Anime Movie Review - Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

Movie Name - Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
Aired - Sep 1, 2007
Episodes - 1

Duration - 1 hr. 40 min.

Produced By - Studio Khara, Gainax 
Staff - Hideaki Anno (Director, Script, Creator), Yoshituki Sadamoto (Character Design, Animation Director), Ikuto Yamashita (Mechanical Designs), Shiro Sagisu (Music) among others.

This is the 1st of 4 movies (3 released so far) that are to be made as remakes of the somewhat legendary mecha anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion". While I haven't watched the show I was meaning to check out this movie for quite a long time & really was expecting a lot from it as a matter of fact from all the hype over the internet, but also had a bit of irritating fear that it might not turn out to be as good as it promises to be. Well, it had its flows but it is also an experience to be greatly enjoyed indeed.


This is the story of a futuristic version of Japan where a global catastrophe named the Second Impact left half of world's population dead & the rest in constant war with beings called Angel who are immensely powerful. The story begins with our protagonist Shinji waiting to be picked up by Misato who is sent to get him to humanity's main defense force against Angels NERV's headquarters by his father. Next he is somewhat forced to pilot Evangelion Unit 01 against the Angel. The story then progresses through his struggles against Angels, against his own depression & desire to be appreciated or even accepted by his father who left him in his childhood. In the course of the story he gets introduced with Eva Unit 00's pilot Rei Ayanami who both intrigues him by her actions & makes him jealous by her relationship with his father, which he himself desires. Shinji constantly battles his depression and fears while also trying to find motivations behind his need to pilot Eva 01. And through this the movie somehow shades the shell of a mere mecha anime among so much others and into a really emotional yet exciting journey of a defective yet realistic hero.
The story is really told quite nicely, although I would have liked a bit more explanation here and there it gets 9 out of 10 from me.

The anime could have really truly shined if some of the other characters had as much care as was put into Shinji or in some cases Rei. But unfortunately it was not so. While the character of Shinji is that you might not like him or even hate him for his quite irrational behavior sometimes, it has to be said that the writer really created him with so much care. All his anguishes, his false hopes and desires, his struggle with the new forced reality which he has to face, his fascination with Rei & his emotions toward his father everything was done so perfectly that is really rare in anime format. Rei also shows some emotional bits that are done very artistically, like how can someone forget that line, "I have nothing else". All other characters are not really well developed or even seems kind of out of place compared to the mains that it really becomes a weak point for the movie. Characters get 8 out of 10 from me.

The art & animation were really detailed and top-notch, and truly it seems almost flawless. I don't know how it was back in 1995 when the original show aired but this movie's animation was really so smooth and enjoyable that it really makes the fights that much more exciting. The directors and the studio did really fine work in this regard and needs to be praised. In fact there was a scene close to the end of the movie which I liked so much that I watched it may be 3-4 times. This gets 9 out of 10.

In the regard of the sound, the in-movie music was really well done, and really complimented the emotional bits very nicely. Specially the sound effects used where we see Shinji's emotional turmoils really adds much more depth to the real experience and Shiro Sagisu needs to be praised for this. But I really didn't like the ending song "Beautiful World" by Utada Hikaru. It really felt out of place and in fact I was quite annoyed by it. That deducts a few points, so the music gets 8 out of 10.

The progression was done quite well and really it leaves so much to look forward for the next movies. Although I would have liked a little bit more character development for the side characters and a bit more explanation about the Angels and the past I will definitely check out the sequels. Although this has its fair share of flaws but I have to agree it is a cut above the rest and is almost a masterpiece .
 
Overall score -
                                 8.5 out of 10.

If you want more info or other reviews of the show please check out its MAL page -
http://myanimelist.net/anime/2759/Evangelion:_1.0_You_Are_%28Not%29_Alone