While the first movie centered mainly around setting up the story again, following the plot of the series quite closely, this installment is the first of the series to pull away from the original TV anime, introducing new characters, enemies, dilemmas, and even new sides to old characters.
The visuals are just... outstanding. There's nothing more I can say. There's no possible way to describe how things look. The animation is like water, not at all awkward and jerky, not even slightly. It's also very, VERY crisp and clear, and nothing looks out of place at all. I can't say much else. It looks perfect.
As for the sound, I haven't watched the English dub but the Japanese voices are top notch as always. The music is also very moving, and... well I suppose I do have one complaint. If you've seen the original series, you'll remember the berserker moment, the chilling scream of the Evangelion... it's not there. I don't even remember if there WAS a scream, it's that forgettable. And if there was, it was rather dull and didn't leave an impression... which is a shame, but, I suppose that makes it even more of a memory associated with the original series alone. Apart from that, the audio is magnificent.
I found it really enjoyable to see the revamped versions of the original cast as (in my opinion, at least) these characters are a lot more likable than their original counterparts. It's also substantially easier to track the motivations of each character and why they do what they do - no more "WHY-THE-F**K-DID-YOU-DO-THAT?!" moments, thankfully! There is development in the characters, more subtle (and yet, less fragile) than in the original series, and that's what makes them feel a lot more human.
There's nothing more I can say, really. It's definitely not a movie that you have to enjoy Mecha series to watch, nor is it a movie you need to have seen the anime to understand. If anything it probably goes into more depth at times than the anime did, and makes the state of the world a lot easier to imagine. Just... watch it, ok? If you don't like it, feel free to mark this as useless. But if you do like it, why not mark this as a useful review to show people just what exactly they're missing out on, eh?
That is all. Enjoy yourselves!
