FUNimation also announced that it has acquired the home entertainment, broadcast, digital and merchandise rights to the animated sci-fi action film EVANGELION: 2.0 YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE from NTV.
EVANGELION: 2.0 YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE is the second of four films by Hideaki Anno and Studio Khara based on the 1990’s Gainax “Neon Genesis Evangelion” anime series, a long-running anime about teenagers defending the world from machines and mass destruction.
The film is produced by Toshimichi Otsuki and directed by Hideaki Anno, Masayuki, and Kazuya Tsurumaki from the screenplay written by Anno. The mechanical designer is Ikuto Yamashita.
The setting is Tokyo 3, an outpost in a future world devastated by the "Second Impact." Attacked by shape-shifting mecha-behemoths known as “Angels”, what's left of Earth is defended by giant "Eva" robots piloted by high school students. Selected for duty by NERV, a top-secret military organization, the children are linked to their Evas by a design feature that channels the spirits of deceased family members into the machine's circuitry. The lead pilot is Shinji (voiced by Ogata), the troubled son of emotionally distant NERV scientist Gendou Ikari. Rebelling against his predestined path, Shinji is brought back into the fold by teacher-mother figure Misato Katsuragi (Mitsuishi) and fellow pilot Rei (Hayashibara).
FUNimation Entertainment will release the film on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011.
