Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
"Evangerion shin gekijôban: Ha" (original title)

Under constant attack by Angels, NERV introduces two new pilots: the mysterious Makinami Mari Illustrous and the intense Asuka Langley Shikinami. Parallel to the incursion, Gendo Ikari and ... See full summary »

Directors:

Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki,

Writer:

Hideaki Anno (screenplay)

Stars:

Kotono Mitsuishi, Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kotono Mitsuishi	...	Misato Katsuragi (voice)
Megumi Ogata	...	Shinji Ikari (voice)
Megumi Hayashibara	...	Rei Ayanami / Pen Pen / Yui Ikari (voice)
Yûko Miyamura	...	Asuka Langley Shikinami (voice)
Fumihiko Tachiki	...	Gendo Ikari (voice)
Yuriko Yamaguchi	...	Ritsuko Akagi (voice)
Maaya Sakamoto	...	Mari Illustrious Makinami (voice)
Miki Nagasawa	...	Maya Ibuki (voice)
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Ryoji Kaji (voice)
Motomu Kiyokawa	...	Kouzou Fuyutsuki (voice)
Hiro Yuuki	...	Makoto Hyuga (voice)
Takehito Koyasu	...	Shigeru Aoba (voice)
Tetsuya Iwanaga	...	Kensuke Aida (voice)
Tomokazu Seki	...	Toji Suzuhara (voice)
Mugihito	...	Kiel Lorenz (voice)

Storyline

Under constant attack by Angels, NERV introduces two new pilots: the mysterious Makinami Mari Illustrous and the intense Asuka Langley Shikinami. Parallel to the incursion, Gendo Ikari and SEELE proceed the secret project that involves both Rei and Shinji.

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Plot Keywords:

impalement | secret agent | post apocalypse | father son relationship | conspiracy | 

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Taglines:

In The War Between Heaven and Earth, Salvation is Machine.

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese German

Release Date:

27 June 2009 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,185 (USA) (11 February 2011)

Gross:

$113,926 (USA) (11 February 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

FUNimation Entertainment, Gainax, Khara Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 112 min (extended cut) 108 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Asuka appears in this film, with a change to her name: it goes from Soryu to Shikinami (in Japanese means "Spreading Waves"). In this tetralogy, and it was said after the premiere of the film, the character of Asuka experiences significant changes in personality. In this film, she has no aversion to dolls. In fact she has a glove puppet that talks from time to time, using it to wish each other luck. She says to Shinji that is a reminder of his mother. She is now referred to as holding the rank of captain. She is also no longer infatuated with Kaji, choosing to ignore an invitation to go on a trip with him, until Misato forced her to go. In addition, she tested unit-3 instead of Touji, but she manages to survive the Bardiel incident, as she is seen with an eye patch in the preview image sequence at the very end of this movie.

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Goofs

Azuka is cooking, in the scene there is a pot on the stove, Misato comes to see what happens, from the Misato's POV, Azuka is holding the pot, but in the next shot, the pot is in the same position.

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Quotes

Mari Illustrious Makinami: [She walks over to Shinji and she sniffs him] You smell like LCL, you smell good.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, there is a scene where EVA-01 is pierced with the LLance of Longinus, thrown by Kaworu Nagisa piloting the Evangelion Mark.06, who says that he will show Shinji "true happiness."

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Connections

References The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979)

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Soundtracks

"Beautiful World -PLANiTb Acoustica Mix"
Performed by Hikaru Utada

User Reviews

8.5/10 - satisfying

I watched Evangelion as a teenager and liked many aspects of it. However the series was very weak and repetitive in the middle and clearly suffered production difficulties near the end. The movies didn't do much for me after the initial epic-scope aesthetics of End of Evangelion had worn off. Now more than 10 years later I'm pretty happy that things have been reordered and re-rendered to make the series into what it should really have been in the first place.

I don't like the fact than Anno Hideaki has been able to milk the somewhat unfinished series for so much cash and so many editions (not to mention pachinko machines) so far, but taking 1.0 and 2.0 as stand-alone works (and ignoring their pretentious titles) is pretty satisfying.

Story 8/10 Good: much more than a rehash of the series. The story is fleshed out in some of the most necessary places and feels so much tighter and more concentrated than anything that has come before. Some awesome new snippets of what is to come later in the series add some satisfying excitement.

However, there is still an element of "here comes the next baddie" which gets a little tiresome. It is dealt with much more effectively here than the series, but it's still predictable. Nevertheless, despite giving the impression of being about to enter the full-on "monster of the week" barrage, it never really does, which is a blessed relief. The interactions of the characters are becoming more believable, and individual personalities are being better exposed and explained.

But, and it's a necessary but, what's the deal with the fan-service? Come on, man. Take yourself seriously, won't you? Animation 9/10 Well, it teetered between absolutely superb and a little disappointing. The budget was clearly insanely high. Action sequences are fantastically detailed and choreographed for the main part, although suffer from gratuitous flailing of limbs and ridiculous acrobats which unfortunately dumb it down a little. Backgrounds are simply amazing. The detail and range is incredible. The failings lie in the characters. Sometimes character faces and expressions look out of place by their simplicity. The broad pen pines and over-simple shading are a bit of a let-down.

Sound 7.5/10 Not particularly amazing. Again we see the technique of using a mixture of classical and children's music for depth and vulnerability. I'm surprised at some of the choices though. For example, one of the children's songs used is very popular in Japan and often used in elementary schools. The manner in which it is normally used makes its appearance in the film almost comical; which can't have been the intention. Not really knowing many Japanese people who care that much about anime I haven't been able to ask what they though, but it seemed a bit silly to me.

The Japanese people speaking English throughout the film are incredibly embarrassing. What a huge mis-calculation. How hard is it to train people to say a small number of lines in a natural way? Characters 8.5 Although some of the characters (particularly Asuka) seem to have become even less likable, for the most part the big-hitters have only improved. Although there is little time left for the minor-characters to develop or even really be involved, the well-developed personalities of the leads take somewhat new directions in their relations to one another. The relationship between teen-sap Shinji and his father has a more satisfying and somewhat relatable edge to it now, and Rei's annoyingly hyperbolic meekness has been flatted out to something more forgiving. All in all, satisfying.

And the new lead, Mari, is much better than (at least I) predicted. She has a very interesting relationship with herself, and pain. I am definitely looking forward to her future development.

Eva designs seem to have changed slightly around the waist which was a curious choice, and doesn't add much to their attractiveness. In contrast, the Angels have been changed for the better. The old, sometimes Ultraman-ish designs were sometimes a little... Ultraman-ish. The reduced number and better designs have helped things along well.

Overall 8.5/10 Overall satisfying. For me the film didn't quite have the intensity ascribed to it by others, and the ending I thought actually lacked a little emotional attachment. I also thought that the amazing animation and choreography discussed above wasn't nearly as good near the end as it was earlier in the feature. But despite this, as a whole this movie blows the series out of the water. So much which was unsatisfactory is now shiny and new. Whether or not I would feel this way about the film without having seen the rest of the franchise is anyone's guess, but I really enjoyed it. Good work, keep it up.