The End of Evangelion English DVD Release
Reviewed by Elume Azure (Mike)
I don't usually review things. However, there are some that just piss me off so much, that I can't sit by and say nothing. Even if no one hears it. Therefore, I am posting here a review of the ENGLISH DVD release. Do not in anyway mistake this with the fansub. Debate this with me all you like, in fact, I invite it. But please know what the hell you're talking about, because I have no patience for those who try to defend a point that they know nothing about.

"The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth" Is what graces the cover of the EoE dvd. And, seeing as the cover is most likely the first thing you'll be repulsed by with this dvd, let's start there, shall we? It's ugly. No, ugly isn't a word bad enough. Let me check a thesaurus....no, there isn't a word to acurately describe how sickening this is. 12 monkeys with paint tubes could draw something better...okay, maybe not, but it would come close. I don't see why they didn't translate the japanese poster and put it on the front. It would've looked much better, and much more suited to the theme of the movie, (btw, translated text reads something like "Wouldn't it be nice, if everyone would just...die?"(after expierencing Manga Entertainment's dvds, my line of thought usually goes something like "Wouldn't it be nice if some unexplained pheonomia wiped Manga Entertainment out of existance?" hmm...)) It's horribly horribly horrible. Moving on, inside, we find, MORE HIDEOUS PACKAGING! GASP! The DVD looks like a dual sided one, but it's not, why does it look like one? because the only marking on the dvd is IN THE CENTER. Then on the insert, we find probably the best piece of artwork on the entire package. A picture of most of the main characters in the movie with a giant naked rei in the middle. And remember, that's the best piece of art. On the rest of the insert, we find more bad artwork, and more catchphrases. Right then, moving onto the actual dvd.

While starting it up, we come across the usual warnings, and then THE MENU! The menu is one of the best things this dvd has going for it. Although it seems a little out of place, with all the letters of your choices falling off the screen as the intro plays through, you still have the basic options: Play movie, Change audio and subs, scene access, and extras. Let's start at the end. Extras. *crickets chirp* Wow. A whole lot of nothing here. Three things, 1. Manga Entertainment releases. Why god? Why? 2. Evangelion trailers. oooh! those might be good, oh, wait, no, they're the manga ent. trailers for the two movies. sorry. 3. Audio commentary. Uh...yeah.........no. Just no. As I recall, there were quite a few extras that were PLANNED for this dvd, apparantly, NONE of them made it. And we get an audio commentary to make up for it....fuck you too Manga Entertainment. Next, we have the menu to change the audio and subtitle options. Wow. 3 different english audios...and 3 different japanese audios...and...hey...where are the subtitle options?! That's right, you'll have to use your remote. Because manga ent was too obsessed with audio to put in the buttons for subtitles. Dumbasses. Then comes scene selection. You know, this movie is divided into 2 parts, each of which are divided into 3 chapters. Wouldn't it be nice if..I don't know...they were represented? Because all you get are: Part 1 & Part 2. Then you can manually skip through the chapters to look for what you want. VERY VERY DUMB. Then comes the play option. This is the dvd's best part. Why? Because it plays the actual movie, and the actual movie is the BEST part about this dvd. And even it is spoiled by the dub and subs.

Now then, on the actual movie. We have problems still. The English dub for the Eva TV series was pretty damn good. Of course, the eva TV series was also done by ADV, not Manga Ent. One thing that's really strange though, when you start the movie, what playes BEFORE the movie, is the japanese unsubtitled, untranslated, trailer for (guess which movie!) End of Evangelion. Very Very dumb. Which drugs over what amount of time, do you have to consume to do something like that?! ARGH! Anyways, the english dub for this movie, and the recap movie for that matter, was SHIT. It went from good, to hell. In fact, I think only 2-6 of the voices are the origionals. No, 4-6. I'm sure about Gendo, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka, but not about Misato and Aoba. EVERYONE ELSE HAS A NEW VOICE. It's completely fucked up. It would've been especially nice if they had done SOMETHING right with this dvd. How hard could it possibly be to hire the ORIGIONAL VOICE ACTORS?! I know they can't ALL be dead! Geez, again, we say, Fuck you Manga Entertainment. Moving on, another problem with the english dub is the script. It takes WAY too many liberties with trying to explain things toward the end. Otherwise, it's your typical english translation. Messy in a few parts, needing of some rewriting, but generally okay. Then there's the part just before Komm Susser Todd (Come sweet death) begins playing. One of my favorite scenes, sheerly because of the drama it instills in you. But no, out of the entire movie, they decided to edit the very VIDEO of that scene. As spoilerless as possible now: Shinji is talking with Asuka in his head. Shinji loses it, knocks sum stuff over, and then Asuka MOUTHS the word 'No' which is shown in japanese subtitles at the top right of the screen. FOR SOME REASON, OUT OF EVERY GODDAMN JAPANESE SUBTITLE IN THIS MOVIE, THE ONLY ONE THEY TAKE OUT IS THAT ONE. THE ONE THAT ENDS THE SCENE PERFECTLY! AND ASUKA SPEAKS NO! IT SOUNDS SMALL, BUT THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT IT HAS. Ahem, I'm sorry if i'm ranting, but i just feel VERY strongly about this. Now then, the other big irk i have with the english dub, is that Eva (pronounced A-vah) has become Eva (pronounced EE-vah). When they say the word a lot, IT BECOMES a big problem. In fact, Tiffany Grant (Asuka) is the only person who says it correctly in the entire movie. And she only has to say it once. So, as always, Tiffany Grant remains my favorite english voice actor, having NEVER fucked up a character yet. That's about it for the english dub, thankfully. Then there's the japanese dub. MANGA ENTERTAINMENT DIDN'T FUCK WITH THE JAPANESE DUB. THANK YOU GOD. That's the last of the things that this dvd has going for it.

So, in closing. The fansub for this series, runs circles around this dvd. No joke. No questions. I would rather watch the fansub again and again and again. Ah, wait, I forgot to mention the disc's subtitles didn't I? That's right, Manga Ent. DID have the sense to realize someone might get fed up with their mangaling of the movie, and watch it in japanese with subs. Well, Manga tried to fuck the subs over, but failed in the end. Thankfully, the subs remain more or less faithful to what they actually mean. The biggest thing I have a problem with on the subs is the last line of the movie is really translated as "I feel sick" not, "How disgusting". Again, it's one of those little things that make a big difference. Then again, maybe I'm just too rabid a fan, just too picky. But I can't help it. I just feel that this dvd was missing a lot, that it got rushed. That it's just a promotional unfinished copy. But sadly, as with most Manga Ent. dvd releases, it isn't. However, anyone, and I mean ANYONE who has seen the whole TV series, or read the manga, IS OBLIGED almost to see this movie. Don't bother with D&R as it's just a recap. YOU MUST SEE EOE. It will blow you away. To that end, you have 3 choices of viewing it. 1. Buy the dvd. 2. Borrow the dvd from a friend. 3. Aquire a copy of the fansub and watch that on your computer in full screen mode. Keeping in mind that I do not support piracy, I have to say go for the fansub option. Because Manga Entertainment should not be allowed to destroy your expierence of this awesome and great movie, but if the english dvd is the only way you can see this movie, then by all means, watch it. But remember, there is a better version out there. And, one more time, just for the closing, say it with me folks. Fuck you Manga Entertainment.

--Elume Azure

Addenum: I wrote this the night I got said dvd. Upon further scrunity, I realize that the dvd is not as bad as I made it sound above. And the whole script thing was just off. I apologize for that. Except for the pronounciation. That still gets on my nerves.
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