Today I'll be reviewing the Blu-ray set itself, not Neon Genesis Evangelion. If I did, I would have named this post "Anime Review." I suppose in the future I can go over the series and films proper, but that's for another time.
As you can tell from the above image, this is a set of two Blu-rays. And I'll go ahead and say this right off the bat: these are bootlegs. As of this post there is no official physical media release of Eva in the West, excluding the Rebuild movies. There were DVDs made in the early 2000s, but those are now out of print and are outrageously expensive. And yes, I am aware that the series is on Netflix since last year, but it has a new dub and altered subtitles and excludes "Fly Me to the Moon" from the ending theme, because apparently Netflix can't get the rights to the song (despite the fact that they were willing to spend $100 million to keep Friends on their platform a while longer). Because of that, I prefer to stick to the original sub and dub. Ergo, why I bought this in the first place.
Let's start with the first one, subtitled "Complete Bluray TV Box." As the title suggests, this box contains the entire TV series of Eva. I like the image they use for the cover; this depicts a key moment from the first episode when the main character Shinji Ikari holds a bandaged Rei Ayanami in his arms and decides to pilot Eva Unit-01. The thing you see behind them is of course Unit-01. Check out the bottom right corner; it says "GAINAX 20th Anniversary." Funny it says that, because the company doesn't produce Eva anymore; the recent movies have been made by Studio Khara.
On the spine of the box, we see a headshot of Rei in her white plugsuit and the GAINAX anniversary logo again. The background color is as blue as Rei's hair.
On the back we see the same shot of Rei but the full image this time. The bottom lists specifications regarding the audio and picture quality.
Now let's open the TV box and look inside. We see discs 01 and 02, likely numbered the way the Eva units are. The first disc shows Shinji in his plugsuit looking very cheerful, a rare sight. This contains episodes 1 to 8. The second disc shows Rei and contains episodes 9 to 16.
On the other side are discs 03 and 04. Disc 03 shows Asuka and has episodes 17 to 24. Disc 04 has Toji on the front and contains the director's cuts of episodes 21 to 24 as well as "Final" which presumably stands for episodes 25 and 26. For those who don't know, the director's cut episodes contain extra footage that wasn't shown in the original TV broadcast.
The second box, subtitled "Complete Bluray Film Box," contains the films from the 90s; I say that so as not to confuse this with the Rebuild of Evangelion film series, a series in which its final installment will be released in Japan in June of this year. The cover shows moments from End of Evangelion, one of the films in this set. "GAINAX 20th Anniversary" is also present here.
The spine is similar to the TV box but with Misato's face and the background as red as her jacket.
The back image is of Misato again and the bottom lists specifications as the last box.
Inside we see a similar layout to the last set. The discs' numbers keep going up from the TV box. Disc 05 shows Kaworu and contains Death(True) and Air (Rebirth). I'm guessing these are the various versions of Death and Rebirth, the series recap movie made before End of Eva. Disc 06 has Misato on the cover and contains Death(True)^2 and End of Evangelion. These two films are also available on Netflix.
We turn to the back and see the final disc, lucky number 07. Kaji is in the front, and this disc contains...Orchestral - Puchi Eva - Ona Box? I have no idea what this is. Are these films or something else? Oh well, I guess I'll find out once I get around to watching this disc.
And that was a tour of the bootleg Blu-rays for Neon Genesis Evangelion. Like I said, eventually I'll get around to watching the series and movies. Until then I'll need to get a Blu-ray player that can connect to my computer so I can take screenshots, but that's for another day. As for the box sets themselves, they are absolutely gorgeous. I love the vibrant colors on the covers and the discs look amazing as well. Kudos to the guy who designed these. Not to mention the inside of the boxes have a certain scent that I really like. Before I end this, I just want to give a public service announcement: do not buy bootlegs of things if they have an official release that isn't out of print. Support official releases as much as you are able.
Overall Rating: 10/10
"God's in his heaven. All's right with the world."
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