Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (1997)

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 劇場版 シト新生, Shin Seiki Evangerion Gekijō-ban Shi to Shinsei), also romanized in Japan as Evangelion:Death and Evangelion:Rebirth, is a 1997 Japanese animated apocalyptic science fiction film. It is the first installment of the Neon Genesis Evangelion feature film project and consists of two parts. The project, whose overarching title translates literally to New Era Evangelion: The Movie, was released in response to the success of the TV series, and a strong demand by fans for an alternate ending. Its components have since been re-edited and re-released several times.

Plot

Evangelion:Death

The first section, Evangelion:Death, is a 're-cap,' editing together scenes from the first 24 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion in the form of a clip show, along with some additional animation created after the show's original broadcast. This includes scenes from the original show re-drawn shot-for-shot, entirely new shots augmenting existing sequences, and linking segments based around the premise of the four main characters playing Pachelbel's Canon as a string quartet. Some of the additional shots and re-drawn animation would later be re-edited into the extended, 'Home Video Versions' of episodes 21-24 included on the Japanese VHS/Laserdisc, and American and European Platinum Collection releases of the TV series, commonly known in the west as the "Director's Cut" versions, though there is no clear substantiation of director Hideaki Anno's role in these. Death ends with credits accompanied by a double string quartet arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon.

Evangelion:Death(True) screened on the Japanese satellite TV channel WOWOW; this second cut of Evangelion:Death was re-edited by Masayuki, who held multiple creative roles throughout the franchise's production, removing some of the extra footage new to the feature. This was released on home video for the first time as part of the Archives of Evangelion DVD box set on August 26, 2015.

Evangelion:Rebirth

The second section, Evangelion:Rebirth, consists of approximately 24 minutes of entirely new animation that would eventually form the first third of the alternate ending film The End of Evangelion, released four months later as the second stage in the Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth project. Serving as a preview while End was still in production, Rebirth only covers the initial preparations of the Human Instrumentality Project and the invasion of the Geofront by the JSSDF, ending with the arrival of the Mass Production Evas. Because of its unfinished state, there are differences between Rebirth and the portion of the finished The End of Evangelion it covers. These differences include editing, shots that were later re-drawn entirely, and soundtrack cues that were replaced or further edited. The section ends with credits accompanied by the song "Soul's Refrain" by Yoko Takahashi.

Voice cast

Production and release

Death and Rebirth were co-produced by Kadokawa Shoten, Gainax, TV Tokyo, Sega, and Toei.

The film opened in second place at the Japanese box office, just behind the opening of 101 Dalmatians. Between March and October 1997, Death and Rebirth earned a distributor rental income of ¥1.1 billion. The feature had a total gross of ¥1.87 billion.

On July 30, 2002, Manga Entertainment released Death and Rebirth on VHS and DVD in both dub and sub under the title Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth.

On July 26, 2005, Manga Entertainment released Death & Rebirth and The End of Evangelion together in the United States as a two-disc set.

The English production made similar creative changes in the dubbing of the film as had been made to The End of Evangelion.

Revival of Evangelion

The final stage of the New Era Evangelion: The Movie project, a theatrical revival with the romanized title Revival of Evangelion was released on March 8, 1998, consisting of Death (True)² (a third, further edit of Death(True), with a few removed shots crucial to the plot edited back in) followed by a four-minute intermission and then the finished The End of Evangelion. Some home video releases of Revival from the mid-2000s were given the title Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Feature Film. In 2015, Revival was released on the Japanese Renewal of Evangelion Blu-ray box set along with End and the original theatrical cuts of Death and Rebirth. Death (True)² is also the version most widely released in the West, having been opted by Netflix and GKIDS for its distribution service and Blu-ray box set respectively. Death (True)² and End are separated in these releases, removing the intermission.

Reception

Chris Beveridge from Mania gave it an overall "A−" score. Robert Nelson of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews gave it a 3 out of 5. Japan Cinema gave the film a C+. Adam Arnold from Animefringe gave the film an overall score of 72%.

See also

The End of Evangelion

References

External links

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth at IMDb

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth at MusicBrainz (list of releases)

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

Anime Jump! review