Nuclear Lunchbox wrote:Nice catch-- but what does it mean? Is there anything from that particular episode of Gunbusters that would make sense for us to use to speculate about the fourth movie, given what little we know?
The only thing I can come up with are some very generalized concepts, though I do like what Gendo’sPapa said about the film possibly being black & white.
First of all, the Gunbuster episode isn’t really called Chapter 4+1, but rather the last installment of the little Science Lesson short films in-between episodes was called Chapter 4+1. These delved right into the sci-fi exposition of the series without having to dedicate any awkward or boring dialogue scenes mid-episode to it. This way the episodes themselves could focus on character and plot elements, while these short films focused on all of the world building and exposition. These short films were placed in-between each episode until we reach the last two episodes, where both short films were played back-to-back just before the final two episodes. Instead of calling it “Chapter 5,” the short film was titled “Chapter 4+1” with the chapter right after it being called “The Final Chapter.”
This could mean that “Final” could be split into two parts: “Evangelion 3.0+1.0” and “Evangelion Final.” Or it could mean that the english title for the film is “Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Final” or “Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Evangelion Final,” similar to EoE’s full english title “Neon Genesis Evangelion Theater: Air/Love is Destructive, A True Heart Ror You/One More Final: I need you,” or alternatively, “Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion.” In this instance, the titles “Final” or “Evangelion Final” might replace the typical “You __ (Not) __” titles.
Though, all of that speculation aside (especially since most of it is being pulled right from my rectum at this point), I do think there is something meaningful in FINAL with the “X+X” identification going on.
The movie is called “Evangelion 3.0+1.0,” starting from the greater number and then adding it to the lesser number. The Eva Unit featured in the preview is also identified in a similar fashion: “Evangelion Unit 8+2,” also first starting with the greater number, then adding it t0 the lesser number. (As an interesting side note, “8+2” is simply the “4+1” chapter title from Gunbuster with each number in the equation multiplied by 2.) This could mean that there is some sort of significance in the addition or joining of certain items in Final, whether it be the joining of certain Eva Units, the joining of certain spears as was briefly discussed in Q, the joining of two friends such as Shinji and Misato, or the joining of the two souls of Shinji and Rei II.
Basically, this title seems to suggest that things might be coming together in FINAL, rather than be stripped apart.