Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth

Neon Genesis Evangelion:
Death and Rebirth

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Hideaki Anno
Masayuki
Kazuya Tsurumaki
Produced by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa
Written by Hideaki Anno
Starring Megumi Ogata
Megumi Hayashibara
Yūko Miyamura
Kotono Mitsuishi
Music by Shiro Sagisu
Cinematography Hisao Shirai
Yōichi Kuroda
Edited by Sachiko Miki
Production
company
Distributed by Toei Company
Release dates
  • March 15, 1997 (1997-03-15)
Running time
101 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 劇場版 DEATH & REBIRTH シト新生 Shin seiki Evangerion Gekijō-ban: Shi to Shinsei), romanized in Japan as Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, is a 1997 Japanese animated science fiction film. It is the first film in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise and it consists of two parts, Death and Rebirth, separated by a short intermission. It was released, along with the follow-up, The End of Evangelion, in response to the success of the TV series and a strong demand by fans for another ending. It has since been re-edited and re-released several times.

Plot

Death

See Neon Genesis Evangelion

The first part, Death, is a 70-minute-long edit of the first 24 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion in the form of a clip show, with additional footage not seen in the original broadcast. (The footage would later be integrated into the Japanese Laserdisc and the American and European Platinum Collection releases of the series, as "Director's Cut" versions of episodes 21-24.)

Rebirth

See The End of Evangelion

The second part, Rebirth, consists of 27 minutes of entirely new animation that would eventually form the first third of the film The End of Evangelion, released four months later. Because of time constraints, 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. (In The End of Evangelion, the final version of episode 25 concludes with the end of Asuka's fight with the Mass Production Evas.)

Cast

Character[1] Japanese English
Shinji Ikari Megumi Ogata Spike Spencer
Rei Ayanami Megumi Hayashibara Amanda Winn-Lee
Asuka Langley Soryu Yūko Miyamura Tiffany Grant
Kaworu Nagisa Akira Ishida Aaron Krohn
Misato Katsuragi Kotono Mitsuishi Allison Keith
Gendo Ikari Fumihiko Tachiki Tristan MacAvery
Ryoji Kaji Kōichi Yamadera Aaron Krohn
Ritsuko Akagi Yuriko Yamaguchi Sue Ulu
Kozo Fuyutsuki Motomu Kiyokawa Michael Ross
Toji Suzuhara Tomokazu Seki Brett Weaver
Kensuke Aida Tetsuya Iwanaga Kurt Stoll
Makoto Hyuga Miki Nagasawa Keith Burgess
Shigeru Aoba Takehito Koyasu Jason C. Lee
Maya Ibuki Miki Nagasawa Amy Seeley
Keel Lorentz Mugihito Tom Booker
Naoko Akagi Mika Doi Laura Chapman
Hikari Horaki Junko Iwao Kimberly Yates
Yui Ikari Megumi Hayashibara Amanda Winn-Lee
Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu Maria Kawamura Kimberly Yates
Pen Pen Megumi Hayashibara Amanda Winn-Lee

Release

Between March and October 1997, Death and Rebirth grossed 1.1 billion yen.[2]

On July 26, 2005, Manga Entertainment released Death and 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. One notable change was the alteration of the sound effect between the scene featuring Kaji to one of Shinji informing Asuka of his death. According to the DVD commentary, English ADR director Amanda Winn-Lee, also the voice of Rei in the dub, felt the sound was not a proper "gunshot" and replaced it with a more overt effect. However, the Japanese screenplay mentions that the sound effect is not a gunshot at all, but rather the sound of a slap (the following scene implies Asuka has slapped Shinji's face) and fans have criticized this change as an example of dub actors and directors overstepping their bounds when adapting Japanese animation into English.

Versions

Evangelion: Death(True) screened on January 2, 1998 on the Japanese satellite TV channel WOWOW; this version of Evangelion: Death was personally re-edited by Masayuki, removing much of the new footage from episodes 21–24.

Revival of Evangelion promotional poster

Another version titled Revival of Evangelion was released on March 8, 1998 and is a unification of the movies Death(True)2 (a further edit of Death(true), with several minor edits) and The End of Evangelion. It is considered the final form of the Evangelion movies, which had been released in several forms prior to Revival. The two were released on the ninth and tenth discs of the Renewal of Evangelion box set with the labels of Revival of Evangelion and Evangelion – The Feature Film.

Reception

E-mail response to Evangelion: Death and Rebirth: "Anno, I'll kill you!!! Anno, I'll kill you!!! ..."; included in The End of Evangelion.
Graffiti spray painted on Gainax Headquarters front wall: "Tenchuu" (Divine retribution) "Ikari (Kanji meaning: 'anchor,' homophonous with ikari 'anger, fury, wrath') rape-man"; image was included in The End of Evangelion.

Chris Beveridge from Mania gave it an overall "A-" score.[3] Robert Nelson of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews gave it a 3 out of 5.[4] Japan Cinema gave the film a C+.[5] Adam Arnold from Animefringe gave the film an overall score of 72%.[6]

See also

References

  1. Anime News Network. "Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (movie)". Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  2. December 1997 Newtype, p.90
  3. "Neon Genesis Evangelion Death and Rebirth". Mania. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  4. "Neon Genesis Evangelion Death and Rebirth". T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  5. "Neon Genesis Evangelion Death and Rebirth - Review". Japan Cinema. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  6. "Neon Genesis Evangelion Death and Rebirth DVD". animefringe. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
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