Live Action Neon Genesis Evangelion Concept Art

Xzan writes "CGNetworks has released some concept art pictures of the upcoming feature film of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. I think the characters look really ugly, especially "Ray"(Rei in the anime). The concept art is made by Weta Workshop, who also did the special effects for Lord of the rings."

Comments

"Kate Rose" doesn't sound japanese...

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I mistaken of will the cast of this movie NOT include any japanese actors?

If so... I already hate it.

Character ugliness

[NeoSkandranon]

I agree with the article submitter. In the anime the eva pilots are all teens correct? (Even Rei...sorta. )...the concept art Weta presented makes them all look like dumpy 20 or 30somethings IMHO. granted the anime style in general presents females as perhaps over-thin, but thats part of the character in some isntances--for examle Rei, who seems so frail and wispy and so forth.

The vultures are already circling overhead.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are fans going to hate it? Well, I can tell you why I'm going to hate it for what it's worth. A few examples (When that server gets slashdotted to hell you can bet they'll be here reading comments, and when they do I hope they take some serious notes):

• 26 episodes stuffed into 90 to 120 minutes (Akira anyone?)
• No matter how great the CG is, it will never fulfill the fans expectations.
• Not only does Kate Rose not sound Japanese, it doesn't sound German either.
• Rei's er... Ray's hair isn't black.
• The ages of the characters (none of whom will be of inferious Japanese decent mind you) will all be jacked up to 18 so they are american-legal-eagle jerk-off-able
• All non-robot battle nuances and themes in the film will be trodden upon, underused, and thusly underappreciated due to lack of time, budget, and the clairvoyance necessary to see that this film is a freaking boondoggle

The 'geeks' who are supposed to love this movie and provide the revenue these guys are hoping for at the box office are already slamming it from every angle they can. Even by hooking a few curiosity seekers at the theatre, it's hard to imagine anyone shelling out for a DVD to remember this attrocity by, thereby padding out the numbers to anything resembling profitablity.

What's that you say? Geeks can't possibly account for their entire target demographic for this still born failure? You're right. They will no doubt try to "broaden" the movie's appeal beyond it's fan base to bring in more revenue and will end up failing both fan-boys and joe-six-pack alike. And it will be a disaster.

"But how can you say that?! The movie's not even out yet!" one might say. Yes, they may have time to fix some of these things before things go full-bore on production.

But when they're making so many obvious mistakes so early on (obvious to me, at least and I'm only a casual Eva fan) it's hard to believe they can be entrusted to ensure me a pleasent movie-going experience for my 1800 yen.

Gainax, to me, is such a cornerstone of quality Japanese animation it's a shame to see that they've sold out such a decent series to the foaming-at-the-mouth Hollywood execs...

*sigh* Can't anyone just leave something that people like alone?

I can only hope for another Impact...

It's from hollywood...

[cryptochrome]

I'd be surprised if it had any ASIAN actors in more than a bit part. I don't recall any in the American version of Godzilla either, which is what this movie will probably turn out like (lots of eyecandy, and a total crapfest beyond that).

Pilot age

[Bodrius]

There are a bunch of comments expressing fears of Hollywood pushing up the ages of the actors/actresses, and with good reason.

It's culturally understandable that the movie studio wouldn't want to put 14-year olds in tight-fitting lates plugsuits, playing roles with some sexual tension and innuendo (sometimes creepy and yet plot-vital, like Gendou/Rei/Ritsuko), and showing them off to an army of otakus with a reputation for keeping a subset of the porno industry alive on the basis on hentai doujinshi of EVA and similar series....

Having them "just turned 18" would be a very convenient cop-out, allowing them to hire appealing nymphettes for the lead roles and market their sexual appeal to a larger crowd.

The problem is, a large part of the emotional complexity of the series had to do with the fact these were Children with the weight of mankind's survival on their shoulders. Immature Children. Very screwed up Children, as a matter of fact. Still having to deal with classes, bullies, family, puberty, and oh, wait, another big monster appeared and is going to rip your robot's arms off and you're going to feel everything because that's the kind of technology we use and that's the kind of guy you are.

Young college-age adults, specially the young precocious 18 year olds that Hollywood can cast as tragic heroes, would be more prepared to deal with those issues and concentrate on the big-robot-fight-to-save-the-world part of the job. They would look childish having some of the emotional crisis that made EVA's characters believable.

This could turn the movie into a typical big-robot movie, an update to the likes of Ultraman. It would miss the point of EVA, and the truth is there are plenty of more simple/typical robot-series they could adapt better, and more easily, to that format.