Evangelion The Real 4D: 2.0 - Impressions and Merchandise

Universal Studios Japan has once again created some new and revamped versions of attractions based upon some of the very best and most popular areas of pop culture, manga and video games as part of it's 'Cool Japan 2016' campaign. The much anticipated 164 day limited event launched last Friday and has added cutting-edge technology including virtual reality headsets.
This year five attractions are featured, a revamped Evangelion ride that continues the story, Monster Hunter, Attack on Titan and Resident Evil. The most exciting new addition is a modified version of 'Space Fantasy' that has been fitted with virtual reality headsets to help you explore the weird and wonderful kawaii pop world inspired by Kyary Pyamu Pyamu.

I was lucky enough to go to Universal Studios last Saturday with the intention of trying out the Attack on Titan and Kyary Pyamu Pyamu rides, unfortunately the Attack on Titan attraction had ended at 2pm, to be switched to the Evangelion attraction instead. The Kyary ride however had a whopping SIX hour wait and they even refused further additions to the line, not that I would want to wait six hours anyway. I should have suspected this considering it was the opening weekend! Japanese people love to wait for something new!

Instead we chose to wait for the 'Evangelion The Real 4D: 2.0' experience, the queue was roughly 3 hours long which was pretty brutal in the recent freezing weather but it gave us plenty of time to catch up on the Evangelion lore which I must admit, I had mostly forgotten since I haven't seen the anime for many years!

Check out the commercial for the attraction below, to get hyped for my report! Universal always have fantastic marketing campaigns for each new ride.
"かつてない死闘を体感せよ" 'Experience the unprecedented struggle to the death!'

The Evangelion and Attack on Titan attractions take over the original Sesame Street theatre and therefore there is not a lot of external promotion beyond the odd poster and associated merchandise stands, it would have been cooler if there was some form of TV screen or promotional statues etc. alongside the line to make it a little less tedious.

MINOR ATTRACTION SPOILERS BELOW:

I will assume that you have some base knowledge of what Evangelion is and the characters involved while describing, if you haven't seen the series yet, I highly recommend it!

Upon entering you are funnelled into a briefing room just outside of the theatre and are greeted by three large monitors featuring the clasped hands and glasses of Gendo Ikari. We listen in as he has a voice only meeting with the other members of the Seele organization. Each member's role is lit up upon the walls of the area as if it was one giant communication panel.

It turns out that the people in the room, us, are researchers from the government interested in what the NERV project is currently working on and what that entails, we listen to Seele and Gendo discuss what to do with us and how to proceed with giving us a tour. After the discussion finishes we are giving a briefing by the Operations Major Misato Katsuragi, she gives us an overview of the Evangelion battle units as well as their pilots, there is an amusing fan service point during her explanation but I won't ruin it for you. This gives you a great overview of the general concept of the NERV project and therefore those who haven't watched the series can get the gist.

It turns out that we will be accompanying pilot Mari Makinami Illustrious in her Eva 04 Unit, complete with new 'rapid borer' equipment designed to inflict brutal damage in battle. It is meant to be a rudimentary tour of how the Unit is piloted and how it functions but of course it wouldn't be an attraction if it ended up so simple...!

A brief overview of the Eva - 04 as a TV commercial.

The doors then open and we get seated, along with our 4D glasses that are surprisingly lightweight and comfortable, they don't obstruct your vision in any way. For those of you that are familiar with the series, the events of this 2.0 attraction closely resemble the battle against Angel 10 Zeruel in the 2.0 movie. The story is fascinating, especially if you’re a fan of the series, but what stands out is the multi sensory effects that come at you from all corners of the room. It truly is a 4D experience, complete with visceral spraying blood (water), explosions, vibrations, shocks and other effects –– coming from under your seat. With each movement and impact of the Eva unit alongside being hit by debris and attacks, the seat shifts and the cool air of the sky can be felt against your face. It's a pretty intense and absorbing simulation.

We see everything from the perspective of Maki, within the cock-pit of the Unit, it is a totally first person experience so we can see our arms move in front of our face, reminiscent of an FPS game. Our tour quickly goes awry as we receive a briefing from NERV command that an angel enemy has breached the area, the extremely strong 10th Angel - Zeruel from the movie/climax of the series.

The hollow face of Zeruel, who attacks with ribbon like appendages.

It is a code red attack and we immediately launch into action, obtaining an air dropped rifle and begin to shoot at our new foe. It is hard to recall as the battle is very intense, very fast and very dynamic. You are constantly moving, both on screen and physically in your seat. They had me hyped from the start.
Asuka jumps into the fray with her progressive knife yelling that she can handle it herself and leaps ahead to assault Zeruel while we give support fire. She struggles to break it's incredibly strong AT field (shield) and is thrown off but not before a ribbon like limb severs her entire damn leg off, covering the screen in visceral red blood - which you feel spray across your face. At that point I was sold, this is amazing.

Shinji and Rei now jump in, Shinji leaping upon Zeruel and attempting to punch through while we give support rifle fire alongside Rei. It is no use and Shinji gets viciously impaled, spraying more blood, his limp body being cast aside. We go in for a close assault, smashing at the angels face but to no avail and are whacked aside, sent sprawling alongside Shinji's motionless and most likely dead unit. We look up and see Zeruel hurling towards us but Rei jumps in and vows to protect us using her own AT field, she puts up a valiant fight but it is no use...

Rei is gripped by the Angel's limbs and we can do nothing but look up and see her arms torn off graphically one by one, once again covering us in gore. The angel then sprouts a disgusting and huge mouth that consumes Rei, before spitting out her torn Unit head right into our visor causing massive damage (and shock! Way more intense than I was expecting!)

Maki (and us) spur into action, equipping our new 'Rapid Borer' arms and eagerly assault the Angel, relentlessly pummelling and boring against the AT Field but it just isn't enough. Our borers sustain massive damage and malfunction. In desperation, as in the original anime, Maki enters 'beast' mode becoming a more feral version of her original self, transforming her unit in unison as we can note with our now claw like hands. We take to the sky and can see in the water's reflection that we have now been equipped with beast like wings, feeling the air and the splash of water against our skin as we rush in for an aerial assault. So. Intense. Everything happens so quick and seamlessly.

We get wrecked nonetheless and all seems helpless. Once again hit to the ground. We smack Shinji's lifeless wreck across the face cursing at him for being a weak guy unable to do anything. This somehow reaches him and edges him into life, he awakens and goes absolutely berserk, forming a new arm with his AT field energy and goes completely nuts against Zeruel as we look on. He completely smashes apart the At field and despite the crew and NERV HQ's warnings he continues the assault, leading into one epic punch in mid air that makes Zeruels body EXPLODE into gore and blood that fills the entire screen. The scenery is full of beautiful yet scarred imagery as if the world is going to end.

From within the body, Rei's core manifests itself into a glowing red image of her before she is consumed by Shinji's unit, thus initiating the 'Third Impact' and thus the end of the world and all life on it...

A few other details happen that I won't mention but at the end we are left with a 'to be continued...' message so I assume there will be another iteration next year, lets hope!

I was really impressed by it and would recommend it to anyone, fan or not. Three hours is a bit long to wait if you are not a fan but I can't imagine the line will get any shorter than 2 hours for the time being, definitely worth it if you have a year pass though! It is entirely in Japanese but I am sure you would enjoy the experience even if you don't understand the dialogue.

Outside of the experience itself is an ABUNDANCE of merchandise, I took a few shots of the various goods below, the popcorn helmet steals the show though!

USJ must make so much money...

Not going to lie, I thought this was pretty damn cool...the price? Not so cool.

Very similar to the figures you could win in the 7/11 prize raffle..

Popcorn bucket WITH GLOWING EYES and LCL Drink.

Popcorn buckets are quite pricy at 3,980 but definitely are a unique item!

More advertising...

These stores are cool to check out even if you don't ride.

Overall a very good start to my experience of the 'Cool Japan 2016' campaign! I definitely aim to ride the rest. I was able to check out the Monster Hunter attraction too so stay tuned for another post later this week!
Thanks for reading!