(return to disc)
Content rating: 6
Posted 2003-02-22 by StupendousMan
Endorsed by kurt on 2003-04-06 23:53:00
Evangelion has impressed me from the start all the
way through disk 3, but the episodes on disk 4 just aren't
up to snuff. Sigh. It's still a good show, but -- at least
in this section -- not a great one. Aside from the
half-episode spent recounting the series so far (bleagh),
the problem is changing the focus from the children who
pilot the Evas to the adults who command them. Perhaps
their stories might be just as interesting if told well,
but the writing in these episodes feels too heavy-handed
to me.
The first episode puts Misato on the spot as the officer
in charge of NERV headquarters while Ikari-san and his
second-in-command travel elsewhere. We see very briefly
flashbacks to an event which occured when she was a child:
the Second Impact. I think we are supposed to gain some
insight into her personality, her drive to defend the
Earth, but I didn't get it. The actual encounter between
the Angel and the Evas is an anticlimax, too.
In the second episode, we learn a bit about Ritsuko's past,
especially her relationship with her mother. A very
different sort of Angel infiltrates the NERV fortress
and attacks their computers, which were designed and built
by Ritsuko's mother. I like the way that the action leaves
the stereotypical arena of "giant robots whack each other"
and takes a more subtle approach, but, once again, I
just didn't feel any connection to the character and
her past. Sorry.
The first half of the final episode on this disk is one
of those "recap of what's happened so far" segments which
appear so frequently in anime. Yuck. The only positive
feature is that we are shown the names of the eleven
Angels. Most (or all?) of the names sound as if they
are Hebrew -- which does start to make one wonder just
why humans have been calling these invaders from
space "angels" all this time. Hmmmm....
So, after watching this disk, I now know that both
Misato and Ritsuko had unhappy relationships with their
parents. I'm afraid that I react with "Big Deal."
We already have one character, Shinji, who is
in many ways defined by his love and hate for his
father. Do we really need so many others?
On the positive side, I really did enjoy watching
the interplay between the three children. I would have
liked to see much more of it, and I hope that in future
disks, the focus returns to Shinji, Rei and Asuka.
Equipment used when writing this review:
Sony DVD player, 27-inch JVC TV set, stereo speakers.
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Neon Genesis Evangelion Collection 0:4
by CmdrTaco (Rating: 8.00)
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Evangelion continues to be a strong series as we
round into the midpoint. This disc has a couple of
strong episodes, but is a little burdened by the half
episode of recap (which I'm sure is really nice if you're
watching the show 1...(continues)
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Content: 8 Video: 8 Sound: 8 Packaging: 8 Menu: 8
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Neon Genesis Evangelion: Collection 0:4
by rewster (Rating: 7.80)
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Today was supposed to be a good day, no classes, payday, and a new volume of Evangelion has been out for two days, so my local DVD dealer MUST have it... but alas they didn't, and after walking over 2 miles to the next nearest mall to get...(continues)
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Content: 7 Video: 9 Sound: 8 Packaging: 7 Menu: 8
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Back to the Disc
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