Spare time, on a Saturday evening...

Just finished watching a film. Got back from the pub at half eleven (catching up with old school friends in the homestead), so what else could be done. Although I probably should have got some sleep, that just didn't really seem to appeal. It's pretty late now, but thought I'd just jot down some thoughts.

The blurb on the box describes 'Evangelion: 1.11, You Are (Not) Alone' as:

The rebuild of the groundbreaking giant robot anime!

Apparently 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' was a groundbreaking anime series in the mid-90s, ... though I don't really have any prior knowledge of it. The rebuild will consist of four films. My sister brought me the second film for my birthday the other week. It's called 'You Can (Not) Advance'.

In any case, I liked the film. A lot. Though I have little real idea what was going on. As it's the first film in a series of four, I guess that's kind of the point. It could have something to do with the fact I'm completely drained at the moment (and I wasn't paying complete attention at the start of the film), but probably not so much.

The main plot, relating to this segment, was fairly straight-forward. Big robots created by secret organisation and controlled by human (early-teenage) pilots fight 'angels' seeking to destroy the world. Very little about the characters is given away. And lots of 'hints' are given as to future developments, though hints would suggest these would give the viewer any idea as to what is coming.

I'm especially taken with the character 'Ayanami Rei ', the mysterious young evangelion pilot (Unit-00) that the main character 'Ikari Shinji' (Unit-01) must fight alongside.

Obviously, we learn next to nothing about her.

The world seemed fully realised though. Tokyo-3 was an odd mix of underground secret organisation (and by underground, I mean literally based underground) protecting the people living their lives on the surface. Obviously when the 'angels' appeared, buildings were retracted and one/both of the evangelion pilots were sent up to stop them. Not so much was explained, the world is just how it is. I do like when a film/novel just drops you into an alternate reality like that, ... so long as that world makes sense on its own terms, of course.

This world does, although lots of questions are left unanswered:

• Why have Rei & Shinji been chosen to pilot the evangelions?
• What are the angels, and why are they trying to destroy humanity?
• What is the significance of the first and second impacts, which wiped out half the population?
• Why are there to be 14 (I think, though maybe I mis-remembered that) angels?

And so on and so forth. There is a booklet with the DVD that explains some background, as well as key terms, etc. Maybe I'll have to take a look at that. It's possible that a second viewing, at a more reasonable hour, may help me to understand what the questions are a little better, ... even if the answers are yet to be revealed.

Really looking forward to watching the second film now. Presumably it will start gathering pace, with more secrets to be revealed, background filled in and relationships explained. Should be good. The only problem is ... the third and fourth films haven't been released yet.