Both the DVD and Blu-ray release of Evangelion 2.22 is finally out and since both copies come with the collector's film strip this time, I decided to go for the higher quality Blu-ray version.

The packaging is fairly much the same as the 1.01 limited edition - A sturdy cardboard box except I think it's orange for the Blu-ray versions.

Some movie spoilers ahead.

Originally I had planned to pre-order with HMV Japan for the exclusive bonus item they had on offer - An HMV pencil board with an illustration of Asuka on it which would make a nice collectable. But that meant paying an extra £10 just for postage so I decided against it. The Japanese Blu-ray itself is already expensive enough at more than double the price of local movies ^^;

Only one disc this time since a Blu-ray disc can store over 20 DVDs worth of content. That said, the Blu-ray and DVD contents are exactly the same which includes pilot versions of omitted scenes, trailers, making of and another Noguchi music video. Same as the last release basically.

Except Blu-ray looks a lot nicer on large modern day HD TVs of course.

The booklet itself is also very much like the last one...

Listing the characters, Angels, Eva terminology and the behind the scenes work.

Except there were no lovely hand-drawn illustrations this time round whereas last time there was one of Shinji and Rei.

And what about the random film strip cut from the movie reel?

Well, I got EVA-01 going berserk this time. Funny I got a mecha scene of the same unit the last time too.

If you want an idea of what scenes other people got you can visit the Togetter "Minna no Evangelion" thread or the Hachima Kikou blog. Some people actually got the blank screens during scene transitions unfortunately while others were lucky enough to get a good portrait shot and stick it up for auction at over 113,000 Yen (US$1200).

There was also an advertisement about the Evangelion 2.0 Complete Records Collection which will apparently come with film strips too. It isn't cheap, though.

Anyway, I won't say much about the movie itself because you can read that from my UK première impressions write-up. Instead, I will talk about the "generous" 3 minutes of extra footage that Khara and Gainax has once again decided to put back into this remastered version of the movie.

The noted times a approximate.

[00:12:30] (50s)

Shinji meets Kaji for the first time after meeting Asuka. Kaji asks for directions to the Geofront Terminal and remarks how much has changed since two years ago. He also teases Shinji, "You're not the only one that knows what how bad Misato's sleeping face looks".

[00:45:20] (50s)

Synchronisation tests with Misato spinning on chair and Asuka complaining about the peaceful days.

[00:54:27] (30s)

Eva-03 flying above the American Nerv HQ and then thunder clouds are seen.

[01:21:05] (10s)

Eva-03's mangled Entry Plug.

I think these extra scenes were more interesting than the ones they added to 1.11 since they weren't just an extension of an existing scene and expands on the Eva world. If you want a bit of realism you'd wonder what the pilots do when they're not fighting Angels, right?

Then again, the original series had sync tests too.

Now if only they can be as generous as Square-Enix who put over 30 minutes of extra footage in their remastered version of FFVII: Advent Children (Complete)... That would make the third movie "Evangelion: Q" perfect and better value but I have a feeling the producers will stick with the 3 minutes and same packaging for the remaining two movies.