One of my first experiences with anime was Hideaki Anno’s beloved 1995 series, “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” which was so good that it ruined just about every anime for me after that. It’s been more than ten years since I last saw “Evangelion” in its entirety, so when Funimation announced that they’d be bringing Anno’s four part re-imagining of the series stateside, I couldn’t wait to watch it all over again. Though much of the buzz surrounding the “Rebuild of Evangelion” tetralogy is due to the addition of new content, the first installment is a fairly straightforward retelling of the first six episodes where 14-year-old Shinji Ikari is recruited by a government organization called NERV to pilot a giant cyborg and fight back against an army of mysterious beings known only as Angels. With the exception of a few minor changes in the story, however, the only thing that’s really different compared to the original series is the animation. The entire film has even been given a digital polish (and the results are astounding), while some scenes have been re-rendered in CG. It’s still the “Evangelion” you know and love, only with a much-deserved upgrade.
