Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

It's all in there, no problems apparent.

These are the words to described NEON GENESIS EVANGELION (1995-1997), one of the most talked-about anime titles over the past quarter of a century. What started off as a deeply personal story from it's creator Hideaki Anno (who is good friends with the legendary Hayao Miyazaki and has taken a shot at live-action cinema with his takes on his childhood icons Godzilla [2016], Ultraman [eta 2022] and Kamen Rider [eta 2023]) has now become a part of Japanese pop-culture. Set in a future where half of mankind has been wiped out, Shinji Ikari, a 14-year-old boy, is summoned by his estranged father, scientist Gendo Ikari, to pilot an Evangelion, a giant bio-engineered weapon built by the military organization NERV, to which Gendo is commander, to defeat the Angels, mysterious and bizarre-looking alien invaders intent on wiping out the rest of humanity. However, as British animation critic/historian Andrew Osmond rightfully points out, Anno sets out to do for mecha anime with EVANGELION what Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons did for comic-book superheroes with WATCHMEN (1986-1987). Shinji screaming to his father that it's not fair upon learning that he has to pilot an Evangelion is basically Anno saying, "But wait a minute: what if Shinji doesn't want to pilot the Evangelion, but ultimately has to and ponder the meaning of piloting it?", which is a theme that runs throughout the series. The other Evangelion child pilots are equally flawed: Rei Ayanami (one of my favourite characters in anime) is an emotionally-withdrawn girl who's origins are truly shocking, and even though Asuka Langely-Soryu is a fiery-tempered tsundere, you do understand by the end of the series why she is the way she acts (much like Nadia from Anno's previous work, NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER [1990-1991]). Even the grown-up characters are just as screwed - despite being Shinji's guardian and overseeing the strategies of the battles, Misato Katsuragi has her own personal issues. It wasn't Anno’s fault. He didn't intentionally set out to make these characters the way they were. Let's not forget, he was going though a very difficult time when he was making the series, and even he was baffled by the surprised success. When asked, Anno replied "I don't understand why a lot of people love EVANGELION. The characters are so sick!" The only thing I can say to those who hate this is don't create something (regardless if it's a TV project, movie, novel, comic or computer game) while going through a long bout of clinical depression. And yet, the flawed characters are one of the aspect that makes EVANGELION special. It's trying to say to us that it's much, much more than just (sort-of) mecha battling rampaging Angels. I mean, how often do you get an anime TV series during the mid-1990's that uses archetypal imagery derived from religion and psychoanalytic account of human behaviour? I believe that it's the second half of the show that evolves EVANGELION from being a great show to truly something incredible. Of course, the show ended with two controversial episodes. Rumours suggest that the original ending was considered unsuitable for TV viewing, or that GAINAX (now a shadow of it's former self) had simply ran out of money & time. However, others believed that this how Anno had always intended to end the series that way, as it reflected him nearing the end of his depression. Unfortunately, the fans didn't get the message, and within days after the series finished it's initial run, GAINAX were besieged by hate mail & death threats (and I thought the STAR WARS fans were toxic). Although Anno seem to had shrugged it off, it was later revealed that he had a complete breakdown, because for two and a half years, he had been working endlessly, risked everything, put his full heart into NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, only to have left the fans and TV critics extremely disappointed. But thanks to support he received from his friends at GAINAX, and of course Miyazaki, Anno decided to give the fans an ending they wanted. 1997 saw the release of two EVANGELION films. DEATH & REBIRTH was a recap of the TV series, with several improve shots, scenes deleted from later episodes, and a preview of what is to come. But the real highlight of the two is THE END OF EVANGELION, one of the best animated films to come out of Japan. A 90-minute film, consists of two halves to replace the final two TV episodes, it has lost none of it's power to shock audiences as it had done twenty-five years ago. If the TV series was an reflection of Anno's dealing with his depression, then THE END OF EVANGELION was a dive into his worst nightmares. It's features beautiful and, often, horrific imagery, answering questions as well as creating new ones, and an ending that is true to the anime's roots. (as for THE REBUILD OF EVANGELION tetralogy [2007-2021], I will do a review of them, once the fourth & final film, THRICE UPON A TIME, comes out on Blu-Ray & DVD). NEON GENESIS EVANGELION is not a perfect anime, and it won't be for everyone, but the fact that it's creator had set out to make 'something, anything' and has left such an influential impact on not just Japan but the world is an incredible achievement. Something I can not disagree with. Hideaki Anno, I salute you. Reviewer: Ben David W

Been waiting years for this to come to DVD/Blu Ray and not pay an arm on eBay however no where on the box did it mention it was the new dub. For those new to the series it’s a steal, for the whole series and the two original films in one small case with extras are a good jumping on point however the newer dub is just another factory produced anime voice over that looses all the charm of the original. Netflix weren’t able to pay out for “Fly Me to the Moon” for the service and yet again it goes missing. Never owned the original series and was about to sell my worn out DVD copies of the film but looks like I’m gonna keep a hold of them.

It's region locked.

Would have been higher but it's the new dub which isn't the greatest. They even changed the dialogue for certain scenes

Bad quality 1/4 of the screen is missing.

The product is brand new I just can't watch it.

Good anime

北米版のアニメのBlu-rayを何本か購入してきましたが、今まではps3でそのまま見れました。 ただこの商品はタイトル通りPS3は国コードをアメリカに変更しないと見れませんでした。 なので国コード変更可能Blu-rayプレーヤーをお持ちの人のみ購入しましょう。 PS4はそのままで普通に見れました。 商品についてですがTVシリーズから旧劇場版まで入って5000円ほどなのでお得だと思います。 字幕もメニュー画面からON.OFF可能です。 あとエンディングの曲が違っているような気がします。

So I see a lot of reviews on there that have complained about the fact that Fly Me to the Moon is not included in the credits. I find that annoying too. They also complain that the original ADV dub isn't included, even though GKIDS clearly has the rights to it. (the original English dub is included in the super expensive releases) I tend to think that when you release old media, if there are multiple cuts or versions of something, you should release all of them, and let the consumer choose which version to watch. Despite these problems, I don't really feel like detracting a star. I was really happy to finally get a release of Eva on blu-ray, and the lack of dub options didn't bother me. (I don't have a preference either way because I tend to watch anime in Japanese) This is a great show, and the blu ray transfer is really nice. It's great to finally have disc media version of The End of Evangelion, as the old Manga Entertainment release was pretty close to VHS quality with fake widescreen. The bonus features are pretty decent. I wish there were more in depth interviews, but I still enjoyed a lot of the inclusions. My favourite would probably be the animatics. They included animatics from several episodes (and excerpts from the movie) that are a pretty interesting breakdown of the creative process. These are film reels that have a mixture of completely finished animation, pencil tests, key frames, layouts, and storyboards. Also of interest are the audition tapes from the Japanese voice cast. Overall, if you're interested in the series, I'd recommend checking it out on Netflix (which uses the same dub/sub translation as this blu-ray). If you're a long time fan, I get that some of the things not included can be disappointing, but it didn't bother me that much, personally.

A classic, a masterpiece, an icon. All this and more. This set has all 26 episodes of the legendary series with the end of Evangelion movie and a recap movie to finish it off. It’s what you’ll find on Netflix and for some that may be a problem. This set only contains the original Japanese and the new dub made for Netflix a few years back, meaning that fans of the series from the late 90’s and early 2000’s won’t be able to return to their original experience through this set, which is very unfortunate as the price gap between this and the other blu ray sets that include that dub is significant. It’s a greedy practice and an insult, one made solely to drain from the fans who wanted to get what they had all those years ago because the companies involved knew they would be willing to pay extra for it. Is this set worth it then? If you were introduced to the series with the recent dub as I was then it might not be a huge issue and if you watch subbed then the only thing you’d be missing from the collectors sets are some bonus trinkets, which isn’t a huge deal in my eyes but if you’re passionate about the series you might already own the series a few times anyway. Is this set worth it? Yes. It’s affordable and it’s decent and even though it was made purposely lacking, it’s still too good for that to seriously effect that.

Después de poco más de 20 años, no topamos con la edición definitiva de Neon Génesis Evangelion. Es una edición por más cuidada, que si cuentas con un equipo de vídeo y audio de calidad, podrás disfrutar de una manera inigualable está remasterización. Todos los capítulos de la serie original (26 capítulos) + escenas de la edición Directora Cut que originalmente se encontraban en la edición LD de los 90. Death2 y The End of Evangelion. Si bien en Death, se deja aun lado los 15 primeros minutos de "The End of Evangelion" y el Tamashi no Refrain de ending, ganamos la edición más cuidada e increíble de The End of Evangelion. Si bien, lo que podemos encontrar en Netflix es similar en cuanto a calidad, el códec y la compresión que usa Netflix es inferior al de esta versión Bluray. Así que, si no quieres depender de tu conexión para disfrutar deNeon Génesis Evangelion, consigue está edición sin pensarlo. P.D: Lo único que se perdió en esta edición vs las anteriores de AD Visión, fue los Fly me to the Moon del ending. Por problemas de derechos, no se consiguió sacar fuera de Japón estos endings.

The video and sound quality are great! The DNR is well balanced and handled properly. The audio is 5.1 for both English and Japanese tracks and the subtitles are well written. Contrary to what the internet is saying, Netflix's new translations are way more accurate than the original ADV's translations were. The Netflix Dub voice acting is much better done than the ADV dub and sticks to the original Japanese version way more! If you watch the subs only, like I do, then this set is great and you'll have a great experience. If you want dubs and don't have an unhealthy nostalgia for ADV, this is a great entry. Although everything is great, episode 16 is still low quality, I remember hearing how the original film masters were lost or something, so that episode still looks like low DVD quality, which is jarring but not terrible. I kind of respect the choice to leave it as is instead of going the FUNimation route and ruining the video quality with DNR and such. Definitely don't skip it though! It's such an important episode!