Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth

Set in 2015 in the fortress city of Tokyo-3, the film follows a Japan rebuilding after a global catastrophe while giant beings known as Angels launch repeated attacks. A secret organization called NERV deploys Evangelions, biomechanical units piloted by children, to stop them. The movie is made up of two halves. The first, longer part assembles material from the Neon Genesis Evangelion television series, rearranging events rather than presenting them in order and adding some newly made scenes, so that the story reaches the death of the last Angel. The second, shorter part picks up directly from that point and begins the storyline that continues in the follow-up feature The End of Evangelion.

The film was released in Japan in 1997. It is a group effort rather than the work of a single author: Tensai Okamura, Seiji Mizushima, Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Masayuki and several others share directing credit, with Anno also among the screenwriters. For Anno it is the second of the 15 films he has directed, coming between Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion and Revival of Evangelion. The voice cast includes Megumi Ogata as Shinji Ikari, Megumi Hayashibara, Yuko Miyamura, Kotono Mitsuishi, Fumihiko Tachiki and Koichi Yamadera.

Audience response has been positive. On IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from around 17,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4 out of 10 from a much smaller base of just over 500 votes, suggesting a dedicated following rather than broad viewership.