[SPOILERS] Seeing Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 on the BIG SCREEN.

Sat, 22 May 2010 09:41:05 -0700

Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone and Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance on the BIG SCREEN at London's BFI Southbank Cinema

It was Friday the 21st of May, the day after my Birthday. To my misfortune, it was unusually warm. Walking around London in the scolding heat isn't something I would recommend. Unfortunately myself and the heat don't mix too well and I was granted with a small headache that seemed to turn itself on and off whenever it felt like it. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to let anything get me down, as in a few hours I would be watching Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone and Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance at London's BFI Southbank cinema as part of their Anime Weekend event. Myself and my friend arrived at the BFI cinema at around 6:00pm - half an hour before the first film was due to start. We collected our tickets and decided to take a look around the place. The cinema had much to offer, including a free movie screening near the entrance, a nice looking restaurant and areas equip with game consoles where you could just drop in and play. My friend had a little go on WarioWare on the DS while I took a few pictures to capture the moment. An announcement was delivered over the speakers - we could now make our way to the screen and find our seats - and that we did. The cinema itself was very large and the screen (NFT1) could also be described as such. We were sat near enough in the middle of the cinema, on seats H13 and H14. Thankfully we booked quite far in advance so there were a lot of seats available to choose from. The seats were comfy, they reclined and were in a great position. Thanks to the reclining ability of the seats, I was able to sit back, relax and enjoy the fact that my headache had subsided. After everyone had found their seats one of the organisers introduced himself and announced they had some freebies donated by Tokyopop to give away. A few questions were asked to decide who would receive the freebies and despite knowing the answers for two of the four questions, sadly I wasn't picked to answer and so won nothing. But no matter... I didn't come here to win anything, I came here to see Evangelion. Just before the film started I had a look around the cinema to see what kind of people had attended the screening. It was interesting to see such diversity in the audience. People of all ages and of all backgrounds had turned up to see the movie. In the words of EvaGeeks.org - Evangelion unites us all.

The curtains opened to reveal the screen and the first movie started. A group of people started clapping, which set off a chain reaction of applauds. We were all extremely excited for what was to come. The silent opening credits finished and the first scene, in beautiful quality, presented itself to us. It was a digital screening, so the quality was wonderfully sharp and clear and lacked any kind of film grain. And contrary to what was advertised, the film shown was Evangelion 1.11 (in crisp, digital, bluray quality might I add) and not Evangelion 1.0. So we were treated to some nice short new sequences and retouched animation in addition to the already fantastic film. For the next hour and a half we all sat in our seats, mostly silent, but never bored. The film was forever engrossing, the comedy hit the spot and the drama was intense. Many - like myself - were already fans of the original series or had already seen the first film before, but this fact did not hinder our enjoyment one bit. The climax drew to a close, Kaworu had his first appearance, which was met with excitement by some, and the film ended. As soon as the credits started to roll many burst into instant discussion about what they had just seen, and upon turning towards my friend, whose first experience of Evangelion had just ended, whilst still staring at the screen he said "Wow, that was fucking amazing." I wanted to stick around for the preview of the second movie, but we left during the credits as my friend wanted everything in the second film to be completely fresh to him when he saw it. He didn't want any previews, spoilers or plot details however minor they were. After leaving the screen we chatted about the film for a good ten minutes. My friend compared the experience we had just been through to his first time seeing a film at the cinema - he was well and truly blown away. I, too, despite having seen the original series twice and Evangelion 1.0 three times, was also struck for words. What made this screening completely different to the other times I had seen the film was the fantastic atmosphere and the fact that I was watching it with a cinema full of fellow Eva fans. After the discussion with my friend we had a quick toilet break and I took some more pictures. While sitting on the floor, in discussion about the film once again, I saw a girl who was cosplaying as Mari walk by. Her costume was pretty much spot on, from the glasses to the pantyhose, but I didn't go and ask her for a picture as she seemed busy with her friends. After that, we headed back to the screen ready for Evangelion 2.0.

The cinema was a lot busier now. More people had turned up in addition to those who had just viewed the first film. This time we were in seats E13 and E14 - three rows in front of where we were sitting during the first movie. These, again, were very good seats. The lights went out and the film started, this time without an introduction by one of the organisers and without an applause. Unlike the digital screening of the first film, Evangelion 2.0 was projected as normal, like how you would usually see a film at the cinema. So this time around there was a little film grain and it wasn't as crisp, but it was nothing that was going to deter our enjoyment. A couple of people made unexpected noises when the movie started in English, not knowing it was part of the Japanese dub. I guess you can't blame them. They must have felt relieved when they noticed the Engrish - many chuckled at Kaji's dialogue as it was incredibly hard to work out what he was saying. The opening sequence was, at the very least, absolutely breathtaking. Having seen the camrip a couple of months prior to watching Evangelion 2.0 at the cinema, there were a lot of sequences I was looking forward to seeing on the big screen, and the opening sequence was one of them. This was a very busy scene, filled with a lot of action that takes places in rather darkly lit areas, so it was difficult to tell what was happening when watching the camrip. In the cinema, however, I was able to enjoy the scene how it was intended in its epic glory. I was able to get a good look at the new angel and Unit 05, piloted by the charismatic new character, Mari. Following an enjoyable scene with Mari getting to grips with Unit 05, the angel breaks out of NERV's arctic Bethany Base and comes upon some phenomenal scenery. The location appeared to be a giant circle fortress, rimmed with multiple pillars and shrouded in a violent storm in the middle of the ocean. It was an impressive sight on the big screen. I couldn't believe that after wanting to see this film in the cinema so badly, it was finally happening. I was finally sitting in a nice, comfy, reclining chair, in a large cinema, watching Evangelion 2.0 along with my friend and many other fans. I knew I was in for one hell of a ride and would not come away disappointed. Shortly after the opening sequence the film moved swiftly on to Asuka's introduction and there were many laughs to be had during the next thirty or so minutes. The entire cinema was in hysterics during Asuka's meeting with PenPen, which mirrored Shinji's scene in the first film. Gendo's three times repeated "yeah" in answer to Rei's questions as they were having dinner and Asuka's flying kick to Shinji's jaw also gathered many laughs, but it was the sequence where Kaji pretended to kiss Shinji that we - the audience - found most humorous. The audience remained almost consistently silent the rest of the time, obviously taking in the complex, character driven story and admiring the breathtaking action sequences. I couldn't help but grin at certain points throughout the film, as there were many scenes I was looking forward to and much to be happy about - this was Evangelion on the big screen, after all. Sahaquiel's sequence in particular gave me, in the words of Rei, a 'warm and fuzzy feeling'. Much like the opening sequence, seeing all three main Eva Units dashing towards the angel at high speed, jumping over obstacles, stamping on roads and their shockwaves demolishing cars along the way, was a very impressive sight on the big screen.

I wondered how the audience would react to the sequence of Unit 01 demolishing Unit 04, now piloted by Asuka, accompanied by music that was rather ironic to the imagery. The cinema remained quiet, reminding me of the fact that the majority of the people there were die hard Evangelion fans, and so probably anticipated such a scene conjured by the mind of Anno and his apprentices. The start of the climax drew close. This almost two hour long film sure had flown by. Everyone remained stunned during the final battle - the intensity had glued us to our seats. Then before we knew it, after a thoughtful, typical Eva-esque mind-boggling final sequence, the final words of the film were spoken and the screen went black. The film ended in true Evangelion style, massive cliff-hanger in tow. The credits were met with a thunder storm of applause, whistles and cheers followed by an instant flow of discussion. A couple of people left during the credits, but most stayed and waited for the preview of the third movie which would be shown at the very end. The credits ended with 'Chief Director - Hideaki Anno' which received much applause and for good reason. The credits ended, but before the preview was an extra scene that directly followed the very last sequence of the movie. The appearance of Kaworu was met with a loud cheer by a man near the back, which was followed by a series of laughter - some in reaction to the man's cheer and some at Kaworu's "Shinji-kun, this time, I'll definitely make you happy." line. The extra scene lasted just under thirty seconds and presented us with a shocking revelation. A Lance of Longinus descended to Earth, piercing Unit 01 and stopping the near-godlike being in its tracks. Kaworu had effectively stopped the Third Impact. The preview for Evangelion 3.0: Q Quickening then started directly after the extra scene. It was met with much concentration as we all couldn't wait to see what direction the film was going to go in from here, especially after seeing Kaworu's actions just seconds before. Gasps mixed with relief and surprise accompanied the appearance of the eye-patch wearing Asuka at the very end, and we all applauded and cheered like mad as the preview ended and Misato, in proper Evangelion fashion, promised more fan service next time. The curtains then closed, and the film was over.

Seeing both films back-to-back made me realise just how different in tone Evangelion 2.0 is when compared to the first film. The second film can almost be split into two half’s - the first half presenting the audience with more light hearted, comical moments and the second half presenting us with intensity and drama. The first film, however, very much sets the mood and sticks to that throughout. Another realisation I ran into was how great the soundtrack, sound editing and sound design were. The sound quality obviously wasn't all that good in the camrip, but the cinema really unleashed the films full potential in impressive surround sound. The volume was at a very high level and the explosion Ramiel's beam made in the first movie as it almost disintegrated a mountain made our seats rumble. I'm sure the booming sound was understandably too loud for some, but I thought it produced amazing results. The acoustic version of Utada Hikaru's 'Beautiful World' played during the credits of the second film was also a wonder to listen to. We left the cinema extremely satisfied and with massive smiles on our faces. Never before had we experienced anything quite like that. I had seen Evangelion 1.0 at the cinema last year, but it was part of an Anime All-Nighter event where five anime movies of differing genres were shown from midnight to morning. The attendees were very much just general anime fans and no one really came specifically for Evangelion, so the atmosphere was very different this time around. Pretty much every person who came to see Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 were genuine Eva fans and I think they contributed a great deal to what made the day and the experience so fantastic. Every single person in the cinema helped set the atmosphere and the mood. Watching these stunningly high quality, mind-blowing films with a cinema full of Eva fans made all the difference. It was wonderful watching such a movie with people you know are going to adore it as much as you are. Besides my friend, I only really spoke to two other members of the audience and that was only briefly, but I am eternally grateful to everyone who came. Thank you all for a wonderful experience and thank you BFI for showing these excellent films created by some of the best minds in cinema today. I hope I am able to repeat this experience in a couple of years time whenever Evangelion 3.0 and 4.0 are completed and are (hopefully) shown in London's BFI Southbank cinema in all their glory. It is a moment that I look forward to with the utmost anticipation, and I will cherish the absolutely fantastic experience I went through seeing Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 on the big screen for all eternity.

つづく

Touka's Blog - MyAnimeList.net

[SPOILERS] Seeing Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 on the BIG SCREEN.