Midway through a screening of Anno Hideaki’s hypnotic “Evangelion : 2.0 You Can(not) Advance” last weekend a steady and reaffirming wave of realization came over me – that while American animation studios like Pixar, Blue Sky and Dreamworks dominate the 3D animation market, marrying high production values with technical achievement and superb artistry, no one in the world can even touch the Japanese when it comes to traditional 2D animation films. And rightfully so, because boy, these chaps are good. Really good.
Having established the basic premise in the first film, Evangelion : 2.0 picks up a rapid pace and plunges headlong into explosive, visceral action as the EVs operated by the various protagonists slug it out with Angels, and it is in these tense battle sequences that one can truly appreciate and admire the prowess of the artists behind the film.
(above) Product endorsement by UCC Coffee continues in 2.0, though several other brands seemed to have received less screen time as compared to the first film. (below) Evangelion 2.0 screening at a theatre in the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Its been almost half a year since the film’s theatrical release in Japan, but news of the dvd/Blu-ray have yet to be announced. We’ll be waiting.
Thoughts on Evangelion : 2.0, anyone ? :]
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Evangelion Galore
Evangelion : 2.0 You Can(Not) Advance.
Evangelion: 1.0 Endorsements are (not) alone
Evangelion : 3.0 New Poster And Trailer
The Evangelion Exhibition 2013
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:18 am
While I agree that Japan as a country is second to none in traditional animations. I would put Disney at their best in front of the pack. But only at their best. Some of the movies between the golden age of animation and the disney renaissance, were pretty bad.
And their 3d stuff is even worse.
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 am
Awesome show for me, and I’m not even not familiar with the original anime.
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
The characters are even more endearing now!
November 24th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Because films like eva 2.0 never reach this region in cinemas (only importing dvd or bluray, we go online in sites like playasia or amazon.jp… shame really! 🙁
(i imagine myself in premiers like eva 2.0, or advent children in japan and go crazy just think of it!)
Think u´re SO right, japanese animation is one of a kind, the thematic, the way of actually telling the story, the personality of the characters and even the mood of scenenarios are diferent between occidental and japanese animations studios, i see so many people who like anime in my country and became fans because the style but when you star watching film after film become aware of elements of the culture that persist to the point that you have to know something about japanese culture to understand better.
Evangelion 2.0 is not around here yet, but is one of the more anticipated films for me, maybe early next year, so feel lucky if you can just walk and go see it in theaters..really XD
Remember hen i watch eva for the first time, was a revelation, no doubt… oooooo
grettings Vong!
November 24th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Forgot! eva is a strong anime, visually and suggestive; remember watched the serie when i was 18, now i see this rebuild films like something even more perfected and powerful.
hope to watch it soon!
November 25th, 2009 at 10:02 am
This is cool. I will definitely check this stuff out. Thanks for the post. Love the UCC coffee tie-in.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
wil – Much agreed. I think the last Disney Animation that still had a hint of greatness in it (at least for me) was Tarzan. Let’s hope things get better with their upcoming 2D animated films.
Kenny – :] Neither am I, its definitely a heck of an animation show!
tragic comedy – Haha, for Asuka-fans especially, I’m pretty sure.
rulascalaca – You have to catch this, period ! :]
Waltlanta – Looking forward to the new EV+UCC coffee cans in 3.0 !
November 30th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Much agreed though I would say Lilo and Stitch was great and Treasure Planet was good, not at the level of say Lion King but a good movie. One can only hope but I do think The Princess and the Frog is shaping up nicely so far.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
can’t wait to see this in HD
December 7th, 2009 at 10:46 am
just shown in singapore few weeks back. i enjoyed it. =)
December 9th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Yonghow! Not many people spoke of Disney’s Tarzan but it’s actually my favorite out of the Disney 2d features. As for your question, I don’t think anyone would be matching the Japanese anytime soon.
As if Hideaki Anno’s Evangelion isn’t enough, the diversity alone of anime greats. Satoshi-Kun, Oshii, Miyazaki… I could compare entire dynasties like Disney with just one director and I can say those don’t even match up in terms of maturity in storytelling and scope of the visions found in the stories.
Of course, some would say it’s an unfair comparison since half of the directors I listed have works that are aimed at a more sophisticated audience than children. In that alone, I think it already is evidence of a more mature group of filmmakers.
Satoshi-Kun is a great example since his works are all mature not because it has high content of violence or sex. I can put his works alongside my favorite Western and international live-action filmmakers.
I hope Japan itself won’t forget their own great animator/filmmakers and encourage more such great works.
December 13th, 2009 at 1:48 am
It’s not just that the West can’t match in terms of medium, they can’t match Japanese in terms of concept as well.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:24 am
I watched Eva 2.0 at the “asiafilmfest” in Germany last month and it was absolutely mind-blowing, I haven’t come across many other anime movies that reach this level of visual accomplishment, much less this intensity. Anno gathered so many talented artists that the high quality shouldn’t come as a surprise (especially the line-up of key animators is amazing), and the directors were really deeply involved in the production with them doing layout supervision, key animation, design works and much more which results in the perfect execution of Anno’s vision. Many young fans might not know of/don’t care for Evangelion and its importance in anime history, but I’m sure that after watching Eva 2.0, they won’t forget it anymore and will realize what this medium is really capable of achieving even within the bounds of a typical anime setting.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Despite incredibly good 2D animation, Evangelion has always had an aire of pretenciousness over it. One in that the director simply chose pysudo-christian motifs because “they looked good” along with that when you boil it down, its a monster of the week show that doesnt have monster every week. 2.0 seems like a very pretty rehash, demonstrating that yes, they can animate very well, but still dont know how to close a story to a satisfying extent.
August 29th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
The new animation was not as impressive as the first movie. From what I could make of it, there doesn’t seem to be much change from the first movie’s approach.
With this being said…I love the musical tracks from Kare Kano!
Chris
November 10th, 2012 at 9:05 am
I’m just getting into Anno Hideaki’s stuff even though I find the storylines a bit hard to follow at times.
I have to agree, for 2D animation it is hard to beat in terms of sheer artistic style.
I haven’t really liked Disney stuff for a while – all of their movies seem to be huge commercials to sell toys.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:28 pm
Hang on a minute, these evangelion movies incorporate a HUGE amount of 3d computer generated imagery, frequently including the Evas, plus vehicles, backgrounds etc.
In terms of pure character animation, sorry but disney is better. The movement is smoother and more inventive. Anime characters are more detailed, but don’t move as well, even in a Miyazaki film.