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Live Action Neon Genesis Evangelion Concept Art 294

Posted by CmdrTaco from the weta-deserves-a-crack-at-it dept.
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."
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Live Action Neon Genesis Evangelion Concept Art More

Live Action Neon Genesis Evangelion Concept Art

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  • It's concept art... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bc90021 ( 43730 ) * <bc90021&bc90021,net> on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:43AM (#8013317) Homepage
    ...not the finished product. I'm sure that if you email them that you don't like the concepts (of "Ray" as you say), they will at least make an effor to take into account your feelings on the matter. (Esepcially if enough people do it.)

    However, I suspect that it will likely be that many fans of the original will be disappointed unless everything in the original is replicated exactly... ;)

    • Re:It's concept art... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I just saw the Eva series (every anime DVD with exception of the 2 released director cut dvds) over the holidays. I enjoyed it. A lot. I don't think I enjoyed a series as much since watching Trigun.

      Still, the reality of this series and the 2 Eva movies remains, this is not a LOTR story in 'storytelling' complexity. While Eva is certainly complex when compared to the average story, it's certainly something that can lends itself to the Hollywood movie medium--if they do it right. Cinematicly, it certain

  • "Kate Rose" doesn't sound japanese... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:44AM (#8013322)
    Am I mistaken of will the cast of this movie NOT include any japanese actors?

    If so... I already hate it.
    • Am I mistaken of will the cast of this movie NOT include any japanese actors?
      If so... I already hate it.

      Does Kate Rose sound like "costume designer [imdb.com]" though?
      • I was going to post something about this as well but I'm glad I saw yours first. This whole name changing mess is much ado about nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if the "Ray" on the Rei art had a similar explanation.

        Wish I had some mod points so I could push this up.

    • It's from hollywood... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by cryptochrome ( 303529 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @12:40PM (#8013905) Journal
      I'd be surprised [modelminority.com] 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).
    • If so... I already hate it.

      Why? Most *anime* I've seen doesn't have very many Japanese characters. Sure, their *names* are Japanese, but that's about it.

      In fact, Evangelion itself [comcast.net] seems to have the standard mostly-caucasian cast.

      I am really interested to see how this film turns out. I liked the robot designs and some of the concepts of the original anime, but watching it at a friend's party was totally tedious - especially the last episode. "Oooh! It's the same frame of animation... for two minutes! Thi

      • Why? Most *anime* I've seen doesn't have very many Japanese characters. Sure, their *names* are Japanese, but that's about it.

        In fact, Evangelion itself seems to have the standard mostly-caucasian cast.

        Ummm, the cast (with the exception of Asuka who was half German) was supposed to be all Japanese.

        Most Westerners misinterperate the "anime look" as "caucasian". Its simply the way they're drawn, big eyes make it easy to display emotion. Weird hair colors make it easy to tell the differences between ch

        • There is no way that this lady [comcast.net] is supposed to be Japanese.

          Maybe in some crazy alternate universe where Japanese people are indistinguishable from Europeans, but not this one.

          • There is no way that this lady is supposed to be Japanese.

            Maybe in some crazy alternate universe where Japanese people are indistinguishable from Europeans, but not this one.

            Yup, she's supposed to be Japanese. She doesn't look European to me, kinda generic. The blonde hair could be seen as an European trait, but a) most anime characters have "different" hair color, and b) its mentioned in the series that she bleaches it. Asians don't see themselves as being "slant eyed" any more than Europeans see the

  • MIRROR - Images. In case of slashdotting ;-) (Score:5, Informative)

    by SiGiN ( 679749 ) <siginNO@SPAMdephine.org> on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:44AM (#8013323) Homepage
    Only Images mirrored. here [xchat.ru]

  • Character ugliness (Score:5, Interesting)

    by NeoSkandranon ( 515696 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:47AM (#8013334)
    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.

    • Re:Character ugliness (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Coryoth ( 254751 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:55AM (#8013368) Homepage Journal
      makes them all look like dumpy 20 or 30somethings IMHO.

      Anyone who thinks the girls in those images look "dumpy" needs a good quick reality check.

      Also note that if this is going to be "Live Action" it doesn't matter a damn what Weta draws the characters to look like - it only matters what the costumes look like. The characters will look like whatever the casting agent casts. Take your concerns up with them.

      Jedidiah.

      • Re:Character ugliness (Score:5, Funny)

        by Spoing ( 152917 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:13AM (#8013442) Homepage
        Anyone who thinks the girls in those images look "dumpy" needs a good quick reality check.

        While I agree, a few years ago I started to think wrinkles could be 'cute' too, so why listen to an old^ guy like me?

        ( ^ - Old being relitive. I'm still mistaken for ~28 on a regular basis and referred to as 'kid' by 60 year olds. )

      • The art is good, however Asuka or should I say Kate looks like she's in her early twenties. One of the major parts of the plot in Evangelion involves all the pilots being 13. And her and Ray sure as hell don't look 13, 18 at the youngest. I perfectly understand Americanizing it a bit. The world's not Japanese and a film of the magnitude this thing would be would more than likely get shown around quite a bit. However they do need to at least keep to the plot as closely as they can. If it's just a bunch of ro
      • I agree with grandparent but only because they are completely redrawing and in some cases renaming the original characters which is fucking retarded.

        And trust me, if you think this [cgnetworks.com] (from the concept art) looks better than this [juzzam.com] (original artwork) then it is you who needs a reality check.

      • Anyone who thinks the girls in those images look "dumpy" needs a good quick reality check.

        Agreed. The "Kate Rose" sketches look particularly hot. I really worry about the folks that lust after Rei Ayanami. She looks about twelve.

        That being said, I think that people are seriously misunderstanding the intention of this concept art. When you're drafting concept art for a live action film, you're trying to produce designs that will work in live-action, with real people. They totally changed the costum

    • Re:Character ugliness (you need therapy) (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Scrameustache ( 459504 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:42AM (#8013574) Homepage Journal
      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.

      Anime character typically have exagerated traits, most notably the proportions of the legs, and most obviously the large eyes.

      Those concept art pictures depict normal humans with proportions that actually occur in nature and not just on paper. The kind of humans that are likely to actually show up for casting.
      • Anime character typically have exagerated traits, most notably the proportions of the legs, and most obviously the large eyes.

        Those concept art pictures depict normal humans with proportions that actually occur in nature and not just on paper. The kind of humans that are likely to actually show up for casting.

        Way to generalize. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's character designs on Evangelion were purposely made more realistic than typical anime - the eyes and faces are in more or less correct proportion, and exc
        • Way to generalize. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's character designs on Evangelion were purposely made more realistic than typical anime - the eyes and faces are in more or less correct proportion, and except for some too-perfect bodies on the adults, the overall proportions are pretty much right as well.

          I have here the Evangelion concept art book and a human anatomy book.

          The evangelion characters' legs account for two thirds of their body lenght. Normal humans are about 50% leg in height.

  • But have you seen... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Coryoth ( 254751 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:47AM (#8013336) Homepage Journal
    But have you seen the early concept art for LoTR? Some of that was remarkably poor too - that's because they were sketching it to get an idea of one aspect of the whole, and you're looking at it as a finished product. Combine that with the fact that they produce literally hundreds of sketches working toward a single character or creature simply to explore all the different (some good, some bad) possibilities. Anyone who has seen all the concept sketches of the Cave Troll, or the Slime Balrog (not used in the films) will know what I mean.

    Give them a chance to work through their ideas, and judge their finished product. I have a lot of faith in Weta Workshop (partly because I know some of the people who work there), and I'm sure they'll have something spectacular by the end.

    Jedidiah.
    • Agreed, however I keep hearing reports from the people I know at Weta, that Weta Digital lost their bid for Neo Genesis due to being too wrapped up in RoTK.

      Recent redundancies at Weta Digital have resulted in most of their top talent heading back to their home countries.

      Weta Workshop (the company that would have produced these pieces), is in a much better position.

  • Rumors (Score:5, Informative)

    by MooCows ( 718367 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:48AM (#8013337)
    *cough* [trivialbeing.net]

    Character name changes. Massive rumors are currently circulating as to whether Rei Ayanami has been christened "Ray" and similarly Asuka as "Kate Rose". There is nothing concrete to suggest they have - as these names appearing on the images are very likely to be the names of the artists or costume designers who produced them. However, a few points to consider are; no other pictures have a similar name appearing on them, Rei and Ray maybe too similar to be a coincidence and why would an artist put only a first name down, especially if it's a signature? On the other hand, on the image it does say "Kate Rose plugsuit" and "Ray plugsuit" however these maybe concepts drawn by another artist to simply incorporate and show a costume design by Kate Rose / Ray. "Kate rose plugsuit" would then be required to distinguish which plugsuit design is being viewed. Kate Rose is a costume designer (i.e. the images were not drawn by Kate/Ray but they are an interpretation of their current designs).

    That site has loads of other info on the movie as well.

    • Re:Rumors (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Bagels ( 676159 )
      Actually no. This came up on the Megatokyo [megatokyo.com] forums as well, but then somebody pointed out the the drawings had spots for the artist's name as well. Both were done by one Dean Wootten. Here's a link to the thread [megatokyo.com].

      • Re:Rumors (Score:3, Interesting)

        by _xeno_ ( 155264 )
        Costume Designer != Artist who drew concept picture

        So, yes, it could well be the name of the costume designer, and these are concept pictures drawn by an artist based on what the costume designer has drawn.

    • Try again. Here [verizon.net]is an interview with Richard Taylor, co-founder and head of Effects and Creatures at Weta Workshop, stating that, "Ben designed our female leads." Ben doesn't sound much like Kate.

      And while Kate Rose [imdb.com] is a costume designer, as far as I can tell, she has no affiliation with Weta, nor would a costume designer likely be brought to the table yet. This is still concept and developement. Eventually sketches like these en dup in the hands of the people that will have to make them a reality, and th

    • In the same position as the name "Ray" and "Kate" is the "name" "Eva 01" on a different drawing.

      • Why do you assume that the words mean the same thing on each picture?

        They all would have been drawn at totaly different times under different circumstances. It does seem likely that the words are the character names, but that doesn't mean it's definitely the case.

        There's no point in getting worked up about it until there's some real proof.
    • This seems like wishful thinking on the part of fans of the original anime to me.

      The film character concept art I've seen has always had either the character's name or the actor/actresses' name displayed prominently.

      I would be incredibly surprised if the characters *didn't* get more English-sounding names for the film.

  • Some more info (Score:5, Informative)

    by grungebox ( 578982 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:48AM (#8013338) Homepage
    If you want more info, you can check this site [trivialbeing.net] out. It has lots of info about the movie. Well, maybe not "lots," since there really isn't that much available. No director as of yet, and it looks like the release date is somewhere between 2006 and 2010(!). Also, it's supposed to cover the first few episodes according to the site, but unless the screenwriters are refitting a large amount of the story to fit Hollywood (which isn't always a bad thing) they'll be missing all the key plot developments and depressing turns-of-events that occur later.

    I, for one, would love a movie of nothing but Shinji's psychedelic dreams as in episodes 25 and 26 of the series.

    • You would likely be among the very few.

      Most people hated the ending, which is why Death/Air were redone... Because it was too abstract for most people to 'get' what was going on.

  • Not the same (Score:2, Funny)

    by Oen_Seneg ( 673357 ) *
    "Kate Rose"
    "Susan Whitnall"

    It's just not the same... and the poor children who are doing this will probably never realise they're filling tohe roles of characters that have been the fantasies of many, many sad, depraived anime otakus out there...
  • As a big fan of the series, I'm interested how they're going to deal with the story line that is more suited to a series e.g. the many angels/sentinals/apostles (what have you)

    And are they going to carry the story through right to the end where its just shinji and asuka on a beach with everyone else presumably dead?

    How is the complex storylines and references to christianty and some judiasm going to fit in?

    I hope they dont spoil the memory of one of the greats in anime.

  • Ouch (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tyrdium ( 670229 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:50AM (#8013349) Homepage
    Did they forget that the three pilots are supposed to be about 14 or 15? The concept drawing of Asuka makes her look like she's about 40. That, and the fact that they're calling her Kate Rose. There is no Kate Rose in Evangelion. They've also taken a few too many liberties with the architectural design, to the point where it completely changes the atmosphere.

    • Welcome to Hollywood (Score:4, Insightful)

      by grungebox ( 578982 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:04AM (#8013409) Homepage
      There is a Kate Rose in Evangelion. Her name is Asuka Langley. Kate Rose rolls off the tongue better, could probably sell better as an action figure, and pleases the studio putting up the 100 mil.

      And, on top of it all, the name change isn't definite. It's probably a temporary thing stuck on by the Weta guys/gals. I doubt they've decided on names this far in advance when there isn't even a script to speak of as far as I know. So, don't cry just yet, Tyrdium. They may keep Asuka as Asuka.

      What do you think they'll call Pen-pen?

      • Ignoring that all of those names are easier than "Evangelion" to pronounce after the first time. Even after I'd watched all of the episodes, I was still screwing it up, and yet could easily say "Asuka" correctly...
      • I am a fan.
        They get their prospective money from people like me.
        If they can't preserve the look and feel from the original series, then I will not pay to see it.
      • I doubt they would keep Asuka as Asuka. Think about it. All the source material calls her Asuka, and if this is such a preliminary stage, wouldn't it make the most sense to call her that? You think the costume designers would/can just change/pick the name on a whim? Somebody in charge has already decided the names will be changed, and the working names they've picked are Kate Rose (red suit) and Susan Whitnall (white suit). The only positive sign here is that they're referring to the last one as Rei/Ra
      • What do you think they'll call Pen-pen?

        Jar-Jar?

      • I hope they keep the names, heck it's science fiction, weird names add to the atmosphere. If Star Wars can have pseudo-Japanese sounding names (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin, Amidala) why not Evangelion.

    • Actually, sod NGE considering I'm dutch and the only anime we ever get over here are Pokemon and DBZ. Sadly. However, that doesn't take away the fact Kate Rose looks like fcking Kathryn Janeway from Voyager...

    • Let's face it, "Asuka Langley Sorya" is not the most convincing name for a German girl...

  • Oh no! They spelled it differently! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lord Bitman ( 95493 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @10:59AM (#8013379)
    How dare they spell a word which was written in JAPANESE originally differently from the way I've seen it written using latin characters before!!

    Fans of the series will hate the live-action movie no matter what happens, so why even bother? It might be a good movie to people who dont already dream of fucking Ayanami, and with the best of luck it will bring the Giant Robot Genre into mainstream Hollywood.
    If you already know what Eva is, this isnt worth keeping track of- just see it when it comes out, hate it, and then complain about how they changed things and took out all the subtle religious symbols that you need to be intelligent to pick up on.[/sarcasm]

    I liked Eva, but shouldnt the moderators kill any post that's "Hopelessly Fanboy"? It's CONCEPT ART, moron. It's a LIVE ACTION MOVIE.
    Would you prefer Jake Lloyd and Emma Watson?
    It's not going to be the same. Deal.

    • How dare they spell a word which was written in JAPANESE originally differently from the way I've seen it written using latin characters before!!

      Heh. Funny, and valid up to a point. I tend to agree with you in general (after all, the name was originally written in Kanji), but I also like to pick nits, so: There are a couple of standard ways to spell Japanese in Latin characters, none of them would spell her name "Ray". More importantly, when you spell it "Ray" I tend to think of a fat dude wearing a b

    • Not everyone is appalled by the spelling just because it is not Japanese.

      I personally agree with you that it's a pretty silly thing to care about the series. Particularly because this is probably a secondary effect of another change.

      They are more than likely to move "New City" (previously Tokyo-3) to the US simply to capture more empathy from US-based audiences (their market). If we try to be objective, that's also the reason why it was Tokyo-3 in the first place (to appeal to the Japanese market). They c
  • but hey, Kate Rose sucks too obviously, and the cityscapes look like those from 50's Sci-Fi. All designs are very old, destroying near-future images of Evangelion anime. Weta, you should replace your concept designer with one who can handle cell phone.

  • I don't get it... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Enteebee ( 620669 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:06AM (#8013414)

    Why would they want to americanize Evangelion? Much of its cool factor comes from simply being Japanese.

    I can see it now... turning Nerv into the "Department of Homeland Security" with Johnny Depp playing Gendo Ikari..er.. "Tom Ridge".

    • I dunno.. that might be kinda cool ;) Of course, that means Shinji would probably be played by Haley Joel Osment (sp?) so that would , by result, suck. "I see dead people! Er, I mean angels. I want my mommy!"
    • There is more truth to that comment than you may realize. I thought the days of the Japanese dumbing down their products for us were long over. When Square released Final Fantasy Chronicles, complete with a translated ORIGINAL FF4, none of this easytype crap, I finally believed that this Americanization crap was history. But I seem to have been proven wrong.

  • Americanization (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Metex ( 302736 )
    While I am really glad that this is actually getting some hopefully serious attention and wont be a cobbled together movie I am seriously worried about how they are going to portray Shinji.

    The reason I love evangelion is that Shinji neither wants to be a hero nor has the qualities of one. That single characteristic is what makes the series incredible because you see the emotional development of Shinji in a situation he doesn't want to be in. The only reason he stays put is not out of valor or a sense of ju
    • Firstly, It's pretty much a given that the age of the core characters will be raised. 14 year olds may be fair game in Japan, but 'round these parts they're jailbait. The mere thought of teenage sexuality in any sort of realistic context (AKA outside an over-the-top horror or teen sex film) sends modern America into a panic over pedophilia. Sorry Misato. In America, adulthood isn't something you're allowed to practice or learn under the age of 18.

      Unfortunately, the whole premise of EVA rests on adolesc
    • I think the way Hollywood works, they'll do this...

      1. Make the characters a few years older
      2. Make Shinji more of a hero
      3. Make the ending less messed up
      4. Downplay the religious aspects

      but at that point they might as well just call it RahXephon.

  • Bayesian-poison spam ? (Score:3, Funny)

    by cyb97 ( 520582 ) * <cyb97@noxtension.com> on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:19AM (#8013481) Homepage Journal
    Is it just me or does the title of the article sound like another bayesian-poison spam?
  • we have concept art of a live action version of an anime, which, after all, is based on...

    Throw CG into it, then it's a bigger mess. Since it will be likely that they will use CG for parts of this.

  • There are Evangelion art books out there not to mention all the printed manga and the anime itself. The concept art that Weta Workshop is showing seems to be nothing more than some non-anime drawings of the same thing... which is exactly what they should be. Only I don't think they should bother since plenty of the art already exists.... However, I don't see why they have to go to such lengths to change the character names so drastically. I mean, granted they're not going to get Japanese actors for Misato

  • News Flash! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Paolomania ( 160098 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:33AM (#8013525) Homepage
    The anatomically impossible proportions of anime characters have nothing to do with reality! Seeing as real women need internal organs and space inside their skull for stuff other than their eyes, and actually have gravity affecting their breasts, you will never find a human being that doesn't look "dumpy" next to a hyper-lithe anime plaything.

  • It's not going to be made (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DavidBrown ( 177261 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:33AM (#8013532) Journal
    My cut on this movie is that in the long run, it's going to fall through. Evangelion is pretty esoteric - it has a large fanbase amongst people who like anime, but there just ain't that many of us to support a blockbuster film.

    Yes, anime sells, but it doesn't sell THAT much. Sure, last year an anime film won the academy award, but it still didn't make nearly as much money as "Elf", let alone "Finding Nemo". That means the film isn't going to get the $100 million in financing it needs to avoid looking like a bad episode of Doctor Who.

    And I think that's a good thing, because Evangelion is way the hell too complicated to condense into a two hour film - and even if they narrow the scope of the film down to just the first few episodes, it's not going to be enough. Think about when you actually watched Evangelion (I'm assuming you wouldn't bother reading this thread if you didn't). How long did it take for you to figure out what the hell was going on, if you ever did? There were so many mysteries as yet unsolved after episode four that a four episode arc cannot stand on its own without radical changes to the storyline - the movie would be a giant robot rocket-sockem, but wouldn't really be Evangelion.

    • Well, it depends.

      I've seen all of Evangelion, and I'm not a raving fan, but I can see how a serious re-write could produce a very good film.

      Let's face it, the anime plot goes from "oooh! neat idea!" to "my God, the writers and animators got lazy and ran out of time/money/enthusiasm". It devolves into pretentious crap. There's a lot of stuff you could cut.

      Maybe you'd end up with a 2.5 hour film dealing with key elements of Evangelion - Shinji and his father, NERV and what *really* happened at Second Impac
      • But it would take a LOT of skill to handle the character development, along with the angel attacks, along with the origin of NERV along with the ending.

        And without that, the movie would probably be another Hollywood disaster. Just like the US version of Red Dwarf was.

        NGE is complicated. If you broke it up and arranged it chronologically, it would be about Gendo on the mission that found the first angel which led to second impact which led to the development of the Evas which led to Yui's (Gendo's wife) de
      • I remember when Evangelion first came out. One of my friends from Compuserve (Thanks, CALCI), a physician in Osaka, mailed me videotapes of the program, as it came out. Even not knowning Japanese, I was able to tell that Evangelion was very special.

        But, I was also able to tell that Evangelion is very Japanese. To an extent, it's a radical deconstruction of the giant robot genre in anime*. Giant Robot Genre, you ask? That's my point: We don't have a giant robot genre in the US, and for this reason, I'
    • Anime fans watch the anime version. They are not the target audience.
      • You are absolutely correct, sir. Also, if Evangelion is so hot, why hasn't Gainax made more of it? Follow on stories, retellings, alt-endings (more of them) etc.? They aren't there, and Evangelion is nearly 10 years old already.

        • If Gainax were to make more Eva, they'd have to commit to a definate interpretation of what the end actually meant. This would piss a lot of people off, as their pet interprestation would become wrong.
          • And I'm sure none of it has to do with Anno Hideki's (the writer's) suicidal depression. They actually basically kidnapped him at the end and sat him in a room where he could just finish the series, because he was totally going off the deep end. (Ever notice that the series' coherence goes rapidly downhill around episode 20 or so?)

            I highly doubt he is up to writing more episodes. And probably out of respect, I bet there aren't too many authors willing to try to pick up where he left off.
          • If Gainax were to make more Eva, they'd have to commit to a definate interpretation of what the end actually meant. This would piss a lot of people off, as their pet interprestation would become wrong.

            That's a fan-centric view. Gainax doesn't care that many people may be pissed off. They care about making money. My point is that if an Evangelion movie is going to be profitable (and I don't think it would be), then it would be profitable for Gainax to have made additional Evangelion anime. The fact tha
  • -from trivialbeing.net

    The movie will most likely be nothing like the series if Hideaki Anno doesn't direct it. He is the source of a lot of the series' bizarreness.

    That's not to say it won't be good. It'll just be a different work of art than the series.
    • Anno was also the source of a lot of the series shortcomings and deficiencies: highly personal to the point of incoherent control over the storyline and "philosophy" of the series, pandering to and belittling of the audience, and last but definitely not least, poor budget control. A true artist.

  • The vultures are already circling overhead. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 18, 2004 @11:49AM (#8013594)
    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...
    • 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...

      You're talking like they never sold out in the first place. Also, the middle and very last episodes of Eva are preachy CRAP, basically Gainax ran out of money and just started cranking episodes out as fast as possible. Evangelion, as a series, is mediocre at best. What makes it great is End of Evangelion (which was funded by two ube
    • 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.

      I am classified as a geek, and I'm not slamming it. It looks like they're going to take the cool bits from the anime and turn it into something better.

      All of the "negative" aspects you mention sound like good things to me.

      26 episodes stuffed into 90 to 120 minutes (Akira anyone?)

      I saw about ten episodes of Eva at a friend's party last ye

    • Re:The vultures are already circling overhead. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      26 episodes stuffed into 90 to 120 minutes

      I wouldn't say 'stuffed'.

      For starters, cut out all of the stand-alone episodes that don't have much or any impact on the main story line. Like that Jet-Alone one? The angel in the volcano? Half of the other ones? Snip!

      Now take out everything remotely funny.

      Then cut out most of the battles. In a movie, they'd just be repetitive and boring. Yeah, everybody will want to see giant robot asskicking, and they're be plenty of it, but we won't need to see every A

  • I'll only watch it if... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Karhgath ( 312043 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @12:12PM (#8013748)
    (Anime Fan 1): Damn this sucks. I mean, they gave them American names for god's sake!
    (Anime Fan 2): Yeah... but wasn't some of the character not even japanese? German, etc.?
    (Anime Fan 1): So? What's the point?
    (Anime Fan 2): Nothing, just my brain trying to think a bit, it's ok now. Anyway, I'll only watch the movie if the character's names stay in japanese.
    (Anime Fan 1): Yeah. And if they shoot it in japanese only...
    (Anime Fan 2): Subbed. Oh yeah, and count me out if they do not follow the serie to the letter, all XYZ episodes and fit them in 2 hours without anything missing or added.
    (Anime Fan 1): Oh! Oh! And it must be all anime, I mean, Live Action will just suck you know? Will lose all the exagerated proportions and all.
    (Anime Fan 2): Yeah... Hey, lets just go watch the serie again.
    (Anime Fan 1): Ok.
  • Dammit! I only liked Eva because Misato had insanely large breasts! :P

    Anyway, jokes aside, I have a bad feeling what this is gonna turn out to be. Changing the names, changing the age, this is gonna suck. And Rei was actually sorta-unique because her hair was nice light blue, and I know many fans like her cause of that. And from this link [trivialbeing.net], it seems that they will only focus on the first couple of series. That means a sequel could be possible, maybe more. Why dumb it down? One of the reasons the Matrix wa
  • Yes, yet another example of *wood not being able to create anything original in the last 30 years. Leave anime alone, dammit, it's the only thing that's worth spending money on for entertainment.
  • I think the characters look really ugly, especially "Ray"


    I'm impressed with your ability to see through the paper and determine what the face of Ray looks like, given that the concept of her is entirely from behind.

    If you decide to manufacture X-ray specs that allow you to see through the paper and directly into the artists brain as to what the backside of the image is supposed to look like, let me know. I'll totally buy a pair.

  • I see this as yet another move towards the trend of taking cool animated series and making Live Action movies out of them. Transformers is making one, GI Joe is making one. Hopefully a couple of them will turn out to be good, as many have pointed out why this movie will please fans much in the same way as the Dungeons and Dragons movie pleased D&D fans (hint: it didn't, I know the Gygax's, who created D&D, and THEY said they hated it).

    However, I'm curious as to what other anime should also recieve

  • Pilot age (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bodrius ( 191265 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @02:43PM (#8014690) Homepage
    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.

  • One piece of praise I have heard about the LotR movies was how they stayed fairly true to the original novels. Now, you can all berate people and call them fanboys, but I'm sure if they renamed "Frodo" to "Brad" or something like that, it would have bothered quite a few people. Look at all of the bizzare names and concepts that were left alone in the LotR movies. No one had any problems with these staying true in LotR, so why can't we have a bit more faithfulness in other adaptations?

    Now, why would the

  • Ummm, one of the big features of the series was that the KIDS were born on or near or near Second Impact. Then everything happens 15 years latter.

    So why does everyone look so old? And doesn't Rei have blond or Blue hair? How are they getting around the fact that everything was to start in 2000, a year that has come and gone?

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