neon genesis evangelion Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Following close on the heels of Monday's news about four new Neon Genesis Evangelion anime movies comes a more concrete and substantial report on the project, thanks to the ever-present Variety. The four new films will be released in a semi-staggered order, with the first film hitting Japanese theaters in July of next year, the second in January, and the third and fourth (as a double-bonus release) sometime in the summer of '08.

We're told the plan is for the first two movies to do some general re-telling and summarizing of the original 26 episodes, using an assortment of images from the series (with all-new backgrounds and soundtracks), while the final two (with their simultaneous release) will be all new material. The new material is apparently meant as something of a mea culpa and a make-up gift to fans who were dissatisfied with the (admittedly rather weak) "ending" the movies created back in 1997. Not surprisingly, all four plan to use far more 3D animation than their mid-nineties predecessors, but with much of the same creative team attached. So, yeah -- fans shouldn't worry too much about the franchise moving too far away from the original "feel."

Newtype (a Japanese publication) has announced a new version of Neon Genesis Evangelion in their October edition. The new Eva will come to us in the form of four cinematic movies, and will attempt to make the franchise "more comprehensible" to average viewers. Fans of Eva know just how tricky and, well, mind-bending the show was the first time around. Before you start screaming about some knucklehead altering your beloved show, you should know the following facts:

• Hideaki Anno (the man behind Eva's original run) is writing for the films, and is the general supervisor for the entire project.
• Tsurumaki Kazuya (who directed the first episodes of Eva) will be directing all four films.
• Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Ikuto Yamashita (who designed the characters and mechas for Eva) will be designing the characters and mecha for the four movies.

With these guys involved, I'd say the movies stand more than a fighting chance of being both a.) awesome and b.) very faithful to the feel of the original series. The first of the four films is due to hit Japanese theaters next summer, although we Americans will likely have to wait eons and settle for a pitiful DVD release.