Spent the last week rejoicing over the Japanese DVD/Blu-Ray release of Rebuild Of Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance, and adding a few more thoughts to the ether about a film that has me less divided than it had last summer. Now obviously, up and getting the disc itself is perhaps the most glaring evidence that I didn't dislike it as much as my previous Anime Diet review had implied. To be wholly humble, there is still a part of me that has a modicum of sympathy for the work of Anno & Tsurumaki, despite their more commercial output in recent years. And despite the fact that the updates/quasi-sequels to early favorites such as Evangelion, and Top Wo Nerae! Gunbuster are essentially big buck cash-grabs, tugging at our collective nostalgia for the "glory" days of the once groundbreaking studio, I can't help but also enjoy the visceral rush coming from technical angles.
But thankfully where Rebuild 1.0 merely implies a deviation from the classically broken original narrative, the second film goes out of its way to do the unthinkable by fragging familiarity, offering a singularly ballsy new spin on the story's endgame. Not all is wunderbar of course, but it's certainly exciting to witness. Upon rewatching the film, I gained a little additional perspective, and respect for why the choices were made for this particular version.( I still stand by this being for far better reasons than merely those akin to a certain Mr. Lucas in dealing with an already culturally significant piece of pop mythology. Anno & Co. aren't out to debunk the notions expressed in the previous tv classic, but rather are working to compliment it in fun & strange ways) And as perhaps expected, I had much to share on the matter here (and with a possibly unpopular set of theories tacked onto it).
Only the adventurous need click.
