Release
After the series ended, Anno was dissatisfied due to issues of time, financial troubles, and network censorship. Thus, when the series was released on VHS and Laserdisc, each episode was remastered and cuts were reincorporated into episodes 21-26, with the first four being drastically enhanced and the final two being completely remade as the double-feature Death and Rebirth. However, again, due to time and budget constraints, the remastering and reanimating of episodes 21-24 was put on hold in favor of the movie. However, the Rebirth animation was not finished and it was decided to later release the second half of Death and Rebirth as a stand alone release. Death included some of the scenes that were already completed for the remastered episodes 21-24. It was then decided that Evangelion: Rebirth II should also include the previous animation and was then renamed The End of Evangelion.
After that, the tapes "Genesis 0:11 and 0:12" were released and contained the redone episodes 21-24 and "Genesis 0:13 and 0:14" contained both endings, 0:13 containing both the TV and film versions of episode 25 and 0:14 containing the TV and film versions of episode 26.
In 1998, the Evangelion films were released in their original intended form, without the extra scenes in the recap movie (Death(true)²) and with the full new ending. In 2000, the "Second Impact Box" was released in three parts, containing the 26 uncut, remastered episodes and the 2 movies (also including Rebirth).
In 2003, the nine-volume "Renewal of Evangelion" DVDs were released, with the series' sound and picture remastered for HD and 5.1 technology (for example, new background sounds were recorded). The first eight volumes covered the original 26 episodes (with two versions of episodes 21-24: the uncut version and a reconstruction of the edited version). The ninth volume, containing two discs, named Evangelion: The Movie, contained Death(true)² and End of Evangelion. The Renewal release formed the basis for the western "Platinum Edition" (which didn't include the movies, as the movies were licensed by Manga Entertainment, while the series was licensed by A.D. Vision). The "Platinum Edition" features slightly different English subtitles than the original VHS and DVD releases. The original dub of episodes 25 and 26 were replaced with only the 'Director's Cut' dubs of these episodes.
Read more about this topic: Neon Genesis Evangelion (anime)
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