Eric Stevenson This new Evangelion series is certainly great but for me, it could be even better. This movie features more of the angels being destroyed and it actually ends by saying Third Impact has occurred! That was quite a shock to me! I had no idea there would be such a divergence from the original anime. This movie was probably the best film for Giant Monster Month seeing as how it introduced the character Asuka. We even get a brand new original character for the franchise, Mari. Mari is a very fun character in that she is very strong and a lot more pleasant than Asuka.There's a lot of this film that does seem like padding. These scenes are still great because we get to see the characters interact. Here, we have pretty much all the original characters together and talking. It's great to see how they play off of each other. This is what any movie with a large cast should be doing. Well, it's not that large but it has many recognizable characters. I like the previews they do at the end of these movies. It helps that the animation is absolutely gorgeous. I guess Japan didn't need to switch to exclusive CGI theatrically released cartoons. ***1/2

pinkarray Anno attempts to make the series better and reboot it for the teenagers who were not born around the time the old series came out. But this was a failed attempt to modify an already flawed series and making it worse by changing some of the characters and the animation while deciding to make a 2-hour long franchise of movies to try to squeeze in all the depth of the series.Asuka has changed from a depressed kid with mommy issues to a wise- talking gossiper with an aloof personality. There is little depth to her and she is now more interested in puppets. All we get is that she is captain and her name has also changed. Misato is more tactful when it comes to arguments. Kaji is more boring as he seems to serve no purpose. And that Spider Girl that is, Mari is not needed. There is some fanservice here which is probably going to please the boys. And Asuka has replaced Toji in being Eva 3.0's pilot. Which caused me to drop it and I had enough of seeing my favorite character tortured.Shinji's face is too goofy-looking for me but other than that, the updated animation is kind of special to watch but the series is a little too old to be remaking so that we can use this style of animation. Unless they can try to find a way to use animation that's closer to the original series.Now, I watched this before I watched Kare Kano but when I watched it, I noticed that its music has been copied onto here, making it unoriginal. The characters' voices are different from what they used to sound like.Anno needs to stop giving this overrated series a new makeover just to please the fans of it.Verdict: 3.5/10

Ucare I did not watch the original 26 episodes series but I watched in these days all Evangelion films, because of the high ratings: Death and Rebirth (a recompilation of the original series), The End (a rewriting of the End of the series, still considered one of the best Anime ever), and then the last three, 1 and 2 which reboot the series apparently without mayor changes, and 3 which goes in new territories. At first I will write about Evangelion in general, and then about this specific movie here. In all Evangelion the writer touched any possible demagogic stereotype and cliché on earth: father/son relationship, Oedipus complex, a bit of the typical Manga Style sexuality, cheap psychology, and a huge amount of very cheap esoterism with symbolisms of all kind. My opinion? A big omelet of everything, which finally means absolutely nothing. Wiki says that after the failure of his previous works (which he judged as childish) he wanted to make something "deeper". My impression is that he did not even try to BE deeper, rather just to SEEM deeper in order to impress the audience. And I am afraid that only the Naive could be impressed by such a confused mess.I can still see why this show had success: Evas are cool, fights too, and there is enough mix of drama, action, teenage nerd sexuality in the typical Japanese style, and some sort of epic. I suppose that if you are younger than me and without any knowledge of psychology or esoterism, and a bit nerd, you may enjoy this works pretty much more than I did.About this film: like the number 1, it is almost a copy and paste of the series, but this time with some more changes, which, as another reviewer said, I also find good, giving more action and some more credible psychology, and less of the biblical potpourri which the author should make eternal amend for (being really stupid and pretentious). If you enjoyed the series and/or the recompilation and/or the number one, you will surely enjoy this movie. I loved the end, being myself a terrible romantic. Even if then the number 3 completely ruined everything.

DICK STEEL It's been a long wait, but better late than never I'd say. One of the classic mecha science fiction anime now undergoing a revamp of its own, and despite not having much background knowledge of where the series has headed toward, I still found this installment engaging enough to leave me wanting more especially since it ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, even though it's yet another long wait before the third film hit the screens over here.Evangelion continues where we last left off in its cinematic version, and the Earth is now under protection by the EVA robots around the world, still piloted by children. There are plans now underway to be more humane though, in piloting the EVAs like unmanned drones from afar, thus keeping the kids out of harm's way. But then there are other plans brewing at sinister levels, which only get hinted at here, clearly sowing the seeds in this installment for something more to come in the future films.Elements from the earlier film have become staple, and repeated, such as the cheeky way the female characters always get portrayed in teasing the audience / fanboys with various states of dress / near wardrobe malfunction, and hey, besides lead character Shinji Ikari (voiced by Megumi Ogata), every one of his peer pilot seem to be female, and in the opening we're introduced to the pilot for EVA No 5 to start off the film literally with a bang, and EVA No 2's pilot Asuka Langley Shikinami (Yuko Miyamura) in her bright red robot and uniform, in an instant confirming the suspicion that here's one hot chili who isn't afraid to speak her mind. I like this feisty character, who brings a breath of fresh air from the quiet Rei Ayanami (Megumi Hayashibara) and Shinji's pessimism. Other elements would include the countless religious imagery, which is now more in-your-face, and I suppose it should all make sense once the final film rolls around.The narrative found perfect balance to go a little deeper into the motivation of the various characters, though the kid pilots leave more room as intended for future growth, since Rei is a quiet enigma, Shinji still being the reluctant hero, and Asuka the live-wire who doesn't mince her words, even if criticizing her Japanese counterparts quite pointedly and in some ways, offensively too. A large chunk of the story got devoted to a suggestion of a love triangle that didn't manage to play itself out due to the constant alien threat, but got to a point enough to affect the events that follow, and to make them a sledgehammer for emotions. Then there's the action sequences, which are still as spectacular. The Angels' designs get weirder, and their attack more powerful of course, though the EVAs have a few more tricks up their sleeves, brought about by really pushing the envelope beyond what has so far been permissible. With humans at the helm of technology, we are always in control and can add that aspect of humanity without allowing technology itself from going berserk. This gets explored and discussed somewhat, especially when a dummy module gets its field day when called upon to override some human inaction, and I assure you your jaw will drop and how enemies get pulverized, which is something which I least expected, in an action-packed, yet moving scene which will get you all riled up. Then again this shows how important it is to have a human mind in control, over something else which dictates its actions through set rules, and executed without a soul of thought.As a follow up film, this one lived up to the potential set by its predecessor, and expanded upon that universe with more Evangelion protocols, new and improved mecha capabilities, and characters you feel for, while still keeping a lid on the intrigue posed by the organizations NERV and Seele. No prior knowledge of the earlier film is required, though you would be better off to know some basics to enjoy the film a lot more. Needless to say the fans would lap this up, especially when the trailer for the 3rd film gets played after the end credits that offered that sneak peek into what's next, and that antagonizing wait for it to actually happen.