Evangelion Live Action Movie

Rob Sollanych writes "ADV Films has just announced the production of a live action movie based on many people's favourite anime series of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Special Effects will be developed by Weta Workshop, Ltd, the company that made the Lord of the Rings look so good."

Comments

fp

[Anonymous Coward]

1st am i rite?

Re:fp

[(TK)Max]

FUCK ANOTHER DEAD HORSE. It is not like eva is cool anyway - can we see another street fighter, where Mr. Masters cannot even pronounce the first name of his best fiend?

asuka...

[Anonymous Coward]

...can lick my anus! mmmmm yay!

Good One for Weta

[Findel]

Im glad Weta got this. They might have dissapeared after lord of the rings.

I wonder how many people will want animtrix stuff?!?

Re:Good One for Weta

[emo boy]

I don't think they would have disappeared because after publicity like LOTR they are bound to flourish. Besides with the bank they surely made on that project they are bound only for bigger and better things

Re:Good One for Weta

[mdnornberg]

Do you think that Weta may develop into the powerhouse that Lucas Lights and Magic has become? It's refreshing to have effects that combine computer animation with the more traditional photography effects.

Re:Good One for Weta

[fenix down]

Think Weta has any writers, directors, producers, actors, gaffers etc. hanging around? They look like they need some of those, especially since they've started making it already. Whatsa meesa sayin? Dis is the 21st century! We don't need nona that shit!

Re:Good One for Weta

[Anonymous Coward]

Think Weta has any writers, directors, producers, actors, gaffers etc. hanging around?

No, they're a visual effects workshop. The studio provides those people.

Re:Good One for Weta

[Thud457]

"No, they're a visual effects workshop. The studio provides those people."

ILM, errr, I mean Lucas has the exact same problem!

I hope this doesnt suck!

[nagisa_kaworu]

OMG I cant believe this! I really hope they do a good job bringing this to live action or an army of otakus will surely destroy Japan. Why not just make an OVA or another movie in animated form?

Re:I hope this doesnt suck!

[Dolentron 3030]

Yeah, I think this really might bite the big one. There is so much stuff that they are going to have to use computer generated images for and I'm not a believer that it will look good. Lord of the Rings looks good, but things in LOTR that have the heaviest computer manipulation are things that are magic or take place in the ring's netherworld (e.g., the wraiths). My satisfaction with CGI trying to emulate the real world has been less than complete.

Re:I hope this doesnt suck!

[Minna Kirai]

but things in LOTR that have the heaviest computer manipulation are things that are magic or take place in the ring's netherworld

That's just completely untrue. What about the thousands of warriors at the Battle of Helm's Deep? The majestic fortresses, the grotesque oliphaunts?

LOTR was filled with CG from head to toe, for subjects neither explicitly magical nor netherworldly. (I won't go into Golum- one could say he's magic too, instead of simply malnourished)

The CG needs for an Evangelion movie (an ill-starred project if there ever was one) will be similar to LOTR. They'll have to create realistic depictions of huge, improbable structures for the actors to be projected in front of. Then they'll have to build large creatures which look natural when stationary (like the Ents) and command them to move in ways that are smooth and life-like, but far from human-like.

Re:I hope this doesnt suck!

[fenix down]

No, I think the only question is whether it'll suck "real bad" or "wicked bad".

On the other hand, they could just shave it down to a 20 minute demo reel of giant robot effects and make everybody happy.

Re:I hope this doesnt suck!

[MidnightBrewer]

I guess CGI fooled you this time around, huh? I'd declare that good enough. :)

Re:I hope this doesnt suck!

[Noehre]

Perhaps the poster's comments are more of a testiment to the quality of the CG than anything else.

He most likely didn't even know that many of those scenes were CG.

Re:I hope this doesnt suck!

[Alex Thorpe]

Gollum, malnourished? Not really, he just looks like that because he makes Yoda look like a young pup. "When 2000 years old you reach, my precious, look as good you will not!"

top movies list

[ih8apple]

So, does anyone have a top ten list of their favorite anime movies?

I don't.... But here's one I found.

Re:top movies list

[nai]

There is always a good global reference at IMDB:
Their Top 50 animation films doesn't focus on japanese production, but the best are in.

Chihiro on top, of course.

Re:top movies list

[LynXmaN]

Number one should always be Studio Ghibli movies, they make really good quality movies. My top 10 should be something like this.

1- Mimi o Sumaseba (Studio Ghibli)
2- Akira
3- Lupin III - Die Nostradamus Die!
4- Patlabor 2 - The movie
5- Tenchi Muyo! In love
6- Ghost in the Shell
7- Tenshii no shiro no Laputa (Studio Ghibli)
8- Otaku no Video (Gainax)
9- Mononoke Hime (Studio Ghibli)
10- Jin-Roh

Re:top movies list

[Glytch]

What about Grave of the Fireflies, another Ghibli movie? I've only seen it once, years ago, and I've never forgotten it. I think it should be required viewing in history classes, actually.

Re:top movies list

[LynXmaN]

Graveyard of the Fireflies is the masterpiece of Hideo Takahata, Miyazaki's right hand. It's a really good movie, it was at 11 (I've got more than 10 movies for the top 10), and tonari no totoro at 12 and chihiro at 13 :)

Re:top movies list

[milamber3]

1. Kenshin
2. Trigun
3. Prince of Tennis
4. Scryed
5. Slam Dunk
6. Shaman King
7. Dragon Drive
8. Naruto
9. Saber Marionette J
10. Shadow Skill

laws of nature

[Syowr]

Why when I saw this did I think "POWER RANGERS MOVIE" ....?

Some things just shouldn't be done

Re:laws of nature

[emo boy]

Because you're the only one here who saw it.

Re:laws of nature

[Ryunosuke]

Amen. While I don't like to down a movie not even completed ... I'm saddened to think that one of the most overhyped, over advertised, and over fanboy'd will be made into a live action. As if the dub wasn't bad enough, now we'll have to SEE the people acting in it. I'm sure they'll rename and change things for us poor confused americans, since the dubbies are obviously the reason this is being made. I can't argue with the majority though ... as sad as it is, that's where the money is :(

Re:laws of nature

[darkmayo]

Amy Jo Johnson as Asuka?

Re:laws of nature

[Bonker]

I agree on so many lives. Live action EVA is bad, wrong, and stupid. Are they going to have a tall, busty Japanese woman playing Misato? Are they going to have fourteen-year-olds in skin-tight vinyl? Are they going to have a penguin? Are they going to have lots of Rei clones? Are they going to invoke the wrath of the Christian right with the decidedly mangled Christian imagery in Evangelion? Is Misato going to die in the second reel? How about Touji? Is Gendou going to cheat on his cute pregnant wife (who will almost have to be played by the same actress as the various Reis) with Ritsuko and her mom? Will Shinji be allowed to oedipally fantasize about all the-- again, fourteen year old-- girls on the cast?

Unless the scriptwriter, director, and producer are willing to portray this story in all its gory beauty, they shouldn't even bother. I can't see them doing *HALF* of the things I listed above, and you really need *ALL* of them to get the story right.

Re:laws of nature

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't think that it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows.

(ObSimpsonsRef)

Re:laws of nature

[BJH]

Please note that Gendo didn't cheat on his wife - he didn't hook up with Ritsuko's mother, and then Ritsuko, until after she was dead (and even then he was only doing it to be rejoined with his wife).

Re:laws of nature

[mblase]

Unless the scriptwriter, director, and producer are willing to portray this story in all its gory beauty, they shouldn't even bother. I can't see them doing *HALF* of the things I listed above, and you really need *ALL* of them to get the story right.

You're probably one of those people who became livid when Tom Bombadil was stripped from "Fellowship of the Ring", too. Do you really intend to hold it against them if they don't develop every last character in exactly the same way as the 13-hour series during a 2-hour movie?

It'll be a translation of the story idea, the same as the X-Men movies had to do, and they'll reduce the number of developed characters to two or three and probably throw away most of the Angels and half of the Evas to keep it simple. If this movie works, it'll invite people to go back and watch the original animated series and manga, and that's good enough for me.

Quitcherbitching. We don't need ALL of those elements to get the story right; you do. The rest of us have learned that if you want to turn anything longer than a short story into a feature film, compromises need to be made, and not all of them are necessarily bad.

Re:laws of nature

[ishark]

You're probably one of those people who became livid when Tom Bombadil was stripped from "Fellowship of the Ring", too. Do you really intend to hold it against them if they don't develop every last character in exactly the same way as the 13-hour series during a 2-hour movie?

I don't know about him, but I personally found the idea of eliminating TB good, as it does not add much to the story and can be safely removed without messing up with the plot. I turned livid at "Faramir's massacre" or the Elves helping the humans at Helm's Deep, or Merry/Pippin "tricking" the Ents, as these are completely useless from the point of view of book->film conversion, but also fuck up what Tolkien wrote (and the elf one indicates a serious misundestanding).

Evangelion has a lot of strong/important points. If they want to keep "the message" they cannot change much. All the elements cited above ARE important, remove them and be ready to become target practice (verbal only :) for Eva fans.

As I always say: there's nothing wrong in filming a grandma on a toliet for two hours, just don't title it "The Lord of the Rings".

When basing movies on "huge" books, people should basically not mess up with any element. The book was "huge" because of what it is: stick to it or do something different. Changing stuff looks like wanting to get easy cash from the big name.

Re:laws of nature

[JudgeFurious]

Hell yeah! Where are my mod points when I need them? The EVA movie, if done right won't be 13 hours of a television series packed into two hours of film in high detail. It will be a story that somewhat resembles the one from the series but has the correct feel to it. Direct comparisons are insane in this case (just like they are in the LOTR movies).

Re:laws of nature

[Graspee_Leemoor]

ensign: Captain, we have spoilers off the port bow!

riker: red alert!

picard: what is their status, mr. data?

data: They appear to be attempting to spoil the plot, sir.

picard: tactical analysis, mr. worf.

worf: captain, they are charging moderations! They are at + 5 !!!

captain: ready all phaser banks and photon torpedos, maximum yield, minimum spread. Fire!

graspee

Re:laws of nature

[Anonymous Coward]

There be SPOILERS here...

Live action EVA is bad, wrong, and stupid.

You can't know that until you see what they produce. They might pull it off, similar to the way that the X-Men movies did a pretty good job, although not exact, with the Marvel mutants.

Are they going to have a tall, busty Japanese woman playing Misato?

Would an American playing that part be so wrong? There's plenty of tall busty American actresses around Hollywood; I'm sure they might even find one that can act.

Are they going to have fourteen-year-olds in skin-tight vinyl?

Lord I hope so. But probably something more along the lines of how Penny was dressed in her flight suit in the Lost in Space movie.

Are they going to have a penguin?

We'll have to wait and find out.

Are they going to have lots of Rei clones?

Like Matrix Reloaded had lots of Mr. Smiths.

Are they going to invoke the wrath of the Christian right with the decidedly mangled Christian imagery in Evangelion?

If they want a lot of free publicity, they probably will. If not, not.

Is Misato going to die in the second reel? How about Touji?

Maybe they'll just let them die along with the rest of the world. Isn't that rather a minor point?

Is Gendou going to cheat on his cute pregnant wife (who will almost have to be played by the same actress as the various Reis) with Ritsuko and her mom?

It'll probably be shown in a flashback, if they have time to put in that kind of thing at all. They have to cut something, I hope you realize.

Will Shinji be allowed to oedipally fantasize about all the-- again, fourteen year old-- girls on the cast?

Isn't that OUR job?

Re:laws of nature

[yoshi1013]

I think making a movie out of EVA would be a logistical nightmare. At least with WETA working on it we know the special effects have the potential to be really good.

I'm thinking one good thing is that since this is obviously going to have an enormous budget they're not going to do something stupid like not have it stand completely on its own, because anyone paying for it wouldn't stand for that.

I can see the Shinji auditions now..."Okay, let's hear what your scream sounds like..."

Re:laws of nature

[MagikSlinger]

If this movie works, it'll invite people to go back and watch the original animated series and manga, and that's good enough for me.

No, it won't. I have two "friends" (now ex-friends) who believe the LotR movies are much better than the book.

Movies like this just encourages lazy thinking and superficiality in the general population. Especially when you realise Eva isn't about the Angels: it's about these characters and the personal traumas that make them tick: Shinji's troubled relationship with his father, Asuka's memories of her mother that torment her until it finally destroys her, Misato's really f---ed up and lonely life. That's what made Eva great; it wasn't the angels or the fight scenes.

All this movie will do is give us fight scenes and SFX porn[*]. That can be cool entertainment in its own right, but it does a great disservice to one of the best written anime series of all time.

[*] SFX Porn = Gratuitous Special Effects used in a movie just to be gratuitous special effects.

Apologies to the on-line movie critic who coined the term and whose name I can't recall right now.

Re:laws of nature

[Captain Splendid]

Who cares? Big Killer Robots!

Re:laws of nature

[Rolman]

Don't even bother to list the things they should include in the Live Action version, I believe they are already taking the story to a completely different path. Just look at the oversimplified summary of the series in the press release:

'"Neon Genesis Evangelion" is the story of a reluctant young hero, called upon to pilot an immense robotic weapon in battle against alien invaders.'

yeah, alien invaders, wait... ALIEN INVADERS?? I think this project is already beyond help. I already see them removing most of the religious references, to only focus on a couple of key events, like Shinji getting the Eva and the "aliens" trying to the end of the world (maybe even without mention of the 3rd impact).

I don't think we should even try to compare this movie to the untouchable anime classic. The same thing is happening to many other projects like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and it won't stop. The movie market segment (the general public) is just so very different from us geeks.

Re:laws of nature

[NeoOokami]

As a few others have said you can not protray the same story in two hours that was done in thirteen. However, it is possible to give a new story carrying the same point. Evangelion's ending, both the abstract TV series ending and the End of Evangelion movie carry a single definite philosophical point, a reason for all of the crazy shit you just listed to happen. That's what truly made Evangelion beautiful. As long as they can carry to goal, the very purpose of Evangelion into a movie, then it should do well.

Re:laws of nature

[Anonymous Coward]

They might simply be calling them aliens in the press-release to avoid any spoilers, and wasn't it implied in many of the episodes that many people thought that the Angels were aliens? (I'm probably wrong, it's been a while since I saw NGE)

Re:laws of nature

[Anonymous Coward]

You're right about one thing, that's where the money is and it is too bad.

But please, I just hope you saw them subtitled and not dubbed in english.

I know there is not really a very good lipsync like all anime but there was at least japanese woice actors in the original version. And event if you don't understand a thing human voice still conveys some meaning and emotions.

Re:laws of nature

[Psyienna]

I feel really ambivalent about this decision. Part of me is thrilled. A live-action Eva movie = more exposure for anime, especially one of the greatest series of all time. YAY!

But...do I really want to see this film? Eva itself was perfect- confusing, satisfying, and mysterious. I thought about the ending and what it meant for weeks. I'm not sure that I want to see ADV's interpretation of Eva- for me, anything else would be so much less than the amazing experience of seeing the series for the first time.

So kudos to ADV Films for taking a chance with this production...hopefully they aim for higher standards than the live-action Utena and LA Blue Girl! :)

Re:laws of nature

[Anonymous Coward]

And your one-sentence summary would be what?

Re:laws of nature

[Cheviot]

What? They're making a Love Hina live action film? Where'd you hear that????

Re:laws of nature

[mblase]

That's what made Eva great; it wasn't the angels or the fight scenes.

Yeah, like anyone would have wanted to watch Shinji and Asuka grouse about their self-esteem for twenty-six episodes without Angels and fight scenes to break the monotony.

ps

[Findel]

im only just getting into anime. who can tell me more about EVANGELION??

Re:ps

[tuffy]

im only just getting into anime. who can tell me more about EVANGELION??

Evangelion is mostly about a teenage kid named Shinji getting forced into piloting a Giant Battle Robot and protecting the world from invaders. The direction is artsy, but Shinji whines a lot and there's no shortage of teen angst. Some people really dig the show, but others can't stand it.

Re:ps

[Findel]

Sounds like a bog standard plot. but i dont mind over used plots aslong as they are directed well. Where is the best place online to find EVANGELION stuff? I would have thought the author would have found a link for this, meh.

Re:ps

[tuffy]

Where is the best place online to find EVANGELION stuff?

A Search for "Evangelion DVD" on eBay yields some good hits. Otherwise, Amazon and other major DVD retailers carry the whole show in individual disc or boxed-set form. But I wouldn't buy it in bulk without seeing a handful of episodes, though. The first couple have aired on the Cartoon Network and the rest might show up eventually, so if you don't want to pay for discs (and can't find someone to borrow them from) it might be advantageous to take a wait & see approach.

Re:ps

[BJH]

Evangelion a bog-standard plot?? Hahaha...haha...hahaha... boy, are you in for a shock.

Oh, by the way, don't pirate stuff.

Re:ps

[BJH]

Evangelion is mostly about a teenage kid named Shinji getting forced into piloting a Giant Battle Robot and protecting the world from invaders.

No. No, it's not. I guess some people can miss the entire point of a series if they try hard enough.

Re:ps

[Dynastar454]

Space Odyssey 2001 is mostly about these guys in space heading to some planet or something. The direction is artsy, but the Computer talks a lot and there's no shortage of slow moments. Some people really dig the movie, but others can't stand it.

Re:ps

[i chose quality]

if you can't explain the story plot correctly, encourage him to watch it for himself. but please don't make false statements about it. the series doesn't deserve this.

it's way to good and far from ordinary anime stuff...

Re:ps

[gpinzone]

Based on that description, they already made a live action movie like that. It was called the Last Starfighter.

BTW, considering the amount of special effects used in movie action scenes these days, is it really considered "live action."

Re:ps

[computechnica]

Sounds as bad as Ranma 1/2. I'll take Cowboy Bebop or Trigun any day.

Re:ps

[Anonymous Coward]

Bwahahahahahahahaahahha

Re:ps

[spike hay]

Actually, Evangelion is considered by many on par with Bebop and better than Trigun.

Here is a good page describing Evangelion.

It is a series about these mysterious things called Angels that seem to be bent on destruction. A very complicated and philosophical series, if you're into that sort of thing.

Re:ps

[outsider007]

i'm with this guy 100%. I don't understand why some people are so gaga over evangelion, but I have a theory they're the same people that like babylon 5.

Re:ps

[amuro98]

Oh you might think that Evangelion is your standard "kids pilot giant robots to save the world!" type of show...at least until you watch a few episodes.

But don't feel too bad, the Japanese TV broadcasters fell for the same trap, and put Eva on at 4pm when the kids were just getting home from school...

Re:ps

[user_melissa]

They have the first few discs available at Netflix.

Re:ps

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, mommy dearest. Actually, I believe he's wanting to look for information, not "stuff" as in pirated video.

Re:ps

[Futaba-chan]

No. No, it's not. I guess some people can miss the entire point of a series if they try hard enough.

The real question, of course, is whether or not the filmmakers will realize this....

Re:ps

[Alex Thorpe]

Not true, I'm a huge Babylon 5 fan, but if it weren't for some interesting looking Anime Music Videos I found via LimeWire, I wouldn't know a thing about Evangelion. That redhead Asuka is a cute little spitfire, though.. ;-)

Re:ps

[Spleener12]

All right, before I go on to anything, let me just say that I watch Evangelion wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much.

Now that that disclaimer is out of the way, on to an explanation of the series (I'll try not to have too many spoilers.) For the first half of the series(up until around episodes 14-16,) Evangelion is your average Japanese anime about teenagers piloting giant robots and figthing giant monsters to save the world that attempts to be somewhat more deep and intelligent than your average giant robot anime and succeeds somewhat. In the second half, Evangelion is a giant robot anime which is incredibly successfull at being more deep and intelligent than your average giant robot anime.

The protagonist is Shinji, the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, who most people agree is a bit of a wuss. Personality-wise, he kinda reminds me of Charlie Brown. He believes that he is worthless as a human being unless he pilots Evangelion; that piloting Evangelion justifies his existence, which is the sole reason why he pilots it.

Then there's Asuka, the pilot of Unit-02. Personality-wise, Asuka seems to be the exact opposite of Shinji: she's loud, proud, and kinda bitchy (okay, she's very bitchy.) She's actually very much like Shinji in that she's entierly dependent upon the Eva to justify her existence, to the point where she tries to kill herself when she can no longer pilot it.

That's just two of the main characters; I don't want to ramble on for too long. The thing is, Evangelion is much more about the characters than the giant robot battles, especially in the second half, which is when they stop having angels(the giant monsters the Evangelions fight) every episode just because they feel obligated to. There are still battles against angles about every other episode, but they serve to advance the overall story along as opposed to just being there to have a cool fight scene. The second half of the series is when the characters' lives go from being on the verge of some sort of happiness to pure hell.

And then there's the ending. Here's the story with that: Hideaki Anno's(the writer and director) script for episode 25 got rejected for being too violent (or some say they just didn't have enough money; perhaps it was both,) so he decided to make 25 more of what he planned on 26 being- more about the internal conflicts than the external ones. 25 was a look inside the minds of all of the main characters; 26 was mostly about Shinji. The fans hated it, so they decided to make a movie out of their original script. They apparently got enough money to make two movies: Death and Rebirth; which was a 60-minute recap of the series (which was more of a refresher for those who had seen the series a long time ago and forgot some stuff than a summary for those who had never seen the series) followed by the first 30 minutes of the second movie, and The End of Evangelion, which consists of episode 25' and 26'.

Some people think of the movie as the 'true' ending, whereas some actually like the TV ending better. I think that the two endings are compatible, that the TV episodes can be seen as deleted scenes from the movie: they can feasibly fit into the movie, but not without screwing up the pacing of the whole thing. The ending of the series as a whole is very much open to interpretation.

As for the live action movie, I'm hopeful. Yes, US live-action adaptions of Japanese shows have tended to suck; but none of the shows attempted thus far has nearly as rabid a fanbase as Evangelion. If ADV screws this up, then they will be burned at the stake; however, if ADV uses this fanbase to their advantage and hire some of them to make sure that nobody screws it up, this movie could be truly great. It will be a challenge to keep it true to the original and still have it make sense to your average American, but I think it can be done.

And as soon as I post this, I'm going to e-mail ADV and ask them when/where they're casting. I want to play Hyuga.

What a bad idea

[Gyorg_Lavode]

Neon Genesis was completed in the anime and 2 movies. There isn't anything to add to it. The series contains all the monster fights and it contains the ending. The series isn't about the action, it's about the emotions of shinji.

I can't see this movie doing anything but hurting the rest of the plot of the series. If they want to do a live action they should do cowboy bebop. You can fit another cowboy bebop film in about anywhere you want. But Neon Geneis is completed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Re:What a bad idea

[Vintermann]

"The series isn't about the action, it's about the emotions of shinji."

Ugh. Shinji. That's the most embarrasing part of the series. It's the angles that are cool, particularly when they go Beethoven ;-)

Re:What a bad idea

[johny_qst]

I am just as concerned that an actor attempting to portray the depth of shinji's internal struggle will just make a cheesy patina atop some cool CG action sequences. This movie won't help by adding to the evangelion storyline... but it might get some people who would never have come into contact with the anime to actually find the quality that spawned this waste of film. I know I will see it but I also know that it won't stand up to its anime roots.

Re:What a bad idea

[Gyorg_Lavode]

Your... kidding. Right?

Re:What a bad idea

[Hasdi Hashim]

Neon Genesis was completed in the anime and 2
movies. There isn't anything to add to it.

By your argument, then there is no point doing X-MEN. The EVA movie will probably be a reinterpretation, looking at things a new angle.


The series contains all the monster fights and it contains the ending

Uh? what ending? Ive seen both endings and they both sucked. I am waiting for Sadamoto's ending (the manga).


The series isn't about the action, it's about the emotions of shinji.

The successful show combines as many elements as possible to capture all possible demographics. They got me on the robot action and sci-fi stuff.
They got u on psychological aspect. They'll probably drop in one or two nude shots to get the perverts on board.

Hmm.... to replicate the success of Titanic, maybe they can use Celine Dion's "A New Day has come" as the opening theme... just to be sure. :)


I can't see this movie doing anything but hurting the rest of the plot of the series.

X-MEN movie and SPIDERMAN movie has elements from the series but they are both on independent storyline and continuity. No Biggie. For all you know, they'll rename "Shinji Ikari" to "Saint John Anchorman" (see anno's website).

Hasdi

Re:What a bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh? what ending? Ive seen both endings and they both sucked.

I liked the "end of evangelion" ending, when all the characters get killed off. IMHO it was a perfect ending to the crappiest, most overrated anime ever made.

Re:What a bad idea

[Scott Baio]

I am just as concerned that an actor attempting to portray the depth of shinji's internal struggle will just make a cheesy patina atop some cool CG action sequences.

Did someone say cheesy patina? Casting call, here I come....

Re:What a bad idea

[tabby]

I think you are right, but I hope to all hell that they can pull it off. I so want to see EVAs tearing Angel's to bits with all the blood and gore etc splattered across whole city blocks. Just the total gross-out factor to spin people out.

Re:What a bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

No, he's not kidding. It's just that he only saw the most superficial elements of what was transpiring on the screen in front of him. At least he *liked* all the big things going boom.

Re:What a bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I liked the "end of evangelion" ending, when all the characters get killed off. IMHO it was a perfect ending to the crappiest, most overrated anime ever made.

SPOILER: (just in case)

Shinji and Asuka survive, which means you're factually incorrect. Your judgement also leaves much to be desired: Eva can't be the crappiest, because Dragonball Z and Pokemon exist. It also isn't the most overrated, because (IMHO) Ranma and Ghost in the Shell exist.

Just go back to watching Baywatch reruns... yes, they're jiggling again, you like that dontcha?!

Re:What a bad idea

[Gyorg_Lavode]

While I know very few people if any would agree with me, I liked the original series ending the most. I know that the ending doesn't really end the action of the series but I never saw the series as being about the action and I liked the insite the original ending gave.

As for X-MEN and Spiderman, both of these are universes where they really just keep going until they can't make money. They don't have a definate beginning and ending. Neon Genesis is like Cowboy bebop and many other anime. The ending is concieved before the beginning is released.

Yeah, maybe they'll chose to look at something that wasn't included in the series, but what? All the fights with all the angels are shown in the series and we know they won't go without showing the eva's fighting. So they're going to have to make up some random bad guy that doesn't effect the over all plot of the series in any way, who appears at the beginning of the movie and dies at the end. And none of the major characters can be effected in any way.

Neon Genesis isn't a 'universe' like starwars or xmen or such where you can just plop a story line down in the middle of an unused portion, fit it w/ the predefined details and have it fit. Neon Genesis is a complete story line from beginning to end with no need for expansion or detraction. Any of either minus the complete rewriting of portions of it is damaging, (and the complete rewritings might be damaging as well).

Re:What a bad idea

[default luser]

Congratulations, Shinji!

You've hit the nail on the head. Neon Genesis is an experience, not a universe.

Re:What a bad idea

[Vintermann]

"The ending is concieved before the beginning is released."

Uhmmm, do you know how the creative process at Gainax works? Never noticed that the final episodes of their series tend to be a little - odd?
It's beacuse they run out of money, that's why.

Like in most tv-series, episode scripts are written one by one. In NGE (which is really really good in some ways) it shows. Especially in the ending.
Many of these series where the fans are endlessly speculating what _really_ happened (Twin Peaks for instance) are written this way.

Re:What a bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I am just as concerned that an actor attempting to portray the depth of shinji's internal struggle will just make a cheesy patina atop some cool CG action sequences.

Please dear god dont tell me they will be casting Keanu reeves as shinji!!!!

Re:What a bad idea

[goat_attack]

Instead of rehashing the movies, why not make a prequel? I'd love to see more of young Gendo and Yui, as well as an early Nerv and the development of the Evas. It feels like the series only barely touched on some of the most interesting material.

Too bad that won't happen. Not enough giant robot violence (not that there's anything wrong with that, but Evangelion's strength lies in its characters), and too much work to write a whole new story.

Oh well, I can always dream.
sigh

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[darkmayo]

So they are going to condense the 26 episodes into some live action fiasco?? Ughh.. are they going to include the freak out in Shinji's head in the last episode..

Beat up an angel every 10 minutes in the film?

why am I unenthused?

[Doktor Memory]

...perhaps because low-budget live-action anime adaptations do not have a reputation for quality?

Re:why am I unenthused?

[von Prufer]

I find it difficult to believe that that movie can be ANY worse than the live action Dragonball movie. I hadn't thought it possible to create something more coma-worthy than The Island of Dr. Moreau and then they had to come out with THAT!

Re:why am I unenthused?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to agree that the prospects for this seem very dim. Even in the age of CGI you're talking about an enormously complicated effects film. The original storyline (such as it was) cannot possibly even be condensed in a standard movie format, which means a radically revised storyline for the movie. So you're in that Catch-22 territory: hardcore fans may be angered by the revision, non-fans will ignore it (plenty of anime fans hate NGE), and the uninitiate will just be like "Evangawha?" Chances are pretty high it's going to suck - though you never know for sure. In the end it always boils down to the team. The only really bright point so far though is that Gainax is involved.

Re:why am I unenthused?

[cyber0ne]

low-budget live-action anime adaptations

Don't Forget Dragonball

Re:why am I unenthused?

[Hungus]

Have you seen the live action Sailor moon clip from Saban? It is simply a horror beyond describing.

Plus this is going to be from the same group that brought us more "Burn up" after it flopped in Japan.. I am sure the effects will be great... But as for the rest well lets just say teh prospect is terrifying

Re:why am I unenthused?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you seen the live action Sailor moon clip from Saban? It is simply a horror beyond describing.

Thanks for reminding me -- that's three years of therapy down the tubes. I'd almost erased the memory of the horror...

I'll be in the shower for the rest of the day now, scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing...

I'm scared

[Xaoswolf]

But Since Lorde of the Rings looked pretty good, maybe they won't screw it up.

gundam would be a cooler choice

[Adler]

What is needed is a live action Gundam film, and yes i know there already is one, i want one i can see in theatres. With the current crop of superhero/sci-fi action films doing so well (spider-man, x-men, the matrix) i thikn a movie about giant city smashing robots would do pretty well, its a fairly new concept to americans.

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[CaseyB]

Hear, hear.

I am utterly baffled by the fact that no one has made a big-budget Giant Robot movie yet. It's such an obvious genre to take advantage of modern CGI. There's a well-established market, not only on the "anime-based" side (Robotech, Battletech, Mechwarrior) but in the primarily domestic audience familiar with Transformers. Hell, the powerloader scene was a favourite in Aliens.

So why on earth hasn't it been done yet? I want my giant robots!

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[Ian_Bailey]

Oh yes, Giant Robots are an extremely new idea in North America that has never been done before!!!

Oh, you mean done well? Maybe with a plot and character development? When was the last big-budget movie with all that?

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[SubtleNuance]

what you want is giant evil robots, prefereably giant evil red robots

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[CaseyB]

Don't laugh. I had nightmares about Maximillian from The Black Hole when I was a little kid.

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[Anonymous Coward]

actually there was a robot movie in the 80's where there was a robot tournament and they fought over ownership of states like alaska or whatever. it was really cheesy.

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I don't see the point in wanting another Gundam movie, I don't think it will have a better reputation than G-Savior or whatever they called it.

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[Planesdragon]

Oh, you mean done well? Maybe with a plot and character development? When was the last big-budget movie with all that?

Spider-Man and The Matrix Reloaded both had a plot, and character development. (Ok, maybe TMR had more of character exploration than development--but it's a movie, for christ's sake!)

If you disagree, please provide a rational argument.

Re:gundam would be a cooler choice

[Rasta Prefect]

I am utterly baffled by the fact that no one has made a big-budget Giant Robot movie yet.

I seem to remember one called "Robot Jox" or something similar...

Hrmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Im surprised Taco didn't post this. Perhaps he's dancing in the street or something?

Re:Hrmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck you, troll failure!

OK

[Timesprout]

So they are going to make a movie about some kid who pilots a huge robotic weapon to battle alien invaders.

Did I miss a centry or so cos last I heard we were still alone in the universe and we did not possess huge robotic weapons. Aussuming then most of this movie will be CGI where exactly does the live part come into this ? Is throwing a few actors into a CGI extravaganza all thats required these day?

Re:OK

[Jerk City Troll]

So they are going to make a movie about some kid who pilots a huge robotic weapon to battle alien invaders.

How can you watch Shinseki Evangelion and not understand:

- They aren't alien invaders (in fact, they're 98% human), they're angels. You know, as in from Heaven? They've come to earth to bring about the 3rd Impact which will (pressumably) destroy humanity.
- The fight with the angels is secondary to the plot. The story of Evangelion is about Ikari Shinji who embodies the inante human fear of other humans (hence the existence of the Absolute Terror Field or AT Field). The goal of his father, Ikari Gendou, is to eliminate the AT Fields so that all humanity can be united and thus ascend to the level of God.

Evangelion is intensely deeper than that and I've shaved off most of the details, otherwise this post would be pages long. But those two things are obvious if you've only seen the episodes (in which Gendou is successful and a "positive" 3rd Impact is achieved). The movies turn that around and show what would happen if things went wrong (because of Shinji's own emotional strife).

I could go on and on, but Eva is not just about action. In fact, the action often carries meaningful undercurrents (especially when Shinji first fights Sachiel).

*sigh*

Nevermind.

Re:OK

[Anonymous Coward]

read that post over carefully.

you don't deserve to call yourself a troll. I demand that you report to the nearest trolling center and turn in your badge immediately.

And you will be sodomized repeatedly with the paddle end of a croquet mallet.

Sincerely,

The Trolls

Re:OK

[BJH]

A couple of points...

- The uniting of humanity is not Gendo's aim, but rather his dead wife's (Shinji's mother). Gendo's aim is to be reunited with her; everything else is secondary for him. The reason for her attempt was to ensure that humanity survived effectively forever (at least until the heat-death of the universe).
- The Third Impact was not really "positive" in the series; some people think that the series ending was just Shinji tripping out. Anno dropped several hints as to what actually happened (in the series, there's a couple of very short cuts showing a certain death scene (don't want to spoil it for others). A more cynical view is that Anno's lack of funding at the end simply lead him to give a giant 'fuck-you' to the production company by producing the most unsuitable closure possible.

Re:OK

[Qzukk]

Thats pretty much my opinion too. The last two episodes of the TV series were just there to screw with the minds of everyone who sat through the rest of the series thinking "what a great action show", and were done as cheaply as possible with leftover scraps of film from all over the place.

Btw, you might want to update your sig, this morning I got 250,000,000 hits for b, in 0.09 seconds.

Re:OK

[Jerk City Troll]

The uniting of humanity is not Gendo's aim, but rather his dead wife's (Shinji's mother). Gendo's aim is to be reunited with her; everything else is secondary for him. The reason for her attempt was to ensure that humanity survived effectively forever (at least until the heat-death of the universe).

That's true. It's been a while since I've watched the series, but it can still be said that Gendou wants humanity united, even if only for purposes other than the good of all. Funny how in End of Evangelion, Yui's goal of humanity existing forever was accomplished when Eva01 was sent out of the solar system. A human soul can live forever enthroned in the Eva.

The Third Impact was not really "positive" in the series; some people think that the series ending was just Shinji tripping out. Anno dropped several hints as to what actually happened (in the series, there's a couple of very short cuts showing a certain death scene (don't want to spoil it for others).

Could you give a spoiler for this? I didn't catch that. I've seen 25 & 26 many times and as far as I'd gathered, Gendou's plan went about as intended. Certainly Shinji was tripping out (as any human mind would after experiencing that), but I basically saw it was a relearning/reeducation in a "perfect" world.

A more cynical view is that Anno's lack of funding at the end simply lead him to give a giant 'fuck-you' to the production company by producing the most unsuitable closure possible.

You mean with the "cheap pencil" drawings? I saw this process as being similar to Descartes. Throwing away everything and starting from scratch, building in the details as you go along. First Shinji starts with nothing and pieces are filled in as he searches for meaning.

Re:OK

[BJH]

Thanks for the thoughtful response - much appreciated.

Could you give a spoiler for this? I didn't catch that. I've seen 25 & 26 many times and as far as I'd gathered, Gendou's plan went about as intended. Certainly Shinji was tripping out (as any human mind would after experiencing that), but I basically saw it was a relearning/reeducation in a "perfect" world.

If you watch closely (can't remember if it's 25 or 26), there's a very quick flash that shows Misato's death scene, as well as another that shows Ritsuko floating in the liquid around Lilith. It all seems to indicate that what was happening in the 'real world' matched EoE, but Shinji was just rejecting it all (again, a more pragmatic explanation exists - Anno had already done some of the scenes for 25/26, following the plot of EoE (which wasn't planned at the time), so he put them in the mix).

Anno had already used up almost all of his funding by the time he reached episode 23 or 24 - that's why there's so many silhouette scenes, not to mention the roughs (pencil drawings) used in place of completed scenes. He wasn't able to get more funding until the fan outcry about 25/26 convinced the production company to cough up some more money.

Re:OK

[markdesign]

wow...new insight! can you explain the basic? at the end of EoE why did the huge Rei's neck break off.. how did shinji and the german chick end up on the beach? why is shinji trying to kill the german chick? didn't gendou at the end not get what he eventually wanted? If the final outcome is the same for selee and gendou, why are they fighting each other at the end of the series? Its been a while since I saw the series but those are the questions that still linger at the back of my head.

Re:OK

[Efreet]

As I understand it:

Rei's neck breaking off represents the failure of the immanentization of the eschaton, as Shinji decides not to unite humanity into one soul.

Because he rejected this, he and "the german chick" (Asuka) are reborn into the strange world left over, with perhaps the rest ofhumanity too.

Genoud got to see his wife again for a while, but if he still exists he must feel pretty screwed over now if he still exists, since Yui is floating away in EVA 01.

I'm not sure exactly how Seele's and Genou's visions of the Imanentization of the Eschaton differ. Gendou seems to just want it so he can see his wife again, so its not suprising that they're desired implamentations differ.

I hope that clears everything up.

Re:OK

[Gendou]

The uniting of humanity is not Gendo's aim, but rather his dead wife's (Shinji's mother). Gendo's aim is to be reunited with her; everything else is secondary for him. The reason for her attempt was to ensure that humanity survived effectively forever (at least until the heat-death of the universe).

While this is essentially true, I really don't appreciate people trying to talk about me behind my back like this. I do have feelings, you know.

Second, I hate the American spelling of my name. Help a brother out and spell it right.

Re:OK

[BJH]

Personally, I hate the explicit romanization of extended Japanese vowels with a 'u' because it makes all the non-Japanese speakers think that it should be pronounced '-dow' rather than '-doh', and "Gendoh" or "Gendoo" looks even worse, so we're even.

Re:OK

[Anonymous Coward]

If you watch closely (can't remember if it's 25 or 26), there's a very quick flash that shows Misato's death scene, as well as another that shows Ritsuko floating in the liquid around Lilith. It all seems to indicate that what was happening in the 'real world' matched EoE, but Shinji was just rejecting it all (again, a more pragmatic explanation exists - Anno had already done some of the scenes for 25/26, following the plot of EoE (which wasn't planned at the time), so he put them in the mix).

---

That's actually kind of interesting. I never considered EoE to be a part of the text of eva, just some weird offshoot. From what I understand, Anno only did the movie because the fans were so pissed off about the tv series ending, and that he was very unhappy with having to redo his creation.

But it's interesting to view the different endings as expressions of the problem of Shinji's free will. Shinji is given the freedom to choose what happens with humanity, with the two versions expressing different outcomes. The fact that it isn't clear which one is the correct or intended outcome seems to fit with the general vaugeness surrounding the series. Or perhaps he is unable to choose, with each ending occuring only in his mind.

Re:OK

[BJH]

EoE was originally supposed to be 25/26, but Anno's lack of cash forced him to give that up. After the fans 'objected' to the released versions of 25/26, Anno got more funding that allowed him to create his intended ending as EoE.

Re:OK

[Paolomania]

I could go on and on, but Eva is not just about action. In fact, the action often carries meaningful undercurrents (especially when Shinji first fights Sachiel).

I disagree. Evangelion is nothing more than a troll against anime fans everywhere. It is the emperor's new clothes of philosophical anime. No matter how packed with superficially philosophical elements the series is, that does not make it anything more than a mishmash of unrelated topics from religion, philosophy and psychology poorly strung together in a highly abstract and "artistic" fashion. Just because something sounds profound does not mean that it is. Just because a message looks obfuscated does not mean that it contains any deeper message.

YHBT by Gainax.
YHL
HAND

FUCK YOU GEEKS

[Anonymous Coward]

AND YOUR RETARDED CARTOONS!

Re:FUCK YOU GEEKS

[emo boy]

Your just mad cuz they cancelled Facts of Life. It's ok we all make program watching mistakes...

Re:FUCK YOU GEEKS

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as there's slash, "The Facts of Life" will live!

It had all started when she popped Blair's cherry, crude as that may sound. Just three short years, yet sometimes she wondered how it could possibly have gone on for so long.

They'd been, amazingly, alone in the house. Both Nat and Tootie had left for the weekend to visit their parents, and Mrs. G had taken the opportunity to go for a long overdue visit to a friend, trusting them to be mature enough to handle things on their own. So, they'd found themselves with an uneasy truce, both deciding that it was easier to call a cease fire than it was to spend what could otherwise be a relaxing weekend caught up in the midst of fighting. It had been working too, with each free to spend time indulging in their hobbies. Blair took the opportunity to sort through her wardrobe, discarding things that had been worn one too many times or that were so insufferably last season that she unconsciously excluded it from the possible pool of outfits that she had to chose from every morning and Jo, well Jo spent the better part of the day on her back, looking up at the guts of her motorcycle, doing little more than tinkering with it, lost in a state of mechanical nirvana.

It was when the day was drawing to a close, and both found themselves bumping into one another in the hallways and shifting uncomfortably on couch seats as the television blared in the background, that all the trouble started. Being that close to one another and not fighting just wasn't natural, didn't feel right at all, and though Jo had enjoyed her day of peace and didn't want to do anything to upset the fragile balance, if something didn't break soon, she knew that she would. Break, that is, no doubt managing to shatter any illusion of camaraderie. As it was, she was barely managing to stay in her seat, wanting nothing more than to jump up, to stalk over to the television and to turn it off of the insipid program that they'd compromised on. The tension in her shoulders was growing, and she fought the urge to turn her head, to throw out some biting remark, just to cut through the air of discomfort surrounding them.

"This is rather awkward." The words drew her out of her thoughts, and with a sigh of relief, she turned to face Blair, noting the other girl's drawn brows, the purse of her lips as her teeth worried the skin inside her mouth.

"Yeah, it is," Jo replied. "I just... it just don't feel right, us sittin' here like this. Not that we always gotta fight, but this... I dunno."

"I could always insult you, if that would make you feel better," Blair offered hopefully, and for a moment, Jo tilted her head, as if in deep concentration.

"Nah, I gotta better idea. How's about we sneak a bottle of Jack Daniels from the stash Mrs. G keeps for makin' fruitcakes," she offered, wiggling her brows conspiratorially.

"And do what, exactly?" Blair asked haughtily, chin raising a fraction of an inch.

"We drink it, Princess." There was a hint of disgust in her voice, as if the answer to that question was painfully clear.

"Oh, well that sounds like loads of fun," the blonde shot back, sarcastically. "We just sit across the table from one another, staring and drinking foul-tasting alcohol. A beautiful plan, Jo. I should have you contact my mother. Perhaps you can help her plan her next big soiree."

"Hey, we can play cards too," Jo replied, indignant. "And I ain't hearing you throwing out any suggestions."

"How exactly are you going to explain away the missing liquor?" Blair asked, softening a bit. She really was bored, and uncomfortable, and this might not be the best plan she'd ever heard of, but at least it was a plan.

"We ain't. A little bit of water, and that bottle'll be just as good as new," Jo smirked, her eyes mischievous.

Blair laughed, Jo's cocky expression bringing a smile to her lips. "Lead on then, my juvenile delinquent friend. Cards and whiskey it is."

After a while spent haggling over which game to pl

Re:FUCK YOU GEEKS

[Anonymous Coward]

I laughed. I cried. I got a stiffy.

Please, god, no.

[cyranoVR]

Shin Seiki Evangelion took over my life for a good year-and-a-half...until the long-delayed release of The End of Evangelion in the US finally brought sweet release. NOW THIS? Please, Gainax...I want my life back.

PS - evaotaku.com

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

What exactly is your "life" composed of? My theory is that people who enjoy anime don't know how to have a good time, EVER. So even if you're not obsessed with the latest big-eyed faggoty cartoon, you're still not doing anything worthwhile. Have you ever touched a woman? HAVE YOU FAGGOT?!!

Answer the question you fucking retard or I'll turn the dogs on you, FAG.

Re:Please, god, no.

[cyranoVR]

You're right, I don't have a life.

That's why I am hoping this movie doesn't get made...I have been working really hard in the last year to develop more interests besides Evangelion/anime in general. After a while I just got sick of the whole thing.

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course I'm fucking right - and no, I will not look at your gay journal you fucktard. I don't give a shit about what you write in your secret Internet diary. Didn't anyone ever tell you that diaries are for girls and queers? Tell you what; I am going to help you with your life. Here's a rule: you may not post to Slashdot until you touch a boob. For every boob you touch, you may post one time. Now, if you touch the same boob twice, you will get a second post BUT boob-reuse may be used up to a maximum of ten times, so you get 20 posts per broad you molest. This will force you to leave your closet of homosexuality and be a man, for once in your life.

Your father certainly fucked up badly, didn't he? Do you hate him for what he's done to you? Hmm, I wonder what happened anyway. Did he left your mother dress you in pink or something? [You may reply to this once you've touched a tit, you cumdumpster.]

Re:Please, god, no.

[cyranoVR]

Blah blah blah you are a stupid head!

Yay! I was able to sink down to a pathetic AC troll's level! I never thought it would be possible.

I also just had a revelation...anime is nothing but an endless loop of pedophilia and tentacle-rape scenes. Wow, these trolls have great insight! I have become a better man! Thanks!

Now to find a boob to grab...

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

You fucking douche! You're supposed to grab the tit AND THEN you may post a comment. For fuck's sake, I give you some simple instructions and look what happens...

Listen pal, I am trying to help you. Let's discuss what your problems are. When you were growing up, did you have friends? If I ask you to name the group of guys you watch football with, do you draw a blank? Let's get to the root of your problems.

Re:Please, god, no.

[cyranoVR]

Well, this little "flame-war," as you AC troll fags call them, was interesting...but now I've grown bored. Think I will go read my collection of Love Hina manga, vols 1-10 to unwind!

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

A liberal coward who would love to suck off Bill Clinton, like yourself, shouldn't use words like "fag." To do so, is to let me win. You love homosexuals and believe in everyone's right to be who they are. Don't let me get you to sacrifice your ideals!

Re:Please, god, no.

[nagisa_kaworu]

Wow I didnt know people as stupid as you knew how to use computers. Congragulations! Oh and by the way when you mix homophobic remarks with stuff about watching football and painfully over zealous reamarks about women (which you seem to know nothing about) you really come off kinda gay.... not that there is anything wrong with that ;).

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

I also just had a revelation...anime is nothing but an endless loop of pedophilia and tentacle-rape scenes.

Yeah... ain't it great? :-)

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

dear gook,
perhaps someday you'll know satire from serious discourse. perhaps someday you won't believe that slashdot is the most important thing in your life. perhaps someday you'll realize that it's not "homophobic" to call someone a faggot. if i were afraid of queers, i'd say "oh no, stay away from me because you're gay and might do me." i'm not afraid of faggots and therefore i have no phobia. furthermore, nice job creating a new account - what was the user name on your old one? faggot_rim_jobber? get a fucking life. i've banged plenty of broads with my huge dick, including your mother. FUCK YOU GOOK! WWII: remember it!

Re:Please, god, no.

[nagisa_kaworu]

Ah, rascist and homophobic, hmm? I seriously doubt anyone would consider the utter nonsense you pollute slashdot with as satire. Its more like the immature ramblings of an inferior intellect.

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

feel better about yourself now?

Re:Please, god, no.

[nagisa_kaworu]

I felt pretty okay about myself before, thanks.

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

sure thing gook.

Re:Please, god, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

You go to hell. You go to hell AND YOU DIE!

Just like the Gundam Live Action Movie?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know WETA and Gainax do good stuff.
Lets just hope that this doesn't end up like the terrible G-Saviour Gundam Live Action Movie.

Re:Just like the Gundam Live Action Movie?

[cyranoVR]

Lets just hope that this doesn't end up like the terrible G-Saviour Gundam Live Action Movie.

Or RobotJox...*shudder*

live action?!

[Anonymous Coward]

doesn't that detract a bit from series familiarity? and the anime style? wouldn't it be more cost effective to animate this?

Animatrix

[gerf]

I never really thought much of Anime in general. I grouped anime watchers in with goths, freaks, Magic the Gathering players, and others i just ignored.

I'm a Matrix fan, and as such, i downloaded The Animatrix: The Second Generation, Part I. I was astounded. Rather than large mouth monkey drawn, slow plotted, boring anime, such as is found on the Cartoon Network, instead, something more akin to what i thought Asimov's robots would be like was presented. I've since downloaded all the free short stories from the Wachowski bro's, and plan on buying the DVD.

What i want to say though, is that perhaps this anime converted to real life will have the same effect on people, perhaps to a larger audience, showing more people that anime isn't just a cartoon for the vast unlaid, but rather something more meaningful, with great plots and scriptwriters. On another note, I'm going to watch Spirited Away this weekend, due to its great reviews, and the fact that i saw the first 5 minutes, and was impressed at the overall feel of it.

Good luck with this project, i hope it does great!

Re:Animatrix

[Anonymous Coward]

I was right there with you until I saw Akira, Ghost in the shell, and Ninja Scroll. Run out and pick them up on DVD it will change your thinking about Anime.

Re:Animatrix

[mblase]

I'm a Matrix fan, and as such, i downloaded The Animatrix: The Second Generation, Part I.

I think you meant "The Second Renaissance." Some fanboy. ;-)

Re:Animatrix

[VEGx]

Spirited Away is not that good. I'd rather download Naruto eps :)

Re:Animatrix

[Anonymous Coward]

lol, sorry, i'm at work right now, trying to write a manual without knowing the machine well enough. gah, i just wanna get on the shop floor and program some assembly lines.

I should have previewed the posts, i know. eh, fsckit

Re:Animatrix

[Anonymous Coward]

do not judge all anime by what you see on CN.

Because frankly if I only saw crap like DBZ then I would agree wit you all the way.you liked the second rennaisance? Try "Ghost in the shell" or something like that.

Re:Animatrix

[Upaut]

"I never really thought much of Anime in general. I grouped anime watchers in with Goths, freaks, Magic the Gathering players, and others I just ignored."
-Look, I am glad that this person enjoyed the Animatrix and all, but there are many other "good" examples of anime out there, my personal favorites: Metropolis, Akira, and Princess Mononoke. What you see late night on cartoon network tends to be the cartoon tripe aimed at the sleep deprived children of the world, and are lacking in both plot, deep characters, or decent drawing style (Pokemon, YuGiOh, ect are not anime and should never be classed as such, but as childish wannabe's that are designed to be viewed by the following: children under six, stoners, an insomniac who has not slept in three days, and those suffering brain damage.)
-And by the way, MTG happens to be a game that requires skill, an ability to analyze a situation, creativity, and such. I consider it to be a mental challenge that can have the complexity of a game of Go. Just because you did not think much about those who played the game, please, do not insult the game itself.

Re:Animatrix

[Anonymous Coward]

And by the way, MTG happens to be a game that requires skill, an ability to analyze a situation, creativity, and such. I consider it to be a mental challenge that can have the complexity of a game of Go. Just because you did not think much about those who played the game, please, do not insult the game itself.

The fact that MtG has about as many EXPANSIONS as Go has pieces, might contribute to that fact.

Re:Animatrix

[Catiline]

What i want to say though, is that perhaps this anime converted to real life will have the same effect on people, perhaps to a larger audience, showing more people that anime isn't just a cartoon for the vast unlaid, but rather something more meaningful, with great plots and scriptwriters.

I forget exactly where I heard this (I think it was on the "Making of..." DVD) but I recall seeing an interview which stated that part of the Wachowski bros.' intent in the cinematic style of the Matrix movies was to make it look much like anime. Even if that were not true, I clearly remember that they studied anime films to examine how the Japanese artists represented physical phenomona (fire, etc) as being aggresive opponents to mimic that with their cinematography, so for better or for worse the Matrix movies are "live action anime", in the sense that their visual style is highly similar.

Re:Animatrix

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you'll rethink goths, freaks, m:tg players then as well. Not that the stereotype should hold as truth, but is a stereotype for a reason...

How long do they plan on making it.

[darkmayo]

Seriously.. Alot goes on in the anime.. 13 angels to destroy.. a shit load of character development and thats not even including the End of Evangelion movie.

The series is done. Let people look back and say.. "damn that was an awesome series" instead of " What the hell was that live action POS"

Re:How long do they plan on making it.

[Jerk City Troll]

Most of the angel battles were, in my opinion, just there for fluff. It was action to keep the less philosophically inclined audience glued to the TV sets for the next episode. All the plot development could probably have been condensed down into 4-6 episodes. Except of course for the occassional Ayanami Rei narratives. I for one would not mind seeing a live action movie that was densely packed, had a rapid time line, and showed how grotesque a lot of Evangelion was. For example, a lot of the emotional development of the characters was due to the horrors they witnessed fighting the angels. Cartoon blood does not effectively convey this to the audience. Also, whle EoE was intense -- gives me the chills just thinking about it -- an anime cannot properly portray the deaths of 7 billion human beings. I think a live action film will show quite nicely why so many of the characters lost their marbles.

Re:How long do they plan on making it.

[BJH]

Anno effectively sucker-punched his audience by pulling them in with promises of good old giant-robo action, and then taking a left turn into introspective otaku hell once he had them hooked. Not really fluff... more sort of bait.

Re:How long do they plan on making it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cartoon blood does not effectively convey this to the audience.

an anime cannot properly portray the deaths of 7 billion human beings.

You're scary. :(((

Re:How long do they plan on making it.

[kahei]

an anime cannot properly portray the deaths of 7 billion human beings.

Whereas in live action it's easy peasy :D

Re:How long do they plan on making it.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're scary. :(((

Those 7 billion human deaths INCLUDES YOU TOO

Re:How long do they plan on making it.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

an anime cannot properly portray the deaths of 7 billion human beings.

For one, I don't think special effects will either. A lot of people complain a lot about how excessively bloody anime is already, so I'd say it's pretty effective.

On a story line note, I don't think the population could possibly be up to 7 billion at that time. The second impact, its ecological disasters and the resulting wars had already killed half the earth's population.

Re:How long do they plan on making it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the angels will be replaced with one giant Jar Jar Binks, and in place of the Evangelion, Sinji will be riding atop Gamera.

What I'll probably be thinking 1/2-way through it:

[BabyDave]

"I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away"

dang. but who would you cast?

[Anonymous Coward]

ok, I predict that this will probably suck. but presuming that more rational heads will not prevail, who would you cast to make it not suck? Sinji Ikari - Toby McGuire? naw. wouldn't survive the 1st angel what with his bad back and all. McAuly "i hate homealone" Caulkin? trying to think of who to cast of Risuko (presuming we get to see her naked....)

Re:dang. but who would you cast?

[Cackmobile]

Christina Ricci. mmmmm Christina

Re:dang. but who would you cast?

[Pxtl]

THat's actually the most sensible comment I've heard on this all day....

Johnny Depp must play Misato's squeeze - I don't remember his name.

Re:dang. but who would you cast?

[user_melissa]

It's Kaji - but think maybe Charlie Sheen should do it.

I feel sorry for the person to play Shinji

[darkmayo]

Nothing says good career move like playing a character that everyone wants to beat up.

I hate you Shinji.

Re:I feel sorry for the person to play Shinji

[Anonymous Coward]

He's gonna be the next Wesley Crusher.

Please don't hunt me down and beat me up, Clever NickName. :)

Re:I feel sorry for the person to play Shinji

[m1chael]

who's wesley crusher?

Re:I feel sorry for the person to play Shinji

[Baron_911]

I can see the part in end of eva now...

"This is so fucked up...."
Hrm....

Re:I feel sorry for the person to play Shinji

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno, I was just thinking of that irritating guy from the /Home Alone/ movies whose name I can't spell... ;-)

Re:I feel sorry for the person to play Shinji

[Shads]

The guy who played anakin in ep1...

I hate you daddy!

"THE MOST INFLUENTIAL JAPANESE ANIMATED SERIES..."

[Mogomra]

Yeah, considering the number of anime fans it's driven into therapy, I'd consider Evangelion "influential".

Here is what I think.

[Anonymous Coward]

this movie is going to be a bunch of crap, complete utter crap. Not normal crap but steaming crap that makes you retch when you come within 100 meters. People are going to see it in the theater and puke all over themselves; even those watching another movie will vomit. It will be the worst movie ever. People in Japan will see this movie and swear off anime. No more anime will be created because this movie will be that bad. So I plead with the producers behind this movie to stop before it is too late. We can save anime if we all band together and boycott this ridiculous idea.

moron peddling softwar gangster payper liesense

[Anonymous Coward]

alternatives, total information awareness program.

its free, so we don't expect it to be excessively sought after.

lookout bullow. the daze of the phonIE bullonly payper liesense haostage ransom stock markup FraUD execrable, is dissolving into coolapps.

I dunno...

[Saint Mitchell]

I don't think they could start from the beginning and cram it into two hours. I suppose they could pick up at the end of the movies. Everyone has thier own way they think it ended, but I always got the impression that Shinji was given the choice of what to do with the world. It's a movie after all, you can get away with just about anything and not really have to explain yourself. Take Hulk for example. They changed how he became the Hulk. From gama rays to nano if I read correctly.

Code Orange == TERRORISTS HAVE WON

[Anonymous Coward]

Every time I have to show three forms of ID and walk through a metal detector just to go to my office, the terrorists have won, eliminating productivity and positive morale.

How can you say that?

[zeus_tfc]

(warning, sarcasm threat level today is at RED)

How can you possibly say that? Look at all the great work that has been done bringing anime and the like to the silver screen. I mean, just look at Fist of the North Star.

And besides, the effects studio not only did LOTR, but also gave us the effects in such quality shows as Andromeda, and Mutant X!

How can this NOT be good?

OK, all sarcasm aside, I don't see how this can be anything but a bad thing. Even so, there is some potential, but it will still PO lots of fans. The only way that this could have some merit is if they did the same thing Sam Raimi did with SpiderMan, that is don't try to duplicate the story exactly, but try and capture the "feel" and the essence doing a stand-alone movie that doesn't really fit into the existing material. This has the greatest potential for success, but also, as with SpiderMan, the greatest potential to tick off the purists and the avid fans.

I don't have much hope for it though. Pity. I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Re:How can you say that?

[Glytch]

Don't forget that masterpiece of anime/game to live action conversion, Street Fighter. :)

Re:How can you say that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course you all know that there is also a live action version of La Blue Girl, don't you?

Re:How can you say that?

[Graspee_Leemoor]

" Of course you all know that there is also a live action version of La Blue Girl, don't you?"

Purlease, the acting in LA Blue Girl is abysmal and there's even fanservice tentacles.

For an anime to live action conversion where the j-drama is EVEN BETTER than the anime, check out Great Teacher Onizuka, which is a masterpiece. OK, so it's just a high-school romance/comedy with moral values thrust at you, but it still really rules because it's so well done.

graspee

Re:How can you say that?

[ecchi_0]

I feel the same way. I watched the first 9 episodes of the drama before I had seen any of the anime. I was really excited about finally seeing it, since my otaku friend said it was better than the drama. I was... severely disappointed, to say the least. I'm going to keep watching it though, there ARE some advantages to being animated (more stylized characters, easier to identify with the original manga).

Re:How can you say that?

[Yuan-Lung]

Speaking of badly made live action movies that forever taints the image of the original series, here is another gem...

A Movie Not To See

[Repugnant_Shit]

I really enjoyed watching the characters interact in the Evangelion. But the last episode was a total letdown, which really ruined the series. So I thought about watching "End of Eva" but several reviews that said "don't bother, it's basically just screwing over the fans."

Skipping this one. Let me know when a GOOD anime is going live action.

Re:A Movie Not To See

[Jerk City Troll]

I really enjoyed watching the characters interact in the Evangelion. But the last episode was a total letdown, which really ruined the series. So I thought about watching "End of Eva" but several reviews that said "don't bother, it's basically just screwing over the fans."

I'm sorry to say that you're on of those persons who didn't understand the series insofar as the goals of Ikari Gendou. Gendou had exceedingly good intentions, despite his cruel actions. Episodes 25 and 26 demonstrate what would happen if Gendou was successful. Did you happen to notice in 24 how all the voices were echoy? At this point, 3rd Impact was near and Gendou was about to reach his goal of uniting all of humanity and eliminating the fears that created the AT Fields. Shinji is trapped in his own little world of pain and 25 and 26 show the other freed souls helping him out so he can eventually join everyone else in bliss. Notice in the end of 26 where Yui and Gendou are together and happy, Shinji and Asuka get along in a playful way, Rei is goofy and outgoing... none of this was literal. This was to show the removal of pain, hurt, and doubt. Humans living in perfect existence... in harmony.

You should definitely watch Death:Rebirth and End of Evangelion. Death:Rebirth goes back a bit before the series to show how this all started (with the revival of Adam) and a few extra tidbits that could not be shown on broadcast television in Japan. End of Evangelion (which is my preferred ending) shows what happens if Gendou failed in his goal and 3rd Impact turned out destrutive. Shinji basically freezes at the moment of truth and decides to destroy humanity ("Nobody will ever care for me; I wish they were all dead.").

I think you'll see the obvious contrast between the two endings if you review them both.

Re:A Movie Not To See

[BJH]

You were misled. The series end was the part where Anno screwed over the fans by not trying (he'd run out of funding by that point); the movie was the part where he told the fans to get a life.

Re:A Movie Not To See

[Hast]

I interprested things as episodes 25-26 being Shinji coming to terms with himself. And that EoE is happening at the same time. Either that the beginning of EoE is taking place during episodes 25-26 (hence Shinji being more catatonic than usual) or that episodes taking place after the 3rd impact and humanity merging into one.

BTW I interpreted the end of EoE as Shinji recreating humanity as we are but Shinji and his Evangelion drifting away into space.

In any case this is what makes series like NGE worth watching. There are no real answers, only more questions. And the extreme amount of christian references in NGE would problably go by most people, I know I didn't notice half of them before I had watched the series and check out some fansites.

Re:A Movie Not To See

[BJH]

Refer to my earlier reply to one of your posts as to the meaning of the last two episodes. I'd just like to comment further on your portrayal of the significance of EoE.

Shinji doesn't freeze at the moment of truth; he's eventually ready to unite with all humanity, but Asuka's rejection of this causes him to choose to return to individuality. The movie doesn't show a "failed" Third Impact, just a scenario in which the uniting of humanity does not take place as Yui planned. She ends up as the only human to live for eternity (that's why you see Shinji's Eva floating off; it's carrying Yui). Rewatch it and listen carefully to Yui's "conversation" with Shinji.

**********MAJOR SPOILER for people who haven't watched EoE***********

The final scene of EoE is very ambiguous; Shinji and Asuka (and possibly all other humans except for Yui) have been reincarnated as individuals as a result of Asuka's rejection of unification with Shinji. Many people see this as an indication of Asuka's feelings for Shinji, in that she doesn't wish him to know how deep her emotions are for him. Even the last line (which, in all the subbed versions I've seen, seems to be mistranslated) is ambiguous; it was actually an adlib by the voice actress, which Anno considered to be better than the script. What Asuka says could either be taken as a further rejection of Shinji as an extension of her earlier rejection, or as an indication of a genuine dislike of him. It's a bit hard to justify the latter considering what has occurred previous to that, though. I think the ending of EoE is actually rather positive - "humans should make the effort to do get along with each other as individuals".

Re:A Movie Not To See

[BJH]

My apologies, I see from one of your other replies that you did understand Yui's role in EoE.

Re:A Movie Not To See

[Repugnant_Shit]

Then maybe I should watch the whole series, or at least the last 4 or 5 episodes, and see if I "get it" this time. We'll see :)

Re:A Movie Not To See

[Jerk City Troll]

Then maybe I should watch the whole series, or at least the last 4 or 5 episodes, and see if I "get it" this time. We'll see :)

Sorry for sounding so harsh, but I am a fierce Eva fan... I will defend it with my last breath of LCL!! :)

Again, my apologies... I just found you so repugnant...

Re:A Movie Not To See

[Jerk City Troll]

My apologies, I see from one of your other replies that you did understand Yui's role in EoE.

Thank you for noticing and your apologies. :-) I tend to be very pessimistic in my interpretation of open-ended subjects. EoE seemed very negative to me. :-)

Re:A Movie Not To See

[Gendou]

> Gendou had exceedingly good intentions, despite his cruel actions

Hey, thanks for understanding! Most people just think I'm an asshole. :-/

Re:What I'll probably be thinking 1/2-way through

[kennyj449]

I was thinking more along the lines of "Please don't rape my mind!"

*shudder*

what's funny is... I'm gonna be peeved if they leave that scene out, yet if I do see it it's gonna fuck up my head.

Gainax... we hatessss it! We hatessss it forever!

Before the naysayers rip this one apart...

[thatguywhoiam]

... which I can already tell is happening... why not?

I mean, I tend to agree that really astonishing works - like Evangelion - do not really 'need' to be re-made in a new way, but at the same time, I don't think it hurts anything. The Gus van Sant remake of Psycho, for instance, was nothing special at all, and not as good as the original... but who cares? I could have ignored it. It's not like it *replaces* the old film.

Besides, WETA kicks heroic amounts of ass, and they get an automatic vote as far as I'm concerned for the top-notch work in LOTR. They deserve some credit.

My question is, how 'live-action' can it really be? Live actors surely, but I'm guessing the bulk of the action will be CG... and do I want to see a top-quality CG adaptation of an Evangelion battle sequence? Hell yeah.

Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

I find anime peaceful and amusing to watch.

i remember

[m1chael]

when i saw this series (probably missed some episodes but i dont remember any of them so its ok) i thought it was really good but movies that are deep tend to alienate the majority of viewers, just like people saying matrix:reloaded had no plot. the only thing that would attract people is the action (cg evas done well would really be a treat) but then the focus would most likely be on the action would it and the rest would suffer. i with i had a dvd player :P

Why?

[JVStalin]

I have to agree with most of the criticisms. I don't think there's any way you can fit another plot within the tight Evangelion storyline. I hope ADV doesn't add some bogus plot-like like "Asuka and Shinji re-create the world, but, then the angels come back! Mwa ha ha! Let us save the world again!"

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

[LordYUK]

This just in.

Tux, the famed mascot on the Linux world, has been cast in the role of Penpen!

Also appearing, the BSD Devil will make a special guest shot as "the guy who sent the angels to destroy Earth!"

They're kidding, right? A live action NGE flick?

Things I'd like to see next:

Live action Dragon Ball Z. The movie would have to be about 19 hours long with frequent intermissions, and roughly 3 battles during that time in order to make it feel like the show.

Live action Tokyo Pig. What would be more exciting than a pig that can do magic, FILMED IN REAL LIFE! And that reporter chic is HOT!

Live action Dirty Pair. Okay, this isnt a joke. Remember Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft? Multiply that by two, add in tons of explosions and skimpy clothes, and BAM you got a winner!

I could go on all day, but I think I'll stop now!

Re:Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

[Anonymous Coward]

Live action Dragon Ball Z.

Ehhh, actually, there is gonna be one. (ducks)

Re:Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to scare the bejeezus out of you, but i have seen a live action DBZ, by seen i mean they had it at suncoast and didn't want to spend thirty dollars for something that looked that gay. but they do have it. Be afraid, be very afraid

Re:Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

[Carl Drougge]

Live action Dirty Pair. Okay, this isnt a joke. Remember Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft? Multiply that by two, add in tons of explosions and skimpy clothes, and BAM you got a winner!

But Dirty Pair is actually pretty good. Plus the character designs are saner than Lara Croft. (Not in Flash, no, but nobody said anything about Flash.. (Except me, yes..))

Re:Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

[SaintElmo]

Nonono, not Dirty Pair. Lovely Angels, or those hyped-up Croft-clones will explodiate your head off.

[advfilms.com]

[illuminatedwax]

I love how ADV pats themselves on the back as often as possible in this "press release." My favorite line: "The Japanese anime and game studio Gainax Network Systems was one of the original production studios responsible for "Neon Genesis Evangelion.""

Not like they conceived, wrote, designed, and directed the series and movies as well...

--Stephen

In case it gets ./'ed full text

[Anonymous Coward]

May 20, 2003 ADV Announces Live-Action Evangelion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ADV FILMS ANNOUNCES LIVE-ACTION THEATRICAL VERSION OF JAPANESE ANIMATED TITLE "NEON GENESIS EVANGELION;" VISUAL EFFECTS BY "LORD OF THE RINGS" STUDIO WETA WORKSHOP LTD.

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL JAPANESE ANIMATED SERIES IN MODERN TIMES TO COME TO LIFE AS A FEATURE FILM

CANNES, FRANCE, 19 May 2003--In an announcement sure to make waves in the entertainment industry, ADV Films President and CEO John Ledford today publicly confirmed industry rumors that the firm has acquired the rights to produce, and has already begun development of, a live-action feature-film based on the Japanese animated television series "Neon Genesis Evangelion," a multi-million dollar worldwide franchise and perhaps the most influential anime title in the history of the art form. The project is a collaboration between ADV Films, Gainax and Weta Workshop, Ltd.

The Participants
ADV Films is the leading producer-distributor of Japanese animation in North America. The Japanese anime and game studio Gainax Network Systems was one of the original production studios responsible for "Neon Genesis Evangelion," and Weta Workshop, Ltd. is the New Zealand-based special effects studio that created the effects for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

"The three main players here represent something of a 'dream-team' for a project like this one," said Ledford. "Between the quality and significance of the Gainax title, Weta's industry-leading skill in the creation of special visual effects, and our expertise in the marketing and promotion of anime and anime-related content, this project is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The Story
"Neon Genesis Evangelion" is the story of a reluctant young hero, called upon to pilot an immense robotic weapon in battle against alien invaders. Including both a 26-episode television series and at least two animated motion pictures, "Neon Genesis Evangelion" has long been both a fan favorite and an extraordinary critical and commercial success, with the worldwide franchise producing many millions of dollars in revenue.

Timetable
The "Neon Genesis Evangelion" live-action motion picture is in the earliest stages of development. Ledford confirmed, however, that the timetable is an aggressive one, and that more information on the project is forthcoming.

About Weta Workshop, Ltd
Founded in 1987 by Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger, Peter Jackson and Jamie Selkirk, Weta is a physical and digital effects company providing creatures, special make-up effects, prosthetics, miniatures, armor, weaponry and digital effects for the film and television industry. Over the past sixteen years the company has provided effects for Jackson's "Meet the Feebles", "Braindead" (aka "Dead Alive"), "Heavenly Creatures," "The Frighteners," and "The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy, as well as for advertisements and television shows including the popular "Hercules" and "Xena" series. At the height of production on "The Lord of the Rings," Weta Workshop employed 150 physical effects technicians and 350 digital effects technicians at Weta Digital. Weta's work on "The Lord of the Rings" has garnered worldwide praise including two Academy Awards in 2002 (for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup), and one in 2003 (for Best Visual Effects). The British Academy has also honored Weta's work by awarding two BAFTAs in 2002 (for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup) and two more in 2003 (for Best Visual Effects and Best Costume).

About Gainax
Gainax was founded in 1984. It began as a corps of amateur filmmakers, centered around current company president Hiroyuki Yamaga and anime director Hideaki Anno. Their first work, "Wings of Honneamise," continues to garner praise worldwide. Gainax's highly original style of filmmaking spans the generations, appealing to fans both young and old. 1995's "Neon Genesis Evangelion" whipped up an anime fever of extraordinary proportions, receiving attention not only from an

moron submits plan to expel corepirate nazis..

[Anonymous Coward]

& other resideNTshill stock markup thIEves/terrorists.

& why not? they shot US full of holes/picked our pockets before we even knew who they were/what in the fud they were up to.

yOUR creator is participating. lookout bullow. if you see phlames coming out of yOUR .asp, it may be too late for you.

Does this mean...

[darkitecture]

Does this mean that it won't go all wacky and weird in the end, like every anime? :P

Akira was great until the weird-ass things started happening... like giant blobs of flesh and stuff.

Spriggan was good until the exact same thing happened.

Serial Experiments: Lain was absolutely FANTASTIC until all that supernatural stuff started to take over the plot.

What's with the freaking out? Do Japanese anime creators resort to drugs to finish off their masterpieces? It's as if they were on to something good and then they just decided to rush the ending... "umm... err... oh screw it, I'll throw in some freaky psychosomatic flesh monsters... that'll do it!"

But with all honesty, I hope it turns out good. With the advent of a live action Battle Angel Alita, it'll be nice to see some non-anime mech footage hitting the screens.

My vote is for Dominique Swain to play Osuka! She's a hottie :)

Re:Does this mean...

[Jerk City Troll]

Akira was great until the weird-ass things started happening... like giant blobs of flesh and stuff.

You don't get it. That was to draw the "amoeba" parallel. "Imagine if an amoeba had the power of a human being. Now imagine if a human being had the power of Akira."

Spriggan was good until the exact same thing happened.

Never saw it, no comment.

Serial Experiments: Lain was absolutely FANTASTIC until all that supernatural stuff started to take over the plot.

Lain is God. It was "supernatural" from the very beginning. In fact, you learn this in the first espisode. Again, you didn't get it.

What's with the freaking out? Do Japanese anime creators resort to drugs to finish off their masterpieces? It's as if they were on to something good and then they just decided to rush the ending... "umm... err... oh screw it, I'll throw in some freaky psychosomatic flesh monsters... that'll do it!"

Well, maybe they do... but the hallmark of Japanese Anime is that it regards much deeper subject matter than is immediately obvious. The joy of watching anime is to try and decipher what is actually going on behind the facade of common everyday this and thats. If you only care for action and superficial drama, watch an Arnold movie and soap operas. If you want to think deeply about extremely non-mainstream topics, watch anime.

Re:Does this mean...

[Tsuzuki]

If you think Asuka is spelled "Osuka", I doubt you've seen enough anime to judge "every anime" as wacky 'n' weird.

(I don't know why I read anime threads here at all, to tell the truth. They just infuriate me with the obligatory posts about tentiporn and "I don't get it". ;_;)

Re:Does this mean...

[fizzboy]

Lain is God. It was "supernatural" from the very beginning. In fact, you learn this in the first espisode.

it's been a while since i've seen the entire series, but wouldn't it be more correct to say that she is a god instead of God. or at least she achieves a god-like status -- a sort of "God of Information and the Wired" sort of thing. after all, her existence wouldn't have been realized until after humans created the Wired even though Lain had existed before the Wired. God creates Man. Man kills God. Man creates Wired. Lain takes over the world.

gah... now i have to rewatch the series.

Re:Does this mean...

[Doktor Memory]

Lain is God. It was "supernatural" from the very beginning. In fact, you learn this in the first espisode. Again, you didn't get it.

I think what the original poster was trying to ask, in his ham-handed way, was: "Couldn't Serial Experiments Lain have wrapped up its plot without creating Yet Another Tentacle Monster at the very end?"

It's a reasonable question to ask. I loved Lain almost without reservation, but I really wish they hadn't felt the need to turn Eiri Masami into The Overfiend in the finale.

Re:Does this mean...

[Anonymous Coward]

This looks like a good place to insert my favorite quote from an anime review:

"If you want a plot that you can wrap your mind around, check out Escaflowne or Kenshin, but never, ever look to Gainax." - Bad Jew on FLCL

I think the main reason that they go all weird at the end is that nobody would get it if they went all weird at the beginning. The intention was to go all deep and bizzare the entire time, but they had to build up to it.

Then there's the cases where the budget ran out and they have to rush through everything, but clearly this doesn't apply to Eva.

Re:Does this mean...

[darkitecture]

You couldn't have said it better, Doktor Memory!

Big O would have been a better choice

[tekrat]

Evengelion is too complex to fit into a two-hour (or even 6 hour) movie. If you try and chop it down, it loses all it's substance and becomes meaningless drivel.

It will become a movie simply about CGI robots beating each other up.

"The Big O" Would be a much better choice. Fairly simplistic plotline, with familiar characters (It's Batman with Giant Robo), but intriguing nevertheless.

And yes, those CGI robots from Big O would be much more fun to see bashing each other.

Besides, I'd love to see who would be cast as R. Dorothy Wainright....

Re:Big O would have been a better choice

[Moonshadow]

Evengelion is too complex to fit into a two-hour (or even 6 hour) movie. If you try and chop it down, it loses all it's substance and becomes meaningless drivel.

Nah, just cut half of the angsting Shinji does. You still get emo-class angst levels, and you cut the series down into a movie-length feature! ;)

Re:Big O would have been a better choice

[Twyst]

I agree, Big O was cool.. but when a series gets cancelled halfway through.. it doesn't bode well for its success. Look at Megami Kouhousei (Pilot Candidate / Candidate for Goddess). they did 12 episodes, then tacked an extra one on as an "OAV", for the fans. It was a real letdown.

Now, a series like Full Metal Panic.. THAT would be fantastic. Big, realistic mecha. A good chunk of humor. Nifty tech.

(grin) Studio Gonzo is incredible.

Tom Cruise will make a cameo as Speed Racer

[sammyo]

Is that mixing metaphors too much? At least does Tokyo get destroyed?

It's nice to know

[Anonymous Coward]

that Slashdot dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddd is focusing so much of their time on anime. Hello people! Anime means cartoons. They're freaking cartoons! Grow up!

Typical

[Anonymous Coward]

This is what happens when confused pseudo-philosophy makes US$100 million in it's opening weekend at the box offfice.

Eva was annoying. Shinji just whines. It's a Japanese tit/fuck/pedofest with some philosophical mublings in there to give the smarties an excuse to watch it.

See, it's crap like that which kills me. Open-ended text with no point and can be interpreted a million different ways. Then you're told to "find your own interpretation". Way to go jackasses.

Re:Typical

[Anonymous Coward]

Shinji just whines.

Of course he whines; it's what 14 year olds DO.

But then, your post just demonstrated that.

I'm just wondering...

[MeanE]

what kind of drugs the actors will have to take to be able to have really big eyes. Will there be gratuitous overuse of the two finger "V" salute/pose as well? ;)

Ahh I am only joking...I'm as much an anime addict as many of you.

What about Pig Latin?

[Anonymous Coward]

Illway eirthay ebay away igpay atinlay anslationtray availableway?

not giving chance..

[gl4ss]

99% of the comments so far are negative.

anyways.. it shouldn't matter if the anime is finished already, christ, MOST if not ALL stories are remakes of some sort.

sure, it could end up completely different from the anime but does it really matter?

romeo and julia has been done over and over again and still it's watchable in new incarnations(the 31337 version kicks ass most :)

Re:not giving chance..

[stratjakt]

I couldnt be more excited!

Rather than ruin good, classic american characters with crap like the Batman sequels, Spiderman, X-Men, Daredevil and now the Hulk, they can focus on ruining crappy Japanese cartoons that noone knew about in the first place.

Actually I think they simply ran out of DC and Marvel superheroes.

Re:not giving chance..

[Anonymous Coward]

Romeo and Julia?

I don't disagree but I think people are acknowledging that this project has a lot going against it.

Romeo and Juliet (this is what we're talking about, yes?) Is a relatively simple story (young lovers kept apart by families' conflict, plot to unite young lovers goes awry, young lovers die...oops, Spoiler Warning), about fairly universal themes (the universal nature of love, the futility and consequences of conflict), and a plot that fits pretty well in a feature-length format.

Evangelion is a dense, complicated, and sometimes barely coherent tale of youth hijacked by world events, father abandonment, mother love, the loss of self in technology, fighting monsters with giant robots, with a lot of wacky theology, philosophy, conspiracy, pseudoscientific babble and PG-13 sexuality thrown in for good measure. It's original scope covers 15 hours, it's totally dependent on lavish special effects to work, and let's face it - it's not exactly Shakespeare.

I'll certainly wait and see but my hopes are not high.

Re:not giving chance..

[gl4ss]

all the series boils down to: accepting yourself.

spanned over 15 hours.

Re:not giving chance..

[gl4ss]

oh yeah and who reads at 0 and mods down redundant that is already modded as redundant(even tho it wasn't really redundant it just didn't automatically say that the movie will probably suck, come oon you could have modded it as flamebait or something)?

come oon, what's the point in that.

besides the whole karma system is a joke as far as the karma bonus goes. having excellent karma is supposed to mean that your babblings are probably more meaningful than others, but as theres little boost it has little meaning. also getting excellent karma is achieviable so easily that even a robot could do that.

oh yeah heres a matrix reloaded spoiler: trinity loves neo.

moron peddling MiSinformation awareness program

[Anonymous Coward]

it free, so it probably isn't as gooed as sum billyonerrors ?pr? spew.

Destroy Order Reportedly Sent in Texas
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:24 a.m. ET

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Texas Department of Public Safety captains were ordered to destroy all records gathered in the search for Democratic legislators who fled the state in a successful effort to prevent a redistricting bill from passing, according to a published report.

The one-paragraph order, sent by e-mail, was obtained Tuesday by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram under the Texas Open Records Act.
Advertisement

Also Tuesday, officials were asked to disclose how federal resources were used at state troopers' request to help track the plane of former state House Speaker Pete Laney when he and other Democrats didn't show up for the Texas House session May 12.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said he would review the decision to withhold information about his agency's involvement. He said there is an internal investigation into the matter.

The DPS directive sent May 14 was apparently carried out, said Tom Vinger, an agency spokesman. It came one day before Democrats ended their boycott and returned to Texas.

The order, addressed to ``Captains,'' stated: ``Any notes, correspondence, photos, etc. that were obtained pursuant to the absconded House of Representative members shall be destroyed immediately. No copies are to be kept.''

It was signed by the commander of the DPS Special Crimes Service, L.C. Marshall, the newspaper reported Wednesday.

``That's unbelievable,'' state Rep. Kevin Bailey, chairman of the House General Investigating Committee, which is looking into law enforcement's role in the search. He was one of the 51 Democrats who fled to Ardmore, Okla., during the walkout.

``I'm appalled. It would appear as though there is something to hide,'' Bailey told the newspaper. ``The question is who was driving them so hard.''

Vinger disagreed that the order to destroy records was inappropriate. He said he could not say who, if anyone, gave Marshall the order to destroy records.

``The investigation was complete. Since this was not a criminal investigation, we feel it would be inappropriate to keep any files,'' Vinger told the newspaper. Asked if all the records were indeed destroyed, Vinger said, ``To the best of my knowledge, yeah.''

Shinji... Shinji...

[LynXmaN]

They'll have a hard time looking for someone as autist as Shiji is...

Someone that can't recognize ceilings!!!

Maybe Leo Di Caprio can do it *evil grin*

Is this a SECOND live movie?

[$lashdot]

Is this May announcement of the NGE live movie the same thing that was announced back in March vis-a-vis the new box set? I can't be the only one that remembers this.

AnimeFringe (read down to "There is no end to Eva")

Or are there going to be TWO live versions?

This new announcement makes it sound like the live movie is not yet in production, but the earlier announcement talked about a film that was unreleased, which implies that one live film was already made.

I hope that it's better than the live confusion at the beginning of "The End of Evangelion."

Re:Is this a SECOND live movie?

[Lathan]

That one is a short series of live-action scenes with actors portraying the characters (with the exception of Shinji, who was present only in voice as an observer) that were intended to be included in End of Evangelion, but were scrapped and replaced with the collection of real-life shots. It's been awhile since I watched it, but I think it's in the middle of the movie, where Shinji is beginning to realize his control over the fate of the world after he's been taken into Lilith. Some clips from this were added to the beginning of EoE because they had nowhere else to put them.

You can find the script for that part of the movie at evaotaku.com.

Evangelion Live? You will be SO sorry...

[Mulletproof]

Is anybody going to watch a live action movie so filled with angst and self-loathing as Evangelion? I mean, leaving aside the attention span of the average movie goer, the plot of Evangelion is so damn convoluted it's scary. I'm firmly convinced that anybody claiming they really knew what Evangelion was about is A LIAR. Sure, the action is good, and some of the plot elements are well done, but it's going to have to be heavily edited and altered before this becomes anything but painful feature to watch.

Re:Evangelion Live? You will be SO sorry...

[mblase]

Is anybody going to watch a live action movie so filled with angst and self-loathing as Evangelion?

You've never watched daytime soap operas, have you?

*sigh*

[Trent Polack]

As one of the previous commenters posted, I don't know how on Earth a live-action Evangelion movie will work. I'm a HUGE fan of the series, watched it more times than I can count, love every single one of the characters, and so on. And, while I just about pissed me pants in joy the second I saw the story, I can't help but think that this live-action movie will give the series a bad name.

The Evangelion series has a beginning, and two alternate endings (Episodes 25/26, and End of Evangelion). Now, if they're going to do something like the Cowboy Bebop movie, and try to fit the Evangelion movie "in between" a couple episodes in the series, the movie may have a chance... Well, oh yeah, except for the fact that THERE WOULD BE NO ANGELS TO BATTLE!

However, I could see the movie as just a "wrapper" over a few of the anime episodes, or maybe just End of Evangelion in live-action form. Either way though, it just sounds like a ploy to make some cash off of a popular anime series. With that said, I'm really hoping my criticisms are wrong, and the movie turns out to be a huge success, and also an integral part of the series.

Unfortunately, I just don't see that happening. And I haven't even mentioned the fact that they're going to be casting real people as anime characters. Are we going to see people with light-blue hair in the movie? As we going to be seeing the Evas move with the same fluidness as their anime counter-parts? Are we going to see all of the blood that tended to spill out excessively during battle? I doubt it.

(MILD SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE THAT HAVEN'T SEEN THE SERIES) I guess it could be interesting seeing Rei grew to universal proportions, and then all of the Earth melting into primordial ooze. ;)

Re:*sigh*

[Discoloda]

"THERE WOULD BE NO ANGELS TO BATTLE"

what about another UN attamept at removing NERV from the scene? like that one robot that risuko (sp?) sabatoged. you know.. the one that looked like a 50s sci-fi robot and ran amuk for awhile.

Re:*sigh*

[knisa]

Ritsuko sabotaged the nuke powered robot? Wow, that episode makes a little more sense now.

Steve

Huh?

[mobileskimo]

Please enlighten us. What does the TV Show "Facts of Life" have to do with Eva?

Sounds like the only one here thats angry is you.

As for the Eva Live-Action movie, it all smells like a repeat of Zieram. I just hope there are some cute chicks in it. I won't get my expectations up for anything else.

As for Anime in general, its becoming too popular. If anyone asks you questions about anime, please misdirect them. As anime becomes more popular, I fear it will go the way of all things that become popular. Increase in quantity and decrease in quality. Espcially if it becomes something to push in the Amercian market.

Re:Huh?

[tuffy]

If anyone asks you questions about anime, please misdirect them. As anime becomes more popular, I fear it will go the way of all things that become popular. Increase in quantity and decrease in quality. Espcially if it becomes something to push in the Amercian market.

Anime has no shortage of quantity, and 90% of that quantity is crap - just like every other genre. The only difference is that we non-japanese folks only see the best stuff at the top of the pile, since that's most likely to be profitable. If anime gets more popular, it'll only mean that companies will try and bring over more "fringe" stuff to satisfy the fans. I've been a fan of anime since the days of Mazinger and would be happy to see more product, even if not all of it is to my taste.

Re:Huh?

[Graspee_Leemoor]

" I've been a fan of anime since the days of Mazinger and would be happy to see more product, even if not all of it is to my taste."

So fire up emule and look on sharereactor. These days you actually can find EVERY anime released in Japan if you look hard enough.

By the way, I have never believed that 90% of anime is crap. Now that I can see all of it, I know that's not true. It's more like 10% of anime is not to my taste, but good, and 90% is great.

Manga has a larger perecentage of stuff that's not to my taste, but that's the proving ground for concepts, most of the best get made into anime later.

But right now there has never been a better time to be into anime because you can have it all- anime overload!

graspee

Another good thing goin bad

[mobileskimo]

Please enlighten us. What does the TV Show "Facts of Life" have to do with Eva?

Sounds like the only one here thats angry is you.

As for the Eva Live-Action movie, it all smells like a repeat of Zieram. I just hope there are some cute chicks in it. I won't get my expectations up for anything else.

As for Anime in general, its becoming too popular. If anyone asks you questions about anime, please misdirect them. As anime becomes more popular, I fear it will go the way of all things that become popular. Increase in quantity and decrease in quality. Espcially if it becomes something to push in the Amercian market.

Re:Another good thing goin bad

[Anonymous Coward]

*cough* just so you know, Zeiram (the live action movie) predates Iria (which is why it's subtitled Zeiram: The Animation)

Re:Another good thing goin bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, Im biting (I really can't see how this point of view can be left unopposed)

"If anyone asks you questions about anime, please misdirect them"... and that from someone who is supposed to care about an artform? Grow-up.

And we won't even approach the lack of logic behind "Increase in quantity and decrease in quality". Utter, utter nonsense.

If you're a representative fan, I'd say Anime will continue not to enjoy the support is so richly deserves in the west and accurately subbed copies of classic reels never will become legitimately available. Whilst I'm sure watching 9th generation copies in Betamax form you scored off Ebay will keep your geekcred high in your own mind, its not the way forward.

Personally I have, and will continue, to introduce my friends to good anime. If you like something, why not share it with people you think will get something out of it?

MPAA

[Anonymous Coward]

One good thing that could happen if they get it right... Think of the therapy that the MPAA raters will have to endure after sitting through a well done EVA movie... :-)

If it IS well done though, I could easy envision an NC-17 rating. That much violence, blood, and most damning of all: Religious References and Inferences.

Re:MPAA

[Spleener12]

I dunno about NC-17. Most of the blood and guts is giant monster blood and guts, so it may not count. I don't see why the religious stuff would get it NC-17. We just won't have Rei walking around naked like she did in the ENTIRE MOVIE, which wouldn't detract from the plot at all. Putting clothing on Giant Naked Rei would be another matter entirely; however.

Re:MPAA

[Rev Saxon]

Hmmm...I can just imagine that conversation with the people I go to see it with...yeah..were gonna go see a NC-17 movie, based on a cartoon, but its still really cleaned up. I dont see how it can go below that w/o betraying the original series, but I can say one good thing about it. They will have to dumb downt eh plot enought for most people to understand it, and then maybe, just maybe I will have one clue as to what the hell happened in the end.

all the possibitys...

[Discoloda]

i guess you guys didnt think about all the possibilitys, thats what fan fiction is all about! who said the plot was going to be placed in about the same time as the serries? it could be past, present (some lost episode or whatever), or future. both present and future could also be in some other alternate story line type thing. i guess we will never know until someone leaks that info or they start showing it to us bit by bit via trailers. i personoly would like to see it on some lost episode.. or a difrent ending (as i understand it the ending presented in the two movies was made the way it was because of lack of money). i sencerly hope they do this right and make shinji, asuka, rei they way theye were in the serries.. i felt like i have somthing in common with all 3 of them.

I give them the benefit of doubt

[mxpengin]

The first time I heard this guys were making "the lord of the rings" , my first reaction was to think : "Its impossible to do that movie"... Well , now I think they did it fine.

With evangelion I give them the benefit of doubt.

I am a fan of the lord of the rings, I have read it about 4 times since I was in high school.
I am also an anime fan ( about 20 anime dvds at home, a lot of divx in my HD, and about 350 kanji in my head)

Re:I give them the benefit of doubt

[Spleener12]

As I mentioned in a post above, the big thing with Eva is that it has an incredibly rabid fanbase, (of which I am a member.) So if they screw this up, ADV will be burned at the stake.

Re:I give them the benefit of doubt

[jinushaun]

I thought LOTR was possible. NGE, on the other hand, I don't see how they can avoid making it a big POS action movie. One of the things LOTR had going for it was that it is English, so it'll be easy to AmericaniZe.

Live Action?

[supun]

For some reason when I hear "Live Action" I think of " on Ice." or a play, since a movie isn't really live action. I guess saying "non-anime version" would be a better description.

I keep picturing guys in foam Eva costumes, with ice skates on, having crapy simulated fights with Angels while not trying slip and fall down. All that to a snazzy opera type music and a few number where Shingi sings about running away.

That's because

[discogravy]

...he'll post it two or three times tomorrow.

a better plot ...

[anythings-possible-b]

21:09 21/5/2546

TOPIC: Anime

i would prefer, really, a nice GUNDAM movie. like earth being invaded, by technicaly supperior aliens.
the whole world going to wrecks. just a small bunch of tech-savy improve their battle-mechs and fight back, thus obtaining alien-technology
which in turn they use to improve their battle-mechs (like space-cabability of their mechs). in the whole plot the military, that outlawed our heroes in the first place has to cooperate with them, so they in turn can fight back at the aliens.
in the whole plot some romance and love-story. two mech-pilots (our heros) fighting for her love. aliens kidnapp her and try to extract the information about human-technology and the secret hiding place of the mech-rebels.
of course she gets rerscued, because our rebel heros scavaged the alien technolgy. in the process of the rescue one of the hero dies ... something like that. some super-coole animated battle scenens in the wrecked-city, mountain tops that get blow off, and some super huge end battle of the earth-force against the alien armada.
and of course some of these typical japanese "the-hero-is-alone-sitting-on-a-rock" thinking about his responsability towards the world and all while the sun is setting (deep-red).
etc...
waeh, but no it's just paranoid-schizophrenia Neogenesisevangelion. all this supernatural stuff makes me think
of this anime more of the "excorsist", then a battle-tech-movie. i just hate it when they mix technology and superstition. but alas ...
i just watch the parts of neo-genesis, when an "angel" shows up. the rest i really, really ignore.
the only anime where they mixed technology and superstition nicely is probably "Akira". but there the weight is on superstition/super-natural not technology.
anyway ... wait and see.

Re:a better plot ...

[mink]

Gundam is a bad choice then, since it's about Human Civil War. Earth Forces vs. The space colonies.

Yamato would probably fit your idea better.

Re:a better plot ...

[Anonymous Coward]

hi!
thank you for the suggestion. i don't know "Yamamoto" but i will lokk out for it.
it's just i really, really like the gundam mechs. they look so cool! thanks!

p.s. it's still "anythings-possible-b" replying, but i just deleted my password, so i will, in future not be able to post to slashdot anymore.
i personally think it's starting to suck alot...

Buffy backlash

[NineNine]

I just gotta say that after all the "Why Buffy" whining yesterday, that as a geek, I can't fucking stand anime. Everything I've seen has been overly childish and effeminate. Yes, I'm gonna turn off the "anime" section, but I figured that it was only fair that I throw my $0.02 in. Anime sucks. It's designed for little Japanese girls, not grown men.

It'll be consistent with the series in one way...

[Trunks]

According to this article, the project will be on an "aggressive timetable." Does that mean the last 20 minutes will end up being taken from footage filmed with an old camcorder on a shaky tripod? It would at least be consistent with the last 2 Eva episodes...

Not Just 'Fluff'

[Jameth]

Just Fluff implies that the action sequences didn't have value besides being fluff. Although they weren't the Drive of the series, they were spectacular combat sequences. Also, without the action Shinji loses some of his psychotic side.

One thing which, I feel, makes Evangelion so spectacular is that it is good as a philosophical piece and an action piece completely independently and together. Without the philosophy, it is good as action, and without the action it is good as philosophy. However, they are interworked so that either builds off of the other.

masturbation scene

[Anonymous Coward]

...something tells me the money shot from death of evangelion is out :)

OT

[BJH]

I leave my sig the way it is so that I can say, "I was using Google when there were only 65,400,000 hits for 'b'!".

Hey!!! Where's Bowie?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bowie J. Poag should be all over this story trolling about how anime fans are all paedophiles. Come on Bowie! I wanna hear your ridiculous blather you imbecile! Hehehe... that fat fuck ain't gonna touch this with a ten foot pole 'cause he ain't got one!!

Number one person to sign:

[Glytch]

Alan Rickman as Gendo Ikari.

Re:Number one person to sign:

[NullStream]

Takashi 'Beat' Kitano would be a better choice.
If you haven't seen Brother or Battle Royale you should this guy is the king of stoic acting.

Re:Number one person to sign:

[MsGeek]

Actually, "Beat" Takeshi would work in the role of Gendo. He even sort of looks the part.

Re:Number one person to sign:

[jacbo]

Christopher Walken.
Sure he's american, but he would sure make Gendo a very disturbing character.

It might not be THAT bad ...

[lythari]

I was extremely sceptical when I first read about this. But now that i've thought about it for a while, a live action Eva film might not be THAT bad.

The important thing is that there's no sign of any hollywood studio being involved. I suspect that means that most of the creative work will be done by Gainax, with ADV providing the $$$$ and Weta obviously doing the special effects. If Gainax and Anno are left to do their thing, then the project might turn out alright. The special effects might look a big cheap due to a (relatively) small budget, but I can't imagine Gainax and Anno sanitizing Eva like everyone says.

But then again, this is Gainax we're talking about ...

The script...

[Chagatai]

I managed to find a copy of the live-action Evangelion script. Here is an excerpt:

Shinji: Whine whine whine whine whine.

Asuka: Ego driven retort with subtle sexual undertones.

Shinji: Whine whine whine piss moan.

Rei: Creepy silence followed by one-word retort.

Shinji: Whine whine bitch piss whine bitch moan.

Gendo: Evil overlord smile.

Re:The script...

[mink]

So you think they will use the scripts at Toastyfrog for this?

Favorite Anime?

[JThaddeus]

many people's favourite anime series of all time

Really? You mean Gigantor or Tobor, the Eighth Man? I ain't seen them since I was 11 years old. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any anime since I was 11 years old.

yeah

[sstory]

The movie should be based solely on the episode where the chix are naked.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

You spelled "chix" the same way I do and your comment was amusing. I salute you!

Re:"THE MOST INFLUENTIAL JAPANESE ANIMATED SERIES.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think "influencal" is the proper spelling here ;)

Why do people like Evangelion?

[cyranoVR]

The Ask John over at Animenation.com has a few interesting short essays about the meaning of Evangelion and observations on the strong impact it has on its fans:

Can You Explain the Meaning of Evangelion?

Why is Evangelion so Popular?

Can You Explain the Final Episode of Eva to Me?

Full archive of Ask John questions. Fun read for anime fans.

I'm not happy and i'm not sad

[Mozaholic]

My knee-jerk reaction to this was utter disgust. How dare they take my favourite anime and make it to a crappy big budget live action movie. But I thought about it more, and now I don't mind as much.

This can sorta be a good thing. People not into anime could watch the movie, be amazed and want to see where it all started. So they get the anime. Find they like the anime. Watch different anime shows. Become anime fans. More anime fans means cheaper anime...right? Right?!?!!

Can the 26 episode series be condensed into a movie?
Probabaly. Cut out all the fluff episodes near the begining(the octahedron angel, the dance episode, The Day Tokyo 3 Stood Still) and it could fit. As long as it's at least 2 hours, then a good portion of the story could fit, probably missing a few key important scenes. It should be better than Death.

I am really curious as to how this will turn out. Maybe they can get Anno to help work on the script. Maybe it will suck. Maybe it will be alright. I'll go see just to see how it turns out.

But please dear god don't change the names!! I couldn't stand that in The Ring. Samara?!?! It's Sadako!!

Laugh. Cry. What's the difference?

[Anonymous Coward]

I am abeyant on this. On the one hand, we have Neon Genesis Evangelion with the producers being ->Gainax-, on the other hand we have A.D.V. acting as future live-action producers with the same studio, which made the FX for LOTR...

Should I laugh or should I cry?

Transform the pain of Eva into laughter

[ChaosDiscord]

Did you suffer through the entirety Eva and for some reason weren't granted the same level of transcendence that most Eva-faithful appear to have gone through? Sure, parts were fun, parts were exciting, parts were a bit emotional, but you simply can't find it in yourself to declare that Eva somehow ties everything together into a logical conclusion filled with actual meaning? Are you certain that the random Judeo-Christian imagery, surreal character development, and insane ending are actually a high school level attempt to fake depth of plot, philosophy, and maturity?

Take your suffering and at least get a good laugh out of it with Toastyfrog Jump's Neon Genesis Evangelion Thumbnail Theatre.

Re:Hey!!! Where's Bowie?

[Anonymous Coward]

I figure he's busy making more images for his Poopaganda Desktop Excrement Graphics website.

IN SOVIET RUSSIA...

[Anonymous Coward]

7 billion human deaths includes YOU

Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not funny is YOU.

Remember Guyver?

[morin'stal]

So since you're interested in Evangelion I'd assume you're most likely a fan of most anime. Not to mention that Any fan of anime should have seen the Bio Booster Armour Guyver series released by Manga [for those who have not, shame on you, the dvds have recently been released so you have no excuse]. Now Guyver was taken and made into two live action movies. Guyver and then Guyver II: Dark Hero.
Now the point I'm trying to get across is your illusion that all anime will turn into Power Rangers. The first Guyver movie was. Please, if you value your sanity, do not see it. The second movie was much better. Used live action footage for the action scenes and managed not to look like Power Rangers.
However, the second movie was made quite a few years ago. Now consider the recent action movies you have seen. Most no longer have live action actors for the really nifty stuff. It's all computer generated. So now, when you have something as spiffy as Evangelion, why do you think the producers will use poor action scenes when they are trying to make money from the movie?
There was also a gap in time between Guyver and Guyver II: Dark Hero. The gap in time allowed for much improvement. The logical assumption is that with the advancement of time the means of creating realistic action scenes has been developed. Which is true. Go see The Matrix Reloaded [and don't you Dare tell me that was a horrible film because I truly enjoyed it, so there =oP]. So it's also logical to assume that this new method of creating action scenes would be used as well. Which means that 'Power Ranger' films are very rare nowadays.
I'm actually quite anxious to see this movie.

Re:Remember Guyver?

[stanmann]

I really enjoyed Matrix: Reloaded. BUT, If I hadn't known that the Manyme scene would be CGI, I would have been really pissed on the several occasions it looked like the Final Fantasy Movie. But I knew it was coming... So despite the advances in CG, There is still a way to go before Live Action and CG flow Completely seamlessly.

Re:Remember Guyver?

[Anonymous Coward]

True but remember Blade II? Now compare that to the Matrix Reloaded,which came out only a few years later. Much better computer graphics in the Matrix Reloaded. Not to mention that even though you could tell Agent Smith was not human in some scenes and such, it still looked neat. It still looked Much Better than Power Rangers ever did. So I don't see how this movie could be Power Rangers. I'm not saying it will be perfect. I do agree that there is a way to go before that. However it should be much better than previous made movies.

Why Bother With A Full Blown Movie...(Toastyfrog!)

[EXTomar]

...when Toatyfrog's interpetation is just as accurate and 1300000x cheaper?

ADV, Gainax, WETA Workshop Announce Vapor.

[Anonymous Coward]

So let me get this straight, ADV is announcing a movie without actors, a director, or even a script for the project?

Just a time table and vague alliance of partners, Thar's freakin' hilarious.

You'd prefer that he immediately gave spoilers?

[Von Rex]

That wasn't too bad an intro for a single sentence that didn't want to give any spoilers. The combats with the successive waves of "Angels" were pretty much the anchors for the series, as far as the writing goes.

Re:You'd prefer that he immediately gave spoilers?

[BJH]

My objection is to the use of the word "mostly", then.

It sucked once, this is adding insult to injury

[Anonymous Coward]

The series was awful dribble. Most of the time it was just Shinjii bitching and once in a while a bit of a lame plotline was thrown in to appease the mind numbing idiots who actually enjoyed this tripe. I really hope this movie crashes and burns. Still, it can't be as bad as the LaBlue Girl live action...nothing could be that horrible. It was almost as awful as the original anime itself.

I don't need to say anything more than this:

[jellisky]

'Proposed Sailor Moon Live-Action'

-Jellisky

Re:I don't need to say anything more than this:

[LynXmaN]

I only can say something more about Sailor Moon live.

In Zaragoza (Spain) there was on the theatre a live interpretation of Sailor Moon, driven by guys.

I only can say one word about it: "SCARY"

Re:I don't need to say anything more than this:

[Anonymous Coward]

Was Bowie J. Poag in it?

Mechaphilosophy

[mdxi]

While it's true that the original BattleTech mech designs were stolen lock, stock, and barrel from Macross, the two actually represent opposite ends of the giant robot thought spectrum.

In Macross, giant robots move at the speed of a fighter jet and the grace of a ballet dancer, all the while spewing death in all directions. In BattleTech, mechs are clanky, lurching, usually unreliable, mobile gun platforms. Gundam is somewhere in the middle (the Gundams themselves usually being closer to Macross while the hapless rank-and-file mechs are closer to BattleTech).

All that aside, this is a completely horrible idea. The worst bit, to me, is that ADV is producing it. These are the people who so totally respected the original work that they plastered English-language overlays on top of signage in the DVD edition of Eva. They are the single most mercenary distributor outside of the porn merchants, always willing to pander to the lowest common denominator for a few dollars more, and it certainly shows in this decision.

So, do you think they'll use their usual crew of no-talent melodramatic hack voice "actors" onscreen, or will they just dub them over the unfortunates who do end up on screen?

I can see t his coming

[Anonymous Coward]

Ben Afflack as Kaneda...Matt Damon as Tetsuo...Liv Tyler as Kei...Vin Diesel as The General...Christopher Lloyd as the scientist.

Nooo!

Re:What I'll probably be thinking 1/2-way through

[Anonymous Coward]

Gainax... we hatessss it! We hatessss it forever!

The secret to watching a Gainax series is this: NEVER watch the last episode. That's when they screw you. After that last episode of the second season of Mahoromatic, I can't watch Gainax anymore. They're just too evil. I bet they are all still laughing over what they do to good series.

On second thought, the secret to watching a Gainax series is to not watch a Gainax series.

Things to look (and listen) for

[pizen]

One thing I like most about NGE is the score. I can only hope that with this movie they keep the music the same. I also think they have the potential to make Tokyo 3 and the Geofront look really cool...I just hope they don't screw that up (in addition to everything else).

It'll be hard...

[Peterus7]

For anybody to be able to match the special effects of NGE... And the reason for that is they seem to be designed for anime. By converting them to CGI, you might just make them look stupider.

Another issue is that it could be, in the end, like a comparison between the series and the movies: they change the characters and the general plot so damn much that you start wondering what the writers were smoking. I hope that they don't do that.

Whatever happened to the real action Akira?

One anime I'd absolutly love to see live action is probably ghost in a shell. That one they could do real action, and have it really work. Or metropolis. (Anything but those stupid hairdos, nooo!!!)

How heavily is GAINAX involved with this project?

[May Kasahara]

Considering that EVA creator Hideaki Anno has done live action before (the feature film Love and Pop), I think he should be the one to direct a live-action Evangelion (as much as the idea itself disgusts me). Also, how much control will GAINAX have over the script and casting?

quality control

[sexysasian]

if they fuck this up, i'm seriously going to kill myself.

A question

[Efreet]

You seem to have watched Eva a lot more than I have, and I was wondering if you could clear up something for me. Specifically, how do Seele's and Gendou's visions of the Third Impact differ?

I know that Gendou wants to see his wife again, and my take on Seele is that they want to imanentize the eschaton, but I don't see why there should be any conflict between those two goals.

Re:A question

[BJH]

Heh... I wouldn't say I've watched Evangelion that much - I caught it during the second broadcast on TV Tokyo, and I've got the DVDs, but I've only watched them a couple of times... or maybe three... OK, I've watched it lots of times. Still doesn't mean I know what I'm talking about, though ;)

I gave my take on the differences between Gendo's and Seele's aims in another post:

5) The battle between NERV (Gendo) and Seele
Gendo's aim was to be rejoined with Yui. Seele's aim was not to enter Eva01 and drift through the universe for eternity, but rather to be the only humans to ascend to the godhood that unification offered - this is stated in the first half of EoE, where Seele say 'there is no need for us to ride in the Ark of Eva'. In order to do this, presumably they needed to control Adam, Lilith or Eva01 - all of which NERV had.

Gendo's stated motive is to produce a perfect, eternal Man from the unification of humanity and Eva01 or Lilith (Eva01 was produced from Lilith, just as humanity was). We know his real motive is to be reunited with Yui, but that coincides nicely with the method required by his supposed motive.

My statement about Seele wanting to be the 'only' humans to be unified is probably inaccurate - Seele states that "death will unite God and humanity into one", and "this is a rite of passage to produce an eternal humanity" (note that this differs from the 'eternal Man' concept held to by Gendo). They place no value in creating an eternal Man from Eva01, but rather being reborn as, effectively, gods after unification through the death/rebirth process offered by Eva.

What confuses it even more, unfortunately, is the Seele leader's statement just before liquification that "this is how it should be... this is the way". I believe that Seele still thought at this point that they could achieve their aims, either because they did not fully grasp the situation (the combination of Adam, Lilith and Eva01, the reappearance of the Spear of Longines), or because they knew at that point that Gendo had failed in his attempt and they thought that this would allow them to carry out their plan. Of course, Shinji's rejection of unification ruined their plans (if their plans ever had a chance of success, which is debatable).

Either way, the main points of contention between Gendo and Seele seem to be
1) a disagreement as to the result of unification, which is a direct consequence of how the process is carried out,
and
2) the control of the components required for this to occur (Adam, Lilith, Eva01, Shinji).

EVA vote

[S.I.O.]

1) I understand 0.005% of the story

2) I understand 0.05% of the story

3) I understand 0.5% of the story

4) My name is CowboyNeal Ikari,

you insensitive clod

SPOILERS

[BJH]

Remember, all of this is just speculation - Anno has never come out and said precisely what he was intending with all of this; he's stated that everything he wanted to say is in the series/movie.

***************MAJOR SPOILERS***************

That said, here's my take on each of your points:

1) Rei's sudden growth and destruction
Rei was a clone of Yui, Gendo's dead wife (possibly mixed with material from Lilith; this is suggested by Rei's remark of "I'm home" on entering Lilith). He intended for her to act as a 'guide' to lead him to Yui upon the unification of humanity. Gendo attaches Adam to his hand in order to combine Adam (either the source of the Angels, or from the same source) and Lilith (probably the source of humanity). It's not clear exactly how he intended this, as Rei rejects him at the last moment, but it appears that he intended to merge with her and then enter Lilith (although if Rei already contained some Lilith material, the merge with Lilith may not have been necessary - the location does suggest that this is what Gendo intended, though).
After Rei's rejection of Gendo, she merges with Lilith and grows. It appears that she is intended as a receptacle for the souls of all humanity, merging with Shinji (who is the 'trigger' for unification) and Eva01 (where Yui resides).
When Shinji rejects unification, this process breaks down as humanity reverts to individualism, leading to the destruction of the giant Rei.

2) Shinji and Asuka on the beach
Opinions vary a lot on this, but my concept of what happened is that after Shinji and Asuka reverted to individuals, they returned to their bodies (contraindicated by the likelihood that Asuka was torn apart by the unmanned Evas), they reformed from the remains of Rei, as she was partially Lilith, the originator of humanity (the blood-red sea may be an indicator of this, but there's a few holes in this theory as well - where did their clothes come from?), or it was simply a 'miracle' requiring suspension of disbelief.

3) Shinji's attack on Asuka
This one's a lot easier to explain - Shinji turned down unification with humanity because of Asuka's rejection of him, and his shame and anger at this lead him to attack her (his mental state is obviously not very normal). A more complicated explanation is that she's proof that people other than him exist, causing him to try to erase her. Remember, Shinji's main motive throughout the series is to avoid being hurt by others - if there are no others, he cannot be hurt.

4) Gendo's failure to merge with Yui and Eva01
When each person's body liquifies and their soul goes to join the giant Rei, they each seem to experience it as an invitation or seduction by the person they care for most. Gendo, on the other hand, loves nobody (as he admits, he doesn't believe he deserves to be loved, and thus is afraid of being hurt - just as Shinji is). Instead of being invited into unification by a loved one, he is destroyed by Eva01 (and thus Shinji) - this is Gendo experiencing what he believes he deserves. It's not clearly stated, but it seems likely that this is what prevents him from joining with the rest of humanity. It's possible that Gendo knew it wouldn't be possible for him to join humanity without the help of Rei, Lilith and Adam, and thus when Rei rejected him, he knew what awaited him.

5) The battle between NERV (Gendo) and Seele
Gendo's aim was to be rejoined with Yui. Seele's aim was not to enter Eva01 and drift through the universe for eternity, but rather to be the only humans to ascend to the godhood that unification offered - this is stated in the first half of EoE, where Seele say 'there is no need for us to ride in the Ark of Eva'. In order to do this, presumably they needed to control Adam, Lilith or Eva01 - all of which NERV had.

Hope that provides some hints...

Re:SPOILERS

[b0tman]

one interesting interpretation of the final beach scene with shinji & asuka is as follows:

notice that asuka has brown eyes here, and that in the rest of the series they have been blue. mistao has brown eyes.

also, asuka is wearing an eyepatch and sling, much like rei in the first episode.

i tend to think that maybe it's not asuka who is there at the end. her eva was destroyed, but possibly not the entry plug. so, possibly the three women that shinji fantasized about "melded" together into combination of the three. asuka's body, rei's persona, and misato's motherly love for shinji.

probably one of the better speculations on that...however, what it means for "what happens next" - i have no idea.

Re:SPOILERS

[kumokasumi]

Can't help but think that that sounds suspiciously like the Magi. Scientist, woman, and mother, wasn't it? Persona, woman, and mother, there and here. Huh.

It's already done !

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, at least like this : Hollywood Produces BIG Budget Evangelion Film
(unfortunately, original page no longer exists, this link is from "Wayback Machine" )

lol did you actually watch the series?

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the only things that keeps eva from being a serious work of art is the amount of filler in it. The first 15 episodes are very slim on content, and are often painful to watch (for a non-anime fan like myself). It's only when the whole cast is assembled that things start to really get going. The series could have easily been pared down to a far shorter length if most of this commercial oriented filler was removed. For example that one episode where Asuka and Shinji had to fight the eva together was utterly retarded. The only purpose that ep seems to serve is to show Asuka in a bunch of skimpy outfits.

That being said, it's doubtful that the full effect of the imagery and mystery of the series will be conveyed in this movie. The eva creator was very unhappy that he had to do additional movies after the series was over, as he felt it had been finished when the tv series ended. IMO they should just dub the eva movies and release them in theaters. It'd be interesting to see people's reactions to the general weirdness that goes on.

Re:lol did you actually watch the series?

[user_melissa]

For example that one episode where Asuka and Shinji had to fight the eva together was utterly retarded. The only purpose that ep seems to serve is to show Asuka in a bunch of skimpy outfits.

This is only a guess, but I would say only about 4 of 10 viewers think seeing Asuka in skimpy outfits is a bad thing. Besides, the episode illustrates Shinji's further confusion brought about by his raging adolescent hormones.

I'm thinking it's about time ...

[Tom O'Brien]

For Gainax to stop trying to squeeze as much money possible out of an almost ten-year-old, overrated (up there with the works of Miyazaki, in my opinion), franchise. First this whole "re-mastered" version being released, and now this? Please. But I guess I'll have to wait and see how it actually turns out before I pass a proper judgement on it.

Re:I'm thinking it's about time ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you kidding? Gainax does almost nothing BUT milk Eva and their other aging franchises anymore. They're churning out "art books" that let you see the major characters naked, stripping games, and anything else they can think up. Most of "their" recent releases are really ideas thought up by other studios and only released under the Gainax name, with the only Gainax part being the usual stupid and out of context endings that Gainax insists on slapping onto them.

Gainax as a creative force appears to be dead. Given their inability to produce a coherent ending to anything, perhaps that's a good thing.

Re:I'm thinking it's about time ...

[Kragma]

Mahoromatic was pretty good, though it was based on a manga. Of course the second season had a horrible ending because the manga hasn't concluded and they had to make something up, but other than that it was a good series.

His and Her Circumstances was also well done. The lack of an ending in that series was due to the manga being incredibly long, but even with it basically just stopping, it's an excellent series.

Puchi Puri Yuushi, which is unlikely to ever be released in English, actually had a good ending and was entirely original. It was based on Gainax's own characters from the Princess Maker series of computer games.

These were all done after Eva. Gainax has lost massive amounts of talent over the years to other studios like Xebec, but they're not just sitting idle and releasing Eva crap. People still buy the Eva crap though and if it gets me another series like Puchi Puri Yuushi then I'm not going to complain.

Didn't they already do this?

[Fluid Donkey]

I think it was called Robot Jocks :)

I also distinctly remember that it was horrible.

DragonBall Z would have been better

[zymano]

Too bad. No one heard of NEON ,on the other hand everyone knows of the DBZ series. A computer 3d series of that would have been penultimate cool. Someone mentioned a hollywood co. bought the rights for DBZ.

Re:DragonBall Z would have been better

[Sethus]

Actually, In this video store where I used to live, i saw a Dragonball video being sold in the used video section. It was made by some Japanese company and looked really cheezy, the kind of movie you laugh AT it and not with it.

Re:DragonBall Z would have been better

[knisa]

You do know what penultimate means, don't you? LOL.

Hmmmm

[Altima(BoB)]

Well I for one am being optimistic about this. It's really the only way I can look at it. I've seen a lot of pessimism here and a friend of mine is doing nothing but whining about how bad it will be. He's saying how all the actors should be Japanese or he'll lose all faith in Hollywood or something.
Well, for one I don't care what nationality the actors are. Asuka, a German, looked just the same, stylistically as Shinji and co. No problems there.
Yes, it should be strange and wierd, like the series, because that's what ultimately stays with me about the series. Sure it was at times silly, perhaps a little too much so, but if it wasn't it would be SO depressing! Also, I think the casting will have to be spot on. Get some competent child actors in there. Perhaps haley Joel Osment, though he seems to have lost his magic. Also, Gendo will have to be completely badass.
If there's one thing I have confidence in it's the visual FX. As bad as I thought the Two Towers was compared to the Fellowship, it did LOOK fantastic, and it didn't seem to scream "LOOK AT ME I'M CGI!"
So here's my shortlist of hopes that I haven't covered already: Should be set someplace unrecognisable, Tokyo 3 was post second impact, a fictional city with buildings that could go underground. Essential to make the place familiar, yet alien. I mention this because I hear that the live action Akira movie planned will be set in New York. Blech.
The sense of scale is 50% of the visual experiance. Even from the start of the series, each step and Eva took smashed nearby glass windows, and they can move incredibly fast. This overall feeling was perfected, in my opinion, during the fight sequence in End of Eva when Asuka fights the production EVAs. So in short, I hope that I can see something worth putting the DVD of next to my Evangelion DVD boxset and DVD movies. Yes I am a fan of it. Oh oh! And keep SEELE's Kubrick style monoliths! They were cool... :)

Why EVA, of all series??

[Paradox]

Why exactly would anyone choose to do this to EVA? There are so many more marketable and less plain old unappealing series out there. Why not Trigun? Why not Cowboy Bebop? At least those shows really were deep, as opposed to the pseudo-surrealistic claptrap that was EVA.

The effects to really do EVA in a way that isn't going to look ridiculous are years off. I cant see how or why they chose this series.

There is hope yet.

[tloh]

I agree that making a live action EVA is extremely risky. There are countless ways to screw it up. But I think this should also be considered an opportunity. The way I see it, most of the story in the anime unfolds from Shinji's perspective. It's his world, everyone else is just living in it. (interpret that how you will) Rei is just a wacko character I can't even begin to explain. But I thought there was a gem in Asuka which could potentially be better explored. Was I the only one who thought that whole bit about her mother was a bit rushed toward the end of the series? The psychological elements of the Eva story need not be truncated or discarded in favor of mecha action and angel battles. It could be recast into the character of Asuka, making her the central character through which the plot revolves. I'm sure there are other ways to refreash the telling of the story, but I definitely believe Asuka can viably carry a live action EVA movie.
On another note, no one seemed to have mentioned casting. In other anime communities I've participated in, it has been a morbid pastime to speculate on who could take on the mantle of our favorites. In the case of EVA, one needs to determine whether you stick with the original and have a japanese cast or go hollywood. The quality of Japanese actors can certainly be spoty. One need only look at some of the drama shows that makes it over here onto the foreign language channels. Japanese live action anything has not been the same since the time of Kurosawa. Some of the films I've come across seem plain crazy. Initially, I thought "Battle Royale" was some kind of low budget B-movie wanabe. However, I was pleasantly suprised at how enjoyable this well make film turned out to be. Nicely done in all arenas: script, cast, directing, etc. It was a big cast of young actors, many of whom could easily handle the roles of the EVA pilots, if their performance in "Battle Royale" is the benchmark.
But there is this one idea which is stuck in my head like one of those annoying commercial jingles:

Haley Joel Osment == Shinji Ikari

go ahead and laugh if you want.

Who says CG by Weta?

[Marsell]

Yes, well, we can wish.

There is a small problem that nobody here seems to have noticed. I'm not certain if the press release is wrong, or if everybody is assuming the wrong thing.

Weta DIGITAL are the people who do CG and special effects.

Weta WORKSHOP make costumes and physical objects used by actors.

The press release says Weta Workshop. If true that means there won't be CG effects by Digital. Also, I know that Jackson intends to do a King Kong movie next, and it'll be using Weta Digital resources.

So. Digital CG by Weta or not. You decide. I hope so, but it doesn't look like it. I suppose we'll need to know more.

IN SOVIET RUSSIA...

[Anonymous Coward]

Therapy drives fans into Evangelion.

Re:Hey!!! Where's Bowie?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, he put on his Sailor Moon outfit, and has been searching for some tentacles.

I disagree with the naysaying

[dancingmad]

Maybe they can make NGE make sense this time.

Exactly, the action seens let out Shinji's rage..

[pythian]

While some of the action scenes were less useful than others in a character development standpoint, I disagree that they're just fluff.

My main question

[Xeth]

How are they going to find 15 year old girls... talented... enough to fill the roles (cups?) of Asuka/Rei?

Hope it's as good a Guyver!

[mayns]

This sounds like a terrible idea. NGE wasn't as good as all the fanboys told me it was. It's convoluted, bizzare, and has no chance at atracting a main-steam audience without alienating its core audience of ubergeeks. You also have to factor in the fact that ADV is a distributor, not a production company, so the best they'll be able to do is straight-to-video quality work. I'm serious about my post title. Given the source material, and ADV being the production company, I cannot see this movie being anything more than Guyver 2K4 starring Jake Lloyd instead of Mark Hamil.

Live Action in The End of Evangelion movie

[[Rob]]

I would just like to point out that there has already been some live action work done with Evangelion. The original ending of The End of Evangelion was done in live action. Check this out.

Meh

[Have Blue]

Wake me up when someone makes a movie of The Killer Japanese Seizure Robots.

Nothing to add?

[Bodrius]

I only agree that dealing with to the main storyline of Evangelion with a movie would be stupid.

It's not that there isn't anything to add to the series, or that you couldn't fit more material somewhere in the series. There were enough open questions left throughout the series, and the timeline is not THAT tight.

But a movie could not be an OVA, it could not be some kind of extended episode that depends on the comprehensive whole that is the series. It would have to stand by itself, and I don't think that's possible because as you say, EVA is about emotions and character development. And a lot of it.

It couldn't be properly summed up in 2 hours, and it couldn't be taken out of EVA without destroying its narrative intent.

Because I suspect that's what the live action movie will attempt, I think it will be a waste of time and money.

However, this doesn't mean that a more sensible project could not add to the series in some other way. I would think, for example, that a prequel dealing with the whole SEELE/NERV/Ikari-family saga in either animated or live-action form would be a nice way of complementing the series with a story that can be as complex and messed up as the original (well, maybe less apocalyptic) without taking away the mystery.

I just wouldn't trust american hands on that one, though. American video/movie entertainment is not notorious for investing in storylines and universes in the long-term.

And the search has begun...

[IroygbivU]

For the most irritating, whiny male actor of all time to play Shinji Ikari!

That's a bad idea from the start...

[Hadriven]

You know, it has been imagined before that a live-action Evangelion movie could be done, but it ended with the conclusion : let's hope it doesn't happens.

There are a few reasons about this.

1. FUNDS. How can an adaptation of a series that's full of heavy steel, gunfire, apocalyptic explosions, mind-boggling psychotrips be correctly done, out of the "cellulo-space" ?
One of the reasons of why Anime earned such a success in Japan is that filmmakers there didn't have enough money to crank out movies without said movies seriously lacking... funds. Celluloid really IS cheaper for impossible scenes like some that are in Eva... And porting this to the silver screen should require some huge amounts of money. Where are they going to find the budget usually used for an announced blockbuster ? I hopa Gainax's not going to spend too much on that, I'd really get angry if they had to close before of the bankrupt following the release of that movie.

2. CHARACTERS. Ikari Shinji. Soryû Langley Asuka. Ayanami Rei. These surely sound European, heh ? What are they going do ? Rename all those people, thus moving the entire story in the US and getting American actors ? (yeah, "Washington-3", sure.)
Or will they stick with Japanese actors ? How can you even reproduce de-japanized japanese people drawn on celluloid well enough ? I'll be curious to see who gets the role for Ayanami Rei. If it destroys my dream vision of an almost-perfect (barring an introverted-beyond-autism personality) human being...

3. STORYLINE. How will you ever be able to summarize that twisted series that is Evangelion into something that can be seen in 2-3 hours ? Or if you take the problem the other way, how will you take a part of the series without screwing the entire context/continuity/complexity ?
And what about the complexity itself ? Will the scenario scaled-down for the non-depressed to understand ? I surely don't want to see an action film made out of THIS. Do you ?

4. WAY OF THINKING. There are things Japanese can stand that Americans can't, and the other way. What would be done about those things ? I mean, there are some in the storyline that are understood (and appreciated ?) by us nerds, but for the others... Remember the beginning of EoE, you'll get an idea of what I mean.

I spent too much weeks staring at the ceiling after having seen Eva to let it become a botched adaptation. Really.

- Hadriven

Re:That's a bad idea from the start...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll be curious to see who gets the role for Ayanami Rei.

Duh...Natalie Portman, naked and cloned.

If they're going to do it at all...

[orlando24]

They better get it right! NGE is one of those things that you can either make a great film from, or make a terrible film from. At least with Weta doing graphics we won't have to worry too much about the representation of the kind of huge-scale scenery (ie geofront, eva unit battles etc). What i'm more worried about is the characters. If they don't cast well, then it won't have any chance at all. The characters are pretty well defined so casting well is going to be a bit of a challenge. I also suspect that a fair bit of script hacking / artistic license will be needed to bring the anime style script (more pauses, still scenes etc. as you see in anime) to film. And hopefully they won't bridge (ie skip bits) too much.
Let's just pray that they get it right...and that GAINAX get a fair amount of input into the production!

THE CAST

[Anonymous Coward]

Shinji - Josh Hartnett, because he can get pretty squinty when he wants to, no way we Hollywood types would ever cast a real Japanese guy playing the role

Rei - random cute japanese girl, the girls are okay, we will allow them into Hollywood

Asuka - call the Wilhelmina modeling agency and send over their stupidest, sluttiest chick who looks like she could pass for a pubescent kid

Misato - Lucy fucking Liu, again

Touji - Paul Wilson, why not, whoever heard of a blonde Japanese guy, we'd rather have Japanese girls creaming over a white guy than some Japanese wahoo, it's like we fat white bald eagles are living vicariously through him

Ritsuko - Denise Richards. She has the eybrows and was very convincing as an almost intelligent person in 007 The World Is Not Enough

Gendou - WTF, let's cast a Japanese guy for THIS role. GET MORITA.

PENPEN - CG, THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO BE DAMN WONDERFUL LIKE ANG LEE'S HULK.

ADV sucks. I knew it in 93, and now I'm sure about it.

Does it have to be CG?

[wikthemighty]

"It's such an obvious genre to take advantage of modern CGI" ... "Hell, the powerloader scene was a favourite in Aliens."

I don't remember there being any CG in that one.

The problem I see with CG is that while we can make things look pretty believeable at this point, it still takes scads of effort to integrate said CG with real people. Recent examples might include odd movements by Spider-Man, or Merry & Pippin atop Treebeard (one of the better scenes in this case, but still odd-looking at moments.)

Until we get to the point where we can either motion track (or similar) easily, I will continue to worry about titles like these (unless they got clever and avoided the fights alltogether and made it a purely 'social' film, which would be appropriate, but might dissapoint a lot of fans...)

The cast has been confirmed!

[twoallbeefpatties]

Asuka: Mary Kate (alternately Ashley) Olsen. Asuka's new catch phrase become "How rude!"

Rei: Christina Ricci. Has stoic written all over it.

Misato: Sandra Bullock. Minor depression, messy, drunk, but still a strong woman. Literally every role Bullock has ever played.

Gedou: Christopher Walken. Please. PLEASE get Walken to sit around grinning evil.

And finally, Shinji: Will Smith. Complete with music video.

Live-action?

[RoC MasterMind]

It's not live-action if ITS NOT LIVE!

great...

[CCIEwannabe]

I hope they do the movie justice, otherwise the movie creators will be receiving hate mail like the creator of the series did.

Interesting...but already refuted.

[cyranoVR]

Please don't take this the wrong way...it is an interesting theory, one which gave me a real head-trip when I first heard it...but it has been disproven from primary sources:

From the EvaOtaku web site:

http://www.evaotaku.com/html/evafaq2.html#question 11

Q) What color are Asuka's eyes at the end of the film? And, is the person at the end of the film actually a combination of Asuka, Rei, and Misato? Is she, Shinji's 'perfect woman'?"

A) This perposterous theory has been around for a while now, but it was never as popular as it is now. Asuka's eyes are blue, not brown, at the end of the film.

This is a scan of the Cardass Wide Card for the scene in question:
http://www.evaotaku.com/other/IneedYou.jpg

As you can see, her eye is clearly blue (somewhat greyish, but this is because of the color tones/lighting of the scene - it is night afterall).

And further, no - the person on the shore with Shinji is Asuka and Asuka only. Shinji rejected Human Complementation Project, and as such he has no control over whatever happens next. He is an ordinary boy. Yui says that anyone who can "imagine themselves in their own hear" can come back, on their own. Apparently, Asuka is one of those people. A person with the will to live. A combination of people is impossible outside of the Complementation project that Shinji rejected.

Read through the rest of the linked FAQ. The author draws upon official Gainax materials for his answers, such as official trading cards, sourcebooks, and so on. He even has information on the missing live-action sequence that was originally supposed to be in EoE. Interesting stuff.

(On the other hand, Anno has been quoted as saying that each individual brings their own meaning to Evangelion...so if you choose to believe the "Shinji's perfect women" theory, he probably wouldn't mind.)

Eva

[Anonymous Coward]

Its the story of a really fucked up kid that has to save the world and instead saves the life of a girl that hates him even though he thinks that hes in love with her ... mostly thought its about giant robats that fight strange and intresting alians .... i like chettos!

Eva and alot of other things

[Ren_Nailo]

Long time anime freak and mostly i have to say that i have some mixed fellings at best over this. I own all the episodes and both american versions of the movies (sorry i havnt gotten a chance to see the uncut version cause i know there is one) Any ways im not shure that this is a very good move nor do i think that they will be able to put across the true story of Eva ... but alas it is truly another sign of the dumbing of america!

www.geo.front.ru

[Larnir]

www.geo.front.ru is dedicated to the fictious NGE Live Action film and it's been online a while. The cast photos are here: http://www.geo.front.ru/THE_CAST_and_PHOTOS.html The rest is critical stuff, soundtrack, "scripts" - ah well, the usual site plugging Larnir W. Haigh, staff member of www.secondimpact.net

Preserve

[mobileskimo]

Obviously what is crap and what is good is subjective. So I won't get into that argument here. What I will say is today we are getting a larger percentage with what appears to be substantially larger budgets, especially dubbing (hoorah!).

The problem isn't what's out there now, but what profits tend to do to non-mainstream, semi-subculture forms of entertainment. My evidence? Look at natively popular movie stars (moderately famous in the states) that came to Hollywood from other countries. Look at American conversions of foreign flicks. I'm surprised Disney hasn't made a move on Anime. Fortunately for us they've kept themselves to the "family" market. Not saying I don't like Disney movies (Loved Prince of Egypt), but I like my anime the way it is, slightly confusing. There are some jokes and gestures that are Japanese, that I don't fully understand, I sort of "get", that would sadden me if they disappeared. Get where I'm going with this? If you don't think it will happen, look at Escaflowne. We chopped it up here to serve to youngsters.

DEAR MODERATORS

[cyranoVR]

IT'S CALLED "SARCASM."

Read the context of the post before you waste your mod points.

standard plot? Ha!

[mazor]

There is nothing standard about the Evangelion plot! The first half of the series may appear somewhat traditional, but the last half will definitely mess with your head. And don't stop with the "packaged" ending (which is crap), you have to seek out the more controversial ending as intended by the director.

More than just dealing with aliens attacking humans, Evangelion is about mankind at war with God. The level to which Judeo-Christian symbolism is incorporated into the techno-futuristic storyline is absolutely fascinating.

Example: the NERV supercomputer cluster has three mainframes, referred to in the story as the magi. Their names are Balthazar, Malchior, and Caspar. Those are also the names of the three magi, the three kings who journeyed to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the newborn Jesus.

Evangelion grapples with questions like what is a human without a soul? And what is man's relationship to God? Just how omnipotent is God, anyway? Consider the slogan on the NERV corporation's logo: "God is in His heaven, all is right in the world"

One of the "hooks" that really gets some people interested in NGE is that so many details are mentioned tangentially or at best only hinted at. The more you dig into what the various names mean, the more mysteries or possible links you will find.

Evangelion is not for the faint of heart, nor the faint of faith. If you are hypersensitive about your faith or are offended by any interpretation of scripture that deviates from (your) tradition, you should not view Evangelion. Period.

Anyway, here's one of many web sites devoted to Evangelion lore: http://www.sbs.com.au/NGE/ You can buy the DVDs on Amazon.com and at mall chain video stores like Suncoast Video. Most video rental places that carry serious anime should have NGE. Blockbuster had them for awhile, but seem to have rotated them out of stock (or removed NGE from the shelves because of complaints from people offended by the religious references). Comic book shops are another source.

Just go google for "Neon Genesis Evangelion". Plenty of reading material there.

-mazor