If you're going to see the series and the End of Evangelion, you're wasting your time here. This DVD contains a short overview of the series, followed by the first bit of The End of Evangelion. If you don't want to sit through the series (shame on you), you'll want to see the first half of this before watching the End of Evangelion, but otherwise it's not really worth the money.
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tubola998 February 2003
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Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth is a 1997 film that acts as both a recap of the original series Neon Genesis Evangelion and a preview for the at-the-time upcoming film The End of Evangelion. The Death and Rebirth in the title refers to the two segments of the film; Death being the recap, and Rebirth being the first half an hour of EoE.
At the time of the film's release, the film was supposed to act as an alternative to watching the original 26 episode series, most likely to draw in non-fans to come and see End of Evangelion. In my opinion however, the film isn't a very good alternative to watching the original series. It's organised out of chronological order and forgoes a lot of the plot to give brief outlines of the main character's personalities, which could lead to a fair amount of confusion. Most of the animation in the "Death" segment is just reused footage from the series. The only parts of the film that are not reused are scenes where the three main leads practice classical music, which are more or less purposeless and really only serve as an excuse to listen to nice music. If you had not seen the original series before watching this, I would guess that you would be rather confused.
However if you are a fan of this franchise (like me), you'll probably quite enjoy it. Though the recap is strangely organised, it's still Evangelion, which is inherently pretty cool if you love the show. The organisation can be seen as an interesting new way to experience the show, and it can also act as a nice refresher on the events of the series. While The End of Evangelion segment is kind of pointless, it's still the End of Evangelion, which, in my opinion, is one of the best animated films ever made, so watching a bit of it is hardly a bad thing.
Still, the film only really functions as a curiosity piece for super fans. If you are not super invested in the franchise already, you probably don't even know it exists, and if you do, you probably don't care. -
Basically what we got here is a 100 minute recap of the 1995 Japanese cult TV anime series "Neo Genesis Evangelion". It cuts up pieces from the 24 episodes and pretty much strings them together with a choppy narration, until it gets to it abrupt ending. Then you got the movie which ended the series "Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion" to watch and there's some scenes from that thrown into it as well. So, if I was going to give it a outline of this film I'll be here all day explaining, as it's a 24 episode show which explored different themes, plus giving away too much detail away can spoil the story and surprises for you. I found this to be more for the fans of the series, but if you're a new comer I recommend watching the 24 episodes instead and then watching this to refresh your memory. Also there's some new additional scenes popped in too.
I remember when I first started watching this sci-fi anime, I became remotely hooked by its stirring context, straightaway actually. It seemed to get better with each episode! It was my favourite anime series, well along with "Astro Boy", that is the series from the 80's. But this post-apocalyptic story is stunning entertainment. Sure this summary is hugely disjointed, with hectic editing and a plot that goes back and forth through its time line, but that's because there's so much to squeeze in. The many involving sub plots and specifics on mankind makes this an incredibly complex experience where your ask to ponder a lot on what your hearing and seeing on screen. When I first saw the show I was expecting something fairly childish, but the concept was very mature and this recount proves it. There's always a moral to the story and notions are vividly depicted in an very emotional state, but they aren't too hard to swallow, or pushed onto you. A lot of it focus on people overcoming the things that bring them down and stop them living their life to the best. Plus another look at man's fate and arrogance and how we would easily turn on each other. Really, there's more too it then that of its stunning animation and arty visuals that cover the running time. I agree it might be hard to follow at times, but there's some beauty and mystic within this moody series that keeps you compelled. What makes that so, is the perky characters that are believable and simply appealing to watch. We truly get to know these characters and to see what makes them tick, therefore you honestly care for their well being. Worked into it is a moving, whimsical score, which at times enters some nice classical music. The dialogue is strongly put, with cunning idea's, natural conversations and snappy humour flowing through it. Then you got the action, which is a sight to behold it's always at full ball and not afraid to show blood splatter. For some I see where they are coming from when they claim it's strained and hard to understand, but I still recommend watching the whole series first before looking at this. Because it's pretty deep stuff.
Engaging and overwhelming to the highest agree. So check out the series and then this piece, for a better understanding on what's truly going on. -
It's more like the Teacher's Edition.
"Evangelion" can be a life-changing experience when seen in it's entirety; if nothing else, it will redefine the way you look at anime. "Evangelion: Death/Rebirth" will not affect you quite so profoundly, but it's still worth viewing and, in my opinion, owning when the official U.S. DVD release hits stores in late July 2002.
Originally released in Japan prior to "End of Evangelion" to promote the theatrical finale to the series, the first half ("Death") is a summation of the first 24 episodes meant to "refresh the memories" of long time fans of the anime, and initiate those who have not seen the series into the mythology of Eva's world circa 2015 A.D.; The second half ("Rebirth") is a sneak peek at the first few minutes of "End of Evangelion" (the two part movie which - sort of - wraps up the series).
To say that "Death" is largely redundant if one has seen the series is fair enough; To say that "Rebirth" is redundant because the movie itself will be available domestically on DVD in September is also fair. But "Evangelion: Death/Rebirth" is not a total waste; a great deal of new animation was created for the film, including a number scenes which were given the "director's cut" treatment and which have been, until now, mostly unavailable in the U.S. except as fansubbed movie files off the internet. This alone is enough to recommend the title to many longtime Eva fans.
Granted, I won't watch it as often as the other episodes or the movie itself, but I'll own the DVD when it comes out. Bottom line, if you haven't seen Eva yet, watch the 24 episodes in their entirety first. You'll get more out of the movie AND out of "Death/Rebirth" that way. -
etg170122 October 2007The Evangelion series itself may well be a true masterpiece, a rare example of a popular work that transcends its commercial origins and enters the realm of great art. Unfortunately, this film fails to really do it justice as it consists primarily of material already seen in either the television series or the film End of Evangelion. Additionally, they redubbed many of the voices for the English version, and the new voices often fall quite short of the old ones (even if they didn't necessarily live up to the Japanese ones to begin with). Touji's lines, in particular, fall spectacularly flat. On the positive side, it does introduce some new and hard to get footage interspersed with some nice musical numbers from Bach and Pachelbel.
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The series itself is a true masterpiece, I spoiled it by watching "The End of Evagelion" first, do NOT do that. "Death & Rebirth" is a good re-cap if you've seen all but the last 2 eps. It's a bit back and fourth but overall it erases any confusion. Again, this series is beautiful, it's not just 'robots' fighting monsters it's SO much more...they are NOT robots... DO NOT pass this series up! It's an experience.
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Ucare23 April 2014I did not watch the original 26 episodes series but I watched in these days all Evangelion films, because of the high ratings: Death and Rebirth (a recompilation of the original series), The End (a rewriting of the End of the series, still considered one of the best Anime ever), and then the last three, 1 and 2 which reboot the series apparently without mayor changes, and 3 which goes in new territories. At first I will write about Evangelion in general, and then about this specific movie here. In all Evangelion the writer touched any possible demagogic stereotype and cliché on earth: father/son relationship, Oedipus complex, a bit of the typical Manga Style sexuality, cheap psychology, and a huge amount of very cheap esoterism with symbolisms of all kind. My opinion? A big omelet of everything, which finally means absolutely nothing. Wiki says that after the failure of his previous works (which he judged as childish) he wanted to make something "deeper". My impression is that he did not even try to BE deeper, rather just to SEEM deeper in order to impress the audience. And I am afraid that only the Naive could be impressed by such a confused mess.
I can still see why this show had success: Evas are cool, fights too, and there is enough mix of drama, action, teenage nerd sexuality in the typical Japanese style, and some sort of epic. I suppose that if you are younger than me and without any knowledge of psychology or esoterism, and a bit nerd, you may enjoy this works pretty much more than I did.
About this film: well, the first half is just a recompilation of episodes of the series, and the second part is a preview of the movie "End of Evangelion", so I would say: watch the first half. If you like it, you can watch directly End of Evangelion skipping the last part of this movie. I personally did so. The first half of this, then the End, then 1 and 2 (reboot of the Series), and then the horrible 3. Even if I am sure that watching the whole series would be a more complete experience, the vision of this recompilation and of the reboot 1 and 2 gave me enough not to feel I miss the series, and showed me that I may not like the series so much to dedicate to it more time. -
ksdave24 September 2002WARNING :::SPOILERS::: !!!!
First half is a quick review of the series, minus the last two episodes, it also further explains what happened durning the second impact, kinda scary, also you learn more about misato, yui, and gendo... NERV then comes under attack by the very last angel, humans. SEELE ordered their special forces unit to take the 2 remaining Eva's by force. Almost everyone is killed, brutally i might add, and it bleeds into End of Evangelion, infact about all of Rebirth is repeated in Air, but then it continues.... -
10/10 for the fact that most of the material was taken from an excellent TV series and a good film.
2/10 for the lack of new material and rather uninspired way in which 24 episodes were summarised, meaning that this isn't really a film as much as an overview.
Leaving me with 6/10. Couldn't be fairer than that. -
thatredheadedkid8 November 2000this is the best anime you will ever see. if you havent seen it, you cannot call yourself a true fan of the genre. this film is 13hrs. 13hrs of drama, action, and intelligent plot. giant weapons and monsters, a penguin, and one helluva soundtrack, this epic is truly worthy of everything it gets.
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Mysterygeneration13 January 2024"Death and Rebirth" is a well-done recap of the Evangelion franchise, focusing on Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and Kaworu attending a rehearsal of Pachebel's "Kanon in D-dur." The movie is split into two halves, with the first half, "Death," being essentially a recap. The recaps are well-done, with new footage and narration added to make the events clearer. The story is retelling from various personal perspectives, with the classical music used to great effect, lending it an elegance that the series often lacks. The recaps cherry-pick key moments from the series and remove unnecessary padding, making it easier to connect the dots in the story and giving "Death" a greater intensity and urgency compared to the series. This highlights the greatness that people often talk about when discussing Evangelion. Despite its flaws, "Death and Rebirth" is a must-watch for fans of the Evangelion franchise.
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Wow! This is perhaps *the* best movie I've ever seen. The whole Evangelion 'thing' was introduced to me by my friend, thx Jadaick, and I am soooo glad he did! This movie is a constant goose bump ride for the people who have seen the series. People who haven't seen the series need not apply, you wont get a thing outta this movie, but even if you have seen the series from top to bottom be prepared to have to watch this over and over again. Not just because you want to watch it again, but because you will be so absorbed into it the first time, you will have to watch it again just to take it all in. (especially the second half) I don't want to bore you any longer but if you have about $30 and a weekend to spare, please do yourself a favor and go to your local anime store and rent Evangelion! You'll be glad you did.
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meissotruey31 July 2022Finally motivations and actions explained! It is quite ironic that we weren't given simple, little, but important phrases from the characters in the original NGE series, that would've improved the experience and made the series really good. But this kinda "documentary" finally made me acknowledge the whole NGE series as something worthy of attention. P. S. I would say, that Asuka in the original series is perfect(actually in the movies below she stands out either as amazing or really interesting character). I'd say also, that last Rebuild(all previous are trash( well except the new visuals, they're hella good!), and it is kinda bizzare that the last one was good and opened up another lovely character, that previously served as a mute) and The End of Evangelion is the best of franchise(at least they aren't as long as TV series( but maybe i should rewatch it after all of new Eva experience, cause i've finished NGE by 24th of July 2020, damn 2 years ago!), and have more intense narrative and more content, but in order, to watch them, you need to watch the series KEKW). And Death also cool, but it is more of good additional thing, than good on itself.
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kaworu-331 December 2000"Evangelion - Death & Rebirth" is, obviously, a film of two parts. "Death" is a futile attempt to stuff the content of the first 24 episodes of the "Evangelion" TV series into a running time of just under an hour. It succeeds in getting the very bare-bones of the plot in, but leaves out all of the subtler moments, the moments of psychological drama, and the fully-realized character developments that helped to make the TV series so popular to begin with. The few minutes of animation made help fill up this immense loss fails miserably.
But it does its job. And its job is to promote "The End of Evangelion". It is virtually impossible to watch "EoE" without some significant background knowledge of the TV series, and that is exactly what "Death" does.
"Rebirth" is, essentially, the first few minutes of "EoE", there for the sole purpose of whetting the appetites of audiences all over Japan for the initial release of "EoE". But since "EoE" has since been released, what's the point of keeping "Rebirth" around, anyway?
As far as promotional packages go, this is one brilliant piece of marketing. But viewers expecting to be thoroughly blown away by "Evangelion" are best off watching the TV series and then "EoE" (all in one sitting is NOT recommended, due to the sheer length of it all). "Death & Rebirth" has served its purpose, and now is no longer needed. -
then watch the cliff's notes version. Death is basically a recap of the most important events that occurs in Evangelion episodes 1-26 with some new animation strewn about. It's brief but will give you the information you need before you go on to watch End of Evangelion. But I think the best way to experience Eva is to watch every single episode. It's still good nonetheless. Rebirth is really the first 25-30 minutes to End of Evangelion(it is called Air in EOE). This is good to watch if you've never seen the series.
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krojiak1 December 2002This movie is a summary of the previous 26 episodes. I think the NGE episodes worth watching, but if u skipped them, u should watch this movie to have a clue about the second movie. One last word about NGE: It is one of the best anime series I've ever watched, try to watch all the episodes and the movies.
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jirapat-2299911 July 2019Cuz you won't see anything new in this movie if you used to watch Neon genesis EVAGELION. However it's still good. Worth to watch
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After binge watching the series, I felt compelled to watch the movies ASAP. I watched this film's Netflix release titled Evangelion: Death (True)² which is only 69 minutes long, so I will talk about that only. Well, it is indeed true that this film is almost only a recap of the series' highlight action and dramatic moments. It has very little new footage for the most part, but I will still recommend seeing it. I know it's not easy to cover an entire 26-episode series into a film running little longer than an hour, but the makers have done a good job.
It might not serve much purpose if you have put The End of Evangelion on hold to watch this one; the new footage is indeed not very huge and it's basically nonstop action from start to finish with some character moments, as a result of the summarizing. It does work as a standalone mostly, but I'd still recommend seeing the series first as a number of things related to the continuity might not easily make sense if you start directly with this film. I was fairly surprised the order of a lot of sequences has been altered, and that too impressed me; I overall found it a story that can be retold from different perspectives and styles, and this is where it really works.
I won't recommend skipping this film at all. It only makes you anticipate something bigger from the next film amidst this summary of all the mecha action and human emotion the series gave us. -
I will say first that although I have seen all 26 episodes in English, I have only seen this in its original Japanese with no subtitles, and it still blew me away. The quality of the sound and animation is paramount. After watching Shinji and Nerv overcome unbelievable alien obstacles in the series, I couldn't begin to think what they would face in this movie. In an ironic twist, it turns out their own people and governments will pose their greatest threat, to an organization that was never designed to fight them. I have already watched it many times; and I'm sure I'll be watching it many more before I'm done..
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domain-521 August 2013Hello!
AS A MOVIE, this is simply GODAWFUL.
(YES, I have seen the entire TV series, which I considered quite good overall.)
This movie was slapped together with zero thought, effort, or money, and was released ONLY to GET MORE CASH. NO other reason.
As far as I can tell, the first 2/3's of the movie is simply an incomprehensible mishmash of sections of the TV anime series randomly strung together.
I am NOT joking!
A section from the end of the TV series will be followed with a section from the beginning, then the middle, in a nonsensical way without rhyme or reason.
One scene from the series, was split into two or three different parts spread out through the movie, with them trying to pretend that it was a different scene, every time! (Since I've seen the entire TV series, YES, I understood completely WHERE each scene was taken from, and what it's importance was within the TV series, BUT, the way it was edited together for the movie, made no sense whatsoever!)
Robot battles would erupt with no reason, and end. A scene would occur BEFORE a required scene setting it up; which would only show up later.
The last third is the first actual new stuff (Yes, yes, some die hard fan will point out that maybe a couple of minutes of new stuff was added to the first 2/3's of the movie, to which I say, so what? The extra couple of minutes added NOTHING.)
Now the LAST third, the new material, was almost watchable. HOWEVER, the movie ABRUPTLY ends, right in the middle of a scene, with no resolution of any kind, NOTHING! Just BLAM!, over! (presumably because they were too cheap to add any more.)
AND, since the cheapskate, lazy, tightwads that put this garbage together, completely REPEAT this NEW section IN IT'S ENTIRETY, as the beginning third of the next movie, "The End of Evangelion", you don't even need to watch that part!
So the final word?
Watch the complete TV series, "Neon Genesis Evangelion". (WARNING: Many people don't like the ending of the TV series "Neon Genesis Evangelion".)
SKIP the incomprehensible garbage money grubbing movie "Evangelion: Death and Rebirth".
THEN, watch the movie "The End of Evangelion". (WARNING: Many people don't like the ending of the movie "The End of Evangelion".)
I GUARANTEE, you WON'T miss anything worth watching. You'll save yourself from watching endless, cheapskate, lazy repetition after repetition with no point whatsoever (except to make the lazy, greedy filmmakers extra money).
DON'T believe the people who say that this movie is too complex to follow without having watched the TV series. That is absurd nonsense. I think they're only saying that to sucker more people into watching this garbage, along with them.
Don't be suckered in!
My 2¢ worth.
Karl -
Direct31 January 2001This movie changed my life. It really did. It truly completes the series and takes you even deeper into the characters than ever before. This movie is just... wow. I feel as though my life is complete because of it.
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mmushrm12 January 2011Just watched this after not having watched any Evangelion material for many many years. Supposedly it is a new ending from the TV series. I cant confirmed as i stopped watching the series before its conclusion. Watching this reminded me of why I stopped watching the series...basically I cannot stand the main character Shinji. I found and still find the character pathetic and absolutely disgusting. I could not find any attachment to him and so the story arch and the philosophy of the ending to me was a by product of the weak, self pitying, pathetic Shinji as opposed to any philosophical message. The movie shows him after he have been reduced to a pathetic useless self pitying mess. The battle scene and the ending sequence was very well rendered. A must see if you are a fan of Evangelion
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Escapist-280223 November 2022100 minutes of "Neo Genesis Evangelion" were rehashed here. It splices 24 episodes together until its dramatic end. Some segments from "The End of Evangelion" are included. Since the film is part of a 24-episode series, I don't want to spoil the story or the surprises. This is better for longtime fans than newbies; the first 24 episodes are vital for beginners, and this is best viewed later to refresh your memory. New scenes were added.
It was my second-favorite anime after "Astro Boy." This post-apocalyptic story is compelling. This summary is fragmented because it covers so much ground with rapid-fire cuts and temporal jumps. Subplots and nuances about humanity make this a compelling and thought-provoking read. I believed the show was for kids, but the idea was complex, as this recap shows. There is always plenty to learn, and concepts are delivered with regard to the reader's sensibilities. The fundamental topic is that people may overcome the hurdles preventing them from living fully. We also examine humanity's futility, arrogance, and ability to turn on one another. Animation and art keep you interested throughout. Despite some puzzling moments, this series is intriguing. Positive, engaging characters make the film enjoyable. We care for these folks because we know and understand them. A charming, imaginative soundtrack is interwoven with classical tunes. Well-written dialogue is smart, realistic, and witty. The violence is unrestrained and graphic. I can see why some claim it's strained and hard to understand, but you need to see the whole series first. Because it's well-considered. -
The only reason i watched this movie was because i had a full hour of freetime before bedtime and i didn't have nothing to do.non the less its a great movie and a great alternative to the original show.
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Liambambawei12 January 2018I would like to preface this review by saying that I absolutely love the original series of NGE. It has aged astonishingly well, and I think it's truly timeless. However, this film occupies a bit of a strange spot in the franchise. About an hour is recapping the series, and the final half-hour is a "sneak-peek" at the next film in the franchise, "End of Evangelion" (which I have not seen at the time of writing). This begs the question - if your intent is to follow the storyline of the franchise from start to finish, what point does this film play? You could watch the series and (I'm assuming) go straight to End of Evangelion and you wouldn't have missed anything. It's a bit like having a "previously on evangelion" segment, then a half-hour trailer for something you're probably going to watch afterwards anyway. I will admit, the recapping of the series did make me view some of the themes in a different light by juxtaposing scenes I didn't connect thematically before, so it's got that going for it. But it hasn't got a lot else I'd recommend it for other than that, or for revising the story so far if you haven't seen the series in a while. It's not bad. There's just not much reason for it existing.