First Impressions / OVA/Movie

「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:Q 」 (Evangelion Shin Gekijouban Q)
“You Can (Not) Redo”

When I posted my thoughts about Eva Q after seeing it raw in a Japanese theater last December, I opened with "What the heck did I just see?" After seeing the movie subtitled, I have two further thoughts on that. First, I sure as hell don’t blame myself for asking that question. And second, seeing it subbed doesn’t come remotely close to answering the question for me.

I’ll leave it to others to dissect the minutiae of the plot, because many of them are better at it than I would be and frankly, that was never the part of Evangelion that primarily interested me anyway. As I’ve said in prior posts on the franchise, NGE was really the anime that made me an anime fan. It was the series that opened my mind to the possibilities of what anime could be, and what it could tell us about the human condition. It was the psychological side of Eva I loved, the character deconstruction, and for my money it remains the most important anime of all-time.

Having now seen "Redo" subbed, I’m surprised at how little my overall impression of it has changed. I still find it to be too loud, too confused, too busy and almost entirely lacking in personal connection. I still find Mari to be irritating to the point of unwatchability. I still marvel at the animation and art, which despite the Studio Khara label is still the first thing I’ve seen that really looks like Gainax since Eva 2.0. And I still find myself wondering, more than ever in fact, about the question which I think is at the core of the Rebuild experience: was it really necessary?

If my standards for NGE are too high it’s only because, as I said, it holds a singular place in my anime development. So perhaps that question is really too high a bar to hold Anno Hideaki to, but even if it’s not fair it’s how I feel. I said in my review of the second Rebuild film that I don’t consider the original Eva to be a sacred text, and given that not only did Anno-sensei create the series he clearly poured his entire being into it (to the point of a nervous breakdown, in fact) so if he chooses to retell his story, he has every right. He’s already done so once, of course, with the End of Evangelion movies. I have strong feelings on those – I vastly prefer the TV ending, and it remains the most honest and poetic conclusion for me. I feel as if those movies were made for the wrong reasons, and in some sense perhaps I was hoping the Rebuild films would act as a sort of "righting the ship" by Anno. And the chance to see how a middle-aged Anno would see Ikari Shinji differently than the angry young man who created the character based on himself was a fascinating prospect.

I found the first two movies to have many worthwhile qualities, but the Rebuild series has been a good example of the Butterfly Effect in action. The first movie had only small changes, and felt a lot like watching the first 20 episodes of the TV series re-told with a huge budget. The second (for my money the best of the three so far) veered much farther away from canon, but retained a coherent and cohesive narrative, and in fact in some ways made changes that I felt improved on the original. First and foremost, Shinji was a much more forceful presence (much more, in fact, like the character in the manga adaption – which is arguably just as canon as the TV series, as it actually started running before the TV series aired – by the "other" Godfather of Eva, Sadamoto Yoshiyuki) and Rei was possessed of far more recognizably human emotions.

If I were to try and describe where I think "Redo" went off-track in as few words as possible, I would say that it seems to have forgotten that Evangelion is first and foremost a human story. But frankly, the narrative overall is quite a mess. 14 years have passed since the end of "You Can (Not) Advance" – though we get no explanation of that until well into the movie, and in fact much of it is spent leaving the audience to try and figure out just what the heck is going on. If any of the scenes in the preview from the end of 2.0 made it into this film, I can’t remember them – whether that means Anno’s ideas changed completely from the time 2.0 was finished, I don’t know – but there’s a scattershot, improvised quality to "Redo" that more than anything left me exhausted. The film feels like a non-stop string of big set-pieces with a pounding soundtrack that never ceases – indeed, the only respite being the extended sequence in the middle of the movie where Shinji bonds with Kaworu as they play duets on a product-placement Yamaha piano.

As for the cast, well – this being Evangelion and merchandising being what it is, we have to have a "Curse of Eva" that keeps the pilots from aging (I’ll give Anno the benefit of the doubt and call this an inside joke). Shinji has been holed up inside EVA-01’s plug suit and has no memory of that time. The new and improved Asuka – half the eyesight, twice the tsun – has a much larger role to play in this film than in the second. Mari is, regrettably, integral to pretty much every major action scene and just as insufferable and incongruous as ever. This time around it’s Rei who takes on the role of NGE stalwart largely forgotten in the script – she’s rarely on-screen, and completely lacking in personality when she is.

And what of Shinji? The irony here is that Shinji has indeed become a much more decisive and forceful person – and the results for humankind have been disastrous. 3.33 is pretty much a litany of everyone except Kaworu and Futsuyuki treating Shinji even more like shit than usual, including Misato. Shinji was apparently the cause of the Third Impact, and thus reviled by the survivors – including everyone in Misato’s new organization, WILLE, formed to do battle with Gendo and NERV and stop the Fourth Impact from happening at any cost, with the bio-ship “Wunder” at the center of the fight. Apparently that includes even Misato treating Shinji like he willfully caused the disaster and fitting him with a collar designed to give her the power to blow him up should he ever decide to pilot an EVA again. I can hardly blame Shinji for going with Rei (in her latest clone form) when she shows up to rescue him – I would have too, in his shoes.

In this sense, at least, "Redo" has a thematic consistency with Eva canon – Shinji is still eternally a tool of those around him, and yearns to assert some control over his life. He’s so desperate for some human kindness that it’s inevitable that he’s swept up in Kaworu’s wake after the latter treats him with consideration and respect. The ending of the film is really just as much a muddle as the rest of it – you can make your own interpretations, but what’s undeniable is that Shinji acted rather than hesitating, and seemingly nearly caused the Fourth Impact in the process. The cumulative effect of everything that happens is that I end up not really caring which side wins in the end. That never, ever happened in the TV version, where – depressing as it was – there was always a sense that there were at least some decent people trying to do the right thing. Rebuild has turned that into a tangle of interests pursuing their own selfish goals, with no real incentive to hope anyone succeeds. Even if Misato and her crew are trying to save humankind, she’s such an unrepentant bitch (and so is Asuka, frankly) that I can’t bring myself to feel anything for their cause.

At this point I can’t even begin to speculate what the fourth and theoretically final film will hold, or even when it might be released. There are preview scenes at the end of 3.33 but given what happened with the preview at the end of 2.0, there’s no reason to suspect any of them will have any relation to what’s actually in the final film. And hearing Mitsuishi Kotono as Misato deliver the preview narration in the "Sabisu, Sabisu!" style of the TV series, rather than being nostalgic, feels grotesque – because it serves as a reminder of all that’s missing from "Redo". There’s no humor, no warmth, almost no personal connection at all – it’s no more like the Evangelion of those days than Misato is like the Katsuragi we came to know. This is Anno Hideaki’s story, and he has every right to re-tell it however he likes – but I sincerely hope that the final Rebuild film will offer both a spiritual connection to the original series, and a compelling reason – apart from commercial ones – for why this new series of films was necessary.

 

My sincere thanks to Seishun (good work, Padawan) – who, for the record, liked Eva Q substantially better than I did – for helping me find time to generate this post by taking caps for the film.

Full-length images: 33, 48, 49, 62, 67, 83, 87, 99, 102, 103, 104, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137, 138, 142, 145, 187, 189, 220.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「桜流し」 (Sakura Nagashi) by (Hikaru Utada)

Preview

249 Comments

    3. “Son, I’m about to go see your mom, but in order to do that, I need you to wipe out the rest of humanity. To do that, slay all the Angels that come our way, kay?”

      “If I do that, will I get to see mom as well?”

      “Not sure, but in the meantime, here’s a clone of her, you can call her Rei. Have fun, kthxbai”

      Anonymous
      Reply

      1. I think that sphere is just simply the moon beyond the horizon, both the Earth and moon were inhabited (Lunar Base) prior to Near Third Impact, now they’re all LCL toast, hence the red crosses everywhere.

        Anonymous
        Reply

  4. This is Anno Hideki’s story, and he has every right to re-tell it however he likes – but I sincerely hope that the final Rebuild film will offer both a spiritual connection to the original series

    My only requirement is that he makes things a little more coherent… or make 4.0 go all out crazy, FUN, and over-the-top.

    …and a compelling reason – apart from commercial ones – for why this new series of films was necessary.

    I’m guessing they will release “The 14-year War” sometime in the future as an OVA or something.

    vic
    Reply

    2. Dead. Penguins only live like 15-20 years on average, so even if he survived the near-third impact he’d likely be dead of old age by now. And Neo-Misato doesn’t look like the type to care much for penguins.

      Anon
      Reply

  9. That film was so strange, i thougth “GOD ! that third film is all i hated in the serie, fake psycologial work about Shinji”.
    Second big prob misato was yellin to shinji to do what he wants…”Nanimo tameni” and now blaming him for the the “fail-third impact” ??!!
    if i should give a score 1.1 = 7.5 (nothing new)
    2.2 = 9.5 (awsome fights, epic music)
    3.3 = 6 ( good fights but well too many shadows in this one)
    lets see the last one it will help to understand more the situation i hope.

    onlynewb
    Reply

    1. That really ticked me off too. Misato’s final lines in 2.22 was “Yay, go Shinji, go!” and now its “Nice job screwing up the world, jerk. Look at another EVA again and I’ll blow your head off”
      Credit where it’s due, it is spectacular to watch but it’s ruined by most of the characters, the story (which reveals too little) and turning it into a “Who can kick Shinji in the balls hardest” competition.

      celebrinen
      Reply

      1. She probably blames herself partially. She witnessed two mass extinctions, one of which that happened while she was in control. I don’t think she can ever allow herself to be how she once was after that. I think one of the points the film is trying to make is the huge contrast between pre-Third and post-Third Misato, and how much more easily it is to be emotionally unattached like Gendou than try and build and maintain bridges after a traumatic experience like that happens. Misato has a concrete goal now, just like Gendou, both just completely engulfed in their objective for fear it will never be carried out if they allow themselves to be caught off guard for the slightest of moments.

        Bolton
        Reply

  10. I can really relate to that experience. I mean, WTF did I just watch? And it’s not like the narrative was confusing, it was really simple – timeskip (obvious even before they announce it), pointless action (lasting like a third of the movie), getting rescued (yeah I’d have gone with Rei, too, after getting a death collar slapped on me for no good reason and being treated like shit for no good reason), chilling at NERV (finally some answers, but from Kaoru of all people), more pointless action (not so long this time), THE END.

    The WTF is really a “WTF couldn’t they have thought this through a bit more”. And everyone is treating Shinji like shit – At least from Misato I’d have expected something more – if Shinji is “guilty” of the near-third impact for piloting the EVA, then Misato is also guilty for putting him in the entry plug in the first place.

    I reserve judgement for after the fourth movie is out (if it ever will be, after this), but as glad as I am for new completely original source material, this was a complete and utter mess.

    Anon
    Reply

  11. Shinji finally mans up in 2.22 then completely regresses in 3.33. Seriously? All the character development is undone. Try as he might, he’s always going to end up a failure. What does that say about Anno? Apparently, as the title says, you can not redo. *sigh*

    bertman4
    Reply

    1. Actually, I kind of disagree with the prevailing notion that Shinji regressed. He has his moments, but generally speaking I still think he’s more forceful here than he was in the TV – it’s just that it usually ends in disaster through no fault of his own, and everyone treats him even worse than usual.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      1. I’d probably say it’s only half his fault at best. While definitely is a lot more assertive and making his own decisions more often, he does so WITHOUT really thinking of the consequences unless they’re right there in front of him (the explosive choker), but then again, mentally, he’s STILL just a 14 year old kid, unlike Asuka (who’s been alive and awake the whole time). How many kids that age actually do think about such things that often if the consequence(s) isn’t right there for them to see?

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

      2. I think by regressing they mean the ending? He makes all those decisions by himself, only to end up discovering that everything he’s decided for himself has led the world to ruin once, and personally witnesses what almost became the fourth impact. He’s basically completely lost his will to do anything at all except sit there and sulk at the end of the movie.

        I totally can’t wait for the fourth movie where every character is a talking plot device except Shinji who will do absolutely nothing 8)

        Nitro
        Reply

      3. It’s semantics, but I think the best term is that Shinji’s development was stunted, rather than regressed in any way. Look at it literally, the time skip left Shinji in STASIS for 14 years. As is repeatedly pointed out in the movie, Shinji is still just a kid/brat (Asuka’s “Gaki Shinji”) stuck in a world of adults since even Asuka has matured in mind if not body.

        As for what this says about Anno, after so many iterations I think the main “problem” creating dissatisfaction is that many fans want to see Shinji be a hero and overcome everything, but I don’t think Anno WANTS that. Sure Shinji saved humanity in the previous versions, but never in the classic storybook hero sense, i.e. that take charge, Shinji with a backbone character.

        My memory is fuzzy, but I think Shinji’s desire in rejecting Instrumentality in the TV anime and End of Evangelion was mostly just that he didn’t want to destroy the world as it was. Even with the spear scene here, his focus was on “redoing” the destruction that he did to try and get things back to how the world was before Third Impact. Basically, he doesn’t push things forward, he’s just there to maintain the status quo of the world at large.

        So while a lot of fans want Shinji to have a backbone and be proactive (and yes I am one of them), I think Anno’s view of Shinji is just of a kid with problems trying to survive in the status quo. As Enzo noted Shinji always just ends up being a tool for the adults around him whenever the huge big picture plot of Instrumentality comes into play. And I just don’t know if Anno really wants Shinji to be anything more than just a lost kid looking for affection amidst a struggle that really is between the adults of the series.

        spike
        Reply

      4. It’s funny that Shinji is mentioned is an eternal tool to those around him. Part of what makes a movie great is a protagonist that people like, or at least understand.

        Yet in this movie, everybody treats Shinji like crap, he still remains annoyingly passive as ever, and is still a (sometimes) willing tool for everybody else.

        Nobody likes a tool. Why make the protagonist so unlikeable? People tend to put themselves in the role of the protagonist, so making such an unrelatable main character is folly.

        Red 4
        Reply

    2. I think he is still pretty badass. I mean, he chose to leave with Zerogouki when the whole ship and his former friends treated him like crap without explaining why (I know he initiated the failed impact, but he didn’t know that yet). please note that he is a teenager fresh from cryo sleep and he doesn’t understand what was going on.
      Also, he chose to leave even under threat of death by choker.

      It was only after knowing what he had done that he turned angsty again. Can you really blame him? also, even in the end everybody else scolded him for “not learning anything about the world”, “acting like a brat”, and such. Did they forgot that he SLEPT for 14 years and hadn’t the chance to grow like everybody else? and also that nobody told him anything?

      Cobeurn
      Reply

    3. how about Shinji NOT listening to what everyone else including Kaoru for good 10 minutes or so before pulling out the spears? It that also not his fault at all? Perhaps he didn’t hear Kaoru repeatedly saying “something’s wrong here, do NOT pull out the spears”, sitting right next to him because he’s too self-absorbed into his hero “I’ll recreate the world and save the day” delusion? Not listening to Asuka, one can understand since he doesn’t trust her, but c’mon. I say (almost) 4th impact was entirely initiated by Shinji and most of blame falls on him for starting it. Nevermind that it was a trap set by his pop or Kaoru becoming an angel to move it along. No spears pulling out = no 4th impact. Unlike the (almost) 3rd impact, this one is entirely on Shinji…But I give him some slack since it’s pretty evident that he’s a mentally handicapped person as I explained in a different post below. You can’t blame a person’s brain malfunctioning, can you now? The same way you can’t blame a blind person bumping into you on the street.

      deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
      Reply

      1. You can’t blame Shinji for pulling out the spears at all actually. The basic thing here is that the one time he was decisive and wanted to do something for himself (in a break from just listening to others tell him what to do), he ended up virtually dooming humanity (and also didn’t even save Rei, in an even crueler twist).

        And after getting nothing but ignored and hated since he came back, he ended up meeting Kaworu, who ends up being one of only a handful of people who gives a darn about him. Considering this, as well as the fact Kaworu himself believed that removing the spears was the right thing to do initially, the thing that Shinji did was seize upon his words and try to go for that one hope. To him, that was his sole thing that kept him going, and there was no way he could accept that removing the spears was incorrect at that point.

        To that end, it’s not more his fault as it was Kaworu’s for misleading him in the first place, and the crew of the Wunder for not having the gall to tell him what happened in the 14 year time skip and just pushing him away. If there’s anyone to blame this time in Rebuild, it’s anyone BUT Shinji—if you really went into things, because it really isn’t. He’s tried everything he could to do what he wanted and what he thought was right (and what seemed initially right at the time). Things didn’t work out, but you have to remember that it was the people around him that pushed him to do what he did and/or supported what he did. Even that moment in 2.0 where he was decisive on his own, he was supported by Misato (which by the way, is exactly why she is in 3.33).

        Zephyr
        Reply

      2. Sorry Zephyr but I can’t understand why you are trying to defend such a pitiful character. I agree that “mentally handicapped” is an overstating in Shinji’s case, since there are a lot of stupid brats like him, but they are not (usually) the central characters of an anime, and for the simplest of the reasons: we don’t like them.

        That would have been better if there was some redeeming moment for Shinji at the end, but there wasn’t any. He didn’t do anything relevant for most of the movie, and when the chance came to do the “right” thing, he unleashed the FULL RETARD MODE. I mean, your trusted companion is telling you to stop, everyone else is telling you to stop, the only sure thing you know for sure is that with a wrong move the entire world may END (because you know that much about “impacts”) … why the hell you at least wouldn’t try to consider your actions for ten seconds ? Brat, at the N2 power. Sorry, I can’t understand why we need a character like that in any anime, even more in one of this proportions. We watch animes to be entertained, not to be pissed off.

        I was a huge fan of the original TV series, it was really a milestone of the anime history. There, Shinji started pathetic, yes, but he improved a lot. Do you remember the epic episode with the angel falling from the space, and Shinji exceeding the eva’s speed limit to save the day, gaining the respect of even Asuka ? And the syncronized battle of Eva01 and Eva02 ? The series ended in an unclear psychological way, but we had the feeling there was hope, and that Shinji found some answers.

        Then they went and ruined it all with the “End of Evangelion”, destroying what was good of the original Shinji. With the Reubild, I had hope to be ported back on a good track, but nope, they did it again. It would be a miracle now if they manage to change my impressions with the final movie. Anno may be indeed a genius, but I guess even geniuses may do mistakes.

        I’m not usually this aggressive in my comments, and my rage is not directed to the opinions of anyone here, who I always highly respect. You may find your reasons to like this movie and the characters, amen to that. I’m just sad and disappointed more than necessary because Evangelion has a great sentimental value for me.
        Ok, now that I used Shinji to relieve my frustration, I’m feeling better and I won’t think bad of you if you downvote me 🙂

        Voyager
        Reply

      3. Well, it’s not so much as a defense of Shinji as it is me trying to say it’s a natural, human emotion.

        Think of it this way:

        – Everything you’ve tried to do has led to failure (heck you blew up the world). What do you do? What can you do? At that point, you’re going to be like totally out of it.

        – Then picture someone suddenly coming to you, being nice to you for once, being understanding, and not only that, he offers you a chance at redemption. Naturally, you’d jump at that one chance with all your might. Because that’s it. That’s becomes your reason to live and that was the only reason Shinji even bothered going into the EVA in the first place.

        – But then the guy backs out and tells you that he MIGHT be wrong. Are you going to just stop right here after going all this way? Your whole purpose/sole hope now is to recover those spears. Chances are, there ain’t no way you’re gonna let some guy’s sudden insecurities say otherwise (especially since you’re so close and there doesn’t seem to be any other option).

        So in that context, it’s basic human nature to me. Shinji’s at a point where this HAS to succeed, because he just can’t take anymore. He can’t accept that this one chance he has is also nonexistent. And I don’t blame him nor think anyone should blame him for that, because from the way I see it, most people out there (if they went through all he’s been through) would do the same thing Shinji did.

        It’s easy to say what he did was stupid in hindsight and from the view of someone looking on, but if you put yourself in his shoes and you think of human nature and our propensity to try and latch on to whatever hope we can in the most dire of situations, then suddenly, Shinji isn’t to blame at all. What he did was entirely human, and again, I feel like if you want to blame someone, you should blame the crew for not filling him in on things in the first place (and remember, Misato herself was pushing Shinji to rescue Rei at the end of 2.0 and theoretically was responsible for this sequence of events too). But even then, it’s understandable the contempt the Wunder’s crew had for him too (14 years of hate brewing with no one to blame is suffering), so it all boils down to me feeling you can’t blame anyone here. It’s just basically saying “this is life, deal with it” more than anything.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      4. Zephyr, humans can rationalize anything to their needs, my friend. I mean anything. ANYTHING. ANY ACTION if one’s close enough. I don’t need to bring up ugly examples for this since it’s just a bloody character in anime we are talking and not some psychopath in real life nor some murderer. But in any varying degree, mild or extreme, one will and can rationalize anything. Why else that virgin Mary on Cheetos or burrito or booger stain crap (ok, one of the examples I made up, maybe?), eh? Heck, if I were defending someone, I’m sure I’d be rationalizing on my end, at least on opponent’s mind.

        I totally disagree with your view/defense on Shinji, but hey that’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t need to convince anyone or everyone. Just expressing my view, is all~~! To me, this character makes zero sense in this movie, even after considering what he went through and the only way I can emphasize his actions here is that to consider him having some sort of mental disabilities. The reason I conclude this is that I no way consider his action normal. To you, it maybe reasonable behavior. I again stress that I totally disagree, but it’s a free country and free forum~~. BTW, I FULLY blame Shinji for pulling out spears by ignoring everyone including Kaoru. If he didn’t ignore for like 10 min, my opinion would’ve changed. But since that action is like the major plot of this movie, it’s kinda hard to get past that. Yes, we can only agree to disagree on this front.

        deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
        Reply

      5. That’s a pretty patronizing statement there. But no matter.

        The basic thing is you’re just expecting way too much out of Shinji (and of humanity in general) if you think it’s his fault. He was never a larger than life character and he was never intended to be. What you expected is based on the notion that he was one, which is just not the case. He’s just a human kid. Nothing more, nothing less.

        Again, it’s easy to look at it from an outsider’s standpoint and in hindsight say it was a terrible idea, but really, it’s no where near that simple. If you think you wouldn’t pull out the spears if you were in that situation, then good for you, but I’d say that a vast majority of people would, or at least understand why he did it.

        But yeah, I’ll let my other previous comments do the rest of the talking.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      6. Shinji is a dumb@ss. But that’s on purpose.

        “It’s strange that ‘Evangelion’ has become such a hit – all the characters are so sick!”

        “Shinji does reflect my character, both the conscious and unconscious parts,” Anno admits.

        “In the process of making ‘Evangelion’, I found out what kind of a person I am,” he says candidly. “I acknowledged that I’m a fool.”

        -Hideaki Anno

        No wonder he’s called baka-Shinji.

        http://web.archive.org/web/20070613125248/http://www.aoianime.hu/evangelion/index.php?page=interanno

        Banana Furikake
        Reply

      8. Zephyr, NO~~~, I do not expect too much out of Shinji nor humanity in general – what I am curious is that where is this “humanity in general” coming out from all of sudden?? I thought I was talking about one anime character, LOL? That’s a good one, you~~. And no for the record, I don’t buy that this Shinji character “somehow” represents humanity; what a cruel, terrible thing to say, ha ha ha! To the writer’s vision, maybe, and to those who buy into that, but I don’t buy it for one sec! (you brought it up, not me) Nor am I expecting him to be ” a larger than life character”. You’re missing the whole point. I do expect him to be just a human kid:a normal human kid with mental disabilities. How many times must I say this anyway~~?

        What’s so darn hard to understand that I may have a different opinion on this character’s behavior than yours? Act itself of pulling out spears = no prob. The process of pulling out spears by ignoring, ah shucks. Forget it, I’m tired of repeating myself and if anyone else interested in my point, just re-read my previous 2-3 posts on it. Zephyr here is quite convinced in his view and that’s fine and I’ve already said that I didn’t need to convince him or anyone who think differently from the get-go. Just expressing my view that this Shinji character’s utter refusal to listen and zoning into a massive tunnel vision & exhibiting manic behavior for extended period of time made zero sense to me unless he’s somehow mentally handicapped, whether by traumas or inherently.

        I think you, Zephyr, have made your case (Shinji is utterly normal and all his behavior is within complete reason) and I express what I thought on the matter (Shinji is not normal, but mentally impaired/handicapped and thus his behavior makes sense after that fact) and others can decide for themselves where they stand. No need to bring out stuff like “I’d say a vast majority of people” would agree with me or something” in that manner to imply”that your point is superior. It’s kinda of cheap, probably beneath you, in my humble opinion. That may be indeed true that I am in minority in thinking this way or perhaps you are. Somehow I don’t think I care enough to find out, though~. And as for my previous statement sounding patronizing or not, I can’t help how somebody read from it based on his/her preconceived ideas. Wasn’t my intention and sorry if anybody felt that way, but take it however you will. I could very well say the same to you, though~~ :P.

        deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
        Reply

      9. BTW, having mental diseases/disabilities is not some plague or “AIDS in the 80s”. I have impression that some may think by uttering the word itself is somehow putting a curse and condemning someone for ever and ever and thus recoil from it in shock.

        I’d like to think in 2013, folks would be more reasonable and recognize that many of them are manageable and treatable conditions and not something you hide in shame. Like alcoholism. By talking about it, identifying correctly, progress would be made. Yes, there will always a danger that some may use it as a excuse to dismiss and in one of my earlier post, I might even have been slightly guilt on this (comparison to a blind person bumping into someone) even though I didn’t intend to do so and that’s my bad. I got carried away while arguing and it may look bad to some, but darn it, sue me~~! I need a mulligan on that one. My pushback has been largely against those who insist that he’s “completely” normal and “completely” dismiss the very idea of him having mental condition/disease as if it’s some sort of stigma. I should’ve said this from the get-go, but it just dawned me that some indeed associate mental condition/disease as a massive stigma and not something to overcome.

        I am not dismissing nor condemning Shinji by associate him with mental diseases/disabilities, but in trying to understand his erratic behaviors, I’ve concluded that he is likely to be impaired mentally and that it largely causes his irrational behaviors. Yes, I made some fun at Shinji’s trademark passivity at times, but I also said that it’d make sense, at least to me, if he’s indeed impaired by mental condition/disease.

        deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
        Reply

      10. Mentally handicapped? Shinji…? I dunno. Mentally unstable fits the bill much more. He already showed signs of clinical depression in the beginning, and it all got worse from there.

        But to say “mentally handicapped”… He’s a 14-year-old kid in a situation that would baffle even fully-grown adults (correction: that DOES baffle even fully-grown adults; hell, just look at the rest of the cast). You’re either expecting too much from teenagers or underestimate the setting.

        EH2
        Reply

      11. Right…since only adults or anyone older than 20 get mental diseases or exhibiting mental conditions/diseases. Before then, it’s “only” mentally unstable.

        This feel like it is going off the topic, but since you again accused me of something I didn’t do, I need to response. Sure having inherent mental disabilities like dyslexia or down syndrome is slightly different than having a bipolar. I did use “handicapped”, “disabilities”, and “impaired” interchangeably throughout as well as said “he’s somehow mentally handicapped, whether by traumas or inherently” since to me, they all are the same thing whether it is a biopolar, depression, or down syndrome: a mental condition that can be cured, overcome or managed.

        What’s so controversial about being mentally “handicapped”, but mentally “unstable” is perfectly acceptable? It’s not a death sentence, you know. It’s as if I punched a smiling child, this varying degree of visceral reactions like ‘how can you call a child having a mental disabilities? He’s only a child, you monster!!” I do see that some conditions/diseases cannot be cured, but only to be managed, even in 2013). But I doubt that even simple thing as depression can be completely cured like a common cough and forget about afterwards. Like alcoholism, it’s something one has to be diligent and manage throughout and in that sense, it’s similar to inherent conditions.

        EH2, if you bothered to read the post right above yours, you’d know that my point was not to use it as a tool to dismiss it like he’s a crazy person, but to try to understand his behaviors. Also no need to keep insisting of telling me that I’m expecting too much of a teenager since that’s totally irrelevant and if you still think of that after you read my posts, I’m afraid you didn’t get at all what I was saying. Now if I said, he should’ve jumped out of the robot and personally saved the day, then yes, I am expecting too much of him. Totally irrelevant and you don’t understand where my issue came about. All I did was to talk/speculate about possibilities. If you make you feel better to avoid thinking about the possibility of him having some sort of mental conditions/diseases inherently, that’s you. Not everyone has to agree to that view. Maybe he doesn’t have any inherent conditions, but ones caused by traumas since he did go through a lot. Or he does suffer from one inherently. Or both. It’s not a taboo to discuss such thing as long as it’s not mean-spirited. And I insist that I am not.

        deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
        Reply

      12. If I knew I was the cause of one the largest mass extinctions in the history I would’ve needed a shit load of therapy so I congratulate Shinji for holding up. I was abit frustrated during the scene where he refused to listen to Kaworu not because he wasn’t listening but because of the fact Kaworu wasn’t forceful enough in telling him not to pick them spears up. Then again Kaworu ain’t human so human behaviour doesn’t apply to him.

        ComM3
        Reply

  12. There’s a lot of callbacks to the first movie, visually and and where he’s still foisted onto things without any great understanding into them. It’s almost as though it’s trying to reinforce that no matter how many steps that Shinji tries to take in order to change himself and make things for the better, he’ll always wind up in square one as though he hasn’t made any progress for himself at all.

    What’s ironic about the pilots never aging is how someone like Asuka, who’s character arc includes the whole “trying to grow up too fast” so that she can be respected as though she’s on peer with adults, hasn’t and probably won’t grow up physically.

    The Truth is in the Axe
    Reply

    1. It’s actually interesting when you think back to the previews, because despite the fact none of the scenes in that preview show up in the movie itself, if you take the things in the preview at face value, they actually do answer some of the questions we got here in 3.33…

      …such as EVA Mark 06 descending down to Central Dogma for instance, which would explain how it ended up down there in the first place, etc.

      Zephyr
      Reply

      1. I kinda thought that too.But even this way, we just know that the Eva Mark 06 entered there and that´s it.We don´t know what he did,and why he stayed there.It explains a little,but not the big picture.

        Nikk
        Reply

      2. True. It doesn’t explain everything, but at least, it does kind of explain why it needed to speared in the first place, because Kaworu/EVA making contact with what’s down there in the Dogma would’ve caused another impact. 😀

        Zephyr
        Reply

  15. I can’t stand the original ending to Eva. Fake psychological ending the answers little but looks artys is unimpressive to me. Not to mention pretty much ignoring the fate of all the other characters as if they were unimportant pissed me off. Made me question why I wasted my time watching a series about mecha and secret organizations when they were completely unimportant in the end. Thankfully, end of eva did a good job fixing that.

    Rebuild 2.0 had me really excited since I was happy to see Shinji with a back bone for one. I was hoping to see in Rebuild 3.0 answer a what if I have always had. How much different would Eva had turned out if only Shinji had more of a back bone and stood up for himself. Sadly, all that is ignored in 3.0 for a very confusing time skip. Guaranteed, I do agree that we are meant to feel as confused as Shinji is by this time jump. However, this elusive focus on Shinji brings back the same problem I had with the original ending to the Eva TV series. It completely ignores the other characters as if to say any character development they receive was a complete waste of time since they are irrelevant to the story.

    The only thing that gives me any hope for 4.0 is that it seems 4.0 will start were the TV series ended. In a destroyed blood red world. So it sort of seems like we shall see what the world is like at the End of Eva.

    wissenschaft
    Reply

    1. actually, I believe people who “wanted to see Shinji become a badass” got what they wanted. It’s just that every time Shinji goes badass or assertive, global catastrophe happens. Just another gut punch from the writers.

      I had heard that the original Eva and EoE was created out of disillusionment about the Otaku community and fans, perhaps 3.33 was created out of disillusionment about the GAR fans who can’t shut up since the original series about how they want the hurrdurrGAR, manly, badass hero instead of the problematic child soldier.

      koranot
      Reply

  16. I’m so glad that I wasn’t the only one to thinks about the movie this way. While my only difference really in opinion might be that there are some really interesting developments that could be made great in the fourth because of this. If they do it sucks that they sacrificed this movie for the next.

    My biggest reason I couldn’t even get behind this story was Misato’s team. Watching it a second time there are few times they seem to express that they do care about Shinji. (Misato saying “But we will ensure your safety.”, Misato not blowing Shinji up >_<, Mari saving Shinji calling them pups and telling them to learn about the world, and Asuka at the end even though overly aggressive the interaction between them to me represents she still cares for him. Otherwise why is she really there to get him lol.

    But with those few little things in an hour and a half show they kept Shinji in the dark. Which is why this whole movie had issues. Because all of this seems like it could have been avoided if they had said what was going on, and not being so overly prejudice about what happened (after all Misato was yelling at him to do it at the end of the second movie lol). Misato's team would have got what they wanted in the first place because Shinji wouldn't have piloted the EVA. Shinji would get a little of what he wanted since he would know what he needs not to do. And everyone would be happy lol. Not really but at least the source of most of the problems for these characters wouldn't be self inflicted.

    Really I think I'm just sad that the little character development we had in this felt like steps backwards. Especially since I felt like EVA 2.0 had made huge step forwards and I was really finally feeling great about each character and where they seemed to be going.

    Again though I could see still loving the last film. Because to have build strong bonds, usually there's going to be some trails. I just wish the trail wasn't over such a small mistake, and it take a whole movie to tell. Especially when it didn't need a whole movie to tell it lol.

    Shurai
    Reply

  17. I’m becoming more and more convinced the entire Rebuild series is actually a sequel to the series. I had my suspicions before but this movie pushed that into over drive.

    Moridin
    Reply

    1. Yeah I think it is a Sequel… Kaworu even states to Shinji that ” this has all happened before and you squeezed my head off that one time. ” thats what he said so he still remembers what happend b4 when shinji killed him.

      tom
      Reply

      1. Ya and the fact there are two Laces of Longenelius as well as all the hints from 1.11 and 2.22 like the splash of Blood on the Moon or the Red Sea. Also ya Kaworu has a history of breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the audience.

        Moridin
        Reply

    2. It is a sequel. It was pondered quite a bit with a lot of proof in 2.0, but hammered in for real in 3.0.

      Another big thing that shows it’s a sequel (albeit a tad bit of speculation), is the track that plays on the Shinji’s cassette player.

      Track 25-26 plays in NGE Original Series/Rebuild 1.
      Track 27 plays in 2.0 (notably after Mari fumbles with his cassette player).
      Track 28 plays in 3.0. (notably after Kaworu fixes it)

      Not only is there the gradual progression there, but also, it corresponds nicely to being Episode 25-26, Episode 27, and Episode 28 respectively.

      Zephyr
      Reply

      2. http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=241336

        First post shows some of the examples, as does the quote from Anno himself that said Evangelion is a story of repetition.

        There’s others of these floating around as well. Also, if you look at 3.33 under this assumption, arguably a fair amount of things could potentially be explained. Of course, it’s still theoretically speculation no matter what, but there’s a fair amount of support here.

        Zephyr
        Reply

  18. The movie would have been better for me if Shinji just asked them in the first part of the movie, a very simple question of “What the hell is going on?, What did I missed in my 14 years of slumber?” Jeez, it’s so simple and would have at least makes this movie much more clearer.
    I hope they find a way to tie everything up in the coming last movie, because I have a feeling that this will be the last time I would care for the Eva franchise.

    Jhacks
    Reply

      1. Nah.. In the first part he just wanders around and pretty much avoids asking simple questions about why is he there, why are they mad at him, what happened in past 14 years, why is NERV is the enemy now, that would have been helpful to the viewers in understanding some elements of the plot. If I were in Shinji’s position I would at least inquired some information from that cute girl voiced by Sawashiro Miyuki or shout-out to Misato, “Hey I have this fancy choker of death in my neck, care to explain why?” But then again we’re talking about Shinji here so the chances of him speaking for himself is pretty much boned. xD

        Jhacks
        Reply

      2. ^ What Silverpenny said. The crew of the Wunder refused to tell him what was going on no matter what questions he asked. And judging by their reactions (even Suzuhara’s) at some points in the beginning, there was no way even she would answer the questions he asked.

        Admittedly, it’s a bit painful not having all the pieces together and it probably could’ve used some extra dialogue…

        …but what it does highlight is what was actually answered, which was Misato’s “you don’t have to pilot EVA” anymore comment. It looks like an innocent statement at first glance, but there’s definitely a lot there besides just the literal interpretation.

        “You don’t have to pilot EVA anymore…
        …Because we don’t want you to risk blowing up the world anymore.
        …Because I don’t want you to pilot it anymore.
        …Because it pains me to look at you and talk to you. (she did, if you’ll remember, push him on at the end of EVA 2.0 and kind of indirectly cause this. To this end, her avoidance of him and non-action when she had a chance to kill him really hammer in this point).

        And so forth. The take on that bit of the movie will vary based on personal preference, but I’m definitely leaning more toward the side that believes it was more well done than not, especially since the potential explanations for why they wouldn’t bother to answer in the first place (14 years of brewing hate and having no one to blame will do that to you) are adequate.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      4. Maybe it’s just me and I’m just relying on the subs here, but don’t you guys think that he went to this “asking stage” way too passive. Shinji will ask somewhat vague questions, Misato will pretty much answered “STFU, Shinji” and Shinji will just stand there, accepting everything and just go “…Ok.” without even asking “Why?”. It felt to me that he is avoiding and not insisting asking any more further questions, it’s just so odd and annoying.
        I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting tired of not knowing anything and this speculating and theory crafting game of Eva is just tiring. It’s been years man, I just want some answers and a proper closure to the series.

        Jhacks
        Reply

  19. This right here is a great example of why having no communication kill, I believe this movie would have been completely different had at least one person besides Kaorw explained WTF happened.

    Reaper
    Reply

  20. The screenshots are in the wrong ratio. It looks as though the BD transfer was done at 2.36:1, which would mean a screenshot that was 1280 pixels wide should be 542 pixels high, not 720 pixels as it would have been for the 16:9 HDTV ratio.

    And that is the only thing I can explain about this movie.

    Angelus
    Reply

    2. The caps were deliberately re-sized to ensure all the images in RC are of the same ratio. But no worries, I’ll make the changes to reflect their original sizes if it’s such a bother. Thanks for letting us know!

      Seishun
      Reply

  21. When I finished watching this movie I really didn’t know what I felt about it. Then I read in tv tropes that many people had gotten Darkness Induced Audience Apathy from watching and I realized that’s what I was feeling. Now I never was a huge Eva fan but in 2008 when I fist started watching anime it was the third show that I ever watched and even though I hated EoE it had a huge impact on my views of characters in anime. Even though EoE made me hate him I didn’t really mind Shinji in NGE and that would extend to characters like him who I generally liked like Yuukiteru and Madoka; my mixed feelings on Asuka led to my love and hate feelings on Tsunderes and my liking of Rei spawned my liking of characters like her, watching develop is one of my favorite moments in anime.
    Kind of made me sad for me to stop caring after how much I adored 2.22 I would just stop caring. Especially strange since kind of embarrassingly in 2.22 her development turned my liking Rei into ZOMG territory.
    I don’t like what they did to Misato, I don’t like that Rei’s soul dissapered, I still don’t see a point in adding Mari, the second chance I gave to Shinji is gone now, well at least Asuka is alive i guess.

    xephx
    Reply

  22. Good points of the movie: animation, especially the space fight scene in the beginning was pretty good even though it was hard to follow due too many rapid cuts. So is the scene with the gigantic boats.

    Lemme sum up the Eva 3.33 or whatever this was called.

    “Shinji wakes up.
    Everyone’s mad at him for inadvertently causing (almost) 3rd impact while he “selfishly” tried to save Rei (I agree that it’s not really his fault here).
    Shinji gets extremely passive and pathetic as if that was possible. (Rei this, Rei that)
    Kaoru tells Shinji to pull some spears.
    Then Kaoru and everyone tells him not to pull.
    Shinji ignores everyone (for a quite long time) and pulls them out.
    Shinji again goes “is this my fault?” while the world below goes shit (ENTIRELY his fault)
    Shinji gets even more extremely passive and pathetic that he reaches the zenith of passivity/pitifulness. Om~~~.”

    Okay, I gotta stop right there. This 3.33 was a diasater. I didn’t know if Shinji could get any more infuriatingly annoying, Asuka could get any more tsun-y & bitchy (and Asuka IS my favorite character), Rei could be any more useless and annoying (in different way than Shinji). Pretty much all characters are in the gutter~~! It was pure tortue to try to finish this thing. And now that I’ve done it, it feels worse for doing so. I should’ve dropped it in the mid-way.

    As for Shinji, I don’t know if this sort of crap worked and considered hip in the 90s (e.g. it’s all Rei this, Rei that, totally oblivious of everything else, I get that she’s his mum’s clone, but at certain point, C’MON!!!; extremely passivity like you wouldn’t believe; when he became forcible, he became a severely mentally challenged/disabled person). His behavior is the main drive of this show now, so this IS the big deal, folks. I didn’t (more like “couldn’t bear to”) watch last few episodes of TV series, but I don’t remember Shinji being this bad with his “mental handicaps”. Now his character ONLY makes sense IF he has some sort of mental disabilities. Mentally handicapped is no joke, folks.

    This guy literally zoning into pulling that spears while everyone including Kaoru shouting at him not to do so makes zero sense if he wasn’t mentally handicapped person. If that’s what the writer here tried to do, that is portray a mentally handicapped person as a main guy, okay. I can take that. It ACTUALLY gets interesting, folks, if you think it that way. The whole narratives and everything. When was the last time you had a hero with down syndrome, for instance? I can’t recall. The point here is that why must I (or anyone else) trick myself into thinking that, for this show to become interesting and somewhat cohesive? Most likely the writer(s) tried to pass this character along as a normal, fallible human being and it’s a pure graded BS. I understand Japanese culture by large like suffering, neurotic things, but this one really takes the cake; there are pushing the boundaries and this wasn’t one of them. It’d be all over if passing a severely mentally diable person as new norm becomes acceptable. It’s not okay to look down on those with mentally diable folks nor treat them like flea. But it’s also not okay to try to categorize this extreme behavior displayed by Shinji as “normal”. It’s NOT even close.

    I seriously question the point of this endeavor now. I thought the writer wanted to tell his supposedly real EVA story this time with massive budgets since he couldn’t with his 26 TV series and 2-3 movies before for whatever reasons. But it’s more and more looking like just good old milking-the-cash-cow-’til-dry scheme. The movies are extremely popular, so that’s certainly working out for them, ah ha ha~~. Things and plots got so messy that I don’t really see how this 4 movie series endeavor would consider the “real thing”; if anything, it’s denigrating the famed TV series’ reputation and fond memories of many who watched in late 90s/early 00s.

    deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
    Reply

      1. I hate this kind of reaction. a good critic never had to be a better filmmaker. If “better” people are the only one allowed to speak their mind about a work of art, we would have a very fascistic world.

        Hoa Kiu
        Reply

  23. Sadly the movie was a lot worse than I imagined. I saw the preview in the second movie and accidently some artwork based on the third movie before I saw the movie.
    I imagined that the NERV personnel would be arrested by UN troops (they caused the Third Impact) and some new SEELE-led organization takes over most of NERV. _THEN_ timeskip and the third movie would make more sense seeing as the ex-NERV members would somehow be rehabilitated, get info about some evil scheme of the original NERV or SEELE and decides to do something against it (stealing the Wunder).
    I really hope there will be an OVA 2.5 explaining the 14 year gap. Maybe one have to see all four movies to understand the third movie?

    Terra
    Reply

    1. Terra, despite of all good intentions, no more Evas after the already-planned 4th one, please~~.

      Why can’t these writers on creative TV/movie side can’t leave alone the good stuff as they are? Must they always milk the cow ’til she’s bone dry? Look at Akira, for instance. Consider a Japanese classic (though I admit I still haven’t watched it). No remake, no sequel. It’s left as it was, deservedly, and stay on people’s memories. (I hope the Hollywood remake project totally fail and stay for ever and ever in the development hell!!). Or Taxi Driver (Scorsese, say no to Deniro about the sequel). How about leaving them as they were (are) and keep them left instead of these mindless and countless sequel and remake BS?

      Whether it is Godfather, Matrix, or Evangelion. Please say no. Leave them alone. Despite good intentions like filling the gap, explaining plot holes, retelling stories in new setting, continuing from where it was left off -when it was actually kinda over and done with-, it hardly ever turn good. No to sequel and remake and gap 2.5 or 2.3. Just no, please~~.

      deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
      Reply

  25. All the confusion.
    I’ll blame it on the 14 years blank.

    At some points I felt like I’m watching Eureka Seven 😛

    How did EVA-01 end up in some Tesseract in space?

    And theres Asuka with the ‘Curse of EVA’, minus one eye but super strong.
    Mari somehow seems stuck in her EVA.

    Wunder and EVA Mk 9 (aka Vessel of Adam).
    If Mk 9 is the original engine of Wunder then did Wille steal Wunder from SEELE/NERV sometime in the 14 years?
    Is Wunder originally something else?

    Demotion of 1st to 13th?
    What kind of system is there in the Angels?
    So with 13th gone, theres no more Angels?

    EVA 13 born from an artifical womb.
    Then kind of reborn from the core of the 12th Angel.

    Lilin.
    Sources say it means humanity, but its so vague.
    Kaworu used it, Asuka used it.

    Somehow it looks like Gendou killed off SEELE.
    What exactly is his version of the “Human Instrumentality Project”?

    Ok, theres lots of questions left to be answered.
    Hope the final movie won’t just go ‘omedeto’ and leave most of everything unanswered.
    Which I think it probably will 😛

    iron2000
    Reply

    2. I have a feeling that Asuka’s eye-patch isn’t because she’s really missing an eye (or at least not anymore if she did end up losing one from her injuries involving Unit 03 before), but possibly something that has to do with allowing her to use the Beast (limiter released) function of Eva Unit 02 (that Mari also used in 2.0) that requires her to keep it covered up for some reason (if she did lose an eye, possibly an implant of some kind). You notice that you can see a glowing green spot behind her eye-patch alongside her normal, uncovered blue one when she used it.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

    3. I’ll try and see what I can guess:

      How did EVA-01 end up in some Tesseract in space?
      After SEELE had Kaworu stop Shinji from finishing Third Impact (hence the name NEAR Third Impact), they no doubt had Unit01 imprisoned in their Tesseract and sealed him in space, until the time is ripe (whatever that means).

      And theres Asuka with the ‘Curse of EVA’, minus one eye but super strong.
      I just interpret it as prolonged exposure to LCL = No aging. Note that she’s always in her plugsuit, and besides her eyepatch, her plugsuit is patched with red duct tape bandages, and the fact that she’s able to go into “Beast Mode”. This “Beast” she’s acquired in her probably has some regenerative ability, allowing her to survive the injuries she sustained in 2.22.

      Mari somehow seems stuck in her EVA.
      Perhaps Anno was being lazy. lol

      Wunder and EVA Mk 9 (aka Vessel of Adam).
      If Mk 9 is the original engine of Wunder then did Wille steal Wunder from SEELE/NERV sometime in the 14 years?
      Is Wunder originally something else?
      SEELE probably intended for WUNDER to be powered by Mk9. But as WUNDER is now commandeered by WILLE, they’ll need another EVA unit to power it, Mk9 is out of the question as it’s an enemy unit, and as they still need Units 2 and 8 to fight, Unit 1 became the ideal choice.

      Demotion of 1st to 13th?
      What kind of system is there in the Angels?
      So with 13th gone, theres no more Angels?
      Probably the biggest WTF question.

      Lilin.
      Sources say it means humanity, but its so vague.
      Kaworu used it, Asuka used it.
      It’s just another term for “humans”. Asuka probably no longer views herself as one, having survived a gruesome death, and without aging to boot.

      Somehow it looks like Gendou killed off SEELE.
      SEELE’s agents are Kaworu and Rei2.0, though Gendo managed to outmaneuver Kaworu while Rei2.0 gained “sentience” and left the party. Besides that, I have no idea what SEELE has been up to.

      What exactly is his version of the “Human Instrumentality Project”?
      To turn into LCL so he could be with Yui once again? I dunno.

      Anonymous
      Reply

      2. Ok, I guess its safe to say that the ‘Curse of EVA’ has something to do with activating Beast Mode.
        Wonder how many times had Asuka fought in Beast Mode in the 14 years?

        The technology and mechanics still harbor mysteries, if the movies choose to focus on characters then maybe those mysteries will remain mysteries or perhaps answered in obscure places like print articles or interviews or maybe some ‘bible’ publication.

        Anonymous has some pretty good guesses, settled my mind for the wait to the finaml movie.

        iron2000
        Reply

      3. Honestly speaking though, from a production standpoint, I think this whole “Curse of EVA” thing was just an excuse to be able to pull off the 14-year time skip without aging the fan favorite characters… Just imagine the backlash resulting from a 28-year old Asuka…

        Actar
        Reply

  26. I think Anno was just upset that one didn’t had to study psychology for three years anymore to understand the movies.
    I think that the NGE earth experiences one version of second and third impact after another (so the original NGE could be the first and Rebuild later, this would explain why Kaworu promised Shinji to make him happy this time).

    +Ideas for the fourth movie ending+
    – The End of movie four will see a time travel of Rei, Asuka and Shinji in their triple-EVA fighting against Adam of the first Second Impact and prevent everything from happening.
    – God Shinji travels back in time, prevent his mother to die in EVA-01 and give the Angels the unknown something that will make them happy and prevent them from attacking mankind/wanting to merge with Adam/Lilith.

    Terra
    Reply

  27. I personally think that the preview for 3.33 from 2.22 was the 14 years that was being skipped. (And Mari being the other calm one in the entire film, but then she might just want to see the world burn – more slowly of course)

    Other than that, I can’t wait to see how this would work out next year…

    info600
    Reply

  28. I understand why people think this movie was a “disaster”. But in my very humble opinion, this was the only course of action after the utter mess (in a good way) that was 2.22.

    This movie explains very little about what happened in those 14 years, explains very little about what’s going on and why it’s going on. Why? Because in this movie series, we’re closer to Shinji than to the rest of the cast. Shinji is a young man who’s in the center of a disaster and to whom no one wants to say anything; and with the amount of exposition and the breakneck pace of the movies, we’re supposed to feel like Shinji: confused, hurried, unsure.

    The “hopeful” ending to 2.22 was completely deconstructed on 3.33 because that’s exactly what happens to Shinji: he thought he was doing the right thing. Hell, EVERYONE ELSE thought he was, even; until the Near-Third Impact happened. Everyone is to blame for the Near-Third, but let’s remember how the motto to Evangelion is “You mustn’t run away”. 3.33 is chock-full of people running away, from their guilt, from their responsibility, from the inevitable end of the world as they know it. The only one that appears to desire this conclusion is Gendo, and Fuyutsuki is also a character that chooses not to run away: even if it meant to break Shinji further, he had to tell him exactly what was going on and what followed after all this mess, and he told him that because he cares about him and about Yui.

    Fuyutsuki, in my opinion, is the one who cares more about Shinji in Rebuild. While everyone else is either using him as a tool or trying to give him a happiness they don’t know how to give and that they don’t know if Shinji really wants (looking at you, Rei and Kaworu), Fuyutsuki calmly sits him down and tells him the truth. That is the biggest service I’ve seen anyone in Rebuild do for Shinji, and my imaginary hat goes off to that man. Hell yes Fuyutsuki.

    As for the rest of this movie, it sadly suffers from “middle child syndrome” as one friend of mine put it. It depends heavily on 1.11 and 2.22 to make sense, and it only serves to lead to the Final movie. But I really don’t think it’s a “disaster” because I choose to judge Rebuild of Evangelion as a whole, and not the individual movies on their own.

    I liked 3.33 because I like Rebuild. I thought 3.33 was necessary – hell, even essential to Rebuild, and I also feel 3.33 will be justified by Final. We’ll just have to wait and see.

    (Oh, and I finally got to watch, completely, the original series and End of Evangelion before watching 3.33. I still like Rebuild better, and I can see why people think it’s more hopeful – it is. I also took care in rewatching the previous movies before watching 3.33, IMO it also helps to enjoy and understand 3.33 more. I’ll, of course, rewatch them all before watching Final; and I think everyone should, too.)

    EH2
    Reply

    1. I have to agree that Evangelion 3.0 has set-up the perfect stage for Evangelion 4.0 to honour the REBUILD that Anno has set out to do. Very interesting discussion there.

      As a singular movie, I still feel that is was lacking in many fronts that could have been handled with better care. I feel that the moment when Kaworu realized that the spears were wrong had been a tad bit early. If they could show him making the mistake of pulling the spears out with Shinji (a moment of triumph for both of them) and then discovering their mistake, it would have been a perfect set-up for a climactic finale for 3.0 of which Kaworu pays the price. So much potential of story telling that could have been used. >_<

      Flappy
      Reply

      1. Well, I don’t know. The lance of Cassius was supposed to be physically different to the lance of Longinus. When Kaworu saw that both were two-pronged spears he could have said “wait a goddamned minute, we’ve been had”.

        Poor Kaworu. It just never works out for him, huh?

        EH2
        Reply

      2. Yea, Kaworu honestly just wanted to help Shinji out. He went out with a smile on his face, the character that had the best development in this film.

        As we can see that the spears morph, they could easily plot twist the situation by making both of them appear different at the start and then *BAM* both change into the spear of Longinus. This will fit the mood of the series well with both Shinji and Kaworu realizing the folly of their actions and how they have been used. I think this would set the upcoming fight to feel just right. Maybe I am missing something regarding the mythos of the spears. Unit 13 looks like it might make another appearance in the next film and maybe face off Shinji in his Unit 01.

        Just my own wishful thinking on my part, could see that scene in my head and looks mighty good 😛

        Flappy
        Reply

  29. Q.

    The only praise I can give this movie is its visuals and animation quality. Those are gorgeous.

    On the other hand the lack of competent writing is just unprecedented, with the exception of Shinji, everyone else is now a plot device at best, talking heads and shouting heads for the rest of them. Or Kaji. Kaworu is a joke this time, being the only person on the planet with Fuyutsuki willing to have a proper discussion with Shinji doesn’t take away the hollowness of his character. And don’t get me started on that shot on Mari’s bouncing boobs following Kaworu’s supposed tragic (retarded) death.

    All is said and done when Anno cares more about shock value (flying fleet, Eva-02 turning into a panther, basically whatever is happening in every action sequence) than actually making efforts at telling a meaningful story.

    http://i.imgur.com/xvNn2an.jpg

    Ananas
    Reply

      1. I stands for kyu.

        From Wikipedia :

        Jo-ha-kyū (序破急?) is a concept of modulation and movement applied in a wide variety of traditional Japanese arts. Roughly translated to “beginning, break, rapid”, it essentially means that all actions or efforts should begin slowly, speed up, and then end swiftly. This concept is applied to elements of the Japanese tea ceremony, to kendō and other martial arts, to dramatic structure in the traditional theatre, and to the traditional collaborative linked verse forms renga and renku (haikai no renga).

        Ananas
        Reply

    2. She’s relevant in the point that she seems to know a lot more than she’s letting on (i.e. targeting the right entry plug at the end, the scene at Central Dogma). We’re still not exactly sure how that plays into the grand scheme, but she’s definitely got a part to play.

      Zephyr
      Reply

      1. Still though, this movie was the time to show us HOW she knew this much. You can’t just jam all that backstory and motivation into the last movie while the final conflict is going on.

        Da5id
        Reply

      2. There are some backstories that don’t necessarily need that much to develop. There’s been more than adequate hints already that Mari is definitely abnormal (from her extra knowledge all the way to the fact she seems to have compatibility with any EVA unit), and all that’s theoretically left is that one big explanation that could potentially tie it all together (something that might just take a few minutes). In addition, if you consider her to be vital to the overall plot line, it’s likely that the revelation of who she really is and her backstory is tied in so closely to the overarching plot line that it shouldn’t and couldn’t be revealed in 3.0.

        And to that end, you have to say, if we get a revelation that she’s a SEELE agent or related to Shinji/Asuka from EOE, things could easily be made clearer with a minimal amount of time expenditure. So… I don’t get why 3.0 has to be the movie that reveals her back story. There’s nothing wrong with saving the major revelations to the end, especially if they end up adequately explaining it well, and it ties into the whole overarching plot. Also, there’s a lot of subtle things already dropped in.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      3. Oh, she’s ABNORMAL. That tells us SO goddamn much. She can pilot the EVA well and is arrogant and quirky and crazy sometimes. ALSO very descriptive traits. Except that they’re not. Especially in NGE.

        If Mari weren’t the only new EVA pilot and not clearly shoe-horned into most of her scenes in 2.22, I’d agree that we wouldn’t need that much, but that’s what we were given and that’s what is most concerning. We should’ve had these subtle hints last movie and gotten a full backstory now. When you go into a final battle, you need to have everyone’s backstories and motivations established beforehand so that you properly know the stakes. Otherwise the audience has to stop and think about how all these new details play into the situation when they should be focusing on the final battle itself. And considering this movie skipped 15 freaking years ahead, it’s clear they already wasted a perfect opportunity to establish Mari as anything but a pilot/Mary Sue (yeah that’s right, I said it.) In 2.22, they gave us a chance to see how the pilots interact during peace, and they even did it here with Kaworu and Shinji’s scenes. Mari has no such scenes, and thus we cannot know anything about her other than as an extra pilot for the action scenes with is ultimately all she adds up to in the end.

        I truly hope I’m proven wrong in the final movie, but we’re going to be waiting on that for awhile, so I’m not going to hold my breath.

        Da5id
        Reply

      5. I still don’t get why you keep saying we “should’ve” gotten this or should’ve gotten that. Until we see what actually happens in 4.0, you can’t go making grandiose statements as if what was done in this movie is already irredeemable and cannot be resolved, which is not true.

        If it turns out that way, you can feel free to go ahead and say all the above all you want, but for now, it’s just something you seem to be jumping on because you disliked the fact they didn’t choose this moment to explain. The way it seems to me, you’re disliking a lot of this because it’s developed in a way you didn’t think it would or preferred it would, rather than for the developments itself.

        And you keep pointing out to just focusing on the final battle, but are you going to tell me that the whole point of EVA 4.0’s 2 hourish anticipated run time is going to be the final battle? There’s plenty of time before hand to sort out everything and establish a lot before whatever the final event ends up being. Again, I can see certain revelations completely flipping the tables regarding this, but you seem to think that the chances of this is impossible even before the movie happened. Considering the hints dropped in places, it definitely seems to me there’s some string tying things together, and it’s why I feel like Mari ain’t just some random pointless character.

        Also, EVA’s a series always made us think a bit throughout the series. I don’t see what’s wrong with having some development leading up to or during the final battle itself. Some people will fight because they’re forced to and they’ll find their motivations then. That’s one valid way of doing things, and it just boils down to the fact you can’t go throwing all these things out there assuming that there’s no way it’ll work out until it actually ends up that way. There are many ways to end up at a certain point. You might prefer it one way, but it doesn’t mean another way can’t get there too, even if it’s not what you prefer.

        Sure, it may turn out she’s a Mary Sue or what not, but for now, you can’t possibly say she can’t be something more, which is my whole point. That and the fact I believe you should reserve some judgment for 3.33 until 4.0 comes out, considering the obvious heavy connection between the two.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      6. Z, the element of that which i take issue with is the argument that we need to withhold judgment on 3.33 until 4,0 comes out. I don’t buy that argument for movie series – every film has to stand on its own merits. There’s no question that middle films have to do a lot of heavy lifting, but that didn’t stop The Two Towers or Empire Strikes Back from being compelling and coherent stand-alone works (in the latter case, the best in the trilogy). I’m not saying Eva Q isn’t any of those things, but I do believe one way or the other you have to decide that now, not later. A movie is a movie whether it has a sequel coming out in three (or four, or five) years or not. And in that light, I’ll judge 4.0 on its own merits as a film and on how well it pulls together the series, not based on the strengths or weaknesses of 3.33.

        As for Mari, I can honestly say there’s no development that could happen in 4.0 that for me would justify her existence in its current form. Simply put, she stands out like a sort thumb – at no point does she feel integrated with the rest of the cast or with the mythology, a classic insert charactrer. She’s a major mistake from a narrative perspective, without making any inferences as to the reason why she was inserted in the first place.

        Guardian Enzo
        Reply

      7. Well, yes. The movie should for the most part be judged based on what we’re given, but I feel like at least some portion of it should be reserved until we see whether or not the things we’ve given in 3.33 are actually significant or not.

        The basic thing I feel right now is that we just don’t have the grasp of what exactly was significant here in this movie in the grand context, so we can’t get the whole picture of what 3.33 is and isn’t at this moment. It feels like 4.0 could reveal many things based on what was in 3.33 (including things that we might not be deeming significant at this time), and from there, you can argue that 3.33 was a better movie than you originally thought it was, ya know?

        Like looking back, it’s entirely possible we end up saying stuff like, “actually now that you think about it, 3.33 actually did this without us knowing,” which kind of bumps it up a little bit in my book. Sure, I guess you could go into the whole, “it misses the whole point if we don’t get it the first time,” but I mean, EVA’s always had a bit underneath what we see on the exterior, so this concept feels like something that should be taken into account.

        As for Mari’s existence, I kind of feel like she’s intentionally not integrated… like the whole point of it all so far is that she’s here, obviously misplaced, obviously abnormal in order to symbolize the difference between the original series (potentially a prequel) and this one. In that context, there’s a lot (at least to me) that could really make her into a pivotal character in 4.0 as a result… and arguably, if she turns out being linked in the prequel/sequel kind of way, then her purpose has been theoretically inferred to many times already (the cassette player turning to track 27 after she runs into Shinji in 2.0 is another such example).

        In the end though, I don’t disagree that there are things that could’ve been done better in the story telling/developmental department, but I just think that there’s a lot of potential stuff here we could be overlooking in our analysis that could be important in giving a proper review of 3.33.

        Lol, needless to say though, 4.0 has its work cut out for it. Definitely one of those things that could really end up insanely epic, or crash as one of the worst things in recent memory.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      8. The problem is that the time has already passed for Mari to be made relevant. Nothing good has ever come from dumping a character’s entire backstory last minute when they’ve already had so much time, and Mari is cannot be an exception when she has done nothing to define herself as a character. What possible reason could they have for deliberately making her stand out and have no discernible character? She can’t be a normal human because she knows too much. She might be the 11th angel in human form, but that’s a twist we’ve seen before. She could be a clone or younger version of Asuka’s mother, but that has no real consequence on Asuka’s character development like Rei’s did on Shinji, so it’s not going to matter. She might even be a combination of those things or something else entirely, but again, it’s not going to matter, and they don’t have enough time to make it matter.

        Maybe if they had made this into second 26 episode series instead of four movies over seven years, they could’ve handled that properly.

        BUT THEY DIDN’T.

        Da5id
        Reply

      9. Da5id, did you travel to the future and see 4.0 or am I missing something here? Talk about making wild presumptions. Everything in 3.33 is essentially a build-up to 4.0. You can fault the film for not explaining Mari in 3.33, but to arrogantly state that Anno can’t possibly expand (or expand well) on Mari’s character is inane.

        Are you a wizard?

        Sol
        Reply

      10. If you consider the context of length of movies, you’re barely 75% (total length wise) into things by the time you go into the last movie. I don’t get what’s so last minute about it aside from it being in the last movie and I don’t get why you keep thinking there’s no way they could do it right if they put it to the last movie.

        You ask me “could they have for deliberately making her stand out and have no discernible character?” And the point is you don’t know!

        All your things are suppositions based on what YOU think can or can’t be done, which is not equivalent to what can/can’t be done by Anno (or anime in general). The way I see it, you’re just denying any possibilities right off the bat because it didn’t develop the way YOU wanted it, rather than judging off the material itself.

        I get thinking what you do about Mari as a character, but the fact you’ve already listed so many potential things actually supports the fact that some kind of significant development is possible, rather than being against it.

        Again, they have TWO WHOLE HOURS to explain Mari. 2 hours out of a total of what, less than 8 hours total? 25% of the series’ total length is a whole lotta time to explain something. If you still don’t think 4-5 episodes worth of time can’t explain one person’s back story… I don’t know what to say.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      11. Name one character who was made to be “mysterious”, given no relationship to any characters beyond professionalism and given no character development that had their backstories and motivations explained in the last stages of the story and actually had it pay off. Because I can name several who didn’t.

        Da5id
        Reply

      12. Way to intentionally limit the criteria on purpose there.

        Again, I don’t know why I need to constantly repeat this, but Evangelion is NOT in its the last stages. If you think about it from length context, we’re barely 17-18 episodes into a 24 episode series right now (and 8-9 eps into say, a 1 cour 12 ep series).

        If you’re going to tell me that there aren’t a gazillion series that had their final plotline/character development come off from three to five consecutive plot-oriented episodes in a row develop into something that made you go “Whoa” (and also revealed many things that suddenly made a lot of links apparent that weren’t before in some of these cases too), then I don’t know what to say. Because a heck of a lot of series do that all the time.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      13. You’re telling me the LAST MOVIE is not the last stage? Yes, please, back that statement up. I am genuinely curious how that can be possible. When a series is in it’s last stages, that’s usually within it’s last 4-5 episodes, so the final movie would fall completely in line with that.

        And again, I am asking you to NAME THEM. Give some case examples, otherwise your argument is total bunk. Here’s my example of what I think Mari is becoming/has become.

        Legend of Korra Spoilers:
        Show Spoiler ▼

        And here we are, right before the end of the Rebuild movies, and Mari has shown no depth other than doing badass stuff. There is no time to give Mari the time she needed to establish her character as anything other than fanservice (which yes, Evangelion previews always advertise, but you’d think the only new EVA pilot would be more than just a pair of glasses and boobs).

        Da5id
        Reply

      14. Lol dude. You’re limiting it way too much by the concept of the fact that the “last movie” is the “last stage” and totally overlooking the fact that total length wise, it’s way more than just the last stage. At most, it’s GOING into the last stage. You already mentioned above yourself that you don’t believe that there’s enough time to develop anything regardless of what it is, and I’m telling you right now that there is. Stop seizing on the “last movie” = “last stage” part to try and get back to your argument and ignoring the fact that I’m addressing exactly the qualm you mentioned earlier, which was time (of which there is plenty of).

        And really, if you’re telling me that you can’t see that S;G, GITS:SAC, and Madoka (just to name a few of the better received series in recent memory) saved the biggest parts of their developments toward the end, I don’t know what to say. And if you want other particular bits about supposedly mysterious characters, just off the top of my head, Noir and Madlax did this and it worked out alright with their respective characters.

        And again, I don’t know why you keep asserting that we’ve gotten virtually nothing out of the series regarding Mari so far. You’re like just blatantly ignoring the hints of the series being a sequel to the original, the cassette player change that happened after Mari came into the picture, the fact she clearly has her own agenda and knows more than she let’s on, as well as her strange ability to pilot any EVA at full compatibility.

        The point is: there’s more than enough there to conjure up a viable backstory in the large amount of time remaining (cause really, 3-5 episodes worth aren’t enough?). Heck, you even tried suppositioning your own potential scenarios earlier, but you said the problem was time left to develop. And I’m telling you right now that there’s more than enough time, and Sol above there said the same thing. In addition, you’re trying to drum in the zero development, zero relationship thing too much as well, which is just not true (see above examples). Just because it’s not as significant as you wanted it to be doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      15. @Zephyr

        I see where you are coming from and i somewhat agree with your notion, but with the set up this third movie gave us, i just dont see how they could possibly present mari as a compelling enough character in the last movie while fleshing out all the other plot points in a cohesive manner; that is unless they make the last movie’s runtime like 2hrs and 30 mins. Like you stated, there have been series’ that have spent three to four eps building on a character that was rather undeveloped until that point and wowed audiences with the outcome, but in order to do that, there has to be enough forshadowing and intrigue ingrained into the character so that when these developments finally do arise, they have that much more impact. So far Mari’s character has not been handled with enough intrigue and sophistication (save for one or two cryptic’s things she has said throughout the entire rebuild series but still isnt enough) so when she finally does end up getting the development she needs, its going to feel like it came out of nowhere and not many people will care. As enzo stated, I have a nagging fear she is going to be used as a deus ex machina of sorts and that wont be no good.

        I personally still enjoyed 3.33 but i was a still bit disappointed in the direction it decided to take and i feel like that decision made for a messy movie regardless of whether i still enjoyed watching it. I dont feel as hateful about it as others do as it doesnt truly deserve THAT much hate. Hell, I thought 2.22 was a great, great movie that held true to the things that made Evangelion great and shedded away the things that didnt (for the people who feel that way i sincerly recommend that they watch the movie again), but you still have people out there that say that it shit on the franchise, to which to this day no one has presented a strong enough argument to make that statement a fact. I hear many comments about how Asuka’s character was ruined (some of her developments were kinda quick but defiently not ruined and fit the context of the story) and that the character developments dont fit the theme of the original, despite that fact that there was still 2 movies left and plenty of time for more character development. Well, this rebuild is not the original, and it is being rebuilt based on new themes and yes, these characters fit these new themes presented in the rebuild and they are just as good if not better than the original (although 3.33 detracted from the psychological analysis moments and character developments in general save for kaworu). Horrible things still happen to our protagonist but this time around it seems more hopeful that they will gain the strength to overcome their weakness and push on.

        sonicsenryaku
        Reply

    5. Mari could be a deconstruction of the Mary Sue, if you look at it that way. She’s a character that seemingly comes out of nowhere, has a meaningful relationship with a member of the main cast (Kaji), she can pilot 02 despite of the link 02 has with Asuka, and she’s an Ace character to boot. Yes, all the traits of the Mary Sue.

      But notice how she doesn’t shine. Mary Sue characters in fanfiction are made to be the star, to displace the main cast and take over the plot AND the character development. Mari (HELL HER NAME IS EVEN MARI) is just there for the ride, she’s good at what she does but is otherwise not notorious at all. She’s rarely referred to by name, even.

      It’s like the movies themselves hate the Mary Sue and refuse to give her the spotlight unless it’s absolutely necessary. She’s whimsically written (like Mary Sue characters are) and her scenes are only as good as the scene itself.

      Or at least that’s the way I see it, but considering how Evangelion is an exercise in deconstruction even at its most hopeful times (that is, Rebuild), I wouldn’t be surprised if that was exactly what was going on here.

      EH2
      Reply

      2. Unfortunately Mari is effectively left with all of the back story and information that she had in the second movie. That is to say, effectively none. What connection does she have to the Eva project? How did she pilot Unit 02 in the second movie? Why did she seem to know more than the other Children about what was going on? Why was she trying to sneak into Japan and remain hidden in the second movie? Was she an enemy of Seele or Nerv? Was she interested in Shinji or not?

        Granten
        Reply

      3. Da5id: Not exactly. Mari is just one of the many differences injected onto the events of the previous iteration, to cause a different outcome. And saying she’s pointless is like saying people on Mission Control were pointless, or that any other secondary character with very little development is pointless. Hell, Mari gets more development in Rebuild than Kaworu got in the entire original show!

        Granten: Like with the original Eva, you can’t expect to get a straightforward explanation to everything. At most, what we can get from Mari is that she’s one of Kaji’s agents (like other people at WILLE), she could have gotten better intel (from Kaji?), she got control of Unit 02 because she was Kaji’s agent and therefore “trustworthy” to an extent, and she could pilot 02 just as Rei was a plausible candidate for 01 and Asuka was a plausible candidate for 03 and Shinji could pilot 13: because the Evas didn’t have any objections about it.

        And no, Mari wasn’t interested in Shinji. Save for her doglike interaction with him at the beginning, she doesn’t show any other interest in him, he calls him “NERV’s lapdog” and treats him in the same condescending manner as the rest of NERV does. Hell, in 3.33 the only interest she shows in Shinji is actually more related to her partner’s (Asuka’s) reactions to him.

        EH2
        Reply

      5. Disregarding the fact that this isn’t about comparing development between adaptations, you are incorrect. Kaworu’s development, while rushed, still at least ACTUALLY HAPPENED. In the original, Kaworu was an agent of Seele and an Angel trying to go by his nature and start Third Impact for Seele’s reasons. However, meeting Shinji showed him that mankind had some good worth preserving and let Shinji kill him so that Shinji could live.

        In two movies and apparently 14 years worth of story, what has Mari learned? How has she changed? What is her development?

        Da5id
        Reply

  31. Personally I found that I liked the movie a lot, but only if I didn’t view it as “Evangelion”, if you know what I mean. I kind of decided twenty minutes in that “This isn’t the Evangelion I know” and then actually managed to like it a LOT. 1.11 and 2.22 were one thing, but 3.33 can’t even be compared to the original series any more. As an “Evangelion” movie it probably falls short, but I suppose as a tetralogy that’s supposed to stand on its own/be a complete reboot I think it works really well.

    Nitro
    Reply

    1. I mean, right after 1.11 I knew this wasn’t going to be as deep as the original series. A lot of it was dumbed down for mass audiences’ sake and there was a whole lot of exposition. So I didn’t go in to 2.22 or 3.33 expecting anything that I got from the original series. It’s worked so far, and I’m enjoying the hell out of the movies.

      Nitro
      Reply

  32. Great review! Nice that RC is finally doing some coverage on Evangelion. Yeah, the movie was quite disappointing and confusing, but at least there were tons of action and Asuka scenes (WHICH MADE UP FOR EVERY ELSE FOR ME). Also, LOVE Sakura Nagashi–been playing it since November or something.

    Can’t wait for the conclusion!! Hopefully that one would be less confusing and would still have a crapload of Asuka (and some answers).

    ftw
    Reply

  34. I would hazard to guess that the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11th 2011 had an impact on Anno Hideaki’s view on the world and led him to tear up the entire storyboard (NONE of the preview shots in 2.22 ended up in 3.33) and created this rather depressing “mess” that is “Redo”.

    Even the title seems to hint that Anno, no matter his best efforts at arranging a GAR ending in 2.22, CANNOT redo the depressing ending of the original NGE, so we once again end up with the rather emo Shinji that we came to pity/hate in NGE.

    I lean towards the former, if I were to wake up after a coma of 14 years and not only does nobody tell me jackshit about ANYTHING, but treats me like I’m the antichrist, even I’d feel like losing it. Indeed, when Rei2.0 (obviously different to the Rei in the previous 2 movies) came to bail him out of WUNDER, I was silently thinking “To hell with them, Shinji! Hop aboard!”

    Anonymous
    Reply

  35. Random observations

    Misato – If you rewatch 2.22, you’ll notice that SHE’S the one who’s responsible for giving Shinji the ultimate nudge to start Third Impact, since she told Shinji to “go for it and do you want (saving Rei). Right now, she too is no doubt feeling guilty, but in order not to antagonize her WILLE peers, who has somehow proclaimed her their leader, she had to maintain a hostile facade to a completely bewildered Shinji. Surely she could handle this better by just telling Shinji the truth rather than wait for Kaworu to tell him afterwards.

    Kaworu – Whatever the hell does getting “demoted” from First Angel to Thirteenth Angel even friggin means?! What seems to be the difference? He’s still an Angel, no? That’s the biggest question I have concerning Kaworu right now.

    Rei2.0 (My tentative name for her until she gets a “fan consensus” name) – Obviously a different Rei, even without Fuyutsuki’s explanations. She started off as a rather boring automaton, simply recharging in her pod when she’s not following SEELE’s direct orders (if I’m not mistaken), that even Shinji gets disgusted with her.

    But it was her wondering why Shinji despises her that she started to become self-aware, and that’s when she became a somewhat interesting character in her own right.
    https://randomc.net/image/Neon%20Genesis%20Evangelion/Evangelion%20Shin%20Gekijouban%20Kyuu%20-%20Large%20161.jpg (“Huh? Why’s he hating me all of a sudden? ;.; ” )

    Asuka afterwards gave her even more of a mindful that got her thinking, asking her “What do YOU want out of this?” And that was when she decided she didn’t want anything to do with SEELE or Gendo’s plans, and promptly decided to eject herself out of the mutating Mark09/Vessel of Adam before it consumed her.
    https://randomc.net/image/Neon%20Genesis%20Evangelion/Evangelion%20Shin%20Gekijouban%20Kyuu%20-%20Large%20183.jpg (“She’s right, WTF am I doing here anyway?”)

    Rei2.0 is later seen walking off with Asuka and Shinji to an uncertain future, contemplating on what she would be doing from now on.
    https://randomc.net/image/Neon%20Genesis%20Evangelion/Evangelion%20Shin%20Gekijouban%20Kyuu%20-%20Large%20219.jpg

    Anonymous
    Reply

    2. Rei2.0? Quite inaccurate. Just like the original show’s case, we should be calling this one Rei-3, as she IS the third Rei. (You could call it Rei 3.0 and it’d even fit perfectly with the fact that this movie is 3.0 too!).

      Your point on Misato: Yes. Dammit, yes. Why else was she hesitant in pulling the DSS choker’s trigger? She hesitated because she’s guilty. The trigger was only pulled once WILLE determined Shinji to be “unrepentant”, to be causing the Fourth Impact.

      Your point on Kaworu: He’s Adam, remember? He’s THE First Angel. However, he claimed to be “demoted to 13th” because he was involved in Gendo’s sequential list of Angel slayings. The 13th to fall for the sake of his plan.

      Your point on Rei-3: YES, DAMMIT YES. Just like the original show’s Rei-3, she starts becoming very aware of what she’s involved with, and decides not to take any of that shit. Just that, in this case, she didn’t have to have Gendo’s arm passing through her AT Field (or at least not yet *shudder*) in order to get her rebellion, she simply said “fuck this, I’m outta here”.

      It’s also a nice callback to what Rei-2 said in 1.11, she pilots because of her links to everyone, and Rei-3’s links to everyone are what set her free from “just being there to take orders”.

      EH2
      Reply

      2. …You have a point there. Even if Rei-1 was shown for a bit in Rebuild, it’s not like people would know there are 3 of them; they’d just know the first and the second one to be formally introduced.

        EH2
        Reply

      3. Thanks for your answer on Kaworu.

        Though this raises another question, Kaworu killed himself, creating the sequence that makes him no13.

        But somehow killing himself doesn’t trigger Fourth Impact, but rather STOPS it halfway. I was of the understanding that slaying all Angels in the sequence would trigger an Impact. (The remaining half of Fourth Impact is stopped by Mari yanking Shinji out of Unit13’s cockpit)

        So what now? Gendo wants to trigger his own version of Instrumentality and so needs another Impact, but will there be anymore Angels to slay in order to trigger said Impact? Or would the mass-produced units seen fighting Unit02 and Unit08 in the preview suffice as artificial Angels?

        Anonymous
        Reply

      4. When you consider the original series had 18 angels (if you count Rei and don’t count the Lilin race), I’d say Rebuild is still at least 4 short (counting Rei again) from its previous iteration. Which actually fits the number of the movie they’d be in: 4.

        EH2
        Reply

    3. Interesting remark regarding Misato, did not see it that way. Her guilt might be the cause of her acting the way she did in 3.0. The uncertainty and confusion she has might have been shared by everyone on board the Wunder as they cannot quite decide whether Shinji is an enemy or ally.

      Rei 2.0 still exists in Unit 01, it will be very interesting to see the interaction between Rei 2.0 and Rei 3.0.

      Flappy
      Reply

  39. Also, did anyone seeing this get the impression that we accidentally skipped a movie? The stuff they didn’t cover (How the world got like this, how Misato and the gang split off from Nerv, Units 7, 10, and 11, the 11th and 12th angels, MARI’S FREAKING BACKSTORY) could fill a whole film.

    Evangelion 2.55: You Can (Not) Go Back

    Da5id
    Reply

  40. Let’s get by parts:

    Misato and Co.’s cold shoulder at Shinji.

    It’s obvious they truly care about him, otherwise Misato would blow him up when he escaped, and Asuka would not rescue him in the end. Maybe they would eventually treat him better after blowing all that steam for almost causing third impact, but his sudden escape happened before they could even talk to him again.

    What about Mari?

    She seems to know much more than she lets out, and seems to be even older than she claims. (Gendou-kun?) She also did little so far to make up for all the screentime she got, but I hope she yet has some really important role to play except being an excuse for more fanservice.

    Shinji’s big fail.

    Surely he was so desperate to fix things up that at some point he was not listening anybody else. Thus he pulled the spears despite Kaworu and Asuka’s pleas just as his father planned. This ended up somewhat forced as there was not much angst build up on him to screw up like that, but we are talking about a boy who never had much emotional support to begin with, and the little ground he had left was crumbling thanks to everyone else’s efforts to make him feel even more miserable (intended or not).

    Overall it is still unknown if the final movie will make up for the “WTF” feelings we got from this one. It’s EVA after all, and most of its magic always came from its questions instead of the (few) answers that it provides, and only how Anno will make the pieces fall together in the end will show if this entire “remake” was really necessary.

    Exukvera
    Reply

  42. Great review, but I definitely disagree with it at the same time… It was great that they decided to take the entire franchise in a new direction, and even though there are many flaws in it (such as too narrow of a focus on Shinji), it is applause worthy of them for not doing a “redo” of the End of Evangelion or the ending of the original series. Also, Misato wasn’t a complete ice queen in this film as there were a couple key moments where she showed that she still really cared about Shinji. One when she didn’t detonate his collar, and the other was when she called his name towards the end. Her cold attitude towards him could be the result of guilt; guilt that she thought she had failed him as her guardian. Also, a friend had pointed out that at this point in the original series Asuka was sinking into a deep seated depression where she then went comatose :/ At least in this film she is proactive and its nice that her seeming crush on Shinji is over with. It really seems as if this film was meant to be a build up episode where questions are asked, key relationships are shifted and nothing is really revealed. I am assuming that the final film will answer many lingering questions as well as fleshing out these new characters relationships further, similar to what they did in the first and second films…

    Censor this!
    Reply

    1. Ct, my problems with Q stem primarily from the fact that I find it to be clumsy in terms of narrative structure and emotionally false in terms of character, as I tried to make clear in my post – it’s not an issue of disliking change. As I said I consider 2.22 the best of the films so far, despite the fat that it instigated huge shifts from the original canon. It just did so, in my view, much more successfully than 3.33 did.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      1. I definitely agree with narrative structure as it was lacking, however the being emotionally false in terms of character…Not agreeing with that quite as much. Sure most people were cold towards Shinji, but it really has been 14 years since the Third Impact, and he was responsible for the Third Impact. So coming from a characterization stand point it does make sense that their reaction to him (Especially that of the Willie crew whom had had no previous relations to him) would make sense. A reaction born out of confusion, anger, resentment and I think in Misato and Asuka’s case, relief. Just my opinion haha. Though, I also believe that 2.22 did make a better shift in character dynamics and plot progression.

        Censor this!
        Reply

  43. By the way, can anybody explain to me what are those eva corpses and (what I assumed to be) eva skulls(since human skulls will be just as big as a marble under the foot of an EVA) in the floor of the final battle? If the better half of the world was destroyed, how could NERV build a thousand of EVA who got destroyed in the end?

    Cobeurn
    Reply

  45. Evangelion 3.0 wasn’t exactly a total disaster IMO but it wasn’t a great film either. It was more like the prelude for the next movie. The fall of Shinji in this film makes a lot of room for a epic climax to occur in the next movie. This movie serves a ground to build up the Evangelion mythos and explain some of the mysteries surrounding Nerv, EVAs, SEELE and more importantly what makes up EVA unit-01. But all this may just be wishful thinking on my end. There is a possibility that the next movie will end of with more questions than answers it provides but I have faith in Gainax and Anno himself.

    Fans probably set their expectation extremely high after the Evagelion 2.0 (mine as well) and will come off 3.0 as an utterly disappointing addition to the series. But upon rewatching, there are much to take away from this installment that could be utilized and expanded upon in the final movie.

    Flappy
    Reply

  46. Though I partially agree with some of the negative sentiments associated with 3.33, I also feel Shinji’s failure and entrance into a depressive state at the end of this film opens up a path for redemption. Though its highly possible that Anno ends up not exploring that route, I’m going to be optimistic by hoping that he will. The final scene with Asuka, Shinji, and Rei walking into the red sea was a great way to end the movie, leaving the three main characters from the original series to their own devices without intervention from the adults who have been shaping their most of their lives up to this point.

    I also found Shinji dropping the cassette player and going with Asuka not as a mindless act, but as symbol of him forgoing all of the former influences in his like his father, with the possibility of walking that path of redemption not only as a person who has made mistakes, but as a character who fans have deemed as weak and indecisive in previous iterations.

    Cleaningagent
    Reply

    1. with the mood whiplash from 2.00 to 3.33, I wouldn’t be surprised if the fourth ends on a high note. But as of now… anything can happen. I can’t guess anything from the title, which is simply “Final” (though it’s possible that this is just a working title)

      Cobeurn
      Reply

      1. With the way these films have progressed it can at least be rest assured that there won’t be any “choking” scenes like in the End of Evangelion…In other words, it will probably be a much nicer ending to the series…

        Censor this!
        Reply

  47. …I just don’t get it. I really don’t.

    I keep going through it in my mind over and over again, but I just can’t fathom what was going through Anno’s mind with this movie.

    Granted, there’s a LOT to question and critique here, but if I had to the say the one thing that stood out above all else for me… they pretty much killed everyone.

    Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, Kaji (not really sure if he’s dead, but may as well have been for the movie at least), at least another one or two billion of humanity and the rest of the Angels. Hell, they even knocked off poor Pen-Pen!

    I mean, with all due respect, the whole world’s already gone to hell in a handbasket… so, what exactly is there left to fight for? It’s in this that I sympathize with Enzo’s sentiment in that I don’t find myself caring one iota about who ends up winning in the end; if you can even call it that.

    Having said all that, I can’t help but wonder if some deep-seated hatred of humanity was an underlying motivation here.

    Depressing, to say the least.

    RyanAshlight
    Reply

  49. Funny thing I had recently watched a video review of Rebuild 1.11 and 2.22 by Sci Fi Debris. It might have been the most objective review I’ve seen since it was done by request and by his own admission (1) He isn’t an anime fan and (2)Did not do any prior research on Evangelion and went in completely blind. (Incidentally he is also doing a review of Madoka Magica again by request of his fans so make of that what you will). Other than his utter confusion on what’s happening, his funniest description for the movies though was “It’s full of crazy people”

    And really that was how I first described 3.33 everyone has gone completely of their rocker except maybe Kaoru. For the life me I still don’t understand why no one would explain anything to Shinji. Anything like “Hey Shinji you broke the world and we’re upset” and it would be fine. It basically gave Shinji all the reason to abandon them.

    Their attitudes are understandable though since 14 years is a long time but it does bring another problem. When you have large timeskips, movies should be obligated to keep the audience up to date about what happened to the characters and events. We literally get nothing. NADA. ZIP. We only learn about the effects of the Third Impact much later as well. There clearly was some character development within the cast but we never see it. This movie clocks at roughly 90 minutes, they should have added at least 10 minutes of exposition. Heck even a Star Wars Text Scroll at the beginning would have been fine.

    All that being said did enjoy the movie. The action is always top-notch both in animation and choreography. The quieter moments with Kaoru were quite beautiful and probably the only meaningful character interaction in the movie. I really really do like the new setting. It’s provided something entirely new for Evangelion. Let’s just say I’ve been more invested in this than I’ve been over 17 years of Eva theories. I am interested about what’s happening next if only to see how Shinji can go especially after he has hit rock bottom. Rebuild 4 just really REALLY needs to explain stuff.

    fragb85
    Reply

  50. Well the Rei in this movie is different from the normal one. She doesn’t even have her soul, which is why Kaworu couldn’t pull out the spears with her help.

    As for Misato, its understandable that she’d treat Shinji this way. She fears Impacts ever since she saw the Second Impact as a kid, then she realized that she basically cheered Shinji on as he caused Third Impact. Even then, she hesitated instead of activating Shinji’s collar, showing that she still cares for him and ironically allowing him to get away and cause another Impact.

    Another thing I can’t get mad about is them not telling Shinji what’s going on. He had just awakened and those Nemesis things attacked, so they were busy dealing with a threat. Then they were checking to make sure he was actually Shinji and that the collar was working completely. Unless they had physical proof that Rei has a series of clones of her he would have never believed them if they said Rei wasn’t around and only her clones are, cause he wouldn’t believe that till you shove it in his face like Fuyutsuki did with the Rei head honeycombs. He’d simply look away and believe what he wants.

    TheVoid
    Reply

    1. I’m sorry, but not making Shinji’s head pop like an overripe melon doesn’t justify the way Misato treats him. It is, just to be clear, her fault that Shinji did what he did in 2.22 – she was the one who goaded him into it. Deciding not to murder him in cold blood doesn’t make everything OK in my book. It’s the very dictionary definition of “the least she could do”.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      1. He was already acting on his own desires. She was cheering him on until she realized what he was doing and he likely didn’t even hear her at all considering he never responded back.

        It’s not cold blooded anyways. Ritsuko points out that Rei Q trying to locate Shinji means he still holds the potential to end the world. Meaning their fears were justified and that they were correct to put the collar on him. Being cold blooded would be killing him after he just woke up simply for what he did. What she was trying to do was prevent him from ruining the world again.

        TheVoid
        Reply

  53. the fourth movie must have 2 parts: I COMMAND IT!!!!!!!!! :D. Seriously Ill be pleasantly surprised if everything can be wrapped up nicely in one final 90 MIN!!! movie. I have a hard time seeing how they are going to handle the significance of mari…in my honest opinion its too late but i would love to be proven wrong. I also have a hard time seeing as how the will do all this in 90 MIN!!!

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

  54. A quick browsing of the comments leads me to the conclusion that most people did not “understand” the 3rd movie… understandably so.

    In my opinion, the 3rd movie was, for all intended purpose, done right. As one person already commented, the Evangelion Rebuild Series is a SERIES and thus must be judged as a whole. Besides, the movie names already shed light to the “themes” of the movie.

    1.11 – You are (not) Alone
    2.22 – You can (not) Advance
    3.33 – You can (not) Redo

    The first showed us Shinji’s pain and how he learned that he didn’t need to suffer alone.

    The second showed us how Shinji could have “regressed”, and did for a short period, but moved forward with resolve by saving Ayanami, albeit oblivious to the repercussions of his actions.

    And the third actually goes about what happened next. Shinji’s action in the 2nd almost screwed everyone even though, as Shinji puts it, “I was only trying to save Ayanami!” he had the best of intentions. The movie actually showed how the Shinji was still stuck as being a “brat” because he shrugged responsibility for his actions and in the end, AGAIN, almost screwed everyone by acting impulsively… BUT the fact that Shinji actually took the initiative to do something about what he did, is what I feel the most significant indicator of character development at his end. He was owning up to his mistakes and trying to fix it.

    For me, the entirety of Evangelion, from its old TV anime rendition, to the old movies, to these new ones is an exploration of the notion of “GROWING UP” (Oto ni nare, Shinji-kun). It can be seen as the overarching theme in all the whole series, and although the focus is on Shinji, all the characters have some growing up to do (accepting loss, accepting who they are, learning to move forward, learning how to forgive, etc.).

    I, for one, enjoyed the movie immensely. It’s an EVANGELION movie, for goodness sake! If there weren’t things you didn’t understand (at that point), either it will be revealed later or is up to you to find out. Existentialism is a notion everyone should, at some point in their lives, seek to address, because it is only through asking and seeking both the questions and the answers will one be able to come to terms whatever it is one was seeking.

    Ddadain
    Reply

    1. Interesting point regarding the titles.
      Given the titles of each movie, I wonder what will they title the next movie?

      There is no indication other than the “end” from the music notes “:||”

      Shinji was desperate to change things and took the slightest glimmer of hope that Kaworu offered him. He is still a bit naïve considering he disconnected Kaworu’s control of Eva 13 to prevent any possible interruption from Kaworu’s “sudden” change of mind. Asuka called him a “brat” after his justification for piloting EVA 13, for me this appears to be Asuka’s frustration that Shinji just could not come to terms with his actions and maybe implying that he has to live by his consequences.

      (Cant see how they could reverse the Third impact with the removal of the spears) *if it is a spoiler, then people ignore this comment*

      Flappy
      Reply

  55. The sad part is that all it would take is fifteen damn minutes spread across these three movies to make things clear. The precursors, the nature of the Fruit of Life and Knowledge, what Angels are, how exactly the Impacts occur and what they are, Seele’s origins and how their objective differed from Gendo’s. All of that could have been explained so easily with just about five minutes or so in each movie as characters speak to one another. I’m sorry but it is not good story telling when the audience is still relying on possibly inaccurate information from third party sources just to understand the basic premise of the franchise!

    Anno’s reminding me of Rodenberry. Someone imaginative and able to bring to life fantastic images, but in desperate need of a strict editor to bring them back down to Earth and able to share this vision without leaving it a jumble.

    Also I have to note that the disaster at the end of the third film could have been averted entirely if Kaoru, Asuka and Shinji had just displayed some basic common sense. Shinji gets a partial pass from me because to him, this was his salvation for all the pain he accidentally caused. But Kaworu and Asuka not giving a simple ‘this will cause the opposite of what you want’? Really? It would have taken a grand total of 3-5 seconds.

    Granten
    Reply

    1. I suspect he has a plan. Eva is now more of an attempt to make money than tell a coherent story. He is like Gendo, but instead of meeting up with Yui, Anno wants your money to meet his wallet. Finish Rebuild nonsensically, a few years down the line the bank balance gets low, churn out another Eva, reap in the $$$$. Rinse, repeat.

      celebrinen
      Reply

  57. watching Eva Q is like watching Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini, that’s probably the best way to describe it. We get thrown into a crapsack world with no explanation whatsoever about what happen between 2.0 and 3.0,making it pretty much an entertaining roller coaster ride of events. So yeah,I was thoroughly entertained despite not knowing how the events played out between 2.0 and 3.0 and hopefully,4.0 will show what were the events that set the world in its current situation at the beginning of 3.0.

    zeroomask
    Reply

    1. Eeeeeh, DTB2 was actually a major disappointment for me because of how poorly they tacked on those extra 12 episodes. Hopefully the 4th movie won’t be THAT rushed.

      Da5id
      Reply

  59. Shinji being a tool

    so what else is new?

    I first saw Evangelion as a child- dubbed, so YMMV. But from what I could understand, it wasn’t anything special, and I was solidly in the ‘Escaflowne’ camp.

    Fast forward to the present. Having sat through the TV series (in original audio), the movies, and the manga- I still think that Anno is stuffing us with cotton, flavored with pseudo-philo-seeds. The manga is okay since the characters aren’t quite as hate-able and since it is print media the white noise technobabble is compressed. Nevertheless- cotton. Light and fluffy and insubstantial.

    I have to give EVA props for its musical score. It’s always fresh and nostalgic at the same time, and creative to the point of being weird (Famously, anyone?). Since the reboot, the visual side of things are very very pretty too. No issue there.

    The cons for me would be that I just can’t care about the characters, because Anno/whoever is sitting up there pretty much keeps everyone nice and snug in a big box of crazy. I’m not averse to mixing things up- I enjoyed Kara no Kyoukai and it was still understandable even without delving too deep into the source material. I liked all of the characters and there was growth throughout the series.

    In short, I’m just sorry Eva doesn’t want to be liked. It exists as the misunderstood speshul snowflake of the anime world.

    Tsu
    Reply

  60. OMG!!! Seriously, these characters must be the dumbest people! Just tell Shinji what the F*** is going on Misato or Asuka or Suzuhara or somebody! You could have prevented this whole crapfest. All they can do is insult him for being a stupid kid blindly groping in the dark, neglecting to mention that their the ones who keep him in the dark.

    EliteF22
    Reply

    1. The answer: Between 2.22 and 3.33 God descended to Earth and threatened to destroy the whole planet, if someone dares to explain Shinji anything…
      Or it is something like with Haruhi. It wasn’t allowed to tell her that she is a god.

      Terra
      Reply

    2. It’s an analogy of growing up.

      To be honest, you’ll be pretty lucky if anyone gets to explain to you, in the necessary detail, just what is it that you have to do once you reach the age of responsibility. Many out there have no idea what the hell they’re doing and later end up screwed and with no way to get back up.

      Once you “come of age”, you’re suddenly allowed to do many things that you were tempted to do before but couldn’t, and that will just screw you over in the long run. And no one objects, because you’re “of age” and you alone carry the burden of your choices once you’re “of age”.

      But when you mess up, regardless of the reason, you’re set aside as an obstacle (because you’re being one), criticized because of your lack of judgment (because you lack it), and blamed for the outcome. No one needs to explain to you why you were wrong because you’re expected to know already, and it’s no one else’s business to explain anything to you.

      That’s exactly what happens to Shinji in 3.33. He made a bad choice and he’s being chastised for it, just like anyone else in a seat of responsibility would be. Yes, it’s harsh, and it’s stupid, but it’s realistic.

      EH2
      Reply

      1. That’s hardly an apt metaphor. Just because you’re “of age” doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be people who help you or take care of you when you desperately need it. Realistic does not always mean dark and depressing.

        Da5id
        Reply

      2. Well this setting has Kaworu and Rei to fit that bill, and to a lesser extent Mari. Hell, even Asuka qualifies beyond the overly-critical tough love persona.

        Not to mention Fuyutsuki, who had the decency to break it all down for Shinji despite how he’d obviously take it. Once again, hell yes Fuyutsuki. Better help than the white-haired pilots without a doubt, even if it was just for that tiny moment.

        EH2
        Reply

      3. Metaphor still doesn’t work. Unless your common “coming of age” story is about being in a coma half your life and then people blame you for it. Also, regarding that “if you screw up, you’re labeled an obstacle because you were told how not to”: HOW THE FUCK WAS SHINJI SUPPOSED TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT HE DID WITH THE 10TH ANGEL. No one told him anything about anything other than if the Angels got to Lilith, the world would end. No one can blame him for anything he did in that battle and he deserves every explanation. Nothing about how Misato and the rest handled him in this movie was either smart or realistic, because realistically, YOU’D HAVE TO TELL SOMEONE THE REASON YOU’RE MAD AT THEM IF THEY’VE BEEN IN A COMA FOR ALMOST TWO DECADES.

        Da5id
        Reply

    3. And I forgot to add: No one in WILLE bothers to explain anything to Shinji because they don’t have time to do so. They’re busy. Busy with stopping the goddamned end of the world. They got a big burden on their shoulders and no time at all to act on it; who the hell would have the time to explain the very person who got them in that mess just why is it that they’re in the mess and why is it his fault? Why doesn’t the fucking dumbass realize it? How is it that he doesn’t know already?

      No, seriously. WILLE’s reaction to Shinji is VERY realistic. Yes, it’s retarded. Yes, it’s unproductive. Yes, they messed up. Yes, the Near-Fourth that happened at the end of 3.33 is half WILLE’s fault in that regard. Yes. But hey, it’s pretty damn realistic. Stuff like that happens in real life (just obviously not in 3.33’s scale) every day. I bet all of you have stories a bit similar to this scenario.

      EH2
      Reply

  61. As Enzo has highlighted in his post, I don’t agree with the overly harsh assessment of Eva Q. Still, it’s somewhat surprising to me that the comments in RC have been overwhelmingly negative. I do share some of Enzo’s concerns and there are certainly a number of things that could have been done better. For starters, the world-building and narratives were a huge mess, and I admit I’m not a fan of how the movie is portraying Misato’s character. That said, there are also a couple of interesting developments that made Eva Q stand out, chief of all is the beautiful and heartfelt moments that Shinji shared with Kaworu, which is clearly an emphasis of the movie.

    I love Kaworu, both for the compassion he shows Shinji and the emotional depth he brings to the show, and the fact that he was featured prominently in the Eva Q is a huge plus. Shinji has never been a lead who is especially easy to sympathize with, but he’s considerably more likable when he’s around Kaworu. There’s an earnest connection between those two that is very much unlike the superficiality of his relationship with the girls, and the only time when Shinji seemed genuinely happy is when Kaworu is present. Don’t get me wrong, Shinji’s physical attraction to both Rei and Asuka is more than apparent, but similar to most teenagers, it’s very often the best friend who helps you through the darkest time of adolescence and Kaworu fits that role perfectly. He brings out the best in Shinji and their piano duet showcased a more positive side of our lead that is so often ignored – he’s a good kid who simply doesn’t want to be alone. No question, Kaworu’s role in the original series – no matter how limited his screen time was – is as important as the movies, but what makes Eva Q especially noteworthy is that it greatly reinforced Kaworu’s presence, and enhanced the honest emotions and authentic warmth that he shared with Shinji. For that alone, I would call the movie a success – in fact, I would rank it a few notches above the first two movies.

    Side note for the number junkies: The movie was received extremely well commercially in Japan and the numbers produced are truly impressive. Eva Q took in nearly US$60mn in box office receipts and it is the second highest grossing anime film in 2012, only behind One Piece Film Z. The movie also sold a whopping 430,000 copies of BD/DVD in its first week and to put that into context, that’s more than double the combined first-week sales of Gundam UC and Nekomonogatari.

    Seishun
    Reply

    1. Not surprised it did well. The animation was gorgeous. Still doesn’t excuse the plot missteps. Seems that there were some massive story revisions done even after production was well underway.

      EliteF22
      Reply

    2. If it were OVAs I wouldn’t be so negative. I understand that one of NGEs forte are the unanswered questions (*cough* Who killed Kaji *cough*), but for me a movie has to speak for itself. You can tell an arc with several movies, but the single chapters have to stand for themselves.
      Gundam Unicorn is an OVA and I understand that one has to see all episodes to see the whole picture. But what would someone say if something similar would be done – for example – with Star Wars?
      Some obscure hardly mentioned information about a 14-year gap without much explanation and the vague promise this all was to make the next movie much better. So you waited for years for a movie that you thought would be as great as the past movies (or better) and then you get something like ‘premises for 4.44’.
      I liked most of the scenes (well the piano part was too long for me or it wasn’t utilized enough to emphasize it at Shinji’s first chance to rest and collect his thoughts after he was thrown into the future). But I judge this as a movie and not as part of an OVA. And for this I miss some straighter plot, some explanations.
      It was also great if you see the movie from Shinji’s perspective (and as nobody dared to tell him what happened in the past, the viewer also has to endure this).

      So short: As OVA great for building up for the finale and the adherted perspective of Shinji. But as movie that has to stand for itself it was not good enough. Too confusing, somehow dumb for nobody explaining the poor Shinji anything (they should know that Shinji isn’t the most mental stable person and thorwing someone 14 years into a semi-apocalyptic future isn’t helping either).
      With just a few scenes this movie could have been made a lot better. Just give us a few seconds of flashbacks (Misato remembering some fight as they went rogue, Sakura thinking of her brother – whatever happened with him) and maybe a last scene with a twitching finger of EVA-01 to indicate something will happened soon.

      Terra
      Reply

    3. Just to play devil’s advocate, it’s also true that 3.33 fell about 30% short of 2.22’s first-week numbers for BD/DVD sales. Still a huge number – no question Eva is a beast of a cultural institution in Japan – but not an insignificant drop.

      I liked the Shinji-Kawaru “intermezzo” a lot too – as I said, it was the only respite from the relentless shock and awe that consumed pretty much every other frame of the movie. There were moments that felt a little forced, but generally speaking it was the most emotionally believable part of the movie and it really is heartbreaking to see how much someone simply not treating him like a sack of shit truly means to Shinji. He deserves better.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      1. You’re right, the first-week BD/DVD sales figures for Eva 2.0 were monstrous, 30% more than 3.0 and three times more than the 1.0. That said, Eva Q did considerably better than the first two movies in its box office receipts, it grossed 40% more than 2.0 and 3 times more than 1.0. Either way, the creators are cashing in big on this project and the commercial appeal of the franchise is beyond doubt. Let’s just hope the fourth movie does better with the critics than this one 😉

        Seishun
        Reply

  62. What a horrible, horrible mess of a movie. My first thought was “did I just get punked”? This is from someone who has seen the original series at least three times.

    Age is not always kind to directors.

    Havermeyer
    Reply

  64. Are we still trying to defend Rebuild, or in any case, anything about the anime version of Evangelion? Let’s be honest, Anno’s version of the idea clearly don’t have any clue of what it’s doing sans trolling it’s fanbase. Q is a mockery of what Eva meant in the first place, destroying characters (the ones that aged), making see how bad we hate others (anime Shinji Ikari is a monumental faggot in comparison to manga Shinji) and the fact that is haven’t explained jack tells the story of the past 4-5 years of Gainax/Khara: They’re not storytellers at all.
    The ego of Hideaki “anime Shinji Ikari” Anno is denying us the real story about Eva (the manga) and the potential well made sequel of it (Anima) There it it, ladies and gentlemen, the George Lucas of anime!

    SeedStriker
    Reply

  66. WTF did i just watch? GAAAH!
    Good visuals are never a substitue for an awful plot.
    BTW wasn’t the rebuild series, only supposed to run for 3 movies or did Hideaki Anno get greedy?

    maxis
    Reply

    1. It was always suppose to be four; the original intent was for the first three movies to rebuild the first 26 eps of the series and the last movie to give the series a much more proper and complete conclusion than the ending to the original tv series/movie

      sonicsenryaku
      Reply

  67. Why does everyone expect to be spoon fed explanations and answers in Evangelion? Its EVA for goodness sake. Filling in the blanks yourself is half the fun! Infer and Imagine!

    Rei
    Reply

    1. In a tv series maybe, but in a movie that was supposed to show a new side of Eva is just plain lack of interest in the script per-se. Another issue is that the manga took its time to explain all the shite about Adam, Lilith, the Angels and the other BS that Anno never give even a hint. As I said before, Anno isn’t a storyteller. He’s just a troll that laughs on his own franchise and fans.

      SeedStriker
      Reply

    2. It is not good storytelling. I should not have to look to other materials (that may or may not get released and even if they do there is no guarantee that they will ever be translated) for any idea of what is going on. The story teller has a responsibility to make clear as much as is needed to be known to understand the story. He introduced these characters, concepts and conflicts. He can’t simply say ‘well all you need to know is this is a deconstruction’ and expect it to work.

      Granten
      Reply

  68. I was really hoping that i dont feel like – I dont fucking care anymore about anything- by the end of the movie, but as we got closer to the end i became more and more disinterested and by the end i got that meh feeling i was afraid. all the characters builds up, developments gone. the disconnection between events. the stupid one-sided bashing of shinjy without cutting the poor basterd some slack. everything felt so detached !
    sometimes i get the feeling the whole point of these rebuilds is to just show how shinji will always fail even though he tries hard to change himself and make things right. A show dedicated to display the ultimate failures of a character. Nice one !

    luches
    Reply

  69. just when you thought ritsuko can’t get any less attractive…whoosh

    i would go at length complaining about the whole conundrum that is eva 3.33, but this thread had sufficiently done so already…so i’m gonna nitpick on the softer bits

    1. since when did misaki’s moral become ‘objectives first, people’s lives second’…that is the surest way to destruction, as we all know, the naivete of trying to save everything and everyone is the only righteous path in anime…

    2. WHY THE FUCK WAS THIS THE SHORTEST MOVIE OF ALL 3…if anno was intending to distract his audience from the confusion with awesome stills and action sequences, he could’ve at least made it longer…

    3. i confess that when rei said she’d only put on clothes if she was ordered to…i jizzed a little…the potential of that scene there…

    4. gendo is now the aizen of evangelion universe…

    5. fuyutsuki actually does things…holy shit…

    6. what does wille stand for…and is it really pronounced will-lay? this whole time i was laughin my balls off about how their new organization could be called ‘willy’…

    7. …what happened to kaji…i miss kaji

    8. and the three little piggies went off on a new adventure…

    9. these so-called impacts have been rendered completely ineffectual due to its over-usage…remember when ritsuko declared the beginning of the third impact and the end of the world in 2.22 and the music kicked in right afterwards? that gave me shudders through my spines…now an impact felt no more than a whole lot of pedestrians dying, and shit getting slightly rearranged…its an oxymoron…

    NierTevra
    Reply

    1. Just as GEHIRN (brain), SEELE (soul) and NERV (nerve) WILLE (will) is German and could be used for specific parts of the human body.

      GEHIRN created the EVAs and the Magi (if I remember correctly) – it is the task of the brain to think, so this is okay
      SEELE is the leading shadow organization that pulls all string (until Gendo does something) – the existence of the soul isn’t proven yet (as I know) but it could be said, that the soul is that what defines us. Somehow acceptable
      NERV is the executing organization (led by SEELE) – nerves only react through stimuli and can’t decide of its own. In NGE NERV gets its orders from SEELE (but Gendo does his own thing)

      And now we got WILLE. Maybe it symbolize that they don’t blindly follow orders (from SEELE or others) and also defy NERV. Through the past events they learned something and decided to follow their own ideals – or said differently, they have their own wills.

      Terra
      Reply

    1. 232 screen caps and 22 full-length images, and you still want more? LOL
      If you really do, email me at Seishun@randomc.net or send me a tweet @SeishunRC. I have more than 400 screenshots of Eva Q sitting in my HDD, so there are about 200 of them didn’t make it to the published post 😉

      Seishun
      Reply

  71. well in NGE, (not gonna go into to many details) but Gendou’s plan was to basically have everyone to become as ONE, an he accomplished that in EOE. But shinji rejected that, an anyone that think hard/deep enough, they could restore their own body from LCL. Thats why Shinji an Asuka was the first to be restored in the end of the movie of EOE.

    but in ROE 3.0, it seems like Gainax was trying to make things happen AFTER EOE,with few HUGE changes. I could be wrong, but thats what it looks like to me watching this movie, an honestly, I don’t think it was necessary.but since it happened, literally, I was actually cheering Shinji, Kaworu, and Rei the third,on!because every characters were acting like dicks, an been drivin away from what there characteristics was from 1.0 and 2.0. Now of course, it’s not a bad movie, an that it was more plot driven an less character developmen, which isn’t bad….but I kinda had that empty feeling after watching it.

    Since theres no turning back with the route this story is going now, hopefully 4.0, which will be the final story, won’t feel rushed, an get some satisfying answers, Lol! (would be funny if he trolled us with a 5.0 after 4).

    Dream~Master
    Reply

  72. Speaking of previews, what the hell is that monstrosity? Unit 2 basically has a head and some torso left. Unit 8 had both arms lopped off. Put two together and you end up with half and half? Did Anno watch too much Kikaider when he was a kid?

    bertman4
    Reply

    1. I really doubt that’ll be a design actually used in Final, and even if it did… Well, regardless of what parts belong to what Eva you can always paint job it to look like it’s half one and half another.

      Not to mention that this could be an entirely different Eva with Asuka and Mari’s color schemes because it’s a double-plug model like Shinji+Kaworu’s.

      EH2
      Reply

  73. mmm

    wonder if Kuronami picked up the SDAT player or nor… (atleast she started to think for herself in the fight with Pirate Asuka)

    and yeh.. why no one in WILLIE explains anything to Shinji .lol would help them sooooo much.. they wouldnt have had that NERV’s eva awakening for one ..

    anyways.. hope if less (way less) than 4 years for the next movie..lol

    inanis
    Reply

    1. I also would like everyone trying to pick apart the plot to realize that Eva is and always will be a cluster-mindfuck with endless interpretations, and that is completely intentional…

      VyseLegendaire
      Reply

  75. I’ll bite with the ageless Asuka’s one line explanation on why she doesn’t age.

    I do. Really.

    My Rating of the Movie:
    If 12.25 is bad; 1.19 is good; and 28.91 is satisfactory.
    I rate it a… Meh.

    JC
    Reply

  76. I like the movie because if you have seen the original by this time we would have seen Shinji crying like a little punk for no apparent reason other than his daddy doesn’t pay attention to him. At least this time it’s less than the daddy crying and more about what he caused 14 years before and what he almost cause in the present.

    SilentCid
    Reply

  79. I think the worst part is that no one even bothered to sit the kid down and explain anything. Everyone was cryptic. Yes, 14 years is a long time, but you could almost feel that they cared more than they said. Misato only once called Shinji “Shinji-kun”, and it was only at the end. Asuka only very rarely called him “Baka-Shinji”. Maybe what Anno was trying to get across is that no one wanted to tell him he ended the world because they knew how much it would hurt him to know that he tried and failed. But that doesn’t excuse it from being anything other than poor writing. Trying to keep the plot close to the chest only serves to alienate the viewer. Shoehorning Karou in to try to fix it didn’t fix anything. Even he could have had a much greater role than he did. I imagine he was designed to be the explainer, to fill the audience in on what was happening, but even he failed his job.

    I wish I could talk to Anno. I wish I could ask him the questions I want to ask. I imagine if I ever got the chance it would never be on a level playing field, but that’s what I want. I don’t want to to talk to creator Anno. I don’t want to talk to director Anno. I want to talk to the human Anno, and I want to ask him what he was trying to do. And then, I want to explain to him why he failed to do it.

    Tarage
    Reply

  82. This series has to be one of the most poorly-written, beautifully-animated animated works of all time. Overrated, incomprehensible, and worth watching just so you can say you did. It rates right up there with 2001:A Space Odyssey as “I’m watching something beautiful, but…what the heck is happening, towards the end?”

    RenegadeX
    Reply

  84. Ya know, despite the harsh reviews everywhere, I actually “kind of” liked 3.33 *waits for mob of downvoters armed with pitchforks and opinions*. It’s rather bittersweet. But gosh darn Misato! Woman, ya need to give us some answers! Her character in this movie just doesn’t make sense compared to the other two films. I guess something bigger must have happened within those 14 years to make so many people angry towards Shinji. Regardless, I liked 3.33 a lot because of how “informal” it presents itself in storytelling and character development. I hope the next film is more sweet than bitter though. And I never knew those talking blocks Gendo Ikari was talking too were actually… talking blocks???

    S.Pat3
    Reply

  85. I can’t find myself to disagree with your opinion or review.

    Honestly, none of the mess or chaos in this film would have taken place if Misato and her crew would bother to take a little time and explain the situation to Shinji after securing him, instead of putting a life threatening dog collar on him kick to a corner of the ship.

    If you ask me, I would enjoy watching all the WILLE crews getting slaughter.

    LY
    Reply

  88. Just watched the whole series in one go and I really hated the fact that they made Asuka use the name Shikinami, When in the original series she actually hated that name.

    geri911
    Reply

  89. We left 2.0 (2.22) with Shinji defeating the unstoppable Angel and, in his mind, “rescuing” Rei-chan. So then he wakes up on the bridge of the Wunder and finds out he’s been blamed for Near Third Impact and killing off 98% of the rest of humanity that survived Second Impact.

    Asuka when Shinji was in ascended mode in his Evangelion was actually impressed with him. But weak-human Shinji? Nothing but contempt. Typical female with a superiority complex.

    Mari seemed to accept Shinji, even when he forsook everything to rescue Rei-chan from the Angel, not knowing it would ascend his Evangelion and bring about annihilation for everyone else. But she was never allowed to talk to Shinji after 2.22.

    Shinji’s a patsy. When he can do something, like pilot an Eva, it’s all wrong to the others, and when he can’t do something, everyone treats him like trash. Kaworu was the only person to speak more than three sentences to Shinji, so it’s no wonder he got a one-track mind to finish Kaworu’s goal with the spears. The young medic onboard the Wunder was the only one to treat him as a person, instead of a criminal. Rei-chan was Shinji’s first friend of the same age, so it’s no surprise he kept asking about her instead of reminding others how he saved them from the Angel. A more adult Shinji would have asked WILLE how they would have saved NERV from the large Angel. There were no good choices in 2.22: let the Angel initiate Third Impact with all the Evas unavailable, or let Shinji find out the Evangelion was a wish machine designed to open the Gate of Dis? (And I don’t believe a last-second save by Kaworu would have been possible, even with that spear.)

    I also think Misato may not have had a choice – she convinced the other non-NERV, non-SEELE humans to steal the Wunder and put EVA-01 into it. They may have told her to nullify Shinji as a threat, or else the humans may not have gone along with Misato. With NERV/SEELE using robotic Angels/Evas against humanity, they need something to fight back with, not just the two Evas. But all the other humans think Shinji voluntarily started Near Third Impact. I imagine it was quite the argument from Misato just to get Shinji’s body reassembled from Eva-01, instead of left dead.

    Yes, we need a Rebuild 2.55 OVA to explain everything that’s gone before. I hated that 3.33 intro with the multi-story-tall alien robot in Toyko. That made no sense to me, other than to give the theme of Evangelion – aliens against humans with big robots. Take the preview from the end of 2.22 and explain how SEELE took over NERV, how Misato and crowd escaped and got the Wunder, how Kaworu lost Eva-6, etc.

    So Shinji’s at the end of 3.33 is in a near-catatonic state with Asuka kicking him around and Rei-III following them. Man, I wish Shinji could demand respect from Asuka. But he would have to generate an AT-field and levitate to do that.

    jhpace1
    Reply

  90. Man I tell ya, it just goes to show how much of a cultural force EVA is in Japan, I don’t think you can call it cult…..shit all that money.

    Anyways, I think a lot of people already summed up the stupid problems with the film. Even though it WAS fun…..c’mon you gotta admit Wunder is pretty fucking badass…..

    GO ASTERN!!!!!

    (Fuck Wille, I want a show ANY show where the crew pilots the FUCKING WUNDER. You can just call it “Sora wo Saku/Tobu Wunder” .)

    Watching it the second time around, I’m actually MAD at Anno for making my favorite character Misato into a COLD HEARTED BITCH…………..sob she was my favorite lady, why they do dat!!!

    Billy Bob
    Reply

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