Hideaki Anno Movies

Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance is the second installment in a film series known as the "Rebuild of Evangelion" that reinterprets the story first told in the critically acclaimed anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Covering the material from the episodes 6-12 of the series, this film is the first to introduce new content and characters that did not appear in the original series -- namely, Unit-05 pilot Mari Illustrious Makinami. The British girl mans an Eva with a drastically new design, and adds still more drama to the life of Shinji, who is coping with having to share a living space with both Asuka and Misato. Meanwhile, all of the pilots soon find themselves embroiled with a battle with the Eighth Angel. The group show a sense of teamwork that they've never had before, but soon, NERV's American branch is destroyed in an experiment while testing the new Unit-03, which is taken to Tokyo-3 for testing. Asuka pilots the Eva, but it's soon reclassified as the Ninth Angel, and Shinji is ordered by his father to attack it. Shinji can't bear to do so while Asuka is inside, causing a break in his will that might cause him to leave the program for good. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

This anime compilation movie takes the six episode Diebuster OVA series and reedits the material into a 95 minute theatrical movie. The story takes place after the events of the previous series/compilation film, Gunbuster, telling the story of a country girl named Nono, who dreams of becoming a star pilot in the elite squad of "Topless" fighters known as the Fraternity. Nono wants nothing more than to protect humanity from the terror of the space monsters, but before she can live out her fantasy, she'll have to learn to be less clumsy -- so her Buster Machine doesn't fry the galaxy. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Taste of Tea director Katsuhito Ishii collaborates with filmmakers Shinichiro Miki and Hajime Ishimine) for this outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother (Tadanobu Asano), his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother. Dance numbers, pillow fights, animation, comedy, and science fiction all combine to create a unique and disorienting viewing experience featuring such highlights as an absurdist tribute to David Cronenberg, an ass-television, and a girl who fires lasers from her forehead in order to battle a floating space blob which emits spinning, spherical projectiles. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Hideaki Anno, who previously made his name creating cutting-edge animated films, moves further into the real world in this, his second live-action feature. A filmmaker (Shunji Iwai) recording the world around him with his video camera and an eccentric young woman (Ayako Fujitani) with a remarkable collection of umbrellas are trying to work their way out of a collective emotional funk. The girl has a habit of saying "Tomorrow is my birthday" every morning, and has developed an odd premonition -- she's convinced that as soon as one of her dreams becomes a reality, she will cease to exist. Shunji Iwai, who plays the filmmaker in Shiki-jitsu, came by the role naturally -- he's directed several features and is considered one of Japan's finest independent filmmakers. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Following up on his wildly successful 1997 feature-length anime Neo Genesis Evangelion, Hideaki Anno takes digital camcorder in hand and makes his live-action directorial debut with this day-in-the-life drama about a quartet of enjo kosai (school girls) who make big bucks selling their services to middle-aged perverts with money to burn. Though frequently weird and exotic, their dates rarely request anything close to plain old vanilla sex. One geezer takes the four to sing karaoke. After belting out a few, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a bag of grapes. He asks that each lass bite into the fruit just enough to break the skin. Once that's done, he puts each grape in its own individual baggie and labels it. Other patrons are just as pitiful if less bizarre. The film focuses particularly on Hiromi (Asumi Miwa), who is trying to make enough money to buy a topaz ring and hide her right hand, which she thinks is ugly. Hiromi comes from a normal -- if blithely obtuse -- family and is not your typical portrait of an enjo kosai. Yet she hustles with her more street-smart friends and learns about her newfound profession's dangers and degradations the hard way. This film was based on a book by Ryu Murakami. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Hideaki Anno directs this hallucinogenic animated feature, created mostly through a compilation of clips from the wildly popular series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Spliced together with minor amounts of new footage, the film is meant to be viewed after the ending of the TV series, but before watching Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, to offer a new perspective on the surreal conflux of symbols, metaphors, and subtext. Death & Rebirth recounts the TV series' story of monstrous, destructive angels and spiritually imbued robots, beginning in the year 2000, when an angel named Adam is discovered in the depths of the South Pole. After uncovering him causes a metaphysical breach resulting in an impact that melts the ice shelf -- flooding the world and darkening the skies with ash -- half the world's population is dead, and humanity is now locked in a pitched battle for its existence against these so-called messengers of God. Only 14-year-old children can synch themselves mentally and physically with the giant robots called Evas that humanity utilizes to fight the angels, and just what power lies within the Evas is unclear. In 2015, teenaged Shinji is instructed by his scientist father to pilot an Evangelion, alongside Asuka, a beautiful, but haughty red-headed German lass, and Rei, a quiet girl whose past appears to be connected to Shinji's in strange and unnatural ways. Each of these children has his or her own questions about identity and love, but as the story swells to its climax, the larger questions become ones about who or what God is, and what humanity is afraid of. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A gigantic cube shaped Angel appears over Tokyo-3, but it turns out to be more than it appears when Shinji moves in to attack and is engulfed in its black, quicksand-like shadow. NERV determines that the Angel exists in a manipulation of space and time, and as they struggle with the possible conundrum of extracting Shinju and destroying the Angel, Shinji goes on a frightening, surreal introspective journey while trapped in the blackness. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

The next Angel appears in a position far out of reach: orbiting the earth in space, further away than the Evas could possible travel. Soon, the Angel begins launching pieces of itself at the earth, and if the Evas can't prevent it, it will hurl itself at Tokyo-3 and destroy the whole city. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Shinji and Rei are about to be joined by a third pilot, the German Asuka Langley Soryu. Misato takes the kids to the UN air craft carrier where they're meeting Asuka and her Eva Unit 02, when they discover that Misato's old flame Kaji will be working with NERV. That surprise is nothing, however, compared to the shock that comes when an Angel shows up, and Asuka's defensive, competitive nature proves to be both a hindrance and an asset. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

The pressure to deal with his new responsibilities as an Eva pilot, coupled with the stress of his new home life with Misato prove to be too much and Shinji snaps, running away from home. He decides to quit being a pilot, but he can't be sure of his decision until yet another life-or-death situation arises. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Deputy Commander Fuyutski is brought before the members of Seele, who interrogate him about Eva Unit 01 inexplicably absorbing the S2 engine from an Angel. Fuyutski then recounts his past with Gendo Ikari and the events that led to the creation of NERV, in a series of flashbacks that provide insight into the organization's clandestine roots. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

This final episode continues to explore the inner experiences of the characters as humanity merges into one unit as part of the Human Instrumentality Project. Struggling to defend his own existence, Shinji goes on a journey of his own consciousness, exploring what his world could be like if he were not an Eva pilot, and reaching a fulfilling understanding of how there are many possibilities for just who and what he can be. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi