@@incription haha yeah, when they were fighting on the streets of Tokyo-3, I read that this was an homage to tokusatsu with that DIY aesthetic. Especially at locations like Misato’s apartment and (literally) breaking the fourth wall, as I watched this unfold, all I kept thinking about was how this could have easily transitioned into a live-action sweded effort.
Another visual parallel that may not mean much, is all this time Mari was calling Shinji "Puppy", "Pup", "Dog", and at the end she released him from the collar, which could signify his freedom from the series.
The collar is a sign of redemption and regret, Misato told Ritsuko that if he doesn't want to redeem himself then he doesn't need a collar. He did it, he confronted his father and understood him, he saved Asuka, he told her what he felt, he saved Ayanami, kaworu, and tried to sacrify himself to create the new world. The burden of the old world is lifted in this new world... I think Mari at the beach is like a mirror image of the other ending in The End of Evangelion, that the relationship with Asuka wasn't supposed to be because they would hurt each other so the scenario was horrible and depressive... in this new beach you have a sunny, clear and happy scenario with Mari instead of Asuka... so the beach might represent the new beginning in both movies.
@@Undying3001 I totally thought it was hilarious too, but I get it. The trauma of the past literally keeping you from fixing what you can now. That's how the cycle continues. I'm glad they were able to finally break it.
I think Kowaru’s talk with Shinji is the best explanation of the very end. In life there’s lots of people that people will come to love, but not all of them are meant to be a part of your life. Shinji loves Rei, Asuka, and Kowaru, and the feelings are reciprocated, but the only way for all four of these people to be happy and healthy is for Shinji to not be a part of their world.
I don't agree honestly. 3.0+1.0 constantly recurred to retcon narratively because Anno run himself into a corner, because everything was too convoluted to make sense, where he made Kaworu a sorta Gendo clone, so even tho he wrote Shinji's name in this randomly brought up thing called Book of life (which is also retcon, this didn't exist) he can't "be gay" with him coz that would be incest so now he has to be with Rei (wtf). Also, Now he apparently was also the one who caused the impact in 2.22 and Kaji just went with his fricking Helicopter .... Like WTF Anno????? He destroyed Kaworu's character because well... He didn't write him in the first place so he didn't get him. Episode 25 was written by another person, as happens with Television, where u can't write Every single chapter of your show. So hideaki didn't understand what the main point of Kaworu was all along because He wasn't the one who came up with that Character. Hideaki just straight up decided to change the Main canon from 26 years ago so he could make therapy with Eva again and also Add Mari as his own wife and leave Shinji with her. To represent that His wife saved him from depression. The problem with that it's that Anno forgot that 1. You can NOT Retcon your entire franchise, because it was written between many people, not just Hideaki. 2. Your franchise after 26 years no longer belongs just to You, it belongs also to your fans. U can't spit on them. Technically u can but that does not mean you should. This evangelion movie was made for Anno to free himself and the characters from the franchise. But only the first hour was coherent. The battle part was fricking nonsense and last 40 mins were kinda ... Let's make therapy sessions for everyone. Gendo also gets one... Uhm... I'm not comfortable with that.
Thinking of Mari as a stand in for Anno's wife is so on point. That really recontextualizes the end of the movie for me. Even in the Anno documentary there is a line about his wife never leaving him even if everyone else fades away. And that LITERALLY happens in the film.
I definitely agree on the action sequences being too busy. I definitely zoned out for most of the wunder/ mark 7 fighting cause I could barely follow what was going on. The final fight between Shinji and Gendo was absolutely the best one because it felt more “traditional” in a sense. This movie was very refreshing to watch.
it's the side effects of not seeing it in a Cinema. Living in Tokyo I was lucky enough to see it several times, even in Imax - and overall its more epic but where the eye is guided to is much easier even with all the shit on screen.
I always expect to feel broken after consuming any kind of Evangelion media, but after seeing this movie I actually felt very uplifted and positive about life... And that broke me.
For me, Eva 3.0+1.0 is the movie we needed after these past two years of hell. I was ready for a real sad ride or even just filled with death and despair, but I ended up feeling warm and happy by the end. I LOVED the first half of the film, seeing Tohji and Kensuke along with everyone in that small village was so chill. While everyone was basically trying to survive and could be killed at any minute, that didn't stop them from being happy and living. The part with WILLE going to take down NERV was super awesome, especially all the Unit-07s, the skull heads were so sick. Though that entire battle, aside from a few awesome moments, felt like it dragged a lot. But the last 40 minutes I personally think is the best stuff Eva has released since End of Evangelion. Shinji speaking with his father, Gendou hugging him was such an insanely cathartic scene that I had to pause and catch my breath. When Rei mentioned doing a "Neon Genesis", Asuka and Shinji on the beach, I was fucking losing my mind. Shinji creating a world without Evangelions (you could also say Anno displaying a new world with no new Evangelions or something like that), Shinji older and smiling, that ending song, god it was great. Also the "Neon Genesis" part, I fucking lost my mind and fucking loved it.
I watched it a second time yesterday and noticed a detail that adds to the communication theme. When Asuka is trying to penetrate Unit 13’s AT field and fails, she says “It’s not a single entry plug system?” If Shinji was helpful and communicated with her, he could’ve told her this ahead of time. Such a minute detail but I appreciated it.
My interpretation regarding the Eva loop has just been that they're worlds that loop after their "final scenario" (Human Instrumentality and Shinji making a choice what to do with it) and branch from one to the next. Neon Genesis Evangelion, as the name implies, was the first. After each Impact in Rebuild, more and more imagery from EOE comes through the Door of Guf (and in NGE, Ritsuko says that the "Chamber of Guf was empty" when they first tried to probe into it - in Rebuild its full of possibilities). Constants/variables persist through them and alter the outcome but the biggest issue henceforth is that nobody's really found a way to connect with one another soon enough to avert all out catastrophe. Like, it happens at the end of 2.0, but the scenario carries on because the Instrumentality scenario hasn't been initiated. What makes Rebuild different in this case is that Gendo actually _does_ manage to wholly subvert Seele's ultimate plan by going beyond the bounds of their universe and hitting the core of where everything Evangelion will emerge in any timeline: Eva Imaginary, which is kept in the Golgotha Object, the artifact deep in the antispace. It resembles the Rei from EOE because that's basically what it is; the 'God' of Evangelion. With Shinji in the unique position where he's both of clear mind and capable of seeing that the source of this unending hardship is Eva itself, he fundamentally nips all of Evangelion at the bud. Everything within the antispace/Golgotha Object/Eva Imaginary's [re]awakening felt very much like an intentional reflection meta narrative at hand across Evangelion's history, through the lens of Rebuild if that makes any sense. Anno straight up creates an environment in which the overarching dream for these characters, which is one where they're simply allowed to _exist_ in a reality without any trace of Eva, can be fulfilled. The way I've looked at the final sequence with Shinji choosing to essentially scrub Eva from the whole of existence onward is that beyond that point, he's kinda come to terms with everything he's ever done, beyond Rebuild and into NGE, just as the person known as Shinji Ikari in general. That's why I see Shinji choosing to speak with Asuka on the beach head (sans MPE's) at the end as every version of themselves they've ever been. Asuka no longer has bandages where she'd been wounded and is fully healed (metaphors working double duty) _and_ an adult. It's a total reversal from Shinji and Asuka acting on their base instincts to come to grips with returning to reality in EOE, now having an emotionally productive moment instead. A rendering of that scene with a massive degree of growth between them, a grand culmination of everything they've ever done and an entirely positive "goodbye" before emerging in the reality where they can truly live. tl;dr - I CRY.
I think this is one of the better interpretations of the rebuild movies, you should probably post this on the sub or something. I've already outlined my gripes, but your points do outline what I did like about the movies and their conclusion.
Them putting the spears down highlights the true intention of the original show itself - it was not a giant robot show, it was about these people. And that's exactly how the movie ended.
Eva’s not special in that regard. In fact aside from transformers and braves where the robots are actually characters there’s never been a mecha show that wasn’t about the characters. Gundam, Geass, Macross, etc are all just as focused on characters as Eva. The point of the fight not continuing was Gendo forcing Shinji to realize they have to talk things out instead of fight.
You know what, after all those year since the anime, I never thought about Yui is also part of Shinji, just like Gendo. That Gendo moment realizing it completes his arc nicely IMO.
Gendo is the best character in the entire show. This series got a reboot just for Gendo to be made up. In my opinion. Gendo moved Heaven and Earth for his own finale. Him realizing Shinji was as part of him as was the last remnant of Yui got me sobbing too. He made right with both of then and finally got to leave the world and love yui again. With a giant fucking spear being shoved through both of them. Imagined as giant fucking God robots. Bravo Anno.
The way I understood the Asuka being a clone thing is this: In the entirety of the rebuilds/in this universe, Asuka is a clone similar to Rei, so even the Asuka we see in 2.0 is a clone. They never really explain why, but its implied through her dialogue with Rei that the clones were made to influence Shinji into performing instrumentality at the end since she says Rei was made to like Shinji, and you can speculate Asuka was made to reject him. This is also why her entire motivation in the rebuilds is different to the original series. Instead of having abandonment issues from seeing her mother ignore her and treat a doll as her daughter and later kill herself, Asuka Shikinami has abandonment issues/feels lonely because she is a disposable clone with no family (she becomes jealous of kid shinji when she sees him, gendo, and yui, but at this point she doesnt know that the reason WHY she is alone is because shes a clone, instead she thinks nobody likes her because she keeps failing the eva piloting tests). In between 2.0 and 3.0 she learns from Misato/Wille that she's a clone and thats when she begins to refer to humans as lilin and stops caring about people seeing her naked much like Rei. Now the Meta reasons why: Clues to Asuka being a clone were present since the beginning. Asuka's name was changed from Soryu in the original to Shikinami in the rebuilds to mirror Rei Ayanami. In a meta sense, in the original series Rei is supposed to be an anime girl made flesh (within the world of Eva). She has no will of her own and is often referred to as a doll by Asuka and others. She is looked upon in the nude by shinji and she has no care for having been seen this way and isnt bothered by Shinji accidentally groping her. This is meant to symbolize the otaku obsession with waifu and waifu paraphernalia where a character that has their own will and wants within the realm of their own fiction are nothing but lifeless, eternally replicated dolls in our reality made to be sold over and over and bend to the whims of the audience. However this critique backfired on Anno and Rei and Asuka became the very thing they were parodying, with Eva fans going crazy for them and most Eva merch centering around these two characters. Post OG Eva, Asuka, much like Rei, has been turned into nothing more than a lifeless, easily replicable, disposable doll. I imagine this is the real world reason why Anno decided to make Asuka a clone in the Rebuild series. It meant to be a reflection on how his audience has perverted his creation.
I think your meta analysis is dead on! But my take was that Asuka didn't consider herself lilin because she literally was part angel at the time. She fused with the 9th Angel in 2.0 and by the last movie she was absorbed to 'pilot' unit 13 as a stand-in for Kaworu (another angel). I think that's all just fluff though, the points you raised are still valid either way. If anything I think the "curse of eva" supports your take on it - just like a doll, eva pilots aren't allowed to age, in the same way characters from an anime that finished 20+ years ago can't evolve or provide you with a new perspective.
I don't think that the Asuka that sees Shinji as a young child is a clone. I think that's the original Asuka, motherless, who was picked up by NERV to start a clone program to create a hyper-effective EVA pilot. All of your meta-analysis makes tons of sense, this was just my interpretation of that plot element.
One particular moment that made me really emotional was when Shinji was just at the beach...just a plain, normal, bright blue beach. Shinji can finally enjoy what is a very simple pleasure in life. Besides beaches normally being a calm and serene imagery, It's one of the only normal pieces of imagery in the entire series.
I dunno how many other people online have talked about this interpretation or not, but hearing you talk about how Shinji saving Rei in 2.0 was a pivotal moment made me wanna mention it - if you're someone who buys into the meta reading of Anno portraying himself thru Shinji, then maybe that moment in 2.0 represents him acting selfishly as a director. The way Misato eggs him on to "do it because it's what YOU want" and how he says "I don't even care what happens to the world!" makes me think of the mindset a younger artist would be in when deciding to produce either of the original two controversial endings that he did, in an effort to make his mark on the anime industry by doing something disruptive. Then with 3.0 being the fallout post third-impact (and being 14 years later, hmm) I wonder if the guilt Shinji feels for what he thinks he did may line up with how Anno feels about how he ended Evangelion before? A look back upon a potential regret, now that he's grown and his sensibilities have changed after all these years, with the recognition that it may not have been received the way he'd hoped it'd be. 3.0+1.0 supports this meta narrative in that it isn't as much about redoing what he tried to do before - it's more about Anno revising his punk rock mindset (or Shinji maturing past his nihilism) to basically APOLOGIZE to the audience for how harshly he treated them before, to extend an open hand and value acceptance/forgiveness instead of anger/punishment. Sort of a synthesis of his two attempts at ending the show before, keeping with the storytelling of EoE but the optimism of 25/26. All that said, it's clear from the documentaries and interviews that Anno's got a short attention span and does whatever he thinks is most interesting in the moment, and there are tons of other contributors that made each installment what they were. Though there is a fascinating excerpt of him talking about his wife's manga that's been making the rounds, in which he basically admits to admiring her work for being more positive and effective at making the audience want to go out and live their lives - either way, I dug the movie because it's a rare and special thing to see an auteur update and respond to his own previous work in a way that reflects his own personal growth.
I think the character with beard and glasses is the stand in for Anno here. It is clear to me that he made this movie for Gendo I think this is the character Anno should be judged on. Shinji is just commentary on Evangelion Otakus who chase Evangelion waifu's down the rabbit hole for over a decade and a plot device to justify Gendo and give understanding to his pain. Really most things seem like they're defined through those two things in this movie and rebuild. Anno made this movie for Gendo this is the character he should be judged on in this.
what I love about the cutesy ending was that Shinji earnt it shinji was ready to sacrifice himself to stop the Impact but because he communicated with Gendo, Gendo found closure, was able to reunite with Yui, and so Gendo and Yui ejected Shinji and carried out the rest of the Impact but yeah, fucking love that the final obstacle was communication i loved that characters were able to find their own closure Loved that we saw more Kaworu besides how his interactions with Shinji. Having a friendship with Kaji? Being Kaji's commander? Realising there is happinness to be found outside Shinji? hellyeah My favourite part of this movie though was the first hour with Rei discovering things. I adoooooooored her here and it broke my heart when it ended Mari to Shinji seems to be what Yui was to Gendo. That energetic, loving person who drags shinji out of his corner An amazing ending. byebye all of evangelion
Its just wonderful that you invest almost twenty years into a story and world and everything turns out so perfectly. It perfectly resonated with me as an adult the same way the original series resonated with me as a scared teenager who hated social interactions. I'm grateful that I was able to experience this.
It certainly stands in stark contrast to nearly every single other media franchise which either refuse to stay dead when they really should, end so catastrophically it turns the whole fanbase off the IP permanently, or just degenerates into a crude mockery of what it used to be.
one of Anno's first animation jobs was the god warrior scene in Nausicaa, and he replicates that animation in this movie with the line of headless eva units walking
While I was watching that part I was instantly pulled back when I was in uni watching NGE for the first time and how I enjoyed the slice of life they showed in the episodes just before some weird and depressing shit happened
I think you nailed it Rocco with the cycle of generational abuse. The "sins of the father" becoming the "original sin". The Anno doc on Amazon Prime really sheds a light on this aspect of the series.
Shinji finally gets the ending he deserves after 26 years, I got really emotional when Mari took the collar off him. He is finally free from the world of evangelion and can live a normal life ;__;
@@jestawell He didn't choose to live in that world though, he was going to kill hinself in order to create that world. Yui saved him, but yeah I agree with you... The End of Evangelion ending was better... it's more real (when talking about real trauma though... not the giant rei head)
@@jestawell yes, but he also was going to sacrifice himself so... I guess Mari doesn't follow the rules of Evangelion's logic... that's just one of many plot holes about that character... the other one being... how the hell was she as old as Gendo and how the hell did she stop growing up without an Eva ready back then? If she was as old as Gendo... why she wasn't way older than Shinji in the last scene
@@jestawell It's not left unexplained... it's a plot hole... it contradicts things shown in the story, the dates don't add up; I have a theory of why she's like that... she's a singularity.. that's why she's not in the original series and she's in the last iteration where the loop is broken. It's through Mari that things are different in this new reality and the problem can be solved... may be that's the reason she doesn't age. The only why you can explain her is by saying laws of the pieces of information we got from Evangelion don't apply to her.
It wasn’t a perfect movie by a longshot, but I think it succeeds in conveying what it’s trying to say thematically and emotionally. There were a lot of beautiful scenes in this movie that made me tear up.
I thought the Shinji/Gendo battle was really important too. I remember seeing the trailer and having that part be teased and it always stuck out to me because of the really "bad" cgi (which looked like 2 mo-cap dudes fighting, which is strange because everything else is really well animated) But During the actual watch through, when it started, it made me realize that Anno chose that mo-cap style to emphasize the "fakeness" of the action, it really highlights that the sci-fi action stuff was never the point of the show
I still can't believe they managed to do a title drop at the end and it actually felt premeditated. Like it's the birth of a new universe, "neon genesis", and it's a world without Evangelion. I can never tell if Anno knew what he was doing all along or if he's just amazing at making it seem like he had some master plan
@@I-Am-He. Yeah. Rei specifically says to Shinji “birth of a new world? Neon Genesis?” after Shinji suggests using Gaius to recreate the world without Evangelions.
well, the title had always been premeditated, it made reference to the new Genesis Gendo and Seele intended to start and the alternative that Shinji could start
Hey Rocco I’m only a few minutes into this vid but I really wanna say thanks for taking the time to make this. I really love when you do a long discussion on something I’m interested in. Even when I don’t 100% agree I think you have a compelling and entertaining way of voicing your thoughts. Moreover, I would not have gotten into Evangelion a couple years ago if it weren’t for you and Garrett showing so much love and interest for the series, and the show + movies ended up being incredibly important and personal for me. It honestly helped me get through a very difficult time in my life, and is now one of my favorite animes and possibly pieces of media ever. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for being a passionate dude always unafraid to share his thoughts and feelings on things, and I hope you know that your passion for Evangelion has impacted my life and likely many others’ lives. Thanks :)
In regards to the ending, I thought it was partially a reflection of the audience within the characters. In a literal sense, the original audience has aged quite a bit, and times of growing up and being obsessed about EVA and it's crazy scenes/fights/etc. are gone or vastly different. Friends grow apart, people have to work to live life, and now you're in a world where the finale to this huge tangled ball of mental gripes spanning 2 decades+ is here, and all you can do is go back to regularity with this experience behind you, older and content.
thank you rocco for getting myself and countless others into Eva just by continuously recommending it. having the podcast chats on Eva to catch up on afterwards made the experience all the better!
While I do really like the rebuilds, you completely hit the nail on the head when it comes to the over-the-top action scenes. I rewatched all the rebuilds for this movie, and it just felt like the battles in 1.11 and 2.22 are a lot easier to follow and don't drag on super long. It feels like so many of the fights in 3.33 and 4 are way too long and are usually harder to follow especially since what they're trying to accomplish is usually more complicated than just "find a way to break the core" now. Almost anything with the Wunder I just never understand what's going on most of the time. There's still some cool stuff though for sure, it's always cool to see Eva vs Eva battles with how less common they are.
I finally got around to watching the series for the first time a couple months ago, and I really liked it! Way more than I thought I was going to, in fact. And then I went through the first 3 Rebuild movies and, while I had some issues with them (namely Mari and that weird pacing of the 2nd one) I really liked them and was looking forward to Thrice Upon a Time. Watched it yesterday and....yeah no, this series is cemented in my top 3 of all time. It's fucking fantastic. I love the characters, the story, the actions pretty dope at times, and the MUSIC! I love this series so much and I'm so happy I finally decided to give it a go, and I gotta say a lot of that has to do with how much I saw you and Garrett liked it, so....thanks for kinda giving me that extra push to check it out lol
I liked it but hearing you speak so passionately about it made me love it. I don't think anything was too cute... These characters deserved some peace. As a guy that has just been watching Godzilla and getting into Ultraman, one thing I got a kick out of was the flying boats at the beginning were held up by strings! Cool reference to tokusatsu.
having been introduced to the original series through the mega64ums - a show which has influenced my life in so many ways - only appropriate to put the capper on the last 15 years by watching a video of you talk through the plot. I loved it, it answered my lingering question of "what is even the point of rebuild?" this felt like Anno himself unleashed Angel mode and put the interior of his soul on screen. I even loved the spaceship battles - that felt like pure throwback to space battleship yamato with the brilliant swelling music. it was like a tribute to ghibli, ultraman, mecha anime, leiji matsumoto, and evangelion itself all in one package.
Really glad you brought up how stuff like the Rei head is deliberately made to be uncanny, unsettling, and maybe even funny. Already seeing a ton of people taking the piss and calling it out as an example of the movie being bad, as if Anno forgot what anime looks like (despite all the CG characters made to look 2D) and didn't clearly do it on purpose, I guarantee most people who think are laughing "at" the movie are laughing with it, Anno knows what goofy looks like and he's not afraid of juxtaposing it with serious stuff. I see so many people who hold the original to this masterpeice status, but refuse to so much as engage with new stuff on any level. They'll go on all day about how the elevator scene and literally unfinished storyboards are genius stuff, but hit a funky looking mocap fight and uncanny CGI and dismiss full cloth any possible meaning or intent from it, we're all just reaching now apparently, Anno just doesn't know what he's doing anymore. There's this weird need to like, remove the human who created this work from the work, even though the work is an expression of himself. NGE and EoE are just these masterpieces that manifested from nothing, Anno was just like, an avatar through which it manifested, and afterwards he's just some loser who doesn't get it like the true fans do, retconning and chasing after the original but failing. In reality he's the same person, having grown from the experience since, and is reflecting on it through this new work which is just as much an expression of himself as NGE was.
I see parts of myself in shinji and seeing him get over his depression in the original Eva series/manga is a very cathartic experience. This movie is no different. Seeing shinji come to terms with all of the tragedy that happens around him and seeing him grow up as a result is similarly cathartic. This makes me reflect on my life and what I can do to improve my quality of life. This is what eva does and to me 3.0+1.0 delivers.
Thanks for the vid Rocco! After watching it, realized I ended up sharing many of your appreciations of the film. Some of the things you put into words, I couldn't quite do so properly before (specially regarding the Gendo vs Shinji scenes + the ending), so thanks! However, just wanted to share my own appreciation for the enthusiasm you put into expressing your feelings about it. There's an energy behind your sincerity that is just as moving and powerful as the one in the film itself, and that's pretty neat to get to see. And we didn't get MagmaDiver back, but we did get Jet Alone! (partially at least). Thanks for sharing this journey with us!
Rocco, thanks so much for doing this video. I just finished the movie and some moments were so impactful but your perspective on it really made me appreciate it even more. I love NGE and the rebuild movies were great too. This series in general is just something I am so grateful to have. I love the questions it leaves us with, the deep dive into the characters and to top it off an exciting story that truly is “hope and despair”. Please let Shawn talk about the Padres as much as he wants on the podcast so you and garret can talk twice as much about Eva! It’s a conversation I really enjoy listening to and welcome and more videos on your thoughts on the movie. Absolutely would love to do a prime viewing party too! :)
Based on cursory reading on the web, I believe yes, there is a series of Shikinami Asukas, but in her case, there only ends up being one in the end (there's a sequence where you see all the headshots of them, but they vanish one by one, like they're being eliminated), they only have the best Asuka from their testing and trials, and no other clones are active. That's why they can't just replace her like Rei after she gets infected with an Angel. The Asuka you see on the EoE beach is the same Asuka clone from the Rebuilds, but yes, like you said, she's now older, quite literally outgrown her old outfit, having finally been freed from the Curse of Eva.
The series, EOE and each rebuild movie were ALL really special to me. Upon the first viewing of each, I always sunk into a long period of reflection and appreciation. What a journey Eva has been!
I don't think Anno has ever disappointed and overall I loved the rebuild series, especially the "wrap up" with 3.0+1.0 (and I put it in quotes because I also agree I don't think this will be last time we see something from the franchise). Thanks for making this video because while I had stuff I loved about it, you pointed out some important things that didn't stick out as much to me during my first watch. I think I was so moved by the 3rd village scenes that I needed additional time to digest before moving on to the end. It was so nice to see so many beloved characters alive and living a nice life. Maybe it's because I'm a mom now, but I adored Tsubame and the fact that Toji and Hikari had a happy ending after all the heartache in the previous versions. I also just found out there's an actual town in Hamamatsu that was the model for the 3rd village and the train station had all the signs replaced to be ones from the movie. I'm so glad that this movie is fully out and I'm ready to soak up all the Eva stuff I can!
My favorite moments of the movie were when it dropped the classic NGE episode title cards randomly in the middle and when they showed the picture of Gendo and Yui with Marie and i jumped cus i fucking knew that THE MANGA WAS CANON ALL ALONG
Gendo being my fav character(-and rei) . The misato hug. The dull brain thru the ship battles. Brain scene. Ur really speaking exactly my thoughts n reactions to the film. Good stuff
There is only one Kaworu that I can tell that's in this "loop" of the movie. He's the same that did the mission with Kaji, and then died with the choker. The purpose of the coffins on the moon imply that there are several iterations of him which I think is analogous to the idea that Shinji and Kaworu have seen each other in another life (or, in this case a previous series/movie/mangas). Also, Kaworu states in no uncertain terms that life is like a loop, it starts as it ends, and he quite literally gets put in the last angel spot (from 1 to 13, first to last), which is also a sly reference to the musical allusions in the title. So many plot elements in this series of films were so well thought out and put together. There is plenty of fan service for those who were paying attention, but it's definitely service in terms of rewarding people who experienced the previous series (and not in the typical sense of risque imagery). Anyway, thanks for recording this and posting it, I wanted to have a conversation with someone about that ending but a lot of my friends still need to watch it. So this was the perfect outlet for me haha Edit: I was a bit confused as well with the Asuka clone situation. I buy that she was a clone of the original Shoryu-Langley (which is why she has a Shikinami name now) and it appears as if at least two of them were suitable for Eva piloting, based on that wall of Asukas, but they dropped mad hints that the kid Asuka in the woods with the doll attached to her backpack was likely the original Asuka that all the clones were based off. I think for the purposes of keeping track, anytime Asuka is featured "irl", it's a clone, but in the flash backs and in the Angel zone when she gets pulled out of her dummy plug after letting the angel blood take over, those versions of Asuka that are doing the pulling are the original, whose soul is now in the Eva unit 02. It's a neat recontextualization of whose soul is in each Eva, I think. Anyway I could ramble, but I'll stop now
I originally figured that with the Kaworu thing, but I just cannot reconcile why Kaworu would help Kaji stop third impact, but then help Gendo/Fuyutsuki with their mission in 3.0. Wouldn’t they have been enemies? That’s the only thing that made me think they pulled another Kaworu off the moon.
@@roccobotte Gendo tricked Kaworu which was waiting for Shinji. In 3.0 he tried to restore the world so Shinji would feel happy. He was old tricked in the original series but by Seele. He's in Eva 13, just like Rei is in Eva 01... you have Gendo/Asuka/Kaworu and Yui/Shinji/Rei... the creators of all the worlds, except for the last one which is created without Yui and Gendo. Now I think The End of Evangelion has something similar to this... the Eva 01 eats Gendo's body (he doesn't turn into LCL) and the Eva Series eat Asuka (she doesn't turn into LCL either and she was eaten too... too many parallels) so you have the same people in the 3rd Impact of The End of Evangelion Gendo, Asuka, Kaworu, Rei, Shinji and Yui. All the Rebuilds have certain pieces of info of the original series through its parallel scenarios. Asuka's mind is scanned by an Angel in the original series... in Rebuild she has that angel-thing in her eye... so those two things might be equivalent... just like the Rei merging with an angel and dying in 2.0, the destruction of TK03. What I don't see the Rebuild equivalent of the original series where Kaworu feels the urge of reseting the world with the angels as the dominant species by merging with Adam. May be Kanji stops this... no idea, he breaks Kaworu's loop though. Fuyutsuki also redeems himself by overcoming his social anxiety and talking to Shinji in 3.0, he also sets the scenario for Mari to take the Vessels of Adams' cores. In the End of Evangelion he only narrates the entire movie. He's also the equivalent of Risuko who betrays Gendo and tells Shinji the truth about Rei in the original series.
@@roccobotte I see Kaworu helping Gendo in 3.0 as being only to get close to Shinji and because he was tricked into thinking he could help make Shinji happy. Helping Kaji was necessary so that he meet Shinji again. The part about Kaworu writing their names next to each other in the book of life implies to me that in every loop they are destined to meet
Gotta say, it's awesome hearing your thoughts on this. You guys kept talking about it quite a bit over the years, you and Garret singing the OP at the end of one of the podcast episodes (much to Shawn's dismay), and the sweded videos are what made me try and get into the series. Misato too lol. I tried watching the Netflix version but honestly only got like halfway through since I felt it was kinda boring. A few months later I decided to watch the Rebuild movies instead and enjoyed them way more. I'm kinda hesitant calling myself an Eva fan since I didn't watch the series or original movies like you and most others, but man...the emotional reactions this one got outta me, I'm feeling a bit more comfortable saying I probably am. That first half with Rei and all the dialogue with everyone, god I loved it all and was heartbroken when she passed. The ending itself I personally loved, shit I shed a couple tears at it. As much as I enjoy bittersweet type stuff I love how Shinji went from someone who had gone through so much and gave up to one who became confident and finally gets to enjoy life with those he cares about. You pretty much summed up most of how I felt perfectly, with the hug between Misato and Shinji, final conversations/confrontations with everyone, and of course the action sequences as well, it's more about the characters than the mecha like ya said. Overall I really liked it. Gendoh still an asshole and Asuka still a bitch, but it's nice to understand why they're like that. Anyways, just wanna end off by saying thank you to you and the rest of the crew for putting me on to it. Really was something ☺️
Just finished watching the movie and first thing I did was come here and watch all of this. Only appropriate as you guys and some friends of mine were the reason I ever even gave this show/series a chance.
I cried during this movie. It never happened to me before with any of the TV show episodes or movies. To me this movie is the final goodbye and also the end of an era. You can clearly tell how much Anno has grown as a director but also as a human and 3.0+1.0 really reflects that perfectly. Can't wait to see his future projects.
Writing this as l listen all your comments Rocco, English it's not my first language but I'll try to say what I thought about it, the most impressive thing I liked was the fact that Hideaki was able to connect (or at least hint it) the anime series with the rebuild, the last section of the movie when Kaworu tells Shinji that no matter how many times he goes through "that" he always chosen his friends and Kaworu getting up from the coffin and seeing a lot of them,( also when he talking to Rei with long hair and scenes from the anime flashes ) makes me things anime and build happened, Shinji it's destined to be in the book of life but the wish it was necessary to finish the loop was to finish all the evangelions, and Hideaki breaks the 4th wall playing himself as Shinji in the tv set, "freeing" the characters as "they finish" their scenes and leaving the studio, and also breaking the age curse (many were kids as they started evangelion) and now Shinji (Hideaki) wishing no longer Eva's exist(the robots in the anime and the show in RL),he makes free the kids (the viewers) and in a way sends the message that our days as "Eva kids" are over, Hideaki it's a genius. Also Mari milf makes my d goes brrrr
Thanks for making this! I think we felt very similarly about this and the Rebuilds altogether. I really appreciate what you said about the original ending. I’ve never heard someone convey it quite like that and that’s absolutely what it is. I’ve enjoyed the Rebuilds up to this point but have never felt it was something to tell other people “oh man, you gotta watch those.” But after this, I really think they are absolutely worth watching all 4 of. I liked 3.0 but felt it may have been too complicated and worried that 3.0+1.0 wouldn’t be able to make a fitting conclusion but it’s written in such a good way that recontextualizes 3.0 and makes it a great piece to this whole project. The Ghibli comparison was also 1000% accurate. I felt that the more complex Evangelion fights with Mari and Asuka also went over my head and the Tenet comparison? Good lord was that true. It was an intense and great looking spectacle but I’m so detached from what’s going on that all I can do his just watch. I think this movie actually did great in both delivering in that crazy spectacle as well as the amazing personal fight between Gendo and Shinji that feels like it was pulled from my dreams. I saw negative/“I don’t know how I feel” things about it on Twitter before seeing it but I was glued to my screen the entire time. All that to say, I really loved this movie. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and feelings on it. Also, I would kill for a manga/anime that covers the gap between 2.0 and 3.0.
I feel like the part where Unit 01 hits the matte painting is kinda saying, hey all this technobabble and religious bullshit doesn't mean anything and what really matters is the characters, their feelings, and their development. Also it's the same Asuka clone in all 3 movies. She gets infected by the Angel in 2.0 and they use the rod to suppress it. Since Asuka is fighting for Wille I assume that they (Wille) did not have access to the other Shikinami clones as they would belong to Nerv, so they did what they could to preserve the one that was infected by Unit 03.
Thrice upon a time was almost suspiciously satisfying. it really felt like a series I’ve been following for 10 years at this point coming to a close. there were so many characters done justice and conflicts that were resolved thoroughly. things I thought were too baked into the DNA of Eva to even be resolved were addressed. It exceeded my expectations and then some and the ending was just really transcendent and beautiful.
I haven't finished this video yet, but I had this realization that I didn't feel satisfied after completing the original content. I felt a lot of emotions, but I also felt like something was always missing. But with the Rebuilds, I am so happy Anno is ending on these terms.
Glad to have your unfiltered thoughts and reactions to this movie. I’m newer to Eva than most so it’s cool having this secondary interpretation that helps me understand the lore a little better. Overall, the movie kicked ass. The first hour was cozy as hell.
I loved the tokusatsu fight. I like to imagine Gendo was a fan of tokusatsu and so of course that’s the kind of world he took Shinji to for an ass beating.
I think you had a lot of great insights Rocco. I love Eva and loved the closure of this movie but I did struggle to enjoy a lot of the Rebuilds. This video helped me enjoy some stuff I missed!
Hard agree on your take on the Imaginary Eva/Lilith/Black Lilith/whoever. I remember seeing blurry clips of it back in march, but seeing its introduction in the real thing sent shivers up my spine. so good.
Really good critiques and things that worked. I agree and it also gets me thinking like some of these especially with Gendo started to look like an actual stage. Or in a miniature set like an old Godzilla movie. Edit: I see 32:20 you mentioned this too, it stuck in my mind!
Gendo's motivation has kinda always been known - like we've always known he did everything to see his lover again. And I thought that was a little far fetched until I realized that Shinji throughout the series has also changed the world just to see his loved one again like 3 times and the comparison is kinda driven home in the ending when Gendo is shown to be just like Shinji
I really hope you and Garret can do a long AF follow up to your Eva 3.0 discussion you did, THAT has kept me going and excited for Eva ever since, you guys KILLED it with all the lore and knowledge you guys have I can't wait for you guys to go deep into this one and there is SO MUCH IN IT. Loved it, thought it was cool, wasn't perfect but didn't have to be, **spoiler**.............................. loved how they had to give Shinji a "spine" to beat Gendo xD That just made me laugh for ages but I loved everything this had to offer and 9 years is a long as wait for something you love THIS much so hope you appreciated it as much as I did - shout out to Anno
On the moon there were Kaworu coffins for as long as you could see many open. It seems like this all had happened countless times alla eternal recurrence
Rocco I couldn't agree more about the moment Shinji knocks into the backdrop fighting Gendo. Reminded me of The Truman Show when he hits the wall in the boat, that impact with a facade that both the character and the audience experience together. Really powerful
You described chamber of guf the best it can be described. That's how I perceived it as well. Also that final battle was AMAZING. Loved how they were just in multiple iconic locations. All this Guf place is just perception of what they considered "reality".
I feel like the beginning was really thrown at you at turbo speed but it really mellowed out and flowed really nicely to allow you to read the subtitles and not miss too much of the visuals. I will be rewatching it with the dub though.
I also feel that way about modern action scenes in general. I actually think it might have been commentary, just 'Oh, this is what you want Eva to be? Okay have a taste before we take a slow deep breath of real life for half the movie'. It reminds me of a lot of the new over the top technology in Girlfriend of Steel. Actually my first thought watching it was 'The Future of War will be horrifying'
Yeah man, totally agree. Was a bit lost during some of the action and some of the plot, but there was just so much stuff in this that was super cathartic to see as a long time Eva fan. Anno really hit out of the park yet again.
I completely agree with the action scene sentiment, something about them made my mind trail off. My favorite part was the beginning, it really surprised me how heartfelt that was. Also totally agree with Kojima nailing it in MGS4, that final boss made me shed a tear lol.
I loved the anime and EoE but Rebuild was totally off my radar until I was listening to the podcast yesterday and Rocco brought up it had dropped, I got FOMO. Paused the cast, ran home and binged all four Rebuild and feel amazing. While the first started off giving me the impression of a rushed through remake, once the story changed direction and the beautiful end scene started I knew I loved it as much as the other two endings. Thanks Rocco!
From what I've read and what makes sense to me about the Shikinami type is there was a series made and only the single best lived. Which is what drives this asuka to have to be the best and better than everyone else because thats what the point of the type was. To pit them against each other to only get the best and most perfect result. In contrast to the Ayanami type where there are many and they are replaceable. That makes sense to me, but its eva so its up to interpretation so i could easily be wrong
The whole reacurring theme throughout Evangelion is the Hedgehogs Dilemma; a theory developed by Arthur Schopenhauer whose philosophies made way for the psychoanalytical theory; developed by Sigmund Freud. A lot of Freud’s philosophies can be found throughout the show, even in the title cards for episode 4; the Hedgehog’s Dilemma. Episode 18; Ambivalence(which may explain Shinji’s relationship with every character in the show; including with his mother and Rei; considering that Shinji has this desire for the attention that he never got when he was younger). Episode 19; Introjection(this may explain a lot of how Gendo acted when he was younger; ie when he’d “drown himself in the noise of music so that he wouldn’t hear people connecting” and considering how Shinji and him aren’t so different in terms of how they deal with their emotions, the people around them, and the world). Episode 20; Weaving a Story 2: Oral Stage(this also explains Shinji’s desire for people to like him and accept him and how he overtly runs away and expects people to help him deal with his own problems; thus stating that Shinji has a case of Oral Fixation(expressing overtly dependent behavior) and of course when he sees his father, he goes a bit ape and yells at him saying: “You killed Toji!” This may also mean that Shinji and Gendo’s relationship is Oedipal to say the least; considering that Gendo abandoned Shinji when he was only 4 and leaving Shinji with a lot of self doubt, hatred for his father and a need to validate himself to catch his father’s attention.) The relationship that Shinji has with Rei, Misato, Eva unit 1 and his mother are OEDIPAL in nature
I am still collecting my thoughts, gonna watch it again tonight. I remember after watching the third movie thinking I had a lot of questions about the world that I thought there was no way the last movie would answer while telling it’s own story. The world building and character interaction in the first part was something I really enjoyed. And got better the more I undertood the characters as the movie progressed. Overall, this is my favorite of the 4 movies
Absolutely agree on the action. My wife, who doesn't watch anything anime at all, knew I was excited about this and asked how I liked it. I mentioned the same exact EoE fight and even showed her an action scene from this and then that fight. There's a huge difference, not just in animation quality, but in the feeling. It ain't your peanut brain, Rocco. You're galaxy brain here. If the fights were much more dialed back and character driven it would make a world of difference. It's the one big issue I have with 3.0+1.01, besides CGI quality, but maybe I'm wrong about that one. When this movie is brilliant, Gendo seeing Yui in Shinji or any of that last act for instance, it's exceptionally so.
That's not the only huge difference between those movies... the tone is totally different, Rei is scary and gross, the characters' deaths are gross too, Misato blows up into pieces, Asuka is cut into pieces and eaten, Gendo's hand is cut off and then he is eaten by Eva01, all the characters see someone who love just to get their guard down and their AT fields broken... in the case of Maya the entire scene is evil... besides the final enemy ended up being humanity itself, the way soldiers kill nerv personnel, the way the Evas Series kill the soldiers like if they were less than ants (because they do it without noticing it) the way Ritsuko is betrayed by her own mother and her own feelings because she doesn't shoot Gendo. The fact Rei-Lilith's thrid eye is a vagina, the fact Rei is basically raped by Gendo with his hand, the fact humans are killed through an orgam of the Lilith-linked-Evas Series after they being penetrated by the lances. The masturbation-rape scene. The End of Evangelion was 100% seinen, 3.0+1.0 is shounen.
Rocco I completely agree with your take on the action scenes. Something I always loved about the battles in Evangelion is how they always served as means to propel the story and character development. To me it never seemed like it was action for the sake of doing something cool. BUT - to counter my own argument - I think it is important to indulge the animators. I feel like they were given an opportunity to shine. All the people that put so much time and effort into creating these amazing spectacles deserve nothing but respect - regardless of my own personal feelings.
Neon Genesis Evangelion nearly drove me to suicide. Seeing Shinji suffering is like seeing myself suffer, because at one point in time I was almost exactly like him, especially back in 10th grade when I was bullied to the brink of suicide. I simply cannot tolerate watching Eva. I felt forced to relive my trauma upon viewing it. I’m deathly afraid of it. Twice I had a nightmare where I saw myself as Shinji choking Asuka and starting the Third Impact. I’ve been struggling with this newfound depression ever since. I was obsessed with the series for over a year to try and outwit the isolation of the Coronavirus pandemic. It only increased the burden, and kept the memory of my friend’s recent suicide alive. Watching the End of Evangelion was like peering into a broken mirror, and I was viewing the hell I would’ve put myself through had things turned out differently, had I decided to give up living. It still haunts me to this day. Sometimes I hate myself because I fail to appreciate what so many have claimed to idolize, and I beat myself further for failing to worship what they call praiseworthy, I forced myself to watch a show that reminded me of nothing but pain just so I wouldn’t be alone anymore, I was willing to sacrifice my individuality for some company amidst the isolation of the pandemic. I sought emotional refuge in the Evangelion fandom on social media, hoping they’d understand me and provide me with answers that would grant me peace of mind. Instead, they downplayed my trauma, going so far as to spread a rumor of my past to shame me of my mental illness, spiraling me deeper into depression, which I’ve been struggling with for over a year now. I just want Shinji to be happy, so this past self of mine can be laid to rest once more. I’m afraid to decouple myself from him after losing my friend to suicide, which Eva made me feel responsible for, especially when I saw Shinji kill Kaworu, of which I fail to understand how anyone can call it praiseworthy. Until then, I feel nothing else matters. There’s a reason why I keep coming back to Evangelion; something that reminds me of nothing but pain. I want to prove to myself I’m not crazy for feeling this way, that Evangelion really did force me to relive my trauma, that my depression is not just a figment of my imagination or another anime plot point. I want to feel that my fear and resentment towards Eva is justified. But the fact I’m the only one I know in existence who’s been traumatized by an anime makes me feel like I really am crazy. Whenever I feel this way, there’s something I remind myself with. But finally, with 3.0+1.0 released, I can rest easy knowing that Shinji has finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. Evangelion is finished, and I want it to remain that way. But if things hadn’t turned out that way, I wouldn’t be here today.
For me I love the way this movie used its themes. From how I saw it, it still has the core series theme of not letting yourself get too trapped in your own shell and isolation, but they added an additional theme of learning how to accept and move on to a new phase in your life. Shinji essentially saves the day by helping Gendo accept the things thay had happened in his life and move on. People in the village have learned to move on, even Rei Q played heavily into that. I've seen some people getting up in arms about Mari in the final scene, but I saw that as the ultimate symbol of that theme of moving on. In the end, people have different chapters in his life, and that last scene is like a representation of Shinji finally letting himself move on and is in a different place as a person. And really, take that last sentence and replace it with Anno for what the movie really seems to mean.
1:14:10 Oh it is 100% a statement on too much fan-service in the story. My interpretaion of 2.22 is that it's entirely about fanservice and proving that giving the fans all the things they purport to want is what ruins it. I mean they put Mari in who in 2.22 is literally only a sex object with absolutely no purpose and then the elevator scene lasts like 3 seconds and is completely non-memorable. The entire film is essentially "Here is what you said you wanted, and here is why it is bad"
Long time viewer, first time commenter. Great video, and I think I had a lot of similar thoughts about this movie. I was also kind of numb to the torrent of new terms the movie was throwing out in the middle where it becomes a soup of sci-fi and action. The first extended action sequence was awesome, but they explained a lot all at once and it kind of made me miss the gentle slice-of-life style stuff at the beginning of the movie. With that being said, there's a lot of new lore stuff to dive into that I found very exciting, but I was acutely aware that (as always with eva) the character drama was the strong point of the movie and in many ways that 'barrage of terminology' distracted from that, just a little. Most of all it made me appreciate 3.0 even more than I did, as it gives context about some things that happened during the time skip that I was really interested in but didn't get from that movie (what happened to Kaji, what happened to Toji + Kensuke, how were the people on Earth getting by after an apocalypse?). This new movie answered a lot of things I felt were missing from the previous. I didn't expect a lot of that stuff, but I'm glad I got it. What are your thoughts on how the rebuilds function as a 'sequel' versus a 'retelling' of the original? After this movie I couldn't decide really how much it confirmed people's thoughts/theories on it being a sequel - there was definitely some substance to those theories but me and my buddies couldn't come to a consensus on if this movie 'confirmed' the ideas of it being a sequel.
Overall I think they did an excellent job of having this exist separately from the originals while still paying them tribute. Here are some of my unorganized thoughts about 2 days removed. I definitely agree with the density of the middle causing some issues with so much coming at you so fast lore-wise. For example, the Shinikami project seems like it should be a cool/important revelation because of how beloved the character is, but I still am having a hard time understanding what purpose that reveal served. It doesn't seem to add or subtract anything from her character, maybe other than just making Gendo have more of a "grand plan" stretching many years. And I do agree with the "not everything needs to be thoroughly explained, just see the results" thing was interesting for Kaji, but the results don't seem like they would matter from having a "different" Asuka existing out there somewhere. Still, this whole thing did not take away from my enjoyment whatsoever, I just would love to know why that part was included and it's intended impact since I cannot seem to find it myself. (Which is interesting because of how much EVA is about your own interpretations.) Small tangent that leads into the next point, but back when I first watched the TV/EOE universe I kinda hated it until I realized it wasn't as much about the physical world the characters inhabited and "what happened in the show," rather the important parts were the growth that came from the decisions, consequences, and impact of those as lessons we all (hopefully) learn. So I do like the amount of "Meta" this last movie had too, and the anti-universe's brief explanation helps prepare you for the finale and it being way more about thoughts/conversation rather than action. One thing that sorta points that directions is Black Lilith being a "boogieman" showing how humans are capable of creating something more powerful than themselves that reminds of that old "joke" of "Could God make a Sandwich so spicy he couldn't eat it?" and of course the final "battle" you talked about already. So yeah, these movies were great and did nothing but add to the series which is impressive. I didn't know I wanted them after how well done the originals were, but I'm glad they're here and will definitely include them in future rewatches.
I also loved the 4th wall breaking with the 01 vs 13 fight. It's as if by entering the minds of the characters and seeing what's essential about them, we go back to the basics in animation as well, and the film acknowledges it is a film. It's the most Anno thing and yet it still surprised me
For a series featuring giant robots and crazy sci-fi themes, the small slow moments are definitely what make it work. I totally agree on the large scale huge battles. To me, the slower my paced and planned out battles are more interesting and fun to watch, especially the battles where Rey, Asuka and Shinji have to team up and strategize. 2.22 is also my favorite.
I am happy that Shinji and Misato shared a final embrace, with pure love and care. It was simple and short, but says so much. That’s my most cathartic moment when watching this movie.
Fun fact: the "Anti-Universe" Unit 13 vs. Unit 01 fight scene was Anno's loving tribute to Mega64's "Evangelion in 5 Minutes" series.
I know you're joking but it's actually a tribute to the old robot movies that were animated like this
@@incription haha yeah, when they were fighting on the streets of Tokyo-3, I read that this was an homage to tokusatsu with that DIY aesthetic. Especially at locations like Misato’s apartment and (literally) breaking the fourth wall, as I watched this unfold, all I kept thinking about was how this could have easily transitioned into a live-action sweded effort.
Another visual parallel that may not mean much, is all this time Mari was calling Shinji "Puppy", "Pup", "Dog", and at the end she released him from the collar, which could signify his freedom from the series.
The collar is a sign of redemption and regret, Misato told Ritsuko that if he doesn't want to redeem himself then he doesn't need a collar. He did it, he confronted his father and understood him, he saved Asuka, he told her what he felt, he saved Ayanami, kaworu, and tried to sacrify himself to create the new world. The burden of the old world is lifted in this new world... I think Mari at the beach is like a mirror image of the other ending in The End of Evangelion, that the relationship with Asuka wasn't supposed to be because they would hurt each other so the scenario was horrible and depressive... in this new beach you have a sunny, clear and happy scenario with Mari instead of Asuka... so the beach might represent the new beginning in both movies.
holy shit nice catch that's definitely on purpose
lol
plus its the first time she calls him 'Shinji' after she takes the collar off.
I laughed my ass off when Toji's sister ALSO came out with a gun to shoot Shinji.
That whole scene was unintentionally funny.
"The world is ending, but don't pilot an Eva, Shinji or the world will end!"
@@Undying3001 I totally thought it was hilarious too, but I get it. The trauma of the past literally keeping you from fixing what you can now. That's how the cycle continues. I'm glad they were able to finally break it.
That was the only outright bad scene in the movie, imo. It was absurd lol
and then after she shoots Misato she falls to her knees with the camera right on her ass lmao
Would be better if he stayed with her rather than new German girl
My favourite part of this movie was when shinji asks “ what happened to kaji?” And then the other guy goes “Kaji’s dead” real mega 64 moment
The movie could've just been two and a half hours of farmer Rei and I still would have loved it.
I think it *should* have been that, to be honest.
That, to me, was the best fan service.
I would've liked it more if it WAS that :/
I think Kowaru’s talk with Shinji is the best explanation of the very end. In life there’s lots of people that people will come to love, but not all of them are meant to be a part of your life. Shinji loves Rei, Asuka, and Kowaru, and the feelings are reciprocated, but the only way for all four of these people to be happy and healthy is for Shinji to not be a part of their world.
That's a solid interpretation!
I don't agree honestly.
3.0+1.0 constantly recurred to retcon narratively because Anno run himself into a corner, because everything was too convoluted to make sense, where he made Kaworu a sorta Gendo clone, so even tho he wrote Shinji's name in this randomly brought up thing called Book of life (which is also retcon, this didn't exist) he can't "be gay" with him coz that would be incest so now he has to be with Rei (wtf). Also, Now he apparently was also the one who caused the impact in 2.22 and Kaji just went with his fricking Helicopter .... Like WTF Anno?????
He destroyed Kaworu's character because well... He didn't write him in the first place so he didn't get him. Episode 25 was written by another person, as happens with Television, where u can't write Every single chapter of your show.
So hideaki didn't understand what the main point of Kaworu was all along because He wasn't the one who came up with that Character.
Hideaki just straight up decided to change the Main canon from 26 years ago so he could make therapy with Eva again and also Add Mari as his own wife and leave Shinji with her. To represent that His wife saved him from depression.
The problem with that it's that Anno forgot that 1. You can NOT Retcon your entire franchise, because it was written between many people, not just Hideaki.
2. Your franchise after 26 years no longer belongs just to You, it belongs also to your fans.
U can't spit on them.
Technically u can but that does not mean you should.
This evangelion movie was made for Anno to free himself and the characters from the franchise. But only the first hour was coherent.
The battle part was fricking nonsense and last 40 mins were kinda ... Let's make therapy sessions for everyone.
Gendo also gets one...
Uhm... I'm not comfortable with that.
@@eiwhaz-tina6528 why would you even think he was gay to begin with
@@JeremyB8419 Shinji's totally bi, he has feelings for kaworu at several points, to the point where he even says he loved him during the show
@@radicalpokemaniacs I think you just want him to be bi
Thinking of Mari as a stand in for Anno's wife is so on point. That really recontextualizes the end of the movie for me. Even in the Anno documentary there is a line about his wife never leaving him even if everyone else fades away. And that LITERALLY happens in the film.
I think everyone who worked on it, even the wife herself said that Mari isn't her.
right???? ah so good i love mari; shes totally annos wife no matter what anyone says lol
I definitely agree on the action sequences being too busy. I definitely zoned out for most of the wunder/ mark 7 fighting cause I could barely follow what was going on. The final fight between Shinji and Gendo was absolutely the best one because it felt more “traditional” in a sense. This movie was very refreshing to watch.
it's the side effects of not seeing it in a Cinema. Living in Tokyo I was lucky enough to see it several times, even in Imax - and overall its more epic but where the eye is guided to is much easier even with all the shit on screen.
@@rilril5129 That's definitely something to take into consideration. Hopefully we get some sort of theatrical release in America eventually.
I feel the same thing watching action scenes on Transformers movies. I zone out and can't focus at all.
Yeah, too much is happening and the enemies are very bland designed, in comparison to earlier Angels.
Watching it I got the impression any time the fighting is CGI you should just zone out because it's meaningless and not worth real animation.
I always expect to feel broken after consuming any kind of Evangelion media, but after seeing this movie I actually felt very uplifted and positive about life...
And that broke me.
For me, Eva 3.0+1.0 is the movie we needed after these past two years of hell. I was ready for a real sad ride or even just filled with death and despair, but I ended up feeling warm and happy by the end.
I LOVED the first half of the film, seeing Tohji and Kensuke along with everyone in that small village was so chill. While everyone was basically trying to survive and could be killed at any minute, that didn't stop them from being happy and living. The part with WILLE going to take down NERV was super awesome, especially all the Unit-07s, the skull heads were so sick. Though that entire battle, aside from a few awesome moments, felt like it dragged a lot.
But the last 40 minutes I personally think is the best stuff Eva has released since End of Evangelion. Shinji speaking with his father, Gendou hugging him was such an insanely cathartic scene that I had to pause and catch my breath. When Rei mentioned doing a "Neon Genesis", Asuka and Shinji on the beach, I was fucking losing my mind.
Shinji creating a world without Evangelions (you could also say Anno displaying a new world with no new Evangelions or something like that), Shinji older and smiling, that ending song, god it was great.
Also the "Neon Genesis" part, I fucking lost my mind and fucking loved it.
I flipped the fuck out when the footage from the original series and all the movie titles and shit started flashing behind them.
Its so good. Thank you Anno
@@greggoat6570 that scene is actually directly from eoe i think.
I watched it a second time yesterday and noticed a detail that adds to the communication theme. When Asuka is trying to penetrate Unit 13’s AT field and fails, she says “It’s not a single entry plug system?” If Shinji was helpful and communicated with her, he could’ve told her this ahead of time. Such a minute detail but I appreciated it.
My interpretation regarding the Eva loop has just been that they're worlds that loop after their "final scenario" (Human Instrumentality and Shinji making a choice what to do with it) and branch from one to the next. Neon Genesis Evangelion, as the name implies, was the first. After each Impact in Rebuild, more and more imagery from EOE comes through the Door of Guf (and in NGE, Ritsuko says that the "Chamber of Guf was empty" when they first tried to probe into it - in Rebuild its full of possibilities). Constants/variables persist through them and alter the outcome but the biggest issue henceforth is that nobody's really found a way to connect with one another soon enough to avert all out catastrophe. Like, it happens at the end of 2.0, but the scenario carries on because the Instrumentality scenario hasn't been initiated.
What makes Rebuild different in this case is that Gendo actually _does_ manage to wholly subvert Seele's ultimate plan by going beyond the bounds of their universe and hitting the core of where everything Evangelion will emerge in any timeline: Eva Imaginary, which is kept in the Golgotha Object, the artifact deep in the antispace. It resembles the Rei from EOE because that's basically what it is; the 'God' of Evangelion. With Shinji in the unique position where he's both of clear mind and capable of seeing that the source of this unending hardship is Eva itself, he fundamentally nips all of Evangelion at the bud. Everything within the antispace/Golgotha Object/Eva Imaginary's [re]awakening felt very much like an intentional reflection meta narrative at hand across Evangelion's history, through the lens of Rebuild if that makes any sense. Anno straight up creates an environment in which the overarching dream for these characters, which is one where they're simply allowed to _exist_ in a reality without any trace of Eva, can be fulfilled.
The way I've looked at the final sequence with Shinji choosing to essentially scrub Eva from the whole of existence onward is that beyond that point, he's kinda come to terms with everything he's ever done, beyond Rebuild and into NGE, just as the person known as Shinji Ikari in general. That's why I see Shinji choosing to speak with Asuka on the beach head (sans MPE's) at the end as every version of themselves they've ever been. Asuka no longer has bandages where she'd been wounded and is fully healed (metaphors working double duty) _and_ an adult. It's a total reversal from Shinji and Asuka acting on their base instincts to come to grips with returning to reality in EOE, now having an emotionally productive moment instead. A rendering of that scene with a massive degree of growth between them, a grand culmination of everything they've ever done and an entirely positive "goodbye" before emerging in the reality where they can truly live.
tl;dr - I CRY.
Lol I cried too 😃
I think this is one of the better interpretations of the rebuild movies, you should probably post this on the sub or something. I've already outlined my gripes, but your points do outline what I did like about the movies and their conclusion.
Them putting the spears down highlights the true intention of the original show itself - it was not a giant robot show, it was about these people. And that's exactly how the movie ended.
I loved that. I would have enjoyed about 30sec/1 min longer for the 1 on 1 fight, but I loveeed how that transition worked.
Eva’s not special in that regard. In fact aside from transformers and braves where the robots are actually characters there’s never been a mecha show that wasn’t about the characters.
Gundam, Geass, Macross, etc are all just as focused on characters as Eva.
The point of the fight not continuing was Gendo forcing Shinji to realize they have to talk things out instead of fight.
I'm a huge Gendo fan, seeing that frame of him and yui looking so happy completely wrecked me and I was sobbing
You know what, after all those year since the anime, I never thought about Yui is also part of Shinji, just like Gendo. That Gendo moment realizing it completes his arc nicely IMO.
You mean the frame when Unit 13 penetrates 01 with the spear? I'm prettttty sure Gendo is meant to be penetrating Yui in that image.
Gendo is the best character in the entire show. This series got a reboot just for Gendo to be made up. In my opinion. Gendo moved Heaven and Earth for his own finale.
Him realizing Shinji was as part of him as was the last remnant of Yui got me sobbing too.
He made right with both of then and finally got to leave the world and love yui again.
With a giant fucking spear being shoved through both of them. Imagined as giant fucking God robots.
Bravo Anno.
The way I understood the Asuka being a clone thing is this:
In the entirety of the rebuilds/in this universe, Asuka is a clone similar to Rei, so even the Asuka we see in 2.0 is a clone. They never really explain why, but its implied through her dialogue with Rei that the clones were made to influence Shinji into performing instrumentality at the end since she says Rei was made to like Shinji, and you can speculate Asuka was made to reject him. This is also why her entire motivation in the rebuilds is different to the original series. Instead of having abandonment issues from seeing her mother ignore her and treat a doll as her daughter and later kill herself, Asuka Shikinami has abandonment issues/feels lonely because she is a disposable clone with no family (she becomes jealous of kid shinji when she sees him, gendo, and yui, but at this point she doesnt know that the reason WHY she is alone is because shes a clone, instead she thinks nobody likes her because she keeps failing the eva piloting tests). In between 2.0 and 3.0 she learns from Misato/Wille that she's a clone and thats when she begins to refer to humans as lilin and stops caring about people seeing her naked much like Rei.
Now the Meta reasons why:
Clues to Asuka being a clone were present since the beginning. Asuka's name was changed from Soryu in the original to Shikinami in the rebuilds to mirror Rei Ayanami. In a meta sense, in the original series Rei is supposed to be an anime girl made flesh (within the world of Eva). She has no will of her own and is often referred to as a doll by Asuka and others. She is looked upon in the nude by shinji and she has no care for having been seen this way and isnt bothered by Shinji accidentally groping her. This is meant to symbolize the otaku obsession with waifu and waifu paraphernalia where a character that has their own will and wants within the realm of their own fiction are nothing but lifeless, eternally replicated dolls in our reality made to be sold over and over and bend to the whims of the audience. However this critique backfired on Anno and Rei and Asuka became the very thing they were parodying, with Eva fans going crazy for them and most Eva merch centering around these two characters. Post OG Eva, Asuka, much like Rei, has been turned into nothing more than a lifeless, easily replicable, disposable doll. I imagine this is the real world reason why Anno decided to make Asuka a clone in the Rebuild series. It meant to be a reflection on how his audience has perverted his creation.
This actually makes quite a bit of sense, though the "asuka was made to reject him" isn't really supported by her actions in 2.0
I think your meta analysis is dead on!
But my take was that Asuka didn't consider herself lilin because she literally was part angel at the time. She fused with the 9th Angel in 2.0 and by the last movie she was absorbed to 'pilot' unit 13 as a stand-in for Kaworu (another angel).
I think that's all just fluff though, the points you raised are still valid either way. If anything I think the "curse of eva" supports your take on it - just like a doll, eva pilots aren't allowed to age, in the same way characters from an anime that finished 20+ years ago can't evolve or provide you with a new perspective.
I don't think that the Asuka that sees Shinji as a young child is a clone. I think that's the original Asuka, motherless, who was picked up by NERV to start a clone program to create a hyper-effective EVA pilot.
All of your meta-analysis makes tons of sense, this was just my interpretation of that plot element.
I like how Rocco always looks like he's in pain in the thumbnail of his discussion videos
Beauty hurts
Emotional pain
One particular moment that made me really emotional was when Shinji was just at the beach...just a plain, normal, bright blue beach. Shinji can finally enjoy what is a very simple pleasure in life. Besides beaches normally being a calm and serene imagery, It's one of the only normal pieces of imagery in the entire series.
Not gonna lie I'm more excited to hear Shawn's thoughts on the film.
You will get them soon unfortunately :(
Who Shawn?
@@roccobotte definitely need to make fun of him and gaslight him for not understanding it again
He probably liked it, considering they confirmed Kaji's death.
@@Digital.Justin HAHA!
I dunno how many other people online have talked about this interpretation or not, but hearing you talk about how Shinji saving Rei in 2.0 was a pivotal moment made me wanna mention it - if you're someone who buys into the meta reading of Anno portraying himself thru Shinji, then maybe that moment in 2.0 represents him acting selfishly as a director. The way Misato eggs him on to "do it because it's what YOU want" and how he says "I don't even care what happens to the world!" makes me think of the mindset a younger artist would be in when deciding to produce either of the original two controversial endings that he did, in an effort to make his mark on the anime industry by doing something disruptive.
Then with 3.0 being the fallout post third-impact (and being 14 years later, hmm) I wonder if the guilt Shinji feels for what he thinks he did may line up with how Anno feels about how he ended Evangelion before? A look back upon a potential regret, now that he's grown and his sensibilities have changed after all these years, with the recognition that it may not have been received the way he'd hoped it'd be. 3.0+1.0 supports this meta narrative in that it isn't as much about redoing what he tried to do before - it's more about Anno revising his punk rock mindset (or Shinji maturing past his nihilism) to basically APOLOGIZE to the audience for how harshly he treated them before, to extend an open hand and value acceptance/forgiveness instead of anger/punishment. Sort of a synthesis of his two attempts at ending the show before, keeping with the storytelling of EoE but the optimism of 25/26.
All that said, it's clear from the documentaries and interviews that Anno's got a short attention span and does whatever he thinks is most interesting in the moment, and there are tons of other contributors that made each installment what they were. Though there is a fascinating excerpt of him talking about his wife's manga that's been making the rounds, in which he basically admits to admiring her work for being more positive and effective at making the audience want to go out and live their lives - either way, I dug the movie because it's a rare and special thing to see an auteur update and respond to his own previous work in a way that reflects his own personal growth.
''Will this be the end of EVA?''
Anno: ''Yes, this will be it for Evangelion''
''Will you miss it?''
Anno: ''no"
I think the character with beard and glasses is the stand in for Anno here. It is clear to me that he made this movie for Gendo I think this is the character Anno should be judged on. Shinji is just commentary on Evangelion Otakus who chase Evangelion waifu's down the rabbit hole for over a decade and a plot device to justify Gendo and give understanding to his pain.
Really most things seem like they're defined through those two things in this movie and rebuild.
Anno made this movie for Gendo this is the character he should be judged on in this.
what I love about the cutesy ending was that Shinji earnt it
shinji was ready to sacrifice himself to stop the Impact but because he communicated with Gendo, Gendo found closure, was able to reunite with Yui, and so Gendo and Yui ejected Shinji and carried out the rest of the Impact
but yeah, fucking love that the final obstacle was communication
i loved that characters were able to find their own closure
Loved that we saw more Kaworu besides how his interactions with Shinji. Having a friendship with Kaji? Being Kaji's commander? Realising there is happinness to be found outside Shinji? hellyeah
My favourite part of this movie though was the first hour with Rei discovering things. I adoooooooored her here and it broke my heart when it ended
Mari to Shinji seems to be what Yui was to Gendo. That energetic, loving person who drags shinji out of his corner
An amazing ending. byebye all of evangelion
Yui was kinda insane in the original and there wasn't much shown about her in the rebuilds to think she is like Mari
Its just wonderful that you invest almost twenty years into a story and world and everything turns out so perfectly. It perfectly resonated with me as an adult the same way the original series resonated with me as a scared teenager who hated social interactions. I'm grateful that I was able to experience this.
Lucky you, I'm 36 and I'm still Gendo :V
@@victorfergn Cmon. Become a solid grown up Shinji like me! Same age
@@d68st90 Gendo has way more power than simple clerk grown up Shinji though,
It certainly stands in stark contrast to nearly every single other media franchise which either refuse to stay dead when they really should, end so catastrophically it turns the whole fanbase off the IP permanently, or just degenerates into a crude mockery of what it used to be.
I’m gonna keep this vague, but it’s kind of interesting that a portion of 3.0+1.0 has the vibe of a Ghibli movie
Yeah, really threw me off guard but I loved it.
one of Anno's first animation jobs was the god warrior scene in Nausicaa, and he replicates that animation in this movie with the line of headless eva units walking
Brings it all the way back to the beginning of everything.
While I was watching that part I was instantly pulled back when I was in uni watching NGE for the first time and how I enjoyed the slice of life they showed in the episodes just before some weird and depressing shit happened
Exactly, it felt like I was watching My Neighbor Totoro at one point with everybody working in the fields
I think you nailed it Rocco with the cycle of generational abuse. The "sins of the father" becoming the "original sin". The Anno doc on Amazon Prime really sheds a light on this aspect of the series.
Shinji finally gets the ending he deserves after 26 years, I got really emotional when Mari took the collar off him. He is finally free from the world of evangelion and can live a normal life ;__;
and then they both died because they crossed the street running and without checking if a car was coming
Jestawell why?
@@jestawell He didn't choose to live in that world though, he was going to kill hinself in order to create that world. Yui saved him, but yeah I agree with you... The End of Evangelion ending was better... it's more real (when talking about real trauma though... not the giant rei head)
@@jestawell yes, but he also was going to sacrifice himself so... I guess Mari doesn't follow the rules of Evangelion's logic... that's just one of many plot holes about that character... the other one being... how the hell was she as old as Gendo and how the hell did she stop growing up without an Eva ready back then? If she was as old as Gendo... why she wasn't way older than Shinji in the last scene
@@jestawell It's not left unexplained... it's a plot hole... it contradicts things shown in the story, the dates don't add up; I have a theory of why she's like that... she's a singularity.. that's why she's not in the original series and she's in the last iteration where the loop is broken. It's through Mari that things are different in this new reality and the problem can be solved... may be that's the reason she doesn't age. The only why you can explain her is by saying laws of the pieces of information we got from Evangelion don't apply to her.
It wasn’t a perfect movie by a longshot, but I think it succeeds in conveying what it’s trying to say thematically and emotionally. There were a lot of beautiful scenes in this movie that made me tear up.
I thought the Shinji/Gendo battle was really important too. I remember seeing the trailer and having that part be teased and it always stuck out to me because of the really "bad" cgi (which looked like 2 mo-cap dudes fighting, which is strange because everything else is really well animated)
But During the actual watch through, when it started, it made me realize that Anno chose that mo-cap style to emphasize the "fakeness" of the action, it really highlights that the sci-fi action stuff was never the point of the show
I still can't believe they managed to do a title drop at the end and it actually felt premeditated. Like it's the birth of a new universe, "neon genesis", and it's a world without Evangelion. I can never tell if Anno knew what he was doing all along or if he's just amazing at making it seem like he had some master plan
he says many times in the amazon documentary that he is making it up as he goes and at times had NO idea what to do next
Wait, when did that happen???
@@Melkac Real close to the end, when Shinji is saying goodbye and “take care of yourself” to rei
@@I-Am-He.
Yeah. Rei specifically says to Shinji “birth of a new world? Neon Genesis?” after Shinji suggests using Gaius to recreate the world without Evangelions.
well, the title had always been premeditated, it made reference to the new Genesis Gendo and Seele intended to start and the alternative that Shinji could start
Hey Rocco I’m only a few minutes into this vid but I really wanna say thanks for taking the time to make this. I really love when you do a long discussion on something I’m interested in. Even when I don’t 100% agree I think you have a compelling and entertaining way of voicing your thoughts. Moreover, I would not have gotten into Evangelion a couple years ago if it weren’t for you and Garrett showing so much love and interest for the series, and the show + movies ended up being incredibly important and personal for me. It honestly helped me get through a very difficult time in my life, and is now one of my favorite animes and possibly pieces of media ever. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for being a passionate dude always unafraid to share his thoughts and feelings on things, and I hope you know that your passion for Evangelion has impacted my life and likely many others’ lives. Thanks :)
In regards to the ending, I thought it was partially a reflection of the audience within the characters. In a literal sense, the original audience has aged quite a bit, and times of growing up and being obsessed about EVA and it's crazy scenes/fights/etc. are gone or vastly different. Friends grow apart, people have to work to live life, and now you're in a world where the finale to this huge tangled ball of mental gripes spanning 2 decades+ is here, and all you can do is go back to regularity with this experience behind you, older and content.
A world without Evas, a world without Evangelion xD
46:47 You're right, it's too sweet for an ending of Evangelion.
But it's not Evangelion anymore, we had said goodbye to all of them :)
thank you rocco for getting myself and countless others into Eva just by continuously recommending it. having the podcast chats on Eva to catch up on afterwards made the experience all the better!
While I do really like the rebuilds, you completely hit the nail on the head when it comes to the over-the-top action scenes. I rewatched all the rebuilds for this movie, and it just felt like the battles in 1.11 and 2.22 are a lot easier to follow and don't drag on super long. It feels like so many of the fights in 3.33 and 4 are way too long and are usually harder to follow especially since what they're trying to accomplish is usually more complicated than just "find a way to break the core" now. Almost anything with the Wunder I just never understand what's going on most of the time. There's still some cool stuff though for sure, it's always cool to see Eva vs Eva battles with how less common they are.
Totally agree on the Wunder stuff. Worst parts of the Rebuilds imo, if only for the confusing visuals
I finally got around to watching the series for the first time a couple months ago, and I really liked it! Way more than I thought I was going to, in fact.
And then I went through the first 3 Rebuild movies and, while I had some issues with them (namely Mari and that weird pacing of the 2nd one) I really liked them and was looking forward to Thrice Upon a Time.
Watched it yesterday and....yeah no, this series is cemented in my top 3 of all time. It's fucking fantastic. I love the characters, the story, the actions pretty dope at times, and the MUSIC!
I love this series so much and I'm so happy I finally decided to give it a go, and I gotta say a lot of that has to do with how much I saw you and Garrett liked it, so....thanks for kinda giving me that extra push to check it out lol
Had a hard time holding back tears at the end; what a way to close the book.
I wasn't even able to hold back the tears. I cried throughout the last few minutes and also through the whole credits.
@@RamielDerLinke it's a beautiful thing.
Why hold you guys?
I laughed
you cried? i laughed
I liked it but hearing you speak so passionately about it made me love it. I don't think anything was too cute... These characters deserved some peace.
As a guy that has just been watching Godzilla and getting into Ultraman, one thing I got a kick out of was the flying boats at the beginning were held up by strings! Cool reference to tokusatsu.
having been introduced to the original series through the mega64ums - a show which has influenced my life in so many ways - only appropriate to put the capper on the last 15 years by watching a video of you talk through the plot. I loved it, it answered my lingering question of "what is even the point of rebuild?" this felt like Anno himself unleashed Angel mode and put the interior of his soul on screen. I even loved the spaceship battles - that felt like pure throwback to space battleship yamato with the brilliant swelling music. it was like a tribute to ghibli, ultraman, mecha anime, leiji matsumoto, and evangelion itself all in one package.
only 15 years? damn, I watched the series back in 2000 and I started reading about it in 1999 xD My life has been a torture :V
Really glad you brought up how stuff like the Rei head is deliberately made to be uncanny, unsettling, and maybe even funny. Already seeing a ton of people taking the piss and calling it out as an example of the movie being bad, as if Anno forgot what anime looks like (despite all the CG characters made to look 2D) and didn't clearly do it on purpose, I guarantee most people who think are laughing "at" the movie are laughing with it, Anno knows what goofy looks like and he's not afraid of juxtaposing it with serious stuff.
I see so many people who hold the original to this masterpeice status, but refuse to so much as engage with new stuff on any level. They'll go on all day about how the elevator scene and literally unfinished storyboards are genius stuff, but hit a funky looking mocap fight and uncanny CGI and dismiss full cloth any possible meaning or intent from it, we're all just reaching now apparently, Anno just doesn't know what he's doing anymore. There's this weird need to like, remove the human who created this work from the work, even though the work is an expression of himself. NGE and EoE are just these masterpieces that manifested from nothing, Anno was just like, an avatar through which it manifested, and afterwards he's just some loser who doesn't get it like the true fans do, retconning and chasing after the original but failing. In reality he's the same person, having grown from the experience since, and is reflecting on it through this new work which is just as much an expression of himself as NGE was.
Yeah I agree with this on a lot of levels actually
Thanks for making this video. There's so much to think about after a first viewing, this helped me compile my thoughts just a little.
I see parts of myself in shinji and seeing him get over his depression in the original Eva series/manga is a very cathartic experience. This movie is no different. Seeing shinji come to terms with all of the tragedy that happens around him and seeing him grow up as a result is similarly cathartic. This makes me reflect on my life and what I can do to improve my quality of life. This is what eva does and to me 3.0+1.0 delivers.
Thanks for the vid Rocco! After watching it, realized I ended up sharing many of your appreciations of the film.
Some of the things you put into words, I couldn't quite do so properly before (specially regarding the Gendo vs Shinji scenes + the ending), so thanks!
However, just wanted to share my own appreciation for the enthusiasm you put into expressing your feelings about it.
There's an energy behind your sincerity that is just as moving and powerful as the one in the film itself, and that's pretty neat to get to see.
And we didn't get MagmaDiver back, but we did get Jet Alone! (partially at least).
Thanks for sharing this journey with us!
I FORGOT we kinda did get Jet Alone HAHA! Thanks!
@@roccobotte All we needed was Metal gear Fuyutsuki
Rocco, thanks so much for doing this video. I just finished the movie and some moments were so impactful but your perspective on it really made me appreciate it even more. I love NGE and the rebuild movies were great too. This series in general is just something I am so grateful to have. I love the questions it leaves us with, the deep dive into the characters and to top it off an exciting story that truly is “hope and despair”. Please let Shawn talk about the Padres as much as he wants on the podcast so you and garret can talk twice as much about Eva! It’s a conversation I really enjoy listening to and welcome and more videos on your thoughts on the movie. Absolutely would love to do a prime viewing party too! :)
Based on cursory reading on the web, I believe yes, there is a series of Shikinami Asukas, but in her case, there only ends up being one in the end (there's a sequence where you see all the headshots of them, but they vanish one by one, like they're being eliminated), they only have the best Asuka from their testing and trials, and no other clones are active. That's why they can't just replace her like Rei after she gets infected with an Angel.
The Asuka you see on the EoE beach is the same Asuka clone from the Rebuilds, but yes, like you said, she's now older, quite literally outgrown her old outfit, having finally been freed from the Curse of Eva.
Oh so that was why Asuka looked older or taller in the beach
@@tata021 Also original plugsuit, not the white-RBG one during the last battle
The series, EOE and each rebuild movie were ALL really special to me. Upon the first viewing of each, I always sunk into a long period of reflection and appreciation. What a journey Eva has been!
I don't think Anno has ever disappointed and overall I loved the rebuild series, especially the "wrap up" with 3.0+1.0 (and I put it in quotes because I also agree I don't think this will be last time we see something from the franchise). Thanks for making this video because while I had stuff I loved about it, you pointed out some important things that didn't stick out as much to me during my first watch. I think I was so moved by the 3rd village scenes that I needed additional time to digest before moving on to the end. It was so nice to see so many beloved characters alive and living a nice life. Maybe it's because I'm a mom now, but I adored Tsubame and the fact that Toji and Hikari had a happy ending after all the heartache in the previous versions. I also just found out there's an actual town in Hamamatsu that was the model for the 3rd village and the train station had all the signs replaced to be ones from the movie. I'm so glad that this movie is fully out and I'm ready to soak up all the Eva stuff I can!
My favorite moments of the movie were when it dropped the classic NGE episode title cards randomly in the middle and when they showed the picture of Gendo and Yui with Marie and i jumped cus i fucking knew that THE MANGA WAS CANON ALL ALONG
Gendo being my fav character(-and rei) . The misato hug. The dull brain thru the ship battles. Brain scene. Ur really speaking exactly my thoughts n reactions to the film. Good stuff
There is only one Kaworu that I can tell that's in this "loop" of the movie. He's the same that did the mission with Kaji, and then died with the choker. The purpose of the coffins on the moon imply that there are several iterations of him which I think is analogous to the idea that Shinji and Kaworu have seen each other in another life (or, in this case a previous series/movie/mangas). Also, Kaworu states in no uncertain terms that life is like a loop, it starts as it ends, and he quite literally gets put in the last angel spot (from 1 to 13, first to last), which is also a sly reference to the musical allusions in the title.
So many plot elements in this series of films were so well thought out and put together. There is plenty of fan service for those who were paying attention, but it's definitely service in terms of rewarding people who experienced the previous series (and not in the typical sense of risque imagery).
Anyway, thanks for recording this and posting it, I wanted to have a conversation with someone about that ending but a lot of my friends still need to watch it. So this was the perfect outlet for me haha
Edit: I was a bit confused as well with the Asuka clone situation. I buy that she was a clone of the original Shoryu-Langley (which is why she has a Shikinami name now) and it appears as if at least two of them were suitable for Eva piloting, based on that wall of Asukas, but they dropped mad hints that the kid Asuka in the woods with the doll attached to her backpack was likely the original Asuka that all the clones were based off. I think for the purposes of keeping track, anytime Asuka is featured "irl", it's a clone, but in the flash backs and in the Angel zone when she gets pulled out of her dummy plug after letting the angel blood take over, those versions of Asuka that are doing the pulling are the original, whose soul is now in the Eva unit 02. It's a neat recontextualization of whose soul is in each Eva, I think.
Anyway I could ramble, but I'll stop now
I originally figured that with the Kaworu thing, but I just cannot reconcile why Kaworu would help Kaji stop third impact, but then help Gendo/Fuyutsuki with their mission in 3.0. Wouldn’t they have been enemies? That’s the only thing that made me think they pulled another Kaworu off the moon.
@@roccobotte Gendo tricked Kaworu which was waiting for Shinji. In 3.0 he tried to restore the world so Shinji would feel happy. He was old tricked in the original series but by Seele. He's in Eva 13, just like Rei is in Eva 01... you have Gendo/Asuka/Kaworu and Yui/Shinji/Rei... the creators of all the worlds, except for the last one which is created without Yui and Gendo. Now I think The End of Evangelion has something similar to this... the Eva 01 eats Gendo's body (he doesn't turn into LCL) and the Eva Series eat Asuka (she doesn't turn into LCL either and she was eaten too... too many parallels) so you have the same people in the 3rd Impact of The End of Evangelion Gendo, Asuka, Kaworu, Rei, Shinji and Yui.
All the Rebuilds have certain pieces of info of the original series through its parallel scenarios. Asuka's mind is scanned by an Angel in the original series... in Rebuild she has that angel-thing in her eye... so those two things might be equivalent... just like the Rei merging with an angel and dying in 2.0, the destruction of TK03. What I don't see the Rebuild equivalent of the original series where Kaworu feels the urge of reseting the world with the angels as the dominant species by merging with Adam. May be Kanji stops this... no idea, he breaks Kaworu's loop though.
Fuyutsuki also redeems himself by overcoming his social anxiety and talking to Shinji in 3.0, he also sets the scenario for Mari to take the Vessels of Adams' cores. In the End of Evangelion he only narrates the entire movie. He's also the equivalent of Risuko who betrays Gendo and tells Shinji the truth about Rei in the original series.
@@roccobotte I see Kaworu helping Gendo in 3.0 as being only to get close to Shinji and because he was tricked into thinking he could help make Shinji happy. Helping Kaji was necessary so that he meet Shinji again. The part about Kaworu writing their names next to each other in the book of life implies to me that in every loop they are destined to meet
Gotta say, it's awesome hearing your thoughts on this. You guys kept talking about it quite a bit over the years, you and Garret singing the OP at the end of one of the podcast episodes (much to Shawn's dismay), and the sweded videos are what made me try and get into the series. Misato too lol. I tried watching the Netflix version but honestly only got like halfway through since I felt it was kinda boring. A few months later I decided to watch the Rebuild movies instead and enjoyed them way more.
I'm kinda hesitant calling myself an Eva fan since I didn't watch the series or original movies like you and most others, but man...the emotional reactions this one got outta me, I'm feeling a bit more comfortable saying I probably am. That first half with Rei and all the dialogue with everyone, god I loved it all and was heartbroken when she passed. The ending itself I personally loved, shit I shed a couple tears at it. As much as I enjoy bittersweet type stuff I love how Shinji went from someone who had gone through so much and gave up to one who became confident and finally gets to enjoy life with those he cares about.
You pretty much summed up most of how I felt perfectly, with the hug between Misato and Shinji, final conversations/confrontations with everyone, and of course the action sequences as well, it's more about the characters than the mecha like ya said. Overall I really liked it. Gendoh still an asshole and Asuka still a bitch, but it's nice to understand why they're like that. Anyways, just wanna end off by saying thank you to you and the rest of the crew for putting me on to it. Really was something ☺️
Just finished watching the movie and first thing I did was come here and watch all of this. Only appropriate as you guys and some friends of mine were the reason I ever even gave this show/series a chance.
This felt like a convo with myself, thanks for helping me work thru it all. Great work
I cried during this movie. It never happened to me before with any of the TV show episodes or movies. To me this movie is the final goodbye and also the end of an era. You can clearly tell how much Anno has grown as a director but also as a human and 3.0+1.0 really reflects that perfectly. Can't wait to see his future projects.
Writing this as l listen all your comments Rocco, English it's not my first language but I'll try to say what I thought about it, the most impressive thing I liked was the fact that Hideaki was able to connect (or at least hint it) the anime series with the rebuild, the last section of the movie when Kaworu tells Shinji that no matter how many times he goes through "that" he always chosen his friends and Kaworu getting up from the coffin and seeing a lot of them,( also when he talking to Rei with long hair and scenes from the anime flashes ) makes me things anime and build happened, Shinji it's destined to be in the book of life but the wish it was necessary to finish the loop was to finish all the evangelions, and Hideaki breaks the 4th wall playing himself as Shinji in the tv set, "freeing" the characters as "they finish" their scenes and leaving the studio, and also breaking the age curse (many were kids as they started evangelion) and now Shinji (Hideaki) wishing no longer Eva's exist(the robots in the anime and the show in RL),he makes free the kids (the viewers) and in a way sends the message that our days as "Eva kids" are over, Hideaki it's a genius.
Also Mari milf makes my d goes brrrr
Thanks for making this! I think we felt very similarly about this and the Rebuilds altogether. I really appreciate what you said about the original ending. I’ve never heard someone convey it quite like that and that’s absolutely what it is. I’ve enjoyed the Rebuilds up to this point but have never felt it was something to tell other people “oh man, you gotta watch those.” But after this, I really think they are absolutely worth watching all 4 of. I liked 3.0 but felt it may have been too complicated and worried that 3.0+1.0 wouldn’t be able to make a fitting conclusion but it’s written in such a good way that recontextualizes 3.0 and makes it a great piece to this whole project. The Ghibli comparison was also 1000% accurate. I felt that the more complex Evangelion fights with Mari and Asuka also went over my head and the Tenet comparison? Good lord was that true. It was an intense and great looking spectacle but I’m so detached from what’s going on that all I can do his just watch. I think this movie actually did great in both delivering in that crazy spectacle as well as the amazing personal fight between Gendo and Shinji that feels like it was pulled from my dreams. I saw negative/“I don’t know how I feel” things about it on Twitter before seeing it but I was glued to my screen the entire time. All that to say, I really loved this movie. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and feelings on it.
Also, I would kill for a manga/anime that covers the gap between 2.0 and 3.0.
Talking about the scale of "final battles"...Unit 1 and 13 fighting in Misato's apartment cracked me the fuck up.
Thank you for being one of the only people to have a well thought out reflection on the movie. Gave me a lot of big thinks here. Have a good one.
I feel like the part where Unit 01 hits the matte painting is kinda saying, hey all this technobabble and religious bullshit doesn't mean anything and what really matters is the characters, their feelings, and their development. Also it's the same Asuka clone in all 3 movies. She gets infected by the Angel in 2.0 and they use the rod to suppress it. Since Asuka is fighting for Wille I assume that they (Wille) did not have access to the other Shikinami clones as they would belong to Nerv, so they did what they could to preserve the one that was infected by Unit 03.
Been waiting all day for this video to drop!!
Thrice upon a time was almost suspiciously satisfying. it really felt like a series I’ve been following for 10 years at this point coming to a close. there were so many characters done justice and conflicts that were resolved thoroughly. things I thought were too baked into the DNA of Eva to even be resolved were addressed. It exceeded my expectations and then some and the ending was just really transcendent and beautiful.
thank you for your thoughts rocco this is a very great video. hope to see an hours long dive into it with garrett and mariel like we got for 3.0!!!
I loved seeing Shinji flirt with Mari in the end. It was like the best anime power-up he could have hoped for.
I haven't finished this video yet, but I had this realization that I didn't feel satisfied after completing the original content. I felt a lot of emotions, but I also felt like something was always missing. But with the Rebuilds, I am so happy Anno is ending on these terms.
Glad to have your unfiltered thoughts and reactions to this movie. I’m newer to Eva than most so it’s cool having this secondary interpretation that helps me understand the lore a little better.
Overall, the movie kicked ass. The first hour was cozy as hell.
Great talk! I definitely need to go back and watch it again to try to unpack everything.
I just finished the movie and holy crap what a beautiful piece of work. That ending was sublime
I loved the tokusatsu fight. I like to imagine Gendo was a fan of tokusatsu and so of course that’s the kind of world he took Shinji to for an ass beating.
I think you had a lot of great insights Rocco. I love Eva and loved the closure of this movie but I did struggle to enjoy a lot of the Rebuilds. This video helped me enjoy some stuff I missed!
Hard agree on your take on the Imaginary Eva/Lilith/Black Lilith/whoever. I remember seeing blurry clips of it back in march, but seeing its introduction in the real thing sent shivers up my spine. so good.
Waiting for the round table with garret!!
^^^^ exactly.
thank you for this rocco I appreciate your eva love
Really good critiques and things that worked. I agree and it also gets me thinking like some of these especially with Gendo started to look like an actual stage. Or in a miniature set like an old Godzilla movie.
Edit: I see 32:20 you mentioned this too, it stuck in my mind!
Gendo's motivation has kinda always been known - like we've always known he did everything to see his lover again. And I thought that was a little far fetched until I realized that Shinji throughout the series has also changed the world just to see his loved one again like 3 times and the comparison is kinda driven home in the ending when Gendo is shown to be just like Shinji
I really hope you and Garret can do a long AF follow up to your Eva 3.0 discussion you did, THAT has kept me going and excited for Eva ever since, you guys KILLED it with all the lore and knowledge you guys have I can't wait for you guys to go deep into this one and there is SO MUCH IN IT.
Loved it, thought it was cool, wasn't perfect but didn't have to be, **spoiler**.............................. loved how they had to give Shinji a "spine" to beat Gendo xD That just made me laugh for ages but I loved everything this had to offer and 9 years is a long as wait for something you love THIS much so hope you appreciated it as much as I did - shout out to Anno
I haven't seen it yet! Excited 💜 Will come back here after 😊
On the moon there were Kaworu coffins for as long as you could see many open. It seems like this all had happened countless times alla eternal recurrence
Rocco I couldn't agree more about the moment Shinji knocks into the backdrop fighting Gendo. Reminded me of The Truman Show when he hits the wall in the boat, that impact with a facade that both the character and the audience experience together. Really powerful
You described chamber of guf the best it can be described. That's how I perceived it as well. Also that final battle was AMAZING. Loved how they were just in multiple iconic locations. All this Guf place is just perception of what they considered "reality".
ALSO, YOUR INTERPRETATION OF SHINJI VS GENDO ABOUT THE BATTLE OF IDEAS WAS EXACTLY HOW I THOUGHT!
I feel like the beginning was really thrown at you at turbo speed but it really mellowed out and flowed really nicely to allow you to read the subtitles and not miss too much of the visuals. I will be rewatching it with the dub though.
I also feel that way about modern action scenes in general. I actually think it might have been commentary, just 'Oh, this is what you want Eva to be? Okay have a taste before we take a slow deep breath of real life for half the movie'.
It reminds me of a lot of the new over the top technology in Girlfriend of Steel. Actually my first thought watching it was 'The Future of War will be horrifying'
Yeah man, totally agree. Was a bit lost during some of the action and some of the plot, but there was just so much stuff in this that was super cathartic to see as a long time Eva fan. Anno really hit out of the park yet again.
If any character deserved happiness it's Shinji
I completely agree with the action scene sentiment, something about them made my mind trail off. My favorite part was the beginning, it really surprised me how heartfelt that was. Also totally agree with Kojima nailing it in MGS4, that final boss made me shed a tear lol.
I loved the anime and EoE but Rebuild was totally off my radar until I was listening to the podcast yesterday and Rocco brought up it had dropped, I got FOMO. Paused the cast, ran home and binged all four Rebuild and feel amazing. While the first started off giving me the impression of a rushed through remake, once the story changed direction and the beautiful end scene started I knew I loved it as much as the other two endings.
Thanks Rocco!
From what I've read and what makes sense to me about the Shikinami type is there was a series made and only the single best lived. Which is what drives this asuka to have to be the best and better than everyone else because thats what the point of the type was. To pit them against each other to only get the best and most perfect result. In contrast to the Ayanami type where there are many and they are replaceable. That makes sense to me, but its eva so its up to interpretation so i could easily be wrong
No yeah I think you're right. Seems that way after looking at it again.
i finished the movie feeling so happy for all of the characters, but anno too. it felt like a heartfelt goodbye from him
Right?!?! I felt the same thing
The whole reacurring theme throughout Evangelion is the Hedgehogs Dilemma; a theory developed by Arthur Schopenhauer whose philosophies made way for the psychoanalytical theory; developed by Sigmund Freud. A lot of Freud’s philosophies can be found throughout the show, even in the title cards for episode 4; the Hedgehog’s Dilemma. Episode 18; Ambivalence(which may explain Shinji’s relationship with every character in the show; including with his mother and Rei; considering that Shinji has this desire for the attention that he never got when he was younger). Episode 19; Introjection(this may explain a lot of how Gendo acted when he was younger; ie when he’d “drown himself in the noise of music so that he wouldn’t hear people connecting” and considering how Shinji and him aren’t so different in terms of how they deal with their emotions, the people around them, and the world). Episode 20; Weaving a Story 2: Oral Stage(this also explains Shinji’s desire for people to like him and accept him and how he overtly runs away and expects people to help him deal with his own problems; thus stating that Shinji has a case of Oral Fixation(expressing overtly dependent behavior) and of course when he sees his father, he goes a bit ape and yells at him saying: “You killed Toji!” This may also mean that Shinji and Gendo’s relationship is Oedipal to say the least; considering that Gendo abandoned Shinji when he was only 4 and leaving Shinji with a lot of self doubt, hatred for his father and a need to validate himself to catch his father’s attention.) The relationship that Shinji has with Rei, Misato, Eva unit 1 and his mother are OEDIPAL in nature
I am still collecting my thoughts, gonna watch it again tonight. I remember after watching the third movie thinking I had a lot of questions about the world that I thought there was no way the last movie would answer while telling it’s own story. The world building and character interaction in the first part was something I really enjoyed. And got better the more I undertood the characters as the movie progressed. Overall, this is my favorite of the 4 movies
Absolutely agree on the action. My wife, who doesn't watch anything anime at all, knew I was excited about this and asked how I liked it. I mentioned the same exact EoE fight and even showed her an action scene from this and then that fight. There's a huge difference, not just in animation quality, but in the feeling. It ain't your peanut brain, Rocco. You're galaxy brain here. If the fights were much more dialed back and character driven it would make a world of difference. It's the one big issue I have with 3.0+1.01, besides CGI quality, but maybe I'm wrong about that one. When this movie is brilliant, Gendo seeing Yui in Shinji or any of that last act for instance, it's exceptionally so.
That's not the only huge difference between those movies... the tone is totally different, Rei is scary and gross, the characters' deaths are gross too, Misato blows up into pieces, Asuka is cut into pieces and eaten, Gendo's hand is cut off and then he is eaten by Eva01, all the characters see someone who love just to get their guard down and their AT fields broken... in the case of Maya the entire scene is evil... besides the final enemy ended up being humanity itself, the way soldiers kill nerv personnel, the way the Evas Series kill the soldiers like if they were less than ants (because they do it without noticing it) the way Ritsuko is betrayed by her own mother and her own feelings because she doesn't shoot Gendo. The fact Rei-Lilith's thrid eye is a vagina, the fact Rei is basically raped by Gendo with his hand, the fact humans are killed through an orgam of the Lilith-linked-Evas Series after they being penetrated by the lances. The masturbation-rape scene. The End of Evangelion was 100% seinen, 3.0+1.0 is shounen.
Yup i prefer the dope ass eva wit dope ass guns fighting dope ass aliens instead of the wild ass boat shit.
Rocco I completely agree with your take on the action scenes. Something I always loved about the battles in Evangelion is how they always served as means to propel the story and character development. To me it never seemed like it was action for the sake of doing something cool. BUT - to counter my own argument - I think it is important to indulge the animators. I feel like they were given an opportunity to shine. All the people that put so much time and effort into creating these amazing spectacles deserve nothing but respect - regardless of my own personal feelings.
I hope “Homie got clipped fiddy cent style” is a line in the Sweded version
Homeboy*
Neon Genesis Evangelion nearly drove me to suicide.
Seeing Shinji suffering is like seeing myself suffer, because at one point in time I was almost exactly like him, especially back in 10th grade when I was bullied to the brink of suicide. I simply cannot tolerate watching Eva. I felt forced to relive my trauma upon viewing it. I’m deathly afraid of it. Twice I had a nightmare where I saw myself as Shinji choking Asuka and starting the Third Impact. I’ve been struggling with this newfound depression ever since.
I was obsessed with the series for over a year to try and outwit the isolation of the Coronavirus pandemic. It only increased the burden, and kept the memory of my friend’s recent suicide alive.
Watching the End of Evangelion was like peering into a broken mirror, and I was viewing the hell I would’ve put myself through had things turned out differently, had I decided to give up living. It still haunts me to this day.
Sometimes I hate myself because I fail to appreciate what so many have claimed to idolize, and I beat myself further for failing to worship what they call praiseworthy, I forced myself to watch a show that reminded me of nothing but pain just so I wouldn’t be alone anymore, I was willing to sacrifice my individuality for some company amidst the isolation of the pandemic.
I sought emotional refuge in the Evangelion fandom on social media, hoping they’d understand me and provide me with answers that would grant me peace of mind. Instead, they downplayed my trauma, going so far as to spread a rumor of my past to shame me of my mental illness, spiraling me deeper into depression, which I’ve been struggling with for over a year now.
I just want Shinji to be happy, so this past self of mine can be laid to rest once more. I’m afraid to decouple myself from him after losing my friend to suicide, which Eva made me feel responsible for, especially when I saw Shinji kill Kaworu, of which I fail to understand how anyone can call it praiseworthy. Until then, I feel nothing else matters.
There’s a reason why I keep coming back to Evangelion; something that reminds me of nothing but pain.
I want to prove to myself I’m not crazy for feeling this way, that Evangelion really did force me to relive my trauma, that my depression is not just a figment of my imagination or another anime plot point. I want to feel that my fear and resentment towards Eva is justified.
But the fact I’m the only one I know in existence who’s been traumatized by an anime makes me feel like I really am crazy.
Whenever I feel this way, there’s something I remind myself with.
But finally, with 3.0+1.0 released, I can rest easy knowing that Shinji has finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. Evangelion is finished, and I want it to remain that way.
But if things hadn’t turned out that way, I wouldn’t be here today.
For me I love the way this movie used its themes. From how I saw it, it still has the core series theme of not letting yourself get too trapped in your own shell and isolation, but they added an additional theme of learning how to accept and move on to a new phase in your life. Shinji essentially saves the day by helping Gendo accept the things thay had happened in his life and move on. People in the village have learned to move on, even Rei Q played heavily into that.
I've seen some people getting up in arms about Mari in the final scene, but I saw that as the ultimate symbol of that theme of moving on. In the end, people have different chapters in his life, and that last scene is like a representation of Shinji finally letting himself move on and is in a different place as a person. And really, take that last sentence and replace it with Anno for what the movie really seems to mean.
1:14:10 Oh it is 100% a statement on too much fan-service in the story. My interpretaion of 2.22 is that it's entirely about fanservice and proving that giving the fans all the things they purport to want is what ruins it. I mean they put Mari in who in 2.22 is literally only a sex object with absolutely no purpose and then the elevator scene lasts like 3 seconds and is completely non-memorable. The entire film is essentially "Here is what you said you wanted, and here is why it is bad"
Long time viewer, first time commenter. Great video, and I think I had a lot of similar thoughts about this movie.
I was also kind of numb to the torrent of new terms the movie was throwing out in the middle where it becomes a soup of sci-fi and action. The first extended action sequence was awesome, but they explained a lot all at once and it kind of made me miss the gentle slice-of-life style stuff at the beginning of the movie. With that being said, there's a lot of new lore stuff to dive into that I found very exciting, but I was acutely aware that (as always with eva) the character drama was the strong point of the movie and in many ways that 'barrage of terminology' distracted from that, just a little.
Most of all it made me appreciate 3.0 even more than I did, as it gives context about some things that happened during the time skip that I was really interested in but didn't get from that movie (what happened to Kaji, what happened to Toji + Kensuke, how were the people on Earth getting by after an apocalypse?). This new movie answered a lot of things I felt were missing from the previous. I didn't expect a lot of that stuff, but I'm glad I got it.
What are your thoughts on how the rebuilds function as a 'sequel' versus a 'retelling' of the original? After this movie I couldn't decide really how much it confirmed people's thoughts/theories on it being a sequel - there was definitely some substance to those theories but me and my buddies couldn't come to a consensus on if this movie 'confirmed' the ideas of it being a sequel.
Overall I think they did an excellent job of having this exist separately from the originals while still paying them tribute. Here are some of my unorganized thoughts about 2 days removed.
I definitely agree with the density of the middle causing some issues with so much coming at you so fast lore-wise. For example, the Shinikami project seems like it should be a cool/important revelation because of how beloved the character is, but I still am having a hard time understanding what purpose that reveal served. It doesn't seem to add or subtract anything from her character, maybe other than just making Gendo have more of a "grand plan" stretching many years. And I do agree with the "not everything needs to be thoroughly explained, just see the results" thing was interesting for Kaji, but the results don't seem like they would matter from having a "different" Asuka existing out there somewhere. Still, this whole thing did not take away from my enjoyment whatsoever, I just would love to know why that part was included and it's intended impact since I cannot seem to find it myself. (Which is interesting because of how much EVA is about your own interpretations.)
Small tangent that leads into the next point, but back when I first watched the TV/EOE universe I kinda hated it until I realized it wasn't as much about the physical world the characters inhabited and "what happened in the show," rather the important parts were the growth that came from the decisions, consequences, and impact of those as lessons we all (hopefully) learn.
So I do like the amount of "Meta" this last movie had too, and the anti-universe's brief explanation helps prepare you for the finale and it being way more about thoughts/conversation rather than action. One thing that sorta points that directions is Black Lilith being a "boogieman" showing how humans are capable of creating something more powerful than themselves that reminds of that old "joke" of "Could God make a Sandwich so spicy he couldn't eat it?" and of course the final "battle" you talked about already.
So yeah, these movies were great and did nothing but add to the series which is impressive. I didn't know I wanted them after how well done the originals were, but I'm glad they're here and will definitely include them in future rewatches.
I also loved the 4th wall breaking with the 01 vs 13 fight. It's as if by entering the minds of the characters and seeing what's essential about them, we go back to the basics in animation as well, and the film acknowledges it is a film.
It's the most Anno thing and yet it still surprised me
For a series featuring giant robots and crazy sci-fi themes, the small slow moments are definitely what make it work. I totally agree on the large scale huge battles. To me, the slower my paced and planned out battles are more interesting and fun to watch, especially the battles where Rey, Asuka and Shinji have to team up and strategize. 2.22 is also my favorite.
Been waiting for this deep dive into Rocco's psyche
I’ve had this in my watch later for so long, but know that it was good
I am happy that Shinji and Misato shared a final embrace, with pure love and care. It was simple and short, but says so much. That’s my most cathartic moment when watching this movie.