Joseki wrote:Note: I didn't see the movie yet, I expect my opinion to change substancially when I see the movie myself and localized (I write this more for the people reading this post years in the future who are going to go "look how clueless this dude was"
No shit, bro. I wanted some variation of Asuka/Kaworu or Asuka/Touji to have happened during the timeskip, because the whole idea that she should have waited 14 years for him was ridiculous. So she didn't. Okay. She got over him... except she kinda didn't, revolves around him, has her most tsundere scenes in the main canonicity, ever. Tons of shipbait and her ultimate resolution doesn't feel definitive at all except by the plot hamfistingly trying to say it is, and not really succeeding. She has had a relationship with a third party that makes some sense... except she kinda has, there is clearly a wedge around them, the father-figure ambiguity, her isolation from humanity, Asuka clearly not being happy yet, and quite lonely still. I wanted a friendly, positive resolution to their relationship that doesn't devalue it. No shipping necessary. No wedding planned. So that happens... but it also kinda doesn't. You almost get the feeling they were going for it at some point but chickened out. Or if Anno just knew he needed to give them a vaguely romantic resolution and hamfisted it in the laziest way possible with the EoE reference. That scene has no value to the characters, only to the audience. If they actually committed to these pairings I could have bought it. Actually give an unambiguous Asuken and Marishin route with more than 3 minutes of development... but they don't. It's all just vaguely inferred.
Worse, you are required to have
background knowledge from Anno's life and the whole Moyoco thing. That's
terrible. A film should stand on its own. It's like fucking Dornie Darko, lol. If the film had an unambiguous resolution for these or a completely open-ending, all five of them running in the station or whatever, that would have worked. But it's just so lame. Uggh. I almost wonder if they just didn't want to avoid closing things off for future works.
Mr. Tines wrote:"I went outside today, but no big-titty gf fell on me from the sky."
"Sounds like a you problem, bro. Have you tried being a millionaire?"
"T-thanks, Anno."
Thematically I completely understand it, I applaud Anno for it, but narratively it's rather contrived and lazy. Like Anno knew what he wanted to do but didn't commit to it, or didn't even know and just had to rush it at the end. There are several interesting sources surfacing and I'm wondering about the latter. He clearly felt burned out over Eva and wanted to move on. And I understand that, but maybe he should have just let Tsurumaki handle it like he initially wanted. I'm not mad, but I'm pretty sure 3.0 is gonna remain my favorite movie of the Rebuilds. That one had some balls.
I also agree about Mari. That might have been the initial intention, but she feels like the most Eva-esque of all things. At one point it feels like just pairing Shinji with the most fapbait, bland character you could imagine to satisfy fans, but of course her dearth of fans (though sure enough she's getting more now) doesn't quite fit that goal. The 2.0 CRC mentions some plans to have her more developed. If they went all-in with her from the beginning,
even if they did outright replace Asuka, that would have been more respectable than what we got. They are under no obligation of bringing unsung hero Jet Alone Guy back, but Rei and Asuka and worst of all, Misato, feel like they got consumed by the movie's shorter screen-time, (inevitable) focus on Shinji and the need to give Mari something to do, which turned out to have happened all in the last act of this film. I should mention this is something noted even among the most uninvolved normal reviews in Japanese media right now, so it's not just fan backlash.
Either way, as you know, Eva as a franchise isn't ending and before long they'll pull something new. Probably without Anno, though I don't entirely expect him to keep away. I still want to see more from him, I'm sure I'll still love the movie, but you know, maybe he should have let go of Eva long ago already.
shinryujimikihiko wrote:Joseki#922795 wrote:Regarding Mari and Asuka specifically, I also don't like the epilogue splitting them in a way. Asuka not only loses her old/new love but also her best friend for basically a lifetime. Mari is clearly far more attached to Asuka than to Shinji.
Valid and relevant. They wrote themselves into a corner. It would have been better if the ending had given concrete proof that they are all still friends regardless of who is shipped with who)
It's annoying to quote this yet again, from
Mari's VA: I thought it was nice that they spent a long time coming back to the ‘smell’. I feel that Mari just really likes people. She likes Shinji, but I think Asuka is special to Mari. Even though Asuka treats her coldly, Mari always calls her "Princess" and respects and protects her as a special person. In addition to the battles, they have together, the scene where she cuts her hair is very quiet and calm, and it has a nice sentimentality to it. I thought the contrast between the two was well-drawn.
It was a heavy burden for me, wondering if the fans would scold me for having such a newcomer hold hands with Shinji at the end (laughs). However, there have been many ways to portray "Eva" in the past, and if you can think of this as one of the possible endings, I'll be saved.
Poor thing.