this much- anticipated film was first released in Japan in September

screened in South Korea on 24 January ‘08, Singapore on 13 March ‘08, Hong Kong on 3 April ‘08, and Taiwan on 18 April ‘08

Australian-based Red Ant Enterprices announced Evangelion 1.0 as one of 35 titles they will bring to this continent throughout 2008 and into 2009

Dybex distributor (France) has announced it will release Evangelion 1.0 in France at the 2008 Annecy International Animated Film Festival

Evangelion:1.o You Are (Not) Alone ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:序 premiered at The Picturehouse, Cathay Cineplex, Damansara on last Thursday

this film was awarded anime of the year at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, while its director received best director

Evangelion New Theatrical Version: The Beginning was also nominated for Animation of the Year at the 2008 Japan Academy Prize

its finally here, even so will it receive a warm welcome from Neon Genesis Evangelion fans here?

we all know, there’s never been an anime like this one

Neon Genesis Evangelion is also known as Shin Seiki Evangelion

this anime created a sensation when it was aired in the mid -1990’s in Japan

what’s more, this anime was even credited back then for helping to revive a flagging industry, literally merchandise leapt off the shelves in a mere blink of an eye

presently, Evangelion director Hideaki Anno is ‘rebuilding’ his iconic creation into a Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy based on the original tv series

this animated film is produced by Anno’s Studio Khara

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, the first of the four scheduled movies is bringing back Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Kotono Mitsuishi and Yuriko Yamaguchi

the plot:

it’s in the year 2015 and Earth is recovering from a global catastrophe that killed half of the world’s population

The Second Impact, said to be a meteor that struck the Earth, paved the way for the arrival of monstrous beings, Angels

unlike what their name will seem to mean, Angels devastate cities and the only thing that can defeat them are Evangelions, or Eva; whichever you please

a depressed boy, Shinji Ikari arrives in Tokyo-3, summoned there to meet his long- time- no- see dad, Gendo

at the NERV Headquarters, his dad turns out to be Supreme Commander of NERV responsible for stopping Angels and buildind the Eva units

Gendo orders his son to pilot an Eva unit and battle the Angel attacking the city, unexpectedly his son refuses

however, after seeing the sight of Rei Ayanami, too injured to pilot; he finally changes his mind

in the final scene, a naked Kaworu Nagisa is awakened by SEELE on the barren surface of the Moon

he engages in brief, cryptic conversation with one SEELE monolith, saying that “the third one” hasn’t changed at all and that he looks forward to meeting Shinji

Kaworu’s coffin is flanked on each side by four open tombs to the left and four unopened tombs on the right

in front of him is an unknown white giant who resembles Lilith, wears the purple SEELE ‘Seven-eyes-of-God’ mask seen in the original series, and is surrounded by construction and scaffolding

the creative team assures that 1.o to 4.0 will be portrayed in a new light

there will be new characters and it seems as if, the storylines are different here

an Evangelion 2.0 is slated for release in Japan this year

i’ll be watching Evangelion: 1.0 soon enough