This weekend saw the release of the new Evangelion movie “You Can (Not) Redo,” which continues the “Rebuild of Evangelion” reboot, and I went to see it yesterday with my son. It was awesome, a very dark movie that really takes the story in interesting new directions, with many twists and turns I never expected. It’s 14 years past the events in the last film, and all your favorite characters are back, including Rei Ayanami and the new battle-scarred “Pirate” Asuka, as well as now-grown-up Sakura Suzuhara, the younger sister of Touji, who speaks the sweetest Osaka-ben ever. The film is loaded with visual and story elements Hideki Anno has used in his past Gainax works, and I had a lot of fun picking them out as they danced by on the screen. In fact, while you’re waiting for the film to get its inevitable international release, you might hunt down Anno’s Gunbuster: Aim for the Top and Nadia of the Mysterious Seas and watch (or re-watch) them, to better enjoy the visual presence of the third Eva film when you see it.
The new Evangelion movie has old friends and new faces.