What do you appreciate most about NTE?

[Arcadia's legacy]

With Shin just around the corner, i felt it necessary for a thread like this to be around so we could reflect a little on this film series we've been following for so long.
As for my answer, probably the fact that the story could very easily have gone full blockbuster and just be at mercy to what the masses desire, but instead the filmmakers managed to craft a story that could not only please their audience, but challenge them and get them thinking beyond the story itself, which i feel is a clear sign of good storytelling

[JoelcrNeto]

What makes me appreciate is nothing special, I like the new experience. That is why I disagree with some comments that NTE should be close to NGE.

[Blockio]

That, yeah. I like it for what it is, a new Eva experience that does interesting things with the original ideas, and things that weren't there in the original

[ShinjiStranglesAsuka]

I suppose I like the way it makes meta commentary on the original.

I like the animations and soundtracks as well.

[EscapismIsBad]

Well... it's Evangelion made by Anno, i love Shin Godzilla and NGE, of course I would love the new version!
Well, being more specific I kinda love everything about it, it's so different from everything I've ever seen and has a completely overwhelming amount of information packed into tiny little movies it's amazing! Simply a masterpiece

[Joseki]

The editing and the cinematography I have to say.

Honorable mention the sound design of the Eva and angels.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I'll be the one to say it, but I actually like the CGI in NTE. The cinematography becomes far more active and energetic every time it's used, and it's even able to give a very unique look to some of the angels in 2.22. The team had become so good at integrating CGI that Anno was interacting between CGI and hand-drawn animation for the Eva Units during the "Falling Angel" scene, and I couldn't tell that's what they did until I bought the Groundworks books for the film. The stuff in Shin Eva looks so good, the only criticism is that I can tell it's CGI, but at that point it's a complaint only because I've been conditioned to think of CGI as a net negative, not because it actually degrades the quality of the overall shot. Noticeably fantastic CGI is still fantastic CGI, and NTE has it in spades more times than it doesn't.

Honorable mention the sound design of the Eva and angels.

The mundane details in the sound mixing is pretty good, too. The scene in 2.22 where Asuka is cooking and dumps something in the sink gets me every time. You can hear exactly what kind of sink Misato has just by how the liquid hits the surface. I always be sure to listen out for it whenever I watch the scene.

[AdamMalkovitch]

I like how it's not JUST a remake, but instead a full-on separate story which starts a tiny bit in 1.0 and then evolves into it's own thing in 2.0. Obviously it started as just a remake of Anno's NGE using groundbreaking 2D and 3D animation tech, and likely would have been what was initially planned for the story of the TV series if Anno hadn't fallen into depression, as well as having to deal with the time crunch of scrapping an entire episode and rewriting the story due to those Aum Shinrikyo pieces of shit and their sarin gas attack. The PS2/PSP game Evangelion Jo is probably what the initial concept was, with the ending having Shinji go all generic shounen protagonist and fighting the Mass Production Evas in a winged Unit 01, but I'm really glad it derailed. Many fans hating 3.0 shows that it did it's job, if Shinji is supposed to be the audience surrogate, 3.0 was presented perfectly [tho maybe I'm biased because of all the Nadia references and sick action scenes ]
I also love that Shiro Sagisu got to return to rearrange and rerecord some of his best tracks, and not just stuff from Eva, with of course Nadia and even His & Her Circumstances tracks making a return in 2.0. Plus I'm sure he enjoyed getting to mess with Tsubasa wo Kudasai, that's like an American being commissioned to make a moving orchestral rearrangement of Pomp and Circumstance for one of the most popular entertainment franchises in the country.
I'm also glad that it's more simple with it's characters than NGE. I definitely prefer NGE's characters and their arcs [or half-arcs since a lot of characters are still fucked up before Third Impact and are only potentially healed off-screen during Instrumentality like Shinji was], but New Theatrical is just so much more accessible to newcomers and those who enjoy mecha anime, but aren't big into psychological elements in fiction.

Also it's miraculously a modern Eva project that doesn't totally miss the point of Eva, unlike 90% of Eva merch and trash spin-off manga that are just ecchi or straight up porn that we've been getting since the 90s cough Shinji Ikari Raising Project cough

Honorable mention the sound design of the Eva and angels.

The mundane details in the sound mixing is pretty good, too. The scene in 2.22 where Asuka is cooking and dumps something in the sink gets me every time. You can hear exactly what kind of sink Misato has just by how the liquid hits the surface. I always be sure to listen out for it whenever I watch the scene.

Genuinely excited to marathon all three movies the day before 3.0+1.0's release with my fancy new sound system. I've only ever watched them on my PC with subpar headphones and on my TV with it's crappy tinny built-in speakers. Just gotta time it right so none of the normal people I live with walk in during the scene where Shinji goes to take Rei her card in 1.0, or all the shots of Rei's soul represented as her naked body in Near Third Impact in 2.0. That would be not fun to try to explain.

Please don't double post. Thanks! - FFF4e

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Dude, the Eva Series (both NGE and NTE) were some of the first things I played on my surround sound system. My older systems that down mixed to stereo always made any dialogue spoken from the rear speakers nearly inaudible, and I would constantly see subtitles for lines I could never hear.

[Zusuchan]

Personally, I love its cinematography, sound design, animation quality and way of presenting its themes-NTE has so far been a masterful metaexploration of NGE's beginning, influence, themes and so forth, while also being a masterful story about maturing, becoming a better person, learning from your past mistakes and growing out of childish desires. I love how the film series is itself a masterful rug-and-pull, intentionally making itself seem generic only to reveal itself the very opposite of that, and how it's incredibly dense in its visual imagery and storytelling to the point that it's a genuine joy to discover new clues and allusions and links.

[Kendrix]

- Mari <3 <3 <3
- new angel designs
- how it went deeper into Rei's feelings of trapped-ness and how it ties into her concerns about the other pilots & generally smoothed up her arc (though I don't think I could choose one version over the other simply because Rebuild doesn't have ep 11 and her original death sequence)
- Kaworu-kun finally got the Duett he's been wanting since the drafts
- Slightly different but equally interesting interpretation of some of the concepts, for example, it gives the EVAs a real sense of danger by having our heroes actually lose control of one in a way that matters

[EscapismIsBad]

I'll be the one to say it, but I actually like the CGI in NTE. The cinematography becomes far more active and energetic every time it's used, and it's even able to give a very unique look to some of the angels in 2.22. The team had become so good at integrating CGI that Anno was interacting between CGI and hand-drawn animation for the Eva Units during the "Falling Angel" scene, and I couldn't tell that's what they did until I bought the Groundworks books for the film. The stuff in Shin Eva looks so good, the only criticism is that I can tell it's CGI, but at that point it's a complaint only because I've been conditioned to think of CGI as a net negative, not because it actually degrades the quality of the overall shot. Noticeably fantastic CGI is still fantastic CGI, and NTE has it in

Indeed! If i didn't seek out more information about 2.22 on Evageeks I wouldn't even know the difference between CGI and animation in that scene, so masterfully, maybe it's the best use of CGI and animation in Rebuild at least until Shin?

[Gendo'sPapa]

Aside from them being legitimately great & exceptionally well made films?

I like seeing the same team of artists come back to a work of theirs and approach it from an entirely different sensibility. Anno is still the same artist who made NGE at Gainax in 1995 but he's also NOT the same artist because he's worked on a bunch of different projects and had decades of new life experiences. That goes for every other artist working on Rebuild who had a hand in the series at Gainax in the beginning. They've also got a team of new artists who were raised on Eva getting to pitch in with their ideas and thoughts.

Also, as stated above by AdamMalkovitch, I do love that Rebuild is not really a remake. It has the same components - characters, Evas, setting, etc - as NGE did and used the original series as a launching pad at the start before blasting off into something completely new and unexpected. It really would have been so easy for these guys to just do a Retrace of Evangelion and call it a day. instead they wanted to create.

[Akko]

Instead of being just a remake, they decided to went all out and create a whole new experience... From new characters, new settings to possibly even new lore, the hate the rebuild movies get is mostly unfair, and while I get some enjoy more the original, this doesn't mean the rebuilds are utter garbage

[Kendrix]

My feeling about it is totally "Dont make me choose between my babies." and also "both together make a gesamtkunstwerk"

As I see it, the Rebuilds are to the series like EoE is to the last two episodes.

[GhostlyOcam]

- Giving me the chance to experience the second Evangelion boom since I obviously missed out on the first, so I can know how it feels anticipating each new entry up to the very end, the waits are painful but I'll miss this feeling once Rebuild is completely finished.
- More Sagisu music.
- The way it went from starting off as a fairly straightforward retelling of NGE with 1.0 to something closer to both a total reimagining and career retrospective for Anno, with how he cleverly interpolates elements from his past works (Kare Kano, Nadia, and obviously NGE) into something completely new. Perhaps it's a sign of how many things in these films were unplanned or results of last-minutes decisions, but I'd rather have the current Rebuild than a slightly modified rehash of NGE because it helps Rebuild find its own identity as opposed to trying to be Re: NGE.
- Even MORE Sagisu music.
- The prestige aura this project has compared to other "blockbuster" anime films out there. It is, for me, unrivalled. It really does feel like a true cinematic experience as opposed to OVAs with higher budget from the animation, editing, cinematography, sound design, music, everything. SO many talents involved in the creation that it's always a lot of fun seeing the complete staff list and go "Holy shit, they're in this films too?!".
- Did I say more Sagisu music?

[Chroma]

On a base level, these are beautiful looking films with stunning soundtracks. Really, I think that the OSTs may objectively be the best parts of NTE. Sagisu has always been brilliant, but something about the new OSTs are incredible. I wish I had the music vocabulary to describe it.

On a bit more of a deeper level I like seeing these characters I love in a newer setting, with new issues and ambitions and actions, new paths to follow, and new regrets to be had in what feels like a really thought-out way. It's like a series of beautiful fanfiction stories (and I say that in the best way possible, as a fanfic author and fan for a decade plus) animated and scored for our pleasure. Something that's been both a blessing and curse for the NGE characters as they are is that they're difficult to pull from the original show - their character development and failures and successes, their growth and destruction, are all tied tight to the plot developments of the show itself, and pulling them out of that - either for fanfiction, or for the various semi-official/alt. canon stories (the "Raising Projects", Anima, etc.) - does not always go over well. It doesn't always work out. And for what it's worth, I think NTE has done a fine enough job with this, especially once you get to 3.33 and the series has really and truly pulled away from NGE's train tracks. Q is genuinely interesting and exciting, and I hope that the way 3.0+1.0 develops really makes good use of 3's set ups. The characters have been taken from their places in NGE and given new paths and new ways to be explored, and I can't wait to see how this ends.

[BernardoCairo]

Well, they are fun. That's it! These are movies committed to the concept of fun! When I put the Blu-rays on my PlayStation, I have a blast watching the story unfold! What else could I even ask from these films?
The key differences found between it and the original series are a major source of all this fun! I mean, I don't necessarily "love" all of them. To be honest, I don't even like some of them. But, it's really cool to never know what's going to happen next! While some things were expected (come on guys, we all knew Kaworu was gonna die), others were completely crazy (the time-skip actually took me by surprise)!
Mari, for example. Such a weird character! In the beginning I was like: "Mari, really?" But then I thought: "Ok, her flights are amazing and I laugh at some of her lines!"
The whole idea is: Things are different, but that's ok. I must accept it in order to have the best experience possible!
I didn't love all of it, but I had a great time!
On a side note, It was really fun to collect the Blu-rays as well!

[RadicalRandy]

People earlier in this thread make great points.

Over the few years in my involvement with the franchise, I have come to really appreciate NTE as a dynamic take on creative opportunity.
When I first watched it, I watched it immediately after watching the original series. This was a mistake, in my mind, as although the series was fresh in my mind, it was the only thing that I had to compare it to. This caused the differences to be more apparent, obviously. It was only later did I really consider how the Rebuilds are viewed so differently from the mind of the creator. I read somewhere that the Rebuilds are made how NGE would have been given fewer constraints (networking, budgeting, etc.). But of course, since NGE already exists and is hugely popular, why would we want an exact remake just prettier?

If I were the creator, I would feel compelled to bring a fresh approach to the narrative. Not identical, but something to evoke the same reactions. Consider the difference between the Harry Potter books versus the movies. The books have much more detail, as you would expect, while the movies subtract and replace many of those details with different ones that serve similar narrative intentions. It could never have been about making a 1:1 copy of the books with 2 different mediums of entertainment.

In relation to NGE and NTE, NGE is a TV show that has significantly more detail given its 24+ episode and movie run while NTE is meant to substitute an average of 6+ episodes per movie. Sure, it would have been simple and pleasing to have the movies follow the TV show, but it's much more interesting to see this unpredictability resurface with an entirely new craft. 3.0 is fascinating by this regard. It's wacky, different, unexpected. A big risk because of its unconventional... a lot of things- but I can't blame Anno for making it that way.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Simple answer, but visually: the animation (and cinematography) are gorgeous in so many shots! A lot of the films are nice to just "turn off my brain and enjoy" since it's a series that IMO the plot will make 10x more sense to us once we have Shin to rewatch (alongside the rest of our DVDs and Blurays )