Neon Genesis Evangelion - Platinum Collection 2

Rating:
Summary: Evangelion, as it Should Be
Review: This is #2 in the reissues of Evangelion. There's no additional content if you already bought the original DVD's. The film transfers and Dolby 5.1 Audio are excellent as usual. The commentaries were the best part of the DVD. I love listening to the staff and cast talk about the feelings and opinions of what they did. For the price the episodes per disk on the Platinum Collection are great. Sadly there aren't any extra trinkets like the NERV parking sticker in the Neon Genesis Evangelion - Platinum Collection 1. Buy it if you've never owned or seen Evangelion. This is an anime that every fan should watch.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best re-releases getting better...
Review: This is the second DVD in the Neon Genesis Platinum collection, a re-make of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion Anime series with enhanced picture and audio quality. The animation has been restored and improved to "modern" standards so that this DVD will produce a very crisp and clear picture. Next to that they have also enhanced the sound tracks; the original Japanese audio is available in 5.1 surround and the English audio tracks have been reworked as well. I hope that it will be re-assuring to know that if you're already used to the English dubs of the original serie that you'll feel right at home listening to this one.

Next to that this DVD also features new contents, even though some scenes may be very hard to spot if you have no material as comparison. You may very well consider the Platinum series to be the full batch of the Director Cut's.

There are 5 Evangelion episodes on the disk (6 through 10: Rei II (also known as 'Showdown in Tokio 3'), A human work, Asuka Strikes!, Both of you: Dance like you want to win!, Magma diver) as well as some extra 'fan service' ;-)

So on to the special treats... As the name already points out the Platinum series isn't just a mere re-run. Next to the improvements mentioned above this DVD is shipped in a silver cover ("slip over") which features a line drawing of Rei in her plugsuit on the front and a description of whats on the DVD on the back. The DVD box itself lists about the same plus on the back the episode names written out in Kanjii and the original air dates.

Then there's a 12 page booklet inside which describes the episodes, features some very nice pictures from the series and gives you some insight info on the encountered Angels as well.

And finally the reason why I think things are getting better... On the first DVD we were only treated with 2 audio commentary tracks as well as the always present clean opening and ending (yes, the opening/closing are also present on this DVD). This DVD features an audio commentary track with Tiffany Grant (English voice actress for Asuka) and Allison Shipp (English voice actress for Misato).

And then there's what I consider the real treat: an Animatic for episode 9 (Both of you; dance like you want to win!). Here we are treated with the episode containing only original material: drawings in poor quality (read the stories about the original material getting worse? Now you can see for yourself) as well as line drawn sketches of scenes and producer notes. Now _this_ is getting the fans what they want in my opinion!

So there you have it... Now for a closing personal comment: if you are a fan of the series then there is no way around this release when considering the extras on the disk. And when looking at the fact that they have shipped 10 episodes (almost half of the original amount of 26) on 2 disks (so the first 3 disks may very well list the whole first half of the serie) I can't help wonder if the Platinum serie will have 6 "episode disks" and one "bonus disk". That could be a real treat...

Rating:
Summary: Best anime series ever
Review: This review applies to the whole entire series, not just this disk. Never before has any anime, or even movie enthralled and move me as much as this. The direction is fantastic and the some of the characters will make your heart ache. If you are a fan of anime you OWE it to yourself to watch this. Asuka is personally my favourite as the fiery redhead who uses agressive and intimidation to hide her vulnerable self.