Reviews

This movie marks the transition between the Neon Genesis Evangelion story we know and the alternate story from the trilogy. It takes what the first film established and develops the characters separate from the series, taking new routes and setting up a completely different conclusion. One of the most significant changes in Evangelion 2.0 compared to the series is the pilots’ visit to the aquarium. It’s an important moment since it represents the quiet amidst all of the chaos. The young protagonists are in awe of the vast body of water and the fish which reside in it, despite experiencing otherworldly encounters regularly. That goes to show how much the world had changed since our peaceful era. But is an aquarium cool enough to warrant the amount of time we spend watching them ogle? Shinji controls a giant robot from inside and uses over-sized bazookas to annihilate alien monsters, and a couple of tiny fish impress him? I don’t think he has his priorities straight here. He has too sexy girls in skin-tight plugsuits fighting for his affection and all he wants is a thumbs up from his deadbeat dad? I’m not saying that Shinji should molest Asuka in her sleep or anything but just make a move before the world explodes into angel blood, dude. Another girl joins the harem and basically begs for Shinji to plug his UCC canned coffee into her cockpit, but he is too depressed and socially inept to respond. Time is running out to act on those hormonal instincts and there is only one movie left. This better work out like in the doujins or I’ll be very disappointed.

Rated 6/10 for blue-balling me but overall 8/10 for a refreshing revisal of the confusing twists and weird pacing from the series. Although some of my favorite sequences and developments weren’t included, it’s a much cleaner version of the story.