Rating: 
Summary: For die-hard Evangelion obbsessies only.
Review: There is only one reason to watch this movie: there are maybe 2 minutes worth of cut scenes that you CANNOT watch anywhere eles scattered throughout the "Death" segment of the film that take place within the T.V. series. The rest of the movie is scattered scenes from the T.V. series, (the "Death" segment) and the first 26 minutes of "End Of Evangelion" (the "Rebirth" segment). The scenes that can only be found on "Death & Rebirth" are: Asuka talking to Kaji just before we meet them for the first time in the series, Shinji playing the string quartet at school and later being joined by the other three children who pilot the Evas (including Shinji's guy friend, whose name I have forgotten, as it's been quite some time since I watched the series, who pilots the fourth Eva only once when it is possessed by an angle and must be destroyed,) and they come in one at a time and play violins, and there is minimal dialoge spoken by Shinji and Asuka. Then there is Kaji's death scene. Actually we don't exactly see him die. He is shown standing outside by a huge fan, and then he looks at us and says,"You're late." We don't see who comes to meet him. Fade to black, and in the English version we hear him shot, and then Shinji tells Asuka Kaji is dead. In the Japanese version we hear him slapped, and then Shinji tells Asuka Kaji is gone. This to me would seem to suggest that Kaji met Misato one last time, and then she slaps him and he leaves for good, while in the English version he meets an undercover contact who kills him. In both versions we then see Asuka call Shinji a liar. These scenes are the only reason to buy the VHS version of this film, and that's only depending on how badly you want to see the few minutes of new footage you can't see anywhere eles, and only if you don't have a DVD player. Rent it if you can find it at any video store, unless they don't have the language version of your choice. On the DVD there is a commentary option where you can listen to the thoughts of Amanda Winn, English voice actor of Rei, and two other guys who worked on it. The commentary is insightful and funny, (they apologize for using levity and say it is only to relive the depression of working on such a heavy series,) and the part of the commentary that runs through the "Death" segment can only be heard on the
"Death & Rebirth" disk. However, the commentary that runs through the "Rebirth" segment is the same commentary that plays over the beginning of "End Of Evangelion". Also there is an option only on the "D&R" disk that lets you access infromation while you watch the film for anyone still confused about anything. If the scant new footage that can only be found here, "Death" commentary, and information menu aren't enough to spark your interest, watch the T.V. series, (the first 24 episodes, anyway,) then skip this and go directly to "End Of Evangelion".
Rating: 
Summary: Death & Rebirth
Review: Neon Genesis Evangelion`s 24 episodes with new scenes, starts with second impact and ends with the last Angel dead, extra materials included, is what you get if you buy this DVD.
There are two parts, Death & Reirth, Death is the main part and summerizes 1-24 episodes most important scenes, brilliantly done by the characters playing each of their own instruments and introducing themselfs, and then at the end when the group is together they play Kanon D-dur, beautifully reaching towards the end of Death and everything summerized it begins on Rebirth. Rebirth isn`t a summery of something, its an independent part that gives us some ideas of what to come in End of Evangelion. This DVD is not worth buying if you have the series from ADV, but if you can get it cheap you should own this dvd
Rating: 
Summary: A good place to start for those new to Evangelion
Review: Curious about Evangelion? Hesitant to throw down [$$] just because it's supposed to be the best anime ever? Then this is the disc for you. Now if you're new to Evangelion, and watch this, it won't make any sense. But you will be able to decide if you like the animation and get a brief idea of what the series is all about. Death and Rebirth is a highlight reel, made up of clips from the TV series in no particular order (at least that I can find). Watching this before watching the TV series will ruin several plot points, but wouldn't you rather spend [$$] to find out you don't like Evangelion than spend [more]? Besides, Evanglelion is worth watching several times to appreciate the animation and get a full sense of the story. I bought and watched this before I got my box set, and I was happy with the results. Another reviewer pointed out the excellent bonus features on this disc for hardcore fans. Evangelion rocks!
Rating:
Summary: Unsatisfying
Review: DON'T WATCH THE MOVIES UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN THE ORIGINAL 26 EPISODE SERIES. It's not near as interesting to watch the condensed version and if it's the only thing you watch before "The End of Evangelion" movie it all seems much more shallow. So where are we after the end of the series; All the Angels are dead. The world is a wreck but still viable. There are still people alive in hiding. The Eva kids have all been traumatized while trying to prevent the Apocalypse. Most of the people at NERV think they have prevented the Christian Book of Revelations version of the Apocalypse and also think this was their goal all along. SEELE on the other hand have in truth been orchestrating the Apocalypse from the beginning are still convinced they are going to make it happens. In the original ending of the series Shinji and the other main characters go through some in-depth analysis of themselves and consider how they view well...just about everything. At the end of the episodes Shinji makes decisions about himself that seem to be a lot saner then the rest of the ones he's made through out the series. It seems like the kids are going to somehow start rebuilding their lives and the world will go on. It's about as happy an ending you can expect from a series basically devoted to torturing the living hell out of it's characters to show how flawed yet still redeemable humans are as a species. Only problem being that we still have the HUGE plot hole of SEELE wanting to put an end to humanity as we know it. So now we get the movies. Part one Death: This recaps the whole series for all the people out there who didn't understand what happened. You get the impression the writer is speaking very slowly, loudly and making hand gestures to try to make you understand. He also throws in a few minutes of new scenes to take care of the very few plot mistakes he made. Considering how complex this story is it's amazing there were so few to fix. Part two Rebirth: SEELE attacks NERV and kills just about everybody. Lot's of blood and gor, your standard war. Which were for me the most upsetting action scenes so far in the series or the movies. Asuka is back to wanting to destroy everything to prove she's the best. Shinji is even more depressed and doesn't even want to live anymore as apposed to before when he just wanted to get away from all this horror. Once again things that you might have missed during the original series are made clear. It stops right as the big battle between all the Evas is about to begin. The problem with this is they seem to disregard the last two episodes of the original series. Shinji actually found some peace with himself by the end of those episodes. So now we enter into Rebirth and Shinji is a complete wrack again. When did this happen? It seems like they are exchanging a more mature and satisfying original ending for a load of less meaningful carnage. With a writer this good he could find away of explaining the original ending without editing the whole thing out. It feels like he spent all this time making very complex characters and an amazing plot and now he's letting it all fall apart.
Rating:
Summary: god is in his heaven and all is right with the world
Review: Death and Rebirth... While the first half is a good review of the 26 episode TV series, it also throws in some new details for good measure. After viewing the last 25 minutes though of new footage, I was hanging off the edge of my seat in anticipation of the following End of Evangelion feature film. The animation is incredible as is the story. Anyone who wishes to see this movie shoul also watch the original anime series as well to get the full story and scope. This is a series that has been highly rated and applauded. And with just cause. I have yet to see another anime series that can match the Evangelion series in all aspects of the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: More or less of what we've seen.
Review: Death & Rebirth is basically a jumble of things from the Neon Genesis Evangelion series. Mostly it's just a huge trip into the psyche's of the Eva characters. We get to see a lot of scenes from the TV series, so if you've never seen it, this isn't exactly a good way to start. Its not exactly a summary of the series either, for it's VERY non-linear; for example, the beginning of the movie starts off with Misato as a child during the 2nd Impact, then as an adult, then later shows her as a child again, and then as an adult at the start of the TV series, and so on and so forth. Additionally, we get treated to some new scenes that were never shown in the TV series, and some that WERE shown, but are newly animated. Like the rest of the series, Death and Rebirth is very psychological, dealing with the different character's troubled lives. It wasn't made for those who want mindless action, but there ARE some action-packed scenes of the Evangelions fighting the 'Angels' from the TV series. The DVD includes both the English and Japanese language tracks. The japanese audio is superb, as usual, but the English one is a different story. Most of the TV series' voice actors returned to their familiar roles, but some haven't. Of particular interest is Fuyutski's new voice actor; He doesn't sound much like the TV series' Fuyutski. Maya Ibuki has a new voice actress as well, and she has a better, more softer voice than the previous one(IMO). Tiffany Grant returns as Asuka's, and I really didn't like her voice that much. She didn't sound like a teenager, but she did get Asuka to sound annoying, which is one small part of her character.
Gendo Ikari's voice was great, and I'm glad it was the same voice actor doing his voice.
The music is the same classic stuff we've heard on the TV series, but there's about one or two new ones added, including Canon in D Minor.
The English version does have one thing over the japanese version; the sound is louder, and gets the bass to rumble even more than the japanese version.
The DVD has few extras, just trailers and a commentary(which is quite insightful and funny). The picture quality isn't that good though, which is a shame for those with Widescreen TVs(its not anamorphic either).
Anyway, Death & Rebirth isn't necessary to watch if you're trying to decide whether to get this before End of Evangelion. And it's not a good idea to introduce anyone to Neon Genesis Evangelion with this movie. But for those who have the extra cash and want to see a bit more things that you haven't seen in the TV series, you'd probably want to rent this at the least.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Series, Pointless Movie
Review: Highly recommend watching the following:
1. Neon Genesis the perfect collection (Episodes 1-24)
2. Then watch Neon Genesis Evangelion - The End of Evangelion There is no point watching Episodes 25 and 26 or Death and Rebirth for the following reasons:
EPISODE 25 -- Crude images, Philosophical, no connection to series.
EPISODE 26 -- Nothing but random scenes from previous episodes.
DEATH -- Nothing but random scenes from previous episodes.
REBIRTH -- This is the first part of End of Evangelion, thus no point watching it. I do NOT know what happened, but my theory is that they ran out of time or money at the end of the series and needed to release something. End of Evangelion is what episodes 25 and 26 should have been.
Rating:
Summary: Hurtin my brain
Review: This is a real pleaser for alot of anime fans.
But if you didn't see the whole series it will hurt your brain and confuse you.
I still saw the anime series but there were so many freakin flshbacks in this.
The animation is petty good. And if you are a fan of evangelion you'll want to add this to your collection
Rating:
Summary: Evolutionary Dead End
Review: I watched this movie mainly because it was Evangelion. Should you? Probably not. If you've seen the tv series then you've basically seen Evangelion: Death. Death simply recaps the tv series in a framework built around introducing the Eva pilots. Except for a couple of new scenes there is nothing fresh. On top of that, they had to re-dub the english dialogue and in some cases couldn't get the original voice actors back. It's pretty weird to hear the characters you've spent twenty+ episodes with now sounding completely different. And for some reason they've changed the pronunciation of Eva. Not a big thing but grating. Evangelion: Death is followed by Evangelion: Rebirth, which is really the first part of what becomes the next movie, End of Evangelion. There is really no reason to watch Evangelion Death & Rebirth, not even if you've never seen Evangelion in any form and are hoping for a quick intro. This is not the way to do it. You'll only end up confused and thinking Evangelion is crap, which it most assuredly is not. Go ahead. Borrow, rent, buy, whatever, but watch the original tv series. Then if you're interested you can check this out as a curiosity. Having said all that, this movie is not totally without merit. You could argue that it's worth seeing what the creator thought was 'important' to take from the tv series. What scenes were really integral to understanding Evangelion? Presumably they would be the ones included here. The real value though is the audio commentary. It's actually worth listening to. Yeah, it's not the creator of Evangelion or any of the Japanese staff which obviously would be preferable. But Amanda Winn Lee (English Language Director, and voice of Rei Ayanami)and two other guys from the English production staff do an alright job. They might be a little too flippant for some tastes. I thought Evangelion was very intense and very psychological, but that doesn't mean just because they were having fun recording the commentary that they weren't respectful of the work. After all, they've spent a good chunk of their time working with the material so it's interesting to hear their thoughts on what some of the symbolism might mean. They pointed out several things I missed, and their insights, while not canon, were nonetheless thought-provoking and made my viewing experience richer. Also, if you like South Park there is a hilarious bit w/ Kaji you might enjoy ; ) Whatever you decide to do, definately watch the tv series. Evangelion is really amazing and you'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: It'll Look Good Between your Collection 0:8 and E.O.E. DVDs
Review: As you have no doubt deduced by now, this disk contains two episodes of the finale of Hideaki Anno's Masterpiece "Evangelion". You have also surely discovered that this is the first part of a two part movie series. However there is very little point to buying this volume unless you are a hardcore Evangelion fan because there truly is no reason to buy it except to fill a hole on your shelf between your perfect collection and the End of Evangelion. The first episode is a condensed version of the television series jammed into a 60-minute episode. It is comprised entirely of scenes cut from the television show. However this will serve no use to either the experienced Evangelion Fan nor to someone who has never seen the show. The purpose of this episode was back at Japanese theaters in 1997 when the Evangelion fans hadn't seen the show for two years and were beginning to forget key facts (I.E. Anno didn't want the Eva Fans going to see the ending only to shout out in the theatre, "Who's Toji-kun again?"). I did fail to mention that there are a few new scenes put into here from the cutting floor (one of the second impact, another of a conversation with Yuki and stuff like this; nothing that earth shattering.) Overall it is useful to see once just to say you saw them all. The Second episode is the first part of the "End of Evangelion" saga. It is a awesome end!!... However, this episode is also shown on the "End of Evangelion" DVD in its entirety so it isn't a reason to buy the disk now that both are for sale. Many fans point out the extras on this disk which include some trailers for Death and Rebirth and E.O.E., a very long, un-segmented preview trailer for other Manga works, a collection of screen text files that give info on different aspects of the NGE Saga, and a very over rated (Double underline, triple exclamation point in a bold red marker) commentary. Would it have killed them to get a subtitled version by some of the real cast or even Hideaki himself?! What you get is a American Dubbing-"Actress" and English language director explaining it to you. Overall the special features are interesting to look at every now and then, it's interesting to see what they consider the show's important points are in the first episode and the second episode is just a tack on. If you're new, go check out the perfect collection, if you've already seen it just don't drop End of Evangelion for this disk, if you want to buy both that's fine. Just remember, ONLY for the Neon Genesis collectors will this be a good buy.
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