Is the Kung Fu Cyborg trailer leaving you wanting something a little more substantial in the giant-robot arena? Well, how about this: the official trailer for Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance has just arrived online. As fans are well aware, this is the second installment in the series of feature films re-animating and re-launching the classic series. And while the first film was essentially a compression and polish job on events lifted directly from the original television series this film will apparently be the one that begins to weave in new story elements while also marking the arrival of Asuka into the relaunched series.
For you non-fans? This is widely considered the greatest piece of serialized anime and giant-robot science fiction for a very simple reason: it is. The themes and concerns of Eva go way beyond the pleasure of watching big robots smash stuff up and these films are the perfect entry point if you lack the patience to sit through the lengthy television series.
***UPDATE*** Success! The trailer has now been uploaded to the Twitch Video Player. Our masters bidding is our command. Find it after the break. Mack
Production levels look excellent and I'm sure I'll have lots of fun comparing this movie to the TV series. Of course the big question is what they'll do with the ending this time around but it seems it'll be a while before we'll get those answers.
They'd better get the ending right this time!
The ending of the series was awful, a real emperors new clothes affair.
The film ending was horrible and offensive reducing the character of shinji back to the was he was when we met him, only now with no endearing traits.
Wait, Shinji had endearing traits?
the film ending was perfect i thought
I liked the ending for the original series, but disliked the ending for the movie. The ending in the series is positive and uplifting with Shinji working through his... umm, many issues.
Still waiting to watch NGE: "YANA" (any word of an HK or Korean DVD?) - but this one looks like it covers a LOT of ground - from bringing Asuka in - up until nearly the end -- the arrival of the other "transfer student" (name escapes me) was one of the last 4 or 5 episodes IIRC.
It makes sense to introduce the other "transfer student" (name escapes me too) earlier in the story, that way he'll have more emotional impact later. In the series he was a bit "blink and you miss him".
The series originally had the most unsatisfying ending, wrapping up Shinji quite well but leaving everything else unanswered.
Then the first 4 of the last 6 episodes were reshot with additional footage, and the final 2 episodes replaced by the movie "The End of Evangelion".
Honestly, I think that the movie was Hideaki Anno "FUCK YOU" towards the fans who had been harassing him for years. I could not believe the first half (Shinji doing some eh... stress relieve exercise over Asuka's comatose body... WTF??) and after that it turned into a huge collection of apocalyptic moneyshots. Japanese anime can often be quite wild and confusing but the second half of "The End of Evangelion" took that to new levels!
I am very curious what end he'll be giving to this series of films. I just hope he has the finale made up already, and will not just be shaking one out of his head on the spot...
@mike: I thought him jerking of over Asuka was pretty endearing.