Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth

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Anime movie
title Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth
Original title 新 世紀 エ ヴ ァ ン ゲ リ オ ン 劇場版 DEATH & REBIRTH シ ト 新生
transcription Shin Seiki Evangerion Gekijō-ban: Death & Rebirth Shito shinsei
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
Publishing year 1997
Studio Gainax ,
Tatsunoko Production (Death) ,
Production IG (Rebirth)
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Hideaki Anno , Masayuki (Death) , Kazuya Tsurumaki (Rebirth)
script Hideaki Anno
production Mitsuhisa Ishikawa
music Shirō Sagisu
synchronization

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth ( Japanese 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: Death & Rebirth Shito shinsei ) is an anime film from 1997. It is the first film for TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion .

The film consists of two parts. The first part, Death , is a 67-minute compilation of scenes from the first 24 episodes of the television series with some newly created scenes. The second part, Rebirth , develops the plot further after episode 24 in 27 minutes, but has an open ending because the production was not yet completed when the film was released. The full version of Rebirth is 40 minutes long and is part of the second film, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion , which was released four months after the first.

action

Death

Death is a summary of the plot of the television series, the scenes of which have been supplemented by a framework and are shown in a different sequence. In the new scenes, the characters Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Sōryū, Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa come one after the other into the auditorium of their school and sing various pieces of classical music there. At the end everyone plays a piece together.

The actual plot is shown between these additional scenes. Apart from the changed sequence, there are only minor differences to the series. Individual text overlays were added.

Death ends with the penultimate scene of episode 24, in which Shinji defeats Kaworu in Terminal Dogma. This is followed by credits.

Rebirth

Rebirth begins after the 24th episode and shows a different perspective on the events that follow.

Shinji stands next to Asuka's bedside and tries to wake her up. He unintentionally exposes her upper body and then masturbates in front of her. Misato finds out that the Second Impact was intentional and that SEELE plans to use the EVA series to trigger the Third Impact . A short time later, SEELE wants to bring the NERV headquarters under his control by breaking into the MAGI computer system. However, when this attack was launched by Dr. Akagi can be repulsed, special forces of the Japanese armed forces begin to penetrate the NERV headquarters by force.

In order to prevent Asuka from being accessed by the intruders, she is placed in the cockpit of EVA-02 despite her poor health and hidden with it at the bottom of the lake in the geofront. The other two children are also supposed to be brought to safety, but Rice's whereabouts are unknown and Shinji hides inside the NERV complex out of fear. Misato is able to save him at the last moment from being shot by members of the enemy special forces and wants to take him to EVA-01.

Asuka has an appearance of her mother in the cockpit of EVA-02 and thereby regains her self-confidence. She manages to reactivate the Evangelion so that she can fight the attacking troops. When she has practically defeated this, the Evangelion units of the mass production series controlled by SEELE suddenly appear.

music

Various pieces of classical music are intoned during the first part of the film. Shinji begins with the Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 by Johann Sebastian Bach . During the play, the credits are faded in so that Shinji's play forms the opening credits of the film.

After about a quarter of Death , Asuka plays the beginning of Partita III for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. After Rei has entered the rehearsal room, all she does is practice. In Kaworus arrival the characters agree to Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel on which leads on to the other scenes. During the closing credits of Death , a string orchestra also played the canon in D in a five-minute version.

During the credits of Rebirth , Tamashii no refrain is played by Yōko Takahashi . Shirō Sagisu is responsible for the background music .

Motivation and conception

The film was produced primarily because the end of the television series left many questions unanswered. Numerous fans found it unsatisfactory or disappointing and therefore demanded a new ending. Director and screenwriter Hideaki Anno originally didn't want to produce another film, but rather leave the end of the series uncommented.

By changing the composition of the scenes, Death illuminates the main characters anew. They are presented in a documentary style and related to one another. The string rehearsal by Shinji, Rei, Asuka and Kaworu forms a common thread that is taken up again and again.

production

The idea of ​​rearranging the scenes goes back to screenwriter Akio Satsukawa . About half an hour of Death's material has been re-produced, the rest is from episodes of the television series. Some of the newly drawn scenes depict Shinji and his classmates rehearsing, other scenes show events from the series in new images. Above all, these newly created scenes should improve the picture quality compared to the television series. There are also some scenes that only appeared on video and were not shown in the cinema. These include conversations or encounters that address the characters and their relationships with one another. The sound recordings for Death were largely taken from the television series. New recordings were only produced for the newly created scenes.

The second half of the film was supposed to complete the plot, but became more extensive than originally planned as production progressed. That is why it was decided to only show the first part that had already been produced and to bring the rest to the cinemas later. The main responsibility for Rebirth wore director Kazuya Tsurumaki ; Kazuya Kouse and Yuu Honda took over the artistic direction.

Publications

Death & Rebirth opened in Japanese theaters on March 19, 1997. The film grossed 1.1 billion yen there.

The new scenes were removed for the broadcast of the film on the Japanese television station WOWOW in early 1998. When Death combined with The End of Evangelion came back to the cinemas in the summer of 1998 under the title Revival of Evangelion , a scene that was important for the plot was reinserted and this version was named Death (true) 2 . This version was also used for video and DVD releases in Japan.

Manga Entertainment released the theatrical version of Death & Rebirth in the USA in 2002 on DVD. Panini Video published this version in Germany in August 2005. The synchronization was carried out by G&G Tonstudios in Cologne. For the most part, the speakers for the television series were used again; the roles of Kaji Ryōji and Lorenz Kiel were newly cast with Stefan Schleberger and Bernd Kuschmann, respectively .

The film was also broadcast in Spanish by Selecta Visión and also translated into French and Italian.

reception

The film grossed 1.1 billion yen in Japanese theaters. The German trade magazine Animania describes the film as the link between the television series and the second film Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion . The melancholy pieces of music by Bach and Pachelbel would underline the thoughtful and philosophical undertone of the film.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c English translation of the program booklet for the film at evaotaku.com
  2. ↑ Death & Rebirth at evangelion-armageddon.com ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.evangelion-armageddon.com
  3. ↑ a b Animania , edition 07/2005, p. 10.
  4. ^ Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Inc.
  5. ↑ Jonathan Clements : Anime - A History . Palgrave Macmillan 2013. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-84457-390-5 .

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