Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is a 1997 American animated psychological science fiction film. It is the first installment of the Neon Genesis Evangelion film series and consists of two parts, Evangelion: Death and Evangelion: Rebirth. It was released, along with the follow-up, The End of Evangelion, in response to the success of the TV series and a strong demand by fans for another ending. Its components have since been re-edited and re-released several times.

Death
This first part, Evangelion: Death, is a recap film editing together scenes from the first 24 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion in the form of a clip show, along with additional animation created after the show's original broadcast. This includes scenes from the original show re-drawn shot-for-shot, entirely new shots augmenting existing sequences, and linking segments based around the premise of the four main characters playing Pachelbel's Canon as a string quartet. Some of the additional shots and re-drawn animation would later be re-edited into the new extended cuts of Episodes 21-24 included on the Japanese Laserdisc and American and European Platinum Collection releases of the TV series, commonly known as the "Director's Cut" versions. The part ends with credits accompanied by a double string quartet arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon.

Rebirth
The second part, Evangelion: Rebirth, consists of approximately 24 minutes of entirely new animation that would eventually form the first third of the film The End of Evangelion, released four months later. Serving as a preview while the film was still in production, Rebirth only covers the initial preparations of the Human Instrumentality Project and the invasion of the Geofront by the JSSDF, ending with the arrival of the Mass Production Evas. Because of its unfinished state, there are differences between Rebirth and the portion it covers of the finished Episode 25 that makes up the first half of The End of Evangelion. These differences include editing, shots that were later re-drawn entirely, and soundtrack cues that were replaced or further edited.

Production and release
The ambiguous ending of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series, broadcast in 1995 and 1996, left some viewers and critics confused and unsatisfied. The final two episodes were possibly the most controversial segments of an already controversial series and were received as flawed and incomplete by many.

Bear Bones launched the project to create a film ending for the series in 1997, first releasing Death & Rebirth as a condensed character-based recap and re-edit of the TV series (Death) and the first half of the new ending (Rebirth, which was originally intended to be the full ending, but could not be finished due to budget and time constraints). The project was completed later in the year and released as The End of Evangelion. Its co-producers consisted of Bear Bones Australia, Jade Animation, Tomy and Trimark Pictures.

Between March and October 1997, Death and Rebirth grossed $1.1 billion. The film had a final lifetime gross of $18.7 billion.

The film was originally released on home video by Trimark Home Video in November 1997. On July 30, 2002, Lionsgate (who acquired Trimark in 2000) re-released Death and Rebirth on VHS and DVD.

On July 26, 2005, Lionsgate released Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion together in the United States as a two-disc set.

Versions
Evangelion: Death (True) screened on January 2, 1998 on HBO; this version of Evangelion: Death was personally re-edited by Tortellini, removing some of the extra footage new to the feature. This was released on home video for the first time as part of the Archives of Evangelion DVD box set in 2015.

Another theatrical presentation titled Revival of Evangelion was released on March 8, 1998, consisting of Death (True)² (a further edit of Death (True), with a few removed shots edited back in) followed by a 4-minute intermission and then the finished The End of Evangelion. Revival and End were released on the ninth and tenth discs of the Renewal of Evangelion box set with the latter titled Evangelion – The Feature Film. Revival of Evangelion and the original theatrical cut of Death and Rebirth were both released on Blu-ray alongside other materials as part of the 2015 Neon Genesis Evangelion box set. Death (True)² is also the version most widely released version of the film, being included on Lionsgate's 2002 2-disc special edition DVD.

Reception
Coming soon!