Rating: 
Summary: clearer plot, fearsome interview
Review: If you need an excuse to buy this, tell yourself it's a present for that *real* otaku in your life, that's all ... but you don't need an excuse. You need this if you are still dissatisfied with, or puzzled by, Evangelion. I pre-ordered it (not for me, no, it was a present ...), half-expecting to be disappointed -- instead we were dead silent, other than the occasional muttered "that's new" & some snorting at the subtitles, which are, shall we say, less than smoothly done this time around. Lots of clarification. Lots of back story. Lots of new images. Yes, I've pre-ordered the next one (but it's a present, really).Evangelion is dark, no question, but for truly depressing viewing, watch the preview of the live-action version: a long dreary interview with two guys from Weta, interspersed with sketches of the characters. Shriek in terror at the characters' new & improved names. Throw up your arms, or possibly your lunch, at the pronunciation of Eva & of Evangelion (had they actually seen the anime?). And find a body language expert to explain what it means when X is droning on & on, & Y is sitting quietly beside him doing some very peculiar things indeed with his hands.
Rating:
Summary: clearer plot, fearsome interview
Review: If you need an excuse to buy this, tell yourself it's a present for that *real* otaku in your life, that's all ... but you don't need an excuse. You need this if you are still dissatisfied with, or puzzled by, Evangelion. I pre-ordered it (not for me, no, it was a present ...), half-expecting to be disappointed -- instead we were dead silent, other than the occasional muttered "that's new" & some snorting at the subtitles, which are, shall we say, less than smoothly done this time around. Lots of clarification. Lots of back story. Lots of new images. Yes, I've pre-ordered the next one (but it's a present, really). Evangelion is dark, no question, but for truly depressing viewing, watch the preview of the live-action version: a long dreary interview with two guys from Weta, interspersed with sketches of the characters. Shriek in terror at the characters' new & improved names. Throw up your arms, or possibly your lunch, at the pronunciation of Eva & of Evangelion (had they actually seen the anime?). And find a body language expert to explain what it means when X is droning on & on, & Y is sitting quietly beside him doing some very peculiar things indeed with his hands.
Rating:
Summary: Welp, time to give away my Director's Cut fansub.
Review: In one word: awesome. I've seen these cuts before (btw, episode 24's WILL blow you guys away, lol) and on DVD, they're even better. ADV has finally completed the Eva series with this and I'll be darned if it ain't their best seller in DVDs. Episode 21 don't have much. Episode 22 is the best Asuka ep. The part where there's hooded figures around her are pure horror & creepiness. Episode 23 rules all, because of the foreshadowing of the End of Evangelion. It also tells who created Rei. All in all, even if you got the original release of Collection 0:7 & 0:8, these new releases are well worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Though it's flawed, it's still a worthwhile purchase.
Review: Overall, despite ADV's constant attempts to sabotage the project, the episodes alone garner the DVD four stars.
Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail
Review: This DVD is aimed at die-hard Evangelion fans. It also coincides with preproduction of the live-action movie. Evangelion is the Holy Grail of anime TV series. One of the cool things about this DVD is it includes the original episodes and the new versions. Of course, fans will already have the originals, but it's a neat feature. No, there are no previews of the live-action movie, just a Q&A with two production guys from "The Lord of the Rings." They're "really honored to work on this project." You get the idea. Check out: www.shoyustuff.com for more.
Rating:
Summary: not love at first sight....
Review: Well lets get to the point...the main reason you would be buying this video is to check out the extra scenes that you get from the director's cut footage. And when you see the first episode (ep.21) you will be thinking...'what was special about that' but it does get better with each episode. When you get to the final episode on the disk you will see a scene that makes you glad you picked this one up because it makes you feel like your expirencing it all over again. So is it worth the price of admission, yes but my only real complaint watching it is the sound. it is in 2.o stereo.....not kool...not kool at all. but i guess you cant have everything...
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant episodes, despite ADV's attempts at sabotage.
Review: Well, after years/months/days of waiting, it's finally here: episodes 21-23 in all their "director's cut" glory. And quite honestly, I was in the purest of ecstasies when I first purchased it. Immediately afterwards, an innumerable amount of questions raced through my head: "What could it be like? Sure, the cuts have been DESCRIBED to me, but how do I know they're not completely wrong?... God, I can't wait to get home." And so, when I was home, I quickly shoved the disk into the DVD player to see... Yes, another Anime Network ad, but that's not all! When the menu popped up on the screen, my eyes did a 180... this was not quite the menu of old. It looked the same, but it was so much cooler this time around... all grey and red and whatnot. And, as I do with all of my DVD purchases, I quickly checked the extras to find... next to nothing. Clean opening, clean closing, and... what's this? An interview about the Eva live-action movie? Well, since I expected it to be there, I decided to move onto the episodes instead of watching it first. First thing that struck me about episode 21: Holy shiite. NO MORE SUPER-IMPOSED TEXT! ADV finally decided to put a big fat brain in that space between their ears. Just seeing pure, unadulterated Japanese text in these episodes makes me yearn for the TRUE versions of episodes 25 and 26. And yes, to see the opening sequence from Death worked into an episode was truly awesome. Then came the opening theme. They retranslated the opening theme! Why should I be mad about this? Well, it's much more accurate this time around, but I must ask, why did it take them THREE translations to get to this point? And it's still flawed. But I decided not to let it get to me. Still, something was bugging me during the whole experience... of course! The episodes have been retranslated entirely! What's more, it seems Matt Greenfield, while writing the ADR script, lost his thesaurus. So often three or four of the same word will be repeated within a sentence. Yes, it bugs me, because I'm an English freak-o-matic. For example, the line "someone who keeps cats to keep loneliness at bay" is a bit to repetitive on the "keeps" for me-self. But that was fine with me, as long as the new scenes were there and were as wonderful as I expected. I'll let those of you who haven't seen the new versions know this: IT WAS BETTER THAN ANYTHING I'D EVER EXPECTED. Simply... Godlike. Then came episode 22. Asuka fans rejoice! The director's cut of this episode is truly for you. Asuka's breakdown is longer... and much better as a result. This is also the longest episode of the three, which was most likely the reason for all the cuts. But Asuka's character is finally done justice, and Lilith finally grows legs (as she should). And of course, I was ready to praise "At Least, Be Human(e)" as the best cut of the pack. However... First, let me state this. "Tear(s)", for years, has been my favorite episode of Evangelion. It provided the greatest amount of exposition on my second favorite character of the series, Rei. And it was the first death in Evangelion that was actually worthy of a tear (unless you really really liked Kaji). Well, while watching the director's cut, I discovered this: the original cut of "Tear" didn't make any sense at all! It didn't even show how Rei killed the angel! Now, with this cut, we have little Reis growing on Shinji's thumb (which sets the stage for a whole lot of End of Evangelion) and a good picture of exactly what happens when you invert an AT field while an angel's in it. And don't forget that wonderful one-frame shot of angel Rei. KABOOM! And this was all cut for TV broadcast... for no real reason at all, as far as I can see. Oh well. These little flashes of comprehension make "Tear" the best episode of the set. And so... that was an AMAZING experience. Now, as much as I hate to do so, I must overview a few other sections of the DVD. Now, please note this: I do not hate the dub of Evangelion. I, in fact, consider it to be one of the better dubs out there. And thus, what they did to it in these newly cut episodes is blasphemous. THEY RE-DUBBED IT. Not only this, but it seems that the entire reason for re-dubbing is the apparent absence of Tristan MacAvery as Gendo. Note this: not having Tristan MacAvery as Gendo in the dub is the equivalent to taking Allison Keith or Spike Spencer out. Essentially meaning they ruined it. This new guy has an accent... boy, is it annoying. Luckily, however, Allison Keith, Spike Spencer, Amanda Winn-Lee, and Tiffany Grant are still here. Speaking of Tiffany Grant, take a look at episode 22. Her performance is ASTOUNDING. This also further proves my theory that the more Tiffany Grant performs as Asuka, the better she gets. Unfortunately, Allison Keith's Misato doesn't seem very excited about redubbing. I wouldn't be excited about redubbing either if I did the exact same crap two years earlier for Death and Rebirth. So I had basically finished watching the episodes in both forms. Now I needed to check out that interview. Very surprisingly... it actually made me excited for the live-action Eva movie. The designs were astoundingly detailed and... quite well done. In fact, I can't wait until it comes out. However, if anyone says "Evan-JEL-ion," I'm going to run out of the theater. Overall, despite ADV's constant attempts to sabotage the project, the episodes alone garner the DVD four stars.
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