- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 7.1, English Dolby TrueHD 7.1
- Region: AB
- Rating: TV-14
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Funimation
- Blu-ray Release Date: March 29, 2011
- List Price: $34.98
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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]
The rebuild of Neon Genesis Evangelion continues with Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance. This amazing sci-fi mecha anime adventure roughly covers episodes 6 – 12 of the original series, but adds some characters that did not exist in the original Evangelion universe and tweaks the events and storyline just a but to add a little more drama and emotional depth to these already compelling characters.
The Earth is still reeling from the devastation of The Second Impact, and Shinji and Rei, the young pilots of the mechanized Evas, – humanoid cyborg fighting machines – continue their battles against the deadly Angels attacking the planet. Now, however, they are joined by a new top gun Eva operator with an edgy attitude and gung-ho spirit, Asuka and soon a mysterious covert operative and Eva pilot, Mari as well.
The battles between the Eva’s and the Angels become even more intense as an apocalyptic Third Impact looms on the horizon as the relationships between Shinji, Rei, and Asuka deepen, becoming more complex.
Evangelion 2.22 is deliciously awesome; it’s beautifully animated, sexy, and an all out assault on the senses. This is mecha as it should be.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
This HD native AVC/MPEG-4 1080p transfer from Funimation looks pretty good. The image is clean, colors are vibrant and line art is well defined. There are no artifacts like aliasing to be found, although I did see just a slight bit of color banding here and there and there’s just a slight softness to the overall appearance.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Evangelion 2.22 is given two lossless 7.1 mixes in Dolby TrueHD, probably matrixed given that they are listed as 6.1 on the disc menus. I used the original language Japanese track as my reference, and it was a good one. It had good dynamics with relaxed high frequencies and clear dialogue. The surrounds were active throughout the film, used for discrete sounds and ambience. Low frequencies were rather extended, but not boomy, and there was a good spread of sounds across the front, although it could have been just a bit wider.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
There is a good lot of high-def extras provided with Evangelion 2.22 along with U.S. Cast commentaries and a 20-page guidebook of the Evangelion world that fans are sure to appreciate.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- U.S. Cast Commentary
- Rebuild of Evangelion 2.02 (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 0:22.27)
- “I Would give You Anything” Scene NOGUCHI ver. (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 0:04.55)
- Omitted Scenes (1080p/24)
- Original Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- Train Channel Spot (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- Japanese TV Spots (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- Booklet: 20-page Evangelion guidebook.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
The Evangelion rebuild continues to impress in this second offering from Funimation. It’s not just mindlessy violent sci-fi, it has heart and depth in its characters. You want to root for the people behind the cyborgs and the strength of the writing makes it easy as does the gorgeously drawn animation. Highly recommended.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product align=”right”]B004EC5IUW[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
