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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Neon Genesis Evangelion-Collection 0:3 (Episodes 9-11) (1997)

Neon Genesis Evangelion-Collection 0:3 (Episodes 9-11) (1997)

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Released 10-Apr-2001
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Anime	Menu Animation & Audio Biographies-Character Trailer-5 DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	75:39
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Hideaki Anno
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Spike Spencer Allison Keith Tiffany Grant Sue Ulu Tristan MacAvery Aaron Krohn Amanda Winn
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp	Starring
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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Plot Synopsis

Episode 9:

After the humiliating but non-deadly defeat of Eva 01 and 02 at the hands of Angel #7 (Israphel), which has the ability to replicate itself, Shinji and Asuka are forced to learn how to work as a team. Of course, the main problem here is Asuka, with her brazen attitude. In order to defeat Israphel, Shinji and Asuka will have to learn how to execute a synchronized attack, where the final blow to Israphel is landed simultaneously. To help Shinji and Asuka learn the routine, Asuka is moved into Misato's house, much to the annoyance of Asuka and Shinji.

Episode 10:

An unborn Angel is found inside an active volcano and Eva units 01 and 02 are sent to capture it. Eva unit 02 is fitted with D-type equipment so it can survive the severe heat and pressure of the molten lava while attempting to retrieve the yet unborn Angel.

Episode 11:

Someone has sabotaged the Geo-front's power systems and while power is being restored Angel #9 attacks (Matriel). Matriel looks like a giant spider, and excretes an acid-like substance. All three Eva units are sent to defeat this latest Angel.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The transfer is very good in all areas except telecine wobble. Unfortunately, the telecine wobble is so frequent and distracting that it basically ruins the picture quality.

The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

Sharpness is very good and is much more consistent than previous instalments of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Only a couple of scenes were a little soft, such as at 51:36. One problem that has been totally fixed on this disc is the "black lines going in and out of focus" problem that plagued 0:1 and 0:2 - not a single instance of this was noticed. This is a great improvement over the previous two discs, and it really allowed the picture to shine.

There isn't much in the way of shadow detail. In fact, there is basically none, but I guess this is to be expected since this is animation.

Only one totally insignificant instance of Vertical Banding was noticed at 27:43 (see X-Files Season 1 Box Set for a picture and further details of this artefact). One trivial instance of low-level noise was noted at 58:38. Only a couple of trivial instances of edge-enhancement were noticed and they did not disrupt the picture quality at all. No interlacing artefacts were noticed this time, but I may have missed them because of the annoying telecine wobble (more on this in a minute).

The colour was very good and true to the original content, with all objects being well saturated.

No grain or pixelization was noticed.

Apart from some minor digital ringing around some of the writing in Episodes 9 and 11, no MPEG artefacts were noticed and only three trivial instances of aliasing were seen - 35:15, 49:15 and 60:05 - 60:11. As you can probably gather, the picture quality has been rather good in all areas covered so far, and it would have received a 3.5 star rating if it weren't for the awful telecine wobble. The wobble is in the form of a big and quick pull of the entire image horizontally. In Episode 11, the picture also jumps vertically. This horizontal pulling occurs every five or six seconds for all of Episode 9, much of Episode 10 and in patches of Episode 11. Even on my trusty old 68cm TV, it was still really noticeable and distracting...very disappointing and a real shame.

The most noticeable film artefacts are in the form of damage to the top or bottom five lines of the frame. This damage usually only lasts for one or two frames, but tends to repeat itself several times before disappearing. On my 68cm TV set, this damage was hidden by overscan, which would be the case for most TV sets. The two most noticeable instances of this occur around 9:12 and 61:59.

At the end of each episode, the English translated end credits have removed and the original Japanese credits restored in their place. However, after the Japanese end credits of Episode 11, we get the English credits for all episodes, presented on a black background.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

There are two 192Kb/s Dolby Digital 2.0 audio tracks on this DVD; English and Japanese. I listened to the default English soundtrack.

The dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout the entire movie.

The original series was made for Japan, with Japanese dialogue, so the dubbed English dialogue is naturally way out of sync.

The surround channels were nicely used for music and the odd sound effect.

The subwoofer is lightly used throughout the episodes, mostly for the music.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Extras are limited.

Notes-MAGI Data Files

Five single pages of text featuring a small amount of information about Rei, Eva Unit 00, Angel #7-Israphel, Angel #8-Sandalphon, and Angel #9-Matriel.

Theatrical Trailer - Bubblegum Crisis 2040 (1:27 minutes)

This trailer is of good quality, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with a 224Kb/s Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. There is some grain present.

Theatrical Trailer - Sin The Movie (2:08 minutes)

This trailer is of good quality, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with a 224Kb/s Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. There is some aliasing present.

Theatrical Trailer - Martian Successor NADESICO (1:38 minutes)

This trailer is of good quality, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with a 224Kb/s Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. There is some minor grain present.

Theatrical Trailer - Spriggan (1:17 minutes)

This trailer is of very good quality, presented in the non-16x9 enhanced aspect ratio of 1.70:1, with a 224Kb/s Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. There are some interlacing artefacts present.

Theatrical Trailer - GASARAKI (1:38 minutes)

This trailer is of average quality, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with a 224Kb/s Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. There is some strong chroma noise, aliasing and interlacing artefacts present.

Notes - DVD Credits

Single page of text.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

Additional French and Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0) soundtracks.

The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

Nothing

Since the R4 version and R1 versions are basically identical, it will come down to which format you prefer, PAL or NTSC.

Summary

For me, the Neon Genesis Evangelion series promised a lot, but turned out to be disappointing.

If it weren't for the really bad telecine wobble, the picture quality would have been very good indeed, but alas it was not meant to be, and so the overall picture quality can only be considered to be average. Even on my 68cm TV, this telecine wobble is still really noticeable and very distracting.

There are no transfer-induced faults in the audio, so there is little to nothing to complain about in this regard.