Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth

This first part, Evangelion: Death, is a 're-cap' editing together scenes from the first 24 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion in the form of a clip show, along with additional animation created after the show's original broadcast. This includes scenes from the original show re-drawn shot-for-shot, entirely new shots augmenting existing sequences, and linking segments based around the premise of the four main characters playing Pachelbel's Canon as a string quartet. Some of the additional shots and re-drawn animation would later be re-edited into the new extended cuts of Episodes 21-24 included on the Japanese Laserdisc and American and European Platinum Collection releases of the TV series, commonly known as the "Director's Cut" versions in the West. The part ends with credits accompanied by a double string quartet arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon.

The second part, Evangelion: Rebirth, consists of approximately 24 minutes of entirely new animation that would eventually form the first third of the film The End of Evangelion, released four months later. Serving as a preview while the film was still in production, Rebirth only covers the initial preparations of the Human Instrumentality Project and the invasion of the Geofront by the JSSDF, ending with the arrival of the Mass Production Evas. Because of its unfinished state, there are differences between Rebirth and the portion it covers of the finished Episode 25' that makes up the first half of The End Of Evangelion. These differences include editing, shots that were later re-drawn entirely, and soundtrack cues that were replaced or further edited. The part ends with credits accompanied by the song Tamashii No Refrain by Yoko Takahashi.

Evangelion: Death(True) screened on January 2, 1998 on the Japanese satellite TV channel WOWOW; this version of Evangelion: Death was personally re-edited by Masayuki, removing some of the extra footage new to the feature. This was released on home video for the first time as part of the Archives of Evangelion DVD box set in 2015.[3]

The promotional poster of Revival of Evangelion

Another theatrical presentation titled Revival of Evangelion was released on March 8, 1998, consisting of Death(True)² (a further edit of Death(True), with a few removed shots edited back in) followed by a 4 minute intermission and then the finished The End of Evangelion. Revival and End were released on the ninth and tenth discs of the Renewal of Evangelion box set with the latter titled Evangelion – The Feature Film. Revival of Evangelion and the original theatrical cut of Death and Rebirth were both released on Blu-Ray alongside other materials as part of the 2015 Neon Genesis Evangelion box set.[3] Death(True)² is also the version most widely released in the west, having been opted by Netflix for its distribution service.