Neon Genesis Evangelion is such a classic that I'm assuming at least a few of you guys watched the original TV series and two movies. Has anyone else watched parts 1 and 2 of the Rebuild? The titles are Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone and Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. There are 4 parts total with part 3 and part 4 both scheduled to release in Japan in Fall 2012. The creator of the Evangelion franchise Hideaki Anno stated that he "was happy to finally recreate Eva 'as he wanted it to be' in the beginning and that he was no longer constrained by technological and budget limitations" (source)

I rewatched Evangelion 1.0 last night and watched Evangelion 2.0 for the first time tonight. I was blown away. Part 1 is basically a condense version of the first 6 episodes of the original series. It's all new animation but it's very faithful visually to the original. The new version of the last angel in the movie, Ramiel, is pretty awesome (especially if you're stoned).

Part 2 follows bit and pieces of the basic plot from episodes 7 through 20 but overall there are more dissimilarities than similarities when comparing it to the original tv series. I thought part 2 had a fuck ton more emotional impact than part 1. I think I even like this part of the story better than the comparable episodes in the original series.

I can't wait for parts 3 and 4. If you like to smoke, I would definitively partake before watching the Rebuild. There are amazing visuals and some really kick ass fight scenes as well as a few very emotional bits in part 2 (I cried twice).