August 05, 2011

Random Anime Picture #64: A Pleasant, Happy Show

In an attempt to distract myself from the ongoing saga of the Duck U Bookstore, I decided to watch something lighthearted, something innocuous, cheerful and fluffy.  Something like, oh I dunno...

-Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance
No, I'm not sure what I was thinking either, other than "I haven't watched this yet."  Unlike the first of the new movies, which was a faithful (but shortened) retelling of the first six episodes of the classic series, this second film strays far afield from the original source material.  It introduces a new Eva pilot, for example...

Standard RomCom "meet cute" #37: The Parachute Mishap
...then forgets about her for 45 minutes, brings her back in for a couple of moments, then misplaces her for an hour, but that's neither here nor there.  The movie also changes the personalities of the three main pilots.  Shinji is less whiny, Asuka is even more antisocial, and Rei... well, she actually has a personality.

The fight scenes are stunningly animated and amazing to watch.  They're also quite violent and brutal.  Blood, or what passes for blood in Evas and Angels, is spilled in copious amounts... and yes, the "wave of blood swamping the panel truck" scene is in here.

This is one of the tamer screencaps I could have used.
It appears that the Evas are "built" using Monty Python Black Knight Technology, as any wound suffered by the huge biomecha immediately begins spraying blood like a fire truck sprays water.  For example, there's one scene where an Eva is eaten by an Angel, the whole thing taken in one bite that severs the Eva just above the knees.  The leg stumps immediately begin spraying blood to the height of a 20-story building, and doesn't stop.  I don't know if Gainax meant that to be funny or not, but it made me laugh.

"It's merely a flesh wound!"
While there are some moments of intentional levity in Eva 2.22, on the whole it's a grim, dark, depressing film... pretty much like the original series, truth be told.  However, it's also much more tightly written, more engrossing, and less off-putting than the TV show.  I much prefer this "rebooted Eva" over the original, to be blunt.  We'll have to wait for the last two movies to see if they continue to be stronger than the series, of course... but if they are, well, Hideaki Anno will have made up for the horrible mess he made of episodes 25 & 26 of the TV show.

Oh, and Asuka gets her own version of the "toothpick scene."

Pen-Pen's gots the moves.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:12 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 441 words, total size 4 kb.

1 It's lovely-looking, but honestly, I can't go back. I'm still not convinced that they actually have anything to say, thematically speaking, besides "gee we sure made a lot of money when we did this the first time!"

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at August 06, 2011 02:05 AM (j42B4)

2 You might not be wrong, Av, and that concerns me as well.  This could all be a grand waste of time to ultimately get Rei With Toast again.  As may be though, it's visually worth the time... at least for me.

And, hey, I haven't seen anybody use The Parachute Mishap in awhile.

Posted by: Wonderduck at August 06, 2011 07:24 AM (KBBJ+)

3 I'm with Avatar: I don't really care how good it is; I don't want to watch it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 06, 2011 07:29 AM (+rSRq)

4
This could all be a grand waste of time to ultimately get Rei With Toast again.


Here, I'll save you the trouble....

http://brickmuppet.mee.nu/images/1140136057125.gif

Posted by: brickmuppet at August 06, 2011 04:05 PM (EJaOX)

5 3 I'm with Avatar: I don't really care how good it is; I don't want to watch it.Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 06, 2011 07:29 AM

I would have been surprised if you did, Steven.

Posted by: Wonderduck at August 06, 2011 06:49 PM (KBBJ+)

6 If they ever do a remake that actually has an ending - an ending that explains everything - I'll buy it.  I just don't expect that it's even possible...

Posted by: Siergen at August 07, 2011 01:59 AM (H+DyV)

7

"End of Evangelion" did explain everything.

Whether you'll like the explanation is a different question.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 07, 2011 06:08 AM (+rSRq)

8 I started 2.22 something like two months ago and still haven't finished it.  I probably wouldn't have watched it at all after seeing the first movie which, as you mentioned, is an abbreviation of the first six episodes of the series.  An almost shot-for-shot, word-for-word abbreviation.  BUT, I knew that Gainax apparently started shaking things up in the second movie, so I went ahead and bought it.

Unfortunately, I'm stymied a bit by not being able to listen to the English dub.  Heresy to some, I know, but I like starting with English when possible so that I can focus on the visuals.  The English dub here is an improvement over the original series dub, but it's still bad, in my opinion.  And I would really like to know if the original Japanese dialogue is that cheesy, or if that's just the translation.

Currently stuck on the aquarium scene.  A minute into the scene and I just lost all interest in what was going on.

Posted by: Ben at August 08, 2011 11:03 AM (RalIr)

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