Spoiler Warning: As well as spoilers for Evangelion 1.11, this post contains detailed information about characters and events in the original Evangelion anime series and movies.

I was first introduced to the original Neon Genesis Evangelion when I was just starting to get into anime, with my first encounter being the “Death and Rebirth” clip movie and End of Evangelion. I enjoyed both of them enough to then go out and buy the original series. After watching them I thought that while Evangelion was on the whole an enjoyable and engrossing deconstruction of the giant mecha genre, its conclusion felt rushed and was difficult to comprehend (in both original and End of Evangelion forms).

When I heard about the 4 part remake of Evangelion I was therefore quite pleased and excited, especially when I heard that it would have a new conclusion to the story (hopefully one that will make sense). With the first part Evangelion: 1.11 – You Are (Not) Alone being the first instalment and covers events analogous to those in the first 6 episodes.

Unfortunately after watching the first instalment of Rebuild of Evangelion, I was left with a sense of disappointment. It is not because it is a bad film, since this is anything but the case. If you compare the artwork to that of the original series, it is a big step up from that in the original series in terms of quality and level of fine detail. Unfortunately Evangelion 1.11 is too similar to the original series in terms of plot.

While this is obviously not an issue if you have never watched the original series, it was for me and in terms of important differences between Evangelion 1.11 and episodes 1-6 of the original series I thought there were probably less than 5 minutes worth of significant new developments in the 90 minute movie with the most significant being in the epilogue at the end. On the positive side however, despite the compression of 6 episodes into 90 minutes and the significant reduction in the time spent with the supporting cast I found myself thinking that the flow of events was much better in Evangelion 1.11 than in the original series, and that the story was more focused on what was important.

The most improved part of the story came right at the end of Evangelion 1.11 during the events of Operation Yashima. While the depiction of events of very similar in both the original series and Evangelion 1.11 the seriousness of the situation is much more palpable in Evangelion 1.11. This is epitomised by the Angels counterattack actually affecting Shinji causing him to have to drag himself back to the firing position and choose to take another shot rather than just staying in the same place.

I also found myself empathising with Shinji more after watching Evangelion 1.11. It reminded me that Shinji is just a 14 year old boy, who has been unwillingly entrusted with the fate of the world and has to deal with a father who from his perspective views him as a tool not a person. This tool aspect is shown to have some validity in fact when towards the end of Evangelion 1.11 in a new scene, Gendo Ikari (Shinji’s father) does not bat an eyelid when Fuyutsuki proposes brainwashing Shinji if he is unwilling to fight following his ordeal when attacked by the Angel. Gendo is also shown not to trust Shinji when he would have given up on him after the Angels counterattack during Operation Yashima except for Misato’s intervention.

Despite these alterations and improvements on the equivalent episodes of the original series I still found Evangelion 1.11 to ultimately be a disappointment due to being too similar to what was shown in the original series. Fortunately this is not the case for the next installment of Rebuild of Evangelion which I will review next week.

Rating

6/10 – In no way a bad film, it is just too similar to the episodes of the original series it is based on for me to enjoy it fully.

Differences between Evangelion 1.11 and Series

Please note that this is not mean to be a comprehensive list but rather the changes that I personally feel are significant.

While Evangelion 1.11 starts off in a very similar way to the original series with the obligatory shot of the shoreline and Shinji seeing Rei, there are already some obvious changes present in the story and the world it is set in. Firstly for some reason the sea is now red, with the opening shot of the shoreline reminiscent of the one at the end of End of Evangelion.

The Angel though similar in appearance is now designated the 4^th Angel rather than the 3^rd and sometimes exhibits a Halo while moving and attacking. There is also a bit of background information given that I don’t recall being in the original series, that Angels ate the fruit of life and are out to destroy humanity who ate the fruit of wisdom.

The subsequent events up to the destruction of the now 4^th Angel proceed much as they did in the series, with the main difference being that Eva Unit 1 did not activate to save Shinji, Eva Unit 1’s face was not damaged in the attack and when the 4^th Angels core self destructed, the rest of the Angel immediately became Red Liquid which did not happen in the series.

After the Angels destruction however is a different matter as Shinji pays an early visit to the “hell train” which IIRC did not appear until episode 16 of the original series when Shinji is absorbed by the 12^th Angel.  If this was not enough the connection between Shinji And Rei is hinted at early on with the “premature” revelation that had he been born a girl he would have been named Rei. This information was not given until episode 20 of the original series.

For anyone unfamiliar with the original series this is significant information as Rei Ayanami was in the original series a clone of Shinji’s late mother Yui Ikari who has been given the 2^nd Angel Liliths soul. Yui’s soul now being resident in Evangelion Unit 1, which in the series is derived in some way from Lilith. Moving on there is then a short meeting between Gendo and Seele where a covenant with Lilith is mentioned. This is again a piece of information that I do not recall being in the original series.

The next part of Evangelion 1.11 covering the events leading up to and following the destruction of the 5^th (originally 4^th) Angel proceed in a similar fashion to the series, with a few seemingly minor changes to events and the design of the 5^th Angel. Another small detail was the hands of Evangelion Unit 1 appeared human when the armour was removed. Also the angel once again turned into a torrent of red liquid when destroyed rather than being in a relatively undamaged state.

The next notable difference is that it is made clear that Gendo plans to have Shinji and Rei to get closer in order to further his Agenda which probably leads to the “identity card delivery incident”. Again this is something that I cannot recall being established in the original series.

Where things start to change is with the arrival of the 6^th Angel and Shinji’s defeat. While the Angel is much the same as in the series aside from now having shape-shifting abilities, there are a few tweaks and additions to the plot that will probably have significance later on

The first is that the number of angels is probably limited to 13 (or 12 depending on Gendo’s knowledge of the 3^rd Angel). This is because during the pause before the attack on the 6^th Angel he states they have to defeat 8 more angels. Shinji also pays another early visit to the hell train, where he is joined by Rei and what may be a younger version of himself or Rei while he succumbs to self loathing/pity.

There is then a fairly significant development when in order to convince Shinji to fight Misato takes him to Level EEE of NERV headquarters (aka Central Dogma) and introduces him to the 2^nd Angel Lilith. In addition to the change in Misato already knowing about Lilith (and her existence apparently being known to significant numbers of NERV staff), the mask Lilith wears is also different to that in the original series. This Lilith is also already impaled by the Lance of Longinus which did not occur until around episode 14 of the original series.

The battle with the 6^th angel then proceeds in a similar fashion to in the original series, however in Evangelion 1.11 the Angels counterattack reaches him and throws him back rather than leaving him relatively unaffected as in the series. This allows for some character development for Shinji since he chooses to fight and take the second shot of his own free rather than freezing up or running away.

If Evangelion 1.11 had ended just after the 6^th Angels defeat then the changes could have been considered relatively minor. At this point however, in the final minute of the film there is a big development when Kawaru turns up on the moon speaking to a Seele Monolith. Kawaru in the original series was the 17^th Angel and was revealed to be similar to Rei Ayanami in that he carries Adam’s soul.

If just showing up a lot earlier than in the series was not enough, he shows prior knowledge of Shinji Ikari and the stone box he emerges out of is in front of an Angel that wears a mask similar to that worn by Lilith in the original series. I will give my thoughts on what this may mean and how it may link into the original in a post following my upcoming review of Evangelion: 2.22.