Let's make some predictions and guesses so we can review this thread after more info comes out & it eventually airs. Maybe someome will just reply with the exact plot of the entire series.

Me personally, Hopes: Completely original timeline with brand new characters. Some thematic similarities are warranted otherwise at what point is it even an Evangelion series, but beyond that I would love it all to be original.

Fears: Some sort major timeline schenangens, Gundam GQX which is a good example of what I really dont went to have happen. Some vague callbacks with a Kaworu type character are fine but I would really not care to see EVA-01 coming out of a portal to assist our new characters or the timeline ending because "its the incorrect one" or something like that.

GQX is beyond that a great example of my biggest fear where it tries to straddle both having original aspects and reusing existing characters while giving neither time to develop properly. I really hope they have everything planned out properly in this age of 12 episode anime.

Actual predictions: I would be alright and honestly I do personally think it'll be set between 2.0 and 3.0. This feels like a very safe option to avoid immediately ruining Eva as a franchise post-Anno, while also letting them market everyone's favorite preexisting characters. Its possible for this to feel like a "okay so nothing really happens " type of thing which would be kinda disappointing I suppose, but it would have to perform some epic fuckups to be outright terrible. If they do go this route though, Please give Mari some development here! Overall it wouldn't be my preferred scenario, but some great stuff can still be done between the two movies.

Interested to hear your guys thoughts.

Ain't no way we're getting fully original characters, dawg. The entire franchise's multimedia profit engine runs off of Asuka and Rei.

AuraTwilight wrote:Ain't no way we're getting fully original characters, dawg. The entire franchise's multimedia profit engine runs off of Asuka and Rei.

Well Mari was new and look how popular she is.
But I get what you're saying.

Persnickety wrote:Let's make some predictions and guesses so we can review this thread after more info comes out & it eventually airs. Maybe someome will just reply with the exact plot of the entire series.

Me personally, Hopes: Completely original timeline with brand new characters. Some thematic similarities are warranted otherwise at what point is it even an Evangelion series, but beyond that I would love it all to be original.

Fears: Some sort major timeline schenangens, Gundam GQX which is a good example of what I really dont went to have happen. Some vague callbacks with a Kaworu type character are fine but I would really not care to see EVA-01 coming out of a portal to assist our new characters or the timeline ending because "its the incorrect one" or something like that.

GQX is beyond that a great example of my biggest fear where it tries to straddle both having original aspects and reusing existing characters while giving neither time to develop properly. I really hope they have everything planned out properly in this age of 12 episode anime.

Actual predictions: I would be alright and honestly I do personally think it'll be set between 2.0 and 3.0. This feels like a very safe option to avoid immediately ruining Eva as a franchise post-Anno, while also letting them market everyone's favorite preexisting characters. Its possible for this to feel like a "okay so nothing really happens " type of thing which would be kinda disappointing I suppose, but it would have to perform some epic fuckups to be outright terrible. If they do go this route though, Please give Mari some development here! Overall it wouldn't be my preferred scenario, but some great stuff can still be done between the two movies.

Interested to hear your guys thoughts.

I'd be down for show about the 14 year period between 2.0 and 3.0. There's so much unanswered stuff that it's just ripe for exploration. However, that might end up turning a lot of people off and cause them to immediately write off the show, because a lot of fans just don't like the Rebuilds and refuse to engage with them in any way. This could be an opportunity though to fix the image of the Rebuilds and change people's perception of them if the show is used to improve and expand on plot points that were not handled the best, like Mari. It could do for the Rebuilds what the Clone Wars show did for the Star Wars prequels. Before the Clone Wars show, the prequels were widely hated, but the Clone Wars show ended up changing people's perception of them by elevating and improving the material.

AuraTwilight wrote:Ain't no way we're getting fully original characters, dawg. The entire franchise's multimedia profit engine runs off of Asuka and Rei.

One way I could see it working where we have a new cast of characters while still having the old characters is if the old characters step into more of a mentor role, while the new characters are the ones doing the piloting. I could just picture Shinji and Mari becoming the new Misato and Kaji and filling in that role.

I'm really thinking about what it might be.

The "easiest" answer would be a alternative timeline (same characters, city, setting, etc)... but again? I'd be kind of surprised if it is just Evangelion retold just after we finished Rebuild.

I think that the original is the only thing they'll hardly touch directly (like a sequel or something of the sort). Personally this would be the option which would bother me the most because I don't think it needs anything else.

My personal guess is: Classic characters, similar but not exactly same setting and new characters, with original storyline but some hints (or just plain fanservice) to the original.


Well at least we'll have some nice things to theorize as the information comes out. Let's wait for it.

AuraTwilight wrote:Ain't no way we're getting fully original characters, dawg. The entire franchise's multimedia profit engine runs off of Asuka and Rei.

Folks said the same thing when Star Trek: The Next Generation was first announced 40 years ago, and now Picard and Data sell as much merch as Kirk and Spock.

Allansfirebird wrote:

AuraTwilight#946349 wrote:Ain't no way we're getting fully original characters, dawg. The entire franchise's multimedia profit engine runs off of Asuka and Rei.

Folks said the same thing when Star Trek: The Next Generation was first announced 40 years ago, and now Picard and Data sell as much merch as Kirk and Spock.

While you make a point, Kirk and Spock weren't being gooned to on literally an industry-and-nation-redefining level for over 30 years when Picard and Data happened.

The "slash" in slash-fics came from Kirk/Spock, a favoured form of Trek fanfic, disseminated in mimeographed fanzines back in those hard-copy days. From 60 years on, the impact of the OG series is not as obvious as it was then, but given the technological limitations of the time, it was quite pervasive.

kuribo-04 wrote:

AuraTwilight#946349 wrote:Ain't no way we're getting fully original characters, dawg. The entire franchise's multimedia profit engine runs off of Asuka and Rei.

Well Mari was new and look how popular she is.

Probably also didn't hurt that she was voiced by Maaya Sakamoto.

Mr. Tines wrote:The "slash" in slash-fics came from Kirk/Spock, a favoured form of Trek fanfic, disseminated in mimeographed fanzines back in those hard-copy days. From 60 years on, the impact of the OG series is not as obvious as it was then, but given the technological limitations of the time, it was quite pervasive.

Yup, this exactly. TOS ended up inventing the modern form of fandom and shipping by way of Kirk/Spock.

Kirk and Spock were the Asuka and Rei of their time... which are words I never thought I would write in my life.

Persnickety wrote:Let's make some predictions and guesses so we can review this thread after more info comes out & it eventually airs. Maybe someome will just reply with the exact plot of the entire series.

Me personally, Hopes: Completely original timeline with brand new characters. Some thematic similarities are warranted otherwise at what point is it even an Evangelion series, but beyond that I would love it all to be original.

Fears: Some sort major timeline schenangens, Gundam GQX which is a good example of what I really dont went to have happen. Some vague callbacks with a Kaworu type character are fine but I would really not care to see EVA-01 coming out of a portal to assist our new characters or the timeline ending because "its the incorrect one" or something like that.

GQX is beyond that a great example of my biggest fear where it tries to straddle both having original aspects and reusing existing characters while giving neither time to develop properly. I really hope they have everything planned out properly in this age of 12 episode anime.

Actual predictions: I would be alright and honestly I do personally think it'll be set between 2.0 and 3.0. This feels like a very safe option to avoid immediately ruining Eva as a franchise post-Anno, while also letting them market everyone's favorite preexisting characters. Its possible for this to feel like a "okay so nothing really happens " type of thing which would be kinda disappointing I suppose, but it would have to perform some epic fuckups to be outright terrible. If they do go this route though, Please give Mari some development here! Overall it wouldn't be my preferred scenario, but some great stuff can still be done between the two movies.

Interested to hear your guys thoughts.

I wonder if we'll see adventures of Asuka and Shinji's children?

Just kidding. Even though Asuka is the best romantic and marriage option for Shinji there's no way they would set it in stone like that.

AuraTwilight wrote:While you make a point, Kirk and Spock weren't being gooned to on literally an industry-and-nation-redefining level for over 30 years when Picard and Data happened.

I know others have dressed this comment down appropriately already, but I can't help but to dogpile.

I love the confidence with which you said one of the most incorrect statements of all time.

You know, thinking about it a bit, it would be kind of funny if it ended up being almost entirely new characters...and also Shinji and maybe Kaworu, and that the Cello and Piano doesn't represent them being long gone or MIA, but instead that they're actually the only two still around. I don't know how likely that is but it would be kind of amusing, and admittedly kind of interesting.

They should my old idea for an EOE sequel: Seele members who have returned from instrumentality have learned to change their appearences by manipulating their A.T. Fields. They can transform into Angels and start stomping the still rebuilding society. Fortunately the returned pilots can use the same power to transform into Evas. Gendo also learns to transform and in the last episode has a chainsaw battle with Angel Keel. Toji uses this same power to regrow his leg.

I wonder if the Asuka short was a type of prequel to the new series. Like, the comeback of a character, but in a different form.

I can see Asuka being a Misato-type commander. A brave defender against the enemy. Or like a veteran pilot, like Amuro Ray in Zeta Gundam. It fits her desire to defend and protect the world, just like in the short. Besides, by the time the short was produced, I bet the new series was already in the works and a general concept was already on paper.

Asuka is a great way to attract viewers to the new series. Maybe some other classic characters will join her.

Like many others, I think it will feature mostly new characters, however. Most likely in a new timeline that has some elements rhyming with the old show, but the bulk of it is new.

Axx°N N. wrote:

AuraTwilight#946435 wrote:While you make a point, Kirk and Spock weren't being gooned to on literally an industry-and-nation-redefining level for over 30 years when Picard and Data happened.

I know others have dressed this comment down appropriately already, but I can't help but to dogpile.

I love the confidence with which you said one of the most incorrect statements of all time.

No he is completely correct - Kirk/Spock was and is the weird sexual obsession of the American version of fujoshis, not something that went mainstream in anything like the way Evangelion did in Japan.

Hopes - we get a true rebuild, i.e. the show on a different basis - Asuka is the main character (which was originally the plan); Rei is her rival and eventual friend; Rei needs Asuka's help as much as Asuka needs hers (unlike Kaworu who needs nothing from Shinji); Shinji is in the background to them but has his own plot arc in his Oedipal struggle with Gendo over the memory of Yui; Evas and the Angels are left over bioweapons from prehistoric high tech civilizations and not space monsters; we finally get to see the ancient ruins of Arka in the GeoFront, etc.

Fears - it is some garbage made by a millennial whose mind has been ruined by harem shit

Predictions - It won't be as good and it should have been. It won't be as good as it could have been. It won't be as bad as people fear. It will be forgotten in a few years after release. It will bring in new viewers for the older series and movies. They won't be able to tell the difference between social media memes and the actual show. The children will be further over-simplified into caricatures of themselves. Anno will make a lot of money.

Double post; merged - JoelcrNeto

shinryujimikihiko wrote:Predictions - It won't be as good and it should have been. It won't be as good as it could have been. It won't be as bad as people fear. It will be forgotten in a few years after release. It will bring in new viewers for the older series and movies. They won't be able to tell the difference between social media memes and the actual show. The children will be further over-simplified into caricatures of themselves. Anno will make a lot of money.

This is my general expectation also. I'm a "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." kind of guy. Anno wanted to make EVA into Gundam, and as we know, 90% of Gundam is skippable filler. So, I expect absolute worst.

Weird_ocean wrote:

shinryujimikihiko#946595 wrote:Predictions - It won't be as good and it should have been. It won't be as good as it could have been. It won't be as bad as people fear. It will be forgotten in a few years after release. It will bring in new viewers for the older series and movies. They won't be able to tell the difference between social media memes and the actual show. The children will be further over-simplified into caricatures of themselves. Anno will make a lot of money.

This is my general expectation also. I'm a "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." kind of guy. Anno wanted to make EVA into Gundam, and as we know, 90% of Gundam is skippable filler. So, I expect absolute worst.

You are probably more right than wrong. Eva is so tightly focused on it's characters that I doubt anything other than remixes of the original themes+cast+plot are possible. Is a survival horror drama about Japanese people trying to remain alive in the turmoil of second impact in some random place in Hokkaido or Kyushu tenable? Yes. Is it Evangelion? No - it isn't about the themes Eva explores or the characters that were built to do so.

Weird_ocean wrote:

shinryujimikihiko#946595 wrote:Predictions - It won't be as good and it should have been. It won't be as good as it could have been. It won't be as bad as people fear. It will be forgotten in a few years after release. It will bring in new viewers for the older series and movies. They won't be able to tell the difference between social media memes and the actual show. The children will be further over-simplified into caricatures of themselves. Anno will make a lot of money.

This is my general expectation also. I'm a "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." kind of guy. Anno wanted to make EVA into Gundam, and as we know, 90% of Gundam is skippable filler. So, I expect absolute worst.

If you think about it, all the crappy pc games (girlfriend of steel), manga (blank blank raising project), and pachinko kind of are that already. Maybe this will be different because they're putting actual effort into it (or at least I assume they are).