When I first heard that they were making a rebuild of this series, I was excited, but I was skeptical that they would do a good job. And then they did. 2.0 Is example of changing the source material in a good way.2.0 centers around more characters this time, including Auska and Mari as new characters. As a fan of Auska in the past, I was glad to see her return to the screen and kick some angel ass. Mari was also an okay character, providing one of the best scenes in the movie. The best character in this movie, hands-down, is Shinji. Near the end, I paused the movie and went: "WHY IS SHINJI NOT ACTING LIKE HIMSELF???!!!" because he was showing courage and ability to stay in one place. This is an insane improvement for Shinji, because in NGE, he is always having anxiety attacks and running away. He provided us with one hell of a climax and the want to pick up the next movie right away to see what happens.The action is a lot better this time around, because there are people who can actually fight angels cough*Auska*cough which makes the movie fast paced and interesting. There is this one scene with the dummy system later in the movie, who goes to town on a angel, and shows that while useful, only humans can pilot EVA's or TOO much damage will be done. IN conclusion: I like this movie a lot. It has good characters, great action, and a ending you will never forget. Plus, Shinji isn't a pussy.

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance does in fact not advance my love of the series. I certainly would not recommend this movie to anyone who has not watched the original series as so much is introduced with little or no explanation. Essentially this movie attempts to cram the original television series into a movie format while simply making minor changes to certain Angels appearance, adding onto Evangelions "modes" and introducing a new pilot. If you're new to the Evangelion series and would like to know: any back story on the events leading up to what happened to the earth, why the Angels are here or what they are, what the Evangelions are, and why kids have to pilot them....Do not expect any of this to be explained. If you have followed the series and would like to know who the pilot is and why she is here or possibly answer questions left from the original series....Do not expect any of this to be explained.The original series certainly suffered from periods of inactivity, shots that go on for way to long, and confusing sequences which it compensated for with wonderfully done battle scenes. This movie does do away with those unnecessary long scenes and attempts to compress the story in between rapidly occurring battles. However these battles to me simply did not have the intensity that built up in the series nor were as interesting as the ones featured in the other movie. Ultimately the fight scenes came across as rushed copies.Finally I did not enjoy the music. The orchestrated score fit well into the movie but the translated Japanese pop songs seemed to make certain scenes grind on.Overall I found this movie to be lacking in Story telling of any sort. Characters are rushed together and their motivations/back story/interactions severely lacking. The plot is paper thin and was only comprehensible due to my knowledge of the series. Nothing new that was introduced made it worth the time of watching.

I watched Evangelion as a teenager and liked many aspects of it. However the series was very weak and repetitive in the middle and clearly suffered production difficulties near the end. The movies didn't do much for me after the initial epic-scope aesthetics of End of Evangelion had worn off. Now more than 10 years later I'm pretty happy that things have been reordered and re-rendered to make the series into what it should really have been in the first place.I don't like the fact than Anno Hideaki has been able to milk the somewhat unfinished series for so much cash and so many editions (not to mention pachinko machines) so far, but taking 1.0 and 2.0 as stand-alone works (and ignoring their pretentious titles) is pretty satisfying.Story 8/10 Good: much more than a rehash of the series. The story is fleshed out in some of the most necessary places and feels so much tighter and more concentrated than anything that has come before. Some awesome new snippets of what is to come later in the series add some satisfying excitement.However, there is still an element of "here comes the next baddie" which gets a little tiresome. It is dealt with much more effectively here than the series, but it's still predictable. Nevertheless, despite giving the impression of being about to enter the full-on "monster of the week" barrage, it never really does, which is a blessed relief. The interactions of the characters are becoming more believable, and individual personalities are being better exposed and explained.But, and it's a necessary but, what's the deal with the fan-service? Come on, man. Take yourself seriously, won't you? Animation 9/10 Well, it teetered between absolutely superb and a little disappointing. The budget was clearly insanely high. Action sequences are fantastically detailed and choreographed for the main part, although suffer from gratuitous flailing of limbs and ridiculous acrobats which unfortunately dumb it down a little. Backgrounds are simply amazing. The detail and range is incredible. The failings lie in the characters. Sometimes character faces and expressions look out of place by their simplicity. The broad pen pines and over-simple shading are a bit of a let-down.Sound 7.5/10 Not particularly amazing. Again we see the technique of using a mixture of classical and children's music for depth and vulnerability. I'm surprised at some of the choices though. For example, one of the children's songs used is very popular in Japan and often used in elementary schools. The manner in which it is normally used makes its appearance in the film almost comical; which can't have been the intention. Not really knowing many Japanese people who care that much about anime I haven't been able to ask what they though, but it seemed a bit silly to me.The Japanese people speaking English throughout the film are incredibly embarrassing. What a huge mis-calculation. How hard is it to train people to say a small number of lines in a natural way? Characters 8.5 Although some of the characters (particularly Asuka) seem to have become even less likable, for the most part the big-hitters have only improved. Although there is little time left for the minor-characters to develop or even really be involved, the well-developed personalities of the leads take somewhat new directions in their relations to one another. The relationship between teen-sap Shinji and his father has a more satisfying and somewhat relatable edge to it now, and Rei's annoyingly hyperbolic meekness has been flatted out to something more forgiving. All in all, satisfying.And the new lead, Mari, is much better than (at least I) predicted. She has a very interesting relationship with herself, and pain. I am definitely looking forward to her future development.Eva designs seem to have changed slightly around the waist which was a curious choice, and doesn't add much to their attractiveness. In contrast, the Angels have been changed for the better. The old, sometimes Ultraman-ish designs were sometimes a little... Ultraman-ish. The reduced number and better designs have helped things along well.Overall 8.5/10 Overall satisfying. For me the film didn't quite have the intensity ascribed to it by others, and the ending I thought actually lacked a little emotional attachment. I also thought that the amazing animation and choreography discussed above wasn't nearly as good near the end as it was earlier in the feature. But despite this, as a whole this movie blows the series out of the water. So much which was unsatisfactory is now shiny and new. Whether or not I would feel this way about the film without having seen the rest of the franchise is anyone's guess, but I really enjoyed it. Good work, keep it up.

Let me start by saying that I consider the original Evangelion show as one of the best animes ever made. One thing in particular made it special: the characters.Back then we got to spend a great deal of time with Shinji a teenager with a huge responsibility on his shoulders who does not carry it easily like an action hero stereotype but is rather deeply hurt by it and by his relationship with his father. I look at the Shinji in this movie and yes, he does seem a bit shy and... but wait! there's a big action sequence coming up! Damn does the new angel design look cool! Oh yes, where were we? The characters... well in the original series there was that totally weird blue haired girl the likes of which we'd never seen in another anime before. Rei was such an enigma, you had to guess if she was even human or not. Thankfully this is fixed now and yes, she is a bit strange... but wait! Big action sequence coming through! 10 minutes of gorgeous explosions and punches! Yay, this is amazing!! So back to Rei.. now she is cooking for a party. Isn't this lovely, that's more how a young girl should behave. Not like that Asuka who is now in an aggressive mood. Always. In the original show she used to be a lot more likable, maybe because we could see a more childish side of her. Now she's this annoying genius who feels lonely and... But wait another super-cool fight is starting after this 38th panty shot! Wow it's our new character! She's great and she's... umm...she's like...well... i don't really know, but she kicks ass!! This rebuild of Evangelion is so cool!!! Yeah...