Got around to seeing the first of the new Evangelion movies. Saw it subbed, which was something - that was one property I always preferred dubbed. Maybe I was missing something, because there seemed more texture to the voice acting - Shinji came off less wimpy and more panicked, with less snivel and more shriek in his lines; Misato’s flightiness comes through more, creating a greater contrast in her scenes with Ritsuko, and with her “Commander” decisiveness during operations. Even Gendo seemed a little less impenetrable, with some of his steeliness passed on to Fuyutsuki instead.

Actually I wonder if that was even true in the original series; so much of this movie seemed to be the original highly polished in a way that brought the psychological stuff to the fore early on. (I mean how many episodes deep did the seiyuu even know the plot when recording episode 1? Hell, how many deep did Anno?)

Hands seem to be a more noticeable recurring theme in this one, I like how Shinji seeing Rei’s blood on his hand when they meet played as a callback to his “I’m so fucked up” scene in EoE. (For that matter, hospital beds, or just beds, come to the fore with the other stuff trimmed down.)

The story condensation was pretty good in that looking back I can’t even recall what it left out. Maybe some slice-of-life scenes at the school or Misato’s place?

Finally seemed to depart from the source material towards the end. That seems to be the tradition with Eva properties - they all start the same way and then find different ways to turn batshit crazy.