AKA: Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, Shinseiki Evangelion Gekijou-ban: Shito Shinsei

Genre: Mecha sci-fi

Length: Movie, 110 minutes

Distributor: Currently licensed by GKids.

Content Rating: Death: PG-13 (violence, some adult situations) Rebirth: R (graphic violence, explicit adult situation)

Related Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion

Also Recommended: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Notes: Death & Rebirth is not to be used as a substitute for viewing the TV series. To truly understand and enjoy this anime, you must watch at least episodes 1-24 of the TV series. It is presented in two segments, as named in the title.

Rating:

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth

Synopsis

Death is essentially Evangelion TV episodes 1-24 in a non-linear order. The movie starts with multiple overlapping conversations in a relatively small basement. After this instance, the movie reenacts the Second Impact in much more detail. A few minutes later, we meet Shinji on a stage of a high school auditorium getting ready for a rehearsal of a Bach symphony. After each child enters the auditorium, bits and pieces of the Evangelion TV series related to that character are laced with new bits of footage that was supposedly cut from the Japanese version.

Review

This is nothing new to fans of the Evangelion TV series. While there are instances in which footage from the extra scenes released in Japan was included in Death & Rebirth, the scenes were minimal, but some of those scenes did lead into a bit more detail into the Evangelion saga. The first part (Death) contained mostly rehashed scenes from the TV series, some of which were altered slightly. In one instance, the tint of the screen and angle of the footage was altered. It is a shame though. You would think that a movie such as this would have a better budget to allow for some new animation. Well, there are some new music clips, but many of these weren't even composed by anyone on the Evangelion staff. The classical pieces played throughout the first part are works of Bach and other composers.

But after Death, we finally recognize the true motive of GAINAX. Death turns out to be nothing more than a time consumer to allow for the showing of Rebirth in theaters in Japan. Rebirth is more of an advertisement than it is a movie in itself. Rebirth shows approximately the first half hour of the Evangelion movie, and what a half hour it is. Finally, SEELE has turned its back on Ikari Gendou for not adhering to their plans. SEELE sends in commandos to kill all who work in NERV headquarters (and in a violent manner at that). SEELE has also unleashed the rest of the Eva series to fight Asuka.

And that's where it ends. While I liked the second part of the movie, the obvious objective of the movie really turned me off and prevented me from truly enjoying this anime. This DVD is a must-buy only for the hardened Evangelion fan or just a huge collector of anime DVDs.

For Evangelion fans only. — Robert Nelson

Recommended Audience: In Death, the majority of the violence does exist and is taken from the TV series. In Rebirth, it's a totally different story. Shinji's infamous first scene gives away the rating of this movie.