Offical Neon Genesis Evangelion Info/Update Thread

[svenge]

This disc replacement program is going to be a boon to those who only wanted to buy Revival of Evangelion on Blu-ray but didn't want to spend the $40 the standard 5-disc set goes for, as a ton of the faulty "Disc #5" discs are going to be sold on eBay for cheap once the fixed replacement discs are shipped out.

Kinda reminds me of the Shout Factory disc replacement program for Army of Darkness, in which two of the three discs (i.e. US theatrical and European theatrical cuts) had some bits of footage missing which required new "V2" discs to be sent out. Saw an awful lot of loose "V1" discs of that film on eBay for quite a long time thereafter.

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by svenge

This disc replacement program is going to be a boon to those who only wanted to buy Revival of Evangelion on Blu-ray but didn't want to spend the $40 the standard 5-disc set goes for, as a ton of the faulty "Disc #5" discs are going to be sold on eBay for cheap once the fixed replacement discs are shipped out.

Kinda reminds me of the Shout Factory disc replacement program for Army of Darkness, in which two of the three discs (i.e. US theatrical and European theatrical cuts) had some bits of footage missing which required new "V2" discs to be sent out. Saw an awful lot of loose "V1" discs of that film on eBay for quite a long time thereafter.

Or their Friday the 13th boxset replacements. If you had the Paramount 8-film set, FvJ, and the remake, finding copies of the replaced discs would give you a complete collection if you didn't mind the small issues.

[Kyle_g89]

Can someone please break down a few things for me, I’m completely new to this series and want to buy and try. It was on my radar via IMDb top 250 series list but I know nothing else about it.


What is the main differences between the standard / CE / UE sets?

I read the CE has some sort of ‘classic’ dub that the standard doesn’t? Can someone breakdown the dubs?

To put this in perspective, I’m a dragon ball fan and I managed to get the famed ‘Dragon Box DVD Sets’ and I want to know which of these sets is the real deal. UK Based - I think the sets are the same in US / UK?

[Catbug]

Here we go…You about to hear from the very helpful and the very frustrated. Who wants to start this one?

[SpaceDandy]

Selecta Visión UE will have different and/or additional goodies than the italian UE. There will be also an exclusive item for orders on their shop. Source

[Rilenz]

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

Can someone please break down a few things for me, I’m completely new to this series and want to buy and try. It was on my radar via IMDb top 250 series list but I know nothing else about it.


What is the main differences between the standard / CE / UE sets?

I read the CE has some sort of ‘classic’ dub that the standard doesn’t? Can someone breakdown the dubs?

To put this in perspective, I’m a dragon ball fan and I managed to get the famed ‘Dragon Box DVD Sets’ and I want to know which of these sets is the real deal. UK Based - I think the sets are the same in US / UK?

Series was originally translated into English in the 90s by ADV, then was done again by a different team when it was released on Netflix recently. Netflix version is currently the "official" version as seen by the original Japanese owners or whatever.

The standard release only contains the newer Netflix dub and subs for the Japanese audio, while the collector's and ultimate edition contain bonus discs which have the original 90s dubs and subs on them. Collector's and Ultimate edition have the exact same content on the discs, they only differentiate by the physical goodies they come with.

Now, the more recent translations are seen as more accurate by some, but don't sound as natural. They're more literal translations of the Japanese rather than just general meanings I guess. This goes for both the dub and subtitles.

Depending on who you ask, this could be good or bad. A lot of people prefer the original 90s dub and subtitles, though how much of that is just nostalgia and what people are used to as that's how they originally experienced the series, who knows.

Personally I hate the original dub as the voice acting sounds awful, to me anyway. Tbh I've only ever watched the series in Japanese with the original 90s subtitles, so, I don't really have much opinion on anything outside of that.

So I guess what are you looking for?
More accurate translation? Or something that sounds more natural?
If you don't really care, then do you plan to watch dubbed or subbed?
If subbed, then standard edition is probably fine. If dubbed, try find on youtube some comparisons between the 2 dubs and see which you think sound better.
If you like the newer dub better, then standard edition will be fine. If older dub, then you have to ask, how much do you care about the goodies? The Ultimate Edition comes with more stuff, but it's sold out everywhere and you'll be paying a marked up price buying on ebay (which tbh probably wouldn't be worth it).

[Kyle_g89]

Originally Posted by Rilenz

Series was originally translated into English in the 90s by ADV, then was done again by a different team when it was released on Netflix recently. Netflix version is currently the "official" version as seen by the original Japanese owners or whatever.

Thanks for taking the time to break this down completely, I would give 100 thanks if I could.

I had a peek at the short dub comparison videos on YouTube. For me, the difference is quite nuanced. original versions always carry more weight in the collector realm especially if the show made its bones with that dub in English speaking territories. So to be safe, I will probably get the CE as I'm not one to collect editions for collectables generally. So CE it is.

Im reading there's a recall on discs though so im not sure if I should wait before buying? can anyone UK based advise If ZAVVI is Supporting a replacement disc program for the CE edition?


Can anyone break down the movies? how many are there, and what are the rebuilds / directors cuts I'm learning of? are they a part of these sets?

[RodChester]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_G...ion_(franchise)

[CuppaKofe]

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

Can someone please break down a few things for me, I’m completely new to this series and want to buy and try. It was on my radar via IMDb top 250 series list but I know nothing else about it.


What is the main differences between the standard / CE / UE sets?

I read the CE has some sort of ‘classic’ dub that the standard doesn’t? Can someone breakdown the dubs?

To put this in perspective, I’m a dragon ball fan and I managed to get the famed ‘Dragon Box DVD Sets’ and I want to know which of these sets is the real deal. UK Based - I think the sets are the same in US / UK?

Might as well throw iny two cents/infodump here.

Official : New sub/dub by VSI supervised by Khara for the Netflix release of both the TV series and the two movies Death (True)² and End of Evangelion. This is the only release the standard version contains.

This is a good version of the series to watch if you have no nostalgia for the old releases. There's some discourse over the translations being too literal, but it's hardly that different from modern anime translations (if better than what Funimation usually produces). The big sticking point for old fans is the use of "_ Children" instead of "_ Child" when referring to Eva pilots, and using "like" instead of "love" for one line that was ambiguous in the Japanese language due to a phrase that has no English equivalent. Some people accused this of being queer erasure, but that's a pretty big stretch IMO.

If you're a dub watcher, the dub is actually really great. The actors sound a lot closer to the performances of the original Seiyuu.

Classic: sub/dub done in the late 90's and mid 00's by ADV for their VHS and DVD release of the show. The sub/dub of the movies Death (True)² (originally Death and Rebirth in it's initial release) and End of Evangelion were done by Manga Entertainment for their dvds releases in the early 00's. Exclusive to the CE and UE editions (UE is sold out, but probably not worth it for a new fan anyway).

This is a biiiiiit more complex.

Over the years that ADV released the Eva tv series, each release contained slight tweaks to the subtitles. This set uses the subtitles from the Platinum release. They are a bit punched up than what most people would be used to in modern sub translations, so it reads like an in between of a sub and dub localization. Some prefer this, while some would rather the subs be as accurate as possible to the original. It's up to preference.

As for the dub, it's definitely a product of the 90's. While not bad for the era, a lot of the actors yell their lines, so it can lose a bit of the subtlety of the original VA. The actors did get better as the series went along tho, but some of the VA for background characters can be pretty bad.

pretty bad

In the 00's, Gainax remastered episodes 21 - 24. These 'Director's cut' episodes fixed some rushed animation and mistakes, and added in new scenes from the 'Death' compilation movie. ADV was unable to get back all of the VAs they used, so characters like Gendo and Kaworu had their VAs replaced for the DC episodes. The English BluRays only contain the DC versions of those episodes, so there is a noticeable inconsistency with those voice actors. The only way to get the original versions of those dubbed episodes is ADV's old, overpriced dvds.

Death and Rebirth (AKA Death (True)², more on that below) and End of Evangelion movie were released by Manga Entertainment, and retained most of the original ADV cast, with some casting changes to the NERV crew. The subtitles are mostly fine, but the dub is a different beast. Like Manga was known to do in this era, they added a bunch of unnecessary swearing to the dialogue, and punched it up a lot in general. In EoE they even added on cartoony splat effects to the dub audio. The new VAs for the NERV crew are also pretty awful.

pretty awful

I personally hate the Manga dubs and don't understand the nostalgia for them. Even the ADV dub of the show had pretty big charm, which these very much lack.

As for the Death (True)² confusion, it was originally released as Death and Rebirth, and is an abridged compilation movie of the TV show. It's not considered required viewing nowadays, more of a curiosity unlike End of Evangelion, which is VERY MUCH required viewing after you've seen the TV series. Death and Rebirth contained the first act of End of Eva as that had not been finished at the time. Death (True)² is the newest cut of the film, removing the redundant EoE footage, so you aren't missing anything with the included cut of the film.

If none of these differences sound interesting to you, just get the standard. If you think you'd be interested in those differences, get the CE.

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

Thanks for taking the time to break this down completely, I would give 100 thanks if I could.

I had a peek at the short dub comparison videos on YouTube. For me, the difference is quite nuanced. original versions always carry more weight in the collector realm especially if the show made its bones with that dub in English speaking territories. So to be safe, I will probably get the CE as I'm not one to collect editions for collectables generally. So CE it is.

Im reading there's a recall on discs though so im not sure if I should wait before buying? can anyone UK based advise If ZAVVI is Supporting a replacement disc program for the CE edition?


Can anyone break down the movies? how many are there, and what are the rebuilds / directors cuts I'm learning of? are they a part of these sets?

Given how the publisher of the set in the UK, All the Anime, have been good with replacement programs, I believe you'll be in good hands to get a replacement disc for the CE. It's affecting one bonus feature on a disc, so it's something that could possibly wait for you to see later. If you're interested in the series, I'd say get the CE sooner rather than later.

In regards to the movies, there are two films included in this set: "Death and Rebirth" and "The End of Evangelion." Due to production issues while making the TV series, the final two episodes had to be different than what was originally planned in production. "Death and Rebirth" was a movie scheduled to recap the TV series and then the finished versions of the final two episodes followed by a brand new film. That film ran into production issues and so "Death and Rebirth" became part recap and part new animation for episode 25. "The End of Evangelion" would be the re-imagined final two episodes instead, improving the animation for episode 25 in that film.
This set contains "Death (True)2" (the recap) by itself followed by "The End of Evangelion" to be the combined version of both films so you're not missing anything.

In 2005-ish, the creator of the franchise started a new studio and wanted to re-imagine the series again. That became the "Rebuild" movies, 1.11, 2.22, 3.33, and 3.0+1.01 (thus far). The theatrical versions were 1.0, 2.0, etc, but home video versions were numbered as before. Those films are available to stream on Amazon Prime now.
Those films are a seperate license and are not included in this set. There are previous home video releases from Manga UK that may still be in print in the UK iirc, so that's where you can own those.
1.11 consists of mostly the same content from episodes 1-6, but changes a few details whereas 2.22-onward are a completely different story with different ending entirely. They're inspired by the TV series, but play out much differently.

I hope that's understandable. Please continue to ask questions if I've confused you in any way.

[Krycek7o2]

Originally Posted by CuppaKofe

In the 00's, Gainax remastered episodes 21 - 24 for the platinum release. These 'Director's cut' episodes fixed some rushed animation and mistakes, and added in New scenes from the 'Death' compilation movie. ADV was unable to get back all of the VAs they used, so characters like Gendo and Kaworu had their VAs replaced for the DC episodes. The BluRays only contain the DC versions of those episodes as there is no HD version of the originals, so there is a noticable inconsistency with those voice actors. The only way to get the original versions is ADV's old, overpriced dvds..

There are HD versions, just not in this international box set. They were included in all JPBDs, included the original mix and the renewal 5.1 LPCM Remix. Now, if we talking cuts of eps 21-24, there are three or four I believe?

[CuppaKofe]

Originally Posted by Krycek7o2

There are HD versions, just not in this international box set. They were included in all JPBDs, included the original mix and the renewal 5.1 LPCM Remix. Now, if we talking cuts of eps 21-24, there are three or four I believe?

I thought those were only on the Archive dvds? I guess it's all more complex than I thought.

[Krycek7o2]

Originally Posted by CuppaKofe

I thought those were only on the Archive dvds? I guess it's all more complex than I thought.

It really is!

So from what I understand is that there's the broadcast version (Archives), and then there's the OA video versions (I believe that's what they are called and what was on the ADV DVDs), then there was a new version made for the renewal. And this is just the OA versions of 21-24!

And now they are "gone". While it's a little sad (being a huge EVA fan) it's not the biggest loss in terms of story since 21-24DC are far better and cohesive.

[CuppaKofe]

Originally Posted by Krycek7o2

It really is!

So from what I understand is that there's the broadcast version (Archives), and then there's the OA video versions (I believe that's what they are called and what was on the ADV DVDs), then there was a new version made for the renewal. And this is just the OA versions of 21-24!

And now they are "gone". While it's a little sad (being a huge EVA fan) it's not the biggest loss in terms of story since 21-24DC are far better and cohesive.

Yeah, the only thing you are missing is consistency with some of the VAs if you're watching the dub, but that honestly isn't as big a net loss.

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

Im reading there's a recall on discs though so im not sure if I should wait before buying? can anyone UK based advise If ZAVVI is Supporting a replacement disc program for the CE edition?

If you have any interest in getting the CE, do it sooner than later. They might not be available for much longer given they are a limited release. Regardless, they probably aren't producing any CEs with the fixed disc included, so you're gonna have to go through a disc replacement program if you want the CE.

[Kyle_g89]

Thank you to ALL of you taking the time to break this down. I actually don’t have anymore questions about what happened to the series as a content at this stage. It is just a shame it’s a bit scattered and lacking being cohesive for us all to just buy a definitive release.. but this is what happens when a creators vision is stifled by budgets and other external forces.

I’m going for the CE - if Really love the series I’ll take an interest in the over priced DVDs but it’s harder for me as a newcomer to become that big of a fan I’d imagine (no nostalgia)

I do have two questions!

Do you advise dub or sub to newcomers? I don’t mind doing subs, and I do like original screenplay / writing. It sounds like dissatisfaction begins with the dubs. I know as a fan of dragon ball that nostalgia plays a big role on how much one appreciates a dub.

Second question is, the ‘overpriced dvds’ is that a single box set or individual volumes you have to collect?

[CommanderNagisa]

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

Do you advise dub or sub to newcomers? I don’t mind doing subs, and I do like original screenplay / writing.

As a personal rule with foreign media, I'd say to give the original audio a try first, because then at least you're a little closer to the original experience, even if it is just through the choice of a character's voice or the emotion in certain lines that transcends the language barrier.

But it's honestly up to you, there is no objectively wrong answer, only opinions.

[CuppaKofe]

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

Thank you to ALL of you taking the time to break this down. I actually don’t have anymore questions about what happened to the series as a content at this stage. It is just a shame it’s a bit scattered and lacking being cohesive for us all to just buy a definitive release.. but this is what happens when a creators vision is stifled by budgets and other external forces.

I’m going for the CE - if Really love the series I’ll take an interest in the over priced DVDs but it’s harder for me as a newcomer to become that big of a fan I’d imagine (no nostalgia)

I do have two questions!

Do you advise dub or sub to newcomers? I don’t mind doing subs, and I do like original screenplay / writing. It sounds like dissatisfaction begins with the dubs. I know as a fan of dragon ball that nostalgia plays a big role on how much one appreciates a dub.

Second question is, the ‘overpriced dvds’ is that a single box set or individual volumes you have to collect?

The sub/dub thing is always gonna be a preference, can't give you an unbiased answer to that one. My biased opinion is VSI subs.

As for the 'overpriced dvds' there's two releases I'm talking about.


The 'Perfect Collection' is a box set ADV put out before Gainax remastered the series. It contains the original ADV dub and animation for episodes 21-24, lacking any of the changes made in the DC versions. It's a collection of the original dvd sets pretty much.


The second is the Platinum Complete set. There's multiple releases of this set (go figure) but the thinpack version shown above has the best encode (The original individual platinum dvds had some dub centric extras that aren't very good, no big loss IMO). This was done after Gainax remastered the series, so the picture quality is a huge improvement over the Perfect (heh) Collection DVDs. It contains both the original dub and the DC version dub for episodes 21-24 on separate discs, but does NOT contain the original animation. The original non-DC versions on these discs actually use the improved animation from the DC, but just cut out the added death footage. It's also worth noting that the thinpack release has a ton of bootlegs floating around. The best way to tell is if the cases are clear and there's a serif on the bottom of the G in EVANGELION, it's a fake.




Hope this helps you in the future! These will also both have the original ending theme "Fly me to the Moon" as these were replaced for the non-japanese blurays due to copyright crap I'm not even gonna bother getting into.

[Kyle_g89]

Originally Posted by CuppaKofe

Hope this helps you in the future! These will also both have the original ending theme "Fly me to the Moon" as these were replaced for the non-japanese blurays due to copyright crap I'm not even gonna bother getting into.

Again thanks for the breakdown. I definitely would’ve fallen for the fake without the tip. Reminds me of the same tips we had to follow to navigate our search for a genuine BTAS dvd box set lol

Is the platinum set identical to the tin platinum set? I’m assuming so? And is the platinum set the ‘holy grail’ definitive dvd set? Is everything else redundant other than the ‘perfect box’ set?


I had a look at the eBay listing history in the UK, surprisingly I didn’t see a single fake set auction in the past months. All genuine sets. But it was a bit confusing to see one of the tin editions of the platinum set featuring the white transparent cases instead of the black one - everything else about it looked genuine?

[Naiera]

Please stop quoting gigantic posts that are right above your own.

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

Again thanks for the breakdown. I definitely would’ve fallen for the fake without the tip. Reminds me of the same tips we had to follow to navigate our search for a genuine BTAS dvd box set lol

Is the platinum set identical to the tin platinum set? I’m assuming so? And is the platinum set the ‘holy grail’ definitive dvd set? Is everything else redundant other than the ‘perfect box’ set?


I had a look at the eBay listing history in the UK, surprisingly I didn’t see a single fake set auction in the past months. All genuine sets. But it was a bit confusing to see one of the tin editions of the platinum set featuring the white transparent cases instead of the black one - everything else about it looked genuine?

The tin would be this release, very much genuine, doesn't really get faked. Some ADV thinpaks used clear cases for some printings.

PR: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/pre...mber-27-titles

It reuses the discs from the singles unlike the regular Platinum thinpak, so it retains the video extras, though it lacks the booklets from the singles. What the singles looked like:

Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Collection Box Set Review - YouTube

There's also a Holiday Edition which is the final DVD release from ADV Films. That also reuses the Platinum singles discs.