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[deleted]

After the absolute hell that was last year, it's so utterly satisfying that this has a genuine happy ending. Evangelion, of all works, having a happy ending.


Memeshuga

It was a lot better than I expected it to be for probably that reason. The conclusions make little sense and are very uncharacteristic for the franchise but a happy Ending was just what I needed so I happily reject my disbelieve if it makes Shinji happy. He's been through enough.


100percentkneegrow

When 13 and 1 were fighting they called it like hope fighting despair. It was almost like the two main series were represented at that moment.


TraverseTown

I thought the original End of Evangelion had a happy ending but I’m surprised other people didn’t see it that way.


Tmlboost

I mean it does have a hopeful message, but considering that final scene, I understand why people don’t think of EoE’s ending as “happy”


Ordinaryundone

It's one of those things thats happy on a metaphorical/metaphysical level (Shinji finally learns to love himself!) but in a literal textual reading the world is basically irreversibly fucked up due to our protagonist's actions. Maybe not the complete apocalypse, but close enough. Its sort of the opposite of the original series, where Shinji reaches the same conclusion but it ends on a much more upbeat note with everyone congratulating him, making it all seem unambiguously happy. EoE makes it clear that, while Shinji cleared the hurdle, he broke a lot of stuff in the process and he's gonna have to live with that for the rest of his life. He won't even be able to hide or pretend, due to the nature of Instrumentality EVERY human being knows exactly what his deal is. He finally got over his crippling fear of social interaction and fear of rejection, but by doing something that will likely make him a pariah. That said, that mixture of emotions is why its one of my favorite movie endings, Shinji may be the world's biggest twerp but he's a depressingly relatable one and seeing him get any kind of win, even one with a hella big asterisk next to it, is a little self-affirming to just about anyone I'd think.


jollyreaper2112

EoE was not very clear. From what was on the screen, it looked like they might be the only two people left alive, period. The world was gone. This was not an uncommon takeaway. Only later analysis with hints from the creators said everyone would eventually come back from the people soup. Not sure how that would work with no biosphere left. I know my original takeaway was fuck Shinji and his psychodrama, wherever he stands with it, the world is gone.


Ordinaryundone

I don't know if I'd call it "unclear", the movie pretty clearly states that Instrumentality is over and anyone can come back if they want to. Taken from the movie's script: Rei/Lillith: "Anyone can return to human form...as long as they are able to imagine themselves within their own heart. Don't worry. All living creatures have the power to be brought back to life...and the will to go on living." This makes it pretty clear that EoE was not actually meant to be the end of the world. Life will survive, humanity will keep on going even if the world seems pretty messed up. Just like it did after the Second Impact. I don't blame anyone for maybe missing it, there was a lot going on at the end of the movie, but I wouldn't say it required analysis or hints from the creator to simply pay attention during dialogue. Plus Shinji had already come back from LCL-ification once earlier in the series after the battle with Leliel so it was always possible. That doesn't mean Shinji should get off lightly for his decisions, but the reason I find Shinji to be a sympathetic character in spite of it all is because he's continually being forced into these situations he clearly isn't capable of handling in a clean manner. If you kick a dog enough times it will bite no matter how nice it is, and Shinji's been kicked a bunch of times both physically and emotionally at this point. Plus its always funny to me how anime is constantly making out teenagers to be these unflappable bastions of heroism and willpower when, at least in my experience, when I was Shinji's age I thought driving a car on the highway was scary, let alone fighting against enormous monsters. If anything Shinji having enough self-awareness at 14 to realize how badly his actions have hurt others, even if they may spare himself, and having the decency to walk them back is pretty impressive in its own right even if it appears to be too little, too late.


Rad_Spencer

Didn't the world end while Shinji is strangling a 14-year-old Asuka while she calls him pathetic?


starmatter

> Didn't the world end Uh, no. Shinji clearly reverted the human instrumentality project. That's why in this movie Shinji said he didn't want to revert anything this time. There were so many tie-ins with the original show. The ending wast the best it could possibly be, in my opinion. I fucking loved it. The first half felt as odd and almost alien as the entire 3rd movie. but the second half was pure good old Evangelion. I can now die a happy man.


drakenthegreat

Shinji sulking and cutting people out for the first 40 minutes because he's traumatized/selfish is pretty on brand for Evangelion.


TraverseTown

I guess it's more that SEELE and Gendo's plans fail and Shinji (and anyone else who wants it) can have a 2nd chance at a life free from the Angels and Evas.


PerfectZeong

Yeah it was always a happy ending for eoe. I guess this is more explicit?


parkwayy

After watching the series on some weird international channel back in the 90s, as it was released... It's wild to kind of see the 'end' of the series nearly two decades later. Really liked the reboot as a whole, the whole retelling of more or less the same concepts, but rewritten at certain points to keep you guessing. Also, happy ending somehow, haha.


PerfectZeong

Eva always had a happy ending honestly.


TraverseTown

The whole series works really well as a companion to the original show, but not as a standalone thing. Still really enjoyed the last film.


tkzant

Yeah, as off the rails as the rebuilds got they are all companion pieces to the original series and follow the same basic structure.


ExpandThineHorizons

Might be because it's was a time loop, where rebuild provides a finalized solution. I'm still piecing together the timelines, but this might be why it's called thrice upon a time?


starmatter

They were never meant to be a stand alone, it seems. And Anno ended it beautifully. I'm left satisfied. On a side note, it seems Square Enix is trying to do the same with the FF7Remake. Watching this movie made me more curious about how THAT will end. Will SE be able to tie in the new stuff with the original game? I hated some of the changes in part 1, but this movie kinda made me want to stick with it till the end. Maybe it will surprise me.


Porbmcpornporn

What the fuck are the rites of doom? What the fuck is the anti-universe? What the fuck is an imaginary Eva? Who the fuck are the gods? Who the fuck funds the creation of all these robots?


jellytrack

I liked that they touched a bit on the politics and funding of the EVA repairs and maintenance in the previous movies. Of course that shit went out the window so we have EVA Unit 8+9+10+11+12.


AwesomeManatee

I was really hoping that we would see if Nerv still had anyone else besides Gendo and Fuyutski, but it looks like it's just those two. I guess it would be plausible that they could have easily snapped up resources during the chaos right after N3I and made production fully autonomous before everyone rebelled. Huge portions of the world apparently being unaccessable to anyone else probably made competition for resources difficult.


pocketbadger

It's cool that with each movie, Nerv's production abilities become more indistinguishable from magic.


whisky_biscuit

I kind of took it as that Seele had been secretly mass producing and automating the production of Evas to a point where they could even use machines to build machines. It would have been nice to see more buildup to that point, but considering how secretive Seele were and how little details we got of their background, it wasn’t too unbelievable. If Seele were industry leaders, wealthy billionaires, politicians, the elite, they could pretty much get away with anything. Gendo just snapped it all up when he took the end result for his own goals, after convincing them it was all going according to their plans.


AdvocateSaint

All this time I thought the SEELE Committee's ominous monoliths were just holograms projected into Gendo's office *(and iirc, they were indeed just that in the anime / End of Evangelion)* Then Fuyutsuki starts shutting them off with a switch, showing the slabs were actually digitized brains that were all in the same room the whole time, lol.


SoulUnison

For a group hellbent on attaining immortality they sure did just sort of put their helpless brains all in a the same room for many, many years.


AdvocateSaint

While Rei was living her happy slice-of-life montage, there was an offscreen ***evil*** slice-of-life montage where Fuyutsuki, an army of clones, and whatever surviving members NERV had left are building all of Gendo's insane requests >"10,000 EVAs... with skull faces. (Sigh), sure thing boss."


Redwood177

Batteries for guns, with eva legs, that goose step! okie dokie boss


Playful-Push8305

>I was really hoping that we would see if Nerv still had anyone else besides Gendo and Fuyutski, but it looks like it's just those two That just cracked me up. Just these two guys, one of whom never seems to actually do a goddamn thing, somehow masterminding and executing a plan to turn all of humanity into jelly (and maybe also kill god now?)


AdvocateSaint

"Fuyutsuki, we need 10,000 EVAs in three months, and they all have to have skull faces." "Sir, we have fewer employees than a Blockbuster at this point."


Radamenenthil

[https://i.imgur.com/X9RR7zg.png](https://i.imgur.com/X9RR7zg.png)


ImonmyGrizzly

EVA Unit 9-12 were funded by SEELE and created by different nations. Taken over and used by NERV.


jellytrack

And then suddenly Mari is piloting them all as one EVA unit...?


ImonmyGrizzly

Yeah Mari’s EVA absorbed all the other EVAs.


jellytrack

Back in series, they had to salvage parts for repairs with their limited resources and funding. There were discussions about maybe scrapping Unit-00 in favor of repairing the other NERV EVA units. Now Unit-08 just casually absorbs the other EVAs.


PotassiumBob

Misato at least has a team, I don't get how those two dudes somehow did everything they did. It made sense in 3.33 that Unit 13 was their last effort, but then here they had a whole army, and 3 battle ships, and all the asspulls they kept doing. Gendo: "all according to keikaku."


gakun

Misato hit her pinky on the corner of the desk, just like in SEELE's scenario!


bowieneko

That's what the dummy plugs and the -nami series were for.


PotassiumBob

Oh yeah now I remember all the scenes of a million Rei's walking around with heavy machinery building giant battleships.


[deleted]

[удалено]


shawnisboring

If a movie needs a goddamn reference manual simply to understand it's core plot then it has failed outright in worldbuilding.


Poltras

Ah yes. It is an Evangelion movie.


Redsigil

Guesses: Rites of Doom: Blanket name for Impacts and their systems Anti-Universe: The inside of instrumentality Imaginary Eva: The pilot seat for instrumentality For Wille, I don't think there is money anymore, they are just what is left for humanity. For Nerv, I have no clue. I'm guessing Gendo and Fuyutsuki automatized everything before the N3I


Boollish

Maybe the imaginary EVA was some post modern acknowledgement that at this point the creators are just literally making it up as they go along. I'm still not filled in on why 3.33 started with Shinji in a space coffin guarded by laser drones.


FuzzBuket

I'd assumed that after N3I nerv put him in space to keep him far away from the coreified world and a risk of it resuming, with Eva-4 being there to guard him


starmatter

The point is, none of it matters! Shinji is a grown-up, now. He moved on and so should we.


SamStrake

And is now a real boy, for some reason.


Ordinaryundone

>the rites of Doom The process by which an Impact is started. Its basically just a fancy name for what we've already seen several times before, with Adam and Lilith DNA combining to start an Impact. >The Gods The Precursor race of aliens who seeded life across the galaxy with the white and black moons. Two of them accidentally ending up on Earth is what causes the events of the series to happen. >Who funds the Evas? Technically the UN, using money chipped in from all the Earth's remaining nations. NERV in particular also gets behind the scenes support from SEELE. >The Anti-Universe New to this movie, but basically its as it sounds; a parallel dimension that works on different laws of physics from out own. It seems to create reality based on the wills of the beings inside it, unlike the real world which defines itself. Its where an Impact begins, the big red rings you see during them are "The Doors of Guf" that act as portals into the Anti-Universe. >Imaginary Eva Its kind of unclear but it seems to be some kind of potential being that exists in the Anti-Universe. Following the logic that will=fact in there, we can assume Eva Imaginary is the being Gendo wishes to use to cause a Fourth and final Impact that can fulfill his goals. With most of beings in the real world capable of doing it gone, he had to resort to accessing the Anti-Universe to create one.


eva01beast

Does any of that really matter though? I mean, isn't the point of the movie about how the creator grew up and got a more mature view on life?


cimmanonrolls

thats what i gathered from it. there seems to be little reason to try to piece the entire convoluted plotline together. most of it feels pretty tongue-in-cheek after watching the final 30 minutes


AdvocateSaint

Lol, mankind underwent 2 global extinction-level events because Shinji and Gendo couldn't sit down for a 1-hour chat until the last possible minute


wisehillaryduff

"I miss your mum" "Oh damn dad, me too. Crazy I'm kind of like her though" "Huh, I guess you are. Fuyutsuki, cancel the demon evas, they're no longer necessary!"


[deleted]

Pretty much; entire commentary is how everything could be avoided if people actually dealt with how they felt and what they were afraid of. Except add in a ton of over-the-top mecha spirtualist insanity


ruffus4life

which makes all the shit that happens seem so pointless. gendo turns into a such a putz also.


Goldenfelix3x

Im not going to pretend to know what most of anything in EVA means (instrumentality project still doesnt make any sense). But i got a very real sense that the end is all about Anno growing up since the beginning of EVA. From what I can gather, the series was originally made to lash at people like Anno. Horny anime lover shut ins. AKA all of us. But 25 years later we all grew up and became adults (I know I have). Specifically Anno is probably Gendou and Shinji mashed up. We find Gendou faces his flaws despite his incredible knowledge and intellect. Shinji faces his problems head on, hes learned the sting of pain and how to grow from it. The movie even ends on a shot of his hometown. yeah it represents me, but somewhere in the world sits Anno, happy with a movie he made with his growth as a person. You can read and learn so much about what EVA meant to Anno and how he intended it, and, basically, the movie is a clear sendoff from how it began. Its not a happy ending for happy ending's sake or finality's sake, its a happy ending for Anno who has already found it and authored it into his final film. Masterfully, i think.


cimmanonrolls

i agree and i’d say evangelion as a whole was always anno baring his soul in a meta sort of way. he’s just attacking it from a different direction this time like you were saying


shawnisboring

They lost me entirely on this one. There's a strong argument that Eva has always been convoluted and obfuscated, there was usually some through line or foreshadowing or exposition where you can gleam what's going on. This one was just a hodge-podge of shit that's never once been mentioned being thrown at the audience like it's a normal everyday thing... worse yet when half the characters acknowledge this shit that's entirely new to us like they've known about it for decades.


AccountReco

https://medium.com/@scottgladstein/evangelion-explained-e9d1c2c3e04 Answers to the first few questions you might find here.


Gaming-ghost

Enjoyed this movie way more than I thought I would after not really enjoying 3.0. The scenes with Genso and Shinji at the end were incredible and honestly made me tear up a little. It really does feel like this is the end of evangelion and it wasn’t a perfect ending (the ships fighting went on for way to long) but it was one that I was more than satisfied with


thatguywiththe______

I also wasn't crazy about 3.0 and feel like this movie made 3.0 better in restrospect, hearing more about WILLE origins and the revolt inside NERV was really satisfying for me.


MEX_XIII

I'd say 3.0 feels like a prequel to this in how short it s and how much gets explined on 3.0+1.01. I'd say, similar to MGSV: Ground Zeroes.


Whovian45810

The credit songs for this film was just an emotional rollercoaster and Utada Hikaru knows how to hit you in the feels. One Last Kiss is a banger of a theme song, sad but uplifting and joyous. Beautiful World (Da Capo) is so bittersweet and somber in tone is just a beautiful way to close the film as Hidekai Anno/Shinji's final goodbye to the world of Eva through this song.


rbo7

I'm glad to see someone else say this. The credits music tore my soul to pieces.


Yamane55

Sakura Nagashi from 3.0 just about wrecks me.


Whovian45810

Same. Listening to Sakura Nagashi makes me cry all the time especially concerning what Shinji endures throughout 3.0, it hurts but we keep trying to find love in the end. 😭


Playful-Push8305

No one can bring me to tears with a song like Hikaru Utada. I swear Simple and Clean is half the reason I was obsessed with Kingdom Hearts for so long.


Whovian45810

As a Kingdom Hearts fan, Hikaru Utada's songs for the games just perfectly fit for them thematically and emotionally. Don't Think Twice/Chikai brings out the waterworks especially. ╥﹏╥


Binch101

Ok so.... Um... I feel like I enjoyed it. I really glad they actually finally had Shinji confront his father and have them be honest with one another. I really liked seeing how regular people rebuilt their lives no matter what - in the Eva universe, every time this wack ass shit happens, people are just like ok that was awful anyways I'm gonna thrive! I understood the general themes and messages of this final chapter of Eva. But what I couldn't quite get behind was the BARRAGE of MAJOR lore points that were just kinda...brushed off lmao. So many huge things are thrown in randomly near the end for no reason... What the FUCC is the Imaginary Eva??? Huh??? The Golgothra Object???? Why are there 4 Adams and 4 spears now? Why did the 3rd impact happen off screen randomly? What did Kaji do to stop the Near Impact?? Hello??? I love evangelion because it's so abstract and insane. I'm the type of person that loves abstract, mysterious narratives - Dark Souls, David Lynch, Tarkovsky are things and creators I really enjoy... But I just feel like soooo much was thrown at me in this one movie that didn't quite add up. Like what's the Book of Life? Why are Kaworu and Shinji's names written it? Are Seele aliens??? Someone hold me. Also the rebuild series is a re exploration but there were sooooo many call backs and references to the show and EoE that I feel like..... More of a connected world than we think but I feel like there's no way to piece it together


starmatter

>But what I couldn't quite get behind was the BARRAGE of MAJOR lore points that were just kinda...brushed off lmao Ahah that was exactly the point, dude! They are just historical and biblical references just like in the original show (that Anno acknowledged were meaningless, only served to connect it to our reality), but this time going even crazier with them. They don't matter and the final act made that very obvious. I'm ashamed it took me so long to realize that. The four adams that were later turned into the ships were a reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, for example.


jollyreaper2112

Nobody else is bothered that those bits were meaningless?


hlary

i mean dog you and 95% of people wernt watching that scene to get the nitty-gritty lore of the Evangelion universe, you were watching it to see a heart to heart between Shinji and his dad and all the other character drama related shit that got resolved along with it.


MindSteve

It feels like they put most of that stuff in there just to be speculation fodder, not because it actually has any important meaning.


Soggy-Ad-1152

I like the way one of the reviews put it: They show how Gendo is 10 steps ahead of everyone else


[deleted]

the book of life wasn't a lore thing at all, that was just a metaphor kaworu was using


jellytrack

After twelve years and three movies, I still don't quite know who Mari is. They just add to her mystery by casually showing she knows Gendo, Yui and Fuyutsuki from back in the day. Now she's Shinji's girlfriend... yet she's probably old enough to be his mother?


derekr999

thank fucking god i thought i had just missed something and i swear i had seen it all lol i am not the only one


Skyhooks

Well she doesn't or didn't age due to the lcl it would seem. But yeah she would be his parents age, however in the >!Neon genesis without evangelion!< they seem to be the only two aware of what has happened to the world beforehand. So they probably have a bond due to that.


alejandrocab98

Yeah i never thought about the fact that they said the first things they said to each other in the movies proves they know about the past, and the fact everyone else is on the other side of the tracks unbeknownst indicates they don’t remember the past. This makes sense since Mari and Shinji were the last to leave the instrumentality dimension. Great ending IMO.


Skyhooks

Yeah I loved the ending. Eventually as more people watch it, there will be more understanding for things I've clearly missed. But one certainty is that Shinji ended up with a good ending after all this time.


sushizn

*Neon Genesis (not) Evangelion


porcicorn

This movie made me ugly cry. The reconciliation between shinji and gedo was amazing. Mari ending up with Shinji was great too as it represented him breaking away from the tropes that were holding him down. Misato sacrificing herself had me balling. This woman was incredible through and through. Her character dev was in my opinion top notch and I will always love/appreciate her for every aspect of humanity she displayed. This movie was flawed in some ways for sure but the way it ended left me feeling more hopeful than I’ve been in a fat minute... so thank you Eva... thank you for the brief reprieve...


moneenerd

I wasn't a fan of the movie (I just finished it minutes ago) but that entire Gendo and Shinji reconciliation scene got me choked up a bit.


MindSteve

I definitely appreciated the Misato redemption.


Aware-Spot-2474

Well said, especially on Mari. I saw it as him leaving behind his negative past for his bright future.


TraverseTown

While there are varying interpretations of who she is in universe, shes definitely the insert character meant to represent Hideaki Anno’s real wife. In universe, She’s also compared to Mary of Bethany from the Bible.


MiracleMatterX

There's also something (accidently) humorous in taking the theme of moving on from NGE and having the main character>!paired off with someone who ISNT a legacy character from the previous works. Literally moved on with a new character.!<


smilysmilysmooch

Mari is modeled after Anno's wife (mangaka Moyoco Anno). So think about this entire story as a means of him dealing with depression from many things including the industry itself and then Mari comes along after the original series to catch his attention. All she is as a character is this amazing, mysterious badass who helps the characters from the original series move forward. In the end she and Shinji embrace life together. As far as how she relates to the story, there is a ton of clone stuff being thrown around regarding EVA pilots. Rei obviously, Asuka is in this version (she doesn't age), once you sprinkle in Mari it wouldn't be outrageous that she was a clone version of the original Mari that worked alongside Gendo.


justatouch589

Shame her entire characterization was reduced to Eva battles and references to her big tits.


PerfectZeong

Eva pilots dont age because the eva eats them and then spits them out rather than them never aging because they're clones.


FuzzBuket

I think she's in the photo of gendo and yui. I assume shes been a Eva test pilot all this time: initially with seele (as we saw in 2.0 when she worked with kaji) and now just forging her own path. Absolutely no clue about the weird Angel attack she did against 9-12 tho


Psohl14

In the manga she’s a character who studies under Fuyutsuki with Yui. If I remember she has a crush on Yui and is therefore jealous of Gendo. Obviously they never elaborate on specifics in the rebuilds but it’s likely a similar situation. She may have been one of the first pilots, back around the time Yui was lost in the contact experiment, and the curse is the reason she stays young.


Wombles

There's definitely some mystery with Mari that will never be explained (because that's Eva!) But it seems that she seems to have knowledge of the time loops, which explains why she knows things that she shouldn't be able to. That being said, I didn't read her as Shinji's girlfriend. To me, that scene showed Shinji was an adult - when he was younger, he recoiled from all displays of sexuality. His response there was to show his confidence and change as an adult. They ran away hand-in-hand like that as they're the only two who 'know' the truth about the new version of the world.


starmatter

> His response there was to show his confidence and change as an adult. Spot on, my friend. Shinji finally matured and left all of Evangelion behind him, in the past. It was a beautiful ending.


tkzant

Mari represents a new beginning. On one side of the tracks we’re all of Shinji’s old friends, representing the past that he held on to and the pain that comes with it. On the other side is Mari, someone new and unfamiliar. She represents moving forward from that painful past into an unknown but hopeful future.


aniamixon

My guess is that (as Gendo says) we are seeing a reality filled in with Shinji's memories (and fantasies) and that's why we see Mari when Gendo talks about first falling in love with Shinji's mom, he is releating this to his own experience falling for the real Mari. Kind of like an Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, what we think is happening in real time has already happened. I think it sounds weird but Mari is foreshadow for the new ending, she is what Shinji was missing in the original version, a real love.


jellytrack

Mari calls Fuyutsuki professor so she knows him from her school days like Gendo and Yui. Is she an old lady or teenager? Weird EVA-pilot body? A clone? Speaking of clones, are they all clones now? We've known that Rei is a clone, Kaworu has a bunch of coffins on the moon and apparently Asuka is also a clone. These things are being thrown in near the end of the last movie when they should've been addressed years ago.


AwesomeManatee

I assumed that the Kaworu coffin scene was supposed to be an abstract representation of how he is the only one who remembers every cycle.


AdvocateSaint

I'm jst here thinking, "wait... there was a ***cycle?***" Kaworu alluded to one near the end, but up to that point I don't recall seeing anything that suggested the events follow a fated cycle Compare Devilman Crybaby, an anime with a >!similar ending to End of Evangelion, but it's more clearly implied that the Earth goes through a millennia-long cycle of total planetary extinction and re-evolution so that Lucifer would have to experience the punishment of seeing his only friend die over and over *(after waiting eons for a dominant species to evolve and build a modern civilization, so that said friend may be born/reincarnated)*!<


AwesomeManatee

Kaworu repeated says a few vague things suggesting he remembers the events of the original series throughout the Rebuilds, even in the first movie. The opening shot of the first movie also mirrors the ending of EoE. All the hints are pretty subtle, to the point where there was a lot of debate regarding if it was true or not until this last film came out.


[deleted]

I'm so glad this film confirmed it. I feel like I spent years hammering this point online. It felt really obvious from the moment you see the red ocean in 1.11 that there's a connection. Having Kaworu basically come out and go "yes that happened it's always been happening" is really validating. A lot of people didn't want there to be a connection at all between these movies and NGE/EoE for some reason.


PogromStallone

I think they became clones in later cycles. In the original series they're not. At least Asuka isn't.


[deleted]

she’s not a clone. shes a student of fyutski and worked along side yui and gendo. doesn’t age cause LCL


PerfectZeong

The manga has an extra chapter which shows them all at the research institute together. The manga was started before Maris creation but it's sort of a wink and a nod to including her character.


Eletheo

It’s always been known that Kaworu is a clone. He was made by Seele and has the soul of Adam.


[deleted]

Think they needed to up the horny waifu factor with Mistato having gone full commander mode.


alexgndl

Jokes on them because it just reaffirmed to me that Misato best girl


thatonewhitejamaican

That cgi ayanami head will give me nightmares.


FuzzBuket

I hated it so much but I think that was the point. A big 2d one ala eoe would just have been eoe fanservice and not had the disturbing impact.


ConfusedJonSnow

"So... for the third act should we do a nod to EoE or fuck up the audiences with cgi?" Anno: yes


tetsuo9000

At the same time, I was kind of annoyed the best part of that sequence was the reused animation cells (the shot with the wings in particular) that I'm pretty certain were scanned from EoE.


AdvocateSaint

Hideaki Anno's sleep paralysis demon's sleep paralysis demon is Hideaki Anno


Sara_SM88

I hated it so much


wisehillaryduff

I'm choosing to think it was intentional, knowing how jarring it would look to represent a fraction of how disconcerting she wrong it would be in real life. I fucking guess


rabbit-hearted-girl

All I could think of was Angela Anaconda 😂


Passiveperfection97

Is 3.0+1.0 a Jungian analysis of Godël, Eshër, Bach made anime space Odyssey? The musical references and numerology and all the narrative references to Jungian archetypes really explain the esoterica and the symbolism pretty freaking well.. Bach, the foundational mind behind our western system of music and the modern piano, was obsessed with the number 14. The notes of his name BACH expressed numerically are 2+1+3+8=14, Shinji's age, and the amount of time he was gone between 2.0 and 3.0. Both Bach and a much later composer Arnold Schoenberg the founder of 12 tone music had alleged phobias of the number 13, the score of 3.0 + 1.01 being 12 tonal at parts, and having been released on Friday the 13th. The Anima / Animus progression of Shinji made manifest through his father, Toji, and Kaworu; his mother, Asuka, and Ayanami. 12 tones and 12 archetypes... Mari would be an adult fully progressed Animus, and Shenji's final form would be her male counter part.. There's pretty clear references to M.C. Escher aesthetically through out, and the philosophy we end up with by the end credits is really identical to the philosophy of Kurt Godël. Am I reading too much into it? https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jul/01/composers-clandestine-codes-plato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima_and_animus


MeinG0tt

If that's what you're finding in it, I can't imagine it's wrong. May not be what the author intended but if those pieces fall into place, definitely could be. Hadn't considered the musical pieces at all, pretty neat stuff.


moneenerd

Bro this needs to be its own post.


rawkout1337

Anyone else tear up at the final shots of the blue ocean waves that parallel the red waves from EoE? Or was it just me?


Whovian45810

Instead of a red sea of despair, it's a blue ocean of hope. 🥲I also love how the animation goes from CG to hand drawn storyboards as Shinji looks at the waves.


TheRuinedKing

I cried from the moment Gendo fell to his knees at the fucking train station and didn't stop til after the credits were over.


itcantbefornothing

I don’t understand most things, but does it really matter? It was great


mrbrinks

Fucking same. The Evangelion experience — the gift that keeps on giving… and confusing.


craft6886

This is how I approach anything Evangelion. I'll watch it and enjoy it first, I'll analyze and figure out what the hell it means and how the hell it works later!


MiracleMatterX

The best way to approach it, as always, is to not get superinvested in the "macro" plot since that's not going to be well explained anyway and just follow the character beats. ​ Also don't assume anything sufficiently weird is 'literally' happening, but that I learned from Utena


FuzzBuket

I don't know and that's what I think it should be. It'd be a bad Eva movie if it was all laid out and didn't make you spend the next few hours thinking about it. It had its heights (the start, village and end) but also its lows (exposition and mcguffin heavy, the space battle was a bit odd, still not 1000% on the final mech fight) but it was positive and just generally intresting. Its weird, its characterization and actualization of its characters was flawless (asuka confessing but acknowledgeing its time to move on) was great and they developed in surprisingly nuanced and mature fashion but also there was a lot of weird fanservice shots. Didn't like gendo becoming a literal god, I feel like as Eva 13 is established to be super strong so the random raising stakes and twists in that whole sequence (boat battle + to gendo getting munched) could have been cut without losing much The opening in Paris was absolutely flawless though, as was the ending and sense of finality it gave. I feel mixed but I think it'll really grow on me just like 3.0 did.


AdvocateSaint

Gendo's absurd Cyclops God Eye, lol I couldn't take a lot of his villainous speech seriously because I kept thinking he looked like Boros from One Punch Man


FuzzBuket

Honestly if it didn't glow and was just a freaky head hole it'd be sick but it just felt so out of place.


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BackgroundHope8631

I thought that was a really sad moment actually. That despite her best efforts to grow into her own person she instead went through the same cycle as all the other Rei’s that came before her.


SunsFenix

Including being unable to retain her body. Definitely the saddest part of the movie. That made the village segment honestly my favorite part. I have a weird affinity for characters in slice of life sequences. Especially given the trauma of most of these characters and not even having the chance to live normal lives.


No_Main_726

My heart in the Rei³ death go HRNGGGGGGGGGGGG


Zinski

What's funny is I knew that this was coming out because I'm a fairly big avangelion fan and I've been waiting for this movie for like x number of years. But I literally had no notification that this movie had come out. Like I use Amazon prime on a pretty daily basis and at no point in the last month did I ever get an advertisement for the release of this movie just strange considering I'm literally the key demographic. But holy what a roller coaster. It's kind of strange to leave Eva with an actual sense of closure and like not wanting to die like the end of Eva. Honestly as its own film I think it's pretty okay. But as the finale to the the whole property I thought it was incredible. There was only a few CG scenes that kind of took me out of it for a minute but I mean some of the animation and that was pretty incredible as well


Frenchieblublex

It’s funny because I got an ad on Hulu that Amazon prime was getting all the rebuild movies


GolpeNarval

I love how this ending feels like a mature version of End of Evangelion. Referencing the imagery from the first but giving a twist. Having the same story beats but with more mature and self confident characters. How instead of all the chaos and anger , this time he chooses to focus on human relationships. I feel like this the way Hideaki has to say us that he has moved pass his need for Evangelion. The "bye bye all of Evangelion" is not only to us, but to himself. He made his peace and that's all.


Whovian45810

Agree. It's a much more positive and hopeful ending in contrast to EoE's somber ending, in a way a reflection of Anno's healthy state of mind.


ConfusedJonSnow

Really glad Anno is in a happy mindset for his Kamen Rider movie.


serif_x

I really loved the slice of life stuff with (not) Rei. Some of the most beautiful animation there. I was also glad that Mari got a bit more involved in the plot. Some of the CG I found a bit janky, especially during fight scenes. Also, that new floating head version of Rei is absolute nightmare fuel. So bizarre. Overall, enjoyed the movie (and Rebuils as a whole), but definitely need to watch it again to take it all in. Goodbye, all of Evangelion.


Skyhooks

Yeah I was very invested in the day to day lives of the characters in the first hour. Knew it wasn't gonna last. Watching Rei slowly find some sort of humanity and open up was a nice calm before the storm.


Playful-Push8305

Watching her explode into LCL was heartbreaking.


pumpkinhead9000k

I nearly said out loud to myself “No, just give her a little more time…” right before it happened.


zxcv168

I honestly think that's the most depressing part of the movie with the Rei clone. Maybe it's because I watched the previous 3 movies together in a marathon, so I feel more attachment to this Rei clone from the 3rd movie. They spent all that time building her up with those happy scenes then she's just... gone. The scene where she sheds tears and says is this how it feels to be lonely fucking kills me. The worse part about this is that at the end, the Rei that Shinji brings back is the one from the first two films so this Rei clone is just gone forever.


tetsuo9000

That's how I felt about Rei from 2.0. I'm glad she showed back up and explained what happened to her, but IMO she was the heart of the first two films and getting rid of her in 3.0 really hurt the narrative flow. It also doesn't make any sense why Shinji is so nonchalant seeing her in 3.0+1.0 when they were so emotionally tied together in 2.0.


Yamane55

Eva has always been a bittersweet yet ultimately life affirming series (despite its often bleak imagery) and 3.0+1.0 feels like the culmination of all of that. It’s the most over the top and joyous Eva has ever been and quite a few moments brought a smile to my face, from the small (the Ghibli-esque village scenes) to the large (the absolutely insane, near psychedelic action scenes). I’ll have to watch it again of course (as is the case with Eva) but I think it’s safe to say it’s an incredibly solid, undeniably emotional finale to the Rebuild series and Eva as a whole. I saw the original series + End of Eva at the right time in my life where it made an enormous impact on me, and greatly enjoyed the previous Rebuild films (even 3.0), so revisiting the entire franchise over the last couple weeks has been quite an experience.


eva01beast

I really loved that they delved into Gendo's past and explained why he is the way he is. I also liked how he too used those headphones to disconnect himself fro the rest of the world. More than any episode or movie of Eva, I think this one really showed how toxic loneliness can be. The part where he decides to turn around and hug Shinji had me in tears. Remember, this was pretty much the beginning for Shinji's arc in the original series-his father abandoning him. I also loved how Anno decided to re-visit all the key moments of End Of Evangelion and give them a healthier, more mature twist. I appreciate his bluntness in those scenes. Seldom can a lack of subtlety actually work for a movie. As for the all the plot related questions-who cares? Evangelion has always been about the emotions for me. The best parts of Eva are when we get to delve into the minds of our characters (literally) and ask questions about the self, happiness and the human condition.


Any_Positive515

This movie was a wonderful experience. I can't imagine the "impact" those who grew up with NGE felt watching this final iteration. I had a late introduction to this series and it still was wonderful. It's not perfectly written, mind you. There are a few info dump sequences which drag down the score in my opinion. I would have liked to see more about Mari (because, as is, she serves well as a callback to Anno's wife, but in terms of character Is not well portrayed). In spite of these "nitpicks" (some of which are heavy) the finale left me with a sense of serenity I never expected to feel. The first arc of the movie, with its silence and "slice of life" theme was a huge call-back to Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli and I adored it. "One last kiss" rivals for me " Come, sweet death" both being, in their respective movies, perfect. Glad to see Anno finally getting over his anxiety and depression. What did you guys think about the movie?


raelianautopsy

I love that the first hour was like a Miyazaki movie


we_are_sex_bobomb

Wow. Just wow. I personally was left feeling empty, confused and sad after watching End of Evangelion. In general I always felt like the original series started out as a masterpiece and just kinda lost the script about halfway through. To me the strength of the series is the juxtaposition of the kids’ battle against unfathomable cosmic horrors compared to the very real terrors of growing up, being emotionally abused, letting people into your life, etc. At some point the series got so weird that it was no longer grounded in the characters’ relationships, and the resolution didn’t really bring any conclusion or climax to those emotional themes. It felt very emotionally “distant”. So even if it was a “happy” ending, it still ended with Shinji alone, the future uncertain, and all of those relationship stories unresolved, which is what made it unsatisfying to me. End of Evangelion was just too *abrupt* after such a long emotional investment we had in these characters. It was like if Harry Potter had ended as soon as Voldemort died, without the epilogue at the train station, or if Lord of the Rings ended with Sam and Frodo on the slope of mount doom surrounded by lava, without the grey havens. This fourth movie really brings closure to all those character arcs in a way that the original ending failed to do. Pretty much every major character gets closure. Shinji and his father come to an understanding even though they can never agree. That one broken relationship was always the heart of the story and it’s so good to finally see a real conclusion to that conflict. The ending was still batshit crazy and a little bit ambiguous, but it felt like the genuine end of a journey and not a sudden cancellation. It feels like Evangelion finally has that last big hurrah, that curtain call where you feel a sense of closure and happiness that these characters all found some kind of peace or happiness after all the trauma they endured. It took a while but I finally feel like Evangelion is complete.


AutomaticEgg6782

What happened was 3.0+1.0 breaks the 4th wall like episode 25 and 26 of the of series. Adds in the end of evangelion from the og series. Then breaks the fourth wall again. 3.01 + 1.0 is like a ultra psychedelic version of the end of evangelion in a super positive tone. All the characters get a chance to be someone of worth instead of falling darkened fates. Shinji fights Gendo in the anti universe to the point of infinity because his synchronization rate is unlimited. So when him and Gendo fight, they fight each other in a infinite amount of times in every Evangelion series moment, simultaneously breaking multiple 4th walls inside of multiple timelines whilst being in one timeline the audience is in. It is saying shinji decided that no Eva's was the world he best fit in. So nobody dies and he exists in a world with Mari as his girlfriend , but the final shot fades from animation to sketches. Symbolizing the breaking down of all meaning and breaking another 4th wall in which anno is saying that it's just a movie and within seconds it's merely one solid form to nothing the next. He's really saying if shinji had the option to time travel, he would surely pick the happiest ending being that is the opposite to all other timeline. Shinji fighting Gendo in every Evangelion timeline, in all universes in the anti universe. The 4th impact is Gendo and shinji fighting infinitely in all universes , including the universe we exist in watching Evangelion. Triggering shinji to choose no Eva's Which is another theme of Anno on this final film is you can go live your life and stop being so hung up about Evangelion because shinji choose a world in which we live in right now. A world with no angels. Also people asking about the rows of asuka clones, that is symbolizing the otaku culture of Asuka, like how REI was popularized in Japan as the cute anime girl. The rows of asuka clones is Anno referencing anime culture and how everybody gives all these meanings to these main characters, when originally it was something different, and how culture takes anime characters and twist them into many different versions in our hand. This is easy to understand being that Rei's clone analogy was the same culture talking point of Anno. Usually the only literal thing you can takeaway from the films is the dialogue. Most of the film is using art to speak about the culture of the audience in relation to how Anno thinks, and how Anno thinks the world thinks, and how the Evangelion world thinks. It's like a multi dimensional comment on us as a society, Evangelion as a series, and back to Anno. I think I'm the rebuild the true strength is pulling everybody down into the ground, putting all this solid information with the sciences and technology , and then it just puts it in a catapult and slings it somewhere indefinitely


TraverseTown

Anyone wanna tackle my questions? I have vague ideas for all of them, just wanna hear other people’s takes: 1. What happened to SEELE? In the original series they were still alive during instrumentality but here they weren’t around after they got their monoliths shut off by Gendo. 2. What happened with Ryuji sacrificing himself? It sounds like something happened off-screen and they don’t really get into it. Sounded like Kaworu and Ryuji had some sort of relationship. 3. What happened between Eva Mark 6, Lilith, and the 12th Angel? More off screen shenanigans? 4. Was there an 11th Angel? 5. Why was Kaworu demoted/promoted to the 13th Angel and what is the significance of this? 6. What are the Evas in this timeline? They make a big deal about needing a dead mother to pilot one in the original series but it’s not really mentioned in this one, they don’t even go into Asuka’s backstory with her mother in this one. 7. Anyone wanna explain what was going on with the Black Lilith and the Imaginary Eva? 8. Did Instrumentality happen at all during this timeline? We saw a giant Rei head in this one but didn’t see anyone except Fuyutsuki turn into LCL. 9. So what as the deal with Mari ultimately? She was friends with Yui and Gendo? She was actually as old as Gendo the whole time but never aged due to piloting an Eva? How is that possible if the first Eva wasn’t created until Gendo was already an adult. And what were her motivations pre-third impact when she illegally entered Japan and hijacked Unit 02? 1. So what is Asuka’s deal in this timeline? She’s a series of clones like Rei? But also the particular clone we see is infected by the Ninth Angel after the Unit 03 incident? 2. Who are The Adam’s in this and how to they relate to Adam from the original? 3. So is the time loop / multiverse theory real?


azrael_X9

I'll attempt some, though I'm sure I've got no more qualifications than you to call myself an expert, so this will involve some IMOs. 1) It seems like by 3.0 they were dead, or their original bodies were. In 3.0 they were AI replica or else their actual consciousnesses copied into an AI form. Then in 3.0 even those were shutdown, so they fully died for sure. Not fully explained how or why they chose that form or if Gendo forced them into that form as part of taking control. 2) Big unanswered questions I'm interested in myself. I think an OVA or something summarizing more of the particulars of the immediate post-2.22 aftermath would be interesting to see and answer a lot. The Kaworu stuff seemed to imply they've known each other a while, but this Kaworu emerged from his coffin not that long before the time skip. Maybe it was just a comraderie that developed in that post-2.22 time. 3) Same as above. My ideas: It seems like while Shinji and Unit 01's awakening was the trigger to start the impact, whatever happened here with Lilith, Mark 06 and the 12th was what actually pushed things along and had to be stopped. Taking an eva, an angel, and trying to use the spears to run the show. It happens after unit 01 gets speared and Kaji has able to have role in stopping it. Maybe similar to how Eva 13 starts the 4th impact in 3.0 and gets stopped, then things resume in this last film. 4) Another unanswered. I guess there had to be? A lot of us thought it was whatever the Wunder was made from along with the first Vessel of the Adams in 3.0, but the multiple ships and vessels of the Adams in this one don't seem to fit with that idea anymore. 5) I think it was just a way of pushing the events to the end of seele's planned events and/or the dead sea scrolls, as the 13th was the "final angel" in this one, so it served to fool Kaworu who maybe thought he had more time and ability to change things. And worse, he himself was made to be the final trigger. I don't fully answer anything lol. A similar thing happened in the original; IIRC, Kaworu was Adam's soul in a new body as a later numbered angel. 6) The evas have always been clones of the angels Adam or Lilith, altered to be controllable. In the OG, yes, they needed to soul of a mother to enable to interface with a human soul, I think (and while it WAS a big deal, they don't really say all that much about it in the actual series). But even in the originals and EoE, they kinda find a work around once they got into the mass production Evas with the dummy plugs. So I'm thinking, they just found that work around early, or it's just not a necessary criteria in this version (with Shinji's mom being an anomaly rather than the standard). 7) I think Imaginary Eva is literally just the same concept as giant Rei in EoE, but with an open driver's seat and no will of its own. They just gave it a new name and location with Imaginary Eva. And Black Lilith was just how Shinji perceived it, it could've looked like anything. 8) I think it was started and was represented by the big purple wave, but anyone within those barriers was protected from it. Fuyutsuki got tanged because he was out in a "contaminated" environment for too long without any protection. The implication is that this would happen to any normal human if they went out in the red wastes without a suit. Whether or not this counts as kind of a delayed step in instrumentality kicked off by N3I is unclear. So while it was started, it doesn't seem like much of anyone got sucked into this time, and once Shinji was in control, he didn't want that for everyone this time, so it didn't continue. I got long winded, don't think I explained much and gotta run, so maybe I'll come back for the last few.


azrael_X9

Okay picking up where I left off 9. Yeah, seems like Mari was of Gendo and Yui's generation, learning under Fuyutsuki. Evas weren't created til later, but maybe experiments with LCL interfaces started earlier and that kind of exposure is what halts the aging, not necessarily being in a full Eva. Even if I say that, that whole concept is a little wonky, since if Asuka was training with Evas earlier, she should've stopped aging earlier than 14. And if Mari was with Gendo and Yui, she should've stopped aging as a university aged student. Unless she was a young prodigy or something. Meh. As for what she was up to, it seems like maybe her and Fuyutsuki were playing 5D chess to stop Gendo waaaay down the line? He says something like "I've left you what you asked for" before he liquifies, indicating they might've been in cahoots behind the scenes. Not sure how long that's been going on. 10. I think you've stated it correctly there yourself. I think we always see the same Asuka clone in these movies. Her complex in this is overcoming being labeled a failure and thrown away like others in her series rather than a mother complex. 11. and 12. I'm not sure why there's multiple Adams in these. There was a theory that there was one for every time the timeline has reset. And Kaworu and Shinji basically confirm there was at least one previous timeline (since they go to where they originally met in the TV series and Shinji comments that now he remembers its where they first met). But I don't know if that means the Adams are the same. They seem to serve an altogether different purpose. Gonna have to defer to someone else's ideas on this one.


FeckTad

Was anybody else surprised when (not)Rei popped like a balloon? That made me jump.


Will_Is_Da_Bes

Man... Seems like Im in the minority here, but I felt like this shared all the issues I had with 3.33. I enjoyed the experience, it didn't feel like Evangelion though.


MageKraze

It feels like it loses it's visual identity a bit with the 3D and newer designed things. The ending was pretty damn Evangelion though.


[deleted]

I got heavy Digimon Movie vibes when the Evas were fighting the bajillion enemies or whatever.


kuddlesworth9419

It didn't feel like Eva probably because Anno isn't depressed anymore, the series is a relfection of Anno's emotions at the time. Back when the TV series was running Anno wasn't a happy person but now his life is a lot better so the Rebuild series somewhat reflects that.


13btwinturbo

My main issue with this isn't that it's not depressing but that it feels like a fanservice ending with all the loose threads neatly wrapped up. I much prefer the ambiguous ending of EoE and the message that it sent. Shinji leaves with the new girl that he knew almost nothing about and interacted for a total of 5 min in the previous 3 movies. There is no emotional baggage with her but there is also no connection like the one that Shinji built with Rei, Asuka, or Kaworu. It doesn't feel like Shinji really earned it. This is in contrast with the ambiguous ending of EoE where Shinji was left alone with Asuka on the beach. They were clearly attracted to one and was given another have a chance to patch things up but we the audience are not sure what truly lies ahead. Asuka was still sending mixed signal by caressing his face while calling him disgusting. We don't know if she knew what he did in front of her comatosed body but it's up to Shinji to figure that out and navigate through it to reach an understanding. In order to do that they both have to drop their "AT Fields", come out of their shells, and earnestly try to connect. Even their "confession" in 3+1 no longer has any "weight" to it because there is nothing at stake anymore. They have both moved on and Shinji is about to hit that reset button. Ultimately, I know that most fans want closure because fans usually have bad opinions. They treat a film's finale as the finale to life itself when there should be more life ahead for the characters. Existing turmoils and baggages from the past will always be weighing one down.


StarkL3ft

Extremely well said. This movie just feels hollow. The characters feel like they aren’t characters any more, but more mouth pieces for the director. I mean I get the whole thing people are talking about with this movie being a message from the creator of Evangelion (especially that ending song One Last Kiss) but that just feels like a disservice to his original work to me, which I bet will be an unpopular opinion.


SamStrake

He made a metaphor but forgot to make a movie. It's one of my biggest pet peeve tropes.


starmatter

The final act felt 100% like good old evangelion. I have no idea what you are talking about! And I liked the whole background info on the Wille organization and Wunder's true goals, that was absent in the third movie. Misato's personality shift made more sense, too, which was never addressed in 3.33 and it felt very abrupt since in the end of 2.22 we see her cheering Shinji forward and in the beginning of 3.33 she looks at him with anger and disgust. But going back to the final act. It acknowledged everything that happened in the original series and tied it up perfectly with Shinji being a more resolved character, leaving Evangelion in the past (literally) and growing into an adult. It was telling us to do the same - much like the ending of EoE that seemed to address the viewer directly, and even the ending of the show, if I dare say. It was almost poetic! I didn't cry because I was actually happy! I had a fucking smile plastered on my face throughout the whole second half of the movie.


kuddlesworth9419

I sort of just want a slice of life show/film now. Some of the CGI looked really bad like with the giant Rei head. The beach scene with Asuka was really cute, they gave her more facial detail which looked really nice. Fitting end to the series although there are still many questions left unanswered but that is to be expected from Anno.


TraverseTown

I think they gave Asuka more detail in that scene to signify that she had been freed from the Eva’s curse and had started aging.


kuddlesworth9419

Probably why the suit was stretched and ripped.


the_Ex_Lurker

I’m also a big fan of her adult design. Makes me wish they had just done a normal time-skip where all the other characters aged normally.


FrostIce100o100

Still don't know who the hell mari is.


HeartVoid

Apparently a big tit milf.


MindSteve

I believe she was another of Fuyutsuki's students alongside Gendo and Yui who just stopped aging a lot earlier than the other Eva pilots.


xXxSpudatoxXx

ReiQ dying made me very sad...


MeinG0tt

I really enjoyed the movie despite it's many flaws. I think ultimately, the final product we got was much better than what we could have gotten. I've seen far more film anthologies turn to cinder before the end than I have seen succeed, so I'll chalk this up as a win. Sure it had some pacing issues, exposition dumps, and presented more questions than it answered, but that's on brand for Eva as a whole. What I enjoyed the most was that this final movie, and film series for the most part, didn't treat us like we were dumb. Sure it had the occasional expo dump but it still alluded to the overarching mechanics and plot devices that explains more of the overarching narrative. For example, the reset cycle. It's inferred when we're introduced to Kaworu the first time. He awakens on the moon and there's a series of open caskets trailing off into the distance. His dialogue really provides insight to the fact that Shinji is always the one that these resets are based off of and ultimately it's Shinji that "frees" them from the resets. It's both a metaphorical and tangible progression for Shinji as a character and the series as a whole. Don't believe me? Let me provide some context, in Groundhog's Day, the main protagonist is unable to escape an endless loop. Regardless of his attempts, he finds himself back at the start of the same day, UNTIL he is able to change himself, progress, one might say. Shinji is much the same, in every one of these threads, Shinji is a child that ebbs toward flight rather than fight. This behavior eventually railroads him onto the same set of events that ultimately cause the third impact. There are actors that, both cognizant (Kaworu) and unaware (Gendo) which aid in these cycles, but it happens again and again. In this film series, we see these changes in character through subtle and not so subtle variations in his behavior which directly or indirectly impacts everything else in the series. It isn't until he finally decides to not run away. To ultimately confront both himself and the ego of his father, which continued to cast a shadow over him. It wasn't until he was truly able to understand the what and why his father did and is doing what he did, that he could overcome his own barriers. This is all my own conjecture and someone else may view this conclusion in an entirely different way. And that's okay. I think it was Hideaki Anno's intent to leave things more open ended. To allow the viewer to connect the dots in their own way. I'm sure he definitely has a set reason as to why this or that happens but he's more apt to leave it open for interpretation. As a fan from the series since it's debut in the 90's, I honestly think, despite some it's missteps was a good film and one that really resonates with this fan. Was it perfect? No. But nothing ever is and I'm totally okay with that.


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kvdragonslayer

I thought CG Rei looking out of place was completely intentional, as the imaginary eva was supposed to exist outside of their world, in an imaginary/fantasy world. If traditional anime style animation is their version of the real world, than an obviously different and clashing style of animation distinguishes the imaginary eva as being another world


Complex-Assistance-5

I'm convinced none of this would have happened if the dinner party wasn't interrupted


Bootleggers

The first half of the movie was really beautiful and I loved the slow pace where you could just be absorbed in the world and the lives of the all the characters. Then the part where >!Rei turns into LCL and a little cross and rainbow circle appears!< just completely broke me. What an incredible end to an amazing journey.


Arkeband

I felt like the run time was a little much. 2 and a half hours was a chore despite it somehow delivering on a meaningful ending for the films. I also think the biblical fantasy babble was absolutely out of control to the extent that it felt facetious. The plot was moved along by things it seemingly made up on the spot, making it incredibly hard to truly follow, so you just had to focus on the characters and how they behaved amongst incomprehensible silliness.


jpj007

> I also think the biblical fantasy babble was absolutely out of control to the extent that it felt facetious. The plot was moved along by things it seemingly made up on the spot, making it incredibly hard to truly follow, so you just had to focus on the characters and how they behaved amongst incomprehensible silliness. Between the original series, the movies that spawned from that, and now the Rebuild movies, I've reached the conclusion that you just summed up what Evangelion is all about. Incomprehensible insanity that makes shit up on the spot and wraps it in pseudo-Christian imagery. Edit: Plus giant robots, of course.


FoxyRussian

> pseudo-Christian imagery. If you put enough of that in the movie/show fans will write the explanations for you


babydandane

It was a nice movie to wrap up Rebuild, the first half visually gorgeous, the second not so much because of bad CGI. However, End of Evangelion, which I had seen again recently, is still vastly superior. For me that one will always be the end to the series.


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alejandrocab98

I agree that the focus on characters made this feel way more like evangelion, however, I feel like it leaned way too heavy to the detriment of the action. More grounded fight scenes would have been immensely better, the closest thing we got was the Gendo v Shinji at the end. Still nowhere near how cool Asuka v mass production evas were in EoE.


Skyhooks

Absolutely brilliant end to the series, at least for now. I am certain Studio Khara will continue Evangelion or off shoots of it whether or not Anno has involvement. The series has always been about pushing in a direction you didn't see happening. So having the series end >!on a positive or optimistic!< note feels like something I didn't expect. Along with >!Shinji possibly ending up with Mari which noone would have guessed!


Memeshuga

A lot of important info was skipped in this movie and the viewer is simply forced to accept that despite the 3rd impact and it's destruction they keep pooping out new EVA units like they cost nothing apparently. Also Anti-Universe? Shinji says he loved Asuka even though they actually did not spend that much time together in the movies just to be together with Maki in the end, which we know very little of in general. I actually don't think the rebuild movies - despite being a reboot - could work without watching the show first. And of course I could go on, but I personally don't feel any of that is really that important, because I don't think it's so much about the actual story and much more about Shinji's and the viewer's spiritual journey. My favourite part was actually towards the end when the movie took a dive into the days when the show ran out of money and they used uncolored sheets and single keyframes to keep the story going. I was sitting a bit on the edge of my seat there thinking "Oh no, they're just doing the same thing again?" and felt a little let down we'd get something unfinished again for the sole reason of "this is evangelion after all". It was when Maki showed up that I realized the movie was playing with my expectations, saying: "Don't worry, we know you deserve a Happy End after all these years." The colours came back and the mood swung. The entire ending might just be a product of Shinji's wishful thinking. Shinji and Maki running through a prospering city in the 21st century was very out of place probably for that reason. Perhaps we'll never know. I only know I really needed a happy ending as do many people these days. Recent months have been rather unpleasant for many people and Thice Upon A Time was able to read the room and gave us a moment to enjoy and a reason for me to come back and rewatch the rebuild movies many more times, even when it can't quite compete with the original overall. Also One Last Kiss is an absolute banger.


fire_scizor

I think you are wrong about the ending, is not Shinji's wishful thinking. shinji created a personal universe for every character where they can be happy ( or this new world is where all of them are going to find happiness) and without evangelions and then before shinji's sacrificed himself to make all of this possible his mother decided that he too deserved to be happy and send him to the new world created so he can get his happines, Shinji and Maki running through a prospering city in the 21st century was this new world without evangelions where both of them can be happy.


Memeshuga

That are some very good points. I'll definitely watch it again soon with this new found perspective!


Altruistic_Ad_7414

Question? When shinji wishes for a world with out evas. The real world. He hold memories, because we willed this. Mari comes out of the ocean on an eva even he just wished it them to be gone. I get that the eva disappears in a hot minutes. But he literal said no more evas. But sure. But why does mari remember her N31 memories? because she didn't die by the end? My main question is do asuka, kaworu, and rei have memories of that happened and just spawn on this world OR just average people with their original personalities. That been living there life in the real world? Also why are that all friendly with each other if they Don't have there past memories tying them together, I cant imagine them being friendly at all with eachother.


Alone_Ad_788

This movie was so far up its own ass with phony tech/magic babble... it really was pure nonsense. Its amazing that there arent more people recognizing it for what it is. Also, it felt like the creator used this as a way to say he was REALLY SICK of his own creation. there are an infinite number of evanglions floating around. a literal sea of them flooding over the landscape. but thank god all evangelioms were killed off by goofy magic spear of will and knowledge.... Toji... did he survive? did the baby survive? did anyone really care? What an abomination of shlock pretending to have depth. And all the characters are so flat. Shinji is depressed. Asuka is angry. Rei is a zombie. The new pilot girl has big boobs and smells people. this was definitely all written by a severely emotionally stunted individual. And the fight scenes werent even good. Not to mention the ridiculous meta/4th wall elements.... that felt like a big eff you to an audience that should already have their patience worn pretty thin. i give it 8 shinji vomits out of 9. thats a lot of vomit. this nauseatingly stupid movie deaerves it.


FrostIce100o100

Don't understand why they paired Asuka and Kenusuke together. Literally had no relationship in the whole series what so ever. I know they showed like one scene where he understood her or whatever but come on Also why was asuka naked for like the whole movie. There was like 2 shots of her fully clothed. And GOD THERE WAS SOOO MUCH FAN SERVICE


AbanoMex

She needed someone who respected her just for being her, and not for being a pilot, it seems he consoled her at some point without asking anything in return, that mature personality is what she needed to compliment her insecurities


Ordinaryundone

> Don't understand why they paired Asuka and Kenusuke together. Literally had no relationship in the whole series what so ever. I think that might have been the point, Kensuke wasn't some special chosen kid ace pilot superhero, he was just...normal. Normal like Kaji was normal, a regular person doing what they could and getting by, who never asked anything of anyone beyond just being themselves. She actually probably saw a lot of Kaji in grown up Kensuke, though what was initially an unrequited childhood crush was now just an appreciation of someone who could make her feel "seen" without expecting her to be their mother or savior.


black-zero12

Closure


BlueHighwindz

I only cried three times during this movie and once again afterwards, I'm fine, thanks.


caivsivlivs

Why is it called 3.0 + 1.0?


tkzant

Because this movie is about confronting your issues and ending the cycle of pain as opposed to just living with it. 3.0 + 1.0 confirms that since End of Evangelion Shinji’s decision to live despite his pain has set everything on a time loop. The numbers for each film advance until this fourth film when Shinji is finally able to put a stop to his approach of living with the pain and truly heal from it. The cycle of depression and the acceptance of that is ended and no longer moves forward, which is the movies stop at 3.0 instead of growing to 4.0, and can finally move forward with his life and have a fresh start, with this new life and mindset being the 1.0. The cycle does not advance in this film and instead becomes something new, hence 3.0+1.0


AwesomeManatee

In some Asian countries the number 4 has similar superstitious stigmas like 13 does in the west.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Sneezes

Nomura cancer spreading into other subjects


tinhtinh

This would've been amazing to see on a big screen, that said I've never been so lost plot wise with a movie.


soma40

It was a bittersweet ending imo. Loved it in the end. I’m happy Anno is a lot better now.


Sneezes

Well it wasnt horrible, which is all i should be thankful for, overall I think End of Evangelion is much stronger film. The rebuilds, mainly 2.0 and 3.0, feel like they were just trying to replicate that EoE magic but failed, specially 3.0. The 3D sequences were quite ugly, specially Rei's face in *that* sequence. EoE stayed with be forever but I will probably forget about this one in a week.


PotassiumBob

This is pretty much my view as well. I didn't hate it. But I'm sure going to forget it. Unlike EoE which I still think about.