Evangelion 2.22: You Can [Not] Advance

..Just how much difference there is between Evangelion 2.22 (2.0 for those without the special 2-disc set) and the first movie, Evangelion 1.0. The first movie seemed so much a reiteration of the first, albeit better, parts of the original Eva TV series. Evangelion 2.22 is a complete game changer. It introduces a new character to the ever present battle against the angels, Mari Makinami, and she’s the pilot of Unit-05 for the good ol’ U.S. of A. In both the dub and the sub, she’s as brash, foul-mouthed, and violent as we Americans are stereotypically viewed by the rest of the world. That’s a point that struck me, honestly, as more amusing than anything else. But her addition serves to add new depth and a spice of intrigue to the basic premise of broken children fighting in giant robots (or are they?) to defeat the giant aliens known as Angels. In 2.22, you get a sense of how global the fight really is, and learn that every major nation has access to only a limited number of Eva units.

But more than that, focus shifts from the actual fighting to the actual characters, and, for this movie, Asuka in particular. In the original Evangelion, the characters were all fairly one-dimensional and never really changed form their archetypical settings. There’s a valid reason I once groaned every time I heard the names Shinji, Asuka, or Rei. Misato used to be the most human and interesting character of the series outside of Shinji’s two classmates. But now you get little glimpses into the psyches of the kids as humans. They feel very real, with real emotions and real issues. Asuka and Rei (to an extent) have the largest personality renaissance of any anime I have seen in a very long time. I used to loathe Asuka the most, and this movie left me tearing up for her. Not only that, but to see Rei making an honest effort to act at all human and interact with her classmates is mind blowing. Hell, even Gendo Ikari has been given a small touch of humanity! (Unfortunately, he’s still a horrible monster of a person.)

Some touches from the original were kept, such as the tensions between Shinji and Asuka when she comes to stay with Misato as well as the transformation of Eva Unit-01, but such scenes have been enlivened and expanded upon to give deeper impact. Best of all, Shinji finally gets to man up in a way he never got to do in the original. In fact, as of Eva 2.22, there is no more comparison. The new Eva movies have blown it out of the water and are only picking up steam.

The new animation is fresh, vibrant, and, yet, it doesn’t seem to miss a beat from the original animation style. The music is fantastic and leaves me wanting the soundtracks desperately, even the creepy songs of children singing during pivotal and emotional scenes that do nothing but emphasize how horrible it is that children have to be forced to do horrible things. Funimation doesn’t skimp with extra content for 2.22, either. You get a simple packaging that is designed to bring Asuka to mind as she takes such a focus for the majority of the film. You also get a second disc full of commentary and a slew of original Japanese commercials, though the best of which is the small documentary on the rebuilding of the series. There’s even a twenty-page guidebook to the movie inside. Fans’ prayers couldn’t be answered more with such an affordable package.

I can’t state enough that the buck stops here for comparing the new movies to the original Evangelion. 2.22 has taken a huge chunk of cake and performed a holy miracle in turning my mind completely around on what I used to think of the franchise and series. My only complaint is that the movie ends like a pang to the heart, especially given the knowledge that it’s such a long wait till we get the third movie on our shores. But have no fear, friends, it’s going to be so worth the wait of this is the caliber of story that is being developed. Till then, I highly recommend both Evangelion 1.11 and 2.22.