Evangelion 2.0 has advanced, despite its name.

I had a chance to watch the second Rebuild of Evangelion movie, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. While the story generally follows that of the original series, there's a few welcome changes along with some otherwise unnecessary changes made for the sake of marketing. How does it rank overall?

Evangelion 2.0 picks up where the first rebuild movie leaves off and follows the continuity of the series from episode 8 through 19. Omitted are the Jet Alone robot, the aquatic angel Gaghiel - replaced with a water strider-like angel similar to acid leaking angel Matarael, The twin angel Israfel, the volcano angel Shamshel, microscopic, computer virus angel Iruel, and illusion angel Leliel - though its attributes were incorporated into orbital angel Sahaquiel.

The movie also introduces new character, Mari Illustrious Makinami, who is introduced as a test pilot for Evangelion provisional unit 05 at NERV's Bethany base. Mari remains a mystery throughout the movie, but it is implied that she is a spy for SEELE, much like Kaji.

What I liked:

Rei Ayanami's personality is drastically improved, and is now actually cute. I'd liken her personality as similar to Primula from Shuffle!. Rei's relationship with Shinji is much more developed and shows Rei genuinely cares about him, albeit in a motherly or sisterly way.

Along the same lines, Shinji has definitely grown a bit of a backbone. He is much more eager and confident while piloting the Eva than he was in the series and speaks his mind more freely. He also exhibits a talent for cooking, which helps in propagating development of Rei's personality.

As with the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie, the Eva battles are significantly improved in terms of animation and intensity of the fight. There were some moments, notably the fights with Sahaquiel and Zeruel that literally made my jaw drop.

What I disliked:

Asuka's character has become much more apathetic and morose. She's much more conceited than she was in the original series, though her feelings for Shinji are a bit less ambiguous now. However, her infatuation with Shinji seems partly out of jealousy of his close relationship with Rei Ayanami, which adds a bit of a "love triangle" element to the movie that I feel just does not belong in Evangelion.

Asuka also seems to have been pushed off as a secondary character and doesn't seem quite as significant as she was in the series. Much of her role has been taken over by Mari, due to certain significant continuity changes in the plot. To put it bluntly, Asuka got gypped. I'd pick anime or manga Asuka over movie Asuka any day.

Speaking of Mari, her introduction and involvement in the plot of the movie seems a bit out of place and feels like she was thrown in for the sake of marketing yet another girl. Perhaps this comes from being an avid fan of the original; perhaps my opinion would be different if she were in the original. Despite that, I still find Mari an enjoyable character.

Overall, despite my dislikes I felt Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance was a fantastic movie adaption to one of anime's most legendary series. The DVD release can't get here soon enough! I'd expect a domestic DVD release by FUNimation sometime next year. Be sure to pick it up!