NERV faces a brutal attack from SEELE, but with Asuka in a coma, and Shinji in a nervous breakdown,
things soon turn into the surreal. This movie provides a concurrent ending to the final two episodes
of the show Neon Genesis Evangelion.
(Source: IMDb)
Part 2: A Violent Roar So this is what happens when you refuse Eva’s embrace. If Neon Genesis Evangelion was the stern yet loving embrace with the ultimate message of accepting understanding yourself in order to begin accepting understanding others, then The End of Evangelion is the much wilder, more apocalyptic, but equally passionate gripping and shaking of your shoulders that desperately roars to you of the dangers of running away from reality and that regardless of how painful we can be, we must face it in order for good things to even have a chance at happening. Where NGE settled on a satisfying realization for Shinji despite the current and borderline unambiguously devastating outside circumstances we are made aware of via a line of text that lasts for but a brief moment, this one takes a more apocalyptic approach, effectively resetting things in the end with hope for the future where everything is restored. It is a violent rampage that lays waste to nearly everyone, and an exaggerated showcase of the type of results inflicted on other people when you decide to run away from reality and close yourself off out of fear and spite. The violence is a wondrous spectacle to behold thanks to the teams at Production IG and Gainax. The final battle Asuka has is phenomenal and gruesome to say the least, and all sorts of destruction are beautifully drawn and animated. All sorts of magnificently vibrant explosions, and all the carnage of a more Lovecraftian and apocalyptic kind are vivid, imaginative, and horrifying. Everything is left mangled in an almost heavenly state, as if this film needed any more Christian iconography-based faux symbolism, among other relatively minor flaws that are carried over from the main series. For an inherently unique positive of the film, one few would really notice despite how long it stays there, we have the scene of the audience. Said audience was recorded at the screening of the initial film, intentionally, for it to be spliced a the last second as part of the mind-shattering real-life montage Shinji and all viewers witnessed. The only blemish is one short action-heavy rescue with shakycam and even then, if something so small and isolated is the worst the film’s visual presentation does, that is a testament to the film’s visuals. Among the many new, fantastic pieces added to this film by series music composer Shiro Sagisu, is the phenomenal track that plays at the height of the film’s chaos and climax, is the track “Komm Süssser Tod”. A lovely, oddly fitting track despite its seemingly happy tone, with fantastic english vocals. There are other intensely emotional tracks that are around as wonderful as the best tracks of the original series, such as “Munashiki Nagare” and the end credits theme "Thanatos -If I Can't Be Yours-" by Loren & Mash, a lovely, soothing, and jazzy song that separates the two halves of this devastatingly brutal film. There are even tracks that blatantly remix old ones in ways that are around as great as said original tracks, adding to the praise this film’s music shall receive, on top of how some fantastic tracks from the original make a return. The carnage hits hard, not just for viewers, but most especially for Shinji, broken and reduced to his lowest point mentally and as a human being by the events of episode 24 in the show. He and we know that everyone is in ruin, with everyone they admired or loved being dead before this film or dying early on, and the ruin and death continues because he cannot stop it, and he even wants it just so he can run away again. He ran away, and not only is no one in or out of universe having that, but the bulk of the climax is him being confronted by that and slowly cracking as he is convinced to accept the truth, the message, thanks to introspective versions of everyone in the show and film that were related to him in a major way, as well as Rei herself communicating with him. Throughout the series, he repeats the line “I mustn’t run away”, and he does thrice total, this being the third and final time, and we see what becomes of it. You must face reality, not run from it. That is the only way for you to find any hope or happiness in the midst of dark times, and the best way for you to not inadvertently hurt others. Much like last time, this is a lesson everyone should learn in order to deal with harsh times. The final scenes support this immensely in one of the most powerful “show don’t tell” scenes in anime, all whilst providing a sheer sense of hope for the future, knowing that closure has been given for every single relevant character in the series in ways so perfect for them it hurts to see them leave the way they do. Those moments were the most heart-shattering, soul-smashing in the film, and among the most impactful of this behemoth of a franchise. Does it go too far sometimes? Admittedly. Are there problems with the narrative? Without activating an entire volcano of spoiler-heavy questions and answers and whatnot that analyzes justifies, and even criticizes both the film and the show itself, I’ll say that it does, even if they are relatively minor. But it is a truly powerful and challenging film with something important to say that justifies its existence when it didn’t really have to. Anno could have just ignored the abhorrently unwarranted backlash from people who hated the final episodes, but instead, he channeled his anger into another piece of art that in some ways, does the finale one better. It gives the closure some people wanted, even if it is nothing like what many expected, let alone truly asked for. It does so expertly in many regards, even if it may come off as self-important and unnecessarily unflinching to the point of discomfort and outrage on the part of some viewers. However, it fits almost perfectly with every character and ties up the themes of the original in a way that shines a new, more despondent and challenging light on them. The fact that it came away with an equally important message that the show itself left room for is just the cherry on top of this demented, awe-inspiring, and loving sundae, even if the controlled chaos may go too far and leave things more ambiguous or disturbing than it needed to. However, this is the culmination of everything Evangelion is and was, perhaps even more so than the finale of the original. For that and more, The End of Evangelion is something special, and worth cherishing, much like its predecessor. Thank you for reading this, and with all that said, I bid you adieu. Part 1: https://anilist.co/review/3084
~~~img(http://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-Poster.png)~~~ During my previous review of [_Neon Genesis Evangelion_](http://starcrossedanime.com/neon-genesis-evangelion-anime-review-77-100-throwback-thursday/), I criticised it for a lot of things. The tanked production value as the series ran on and Studio Gainax ran out of funding/time. Anno’s often insane direction or story, which sometimes made sense and sometimes didn’t. Most of all though, I criticised it for it’s ending, which effectively left _Evangelion_ as a slightly disappointing unfinished product. But what would happen if Gainax… didn’t run out of time? If Anno had another chance after the original divisive ending? What if they just made two, completely new 40 minute episodes to replace it? Well ladies and gentleman, that’s how you get _End of Evangelion_. Is this finale to the fabled series a roar, to replace its previous whimper? Does it make any more sense than the TV finale? Will Shinji get in the damn robot? Let’s dive in and find out. And one last thing! There will be spoilers so we can talk about the work in its entirety, both the TV series and End of Evangelion, no vagueness here. You have been warned. __(_Disclaimer_: This review contains spoilers for _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ and _End of Evangelion_. I am also working to make 50 the new "average". 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. You can also find individual episode write ups and comment on this review on my [Star Crossed blog](http://starcrossedanime.com/end-of-evangelion-anime-review-86-100-throwback-thursday/). Carry on.)__ ~~~img(https://i0.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-8.png)~~~ # __~~~Art/Animation~~~__ Once again, we have to begin with the Art and Animation. The only question is, where to start? Do I begin with how _End of Evangelion_ has successfully transfered to the wide screen, leaving behind the modern black bars? How about the crisp and beautiful nature of its cels? No, the best place I think to start is simply “Holy crap”. As a movie, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that _End of Evangelion_ is well animated. The original _Evangelion’s_ problem, from what I could research, was never budget but rather time. So with a full year and a no doubt full budget, production was never going to be an issue here. Meanwhile Anno’s often strange direction, which we will get to later, allowed the series to focus on its high impact scenes. You don’t really have to animate minutes of live action footage after all. For proof we need look no further than Asuka’s fight against Seele’s Eva Units. This was the only clip I was aware of prior to watching _Neon Genesis Evangelion_, and it was just as great as I remember. Without even getting into the brutality of the fight or the organic movements of the Evas, I want to talk weight. Because the weight is what really sells this fight for me. From the slow momentum of [Yoh Yoshinari](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/17081) and [Nobutoshi Ogura](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/17079) to the incredible work on the environment of [Mitsuo Iso](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/17072). _End of Evangelion_ really sells you on the scale of the fight through the movements of the combatants. Had they moved quickly and sharply like in a lot of modern action, it would just feel like regular people. But with the added weight of it all, these animators manage to convey the terrifying size of the conflict. Meanwhile even outside of the fight scenes, when _End of Evangelion_ is tripping balls, it still looks good. For instance we have the utter insanity of [Akiko Asaki](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/41423) and [Nobutoshi Ogura](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/47741) during Instrumentality. The animation is slow, yet incredibly detailed, really selling the horrifying nature of what exactly we are watching. There is also the fantastic character work of [Mamoru Kurosawa](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/63127) during the same general time frame. Doing a beautiful job of depicting Shinji’s deteriorating mental state. All of it only getting better once you add in the sound work of [Hideyuki Tanaka](https://anilist.co/staff/140627/Hideyuki-Tanaka), though we will talk more on that later. All of this is to say, with specific examples, that _End of Evangelion_ looks fantastic. You can argue the content or meaning of what is being depicted all you want, and we will later. But as far as the technical side goes, I loved it. The same goes for the general art style of _End of Evangelion_ as well. It still has that 90’s aesthetic to it that _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ did. The texture of cel animation, the hand made backgrounds and all that. But now we get it in glorious wide resolution along with the painstaking detail in every frame only a movie can provide. There are definitely some weird bits in there of course, which we will talk about more in the next section. And these mostly appear in the finale of the movie, things like the real life footage, the theater, etc. They were a bit of a let down after the animation spectacle up to that point to be honest. While they filled space and maybe got the message across, they simply weren’t engaging or up to snuff, nor really fit in. All things considered though, _End of Evangelion_ looked great. ~~~img(https://i0.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-17.png)~~~ #~~~__Direction__~~~ Next up we have the Direction, which is just as polarizing as the original _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. It’s not that its bad per-se, truly there are a number of standout scenes and terrifying imagery. A primary example of this is Instrumentality, and giant Rei that comes out of the earth. Everything about her, from the eyes to her movements, are haunting. As is the decision to show her rotting and falling apart, in scale, onto the rest of the planet. It’s weird, yes, but also terrifyingly beautiful. I think that _End of Evangelion_ did a much better job of depicting the mental side of Instrumentality as well. Giving us a much less… fragmented look into Shinji’s mind, with some once again stellar directing. Selling the unsettling and manufactured nature of Shinji’s little world. Suffice to say, when _End of Evangelion_ wants to, it’s amazing. Weird as hell, but amazing. Sadly, there are some things I disagree with. And not in that I think they are bad scenes, I don’t think there is a _bad_ scene in the entire movie. More just in that I thought they were unnecessary and they felt almost like Anno giving the audience the middle finger. The biggest example of this I want to bring up is between Gendo and Rei, as Gendo plans to begin instrumentality. I understand there is a whole thing about his wife Yui, and his own plans, etc. But I could really do without him straight up reaching into breasts, traveling down and grabbing her where the sun don’t shine. Another similar scene was Shinji masturbating over an unconscious Asuka. Did the scene convey what it needed? Yes. Did Anno need to show Shinji’s desire or Gendo’s creepiness in this manner? Not really. And I think Anno knew that. Lastly I want to talk about the real life segment at the end of the movie. This is something I am very split on, because on one hand, its kinda clever. Here we are with a world ending, god-level event as humanity merges into one. Showing clips of the real world in an alternate-universe/meta sort of way. And it was no doubt easier to make some of those shots than to animate some of the extended sequences we have seen until now. At the same time though, I don’t think they do much for the movie. On a sort of meta level, yeah, you can look back and appreciate them a little. But they don’t add anything to the story or the sequence for me. It would all function just as well were those removed, and ultimately feels pointless and unneeded. All in all though, I think Anno did a pretty good job with _End of Evangelion_. I have a lot to say about the intent behind the movie of course, which we will get to later. I am not entirely convinced Anno even wanted to make this movie in the first place, and didn’t resent the fans for their reaction to the TV ending. Ultimately however I believe pretty firmly in Death of the Author, and don’t think that their original intent should alter how I view a work much. And in that way, I enjoyed _End of Evangelion_ a lot, and its direction was no small part to that. Truly some of these scenes were beautiful, haunting and memorable. And for all the shit I gave Anno in the original _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ review, it’s only right I praise him when he deserves it to. ~~~img(https://i2.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-6.png)~~~ #~~~__Setting/Story__~~~ Next up we have the story, and if I am being entirely honest, it still didn’t make much sense. Right off the bat I can say I enjoyed it far more than _Neon Genesis Evangelion’s_ original ending. _End of Evangelion_ actually managed to wrap up a majority of the plot threads. If the TV ending was everything inside Shinji’s head, this is everything outside of it during Third Instrumentality. That said, it doesn’t really feel like an ending they wanted to tell. As if it was made in response to outcry over the original. So while I think it has more value as a piece of entertainment, it makes it difficult to draw conclusions on its greater thematic elements. That said, this is mostly going to be my interpretation, and I can tell you right now: Even if I didn’t understand it all, it was a hell of a ride. Starting off, _End of Evangelion_ opens on some weird stuff before jumping right into the high octane Seele invasion. For action nerds like me, this was a great time. Yes, we never really learn much about Seele, the Dead Sea Scrolls or their plan. All of that is really up in the air, but as far as actually enjoying the movie goes they don’t impact much. Meanwhile Asuka’s whole segment was just fantastic. Everything from the animation to her growth and place in pushing Shinji forward to the brutality of the fight was great. It was exactly the kind of spectacle set piece I was hoping to see from a Mecha show finale. I covered it earlier, but _End of Evangelion_ really sold the scale of the conflict here well. Just absolutely wrecking the countryside and fitting in well with the “fate of humanity” nature that is this finale. Moving on we come to Instrumentality, and this is where _End of Evangelion_ starts to go off the rails. Not in a bad way necessarily, it still made for a good time, but I begin to question Anno’s intent here. For this is when I start to wonder if Anno even wanted to or had a plan for this movie. Take for instance Gendo who seemed to get the short end of the stick here. All these grand plans and his desire to be reunited with Yui, yet when it comes time for his big moment he… doesn’t even have any lines. He talks, but its silent, as if it either doesn’t matter or Anno didn’t know what he wanted to do here. Meanwhile we have overt religious imagery such as stigmata and crucifixion, etc. It all makes for a wild ride, but is it really relevant to the story? This isn’t to say none of it worked as intended of course. The flood of Rei’s and other characters pulling people into Instrumentality was great. I enjoyed how each of them were approached by characters they cared for. Fuyutsuki by Yui, Ibuki by Ritsuko, Makoto by Misato, etc. It really pushed the sort of dark purpose behind Instrumentality and the way it forced people together. At the same time though, everyone turning into Tang was kinda weird and we saw the return of Crayon Shinji. It really feels makes the TV finale feel like appendices to this greater finale. As if you could watch that finale in the middle of _End of Evangelion_, slotting right in near the end of this movie. Anno already shows us glimpses of that, with another train scene or the scene in the park. As if he couldn’t resist putting his original in there somewhere. Lastly of course we have _the beach_. I was really split on this ending scene when I first watched it. It felt a bit half assed, as if it didn’t want to conclude anything just like the TV. But the more I thought about it while writing this review, the less annoyed I got. I still wish it could be clearer, have a definitive point to it, but it works. This idea that Shinji is trying to prove he isn’t still in Instrumentality by choking Asuka like he did in the apartment. That this is real, because she responds and rejects him rejecting her. Simultaneous proof both have decided to return to the real world instead of staying in their “fake” worlds of Instrumentality. At the very least its a more definitive ending than everyone clapping around Shinji on a blue rock. So there is that. _End of Evangelion’s_ place in _Neon Genesis Evangelion’s_ story is… complicated. Does it replace the TV finale, does it surround it? To be honest, I don’t particularly care, because the way I look at it is just a re-contextualization of the same events. One from inside Shinji’s head, the other from everyone else’s perspective. But the ending did make me wonder one thing: Did Anno want to make it? Because as a friend of mine said, it felt like he wanted to mess with every character. Basically taking the things everyone loved and just destroying them Whether it be Shinji masturbating, choking out Asuka, or kissing Misato. If you look you can find something weird for every plot point or character. All the way down to Asuka, Shinji and Giant Rei sitting on a beach. Does it make sense? No. But was it a good time? Fuck yeah. ~~~img(https://i1.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-9.png)~~~ #~~~__Characters__~~~ Speaking of the characters, incase you hadn’t guessed, I am conflicted here. In the original _Neon Genesis Evangelion_, I loved them, they were my favorite part. They were the only things to come out of the TV finale unscathed. Yet here in _End of Evangelion_, sometimes it feels like Anno is building off what we had before while other times exaggerating their worst parts. So to avoid too much overlap and to keep from repeating myself, this section is going to focus primarily on how the characters differ between the two endings. Primarily focusing on the same three, Shinji, Asuka and Misato, from the original review. If you want to see my thoughts on them as a whole, you can find it in my original [_Neon Genesis Evangelion_ review](http://starcrossedanime.com/neon-genesis-evangelion-anime-review-77-100-throwback-thursday/). Now first up we have my boy Shinji! I did not expect, going into _End of Evangelion_, for Anno to find a way to make me hate Shinji. His growth throughout the original, his fear of getting hurt and not opening up to people, was fantastic. But I will never understand what made him want to cold open on Shinji getting off over the body of an unconscious Asuka. This simultaneously degrades both of their characters and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. The sad thing is, for all I hate it, it still managed to get across Shinji’s sexual desire. And that is basically my issue with Shinji in a nutshell for this film. Everything _End of Evangelion_ does with him works, but it works in the worst possible way. Degrading and insulting his character the whole way through, dragging others down with him. We need only look at what was my favorite character in the original series, Misato. Now to be fair to _End of Evangelion_, she gets out of the movie largely unscathed. Still maintaining her badass military woman front, which is hot, while continuing to push Shinji forward. All the while keep a lid on her own barely contained grief over Kaji and the situation as a whole. Now in the original, I could deal with her Electra complex, it was an established part of her character and relationship with Kaji. But I always prefered to view her relationship with Shinji from a more maternal angle. So having Anno just undercut that and continue with this consistent theme of sexual desire throughout the movie felt… unnecessary and voyeuristic. Once again it got across their feelings for each other, but it did so in the most uncomfortable ways possible. About the only character to come out of this movie better than she went in was Asuka. In the original, Asuka was largely sidelined for the finale. Only really being relevant in Shinji’s dreamscape. So to see her get some closure with her mother, to self-actualize back into this badass. All the while finally acknowledging that yes, she needs Shinji’s help, yes he should be out there fighting with her. Yes, he is worthy to stand beside her. We see this through her snipes at Shinji during the big fight. So when he fails this call to action, resulting in Asuka’s seeming death, it hits _hard_. This was a character who grew, fell, and finally in _End of Evangelion_ stood back up again greater than before. Suffice to say, _End of Evangelion_ successfully made Asuka my 2nd favorite character of the series, supplanting Shinji after his… sticky opening. So all in all, _End of Evangelion_ is probably a net positive for the series characters. Misato continues to do what she does best, Shinji takes a bit of a dip and Asuka self actualizes amazingly. Meanwhile Rei becomes an almost literal god, Gendo admits his own self-hatred paralleling him to Shinji and Ritsuko… Well she just gets shot in the back, so we can leave her alone. A lot of this is no doubt going to come down to personal interpretation though. Whether or not you connect with Shinji’s depression or Asuka’s issue’s, etc. For all that Anno might not have wanted to make it, and for all its pseudo-philosophy, _End of Evangelion_ has enough of a personal touch in its characters that it makes sense people would get connected to them. I sure did. ~~~img(https://i1.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-16.png)~~~ #~~~__OST/Sound Design__~~~ Next up we have _End of Evangelion’s_ sound design and OST. For the sound design, I won’t speak to much on it since its largely the same as the original _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. And just like the original, it’s pretty damn good. I’m no sound engineer, but everything from VA work to the crumbling buildings to the creepy nature of Instrumentality sounds good. A lot of it is pretty basic of course, the background sounds of bullets or running down hallways, or water. But the iconic sounds of _Evangelion_ are all back in force as well. The screams and movements of the Eva Units to the screech of the missles. There wasn’t anything that really took me out of the moment. At least, nothing from the sound design perspective that is. What this means now though is we can focus entirely on talking about _End of Evangelion’s_ OST. Just like the original, _End of Evangelion’s_ soundtrack, composed by [Shiro Sagisu](https://anilist.co/staff/100147/Shiro-Sagisu), has some fantastic tracks. With the elephant in the room of course being [“Komm, süsser Tod“](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIscL-Bjsq4), the staple of the movie. Now I hesitate to call it “the piece” of the film, but with its lyrics, unique sound and placement at the climax that’s really what it is. And it’s great. Arianne Schreiber did a fantastic job with the vocals for the track. It’s simultaneously upbeat and cheery with the musical style while being depressing and poignant once you listen to the lyrics. And somehow, despite the insanity of Instrumentality occuring on screen, it fits perfectly. Really nailing Shinji’s depression and desire to end it all, doing more for this finale than anything else occuring at the time. If I had to pick one thing to take from _End of Evangelion_, it would be this song. Beyond that, _End of Evangelion_ didn’t really have many memorable tracks. At least not as many as the original. Of course that doesn’t mean they are bad. [“Substitute Invasion”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfCnFSjRI7A) and [“The Passage Of Emptiness”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qXUZCOc1pE) are still haunting, meanwhile [“Escape to the Beginning”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ8I3V-h2O0) is almost religious in its presentation. However a large majority of _End of Evangelion’s_ OST consist of orchestral pieces with little vocal work, even once again including pieces from classical musicians like Bach. And while these fit the movie and the scenes, they don’t really make for anything memorable. At least not on the level of [“Komm, süsser Tod“](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIscL-Bjsq4), [“Jikai Yokoku“](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Y9uAekkgs), [“Cruel Angel’s Thesis“](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6r79HxmKw8). This isn’t to say that isn’t possible the original did it with [“Thanatos“](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4D966TDBzc). I just don’t think that was what _End of Evangelion_ was going for in this case. Resulting in an OST that, while it can’t stand solo, augments the original work well. ~~~img(https://i2.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-18.png)~~~ #~~~__TV Comparison/Personal Ramblings__~~~ Finally we get to what is normally one of the hardest sections to write, those being themes and symbolism. However in this respect _End of Evangelion_ doesn’t really differ from _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ that much. It’s still primarily about depression, relationships and human connection. It’s still primarily driven by its characters and based off of its director, Hideaki Anno’s, experience with said topics. So exploring those again here would sort of be a waste of time when you can just go read the original review for that. Instead I want to use this section to both go over why _End of Evangelion_ was made and also for a bit of personal ramblings on the movie. How it compares to the original TV ending, whether or not it was necessary and how it closes out the series as a whole, excluding the Rebuilds. Now I have mentioned or sprinkled throughout this review questions on if Anno even wanted this movie made. And while I believe in Death of the Author and it has no effect on how I view the movie, it’s an interesting question. Based on what I watched, and what I managed to find with research, it appears the answer is both yes and no. Yes in the sense that often throughout the movie it appears like Anno resents the divide over the TV finale. Maybe this is just conjecture based on my own dislike of that finale, but it doesn’t treat many characters well. Yet at the same time every source I have found says that _End of Evangelion_ is closer to the intended ending, had they the time. Meanwhile the letters flashed on screen at the finale are ones of encouragement rather than threats. It paints a confusing picture. Whatever Anno’s intent though, however it connects back to his personal life experiences, I personally don’t think they matter much. A form of bitter revenge against his vocal fans or the intended ending. The fact is, I enjoyed this finale much more than the original TV ending. Both give us closure on the characters, and while you can argue the TV ending does so better, _End of Evangelion_ also gives us closure on everything else. Seele, Nerv, Misato, Asuka, the Eva Units, Instrumentality, etc. Everything you got from the TV ending is still there, it still takes place in the film, though in a condensed form. Now it just has the context of the greater world and narrative culminating around it at the same time. For me, that’s exactly what I wanted. The sheer insanity of it or authorial intent aside, _End of Evangelion_ is a good piece of entertainment. ~~~img(https://i0.wp.com/starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/End-of-Evangelion-11.png?resize=685%2C385)~~~ #~~~__Conclusion__~~~ So, all in all, how was _End of Evangelion_? Did it disappoint like the original or raise it up? Well at this point that should be rather obvious, it was good. The narrative, themes and all that weighty stuff aside, _End of Evangelion_ was first and foremost just a good piece of entertainment. Those not looking for some weighty philosophical think-piece will find something to enjoy here. Whether it be the giant robot fights, the trippy visuals or something in between, it’s there. Meanwhile for fans of the original or those invested in the narrative like I was, it all gets wrapped up. There are still questions of course, but I believe the pieces are there for someone to put together their own ending. To connect the dots their own way. And I think a movie that can do both simultaneously, for all its faults, is pretty damn good.
# __~~~MiNiSoTaN's Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion Review~~~__ ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/mQNJb1n.jpg)~~~ ~~~__Introduction:__~~~Hello. My name is Neill or "MiNi." This will be my in depth review of Hideaki Anno's brilliant Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion. With all my reviews I will score the anime discussed based upon 5 categories that include: Story, Characters, Art, Music, and Personal Enjoyment. Each category will be given a score between 0 and 10. The ending score will be what I determine the show deserves overall. Keep in mind I will be talking about spoilers that occurred during the anime along with possible spoilers of the manga. Now, without further ado, let's get into this. ~~~ __STORY (10/10):__~~~ ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/fCpP3Mq.jpg)~~~ In order to watch The End of Evangelion, it is recommended (although not completely necessary) to watch the full Evangelion series which runs 26 episodes long. The End of Evangelion is the direct sequel to the events of the Evangelion anime series and works as a sort of alternate ending, but I consider it part of the main series. I personally wasn't the biggest fan of the anime, but I absolutely love the movie. Keep in mind however that at its base the story of Evangelion is a complicated one. YOU WILL BE CONFUSED WATCHING THIS. I promise you 100%. It is a series that has a lot of lore and backstory that will need explaining. That being said, I still believe that reviewing this purely as a movie even without the context of the anime or any other references it is as perfect of a story as you can get. In The End of Evangelion, everything is cranked up to 100. The stakes are higher, the action is bigger, and the story is more incredible than you could imagine. From the very beginning you are pulled in every direction to follow several different characters watching their hardships and turmoil unfold during the end of the world. There is never a moment of ease as a roller coaster of emotions fills your entire body throughout its 90 minute run time. The story unfolds with our main cast filled with hopelessness and despair, but as the film progresses and continues to unfold we see such powerful moments of fortitude. It truly is a coming of age story that reflects the hardships so many people have to go through. Although it portrays it in a fictional type setting, you are easily able to relate to the character and how they grow. One thing I absolutely loved in The End of Evangelion was the action. In the main anime series the violence and conflict seemed very toned down and almost childish in some way. In the End of Evangelion all the stops are pulled. There is actual death, there is actual killing. It pushes the envelope and cements itself as a real mature film. This isn't to say that an anime film needs action and violence to be considered good, but I was extremely impressed with the change in tone that was taken with this film compared to its anime counterpart. With some loose ends were left untied at the end of the main Evangelion series, The End of Evangelion does a great job and explaining what happens to certain characters along with huge plot point elements that are finally brought onto the big screen. The main focus point of the EVA series is the dealings with NERV and the third impact. It is extremely cool to see this even brought to life before our very eyes. If you've watched the main series it is a well worth wait and the sequence mirrored alongside the 'Kom Susser Tod' theme is absolutely breath taking. The story in The End of Evangelion is something extremely unique that is a once in a lifetime experience. Never before will you see something like this on the big screen. It does everything right when it comes to storytelling and that's why it gets a perfect score. ~~~ __CHARACTERS (10/10):__~~~ ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/cIuAM34.jpg)~~~ __Shinji__ One of the biggest bitches in anime finally shows up. I will admit I was a little hard on Shinji during my first watch through. The hospital scene in particular was something I was extremely unsure of, but after a second watch through I appreciate it so much more. In fact, I believe it's one of the best scenes in the entire film. It shows Shinji at his lowest. No one in the world is there for him he just wants to hold onto something that is real, Asuka. She was the only person in the world that could understand what he was feeling at that moment. We see him sulk and pout throughout the first half of the movie, but once the third impact hits and he sees Asuka dead his mind completely snaps. He goes into overdrive mode and wants to fuck shit up. This is the Shinji that we've always wanted to see. He's always been shy and timid, but once he finds his confidence he literally is the most powerful being on earth. __Asuka__ Asuka has the coolest scene in the whole movie. Her battling the 9 EVA series was amazing to watch. Her finally coming to the realization that her mother was with her the entire time was extremely satisfying. Although she could be kind of bitchy at times in the anime, she brings all the kick-assness in the movie. Asuka is the character that sees the most change throughout the film and plays such an important and cataclysmic role during the third impact. She is the one person Shinji can trust, and possibly the only one that he loves. __Rei__ Although the character of Rei doesn't see a lot of screen time she plays a vital role during the third impact because she basically causes it. Rei doesn't pilot an EVA rather she merges with the one angel above them all, Lilith. She's also the one that allows Shinji to choose or accept instrumentality. Rei can be overlooked at during her role in the movie because of how little she says, but her actions speak much louder than her words. __Mistato__ One of the strongest female leads in all of anime, Misato Katsuragi does all that she can to save the world. Her sacrifices and bravery are incredible to see in the film and although she doesn't have the most satisfying ending, she does have one that I will always remember. Her authoritativeness and will to take control is what allows the world to be saved. Without her the world would be doomed. She will sacrifice herself for the greater good without a second thought. This is what I love so much about her. __Other Characters__ There are a lot of side characters that although they don't play a important role in the film still add to its greatness. The WILLE crew in particular were some of my favorite characters in the film. The crew deck members all have unique personalities that add to the overall humanized feel of the film. The characters in The End of Evangelion are some of the best written characters in all of anime and deserve so much praise for their portrayal. ~~~__ART (10/10)__~~~ ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/taU82yb.png)~~~ With using the context of this film coming out in 1997 I will compliment that the art and animation looks amazing of its time. The extra budget compared to the anime shows especially in its action sequences. The colors are flashier and the extra detail in each frame is noticed. For an animated film coming out in the late 90s this is as top tier as it gets. I will point out however the Rebuild movies do look much better in my own opinion. Everything about them scream modern which is something I'm a huge fan of. Regardless, taking into account the age of when this film was produced it looks stunning in this department. ~~~__MUSIC (10/10)__~~~ ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/Pb5DXB3.jpg)~~~ Not only is The End of Evangelion the greatest anime movie of all time, but it also contains the greatest anime song of all time as well. I will always be firm with my belief that Komm, süßer Tod will be the most beautiful song ever written. The sequence of the third impact finally happening while it plays in the background is just simply emotional. The lyrics sung by Arianne couple perfectly with the orchestral piano and strings. The whole sequence is exhilarating and I believe to be one of the best scenes in all of anime. If you haven't please check out [Komm, süßer Tod](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIscL-Bjsq4) along with its unused alternative [Everything You Ever Dreamed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfsMvXJxV94). It was the song that would've been used had they not chosen Komm, süßer Tod. It is equally as beautiful but I do personally prefer the later slightly more. Komm, süßer Tod on its own would give the music category a 10/10 but the film also has an incredible OST. Some songs form the original series make an appearance in the movie along with other originals that add to the amazing effect of the movie. ~~~__PERSONAL ENJOYMENT (10/10)__~~~ ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/cwH6J5t.jpg)~~~ If you couldn't tell already, I really like this film. I love it so much in fact it is one of the only two perfect scores I've ever given to an anime medium. The End of Evangelion does so much right in every department it deserves nothing less than the recognition of a masterpiece. It should be considered a classic and a must watch for anime anime fan as it truly is an inspiring work of art. Every minute of this movie is incredible, I cannot stress it enough. The themes of loneliness, disrepair, self isolation all portray themselves in such a beautiful way. Each character works in sync with all the others and in unison with such a powerful and moving story. It's almost impossible to describe the feeling I felt while watching this. It was such a euphoric experience that I doubt I'll ever experience watching another piece of film. ~~~ __Final Thoughts and Score:__~~~Thank you all for reading, make sure to follow my page for more anime reviews! __Official Scores__ Story: (10/10) Characters: (10/10) Art: (10/10) Music: (10/10) Personal Enjoyment: (10/10) # __~~~FINAL SCORE: (10/10) MASTERPIECE~~~__ @MiNiSoTaN ~~~Did you really read the review, or are you just looking at the score?~~~
__This Review Contains Major Spoilers for The End of Evangelion__ img420(https://i.imgur.com/RrJNnoG.png) It should not come as a surprise that I love Hideaki Anno's _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. While I haven't written a review of the original series, mentions of it have periodically snuck their way into other reviews of mine; it's just _that_ influential in terms of how I think about anime and, indeed, perhaps stories in general. As I stated in my review of _Evangelion 1.0_, even though I watched _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ some time after I got into anime, it feels like a cornerstone of my anime-watching experience. Three years later, it continues to stick with me; moreso than the likes of some of my other favorites. So much so that I await the [final entry](https://anilist.co/review/13151) of its reimagining with cautious eagerness. So much so that I still continue to read about the show and its secrets. So much so that now, three years later, I am revisiting the conclusion. I do this in order to write a formal review of it, to finally put my thoughts into comprehensive words, to lay this thing down to rest and explain, once for all, not only what I think of _End of Evangelion_ but _why_ I think it. The point of this intro is to make it abundantly clear that, no matter my thoughts of _End of Evangelion_, I approach this movie from a place of love and respect. This isn't meant to bash Hideaki Anno. I'm grateful for his work on _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ and _His and Her Circumstances_. Come what may, at the end of this review, I'll still love _Evangelion_. img520(https://i2.wp.com/twincitiesgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/endofearth.jpg) If you're coming from my reviews of the _Evangelion Rebuild_ series, you might have already grasped that I was never the biggest fan of _End of Evangelion_. There, I call it "exhaustingly bleak," I say that I "didn't care for [it]," and I state that my feelings towards it are "mixed." A lot of my dislike toward _[3.0](https://anilist.co/review/6570)_ is feeling that it's similar to _End of Evangelion_ in certain regards. If you've seen my forum and/or activity posts, my feelings are made even more plain, revealing that, among other things, I find it overrated. This review came about because, the more I thought about _End of Evangelion_, the more I realized I didn't particularly enjoy it. Looking back, I attribute my original score to not divorcing it from the original series enough. As I sat on my living room couch all those years ago, I distinctly remember not being satisfied with the ending. I'm sure I thought, "I didn't like it that much, but it's still _Evangelion_." But, for better or for worse, _End of Evangelion_ is its own beast and I have the ability to critique and contextualize it as such. From the my initial viewing of the movie through this very year, _End of Evangelion_ enjoyed a 8/10 (in fact, if memory serves correctly, to make use of the liberating decimal system that Anilist uses, I'm pretty sure I bumped it up to an 8.5 once I migrated here). Even with my admittedly wonky rating scale, an 8/10 is nothing to sneeze at: quite enjoyable, albeit certainly not perfect. The score has since dipped to 7.6 and I expect it to dip lower. If you think reviews are to be approached with an open-mind, then turn back or abandon hope all ye who enter. I'm your worst nightmare, because I very much rewatched _End of Evangelion_ expecting not to enjoy it. My eyes were peeled to find things to dislike. I understand if you find this approach wrong. But as I said, I knew going in that I didn't care for _End of Evangelion_, therefore, I was going to focus on why. img420(https://i.imgur.com/BMRljb5.png) _Neon Genesis Evangelion_, originally airing from October 1995 to March 1996, had several budgeting and scheduling issues. This would come to a head during its final two broadcast episodes, which exist in their current form due to a combination of _Evangelion_ exhausting its budget and Anno apparently not deciding on an ending until it was too late. The result is a very, very esoteric conclusion that has long served as the trope codifier for [Gainax Endings](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GainaxEnding). Using stock footage, line art, and reused clips, the television ending is a very deep-dive into Shinji's psychology, ultimately culminating in him finally accepting himself. Untempered by action (or indeed, often basic things like a setting), these episodes can feel overwhelming and wind up being exhausting. Beyond this, the lack of action felt unsatisfying to some, though I honestly didn’t mind it too much. Needless to say, many weren't satisfied with the television ending. Anno would rectify this one year later with the release of the aptly named _End of Evangelion_, a theatrical movie that serves as an alternative ending for the series. According to Anno, this is the ending he envisioned, unburdened by neither censorship nor budget. This endeavor to realize his vision paid off spectacularly, as nowadays, the television ending is almost completely glossed-over in favor of the movie ending. People have gone so far as to call it the best movie ever made. I'll go into more detail later, but I actually quite liked the television ending, so perhaps that will tell you something about how I approached the so-called true ending. img520(https://i.stack.imgur.com/uuEoX.jpg) As _End of Evangelion_ serves as the conclusion of a twenty-four episode, exposition-heavy television series, it should be abundantly clear that one should not watch _End of Evangelion_ without watching _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ prior. As such, I won't give the spiel on _Neon Genesis of Evangelion_ as a whole, just the events that are important to _End of Evangelion_. The final angel having been eradicated, the stage has been set for Third Impact and the Human Instrumentality Project. However, Gendo and SEELE have clashing intentions for the venture, thus their partnership is terminated and SEELE calls in the JSSDF to raid NERV headquarters to foil Gendo's plans. The JSSDF storms the GeoFront and begins slaughtering the NERV personnel. As they do so, SEELE launches their Mass Production Evangelion series to deal with NERV's Evangelions and kickstart the Third Impact by force. This comes at the worst possible time for NERV, for Asuka's is still recovering from her mental breakdown at the hands of Arael and Shinji is despondent due to feeling responsible for the deaths of Touji, Rei, and Kaworu. Will the Eva pilots gear up in time to stop the cataclysmic Third Impact? No. The answer is no. img520(https://i.stack.imgur.com/0zX0S.jpg) One of the first things that you must know about _The End of Evangelion_ is that it's an extremely bleak movie, more so than the television show. Bleakness, at least at the beginning, makes sense, as the final episodes of the canonical show are a conga-line of misfortune for the characters. But instead of characters finding their spirits lifted in the face of adversity, they just keep tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down. Every victory attributed to the heroes is either short-lived or via technicality. As I typically start with praise, me stating this isn't criticism in-and-of-itself, it's just something to be aware of. Darkness and despair are so ingrained in _End of Evangelion_ that they might as well be a part of the premise. _End of Evangelion_ is split into two parts, flavored as episodes 25' and 26' (as opposed to the television episodes 25 and 26(note the lack of the apostrophe denoting “prime”(it makes sense, I swear))). Episode 25' is probably my favorite between the two. While I enjoy the television ending, I can appreciate the differences that episode 25' brought to the table. Watching the episode, you really get the sense that this is everything that the television ending is not, doing a great job of addressing its deficiencies. Episode 25' is very kinetic while the television episode 25 is static; part of this is the simple fact that there's a setting, but it's also due to the action. This episode is the one in which SEELE and JSSDF mount their attack and it is absolutely brutal. I couldn't peel my eyes from the carnage, the starkness of it all. There's a reason this episode is titled "Air" and "Love is Destructive'' and this is it; the characters (and indeed, the director) aren't constrained by production; running, fighting, and dodging as they wage the biggest battle of their lives. There are a lot of components to this episode; Misato scouring for information, JSSDF formally launching their attack, Ritsuko confronting Gendo, and Asuka's ill-fated battle with the MP Evas are only some of the things this episode contains. The episode beautifully weaves it all together. In the television ending, for the most part, nothing happens besides talking. Here, _everything_ happens. "Love is Destructive'' because this episode is a force to behold, violent compared to episode 25's languidity. Characterization is also better conveyed here. The television ending was a lot of telling, not showing. Here, we distinctly get to _see_ how the characters think and act; seeing Shinji shut down and believe he's "no good" instead of him telling us this, _seeing_ Misato's difficulty in forging relationships. It seems like a weird thing to praise, but in light of the television ending, it's nice that we actually get to see things happen. img520(https://66.media.tumblr.com/79011822d380b6d42cf61dc203ade957/tumblr_n7y65sRWOw1rbelkfo1_500.gif) Episode 26', "Yours Sincerely''/"I Need You" is tasked with dealing with the depiction of Instrumentality and its aftermath. I really liked the simple fact that Instrumentality took place in some capacity. Ever since I was a child, I enjoyed seeing antagonists’ schemes come to fruition, at least partially, only to be foiled later. I always thought it important to have a way to show exactly what was at stake. _End of Evangelion_ delivers in this regard, beautifully, yet horrifyingly depicting the Third Impact and Instrumentality in all of its glory, creating a distinctive sinking feeling within me. After this, we're in Instrumentality proper, and in ways, it's quite similar to the original episodes 25 and 26 such as the focus on psyche and society. Then there's the ending, but I'll go into detail regarding that later. img420(https://i.imgur.com/Hqww5Ad.png) Overall, I was surprised at how well-made I found this movie upon a rewatch. As far as glaring issues go, it was somewhat hard to find fault in _End of Evangelion_. I peeled my eyes to see the bad, inadvertently finding a lot of the good. As stated before, we really get to see the characterization that made _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. Shinji is at his emotional lowpoint and he knows it. To him, he's "no good," the "lowest of the low'' who is neither capable nor deserving to bear the burden of piloting the Evangelion. It's really heartbreaking to see him this way, but given how broken he was at the start of the series combined with everything that happened during the show prior, it's the logical conclusion. So empty is Shinji that he's impervious to stimuli: he doesn't care when he's seconds away from being executed by JSSDF personnel and he only notices Misato's bloody, passionate kiss when it's too late. Misato herself is also characterized a lot here as we see the lengths she goes to to show her care towards both the world and Shinji; going so far as to attempt to motivate him the only way she knows how; through promises of sex. I also enjoyed Asuka's characterization in episode 26'. I enjoyed seeing her get out of her slump and I was genuinely touched to witness her realizing that her mother was always with her. This translated beautifully to her awesome fight against the Mass Production Evangelions; mother and daughter were in sync as they supported one another. In my _[Evangelion 2.0](https://anilist.co/review/6531)_ review, I stated that, "[Asuka] being torn apart by the Mass Production Evangelions didn't elicit a reaction besides horror at the gore." As it turns out, I lied. Upon rewatching it, I absolutely mourned Asuka's death. It was sad to see that, like in _2.0_, it was as if she was punished for her development. It was heartbreaking to see Asuka cling defiantly to life, only for it to be snatched from her. Even Gendo, a seemingly enigmatic and one-track character is given depth that recontextualizes all of his actions. He is as broken as Shinji, believing that he deserves love from no one save for his lost lenore, Yui. img520(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/evangelion/images/2/27/Misato_shinji_kiss.png/revision/latest?cb=20190722163507) _End of Evangelion_ is an absolutely beautiful movie. If it wasn't, Asuka and Shinji looking on towards a sea of ~~LCL~~ Tang wouldn't be my laptop's lock screen background for about four years now. I'm not sure the animation or art direction itself is much to write home about. It's good, yes, but it’s ultimately just a polished _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. No, _End of Evangelion_ shines in what I'll refer to as composition — not the elements of a shot but how those elements are arranged in said shot. _End of Evangelion_ has many, _many_, __many__ striking images that imprint themselves in your brain — The Mass Produced Evangelion Units flying, a demonic-looking Lillith observing a crucified Unit 01 between her palms, a winged Lillith arching her back as she plucks the Black Moon from the Earth, the list goes on and on. img520(https://vistapointe.net/images/end-of-evangelion-wallpaper-10.jpg) The music is no slouch either, featuring lovely orchestration. But of course, you're here for the legend itself, you're here for Komm, süsser Tod. This upbeat song is hauntingly beautiful, encapsulating Shinji's broken psyche as the world around him dissolves. It being a certified bop is at odds with its subject matter; creating an unsettling musical dissonance. This is understood by simply looking at its title: translated, it means "Come, Sweet Death." Make no mistake, without the context of Instrumentality, this is very much a song about someone who's going to kill themself; an upbeat suicide note. It's because of Kom Susser Tod that the depiction of the Third Impact is such a signature scene. The depressing lyrics and rapture-esque imagery combined with the jolly music makes the scene even more horrifying. It's a testament to how good the music of _End of Evangelion_ is when its _unused_ track, "Everything You've Ever Dreamed" is still amazing and salient. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIscL-Bjsq4) Then there's the actual depiction of Instrumentality, a psychological assessment of humanity and reality that's easily the most dense part of the film. And...honestly, I didn't find it _that_ confusing. I didn't really find any part of the movie too hard to parse. I admit that this is because this is my second watch of the movie. Since watching it the first time, I've immersed myself in [EvaGeeks](https://wiki.evageeks.org/Main_Page). This movie really does benefit from a rewatch and utilization of shared knowledge. The movie wasn't perfect by any regards; I was iffy on the ending, it being a bit too bleak for me. Granted, it was ambiguous enough that I could interpret it as happy if I so chose. I don't think the Instrumentality scene was handled all too well. The philosophy isn't explained that well, and I wasn't sure what was the point of the live-action segments. It seemed like a lot in the Instrumentality was added just because it would make it seem deeper. Still, it's quite beautiful, like other aspects of the movie. "Reality is at the end of the dream," "Truth lies in hearts," and "As long as the sun, the moon, and earth exist, everything will be alright" are all very striking quotes. With all this in mind, it's understandable why so many love this movie, why so many claim it to be greatest movie of all time. A lot of care went into this movie and it shows in nearly every aspect of it. While there are some wonky parts of the dub, youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MidPbMjpnFM) the principal cast shines. Tiffany Grant as Asuka repeatedly whispering "I don't want to die" and later "I'll kill you," send chills down my spine. _End of Evangelion_ is a bombastic conclusion to an amazing series. While I still prefer the television ending, on a technical level, it was more than solid. It seemingly works on a story-level, too, so I should like the movie. Right? img420(https://i.imgur.com/hb7RQQr.png) Immediately after watching the movie, I was ultimately left feeling somewhat underwhelmed, in regards to my stance. I wasn't the biggest fan of the film, but it seemed well-made enough, with no glaring issues in sight. On one hand, I didn't love it nearly as much as the series, but on the other hand, I didn't hate it either. I was ready to let my score remain as a 7.5. And I'm sure I would have if I didn't think too deeply about what I just watched, but the more I mused about it, the more I realized that subtle choices that inform the tone make me fundamentally dislike _End of Evangelion_, overall. And as the days passed, I discovered that I had a nasty case of an earworm courtesy of Komm, süsser Tod. It was (well, is) an unpleasant experience. The song is very catchy and upbeat, yet the lyrics are very dismal. The more I listened to it and danced to it, the more paradoxically drained I felt. My relationship to Komm, süsser Tod perfectly mirrors my relationship with _End of Evangelion_, the more I engage with the exciting, the more dejected I became with the depressing interior. img520(https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1233576/end-evangelion-netflix-neon-genesis.jpg?w=1600&h=1600&q=88&f=1bd8d0e32d5d7f618d6671dcb6e82388) Now, I just feel really empty. At the end of the day, I think my biggest problem with _End of Evangelion_ is that I find it to be far too gloomy for its own good. And before I go into more detail, I'd like to reiterate a point from my 3.0 review: I have absolutely no problem with bleak shows. As I said, the problem is specifically when the bleakness is excessive. When everything is dark, nothing is. The darkness loses its impact and just becomes exhausting to get through.If there’s no light to contrast the bleakness, it becomes hard to get invested. Darkness, when used as the narrative itself instead of a narrative tool, just becomes unpleasant. When a work's too dark, you'd be hard pressed to come back to it. Sure enough, for years, I had no inclination to rewatch _End of Evangelion_ and once I finally did, the dread was quick to set in. Most damningly, however, I feel that the tone of _End of Evangelion_ doesn't work for the story of _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ as a whole. img520(https://external-preview.redd.it/RxmcCe3unOq4jsmJSTME3HYYzdGTup0Q-8eCVxbcGEA.jpg?auto=webp&s=e21d6f434e309b1e5a1785411d1fade5472d6349) _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ isn't ever happy-go-lucky by any regard, but the first half of the show is comparatively light in tone. Things intensify as the Angels grow more and more threatening and Shinji finds his fragile psyche pressed until it reaches a shattering point. He is broken, yet slowly but surely, he begins picking up the pieces and finds himself moving towards a brighter future. While the television ending of _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ might not be satisfying on an audio-visual level (though, "[Good, Or Don't Be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uqg8tSwS70)" is a fittingly touching song), it's satisfying on a narrative level, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about _End of Evangelion_. _End of Evangelion_ fosters its bleak tone in part via its characters. In _End of Evangelion_ many characters seem to have their worst foot forward. I stand by my praise of the characterization; the characters certainly act in ways that are believable to what we've seen before and I can appreciate the depth _End of Evangelion_ gave to these already round characters. But the execution being competent doesn't necessarily mean it's pleasant. One of the first things we see Shinji do is masturbate over the comatose body of Asuka and later on, he finally snaps at Asuka's acerbic personality and strangles her (twice!!). Misato gives a long, passionate kiss to Shinji; either as a desperate attempt to motivate him, being genuinely attracted to him, or simply trying to communicate with him. Either way, a _twenty-nine year-old kissed a fourteen year-old_. Asuka's...well, Asuka is Asuka. After her development, she's quite quick to berate Shinji. When characters are dreadful, you're generally less inclined to care when things happen to said characters. While there are legitimate boons to having flawed characters, here, they've just another factor in making this movie hard to watch. img520(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y6ACWags0jY/maxresdefault.jpg) And of course, this movie is bleak due to the events that occur in it. NERV is all but dissolved as the JSSDF burst in and massacre every person they can get their hands on. Ritsuko meets her demise after she's betrayed not only by Gendo, but by her dead mother. Misato sacrifices her life to ensure Shinji's survival, thus making the youth shoulder that guilt. Minutes after regaining her will to fight, Asuka is brutally murdered at the hands of the Mass Production Evas. Shinji then _sees_ Asuka's dead Evangelion. Gendo, now humanized, is betrayed by Rei and denied his entire life goal while SEELE sees their wicked plans come to fruition after taking countless lives. Then there's Instrumentality itself. We see the few surviving named characters turn into LCL against their will as their souls are collected into the hivemind, all while Komm, süsser Tod plays, describing Shinji's heart wrenching desire to throw his life away. While Instrumentality is _said_ to be the gateway to eternal, if not false, bliss, this is a case of telling, not showing. We're never shown depictions of someone being happy in Instrumentality, thus conveying that, as the audience, we're not supposed to identify it as a good thing. Shinji's experience, the only one we're privy to, is ultimately unsatisfactory (unless, tragically, the point is to show that, deep down, Shinji _likes_ being unhappy). I've been told that the ending of _End of Evangelion_ makes the movie happy. Having watched it twice now, I can tell you that it truly doesn't. If anything, the ending reaffirms the bleak tone. While Shinji ultimately rejects instrumentality, it's not framed as a triumphant moment, OST be damned. Unlike the television ending, there's no shift in Shinji's personality and he never accepts himself. Besides just making his arc unsatisfying to watch, it's sad to think that at the end of the movie, he was as broken as he was before. As I said, Shinji doesn't seem to have a good experience in Instrumentality, so him rejecting it is less because he knows he'll be happier in the real world, and more because he _knows_ he won't be happy in the Tang. He simply leaves it for the vain hope that he _might_ find happiness. Based on the ending, he probably doesn't. img520(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXiGPUkUQAEtZeV.jpg) Shinji is on a beach. He has made graves for all of his friends; he's seemingly the only person who decided to return to the world. But then he finds Asuka on the beach. Remembering all that she did, he flies into a rage again, choking her in an attempt to stamp out the bad memories he had, to finally be alone, but in peace. But then she does something unexpected, reaching out and caressing him. Shinji's so taken aback by Asuka's kind action that he releases her and weeps. And do you want to know what Asuka says? What she says in response to Shinji's crying? Would you like to know how Asuka follows up on her unprecedented moment of tenderness towards Shinji? You want to know the _final_ words to _Neon Genesis Evangelion_? youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWP4f93PeiI) So, _excusez mon français_ but how the fuck am I supposed to find that happy? Any possibility of Shinji finding happiness is mercilessly stamped out by Asuka being too much of an unrepentant bitch to change. She'll never acknowledge her feelings, and following her lead, Shinji won't have a reason to, either. Shinji will always be disgusting in Asuka's eyes. There will always be pain in the real world. It’s the only one we have and you’re a coward if you try to escape, according to Anno, something he’d double back on years later in 3.0 to more disastrous results. Given that the belief that Anno made _End of Evangelion_ to "punish" fans is false, it would be incorrect of me to say that this movie is bitter, but it certainly _feels_ this way. The characters you loved are fucked up to the point where you take pause in liking them (I'm a bit ashamed to have Shinji among my favorite characters due to his little jerkoff stint), everyone you loved from the show will suffer grievous harm, and none of them will have a happy ending. It's such a downer ending that it makes everything that preceded it feel pointless. All the battles that the characters waged have a gross aftertaste once you realize they amount to Asuka spitting in Shinji's face. I'm forever grateful that _End of Evangelion_ is technically separated from the television show because this absolutely would bog down my score, otherwise. img420(https://i.imgur.com/6CQfk54.png) I'll concede that maybe I'm conflating what's good for me with what's good for the show. It's a bit of TMI, but I'm a generally unhappy person. That combined with me often being stubborn as a mule means that I'm really set in what I perceive myself to need in terms of getting better as a person. I find the television ending therapeutic, while _End of Evangelion_ just causes me pain. It is possible I don't like _End of Evangelion_ simply due to who I am as a person. I'll concede that maybe the timing's just off. I recently had two pretty intense conversations about happiness and whether or not it's obtainable. We're currently gripped in a global pandemic the likes the world has never seen. In America, minorities like me are still being brutalized by those who are supposed to protect us. In short, the gloom-and-doom of _End of Evangelion_ is _not_ the type of shit I need to watch right now. It is possible I don't like _End of Evangelion_ simply due to the headspace that I found myself occupying while watching it. img520(https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/746c3130-f020-4f45-b6d9-251c02c293c5) I'll concede that maybe this is all my interpretation. That's the beauty of _End of Evangelion_, because, as much as people might moan and groan about the television ending, they're both quite open-ended. Budget or no, this *is* still Evangelion, and what you get out of it is ultimately what you're willing to put in. It is possible I don't like _End of Evangelion_ simply due to my own specific interpretation of the movie. What I won't concede, however, is that this movie is happy. Hopeful? Sure. After all, the ending is open-ended enough that you can make a decent argument for _anything_ occurring after it. Personally, the only thing I see happening is Shinji drowning himself in LCL, but that's my own pessimistic interpretation. However, due to all the dismal events that make _End of Evangelion_ what it is, I cannot, in good faith, state that it's happy. It's a _very_ grim movie, no "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it. As I've outlined though, there could be more personal reasons why I find this grimness undesirable. img420(https://i.imgur.com/AjuktoI.png) I don't think _End of Evangelion_ is a bad movie. While its lack of general accessibility might bar it from being the "greatest movie of all time" in my mind, the spectacle it displays and the care that went into every aspect of it cannot be denied. _End of Evangelion_ shakes me to my core and makes me _feel_ something, regardless of what that "something" is. If that's not the mark of effective art, I'm not sure what is. But, as I'll argue until the day I die, entertainment is a vital component of art and without it, a work of art fails to be engaging, ceases to be "art" as we know it. For me, _End of Evangelion_ is too unpleasant to warrant a truthful high rating from me. In terms of reception, I feel that _End of Evangelion_ often isn't discussed with enough nuance. It's easy to watch _End of Evangelion_, be bewildered or put-off with it, then simply push those feelings aside. Like me, you can cast it aside, your engagement not being much more than "it was good." It's easy to write off the television ending in comparison, believing it to be worse because it's happy, for _End of Evangelion_ to be better because it's bleaker. This ignores the fact that the bleakness doesn't really work for the show that preceded it. It's easy to write off the television ending because there's less movement, less things going on than in _End of Evangelion_. I think both have aspects that work, and my hope is that 3.0+1.0, against all odds, can combine the TV ending's positivity with _End of Evangelion's_ beauty and movement. img520(https://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/sites/sbs.com.au.popasia/files/styles/full/public/end-of-evangelion.jpg?itok=cRV4AQNU&mtime=1471000677) And so, after some five-thousand odd words, I give my score. My score is for the sake of nuance. It's for the sake of another opinion. It's for the sake of acknowledging that this is a very well-made movie, but being true to myself and not being afraid of the backlash when I say I don't enjoy it as the ending for _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. It's for the sake of those who feel similar to the way I do, but feel their voices aren't heard over the screams of glowing praise. It's for those who’ve had criticisms of this film, but were written off as being too dumb to understand it, written off as just not "getting it." Maybe I _don't_ get it. Even so, I am (not) alone. ~~~img200(https://i.imgur.com/I4VddwZ.png)~~~ youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnS30GOXDw8)
Awhile ago, I reviewed the masterpiece series called “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. While I did have a little gripe with an aspect of the plot, that minor flaw wasn’t enough to detract from what was an otherwise masterful experience that I hope to keep thinking about decades after I’ve seen it. I’m now back to tackle The End of Evangelion. Hey, it wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t review this now wouldn’t it? I won’t waste time further other than throwing out the obligatory spoiler warning. Without further ado lets review & get this off my chest. Also, as a clarification. This is a direct continuation of my NGE review (no shit) so I apologize if this review comes off as too short or too shallow, as I don’t want to repeat too many of the points that I made in that review here. Story: 10/10 My oh my, if I could describe the story of End of Evangelion in one word, It’s powerful. From scenes like Shinji jacking off over Asuka’s tits. The storming of Nerv headquarters. Komm Susser Tod. The scene before Komm Susser Tod that mirrors episode 15 of the series. The moment that shows Shinji building a sand castle resembling Nerv headquarters, only to then destroy it out of anger. I can go on but the number of powerful moments throughout the movie, oh who am I kidding? Practically every scene is a powerful moment in this movie. Anyway the plot itself. Well, SEELE has had enough of Gendo’s bullshit so they decide to take matters into their own hands, start the third impact, & finish the human instrumentality project. The places this story goes though, are what takes End of Evangelion and turns it into something special. I already mentioned some of the moments, & I’ll be sure to mention more awesome moments as this review goes along. That’s all I’m going to say, because even though there will be some spoilers, in this review as mentioned earlier, I’d like to contain myself on some level so that you still have a reason to watch this. In my review of NGE, I mentioned how the awesome storyboarding, structure, & flow is a large part of what made that series for me. It’s no different here. Actually, it is different. Because it’s even better in this movie than it was in the original series. The level of seamless flow from scene to scene housed within this movie is simply ridiculous. The structure of the movie is tighter than a quad-drouple knot, & the storyboarding, the storyboarding’s flow & seamless transitions, my god. So yeah, a large part of what made the series so good in the first place is not only housed in this film as well, but its better than it ever was in the TV series. Which I thought was already masterful to begin with, but this takes it a step further beyond. The directing is also improved over the series as well, the staging of fights. Structure of scenes. Structure of dialogue. Shots. Compositional work. It’s all insane how good it is. Characters: 10/10 Because the characters in EoE are the same as they are in NGE, & I already thoroughly discussed the characters in that review as much as I could, I really don’t have a whole lot to say or add about who they are as people, why they're such great characters, etc. So instead, I’ll list off my favorite moments of certain characters for this review. Just as a demonstration that they’re still as well written & impactful as they were in the original series Shinji- My favorite moment from Shinji in this movie is more a sequence of events than a singular moment. But it’s when he’s in the world where human-instrumentality happens & he’s talking to Rei. The realization that Shinji comes to, that human instrumentality isn’t what he wants, & that in spite of everything, the pain he feels, how he can hurt others, & that, in spite of how painful some of those memories were, they were his memories, & a sign that he was both alive, & a person. What follows is him breaking out of giant, naked, white Rei with Eva unit 01 letting out a screech. It’s a powerful series of events & the fact that the sound design in this series of events is largely made up of ambiguity, the background is water against a red sky, oh god I love this scene. It might be my favorite moment in Evangelion, but I really can’t decide. Asuka. Easily when she has to go up against the 9 Eva units & only has 3 minutes & 34 seconds to defeat all 9 of them. What follows in this scene is a beautiful showcase of animation, some of the finest attention to detail, beautiful fight choreography, an excellent display of Hideaki Anno’s directing capabilities, and more of Evangelion’s marvelous structure. This sequence of events houses a lot of End of Evangelion’s strongest aspects & part of why I think End of Evangelion is one of the overall best looking anime films of all time Rei. My favorite Rei moment is when she rejects Gendo once she hears Shinji’s freakout after witnessing Asuka’s death. I love this scene because after everything that happened in the original series, it feels great to see Rei say “fuck you” without even saying it. It’s also a nice payback on Gendo after all the shit he put not only Shinji through, but everybody else at Nerv through just to achieve his selfish desires. You’re an interesting character Gendo, but you’re an asshole all the same & god does it feel satisfying to hear Rei pull a “fuck you”, merge with Adam to become giant white Rei, & go help Shinji realize what it is that he really wants. Misato. My favorite Misato moment is before her death. When she has that talk with Shinji about “I’ve made mistakes too, some I’ve regretted”. The gut punching this scene hits me with is both tense & powerful, top that off with Misato kissing Shinji, ending with the statement ‘That’s an adult kiss”. Ohhh god I’m crying at this scene. End of Evangelion is full of great character moments, too many for me to list off in fact. This of course falls in line with the original series having fantastic character moments. But the sheer impact that these scenes leave, the great animation showcase in the case of Asuka versus the 9 angels, really, this whole movie is a giant moment. I think that describes the film perfectly “one giant moment”. Sound: 10/10 The sound is just as good as it was in the original series, what do you expect? All the voice actors reprise their role & do just as, if not better than they did in the original TV series. The sound design is just as amazing as it was in the original TV series. Sagisu returns to compose the OST for this movie and it’s just as great & well integrated as it was in the original TV series. Of course it’d be wrong not to mention “Komm Susser tod”. A 7:43 song with some of the most powerful imagery not just Evangelion, but film has ever seen. “Interference of Others” & “End of Midsummer” that play when SEELE invades Nerv is some really good shit. “Substitute invasion” that plays in several scenes, but particularly the Shinji, Misato dialogue scene that I mentioned in the characters portion of the review, “Thanatos” that plays over the troll credits at the middle of the film just fits for some reason. Ok, this is Shiro Sagisu’s best composition in my opinion. For as much as I praised his work in the original series, for as much as I adore Kare Kano’s compositions, I genuinely think this is Shiro Sagisu’s peak. All of his pieces are phenomenal, & their use in the film is no less. Art: 10/10 This is most likely going to be the shortest segment of the review because really? What is there to say, it’s an artistic masterpiece. The color design, the character designs, the flow of the animation, the weight of the animation, the sound design that helps to sell the animation, the fluidity of it all? Seriously, it’s one of the best looking anime movies for a reason. The art direction, the art design, the sublime animation, what more do you want me to say without repeating myself? Of course because it’s a movie, the animation quality is obviously superior to the TV series. I shouldn’t have to say that but thanks to the Girls & Panzer movie, I feel inclined to mention rather or not anime films actually rise above TV quality or not. Jabs aside, this really is one of the best looking anime films of all time. Overall: 10/10 It’s End of Evangelion, did you seriously think I wasn’t going to give this a 10/10 after being such a massive fan of the TV seris in the first place? The character moments are amazing, the story is powerful with many a moments of its own. The narrative structure is tight. The visual flow is some of the best anime films have to offer. The directing is one of Hideaki Anno’s best efforts. The music is Shiro Sagisu’s best composition, & the use of the pieces in the film are just as amazing as the music itself is. The way everything is wrapped up (which I purposefully didn’t mention because I didn’t want to spoil it). I think you all get it by now. End of Evangelion is a cinematic masterpiece that went down in history for a reason. If this film isn’t going to be put on an international preservation society of some form, I will go through the effort of starting my own just for the sake of preserving this film so that everyone can see it even after the world comes to an end. I don’t know how to end this review, so uh yeah, End of Evangelion is a masterpiece, end of story.
This review contains spoilers for “Neon Genesis Evangelion” and “The End of Evangelion”. In 1997 Gainax released “The End of Evangelion”, the theatrical follow up and alternative ending to the landmark 1995 TV series “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. While it received a mixed response from critics initially it would go on to receive the Animage Anime Grand Prix later that year and has since then been declared by many fans and critics as one of, if not, the greatest anime film of all time. I can only think of so many anime that have been simultaneously as idolized and as talked about as the “Evangelion” franchise. While many will often describe the TV series as “flawless if not for the last two episodes” there appears to be no debate about where the film stands in the eyes of the fans. It is definitely one of the most celebrated anime films to the point where I’ve seen it called the most important anime of the entire 1990s. And indeed it is a very notable and significant project that only the eccentric genius Hideaki Anno could have created. This is not to say I agree with the general consensus on this anime though. “Neon Genesis Evangelion” and “The End of Evangelion”, which will respectively be referred to as NGE and EoE for the remainder of this review, are an incredibly strange package deal for me. While I have a lot of appreciation for NGE I cannot say that I hold EoE in the same regard. It’s one of the most frustrating anime experiences I have personally put myself through. I look at the film and then look at the way it’s been elevated to near God like status and feel rather beside myself. What I intend on doing within this review is present my issues with it, especially with regards to its messages, and clear some information up about Anno as there’s a lot of misinformation surrounding him that I feel effects how people read his anime. Unlike the last time I gave an anime a negative review this is something that has an endless sea of praise and a cult like following, so I am aware of what I’m doing here. People get fiercely protective over NGE, but even more so with EoE to the point where I find it overwhelming. It’s the type of anime that demands you take it seriously and if you criticize it people will accuse you of being a contrarian, of not understanding art, of being jealous of its success, and so many other similar arguments. I feel like that form of dismissiveness does no good, it just creates an echo chamber. And if there is absolutely one thing I want people to take away from this review it would be that you don’t have to love EoE and you aren’t wrong if you feel that way. Before getting into discussing the film I think it would be important to offer my thoughts on the show. The first time I watched NGE several years ago I was very fascinated and considered it flawless, but as the years progressed I found myself questioning that and recently decided to rewatch it. There is still a ton of praiseworthy aspects to the show, though I don’t consider it without its flaws. The earlier episodes were enjoyable, but contained some humor I found rather juvenile given how it would later take itself so seriously. Near the middle after Asuka joined the cast there were a string of episodes I found to be on the forgettable side, but it was ultimately saved in the last half of the anime where it started becoming more psychological. The infamous final two episodes I actually loved when I first watched them, I thought their messages about realizing your value were moving. Rewatching them I felt like it was very obvious Anno threw something together because he was unable to bring about his true vision of the anime due to the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo terrorist gas attack in Tokyo, which left him feeling like fiction was getting too close to reality. I also found the show’s use of recycled footage and long static shots to be a bit distracting. The 90s was a bad decade for the Japanese economy and the anime industry really suffered as a result, but not only that the production for NGE was notorious for running too close to its deadlines and in some episodes that shows. I’m sure one could take some deeper artistic meaning from why Anno reused the animation cuts that he did, but even if there was a creative motivation behind what he chose to use I don’t doubt it was also done out of necessity. I don’t hold it too heavily against the anime, but it did become a bit distracting and made the final two episodes feel rather dry this time around. Nevertheless I do consider it a very enjoyable show that helped usher in a wave of anime made in its likeness. It might not be perfect, but this is still an anime I think was worth seeing again. The film meanwhile has consistently left me with cold feelings from the time I first watched it to my recent viewing. It’s very important to bear in mind whenever discussing NGE or EoE that Hideaki Anno was going through a very intense depression over the course of working on them and by the time it was over he felt drained. Following the conclusion to 1991’s “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water” and his failure at making a sequel to the film “Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise” in 1992, his mental health became worse and NGE in many ways can be seen as his means of trying to sort out his personal issues. This results in both the TV series and the film very much being a byproduct of who Anno was during the early to mid-90s. The outrageous backlash he received for the TV ending, which contained death threats directed at him, certainly must have left an impact on his already fragile mental state as well. I bring this up because I think it really explains why EoE ended up being such a pessimistic and dour movie. I think he was in such a dark place that it was always going to carry over into his work and likely influenced the messages within the movie. And in spite of that I have seen many people call EoE a positive film touting a heartwarming message. Anno has stated that his anime is up to personal interpretation, if I’m being honest I find many of the themes to be too direct to be debatable, but I just cannot see the film in that light. I look at it and see the culmination of one man’s personal demons and stress put onto film. Try as I might I feel like I’m being dishonest with myself if I try making myself look at EoE as an optimistic anime. One last topic I wanted to speak on before discussing the movie is the common argument that the series exists as an indictment of otaku culture and that EoE is Anno directing all his rage and frustrations at the audience that betrayed him when the TV series ended. My main response to this is, seriously? Hideaki Anno, the man who got married in a “Kamen Rider” cosplay and can quote entire episodes of “Space Battleship Yamato” verbatim, hates otaku culture? He certainly has voiced his criticisms, and I’m sure the negative response he received for NGE’s finale was difficult to experience, but it all comes from a place of understanding what that world is like because he’s been involved with it. Anno has said he doesn’t reject otaku, just that he thinks it’s important to remain in touch with reality and be grounded. He is very self-aware about himself as an otaku and him offering critiques of otaku culture is not the same as hatred. His wife, the talented josei mangaka Moyoco Anno, even wrote an entire manga called “Insufficient Direction” about their life as an otaku couple. What I’m trying to say here is he’s not exactly Satoshi Kon or Hayao Miyazaki. And yet I am always surprised by how many westerners not only believe this to be true, but are okay with the idea of him holding a grudge against his fans. There are many misconceptions surrounding the man and I think it’s necessary to clear them up while discussing his work. The film exists to be an alternate conclusion to the series where Anno showcases his original ending that got scrapped, so it begins where episode 24 left the audience off. We see Shinji at his lowest and the way that is communicated to us is by watching him masturbate to a comatose Asuka in the hospital. This basically set the stage for the entire experience of watching the film for me. The way a story starts and ends matters and choosing to make this our first impression left a bad taste in my mouth. Some have said this was done as a commentary on the way otaku sexualize female characters, however given that I don’t think the series exists to chastise otaku I don’t see it like that. I look at it as a scene meant to jar the audience and highlight how disturbed and difficult to like the characters can be in this movie. It exists to make you uncomfortable and reevaluate your preconceived notions of Shinji’s character. In short, its shock value letting you know that you are watching something reveling in its unpleasantness. I can’t help but feel like there were ways of accomplishing this without presenting us with something this disgusting, but this is what we got. The attitude of this scene exists all throughout the movie, it feels as if the primary goal is to guarantee the audience is uncomfortable above all else. Perhaps this was the entire point to NGE as a story, to be unsettling and leave the audience reeling over how bleak it is to be human. However, I find stories like that to wear out their welcome very quickly because it starts to feel gratuitous. We see characters bursting into a primordial ooze, Shinji is so consumed by his guilt over killing Kaworu that he needs to be physically dragged around, Asuka has alarming hallucinations about her death, Rei mutates with Lillith into this horrifying abomination, it’s a very exhausting experience and I think this could be what Anno was aiming for. That said not everybody is going to appreciate that, eventually it makes me feel just tired. Something that has been said is the TV ending and EoE are fundamentally the same, this is not entirely true. Both do feature the characters dealing with emotional turmoil while SEELE initiates the Human Instrumentality Project and conclude with Shinji breaking free of Instrumentality. However there are very major and notable differences between them. The last two episodes were squarely focused on the mental state of the characters to the point where it was rather vague what exactly was happening when Instrumentality began, this was something I wasn’t terribly concerned by as I personally found SEELE and NERV to be the least interesting things about the show. Some people didn’t like that and that’s valid, but I found peeling back Shinji’s psyche more fascinating. A major difference between Instrumentality in the show compared to the film though is in NGE Shinji only subconsciously wished for it, while in the film he actively decided that humanity should all melt into a sea of LCL because he feels nothing but pain and loneliness in this world. It’s subtle, but it’s very significant as it paints Shinji’s decisions in EoE as more reprehensible to me. He does realize that a massive hive mind does nothing but provide a false comfort from reality and creates a world in which nothing exists, but I don’t feel as if his change of heart undoes the feeling I was left with when he did what he did. His change happens so suddenly and I just wasn’t moved by it especially when the ending shows that his decisions still have huge ramifications. In fact with how easily he changed his mind it felt quite rushed and provided no comfort after the myriad of harsh emotions the film inflicted upon me. In the TV series despite secretly wishing for the Third Impact, it at least wasn’t an active choice he deliberately chose. So to say these are the same thing, just told in different formats is not accurate. Another huge way the two endings differ is in what they ultimately have to say and the messages behind EoE are the crux of my problems with it. The TV series concluded with Shinji realizing his life had value and that even if he doesn’t like himself at the moment, perhaps someday he could. The film, however, has something very different to say. Ultimately EoE says that humans are incapable of mutually understanding each other and social interaction will lead to pain, but it’s better to live life accepting that hardship than it is to live isolated. I find this to be so frustrating. Yes, it definitely is important to accept that in life you will struggle instead of slipping into a fantasy, but to say that people are going to always cause each other misery and you have to treat this as an inevitability is just too nihilistic. Shinji even tells Rei and Kaworu at the end that it’s merely a selfish wish to ask that people one day understand each other and the film frames this as if he is speaking some profound truth. Perhaps I am too much of a romantic, but I don’t see anything uplifting or meaningful in this at all. In fact I’d go so far as to argue there’s some level of delusion in that message. Saying it’s nothing more than a fantasy to want people to build deeper connections feels like the sort of thing a person says to keep themselves emotionally distant and comes across as callous. One might be wondering “if the purpose of the film is to be downbeat isn’t this a good thing?” and to that I just have to say that even if these sorts of themes make sense for a tragedy that doesn’t mean I am obliged to love it. It all goes back to that gratuitous pessimism I mentioned earlier. I acknowledge that Anno’s poor mental health might be the cause of him writing such a thing, but regardless that doesn’t mean I should lie and say I like this. The film does say that it’s best to accept the anguish that comes with socializing than to be alone, but it doesn’t even try to suggest that there are benefits to human interaction beyond “it’s better than a world where nobody exists”. Anno’s writing is rather direct in the sense that he has characters literally say these things so I don’t find this up to interpretation, nor does his direction suggest the characters are wrong. Some people take comfort in accepting that they perceive the world as full of problems, I suppose it’s this sense of things are bad so don’t worry too much about it, but that isn’t something I believe in. I just find it very defeatist and misanthropic. The TV series did state that the only person who can truly understand you is yourself, but it was followed by a plea for Shinji to treat himself better. It wasn’t presented like this. While NGE’s ending spoke of self-worth and wanting to change yourself, no such things are stated in EoE. So considering that EoE was the ending Anno always had envisioned, and that its themes don’t align with the show’s ending, it makes the scenes that once closed the series on an emotional high come across as almost sarcastic. The film does feature Shinji saying he will probably find himself second guessing if breaking out of Instrumentality was the right choice, but that he will always know the real answer to that. Considering the reasons the film provides for why rejecting Instrumentality is best I don’t exactly see this as life affirming like how the show was. Your message is built on the idea that people are too broken to ever coexist properly so lines like that just feel hollow to me. EoE does have Shinji’s mother Yui speak on how anywhere can be paradise if you want it to and so long as people have the will to live they’ll return, but any potential emotional high that offers is all undone by the very final scene. We see Shinji and Asuka laying on a beach amidst piles of rubble and the remains of the mutated Rei, he strangles her until she strokes his face bringing him to tears, she mutters “how disgusting” and the movie just stops. I suppose the positive thing people extrapolate from this is knowing Asuka is alive and that this represents the rest of humanity’s survival, but I didn’t get that from it. All I see is two people the film showed to be mutually toxic towards one another alone, surrounded by widespread destruction one of them caused, with no other signs of life. I can’t help but find it to be a painfully sour and dissatisfying way to punctuate this story. Now this isn’t to say that EoE is devoid of anything valuable. Of the anime I dislike this is easily the best in terms of directing and production. Anno and his team really worked hard to make this film be an animation spectacle. It isn’t what I’d select as the best animated film of the 90s, however it still looks great. Being able to work on a movie scale is something that I think was good for him especially because he was no longer working against such intense time constraints. Like with the TV series I think the voice acting is terrific. I’m a fan of Megumi Ogata and think that her performance as Shinji is perfect for his character, her screaming cuts deep. And although Misato isn’t my favorite role Kotono Mitsuishi has had I think she’s another solid performance in a career filled with amazing work. Akira Ishida as Kaworu, like in NGE, only has so much time on screen but I enjoy his voice so much that he has my attention either way. Fumihiko Takechi as Gendo is interesting because while I do at times find myself thinking of his character from “Gintama”, Hasegawa, I also think his voice is what this sort of character needed. Personally I wasn’t fond of Rei’s voice despite being a fan of Megumi Hayashibara, but I acknowledge this small whisper is what this role calls for. And Yuuko Miyamura as Asuka sounds wonderful, I’m always surprised she didn’t appear in more anime because she really delivers here. I actually think some of the things done with Asuka in this film were good for her character. Many have described her as unreasonable and impossible to like in EoE, but considering she was coping with her own mental breakdown I think it makes sense that she wouldn’t want to have Shinji sponge off of her. Even if it’s not intentional, it is very damaging to try and force your own pain onto another person going through their own trauma. It creates this codependency that hurts Shinji while at the same time puts Asuka in a caretaker role that she is not emotionally equipped for. I understand why so many people project onto Shinji and think Asuka is being cruel, but I think taking her situation into account her behavior is something I understand. She also has a very impressive mecha battle, something that feels like an elevated version of the best fights we received in the series. I did appreciate the movie explaining the Angels and how humans relate to them, while I never found myself caring that deeply about what they were I still think it was good to clarify this. When I really step back and get down to it despite my many criticisms of EoE I can admit to the fact that it isn’t a film with nothing in its favor. This isn’t like when I reviewed “Black Butler II” which genuinely offered me nothing, it’s just at the same time these things are all in the service of a plot and themes I take issue with. The truth is I feel like you could have the most beautiful animation ever and the most amazing music put to film, but if the story falls apart then that can’t save it. When I began my rewatch of NGE I said that perhaps I was looking to see to what degree EoE has effected the show for me. I do have to admit, unfortunately, that in some ways it has. The TV ending really does come across like something Anno hobbled together hastily because he wasn’t able to do what he really wanted. And this movie is the ending he always intended to give to his anime so I don’t really feel like I can ignore it like I used to. Anno as well as his co-director Kazuya Tsurumaki have called NGE’s ending a failure after all and when I see it now I just feel like it’s disingenuous and was done because Anno needed something to fill those episodes with. So what I have here is a TV anime I still like, but one ending I cannot enjoy anymore and then another I have never enjoyed. It makes me ask myself, what am I supposed to do with this? Maybe in a few years I’ll have an answer, but one thing is clear and it’s that I don’t think this franchise is for me anymore and I should move on. I’ll still like NGE and I can still appreciate technical things about EoE, but this definitely isn’t something I’ll want to experience again. It’s ultimately too disheartening and while it’s great that people can find something meaningful in that, I’m just left feeling terrible. I think Hideaki Anno is a very talented and interesting person whose work I wouldn’t wish away even though I have mixed opinions on several of his anime. He really did create something larger than himself at a time in his life where he felt his most desperate and it’s the type of anime only he could have produced. Plenty of other people are going to continue to admire it and look at it as the apex of the entire medium. It definitely isn’t for me, but that’s okay and now I have to let go.
My last review, which didn't praise the artistry of Evangelion says it all, I'm not a fan of the show. It was just too uneventful for me, because the way the plot of this show was structured is quite different and unconventional, and it just didn't make me feel excited enough to watch the next episode of the show. Now before I review, the end of Evangelion, I'd like to say few things about NGE. First, the characters except for rei Ayanami are characterized pretty well, and the realistically bleak nature of Evangelion's cast serves as an inspiration for me to write more realistic and believable characters. Shinji, Asuka (I hate that bitch as a person, but as a character, she is done pretty well), Misato; etc are all done pretty well and are essentially deconstructed character troupes which are meant to be despised, which is pretty neat. However for me, the problems with this show started coming up when there was nothing going on this show, and the plot was sidelined, so the creators could give the characters just far too much attention. Sure I know there mental state is deteriorating And the first 4 episodes were able to convey that. But if the rest remaining episodes are just doing that, without any negative or positive character growth and a sidelined plot, the show would just become uninteresting and that's the problem with Evangelion. I get it, the show is not focused on plot, but In my opinion, its something that doesn't work in the favor of the show, but I may be wrong, because if millions of fans dig it, then I guess this narrative structure did work really well, it just wasn't for me, I guess. But all of these problems I had were addressed at The End of Evangelion. The movie was meant to replace the happy yet anti-climatic ending of NGE, and the film was pretty darn good. Now I won't analyze or deconstruct the symbolism or metaphors of this film, but in a general sense, I'd say the film was balanced and just done well enough. It incorporated all the elements of NGE in moderation and added a climactic ending to the show (it was ambiguous, but I kind of like it), which was both plot and characters heavy. The visual cinematography was lovely as well, the action scenes were animated really well, there was some much-needed character growth in this film (Shinji was whining at the start, but at the very end, the decision he made is some minor positive growth), the Music was fucking awesome. All the plot points were resolved and addressed and the ending was much better and more symbolic in its nature. All in all, after getting frustrated with NGE, I had low hopes for the film, but it's quite good and rewatchable, and it just manages to hit the right notes. Now is it the best of best? No, in fact, this film received a mixed reception, but objectively this film is better than NGE. The religious symbolism and ambiguously vague scenes at the end were again just 'too deep for me' (believable, since the whole series encourages its viewers to interpret stuff on their own and doesn't try to be conclusive which is both good and bad in a way), but my final verdict is that even if this film is as flawed as the show, its watchable, and hence I mildly enjoyed it and thus I give it a score of 73.
The modern myth made manifest through its titular mecha. It's themes are timeless, it's execution flaunts finesse, and it's presentation ages like wine. webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/9c06855ab454ca4f5101e6c6e9358243.mp4) >[It is a story where the main character witnesses many horrors with his own eyes, but still tries to stand up again. It is a story of will; a story of moving forward, if only just a little.] - Anno >[It is a story of fear, where someone who must face indefinite solitude fears reaching out to others, but still wants to try.] - Anno A story about learning to accept the human condition, yourself and others. The ending that gave me a new beginning. I'm Mimico and this is— ~~~__End Of Evangelion • The Joy of Rebirth __ ~~~ img1080(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/810931510227763300/812523453277012038/VideoCapture_20210219-165235.jpg) >ep 25' A desperate Shinji, who has lost all his connections, begs Asuka to help him. Despite how much he's gone through in [TV] this display shows he's hit a new rock bottom. Below his decision to run away [ep 4], or righteous anger at his father for literally forcing his hand [ep 17]. He's sunken in despair. A depression that threatens the last thing Shinji has left. A will to live. webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/195a6f05bf03979bdd2cb8dba8aed18f.mp4) >Shinji’s music player has died, his last avenue of escape. In a scene that walks on the edge of breaking the fourth wall, Misato finds out what caused the second impact only for it to be wiped. >The text was an excerpt explaining the history of Gainax. Besides being a hilarious flex, I feel this is a subtle reminder from the creators that the lore doesn't actually matter. It's window dressing for the plot, and more literally, a means to an end. >[Get moving and do something. You can die later] - Misato. Unironically good advice. We have the rest of time to be dead. Frankly there's no rush. Being half-alive is worse than never being born at all. webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/d727277e74e154618afab9d26214082d.mp4) >Shinji is once again sitting behind the cockpit, but to his horror Asuka has been killed. With a sorrowful scream we fade to black. ~~~つづく~~~ ~~~__Intermission Thoughts__ ~~~ Part of what makes Eva so compelling is how Anno manages to track just how desperate Shinji is at any given moment, leading to a compelling and grounded experience. Beyond the cool visuals and the insane plot the series is always rooted in the psychological consequences of these interactions. The toll of lonliness. >[Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways] - Sigmund Freud img720(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/810931510227763300/812524209732583434/VideoCapture_20210219-181244.jpg) >ep 26' Through instrumentality Shinji comes to understand he's just like Asuka. In typical teenager fashion both are torn up about not being understood by the other, but that's a two way street. >[If I can't have you to myself I don't want anything from you] - Asuka Shinji only cares about himself, and even then not really. Not in a way that's healthy. The worst possible thing for him to tell Asuka is that he needs her because it confirms she's replaceable. Shinji needs connection, but not like this. This is all wrong. Of course they don't understand each other. They hardly communicate and when they do the two are rarely honest. How could Shinji hold her if she never asked him to? How could Asuka embrace him if he pulls away? There is nothing more dangerous than veiled intentions. img720(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/810931510227763300/812524210358190131/VideoCapture_20210219-181621.jpg) >[I thought this was supposed to be a world without pain] - Shinji Shinji’s hope is based on a faulty premise. That you could live without pain. He misunderstood from the very beginning. Because of this he's in direct opposition with what it means to be human. Worse yet, he hates it. He desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it. The cost of admission is a hedgehog's barb. If you're scared of what people think of you, you'll never be close to them. __~~~[You fool] ~~~__ If you close your heart you are damned. In a ploy to reunite with his wife, Gendo has lost his humanity. This is the path Shinji was headed on. img720(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/810931510227763300/812524371968786442/VideoCapture_20210219-183101.jpg) >Shinji wished to fuse with everyone else because he couldn't bear being alone. Wishing for a form of effortless communication that doesn't exist. Reality is the desires we hold in our heart made manifest. How can I be dead if my heart is still beating? If I still posses hands? >One More Final img720(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/810931510227763300/812524617608593458/VideoCapture_20210219-184357.jpg) In the last scene Shinji emerges from the sea with Asuka. The two are next to each other, but their hands are framed apart. He looks over, seeing Rei, the physical form of hope. Shinji strangles Asuka again but she reaches out her hand, holding his cheek. A gesture I read as "You're not alone." >I think the beauty in this scene is precisely because it takes place in reality. These acts don't carry a pretext like all of their prior interactions. img720(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/810931510227763300/812524712428830761/VideoCapture_20210219-190415.jpg) This is a genuine expression, however violent. One that finds a reply in heartbreaking validation. Though Shinji will once again feel pain, he chose to come back. Life wouldn't be worth living if he couldn't accept the possibility of things failing. So even if Shinji gets rejected, he's resolved to carry that weight. As long as the earth exists everything will be alright. You can leave the sea at any time. >So fly me to the moon, though it's covered in blood. I wish to find hope and create a new love. In other words I'll be true. In other words, I need you. img720(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/810931510227763300/812524620166725642/VideoCapture_20210219-190008.jpg)~~~~~~
(THIS IS OLD AND BAD) Why something like the End of Evangelion will and may not ever be replicated and Hideki Anno's connections within the film. An analysis done by Syne. I apologize in advance for any errors, mistakes, or typos I may make. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion is the culmination of everything that has happened up until the very end of the main show. This movie seeks to break boundaries and does so admirably, without further ado I present my love to letter to you on "The End of Evangelion". End of Evangelion is a movie deeply rooted in Philosophy, Religion, and the Human Condition. This movie sees NERV being attacked by Steele as to the means to start the Third Impact so that all life may be reversed once more. However, Gendo Ikari seeks to start the Third Impact on his own accord so that he may see his Wife Yui Ikari again. That is the basic premise but this movie is so so so much more, Let me first explain the state of mind Hideki Anno was in whilst making this movie. The main series of Neon Genesis Evangelion has ended and it is not a success. People did not seem to like the ending of the main show. Anno is unhappy, he is receiving death threats from distraught fans, he is in a horrible horrible place mentally and so he decides to create "The End of Evangelion". In order to give fans an actually ending he stooped to the worst he has ever been and starts writing. I want to now talk about some aspects of the movie that definitely tied in with how Anno Felt. Shinji at the start of End of Eva is at his absolute lowest point, He's lonely, depressed, He has no one except Asuka left and she in incapacitated in a hospital bed so he can't even talk to he. He even tries waking her up but upon seeing her body, well. The Hospital scene occurs and Shinji officially hits his lowest point in the series, Even being Disgusted by his own actions after the fact. The when Shinji hears that NERV is being attacked and everyone he's known could die he just accepts it. This is VERY Clearly in reference to how Anno felt, Shinji being at his lowest point is likely a self insert for Anno. and now another aspect that ties in is Anno's anger, Not only was he sad due to how fans were taking the end of the series, but he was also very angry and outraged. Shinji in the 2nd half of Evangelion is especially angry when he chokes and attacks Asuka because she wasn't there for him when he was at his lowest. This is likely a symbolistic example of Asuka representing Anno's self. Ergo, Anno wanted to kill himself with his own self insert character. Another thing that is a big stand out of this movie is the real life segment that occurs after the third impact. The real life scene presents us with dreams and reality, and at this point, the film ceases to be about Shinji, and starts to be about Anno, and what he's trying to express, so it makes sense that we get glimpses of reality. Anno starts to express all his feelings during this sequence. and lastly I have one last scene to talk about, The sandbox scene. in this sequence we see a swing set, swinging back and forth along with 2 polls on either side of the hills, the left one is a loudspeaker and the right one is a street lamp and in the middle we see a sandcastle of the NERV building. The vivid imagery from this sequence is often considered to be filled with symbolism and metaphors. This is my interpretation of the imagery and events of this sequence, I believe that the sandcastle also serves to show Shinji's personality. He continues building the pyramid because no one told him to stop. And it could be that when he finished, he realized that even though he accomplished something, there is no one around that cares about him to recognize it, so he destroys it in frustration. There is one more scene I want to talk about actually, I lied. The scene after Shinji talks to Rei and Kaworu and decides that he doesn't care if the boundaries exist within reality, Because it is due to the final episode in the main series that he decides to give humans an opportunity to return in the end, This definitely represents Anno's state by the end of writing the film. By the end he probably feels liberated, he probably feels free after having wrote the true ending to Evangelion. and Shinji allowing everyone to return if they choose to symbolizes his mood. Because In doing so, Anno is finally free mentally, as is Shinji after realizing that those bonds and relationships he had were genuine. The AT fields that exist within our reality return but that's okay. So long as we have one another we will go on even with conflict in the world. These subtle themes, details, and messages are part of the reason I simply believe this movie may never be replicated, along with the mental state Anno was in at the time contributing massively, This movie is a masterpiece of metaphors, symbolism, and Philosophy. next time I'll do a proper review of this movie and I'll be sure to include everything I missed but for now I just wanted to talk about why this movie likely will not be replicated due to multiple factors Thank you for reading. Authors Note: This isn't good or anything and I could do alot better but I kind of just wanted to write just to write.
Decided that after having finished the main series of Neon Genesis Evangelion, I needed to watch this almost immediately to get my final fix after seeing all the breadcrumbs dropped throughout the final few episodes. I was pretty taken aback by this even so however, as it felt like everything about Evangelion accentuated tenfold, the stakes, the character flaws, the weird, surreal imagery, just, everything. This everything also included my enjoyment of this as well, the way it acts both as an action filled series with intense, miserable scenes, and an interesting exploration into a collection of screwed up characters. I definitely felt like this cleared up a lot of the events that left me feeling confused with the TV ending, while also demonstrating a massively increased production value leading to a number of visually stunning scenes that fully conveyed the downright insane stakes at hand and completely enraptured me as the one continuous movement of wild events kept on outdoing itself. To further solidify this as something downright incredible, this manages to have not one, but two of the greatest scenes in anything anime related that I've seen, and both cover totally different facets of the medium. You've got one of the greatest action scenes, with a profound sense of desperation and destructive fury against a hopeless situation paired up with remarkably fluid choreography, which is a rarity when it comes to shows with giant mechs as a primary form of attack. While this alone would be enough for me to consider this amazing, it's also paired with one of the most emotionally devastating scenes as well, if you've watched it you'll know the one and how it is a perfectly crafted scene, and if you haven't watched it, then watch it, the way it all comes together perfectly with the music and all that is to die for. Another thing I feel like I need to add is that this definitely requires a couple of watches just due to how much incomprehensible stuff is going on, stuff's always far more enjoyable and impactful once you know what the heck is going on after all. Not really much more I feel like I can say about this without just repeating what I think about the series as a whole, but the grandiose, yet bleak imagery throughout was absolutely crushing to witness, not to mention just, endlessly memorable. I feel like with the amount of surreal, hard to follow stuff that happened in the last third of this, I'll need to watch it again to truly understand everything this movie was trying to convey, but even what I got out of it was simply incredible and made any negative things I thought about the NGE series completely worth getting through in order to experience this.
With the last angel defeated it seems that nerv has finally won the battle for humanity’s survival. However, Ikari Gendo has other plans for the Evangelions, ones that will shake SEELE to its core and force the shadowy council to order a hostile takeover of NERV’s MAGI supercomputer system. When the electronic attacks fail, military forces are sent in to eliminate everyone at NERV headquarters and capture the Evangelions. With all three Eva pilots unable to respond to this threat all seems lost, but as the end of the world draws closer with every passing second, destinies will finally be revealed and relationships defined. Plot: 7.75 Characters: 8.00 Impact: 8.25 Visual: 9.00 Audio: 9.00 Overall: 8.25 (not an average) For those disappointed or befuddled at the last two episodes of the Neon Genesis Evangelion, Anno Hideaki delivers an alternate conclusion to his controversial series in End of Evangelion. Granted, the movie was not so much a labor of love as it was a semi-bitter response to the death threats leveled against Anno and Studio Gainax. In lieu of that fact, EoE still stands as a good movie in itself that manages to give the viewer a gruff psychological thriller amidst a contorted visual medley of assorted religious symbolism. Technically, EoE is considerably superior to its television series cousin. The visuals, unhampered by bothersome scene transitions and budget strains, are on a level that NGE never manages to achieve. Visuals in this movie predominantly consist of graphic violence or disturbing imagery, which are animated in fine fashion. One particular sequence involving Evangelion combat is worthy of particular notice, especially for fans of Asuka and Unit-02 who felt that the character never really got a lot of chances to exhibit her combat prowess in the original series. As good as the visuals are in the first half of the movie (constructed to replace the penultimate episode of NGE), I personally felt that the events portrayed in the final installment of the title (the equivalent of NGE’s television finale) were even more effective and awe-inspiring than its forerunner. Indeed, the apocalypse hadn’t looked as good as it did in the waning moments of EoE. As for the audio, the movie benefits from one of the best ensembles in the business. Exceptional performances from Ogata Megumi (Shinji), Mitsuishi Kotono (Misato), and Miyamura Yuko (Asuka) were complemented by an overall great performance from the rest of the cast. Tons of dialogue was implemented into the script in order to try and illuminate the more ambiguous parts of the plot and the seiyuu work did more than its part to try and get the audience involved in this gritty work. On a side note, the music’s tone and melody may occasionally seem misplaced when compared to what’s on screen, but a closer examination of Sagisu Shiro’s lyrics will come to prove otherwise. Brilliant work in this aspect of the movie as well. Despite the EoE’s extravagant, and most effective, assault on the senses, the movie is, well, Evangelion property and the one thing that is guaranteed about that fact is that it will have a dizzying array of obscure Judaeo-Christian references embedded throughout its story. This is especially evident in the final installment of the movie where the Evangelion saga finally reaches its troubling close. In what was supposed to be the final answer to hundreds upon thousands of unsatisfied (and some unruly) viewers, Anno slyly ends up giving his audience a conclusion that is even more open-ended than the one administered in the original television series. A wise move to short-change his critics, but one that stunted the resolution of the events depicted in this particular piece. All in all, not the product that we might have truly desired, but one that is worthy of the tireless Eva legacy that fans around the world have grown accustomed to. Although the plot goes without a fan-favored ending, EoE remains a movie that should be merited at the very least for one of the smartest pieces of direction ever put to cel animation or even film in general for that matter. If you ever found yourself lost in the television series’ interpretation of the Human Instrumentality Project, do yourself a favor and check out End of Evangelion. Not was this ending produced under a more flexible budget, but it ends up aiding the viewer visualize the end of the world in impressive, albeit haunting, fashion.
~!How do you even start to talk about something like End of Evangelion? This is one of the greatest explorations of humanity I've ever seen. We see humanity's wish to evolve, its wish to die, and its wish to continue living as if nothing happened, all in the same breath, without even feeling cramped. We see an incredibly moving representation of sadness and joy. We feel every single emotion, all in one movie. The content itself is phenomenal as well. Seele and Nerv are fighting for control over how the Third Impact, and in turn the Human Instrumentality Project, will be set off. In an attempt to take back control of this humongous, threatening project from Gendo Ikari, they set the Japanese Army on Nerv headquarters, and we watch a merciless slaughter of all our favourite characters. Seele prepares to set off the Third Impact by drawing out Unit-01, and using it as the vessel of all of humanity. And, despite Asuka's best efforts to stop Seele (in a really really cool fight scene), they succeed. And so, the credits roll...about one half through the runtime. Very epic troll, Hideaki Anno. The second half is a deep, psychological analysis of Shinji - truly, one of the least heroic, yet most sympathetic and interesting protagonists ever made. We see how much the events of the series has impacted his mental health, and now he hates himself. This self-hatred is egged on by the series', and quite possibly "God's", insistence that Shinji cannot act, leading to horrible acts from Shinji and, in turn, yet another show I've watched greatly demonstrating the cycle of self-destruction. By making Shinji relatable from the start, then expressing some of his worst qualities, we see the director's message - we as humans need to grow and mature, or else we become like Shinji before he learns to accept himself. And change to the self can only come through decisiveness, something Shinji is demonstrated not to have. In fact, Shinji is hurt so often by others throughout the series that he grows to hate humans, and when given divine power over all of humankind, decides that humankind should die. And he should die with them. This is, of course, Seele's successful plan of creating one, singular lifeform - Instrumentality. Watching Human Instrumentality unfold in such a horrifying, yet god-like way, is astonishing, and the feeling of helplessness at watching it all happen is so greatly executed, much like the entire movie. And so, we reach the ending, taking place immediately after the show's finale - where Shinji is now on the road to self-love again. He can finally grow, and in turn become kinder to others. He realises he must let humanity decide, individually, whether they accept instrumentality or not, a very mature decision to make indeed. Shinji is mature. Or so it seems. We then get the final scene, and we find that both Shinji and Asuka are the first two humans to resurface, and possibly the last two humans ever. Seeing Asuka again, Shinji relapses into his old self, the one that clearly isn't gone - he remembers how cruel humanity was to him, especially this one girl. And so, he doesn't even attempt to talk to her - he just chokes her. How terrible. But now, we see Asuka growing, as she strokes Shinji's face - a message to him that she understands him, and a message to us that her facade is gone. And so, Shinji releases his grip. But Asuka isn't moving, and it seems he's killed her. He starts crying again, horrified at what he's done, but Asuka's still alive. She looks up at him, her facade back up, and says "disgusting". What an impactful end, to summarise humanity as much as that. People with bad sides, good sides, and fake sides, all combined together in one jumbled mess. The End of Evangelion is an Absolute Masterpiece. Nothing more, nothing less.!~
~~~__The Evangelion review__~~~
I always find it difficult to understand old-anime phenomena. People seem to be carried out by
nostalgia and overrate the series, that maybe are good when comparing them to other releases from the
same time, yet look miserable when comparing them to modern standards. So what exactly is wrong with
__The Evangelion__?
~~~ __Symbolism__ ~~~
~~~img220(https://picc.io/v1DxJf1.png)~~~
The Evangelion is full of symbolism. This alone is a good thing, yet symbolism should never overtake
the plot. Let's take __Attack on Titan__ as an example, it's also full of symbolism, yet it's fully
optional, one may watch the whole series without ever realizing that plot elements had second,
philosophical meaning. However, in Evangelion the story is simply cut at the end and fully replaced
with symbolism. At the same time, this symbolism feels very boring, it doesn't touch real problems,
but rather common philosophical questions, such as "what life is?" or "what's the meaning of life?",
etc.
~~~
__Characters__
img220(https://picc.io/mFRWHC_.png)~~~The characters are another weak point of The Evangelion. The
main character is simply a lost teenage boy. He doesn't learn a thing or change a bit throughout the
series, he just gets a depression. All characters feel distanced from the viewer and are hard to
relate to. Even the most promising character - Ikari Gendou at the end, just disappears from action
and doesn't play any major role.
~~~
__The ending__
img220(https://picc.io/EwQTCcL.png)
~~~The ending is one of the "open type", so it leaves the interpretation to the viewer. The biggest
problem of the ending is that it's simply disappointing, there's no conclusion, no big mystery reveal,
no plot twist. The story felt unfinished after watching the main series, and the movie basically
changes nothing.
~~~
__Nihilism__
img220(https://picc.io/-nci3zw.png)
~~~Nihilism is a leading theme of The Evangelion. In my opinion, this philosophy is flawed in many
ways, and only someone depressed or exhausted can really "enjoy" it. It's just very depressing and
boring. Also, it isn't as uncommon in anime as you may think, especially in the older titles.
~~~
__Pornographic additions__
img220(https://picc.io/xF5TiM8.png)
~~~Sexual content appears multiple times throughout the series, and it always feels misfit, because of
a rather serious plot. Maybe such contrast was intentional, yet it's just not enjoyable for the
viewer.
~~~
#Conclusion
~~~The Evangelion doesn't appear to be "a masterpiece" as many people try to depict it. It has a very
single-directed story, that targets a very specific group of viewers. The ending feels unfinished and
isn't satisfying. The good things about the series are: unique style and interesting world.
~~~Note: This is more of a commentary on Evangelion, much less a review. I felt it was necessary to provide a bit of a background on the world of Evangelion, hence the first few paragraphs talk about the TV series, aired in 1995 - this part contains spoilers for the later episodes of that. A caution for when the spoilers for the film begin has been marked a few paragraphs below. ~~~ ~~~img700(https://i.imgur.com/epRvuEb.png)~~~ If there was anything to galvanize your interest towards the world of Evangelion, the happenings in Episode 19 of the TV series provided such a moment. It was then that the well-established setup had gotten to its tipping point: this was the culmination of the Angel-of-the-week configuration, so majorly altered in those closing moments by way of a reveal whose emergence stood to confirm one thing - that if we thought we'd figured (most of) the world of Evangelion, we were wrong. Shinji was no longer a pilot to Unit-01, but an actuator for the Angel within to acquiesce to his commands. When those parameters were no longer met, the bellowing sound of the Angel awakening needed no further cue to signal the unknown that was to come: that there was more to this world than was being let on. The last episodes of the TV series, whilst in keeping with the general veering of the show towards supplanting action with psychoanalysis, perhaps left some to be desired. The shift seemed rather brusque and the full-blown delving into metaphysical territory could have been tempered in a more concentrated manner. There was more to want from Evangelion, in essence. And The End of Evangelion was there to provide just that: a more definitive version of the universe that hosted Tokyo-3. In a series that has built up a foundation for the sole purpose of tearing it down, Hideaki Anno's creation is both an exercise in restraint and exasperation. The former takes hold of the series until its mid-to-late stages, most observable in the quiet interactions between the members of Misato's household. A rather moving instance where Anno's restraint is beautifully transmitted is through the Shinji-Misato relationship, specifically in the way it evolves - and how they appear to be much closer to one another than it had been suggested. In truth, anything that resembles Misato - and even Ritsuko - is a demonstration of thoughtful directorial restraint. The orderly-yet-disorderly antithesis that best describes Misato goes a long way in the proceedings of her tale, but there's also her seeking of human connection that's so integral to what she is about. Her inability to put herself out there without feigning resilience of character is merely one of the many facets to one of the characters in this series. And Ritsuko, too, with the glaring irony of not retreading her mother's steps in life - yet doing just that - substantiates another of Anno's attempts at probing into the human nature. With Evangelion, its study of interhuman relationships is just as necessary to account for as the unabated mecha set pieces it trots out. Make no mistake, to prop up the fighting sequences in that manner and to then supplant them with intense character study was a long-in-the-making matter. Shifting towards psychoanalysis by the later episodes didn't relocate the objective or narrative goal of the series - it merely stood to remind that what mattered was inside the mechanical robot, not outside it. As it concerns itself with the study of the self-doubt and the loss of self-actualization adjacent to its characters' headspaces, the abundance of depressive behaviour that's portrayed is not at all surprising. It's a dire and unfeeling world out there in Tokyo-3, and with examples ranging from the insecurity-ridden Shinji to the validation-starved Asuka, all the way to the stifling aloofness of Rei (which hints at a strange backstory); there's something that lies inward of those characters that's so curiously morbid to uncover. And the results of draping their backstories by their narrative threads in the last third of the series pulls forth some disquieting reveals, with Asuka's being so disheartening that I fail to conjure any string of words to have any rational say. There's a palpable sense of dread to virtually anything happening in Anno's work. That sentiment is continually amplified both throughout the series and in the film - and it's crushing. The sheer anticipation you sense during Evangelion is nigh unbearable, because it's not the pleasant kind. It's akin to knowing there's something that wasn't yet revealed about something that you fear inwards. It's this anticipation that works so effectively in Anno's fictionalized world, and it functions twofold: for one, it quantifies uneasiness toward future events through fear of the unknown, which it capitalizes on in ways that are as twisted as the anime's universe. And through those ways, you are being thrown in for a feedback loop in which you only expect the worst to come. In fact, Evangelion can also be classified as a foray into the unknown and into quandaries that lie beyond human comprehension. The designs of the Angels exemplify that notion, as the tamer, more conventional forms are rolled out in the earlier episodes, with the increasingly more bizarre entities introduced midway through the series seriously testing the realms of comprehension and...creativity! Oddities such as Leliel, Sahaquiel and Armisael look downright peculiar, for instance. ~~~Spoilers on the film to follow.~~~ When talking strictly about The End of Evangelion, one has to retain that the vehicle to transport Anno's narrative doesn't much change, relative to the series. The main engine to propel everything forward feels very much familiar: the film starts brazen and bold, and continues in that manner. It debuts with an urgency that it manages to maintain fully without a hitch. Perhaps what was envisioned as the ultimate irony came to be: humanity is the ultimate foil and the final angel. And right off the gate, Anno doesn't waste any time with niceties: it's a full-on man-on-man assault. Where the series would likely fete us with some extraterrestrial beings for the humans to fight, the film upends that course of action immediately by getting SEELE to deploy an onslaught on Gendo's organization. But the beginning of Anno’s film isn’t just that. The hospital room we’re thrown into in the opening is desolate and lugubrious, not just in tone but also in content – as we see a dejected Shinji pleading for a bedridden, unconscious Asuka to wake up. What follows in the absence of a reply can perhaps act as a disclaimer that Anno has been given the artistic freedom he’d long coveted, for better or for worse. Anno has oftentimes stated that Evangelion is the result of many years of heavy mental toll as caused by severe depression. That Shinji, Asuka, and Rei all act as facets of that depression is already known, but it nevertheless makes for an interesting case. If the character Shinji is to embody the more withdrawn and reclusive spells of the author, thus understandable as the lows of Anno’s depression; the foundation beneath Asuka could very well be a placeholder for the more animated highs of Anno’s depressive bouts. With that in place, Rei would slot right in the middle, if one would recognize a state of general aloofness and relative detachment to be the default of depression. This is just my interpretation, so it’s entirely possible I may be horribly mistaken. Regardless, the arcs of these main characters skew terribly for the worse in End of Evangelion, which nonetheless helps a lot with empathizing with Anno’s case. And in case that wasn’t enough of a confirmation, what developments the main characters go through during the movie may just as well settle it: if there’s one thing that Anno wants to remind you, it’s that he’s not willing to relent on this one. As Shinji’s mental health deteriorates, the onus falls on Asuka to deliver. As a departure from the series’ ways, this is quite major: where Gendo’s shut-in son would usually be the one to make the difference as Asuka’s boisterous performances proved unremarkable. This window of opportunity presented the Unit-02’s pilot with just the chance to finally prove herself. And she does… Battling the Mass Produced Eva series, in a segment which is simply outstanding - both visually and sonically – is one of the greatest gifts that Anno delivered with the End of Evangelion. There’s an already established grim ambiance to Evangelion, and that is a moment in which it all peaks. It’s a culmination of that uneasy sentiment, where what was ghastly and unknown was hiding in plain sight; it’s humanity fighting itself, using the tools it had used prior to repelling the invading alien forces. And that, now more than ever, is an irony of inconceivable proportions. How droll it is, for humans for fight amongst themselves using the very means they had developed to stave off the invading, foreign entities. It is arguable that this speaks to the predicament of humanity: that somehow, in the most inopportune times, it finds a way and reason to self-hate. God’s in his heaven, all is right with the world is curiously the slogan of Gendo’s organization, Nerv. Various interpretations exist and each see the message from valid perspectives, construing it in just as valid ways. But where – if I retain correctly – the predominant understanding is that Gendo’s organization is doing God’s work - thus leading to all being right with the world – I however have a more despondent outlook on its significance. What with the happenings in Evangelion, depressing as they are, I see the quote mentioned prior as a jibe at the state of humanity: God has abandoned us, leaving us to tend to our self-destructive path towards ruin. It is through this that Anno’s interpolation of such a quote into his work gives it new meaning. All being right with the world of Tokyo-3 is thus not more than a derision at its state of affairs; the meaning is just as ironic as humanity turning on itself, after having staved off its alien adversaries. Hence, all being right with the world is a grave misrepresentation of the state of humanity, a jab at its competence to mock and self-flagellate itself. ~~~img700(https://i.imgur.com/lRgNyQ6.jpg)~~~ Returning to Asuka and her section midway through the film: it’s one for the ages. Beyond the sequences providing some of the smoothest yet weightiest-feeling battle scenes from any medium, they’re also ripe with meaning. Owing to the quality of animation, the feeling and intensity of every punch and laceration have stupendous force. And Asuka herself is a precious force in this culmination of her arc: she’s punching, stabbing, ripping, tearing those MP Evas, and you feel every bit of that. You feel every jolt, writhing, and every drawing of breath of hers to keep pushing on. It is through this that what is transmitted is thoroughly transposed beyond the screen. Asuka’s final battle is a superlative feat; it is more than a neatly stylized section where robots fight one another, but a spell in which the troubled childhood of one of the characters is finally made away with for once. It is now that such a past finally meets resistance, granting us the ability to see true potential being met: we’re witnessing a heroine now at peace with herself, no longer defiled by self-doubt. Witnessing Unit 02 lift an aircraft carrier as it rises from the seabed is a particularly moving sequence. It’s a powerful case in which the visuals connect with the message so faultlessly that all you can do is lap it up and relish the moment. It is a sequence like few others, where it feels like all the momentum had been building up to that, funneling into this one set piece. And you certainly feel it; my reaction faintly making me reminisce what I’d felt firsthand whilst watching Game of Thrones’ Battle of the Bastards; the endings of The Florida Project & Parasite, and, more anime-related, Attack on Titan’s Declaration of War. Simply put, it’s as if the fabric of this entire fictitious universe is bursting at its seams, ready to unravel and scatter before you. And Anno does a lot with what pieces there are on his board: the 15-or-so minutes of Asuka’s battle befit a triumph (however temporary) over this larger-than-life, Lovecraftian envisioning of depression, where it can be likened to celestial entities, seldom comprehensible and thus, often misunderstood. Incidentally, I also happen to see the different Angel entities - though they may signify no more than a backdrop for the depression-centric thematic - as extensions for the elusiveness of mental illness, hardly palpable yet still immediately apparent; where, when the protagonists manage to upend these attackers, a step is made to curb said mental hurdles. Of course, this would not be an Anno creation if the set piece mentioned prior did not come with a caveat. And a grisly one, at that. Having the MP Eva units self-revive after Asuka trashes them is the kind of sardonic wit that somehow doesn’t feel displaced in the slightest here. What follows is something that is perhaps just as exceedingly disquieting as it is gratuitous. With the overhead that Anno has been feted with for the movie, his penchant for the macabre is most evident now, more than ever, as it looks to spill into gratuitousness. It is through this argument that I extend that some toning down wouldn’t have been amiss. The End of Evangelion is uncompromising, truly. But it is so to a fault. Some violence and body horror that occur in EoE surely wasn’t all necessary. I shall return to this later on. However, I reckon the talk regarding Anno’s artistic vision is best saved for another time. And yet, with what happens to Asuka, you expect something positive to come of it. Anno unfolds the Shinji getting back into the EVA plotline in tandem with Asuka’s battle, which naturally gets you to expect the classic eleventh-hour save from Shinji. Surely, as other media had taught you prior, there’s a high chance that Shinji’s right on his way to rescue Asuka. Thus, you await salvation, conditioned by what those other pieces of media would normally provide you with. Salvation does not come. Neither Shinji nor his peers manage to miraculously resolve his anxiety and despondency. This is perhaps another of Anno’s attempts to prod at the make of fiction: it may help us in temporarily escaping reality, but Anno’s creation isn’t much of a reprieve in that sense. ~~~img700(https://i.imgur.com/sV4DtC5.png)~~~ I would be remiss in my commenting on this if I failed to adduce the other factors that contribute to the full Evangelion experience: the animation and visuals are quite fantastic, there’s a primitive sense of rage whenever the Eva units are sent into battle, much like you’d see in something like Attack on Titan or some such works. But there’s Sagisu’s score, which I feel is the one element that aggrandizes Evangelion. As we see Unit-02’s impaling by a wayward Longinus Lance, it is the notes of Sagisu’s Munashiki Nagare/M3 that cover the sonics. The marrying of Sagisu’s score to the demise of Asuka is simply beautiful, turning into something so much more than a solemn sendoff, barring what happens after the MP Eva revival. Given how Bach’s BWV 1068 is the prior piece makes one appreciate Anno’s choices just that bit more. It’s something for the history books, in all honesty. Furthermore, it would be dismissive of me to not account for the vocal performances of the actors. Prior to the airdropping of the MP Evas by SEELE, hearing the “It takes poison to quell poison, after all” quote in Japanese felt as menacing as its implications. All the same, the English dub itself works to building and maintaining the immersion to good effect. Given how oftentimes dubs are typically seen as second-grade renditions, I found the one of Evangelion to be stellar. Each character is given a distinct identity, and it all fits them so well. In fact, I cannot envision anyone other than Allison Keith as Misato; her English rendition is a top-drawer performance, plain and simple. Asuka & Shniji, too, get proper treatment from the voice actors, and with this I again retain a preference for the English interpretations. Back to the goings-on in the film, Shinji’s reaction whereupon witnessing Unit-02’s remains is particularly of note. I reckon that could be interpreted even as a placeholder for the viewer’s reaction and perception of all that happens during Anno’s film: what does it all even mean? For what it’s worth, Shinji looks just as flustered and confused as us all. That the film then segues into the onset of the Third Impact is another source for consternation. At some point during the Third Impact – whilst Komm, Susser Tod can be heard playing – Arianne candidly singing that “what’s done is done/it feels so bad” and that “my world is ending” is perhaps the most fitting lyricism to accompany the visuals. It’s all past the point of pleading or groveling; the song is a declaration, a recognition, an assertion of the fact that all is so irreparably broken that the only solutions are for naught outside of a hard reset. What’s most poignant about Komm, Susser Tod is how unflinchingly honest it is and how it's performed in such a casual, almost blasé manner. It is thus true that the fate of destruction brings about the joy of rebirth. If the place of such a quote was hitherto hardly legible, the occurrence of the Third Impact now validates it. Even if we flounder, Asuka’s revival portrays a second chance. While this may seem off-base in relation to the overarching progression at first, thematically it does make sense. If Anno sought to found a bleak and dismaying tale that ultimately ends on a life-affirming note, he achieved that with Evangelion. This is strictly talking about the artistic intent at the crux of Evangelion: I would have a hard time believing that it was meant to be anything but life affirming in the end. To add to the previous paragraph, while I may have considered the revival part of the Third Impact to be a bit of a crutch initially, I uncovered enough meaning behind it to understand and even sympathize with the choice. Again, the ending of the film – after all the tribulation that pervaded Evangelion - has that much more of a jolt. Especially as the lap of honour here is curiously one quite at odds with fiction, it’s essential that Anno’s message gets to the viewer. Through fiction we can escape reality, but only temporarily. And Anno’s make of fiction is akin to reality, in many ways – as had been presented earlier. While it may be natural for one to turn to fiction when the real world poses resistance to their ideals, entirely relying on that fiction is dysfunctional. Along comes the ending. In a project meant to probe into the throes of depression and prompt a deeper look at the fortune (and misfortune) of human interaction, Shinji’s attempt at strangling Asuka encompasses that very nature. Asuka caressing Shinji as he’s trying to subdue her provides a fitting bookend to Anno's hinting at a nascent future. It now stands to reason that the sheer depth of Anno’s creation amazes. It punctures the very cloth of fiction it’s built for itself, becoming something beyond its own dimension. The potency of the medium has been stretched to such lengths that Evangelion’s renown is not without reason. One can thus say that the trajectory of Anno’s project, focused on the metaphysical as it examined what lay inward, returned one of the most life-affirming answers: that the joy of rebirth can happen more than once. ~~~img700(https://i.imgur.com/C54koEb.png)~~~
'The end of Evangelion' does not add to the last two chapters of the series, but replaces them, since what happens here has nothing to do with the end of the series, let's say it is an alternative ending. Because basically this film is two episodes I am going to divide this review in two parts. __·Chapter 25:__ We see how Seele intends to destroy Nerv base and take the Evas for the third impact to take place. Seele attacks with tanks, army, nuclear bombs and everything (so the fans have the action they wanted for the end). To defend against the attack, Asuka with Eva-02 recovering her synchronization kills everything and then the other 9 base Evas appear. At that moment Shinji is there at the base with his usual anguishes, feeling like shit and even more because in the morning he jerked off looking at the tits of an unconscious Asuka laying on a stretcher. Misato asks Shinji to go out and fight, but he does not want to move because he has had enough of Evas, his life and his dramas, so Misato kisses him and promises that when everything ends he will get laid (in just one chapter Shinji enjoys life more than in the previous 24 chapters). Shinji goes to the surface horny as a motherfucker but just to see that the base evas have already eaten Eva-02 and crucified Shinji's Eva-01. __Chapter 26:__ In my opinion this last chapter raises more interesting things than the thousand and one questions that Shinji asks himself seeking to understand his life, feeling and so in the last chapter of the original anime . Rei becomes Eva, denies Gendoh Ikari and goes out to meet Shinji, who is now Adam, together they create a new world, have sex (so Shinji can get familiar with the new life he found in the previous chapter) and later there are only two humans left on earth: Adam (Shinji) and Lilith (Asuka), whom Shinji really loves instead of Rei, who is basically a copy of Yui, her mother. And there, with the two of them, everything ends (or begin). This last chapter is visually fascinating, it has richness, the images are very powerful and diverse, the animation has a great quality, it plays with real image, drawings, black and white, colors, etc. The only bad thing is that it is somewhat excessive; it is intended that the end becomes the absolute apotheosis, strange things appearing one after the other and each one of them is supposed to have a parallelism with the bible, I don't know, it is all a bit overwhelming. A very good ending, I like it more than the original even if that one is good too, let's see how things end with the fourth movie that I haven't watched yet.
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the article unless you have watched the show and the movie: End of Evangelion. All you need to do is to go watch it ASAP (unless you’re under 13 years old). The reason I love this show so much is the themes, the characters, and the satisfying conclusion. Taking Shinji Ikari, an introverted 14 year old who hated his father for leaving him alone when his mother died, the story explores all his weaknesses as a teenager who has not really connected with many people. Being an proper introvert myself, some parts of Shinji reflect aspects of my past self. Asuka was, intentionally, very annoying in the star, with her complaining and talkative nature contrasting the quiet and accepting Shinji, alongside the many other obvious and subtle opposites laid out by Hideaki Anno. Ayanami Rei was supposed to be a mysterious character in the start, building up to the revelation of her as a clone of Shinji’s mother from Adam, and her final act of getting into the body of Adam to help Shinji, with Adam and Eva (that was a nice one, with Adam and Eva (Eve) being the start of humanity; similar to the Biblical story) together forming the anti-AT field and all of that. The Characters: Shinji Ikari: Shinji Ikari is a 14-year-old boy who lost his mother as a child and was ‘betrayed’ by his father, loosing out on parental care. Being an immature extrovert with the lack of understanding about humans and social behavior, Asuka develops an irrational fear of social interaction. His misunderstanding of social interactions does reflect an aspect of my past self, with my misconceptions of humans and human behavior. This aspect of his character receives continuous development, starting with him feeling the love of someone he had just met after a very long time (Misato), starts living with his foil (Asuka), and then having to meet the father he developed an aversion to, him actively running away from social situations in his life, like not reacting to Toji assaulting him for piloting the Eva badly; and results in his world, when being merged with Eva and Adam to have only him, a completely lonely world. Here, he realizes that his fear was irrational. The ethical part of his character is also done well. Firstly, he associated his father with ‘bad’, but after meeting him for the first time on screen he reserves it to make a judgement about him. Misato and the NERV are ‘good’. This shows his naive moral judgement, judging everything as black and white. When he is asked to sit in the evangelion, he runs away more than once because of the amount of pain it causes, judging it as ‘immoral’, but returns when he realizes the amount of damage the angels cause. Before the conclusion, he spurts when he sees the uncovered top half of Asuka’s body, which he believes to be ‘wrong’, and refers to it as a crime he committed against her, possibly associating his release of hormones with sexual harassment. This talks about his naiveness in relation with such topics. He also believes that he piloted the Evangelion to save the people and to make them happy, both of which he believes are selfish (this is perhaps a reference to the intrinsic selfishness of humans, which is very interesting but holds little relevance at the moment), and therefore looses all motivation to act when the NERV is hacked and assaulted. This is when Misato talks to him about her regrets and her idea that even she keeps making a lot of mistakes, and it repeats like a cycle, yet she has to move forward. Shinji moves to the room with the evangelion, but is traumatized by his guilt again and looses all energy to act. His evangelion, however, puts him inside itself and moves to Asuka’s location, where Shinji finds the Eva unit 2 destroyed, with Asuka inside it. Shinji’s limbs remain still, while he is having a psychological breakdown. After the Eva merges with Adam and accomplishes instrumentality. Shinji, alongside resolving his irrational fears of social interaction, also realizes that this illusion only caused him pain. he has also forgiven Misato for her ‘immoral sexual actions’, and has also gotten a hold of himself, overpowering his guilt of his ‘crime’ against Asuka. The show ends with him and Asuka on the shore of LCL, with him desperately wishing for Asuka to be alive, and reality favoring his wish. Asuka Langley Sohryu: Asuka Sohryu is a 14-year-old girl who lost his mother as a child and was ‘betrayed’ by his father, loosing out on parental care. Being an immature extrovert with the lack of understanding about humans and social behavior, Asuka develops an irrational fear of social interaction. The reader might have noticed that the first two sentences in the paragraph about Asuka is a ‘copy-paste’ of the first two sentences in the paragraph of Shinji, tweaking some parts to make it the opposite. This was to show how they serve as very good foils to each other. Exploring the extroverted hater of isolation, the series starts with her having to stay with Shinji, and Misato. To establish her as Shinji’s foil, the author has NERV come up with the idea that Asuka and Shinji must co-ordinate every move of theirs and so they must live for the next week in complete co-ordination. Of course, the decision favored the irritation of both the characters. After this, the series shows her knowledge of romantic topics and and how she considers herself mature, kissing Shinji to kill time and even requesting Kaji to sleep with her whilst she is only 14, contrasting with Shinji’s lack of understanding of such topics. When Shinji faces supposed exposure to public, Asuka faces supposed isolation, her fear. While Shinji piloted the evangelion for saving humans and for approval from the people he knows, Asuka did so for saving humans and for approval from herself. When she gets isolated, the reason she pleads to bed with Kaji is for approval from the one person she thinks is worthy of her attention. Alongside Shinji, she too starts hating herself. It is implied that she faces her version of the same things as Shinji during instrumentality, and matures alongside Shinji. When Shinji pleads and prays that Asuka should be alive, she raises her hand and slowly feels an runs it across his face, showing that she has excepted Shinji’s love and friendship. The other characters are also very well done. Ayanami Rei starts of as a mysterious character, and is given very good development. When Shinji sees Ayanami unsheathed, she does not mind at all, but is caring for the pair of spectacles he has lifted from their case. He then trips and falls, causing her to fall too, and they land in a position used to make love, with Shinji’s hand on her bosom. When he realizes what happened, he immediately gets up and seeks her forgiveness, while Ayanami does not seem to care at all about it, with her attention on those spectacles. Later, the Ayanami who was stoic during her incident with Shinji slaps him when he says that he does not trust his father. She is shown to have a good relationship with him. Later it is revealed that she was a clone he created of his wife. But, at the end, she betrays him to enter Adam in order to save Shinji, and the instrumentality begins. Misato served as a good parent figure who realized her flaws, Ritsuko served as a character with a very good plot twist. Shinji’s father was also a well done man of mystery. The themes of this show are also very interesting to me. This has the psychology of the characters as a strong theme along side ethics, both of which took the plot forward. How they worked has been explained with the characters so I will not go into it again. There is also good Biblical reference with Adam and Eva (Eve), and the fact that even the humans came from them was a good revelation. Instrumentality as also well done, essentially similar to the concept of the Infinite Tsukuyomi in Naruto, except one could escape it at will, and done a zillion times better. Overall, this is my favorite piece of fiction I have consumed to date.
Besides Neon Genesis Evangelion has an ending far from the main plot to the point that many people argue and comment about the two last episodes; according to the internet, The End of Evangelion occupies the top rank based on internet anime databases either AniList, MyAnimeList, Anime-Planet, and other anime databases. The ending theme for the movie is Thanatos -If I Can't Be Yours- by Loren & Mash and has two episodes that replace the last two episodes of the TV series. The film tells the story after Shinji defeated the last Angel named Kaworu. NERV has one last enemy to face: humanity under SEELE's command.
Still focusing on the protagonist Shinji who was left in deep depression towards the end of the original series, he hesitated to struggle with the ultimatum given to him. To fully accept humanity's existence or abandon human individuality, at the core of compromised NERV, Gendo Ikari and Rei Ayanami approach Lilith to realize their ideas regarding the world's future. In essence, the film serves as an alternate ending to the last two polarizing episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The climactic final battle draws near with the universe's fate hanging in the balance.
The End of Evangelion is very different, although it still feels dark. The film is more creepy, vulgar, emotional, and dramatic. In the first sequence, Anno has shown the scene of Shinji trying to wake Asuka. Forcibly, Asuka turned around and saw her topless body and Shinji's charm. The TV series has no visible nipple appearance from each female character's breasts, not counting the kiss scene and sex scene through sound and steady cam, which only shows a glass of drink and a condom wrapper. It might be because it aired on TV, so no explicit scenes were shown. Back to the scene, Shinji can't stand the temptation of Asuka's body and masturbates right on top of Asuka's body.
Even more irritated at Shinji's attitude of always running away from circumstances, he contemplated when Asuka woke up and fought Unit-02. The series no longer shows the resistance between Eva and Angel anymore. Even though it's been said in the TV series that Kaworu is the last Angel launched by SEELE, in reality, it's not. SEELE tries to attack NERV's headquarters and takes Unit-01, destroying it instead. The goal is to initiate Third Impact.
The animation itself, it's not much different from the TV series. It just creates a new atmosphere with different music. In general, the animation is good despite the film's decidedly larger budget. The film enhances the original character designs excellently with much-improved backdrops and scenery. A sequence near the end where a cross of colors emerges from such scenery, is one of the most beautiful parts of beauty in animation. Even the highlights of Asuka's major battle in the middle of the film flow with impeccable violence. However, despite what Anno had in mind, the animation, intentionally trying to tell the audience that "this is another symbolism that you should overthink about," is marred by two very strange sequences.
There is one scene of a low-budget camcorder randomly wandering around town, recording things like a movie theater coming up, coming as a surprise midway through, and as a result, many people have tried to defend such a scene by citing its symbolic meaning. Such a scene might inspire SSSS.Gridman at the end of the episode. In one another, the thousands of flashes and frames on the screen at a lethal speed overcharge the film painfully. The creepy aspect of The End of Evangelion is also when Shinji plays with two other children in the park. The two children are animated very scary, supported by eerie ambiance music. When another Eva took out Unit-02, it was disgusting. Eva is no longer a robot whose job is to kill Angel but acts like a predator. It's disgusting when Unit-02 looks like the organs are in disarray.
Behind the confusion and chaos in Shinji's mind, Anno questions the nature of human existence and whether life is worth living. However, all we see is how The End of Evangelion gave birth to a new Adam and Eve, a new beginning. The film is a masterpiece in anime and animation and film in general. Not afraid to ask philosophical questions that the audience can ask themselves as humans and not afraid to make the audience aware of the answers even when witnessing the gross or disgusting traits of the characters. The film is one of the most beautiful and artistic films and is a must-watch.
*out of context spoilers* What is indentity? What drives us? Why do we live? What makes living worth it? Is living worth it? _What does it mean to be human?_ # __This is Evangelion. __ Throughout the course of the TV show, the series of NGE delves into the psychological and philosophical elements of what it means to be human, focusing on our beloved fucked up individual, Shinji Ikari. Taking everything we know about the world and characters of the Evangelion world, EoE perfects the concept of a grand finale, in what I would call the greatest ending to a series - ___ever.___ __ Moving on to my mini tangent of things I loved about the movie :D__ The contrast of the third impact happening while Komm Süsser Tod's - Come Sweet Death plays in the background is nothing other than brilliant. The juxtaposition of the message of the ending vs. the apocalyptic scenery we are presented with is masterful. The internal conflict that shinji goes through after everyone turns into tasty orange juice is spectacular. The conclusion of Shinji's character being _so similar_ to the TV shows ending yet presented in juristically different ways was incredibly fascinating. The *ambiguity* that the ending has while still maintaining *definite* answers is perfectly done. The moments of silence and repetition that occurred throughout the movie and specifically during Shinji's breakdown were done amazingly. Small moments like the third impact __beginning __with shinji choking asuka and __ending __with shinji choking asuka is something so simple yet is an event that can be interpreted in an infinite amount of ways. img220(https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1233576/end-evangelion-netflix-neon-genesis.jpg?w=1600&h=1600&q=88&f=1bd8d0e32d5d7f618d6671dcb6e82388) (The scenery of the end) __Every. Single. Character. Gets. A. Good. Conclusion. In. NGE.__ I highly appreciate shows that don't leave characters behind, and that is the biggest critique I have on a majority of my favorite shows. But this isn't something EoE had an issue with. Every single character that had importance in the show had a conclusion that I felt satisfied with, and even some random ass side characters had heart tugging ends when it came down to it. The plot and lore of the NGE world only gets better here in EoE, expanding on the ideas presented in the show revolving around Lilith, humanity, Angels, SEELE, and in general character motivations. I loved all of it. All in all, it is incredibly hard to talk about how much I loved this movie without completely spoiling everything (despite the spoilers i have already listed lmfao), and I highly recommend this series to everyone - regardless of what type of shows you like.
~~~ #__This review contains spoilers__ --- Eight months ago I finished Evangelion and wrote a review about how I didn't like it. [Here](https://anilist.co/review/13755). I talked about how it's incredibly confusing, doesn't even try to explain anything to the viewer and I also expressed my immense hatred towards most of the characters because of how annoying they are. Guess what, EoE doesn't change any of this. img520(https://64.media.tumblr.com/f736093418057b9b8a4c22aad627b458/tumblr_n4iq3bikJi1qmencro8_500.gifv) As someone that didn't like the original series, this movie is better in only one aspect: runtime. Because it's a movie it doesn't suffer from the pacing issue the anime suffered from, which is a good thing, but aside from that this movie pretty much consists of Shinji being a whiny bitch as usual and telling himself he isn't good enough over and over. Sure, the plot is different but once again they don't bother to actually explain what's going on and unless you look up some kind of explanation it's pretty much impossible to fully grasp what the show and this movie is even about. I've heard people say _"trying to understand Eva is stupid"_ or _"it's all about the characters, the story isn't important"_. This argument would work if the movie actually developed any of the characters or tried to expand on them, which was the case for Misato and Asuka (somewhat) but Shinji, The main character? __He didn't change one bit. __ If Evangelion's characters are well written, Demon Slayer has the best plot of all time. Someone told me that you need to have a certain mindset to enjoy Evangelion so you're able to relate with the characters and that may be true, but I guess I just don't have that required mindset. If Eva is supposed to be all about the characters then the movie shouldn't be focusing on the plot 80% of the time. Sure the plot needs to progress for the characters to develop, but as I already mentioned, the first 2/3rds of the movie is just Shinji sitting on his ass and crying nonstop. We get to see a little more of Asuka's true personality this time around which I enjoyed, but Rei is still the same NPC she was in the series. Her being a clone doesn't change the fact that her character isn't well written. img520(https://66.media.tumblr.com/4a35e45868ef3d35298d2898fb8f9957/tumblr_pgi7igEIlZ1uob8tfo1_540.gif) The plot in this movie is just as, if not more convoluted than the series and it just becomes a complete mess in the last ~25 minutes. It tries so hard to be abstract and while the visuals are really nice to look at, which is the case throughout the entire movie btw, it feels like Hideaki took 7 different drugs at once while directing this last part. I like weird shit and I usually like this kind of abstract way of storytelling but The End of Evangelion's story is so bare-bones that it just ends up being abstract animation for the sake of being abstract animation. Usually when I dislike an anime/movie etc. I can still understand why others might like it, when it comes to EoE, I don't. The fights and visuals were the only thing I enjoyed about this movie, but all in all it had the same problems the series had. If you're a fan of Evangelion, you'll most likely love EoE but I can't recommend it to anyone that didn't. I'll still watch the other movies, but I'll lower my expectations so I won't be disappointed again. --- # __Visually stunning, otherwise incredibly boring. In the end, I was left with more questions than answers.__~~~
#~~~__Tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down...__~~~ ~~~img(https://images2.alphacoders.com/970/970716.jpg)~~~ ~~~__Spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk.__~~~ I was a music fan before I was a proper fan of anime, and in music there's a term known as a __"wounded dog album."__ This isn't an album about injured dogs, but rather it's an album where an artist is feeling so negatively about something, that they pour all of those emotions into a work of art. These kind of albums are also called __”mass exodus”__ albums for this exact reason, it's an exodus of pain from the artist in the form of their art. ~~~___End of Evangelion___ __is similar, in a lot of ways.__~~~ After _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ ended, fans in Japan were pretty divided. Gainax and Hideaki Anno, the animation studio and director of _NGE_ respectively, were sent fan mail in the form of letters and emails in the wake of the TV series' finale. Some of these were heartwarming messages from young fans, expressing how Shinji's journey spoke to them and gave them hope for their future. Among those were death threats from enraged fans, frustrated at episode 26's apparent happy ending. ~~~Many of these letters are shown in bits and pieces during the film.~~~ On the internet, it's commonly believed that _End of Evangelion_ exists as the ultimate middle finger to angry fans. Gone is any hope from the TV ending; _EoE_ is harsh, bleak, and direct. The movie is not happy. It does not want to make you happy. It wants you to hurt. Some people widely prefer the film's ending, some even proposing that the series' ending and the film's exist as two split universes. #~~~__I think that's not the case, not in the slightest.__~~~ I don't mean to put down these takes, as at the end of the day both _NGE_ and _EoE_ are incredibly impactful, moving, and thought provoking works of art that are left open to interpretation. I do feel, however, like these readings on the film can be very surface level. Saying it's a split universe seems like the ultimate cop-out, an excuse for you to have the ending you like the most be canon in your eyes. And again, that's completely fine. But I feel like that disregards some of the obvious set ups from both _NGE's_ final two episodes and the events in _EoE._ But before I dive into that, let's talk about set up for a second. _End of Evangelion_ does this a lot, especially since it's aim is to be dour and bleak. It uses a narrative technique I've titled the __feint-and-punch__ combo. For an example, let's look at one of the best scenes in the entire film. ~~~img(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D9mC3kxUEAAXO2d.jpg)~~~ Asuka's fight against the EVA series in an awakened Unit 02 is one of the most cathartic scenes I've ever seen in any piece of media. Asuka, by this point, has been through the ringer. With no way to run from her past trauma, her pride as a pilot completely evaporated, and she attempted to starve herself in the wake of her failures. This fight exists as the conclusion to her arc; Asuka realizes her mother was beside her all along, within Unit 02. And through that realization, her sync rate maxes out and Unit 02 is fully awakened. Her pride has returned. ~~~img(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d3/a0/c0/d3a0c011ef7be54b360cb0b6b8c115ca.gif)~~~ The choreography and animation in this fight is beyond extraordinary. It is a true showmanship of both Anno's skill as a director and Gainax's talent as an animation team. That goes for the film as a whole, as the team behind _EoE_ is truly able to run completely wild with it's imagery and spectacle through the film format. It enhances the already great cinematography and animation from the TV series, while turning up the grandeur of it's action scenes. But all of this feels a bit too perfect. Maybe it's Asuka running the clock once her umbilical cable gets severed, but there's something else. ~~~__That's the feint. And what comes after the feint?__~~~ ~~~img(https://i.redd.it/htb7bs12nny71.gif)~~~ ~~~__The punch.__~~~ Asuka's defeat and then dismemberment by the EVA series is stomach churning and deeply upsetting. Gore, a device often over used in media nowadays, is put on full display here. Asuka's screams, from all voice actresses both English and Japanese, are bone chilling. It is real, it is in your face, and it wants you to squirm. But most importantly, it set you up. The fight was exciting, thrilling, and cathartic. But nothing in life is that simple, and nothing is that satisfying. Reality can often catch up to us, and that is one of the main pillars of _End of Evangelion's_ storytelling. ~~~Misato kicking ass and sacrificing herself for Shinji was pretty cool, huh?~~~ ~~~img(https://preview.redd.it/otxypnxos0e51.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=53dce4cc446eaea994edee79b4b82e5ae6b75315)~~~ Here she is, kissing a 14 year old. Can't forget that she can only show affection through sexual means, can we? Despite how cool she can be, despite sacrificing her own life in the end, she is a morally awful person. This is what _EoE_ does; it reels you in, socks you right in the mouth, kicks you while you're down, and then helps you back up before punching you yet again. You cannot escape the reality that these characters live in. Even in the most blissful and escapist moment of the film, when the Human Instrumentality project has begun and everyone faces their most beloved person, it only lasts for a second before everyone is killed and turned into goo. _End of Evangelion_ is upsetting, and that's by design. ~~~What about that Human Instrumentality Project, anyways?~~~ ~~~img(https://64.media.tumblr.com/fa8f2ab56e3e2e4629fc47bf25febddc/tumblr_pn3b5ld8aj1vm1a59o1_1280.jpg)~~~ This scene is probably one of the most awe-inspiring, confusing, uncomfortable, and incredible pieces of animation in it's medium. It's grandeur, it's scope, it's imagery, it's soundtrack... All of these aspects blend into Anno's crowning jewel of abstract, sexually charged, and eerily beautiful art. It is the end of the world, our heroes failed. This is the visual climax of the film in a lot of ways, not just in the form of the sexual imagery. From here, the film takes a more slow and abstract approach. This part of the film mirrors episode 26 of the TV series, and this leads to the crux of this entire review. #~~~__Both the endings of the film and TV series are two sides of the same coin. The impact of one is lessened without the context of the other.__~~~ Shinji's mental journey in the film is one fraught with frustration and anger. The two endings share a similar theme as such; Who Shinji is as a person is defined by those around him, and that's not healthy. Because of of his hatred for himself, his fear of vulnerability, and that frustration that no one understands him or likes him, Shinji is stuck in a spiral of self hatred. By the time we get to _EoE's_ abstract final act, Shinji has been backed into a corner mentally. He has nowhere to run, and all of his mistakes and frustrations are surrounding him. This is Instrumentality; the goal to turn humanity into one content and satisfied being. But when trapped with the other characters after being so mentally taxed and emotionally drained, he's angry. In the TV ending, Shinji wallows in his despair. He does in the film for a bit as well, until he is pushed to a breaking point. ~~~img(https://external-preview.redd.it/RxmcCe3unOq4jsmJSTME3HYYzdGTup0Q-8eCVxbcGEA.jpg?auto=webp&s=e21d6f434e309b1e5a1785411d1fade5472d6349)~~~ The way Shinji acts in these scenes is left very open for interpretation. Some read it as misogynistic, others see it as Shinji following the same path of his father. While there certainly may be validity in those readings, I see it otherwise. ~~~I do not think Shinji is mad at those around him, I believe he is mad at the version of himself he sees in others.~~~ The TV ending expresses that Shinji needs to define himself outside of the perceptions of others. These scenes are the ugly process of getting to that realization. And that's why I believe these endings are so linked; the TV ending is the goal to strive for, and the film is the ugly yet real process of getting there. In the end, Shinji rejects instrumentality. He does this in both endings, which I think is a bit controversial to say. Instrumentality is framed by Shinji's mindset, and he has wildly different perspectives in both endings. In the TV ending, he chooses to feel pain in the hope he can find joy in being with others again, which completely contradicts instrumentality. But due to how abstract the ending is, whether or not that equals rejection or acceptance of instrumentality is unclear and open for interpretation. Does Shinji really choose to accept growth in _End of Evangelion_, in the same way he does in the TV ending? I think he does but not in the same way. The endings, in my mind, represent the decision to do better, to open up, and to break the cycle of self hatred. The fact that Anno and his team were able to frame that message in two ways speaks to it's importance. ~~~img(https://preview.redd.it/92q0q6z0kz151.jpg?auto=webp&s=6c74b88a74a4c88e0913128153fbade037c43c0f)~~~ Recovering from depression, clawing your way out of that pit, can be one of the hardest things someone can face. When you hate yourself that much, you see it everywhere you look. Especially in those similar to yourself. The ending of the TV series gives viewers hope, it gives them something to strive for. The film ending shows the bleak beginning of healing. #~~~__The TV ending is the idealistic goal, and the film's ending is the realistic process.__~~~ ~~~img(https://c.tenor.com/O280rE0UyFwAAAAd/end-of-evangelion-shinji-choke.gif)~~~ Shinji and Asuka on that beach represent one person; Shinji is the self, and Asuka is the perception of said self. Shinji strangles Asuka, a character who closely mirrors his own. He loves her, he hates her, and she is all he has left. Alone in the world with a reflection of the worst parts of yourself. Some may see this act as the final nail in the coffin for Shinji. He has become completely irredeemable, if he hadn't already. Many say that Shinji makes the conscious choice in _EoE_ to not change, but he does choose to change. With all this hatred for himself and those around him in his heart, even when he is strangling Asuka in the aftermath of the apocolypse-- ~~~img(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NMNlxUiYSrc/maxresdefault.jpg)~~~ ~~~Love. It's still there. Love from people, love for one's self, _it still exists._~~~ Shinji stops, and he weeps. Whether this is in shame, or at the first true show of affection he's ever had in his life, he cries. Asuka's hand slips and falls to the ground. After a moment, she looks down at Shinji. Asuka, as her own character and as a reflection of Shinji, speaks the final line of the film-- ~~~img(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c1/e1/54/c1e154501ce75b054fb8a0c208c0b30b.gif)~~~ Despite himself, those around him, and even the viewers seeing his acts as disgusting, despite hurting the only person he has left, and despite _everything_ up to this point--Shinji made the conscious choice to stop strangling her. He broke the cycle of self hatred he had been trapped in, stopped hurting others because of his own pain, all while still looking down upon himself. This, as bleak and uncomfortable as it is, is his reality. And there's hope in it. Recovering from depression, wanting to do better and making that change in your life, it's not easy. It hurts. And I am glad that this ending exists to fully express that. The TV ending, although uplifting and inspiring, could equally be seen as patronizing to someone who's truly struggling. The TV ending is Shinji realizing his decision, and the film's ending is Shinji making that decision, warts and all. _End of Evangelion_ is a film that wants to play with your emotions. It wants you to hurt, it wants you to be uncomfortable, but it wants to show you that hope still exists. A change can be made, but that change will not come easy. It's a long road, one full of nasty and dark turns. But it's worth it. Maybe the realization will give you clarity for a moment, but putting those thoughts into action is not easy or pretty. What ending speaks to you is up to the viewer. I love both, and I'm glad that Anno and Gainax were able to express the process of breaking the cycle of self hatred in such an artful way. The film is bleak, dour, and hopeful. Life may not be as perfect as we want it to be, but is not devoid of love. Take care of yourselves.
The 1997 film _The End of Evangelion_ is a reimagining of the last two episodes of the 1995 anime, _Neon Genesis Evangelion_, appropriately named: _Episode 25: Do you love me?_, and _Episode 26: Take care of yourself_. The first thing that needs to be understood about the film is that, honestly, it's going to confuse a lot of individuals. _The End of Evangelion_ is more of an experience, and less of a story, in my opinion. Yes, it finishes the plot of _Evangelion_, and it has a story in general, but the real beauty of the film is in the soundtrack, what you are watching, experiencing, listening to, thinking, and feeling. As previously said in my _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ review, I think people who have had or have mental health issues - specifically, in this specific situation, ones with harsh subjects such as questioning life, suicidal intentions, and other harsh topics really make this film special. In my previous review, I mentioned how _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ saved my life, and this movie was the bow that tied it all together and opened my eyes. Again, some may be a bit biased just from my experience of it, but honestly, that's what this movie is. Before going any further, I'd suggest reading my review of the original series [here](https://anilist.co/review/20126) if you're interested in how the show affected my life and mental state. In my opinion, you can't watch it as a critique. You have to watch it to get your own personal view and experience of it. Unless you want spoilers, stop now, and experience it for yourself. You won't be disappointed. ~~~img700(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/86/88/77/868877354b8fb1009c95a88752bdc272.jpg)~~~ The movie picks up right after the ending of _Episode 24: The Beginning and the End, or 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door_, and tells the story of the main characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion, and how they must struggle with the group SEELE as they try to complete the Human Instrumentality Project, all while the Japanese Government has been sent to seize the company of NERV, and to leave no survivors. Shinji Ikari must be pushed to his limit, all while his mental health and will to live are in the zeros. And this is what the movie does so well in the first half. It shows the struggles of how the mind works, and how it can be stubborn, hurt, betrayed, and filled with such feelings that you will want to do nothing, and one wrong move will make the mind snap. With Misato quite literally dragging Shinji around by his wrist as he doesn't even move his legs, him constantly saying "I want to die," or "I don't want to do anything," the movie hit something special in me. The entire time I was watching the movie next to my roommate, I was silent. I remember tears were coming down my face silently, and the movie wasn't even half over. Quotes were spilled from Shinji's lips that were never said truthfully by mine, but they were true. ~~~img550(https://unshavedmouse.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screenshot-2021-03-27-at-22.13.19-1-e1616884563665.png)~~~ > "I'm done. I want to die. I don't want to do anything." The story cut deep into me like a knife, and the feelings that Hideako Anno was expressing in this movie were an honest perfection to me. Said again, Shinji Ikari is definitely a self-insert character to me. The words that were said to him, getting into his mind, were getting into mine. His mental collapse was mine, his feelings, expressions... all mine. I know, I know, this review is biased pretty much, as my review was for the original series, but again, I feel like that's why this movie is so amazing. But the part of the story that got me was past the second half: The Third Impact. As Shinji is the trigger of whether the Earth will be saved or the start of the end, it relies on his mental state. And that's where the sheer raw emotion comes into play. For about ten minutes, we get a huge psychological analysis of Shinji's mindscape, and it's horrid, confusing, and real. It's shown as Asuka and Rei talking to him, scolding him, questioning him, all while anxiety-inducing music plays in the background, images that make almost no sense playing on the screen. I felt as if the female cast was questioning __me__ through the television screen to my damp face. It was raw, real, and harsh. ~~~img500(https://preview.redd.it/oq3vwy1g3rm71.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=f94fa7303a883b62c673cbe1f30c954d32cd777f)~~~ >ASUKA: You know nothing about me! Stop bothering me! SHINJI: I __do__ know. ASUKA: You do not, you idiot! You think you know the first thing about me!? You think you can save me?! That's total arrogance! You could never know me! SHINJI: How could I know you? You never talk to me, Asuka. You never talk to me or tell me anything, so how could I!? REI: Did you try to understand? SHINJI: I tried. ASUKA: Idiot, I know all about it. I know you've been jerking off to me. Go on, do it like you always do. I'll watch. If I can't have all of you, I don't want any of you. SHINJI: Then be nice to me. REI, ASUKA AND MISATO: I am nice to you. SHINJI: _Liar_, you're just smiling to distract me! You just want to keep things vague! REI: Because telling the truth always hurts others. And that's a very painful thing. SHINJI: When something's left vague, it drives me crazy. REI: You're just desperate. SHINJI: I'm scared of things being like this. People might decide they don't need me again. It's gnawing away at me! I'm always worrying! Say something! When Shinji decides to start The Third Impact, that's officially when I lost it. I knew I found something truly special. I know this is going to sound so cheesy, that people will roll their eyes, but I found something almost... supernatural about it. The Third Impact, specifically, as it's known: The _Komm Susser Tod_ scene, based on the song that plays in the background of the same name, was made for me... The only way I could ever describe it was that Hideako Anno took all twenty years of my trauma, abuse, depression, anxiety, and confusion, and put it on the screen for one minute. It starts with children's therapy drawings, the flashing of episode numbers, and then the sudden, almost epileptic flashing, of shots from the entire TV show as Shinji, talks about his trauma, and Rei consoles and questions him. Silently crying, listening, and watching, I watched my trauma unfold on a screen right before my eyes. I saw hands grippings, red figures walking and swimming, flashing faces, slow-motion walking and turns, screaming, scribbles flashing over the screen... and it was me. ~~~~img440(https://i.stack.imgur.com/lGopK.jpg)~~~ ~~~img440(https://i.stack.imgur.com/lemiU.jpg)~~~ ~~~img440(https://i.stack.imgur.com/jHb8n.jpg)~~~ ~~~img440(https://i.stack.imgur.com/HJo7T.jpg)~~~ ~~~img440(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EWJ2vINVcAQ4NJr.jpg)~~~ >SHINJI: No one understands me. REI: You never understood anything. SHINJI: I thought this was supposed to be a world without pain, and without consistency. REI: That's because you thought everyone else thought the same as you do. SHINJI: You betrayed me. You betrayed my feelings! REI: You misunderstood from the very beginning. You just believed what you wanted to believe. SHINJI: Nobody wants me. So they can all just die. REI: Then what is you hand for? SHINJI: Nobody cares whether or not I exist. Nothing ever changes. So they can all just die. REI: Then tell me, what is your heart for? SHINJI: It would be better if I never existed. So I should just die too. REI: Then why are you here? SHINJI: Is it okay for me to be here? (Silence) Throughout the rest of the experience, the last twenty minutes are something that one has to experience for themselves. As Third Impact started, and a beautiful contemplation of life, the meaning of existence, and the eventual rejection of the Human Instrumentality Project, the entire last twenty minutes was - at least for me - the reason I went to therapy. And it's an experience that I think anyone who has had any trauma, or any sort of mental health struggle, should experience too. Stepping away from my very lengthy report on the plot and my biased experience in watching it, if there's one thing that's absolutely critical to this movie, it's the soundtrack. As in the TV show, Shiro Sagisu created the masterful score for this film, and, to be honest, it's what makes the film so amazing, and worth watching. You can't have one without the other. Without the music score, _The End of Evangelion_ wouldn't be what it is. And without the film, the score wouldn't mean as much. The music is what sets the tone for the feelings expressed in the movie. From the piece _[ Huan to Mitsugetsu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6RXHEBYlwI)_, which displays a huge sense of anxiety, to the emotional _[Komm Susser Tod](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQiHzcdUPAU)_, sung by the very talented Arianne, a piece that's played during the entire Third Impact, that's sung about suicide, it's a very emotional ride. And with classic scores played in the background, such as _[Orchestral Suite No.3 In D-Major BWV 1068](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjH9Gl0raf0)_ and _[Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXXkDe2XvHU&list=PLGkHtUoJlVfsFQZm7x5trSwImG3kCgKf1&index=12)_, both from Bach, the score is nothing short of masterful. When I went into this series, I was depressed and suicidal. My life was a mess, and I thought nobody understood me. _The End of Evangelion_, with its beautiful score, plot, and visuals with the story of Shinji Ikari, made me re-contemplate my life, and decide to go to therapy. It's a ride and experience that everyone needs to experience. And yes, in my opinion, everyone's review should be a little biased for this movie. Because it's a personal journey. Like a boat, everyone's gonna have a different ride, view, and experience. I'm sorry this was such a long review, and that it's quite catered only to me and my story, but I thought that maybe someone else would relate to this out there. This movie taught me about this will to go on. As Kaworu Nagisa and Rei Ayanami say in the movie: >But nothing will change unless people act on their own initiative. That is why you must reclaim your lost selves on your own. Even if you lose your own words, even if you are drawn in by the words of others... Thank you, Hideako Anno, for saving my life. ~~~img8000(https://images2.alphacoders.com/970/970716.jpg)~~~
__A Postmodern Masterpiece for the 20th Century __ Trying to articulate a proper review for this series feels like a foolish endeavour. Both a movie and show that has been continuously conscious in the minds of anime fans since its inception. It’s a polarising and endearing work of art. Eva is both a love letter to both old mecha and tokusatsu shows from the past and a postmodern take on it. Anno is one of the most distinct directors working in the industry, and seeing how he’s evolved from craft from Nadia to here is brilliant to witness. One of the best illustrations of depression depicted in media, which makes sense with his history of clinical depression. This series has been psychoanalysed by almost everybody, and I don’t think I will contribute to saying anything new on that subject. However, I think the core of the narrative is pretty explicit about the overall message it wants to convey which is: connections and humanity's will. Shinji's arc in episodes 25-26 I thought, concluded beautifully. I know there was some controversy, but it was a fantastic ending to Shinji's character. In general, skipping episodes 25–26 to watch this movie is a mistake, as both events happen simultaneously. Both complement each other and enhance each other filling up the gaps and adding more ambiguity to certain events. I loved both endings and both worked together really well. Now some general thoughts about the series, the characters are well fleshed out. One of the most criticised aspects of the series is Shinji's whinnying, which is unfounded as acting completely mature is unrealistic. Put yourself in Shinji’s shoes for a minute, and you realise, yeah, his behaviour makes sense. His dysfunctional and astray relationship with his father, his general psyche before the event commences, and now seeing a 14-year-old kid thrust into a position where his actions determine humanity's fate. In terms of other characters, they are very well realised, Asuka would be one of them. She’s not a typical tsundere, which is obvious from the offset, but in particular, the more you dig into her character. In general, all the characters have their own issues which makes them feel real. Hideaki Anno's directing is phenomenal and Tatsuonoko Production who did the majority of the animation. Gainax is usually attributed to as the main company that did the majority of the animation, but during that time they lacked the resources for a full production as Eva, only having a limited number of staff members work on animation in a given time. Hence, most of the series was outsourced to Tatsuonoko and the results speak for themselves. Kazuya Tsurumaki deserves and so many people in the production. The Orchestral soundtrack, the sound mixing, colours, the art direction—basically, the production team altogether. I’m extremely grateful I watched this Blu-ray scan, which is gorgeous, and seeing those grains just gives it that sense of depth. Neon Genesis Evangelion and End of Evangelion together create a masterpiece, one of the great works in Japanese cinema. I could examine the symbolism, philosophy and all the elements that make Eva a masterpiece however, this being one of the most talked-about anime in existence, I won’t have anything new to offer. So, to wrap it up, in conclusion, this is a masterpiece that deserves to be watched.