and a bloody shame that is, too) it was still a real treat. The crowd was bigger than I had anticipated - I wondered if I might actually have the theater to myself, this being such a niche release and all, but it turns out I was dead wrong. While I wouldn't say every row was packed - it wasn't exactly a Transformers crowd (though one guy did have ... a Transformers T-shirt) - I would readily say that well over half the theater was filled out. Incidentally, I also believe I was one of roughly half the audience that was present who had bathed within the last 24 hours, and of that I am proud. There was some brief buzz and exchange before the movie started, but in quick manner, start it did.

Well, first things first: It shouldn't be hard to tell from the trailers alone, but I can confirm that this movie is absolutely gorgeous. The animation is silky smooth, the attention to detail is breathtakingly rich, the CG is (contrary to some early rumors) largely well-incorporated, the Sadamato character designs are as beautiful, expressive and subtle as ever, if not moreso. Everything from the Evas to the heavy machinery to Misato's lingerie is rendered in a level of painstaking detail that the budget of a now-multimillion-dollar franchise can allow for. (Although it seems their only revenue isn't just from moviegoers and anime fans - Doritos® brand corn-based snack chips™ from Frito Lay® are now prominently featured in Misato's apartment, and Tokyo-3 seems to have accepted a hefty investment from Pizza Hut®.) This is one visually eye-popping movie. Speaking of eye-popping, this has a shocking amount of T&A for a PG-13 movie - in addition to the most memorable fanservice shots from the show, prepare to see a lot of new takes on Shinji's and Rei's (and even Kaworu's) naked buttocks, not to mention several surprise nip-slips from the latter (Rei, that is).

Audio-wise, the music is extensively and suitably upgraded from the show's questionable production values. Shiro Sagisu's new score contains a satisfying mix of new themes, extensively reworked versions of classics (a choral version of "Angel Attack" is particularly memorable), and even some faithful rehashes of songs from the original that have earned their places in fans' hearts. His musical style is still decidedly... unconventional, and I'm still not sure if I personally prefer him to the likes of, say, Kenji Kawai or Kaoru Wada. But hey, he's Anno's choice for a composer, and I respect that. One certainly can't argue that the music for Evangelion isn't iconic. On the translation/voice acting side, there's likewise some new and some familiar (in fact, that statement could pretty much apply to anything about the movie). Spike Spencer and Allison Keith naturally steal the show with their leading roles that they only continue to perfect over time. The various newcomers all get the jobs done; I wouldn't necessarily pick them over the cast members they're replacing, but at least there aren't any stinkers (which is more than can be said for the last two times the show was recast...). Greg Ayres plays Kensuke a little too high-pitched (even by Greg Ayres standards), John Swasey is still no replacement for Tristan MacAvery, and while I'm generally a fan of Colleen Clinkenbeard, I'm just too used to Sue Ulu's voice as Ritsuko to really accept her; conversely, Brina Palencia did a far better job at Rei than I could have ever anticipated (even as REI, she still stands out), the new Keel Lorenz has the deep and foreboding voice that he always should have had, and the new Kaworu (from the maybe 3 lines of dialogue he speaks) seems to get the character just right. The translation is effective, but seems to lack just a little bit of that Woolsey-ish magic that made the original so memorable. This being a Funimation production, the general dialogue flows more smoothly and naturally than most dubs, but it's a little disappointing to see how they've altered a couple of iconic lines (fortunately, "I mustn't run away" isn't one of them). Also, SEELE no longer has fünky accents. Of this, I vehemently disapprove. It reminded me a lot of playing the newer, re-translated versions of classic video games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV; the translations may be more accurate and natural-sounding now, but they've lost a little bit of that 90's charm they once had. I wouldn't quite say it ruins the experience, though.

Now, for the most important part: the plot. For the first half of the movie, I really had one word going through my head: rushed. Because that's what it is. It really just seems like the movie is racing to knock off one highlight moment from the show's first four episodes after the next. The pacing and even the dialogue feels rushed. It's quite interesting, then, that by about the half-way mark (or what felt like the half-way mark, anyway - I wasn't keeping time) the movie suddenly slows down not to relish action sequences or even to recreate familiar scenes, but to linger on moments of character interaction and inflection. The familiar scenes range from painstakingly recreated to subtly altered in significant ways, but cleverly hidden among them are several new scenes that, while easy to miss, imply some crucial new angles on the plot. The shocking scenes with Lilith and the SEELE moon base have already been remarked upon by all who have seen them, but less widely noted - and, in my opinion, even more significant - is a new scene of interaction between Gendo and Fuyutsuki, in which Gendo explicitly states that "the Children are acting out the scripts we wrote for them 14 years ago." More chillingly still, he states that "soon Shinji will begin to get closer to Rei", among other predictions that seem to break the fourth wall. (Keep in mind, while in Evangelion's world "14 years ago" marked the beginning of Second Impact, in OUR world 14 years ago marked the beginning of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Hmmmmmm......)

Which brings me about to what is really the #1 theme of this movie, and which I suspect will become much, much more important down the road: recursion. The film simply does not stand on its own as an independent experience; I know I personally would hesitate before showing it to someone who hadn't seen the series already. It rushes through a lot of the crucial scenes, and skips vast amounts of exposition, to linger solely on moments that are particularly potent for those who have seen the series before. I've had my suspicions for a while, but after seeing the movie I'm now quite certain that this is absolutely not a mere retelling of the series; Anno clearly knew when making this that the vast majority of the audience would be people who had already seen the series, and while it seems to play coy with this fact on the outside, it doesn't take much digging (at least as far as I see it) to uncover that film is tossing a mocking wink and nod at viewers at every possible opportunity. In addition to the aforementioned altered and new scenes that drastically undermine the plot as we know it, there is that aforementioned theme of "recursion". On top of Gendo's dialogue with Fuyutsuki, motifs of "fate", "recurrence" and "rebirth" are rampant. One new visual motif many have noticed is the rainbow, which shows up at a number of crucial scenes and as far as I can see is a new symbol of recurrence and rebirth. SEELE's stepped-up logo now features actual, printed lyrics from the "Ode to Joy" - a song/poem that has quite a bit to say about fate. And with Kaworu's remarks in the final scene, he might as well be looking straight at the audience and quoting Homer Simpson: "Why are you paying to see in theaters what you could watch for free at home [or in this case, have already bought multiple times]?? If you ask me, everyone in this theater is a complete moron, especially YOUUUUUU!!!!!!" I've heard a number of things (probably too much) about the second movie, and all I can say is I am now 100% confident that the 4.0 will be a complete, unabashed mindf**k directed squarely at a base of viewers who, in Anno's opinion, should not still be paying to see essentially the same thing over and over anymore (in regards to the anime industry at large).

But like before, Anno's beloved brainchild is not merely a disgruntled, cynical commentary on the world and the anime industry. It's also a very personal journey and parable. For a good chunk of the movie I wondered if not even Evangelion could reach my heart anymore; it was once the case that I felt right there in Shinji's shoes, sharing all his struggles and tribulations. Now, at 18, I don't know if I can still relate to the 14-year-old character in the same way. I've developed differently over these years, and the struggles I face now are so different, yet so uncomfortably similar; yet all around, the ways in which I can and must face my troubles are different now. Maybe I felt so separated from the film for the same reasons I feel so separated from others; I've locked away my emotions, all my fear and sadness, and thrown away the key, someplace where even I can't find it. I can no longer be so open, so in touch with those things as Shinji is. But there were crucial parts of the film that, ultimately, made even me remember what I truly hope for in life. Those few, tender, tantalizing moments of closeness and understanding that Shinji has with Misato and Rei near the end of the film are a reminder, a reminder I needed so very, very much, about what can be truly beautiful about the interactions between people. That simple motif of holding hands spoke more than any words could...

And so, as an anime fan, as a film enthusiast, and as a person, I am proud to say that I am back in the world of Evangelion, and I will be eagerly following the progression of this new series. The themes of rebirth and dogged hope are those which are deeply relevant to me this time around, and while I try to put the cracked and shattered pieces of my life together, I look forward to making the journey to love and self-affirmation with my old friend Shinji once again.