Evangelion, which kicked off as a reboot of the TV series with Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0, has at long last reached its conclusion with Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time.
The Rebuild films are made up of 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 3.0+1.0, but
whether you're about to dive into the franchise for the first time, planning to watch the films after finishing the TV series, someone who's seen it all a dozen times over, or thinking of revisiting the TV series after watching the new films, I'd love for you to give this CD a listen first.
To start with, the main release comes packaged with a single drama CD episode, titled "The Continuation of the Conclusion."
It was written and directed by none other than director Hideaki Anno, and the premise is this: the Evangelion TV series proved so popular that its broadcast got extended, but there's no budget, no time, and no ideas left. So the characters all start pitching ideas of their own, and off it goes.
At 21 minutes, it runs the length of a full anime episode, and it leans so hard into comedy that you forget this is even Evangelion.
It's simply a fun listen on its own, but anyone who's heard it will find their attention drawn to a certain scene in Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0.
Asuka's plugsuit.
In Rebuild 2.0, Asuka changes into a far more revealing plugsuit, and that very idea pops up in the drama CD "The Continuation of the Conclusion" as if it had been on the table all along.
Incidentally, within the drama CD it's not just Asuka but Rei too who ends up wearing that plugsuit.
Sadly, Rei's plugsuit in the Rebuild films has no revealing elements, but I'd wager plenty of people who'd listened to this drama CD did a double-take when Asuka's revealing plugsuit showed up.
The space battle that makes its debut in Evangelion 3.0 also turns up in this drama. But while the drama CD claims it could be done on a shoestring budget, the actual Evangelion 3.0 version of it was lavished with so much money that it's worth watching all on its own.
Now, let's shift gears a little. In the Evangelion TV series, "FLY ME TO THE MOON" plays over every ending, with a spinning Rei Ayanami in the background, and the arrangement changes from episode to episode.
This CD also includes "FLY ME TO THE MOON," featuring a version sung by Rei, Asuka, and Misato.
After finishing the original films that capped off the TV series, director Anno had the lead actress of his next project, his first live-action work Love & Pop, cover "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido" and used it as the theme song.
For His and Her Circumstances, his return to TV anime, he had the voice actors cover Yosui Inoue's "Yume no Naka e" ("What is it you're searching for?") and placed it in the ending.
And in Rebuild 2.0, popular standards like "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" and "Kyou no Hi wa Sayonara" appear as in-film songs.
But you could argue that director Anno's fixation on these old pop standards starts right here with this CD.
Why? Because this CD includes the Evangelion cast performing "Tentou-mushi no Samba."
This "Tentou-mushi no Samba" sticks out like a sore thumb among the rest of the CD, and back when I bought it I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they'd include it.
Now I sort of get it. It's simply because director Anno liked it.
Now, I've gone on at length about the CD, but the biggest bonus this CD offers isn't the CD itself.
As the title says, this CD came bundled with an advance movie ticket. Isn't this perhaps a world first, a CD without parallel anywhere on the planet?
The film you could see with that advance ticket was, of course, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Movie - Death & Rebirth.
The TV series couldn't reach a proper conclusion, so a film version was put into production, but even that wasn't finished in time. When the lid came off, what emerged was Death & Rebirth, with "Death" (a recap of the TV series) taking up the bulk of it, and the new footage "Rebirth" clocking in at a mere 30 minutes in its unfinished state.
In Death & Rebirth, "Tamashii no Refrain" plays at an absolutely perfect moment, but "Tamashii no Refrain" isn't on this CD.
What's included instead is a next-episode preview voiced by Asuka, Misato, and Rei.
Anyone who bought this surely saw their expectations for Death & Rebirth swell a hundredfold, but as noted above, Death & Rebirth was an unfinished product, and the baton was later passed to the summer film The End of Evangelion (Air/My Purest Heart for You).
With Death & Rebirth raising the anticipation considerably, and thanks to a then-rare late-night rebroadcast of the TV series, the culmination of the original films, The End of Evangelion (Air/My Purest Heart for You), exploded into a massive hit, and Evangelion became the stuff of legend.
Let's part ways with the trailer for Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Movie - Death & Rebirth.
