Main Feature	Special Features
	Video	1080p High Definition 16:9	480i Standard Definition
	Audio	Dolby TrueHD 6.1: English Dolby TrueHD 6.1: Japanese	Dolby Digital 2.0
	Subtitle	English	English
	Rating	TV 14	NR
	Running Time	100 minutes
	Released By: FUNimation Entertainment
	Release Date: March 09, 2010
	Review Date: March 08, 2010
	Reviewed By: Rommel Salandanan
	You have not seen “Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone” until you’ve seen it in High-Definition Rating:

STORY IN A NUTSHELL
In the near future, a world catastrophe known as the Second Impact has forced cities to rebuild and humans to form an elite organization to combat the deadly alien threat known only as Angels. NERV is that organization.  Shinji Akari, a teen boy with father issues, is called home to Tokyo-3 where his father, the head of NERV, has called for him with a single purpose: pilot the EVA unit 01. Aghast, a resentful and hurt Shinji is suddenly thrown into combat when an Angel attacks. He finds himself in a horrific battle with people he doesn’t know and can’t trust. Is he doing his duty out of apathy or is it fate? The stage for the greatest anime ever told is about to make its first step into a new history!

REVIEW
Fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion or people who have wondered what all the fuss is about can now enjoy this all new envisioning of the iconic anime series. Hideaki Anno has retaken the helm of the series he created to make a new updated version of the story that took the world by storm. Fans of the original series will find this first movie instalment riveting, familiar and yet new all at the same time. Things unfold very similarly to the original TV series. Shinji arrives in Tokyo-3 and is met by Misato, the brassy and sassy sexy woman of NERV that will in essence become his mentor and keeper. At NERV he is reunited with his father for a cold reception and a list of demands involving him piloting the EVA unit. His first forays into battle show his horror and his sense of being overwhelmed and terrified. His isolation, both emotional and physical, is palpable throughout the film. The mystery is kept true too as he meets the mystifying Rei, another pilot, and wonders why they are the ones chosen to pilot these mysterious EVA units, and when his goes berserk, just what are these EVAs?

That is the story most of you know, however there are changes such as the strange Kaworu being introduced much earlier in the series and a group of coffins in a river of blood on the moon. The film gives a faster paced, much brisker version of the series condensed into a mesmerizing film series. The first instalment has incredible animation, especially the opening sequences on the city during the battle. The differences between this volume and the earlier 1.01 release are added footage and reworked animation in the film.

It’s faithfulness to the original story, based on the first six episode, combined with fascinating alterations in this re-versioning of the legendary anime is helped by the return of the original staff involved with the TV series. They reunited for the movie rendition. Staffs include Hideaki Anno who wrote and is directing the films. He was the original creator of the Evangelion anime.  Other familiar names to Evangelion production are Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion/Gunbuster), Mechanical Designer Ikuto Yamashita (Gunbuster, Blue Submarine no. 6, Neon Genesis Evangelion), music composer Shiro Sagisu (Bleach, Neon Genesis Evangelion), and the entire original Japanese voice cast.  Unfortunately, the same could not occur for the original English voice cast. However, Spike Spence (Shinji) and Alison Keith-Shipp (Misato) have both come back to reprise their unforgettable roles with their beloved character interpretations.  Although many will no doubt miss Amanda Winn-Lee’s famous performance as Rei, Brina Palencia gives an outstanding performance as the enigmatic pilot that captures Shinji, and the audiences, attention.

IN TECHNICAL TERMS
When Evangelion 1.11 was released in Japan; it was the first disc that used Sony’s “Super Bit Mapping for Video”. What this does is remove the color banding or gradient effect from the colors. I would assume that this is the same with the domestic release since color banding is non-existent throughout the film. However, the blacks were a tad bit darker in some scenes, but overall when it has the right tone; it brings out the bright and vivid colors very well.

This is also FUNimation’s first foray to Dolby TrueHD 6.1, and the implementation of the sound is nicely done – surround placement is superb, and the subwoofer LFE performs magnificently with a thunderous boom when needed. FUNimation also chose to match the bitrate of the Japanese audio, as both are 48 kHz.

Another technical aspect that I should add is that Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone is now both Region A and B.

FEATURETE
The single disc with its entire feature comes in a shiny HD Case accompanied by a 20-page guidebook that lets you into the mind of Hideaki Anno in a brief interview about his new vision of Evangelion.

The feature film is complemented by Rebuild of Evangelion: 1.01, a compilation of the early sketches, to the 3D modeling, and into the final version of the scenes from the feature film.

It also comes with a promotional video called Angel of Doom, which is an arrangement of scenes from the film with “Operation Yashima” track as the background music.

Other extras are a video of news flashes about the planned theatrical edition of Evangelion,  movie previews of the film with multiple song versions of Fly me to the Moon and Beautiful World, and of course, FUNimation trailers.

A special feature that comes with the extra disc is the check box indicator. A check symbol will appear by the features or trailers you’ve already seen for that particular viewing session.

IN SUMMARY
Evangelion is resurrected as an all new iconic anime for an all new age!  And Evangelion 1.11 is best watched in high-definition.

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