Having both ADV Evangelion DVD releases, the original and the platinum release, I wanted to go back and look at how large of  a change the new films really are. It has been years since I’ve watched the original raw series so watching it after seeing the Blu-Ray version of Evangelion 1.11 was almost painful.

The most noticeable element of this image from the original ADV release is the lack of detail on Evangelion Unit 01. The face detail is kind of blurred together and is difficult to make out. The mountain that Shinji landed on also lacks detail.

The image quality of the remastered platinum edition is much darker. It helps the Evangelion to stand out more but the rib cage of the Angel, barely seen in the original version, is now completely hidden.  Unit 01 is much crisper and specific details stand out much more. The foreground trees, although still lacking much detail, are drawn better. The mountains in the background show no change and the shrine near the Evangelion’s arm is much easier to see in this version. The remaster seemed to focus on making the image crisper even if details were going to be lost.

How does the new movie stand up to the remastered original?

This is the same exact scene that Anno attempted to animate fifteen years ago but using the massive budget and some modern techniques the scene appears completely different. The rib cage is back and prominent. The  mountains in the background and trees in the foreground are drawn with specific detail. The Evangelion itself suffers no loss of detail even with the distance and at the strange angle.

If anyone reading this hasn’t picked up Evangelion 1.11 yet… get to it. THAT is what you’re missing.

Evangelion 1.11 screenshot captured by http://autaku.com

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