|
Genre: Science fiction (Giant Robots) Length: 120 minutes (4 episodes) Audience Age: 13+ Opinion: I still have yet to see an anime series superior to Evangelion. This is a review of the DVD release. This series maybe the best known anime TV series that is not on Cartoon Network. |
|
I know this statement may sound bold, but I still have yet to see an anime series superior to Evangelion. When I first started collecting anime (spring/summer 1997), this was the only title that mattered to the critics I followed, and since I liked Robotech and Voltron (both series always seem to have questionable video distribution status until Robotech was recently aquired by ADV Films) I figured I would give this $25 a VHS, giant robot themed series a chance. A year later, I had all 13 tapes, the Taiwanese bootleg of the first soundtrack, a set of imported key chains, and Chinese subtitled versions of the first two theatrical films. As far as I am concerned, this dramatic science fiction series which mixes the classic Japanese standby of giant beings using a city as an arena and elements of the book of Revelations, is the best science fiction series ever made for television (Star Trek, Dr. Who, and Babylon 5 fans who object to this statement can reach me at bitemescifigeeks@animeflow.cubs). Desperate for more of this series, I decided to purchase the first DVD of Neon Genesis Evangelion with full knowledge that this would just be the first four episodes that I already had on tape. I guess I am evidence about how addictive watching the adventures of Shinji Ikari are since I am allowing ADV Films to sell this to me as if they were a shady person with a questionable substance at an 80s Motley Crüe concert and I was Nikki Sixx. |
|
Fifteen years after the "Second Impact" disaster of 2000, Shinji Ikari, a 14 year-old who may be suffering from chronic depression, is called to Tokyo 3 by his father that abandoned him 10 years-ago to "focus on the fate of mankind". He was not given a reason to come to the new metropolis, but being compliant to avoid the trouble determining his own fate, he arrive in the third Tokyo which quickly becomes a battlefield. After being rescued from the chaos of United Nation jets' pointless battle with a giant beast known as an Angel, his rescuer, Misato Katsuragi, takes him to Nerv Headquarters, a base hidden beneath the city. Shinji's father hardly takes the time to welcome his only child as he tells him to get into a giant bio-mechanical being, Evangelion Unit 01, and face the Angel in hand to hand combat. He asks why he must pilot and is told that he is the only one who can. There maybe one other pilot, Rei, but she is already severly injured, so Shinji must decide whose life will be put on the line. |
