Well... I seem to have slipped into "collector" mode. My Blu-ray collection has spiraled out of control! ^.^; I am starting to warm up to the format though. I had a little trouble with my setup, but after a few firmware updates and some playing around with settings, things look and sound pretty fantastic. I'm up to about 40 movies on Blu-ray (many are films / series that I upgraded from DVD to Blu-ray) and there's still 20 titles that I really want to pick up. I love movies.
And with that said, I just finished watching Evangelion 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone on Blu-ray. It was everything that I hoped for. Obviously, the story was fast paced and abridged (compared to the TV series), but the essential elements were all there and it flowed pretty well. And I don't say that lightly. I've seen the entire TV series almost half a dozen times and I thought for sure that the film's pacing would be off or that it would feel shallow. While I do miss the more leisurely pace of the series, the film offers an alternate take that's exciting, fresh and remarkably true to the original.
Love or hate the story, there's really nothing bad that can be said about the animation. It's some of the best I've seen ever. Anywhere. The only films that match or exceed it are the recent films by Studio Ghibli. Everything in this film has been redone from scratch based on the original storyboards and key animation. The hand-drawn sections are lovely and detailed; the CGI is high quality and well integrated. There were a couple of CGI effects that stood out, but they were the exception and didn't detract from the overall experience. I was especially enamored with the fine detail of the backgrounds, the new character designs, and the universally fluid movement throughout the film. Color is also used to great affect and looks incredibly sharp and saturated on Blu-ray.
The direction is superb as well (just as it was in the TV series). Clichéd shots are avoided and many scenes feature challenging angles and dynamic cuts. I was a huge fan of Anno's work on the TV series as well as its direction and visual presentation in general. I was very glad to see the same quality and approach present here. There are several key scenes in the film that really jump out at you and stay in your mind: the opening confrontation with the 4th angel, Tokyo-3 growing at sunset, converting the city to combat mode, and the final battle with the 6th angel. The final battle in particular has some shots that are just really cool. One in particular really impressed me with its clever use of CGI and contrasting art styles.
I was treated to TrueHD 6.1 for both the English and Japanese tracks and they sound great. Voices and effects were well mixed and made pretty solid use of all the speakers. I could even understand all the English dialog with cranking the volume to deafening levels. Truly a rare treat for modern films. My only complaint (and a minor one) was that the music seems to be mixed a little on the quiet side. This could be my fault as I'm a big fan of Sagisu's score and really wanted to hear it booming from the speakers during the more dramatic moments. It was audible, just not as prominent as I hoped.
Anyway, I was impressed! Fans of Evangelion or even just animation in general should really check this out. Not only is it a good film, but it's probably the best animated feature on Blu-ray at the moment (the only other one that comes to mind is Ponyo). It simply looks and sounds amazing!