Number Of Disc(s): 1

Review Done By: Guardian Inferno

At the dawn of the new millennium, mankind has awakened a threat unlike any faced before, the Angels. Conventional weapons are useless against them. They can only be stopped by means of the Evangelion, bio-engineered vessels born from the Angels's own technology. But this forbidden knowledge is also the key to bringing about a startling new genesis for the human race. Placed in the hands of three young pilots, the final fate of humanity resting upon their shoulders, the Evas are the world's last hope...

Welcome to the Apocalypse. From the animators at Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire) & Studio Gainax (The Wings of Honneamise) comes the first half of the sensational two-part conclusion to the Neon Genesis Evangelion saga. Featuring ground breaking animated action sequences & mind-blowing dramatic revelations, Death & Rebirth is truly a composition of epic proportions!

Finally, Manga Entertainment have release this DVD, after months of delays, again & again. Man, ADV Films did fought well to get the rights to dubbed & release it in North America, but in the end, Manga Entertainment won. It doesn't matter much to me. I never saw Death & Rebirth. Gainax release Death & Rebirth to replace the boring endings (Episode 25 & 26) of the series, giving it a true ending! It is compose of 2 parts. The first part, Death, it's a summary of the entire Evangelion series, with new footages, enhancement animation of key parts, explaining some things that the series didn't. The second part, Rebirth, is actually the beginning of the second movie, End Of Evangelion, nothing special. Everything is intact, they even kept Shinji's scene with Asuka. You will see what I mean.

I find this release very clean & clear, even that this movie is old. Manga Entertainment did a really good job. The animation that Gainax did is really impressive. Though, I did find the movie a little bit boring, but I actually enjoy watching it again & with the new footages, it was worth it. If you do have a widescreen TV, it will blow you away.

The dubbing is way better then the ADV Films release of the series. Manga Entertainment have really improve the dialogue. They really try to keep as much as the original Japanese dialogue possible. They did improve some sound effects & finally, the Evas do make growls now on the English track. Though, it's kinda sad that not all the original cast of the Evangelion series return to do this movie. They were unavailable or unable to find them. I say about 90% accuracy of the original Japanese version.

Unable to test it, since I don't have a 5.1 surround system, I can't really say much. Though, this is the first time that the Evangelion series have a 5.1 audio track.

For a simple stereo sound, I find it quite sharp, no problem detected.

The Japanese track is softer then the English 2.0 track. Adjusting the volume on your TV when you switch languages is the only annoyance you will have. Though, this Japanese track is the original track when the movie actually release.

Man, the subtitling is very hard to read. It's not bolded & using the color white doesn't even help at all. With all the bright colors in the background, it makes it very hard to read.

The main menu is on the "Alpha" side of the disc. The menu keep changing position, up or down, depending how long you let it run. You may know the music playing in the background, which Shinji's plays on his cello. It really did a very good job. You can see some screenshots from the series, lots of emotions statements. There are 4 options, which are "Launch" (Play All), "Acess System" (Scene Selection), "Specs" (Audio Setup) & "Features", the extras. Though, the "Features" is on the other side of the disc.

Extras? This release got it all! Manga Entertainment actually took every information about Evangelion & place them on the DVD. There is so many information, it will take one DVD disc to keep them. The extra features are on the other side of the DVD disc, you got to flip it, the "Omega" side. No idea why they didn't release a 2 DVD disc set, but on disc double sided, maybe to keep the cost down. It also feature, once again, the entire movie (English Audio Only) with comments from Amanda Winn Lee, the director for the English version of the Evas movies & the voice actress for Rei Ayanami. One more thing, there is one small typo in the extra section, can you spot it?

You may have seen the picture ofthe cover of this DVD, it's from the Neon Genesis Evangelion: Addition CD Soundtrack. I find this is one of my favorite Evangelion picture. The back is simple, 5 screenshots from the movie & the details about the DVD features. The insert is pretty cool. It's a small size movie poster. Though, you got to be careful with the DVD disc. As I mention before, it is double sided & you got to try not to put any finger prints on any side of the disc while taking it out.

After months of delay & all that waiting, it's worth it. Even you don't like the movie or it's boring, you should at least check out the extras feature. It's have loads of information about Evangelion series. Plus, I find the commentary really fun! Enjoy!

27" Citizen JCTV2704 Stereo TV, LG-530 DVD Player, S-Video connection for video with regular stereo cable connection for audio.

Model LG 16x DVD-ROM, on a P3-933Mhz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Redeon 8500 128MB Video Card, ASUS CUSL2-C Motherboard & Sound Blaster Live v5.1, Dell 19' LCD E193FP monitor, Windows XP Professional SP2 & CyberLink PowerDVD v6.0 Deluxe using CyberLink PowerRemote.