zavvi deal on the Exclusive Collector's Edition.

https://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/neon-genesis-evangelion-zavvi-exclusive-collector-s-edition-blu-ray/13278620.html

I've just returned from watching Death (True²) and End of Evangelion in a cinema (part of the run-up to the release next month of these blu-rays).

I watched the dub, because I booked it before any sub screenings were announced (they're next week, which would have been inconvenient anyway). Curiously, they were advertised, and even labelled on the screen, as having the "classic" dub, which everyone took to mean the original ADV one; however, what they played was actually the "Netflix" dub (maybe we should stop calling it that). I was quite pleased, as I prefer it anyway; it's less characterful, sure, but a closer match for the Japanese dub, and truer to the requirements of the films in my mind.

This sort-of completes a circle for me, as the very first anime of any kind which I watched was these two films (in the old dub) in 2008 - without even having seen the series that they complete. It was a very strange experience, but led to my subsequent continuing fascination with anime in general. As far as Evangelion is concerned, though, I have now seen all the films up to the last one of the theatrical edition, and rounding off by seeing the ones which started me off, in a cinema this time, feels like a completed job.

Seeing them in a cinema rather than at home concentrates the mind, as (other people's crisp packets aside) there are no distractions. In particular I appreciated the subtlety of Death's editing more than I have before - as a summary from a different point of view of a series that I now know well, it is masterful, even though it was weirdly incomprehensible when seen as the first thing in the franchise. EoE needs no further praise; I was merely reminded of some details I'd forgotten, and noticed some which have parallels in NTE which I overlooked.

pwhodges wrote:Curiously, they were advertised, and even labelled on the screen, as having the "classic" dub, which everyone took to mean the original ADV one; however, what they played was actually the "Netflix" dub

The distributor's response on Twitter seems to indicate that it was meant to be the original one. They might've accidentally sent the wrong file to the cinemas.

All The Anime has officially stated the presentation of the VSI dubs was accidental. The screenings this weekend should be the Manga dubs. They're currently talking with the cinema chains about the possibility of additional screenings to accommodate the mistake but no news yet. I just hope they don't get in trouble with Khara or Netflix about it. Screening the Manga dubs first seemed odd given how Khara's treating the old dubs so I worry that All The Anime didn't have permission to screen the VSI dubs at this time.

Just received the Ultimate edition, will post full review Sunday or Monday along with photos of everything inside.

(Edit)

And pwhodges has beaten me to that part, so I'll review the dub quality and if the deleted scene have been inserted back in.

Ultimate edition:










HMV "limited" edition (just the Standard with a slip case), I got as a present for someone:

Mine has been delayed and held in a facility about 40 minutes away for 2 days now, very sad.

Audio quality is really nice on NGE/EOE, they also stuck with the letter box look for the series but really enhanced it. They didn't do a Buffy Blu-Ray disaster and pull the frame forward, thus cutting out characters. Episode 19 looks a little ropey, but it feels more DVD quality than bad VHS.

EOE is excellent watching and still wide screen as the Blu-ray master gives you a much so much more to see and feel detail wise.

Also, they've enhanced the colours but not too much in that they have not tried to enhance the lines on EOE which is for the better as those enhanced lines don't always look good on older anime as they were not created digitally they were done with cell frames, so the black lines tend to be far are more subtle.

They have also not or pushed the gamma tone up to the max which causes more intense reds so all the colour in NGE/EOE stays true to the original it's just brighter/cleaner.

Side note the ADV dub quality is way better it feels more surround than mono and the Blu-ray give you the option of subtitles for sighs, it's a real miner thing, but it's really nice.