Neon Genesis Evangelion is coming to Bluray in the USA, UK and elsewhere. This anime series, which was originally about giant mech battles, has been a seminal 1995 classic. You might not know that the news was only for a limited edition of $275 Neon Genesis Evangelions Ultimate Edition, which was released in the USA on May 2nd. Only 5,000 copies were sold at the time.
GKids has today released a 5-disc Standard Edition for $60. It will ship one month earlier than the $275 copies and technically makes it the first Blu-ray release in America when it arrives on November 9th. If you're still disappointed that the Ultimate Edition of 11 Blu-ray discs wasn't available, You might also like the new 11-disc Collectors edition for $220, which ships December 8th.
Both can be preordered today and will feature the same 1080p footage with a 1:133:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD MA5.1 audio in English and Japanese.
Each edition includes the 26-episode original series as well as Evangelion Death (True), which older fans may know as Death & Rebirth or The End of Evangelion. There are also two additional hours of bonus features, including auditions for the Japanese cast, and a 40-page book.
The Collectors Edition looks something like this.
Although it's not as extravagant as the Ultimate Edition at 156 pages, the book comes with fancier artwork and a NERV ID Badge. But I think I'll still live. In case you are interested, the UK version is still available. Here's the Ultimate Editions Spread:
Evangelion was the first show that introduced me anime. Some of its most disturbing moments live in my head rent free. The series and its sequels were legally released in the US via Netflix, where you can still view them today. We called it the perfect story for the moment.
Australia and the UK will likely announce similar editions: click here to find out who is the UK distributor and click here to see what Australia has done.
