Neon Genesis Evangelion - Platinum Collection 5 [DVD]

Platinum Set - Contains Episodes 18-20Episode 18 - Unit 04 gets its new pilot and is immediately taken over by an angel. Shinji's father orders him to destroy Unit 04, still containing the human pilot.Episode 19 - Shinji refuses to pilot Eva. An angel attacks, Asuka and Rei fail to stop it, so Shinji is forced to fight it. Eva 01 undergoes a metamorphosis.Episode 20 - Due to the events of the previous episode, Shinji has been turned in to LCL, and has to be converted back to human form. In the LCL state, he reflects on his life. Also, Kaji and Misato do it (off screen).Episodes 18 and 19 are two of the most violent of the series. Episode 20 features a naked Misato, Rei, and Asuka offering themselves to Shinji (this is a fantasy while he's in his disembodied state). They have no nipples, so, that's alright, I guess. The box says "Suggested 15+". It's hard to judge these episodes on their own merits because Evangelion 2.22 totally kicks their collective butts (for episodes 18 and 19). Be careful when ordering these single discs to make sure you're getting the episodes you want.Extra featuresThe Mythology of Evangelion - Matt Greenfireld and Sean McCoy (Evangelion lecturer?) give their opinions on what it all really means. Some good points, some debateable points.Clean opening and closing animationsCommentary for Episode 20 with Matt Greenfield and Sean McCoyAnimatics for the 3 episodes6 Previews for other ADV anime series.

The 5th release in the Platinum serie really had no other choice to be special since it contains the most controversial episodes in the Neon Genesis Evangelion saga, numbers 18 through 20 thus making this release equal to the original Evangelion 0:6 DVD, apart from all the enhancements in picture (fully rehanced/restored) and sound (5.1 sound dubs in Japanese and English) ofcourse. The episodes on this disk are Ambivalence (aka "The Judgement of Life"), Introjection (aka "A Man's fight") and finally Weaving a Story II (aka "Form of the Mind, Form of the Man").As I already pointed out these episodes were controversial, mostly due to the brutal contents. For example; when Shinji refuses to take out Evangelion unit 3 (which had been re-classified as an Angel) and is being overruled by the dummy-plug system things get very messy. Something which wasn't appreciated by all of its viewers. This DVD tells us that what we've seen back then perhaps wasn't even as bad as some people seem to think ;-)If you watch the episodes it becomes immediatly clear that we're dealing with a re-mastered product since this DVD also has some new material here and there (note: some scene's only last a couple of seconds and none of it will have the impact of the Director Cuts. Still; it adds up to the experience a lot). When looking at this DVD while only focussing on the 3 episodes I'd say that this is excellent material. The animation quality is very good and so is the audio. Its very refreshing to see and hear that all of the emotion which has been put in the English sound dubs back then (for example: Cmd. Ikari who coldly orders to cut off Unit 0's arm while Rei is still connected, Cmd. Ikari again as he basicly tells Ibuki to stop talking and do as he tells her and even Asuka when she makes an all out attack on the 14th Angel) is still 100% intact, slightly altered but only for the best. The only thing which annoys me, but thats strictly personal, is the "canned" sound when the children talk from within the entryplug. Sometimes its being overdone for my liking.The extra's on this DVD consist of the always present 12-page booklet (featuring some very good pictures of scene's in these episodes, episode commentaries, Angel details and finally a glossary of common Evangelion topics), the clean opening/ending, an audio commentary with Matt Greenfield (ADV Director, also seen/heard in the previous 2 releases) and Sean McCoy (his panels could be seen during Anime conventions), "The Mythology of Evangelion" (its basicly an interview / documentary with both Matt and Sean who tell us what Evangelion is and explain some of the deeper plots) and finally more animatics; this time all of the episodes on this disk (18 through 20).I consider the extra's rather bad. The only thing in the extras section which make it a bit interesting are the animatics as far as I'm concerned. These are an absolute *must see* for the fans. Although we've already seen a couple of them on the past releases these are rather special since the episodes themselves are special. These animatics reveal some very interesting details, even if you cannot read Japanese.The rest of the extras basicly consist of things which we've already experienced (an audio commentary, clean opening/ending, etc.). I particulary didn't like "The Mythology of Evangelion" because it gives me the impression that these 2 people - who aren't even part of the actual creation process of the animation and storyline itself - do seem to think that they can explain what it is all about. Keep in mind that we're talking about a cartoon which had hundreds if not thousands of people debating over its plots. With that in the back of my mind I consider this approach rather silly. But since this is only part 1 I guess we'll have to wait a while before you can form a final impression about it.So... Is this disc worth it ? If you are a fan then I don't think you can ignore this one because of the animatics. Otherwise I guess it all boils down to personal preference, but do keep in mind that this release offers more material then the original. However, I most certainly wouldn't trade in my original DVD's for these.

I was thrilled when I saw this DVD for such a cheap price on here and I was a little skeptical that it was going to work. When I purchased this item I was given no tracking info, but my item came on the very first day in the "estimated delivery" window that amazon gives you. I opened this package up to see that the outer sleeve and the jewel case looked literally brand new, and the disk looks like it had never been touched. It played perfectly and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As far as the actual anime goes its a great series and these three episodes were no exception. Needless to say I have already bought the next DVD. I just want to thank the distributor for making my day.

Great show one of the best anime's that's ever been created (Up there with X as my favorite anime). The series is brought back to life in "stunning HD" and there are plenty of extras that make the platinum version worth the price.

Everything turned out exactly as I wanted to.