drindustrial

Hi everyone,

I have 2 questions, being still fairly green when it comes to anime.

1. I hear Neon Genesis Evangelion is very good, especially if you are into sci fi. It seems there are a variety of ways to get this:

- Individual DVDs
- Perfect Collection of 8 DVDs (I assume this includes all the individuals?)
- Platinum Collection (seems to lose some of the special features, but the picture and audio is supposed to be improved)
- 10th Anniversary Collection which I think came out this month, though I haven't been able to find too much info on it

What is the recommended way to get this collection, and what are people's thoughts on it in general?

2. I was in Fry's the other day, checking out their DLP projectors, and they were showing an anime on the projectors. For whatever reason, I didn't think to ask what it was, but now I really want to figure it out. It was very modern, 3D looking, and the scenes I saw were of a girl on a motorcycle chasing other guys on a motorcycle (pretty long scene), and a motorcycle eventually gets blown up inside a tunnel. If I remember correctly, at the end of the sequence, some sort of monster came out or an explison occurred, but I don't remember exactly what. It was pretty action-packed and was a visual treat, and now I am trying to figure out what it was so I can get it. I know this isn't a lot of information, but I am sure some of the anime fanatics on here can identify this from my meager description.

Thanks,
David

The Reaper

Just pick up the Platinum collection. You should be able to get it for around $40-50. There were originally 8 dvds, then collected into the Perfect Collection. Later they released 7 Platinum dvds with improved video and extras, then later thinpacked them in the Platinum Collection onto 5 or 6 discs and took out the extras.

As for the other, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, perhaps. Sounds similar.

The Reaper

Also, there's two movies. Death And Rebirth, which is basically recap footage and The End Of Evangelion. I've never watched Death And Rebirth, since everyone always says it's not necessary and all of the new footage is also in End.

drindustrial

Ok, so it sounds like the Platinum collection and then The End of Evangelion movie are what I should get?

Does anyone know anything about this 10th Anniversary 8-disc box set that was supposed to be released in September? I have it down as coming out on August 22, but I can't seem to find anything about it (though DDD does seem to have a 10th Anniversary listing...just no picture or product description).

David

drindustrial

After watching the trailer online for this, I agree, this is what I saw at Fry's. The DVDTalk review is very good. Do others recommend this movie? I wasn't too impressed with the first one (though I do own it).

Thanks,
David

drindustrial

Ahhhh...I figured it out:

http://www.amazon.com/Neon-Genesis-E...?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

Looks pretty interesting actually. It seems to collect the Platinum Collection with all the extras plus some extra collectible stuff. It appears to be coming out on November 14 now.

David

GHackmann

Unlike the first movie, Advent Children is a direct sequel to the Final Fantasy VII video game. (The disc includes a brief recap of the game's plot as an extra, but I'm not sure how much it'd mean to people who haven't played the game.) IMO, it's full of plot holes, the Japanese voice acting ranges from mediocre to awful, and the constant cuts from "camera" to "camera" are literally headache-inducing. I'll give it points for looking really, really good -- but there's no substance underneath the glossy coat.

Personally, I say rent it if you played the game, and skip it otherwise. But then again, I seem to be in the minority on this one.

Ralph Jenkins

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has superb animation but the story is so-so. Fans of the game will get the most out of it. The animation alone made it worth it for me. Note that it should be coming out on Blu-Ray soon.

The Evangelion Platinum Collection thinpak is a great deal. It blows away the older release as far as picture and sound, so it's the way to go. The subtitles also feature an improved translation. You do lose the extras that were included with the individual volumes, but most of those extras were related to the English dub. Unless you're a big fan of ADV's English voice actors, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

The End of Evangelion movie should be watched after the series. The region 1 (U.S.) disc is far inferior to the region 2 (Japan) releases, which have anamorphic transfers and 5.1 sound (DD or DTS). Unfortunately, the region 2 discs don't have any kind of English translation. Manga really needs to release a remastered version.

Sweet Baby James

I love Eva as much as the next guy, but I wouldn't pay $150+ for the 10th anniversary edition. ADV has been milking this franchise for quite some time now. I would also recommend that you get the Platinum thinpak version(Amazon has it for around $45 and I had it in my Gold Box once for $42 and change). You might want to hold off on the EOE movie. It's letterboxed(non-anamorphic) only. I read somewhere that there may be an anamorphic release coming down the pike.

Here are some very helpful anime sites that have proven useful to me over the years-

www.animeondvd.com
www.animenfo.com
www.animenewsnetwork.com

GHackmann

They announced a few months ago that they were in negotiation for the remastered materials for both movies.

Supermallet

$160? Nice to see ADV still likes to rape anime fans.

Ralph Jenkins

That would be nice. They did release a remastered Castle of Cagliostro, so I guess it could happen.

canaryfarmer

Darn, everyone already said what needed to be said! Can I join anyway?

Yeah, just spring for the Platinum Thinkpak collection. Cheap, amazing picture and sound, and it's a pretty nice looking set. Personally, I would recommend buying End of Eva now, as nobody has any idea how long it will be before a remastered version comes along (knowing Manga, it's not going to be soon, and they always manage to screw something up along the way). You can always sell/re-purchase later, and considering it's the end of the Eva saga (not counting the upcoming re-quel films), it's required viewing.

If you can find the individual volumes of the Platinum Edition for cheap, I would spring for those, as each volume came with very useful and informative booklets that provided a lot of interesting background information/timelines/glossaries. It's a shame that these did not get carried over to the ThinkPak collection.

Also, before you view NGE, I can only ask that you please watch it in the original Japanese. I enjoy my fair share of English dubs, but Eva's is, IMO, god-awful (esp. for End of Eva).

Hope you enjoy it!

Kadaj is an awfully feminine-looking guy, ain't he?

Sweet Baby James

Best Buy has Volume 1(movie only, not the artbox) for $11.99 and Volumes 2-7 for $6.99 each, so you can get the entire collection for $53.93. If your store doesn't have them in-stock, you can use the in-store kiosk to order them at these prices and have them shipped to your house. Check out the following thread for more info on the in-store kiosks-

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=476303

hindolio

sweet!

had a bunch of these questions on my mind from way back and poof my questions have been answered!

on dvdtalkers

GreenMonkey

Here's some comparison pics of platinum vs the original. There was a site with better screenies but it appears to be gone. This will give you an idea. They also got rid of the twitchy-film problem (made the screen jump once in a while).

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=173035