3.0 Film Reaction Thread

[Jomei]

The consequences of what? Trying to rescue Rei from being digested?

He tried to seek improvements at the end of 2.0. For ONE time in his life, he tried to do something on his own two feet to help a fellow human being. And he deserves to be punished for that? How does that work?

You're saying he needs to improve his life, but then twist it around and go "hahaha he done fucked up" the moment he TRIES to improve his life. This is what I'm talking about when I say Rebuild has one of the worst messages I've ever seen. The way it comes out in the story's context is "Apathy is the mentally healthy option and you should never form any kind of independent will because it will make the entire world hate you."

I'm not saying he deserves to be punished. I'm actually one of the people on his side, and from my view, he's not entirely responsible for what happened since he had no way of knowing the consequences. He was doing something of his own will, trying to save another person, and putting himself at great risk to do so. I applaud his character for that.

However, unbeknownst to him, despite all his good efforts and intentions, things went horribly wrong. So what I mean is he needs to accept that reality, not be paralyzed by failure, and try to continue to seek positive change. To me, Q seems to be all about dumping shit on Shinji in order to test and challenge him and, hopefully, see him rise again in Final.

[Hellsing]

1.0 is all about growing up and maturing
2.0 is all about the power that comes along with a matured mind
3.0 is all about the responsibility that comes once you growed up

I really like "Q" in the way it's done. Anno created something fresh and new but for me the Eva-Universe is not getting ripped apart. Of course there are things I don't understand and maybe I never will but that's what Evangelion, for me in general, is all about. Anno gives us a blueprint. What we create with it is up to every individual.

Excuse my English... not a native speaker ;)

[qu4d]

Didn't watched it. Checked the plot. Guy in first movie was insane. Culprit of the second was apparently inspired by First movie.

Your point being? If anything it just proves that media can have an impact. And that the author of both movies took a fast rout to popularity - Upsetting audience.

That's the point. It raises the question. But EVERYTHING can have an impact. Art HAS to break rules from time to time or do you want to censor everything, because something MIGHT happen? Seems so.

[Stillborn]

That's the point. It raises the question. But EVERYTHING can have an impact. Art HAS to break rules from time to time or do you want to censor everything, because something MIGHT happen? Seems so.

Censoring everything? No. I just wonder... If some shit really happens, will Anno will be able to face the reality of this like he preaches to us? It's just a one of of paths things may take. But I learned to prepare for worst. Sadly, the misery of others punctures my emotional shield faster than may own troubles.

[Abicion]

Okay, which one of you said this?

No, he's an /m/ member through and through, but he does this for EVERYTHING. He has this bizarre idea that anyone who makes something he doesn't like is specifically out to spite him and is also inept and attaches it to everything from Gundam to Tales of Phantasia, while also writing his own fanfiction about how he could do it BETTER FOR SURE.

Like I said, it's a losing battle. He is unable to grasp that something bad can happen in a story or that a story can have something bad happen without it just being "everything goes to shit forever."

You forgot the part where I still talk about Power Rangers and watch Godzilla movies and I only like Muv-Luv because I think it's a brainless gore fest.

At least insult me the right way. jeez.

[A.T. Fish]

If some shit really happens, will Anno will be able to face the reality of this like he preaches to us? It's just a one of of paths things may take. But I learned to prepare for worst. Sadly, the misery of others punctures my emotional shield faster than may own troubles.

Are you seriously expecting any sort of conflict within the fandom to surpass heated debates, disagreements and maybe some name calling? And what's the big deal with Anno dividing the fandom? It's not like he's planning this meticulously, it's just a consequence of the story he envisioned, and he gets points for not altering it to avoid displeasing people. NGE was already a polarizing series anyway, so not much has changed (it really hasn't, there are a lot of parallels that can be made between Q and NGE in regards to the story development).

[SSJ Spartan01]

Half a week later and this movie still occupies the majority of my thoughts. I swear, no other film could do that to me. I love this. I've also come up with a few theories on what transpired during the timeskip. As badass as they would seem, an Eva movie without Shinji can't be done. Shinji's experiences are the most essential factor to forming this tetralogy's overall message. Therefore, what transpired during Q and the way they set up the plot have to be necessary steps to that end. After all, 3.0 turned out to be the most emotion-inducing film in the series yet for me so it's giving me high hopes for 4.0. For me, it's all about how I enjoy it, how much I can appreciate from the production of the movie, and what I get out of it. 3.33 excels in all those aspects.
But, sorry to say, reflection on You Can (Not) Redo has also brought up some more things that displease me. Like, wtf is up with that kitty-beast mode thing Eva Unit 02 went into. That Berserker mode in 2.0 was the most epic, awesomest part of the franchise for me, but 3.0 took it too far in my opinion. It had paws and everything.

[shinji_ryoji_89]

Weird that a guy with the username "Stillborn" complains about this movie having a dark message. My guess is that he probably isn't the biggest fan of "Chinatown" or "Se7en." Good and bad things happen in life. Art is a reflection of life. So you can expect some movies to have a happy message and others to have a sad one. You don't have to like it, but you cannot really say that it's wrong. If it was being racist or discriminatory, sure, maybe but oddly enough some racist propagandistic films are seen as masterpieces (i.e. Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will.) and you can see why, if you can look past the message. I just find it weird that we are being so critical of the message when the story is not even done yet, don't you know anything about dramatic structure?

[Mr. Tines]

Rebuild starts off in style and tone as a straight retelling of NGE in 1.0, suddenly swerves into goofy Diebuster Super Robot comedy territory while sloppily clinging to NGE's basic plot structure in 2.0, and then goes on an insane Space Opera tangent with space pirates and epic space battles that revolve around technology that came straight out of thin air for 3.0. They've taken it to a point where it's completely divorced from the style of the other Rebuild movies, much less the TV show's style.

Looking at the series from the outside, this is how it appears to me -- there's a sloppy gear change between episodes where it wanders all over the map, and not even in the studied manner that Gurren Lagann used in matching each arc to motifs from sequential epochs of mecha anime. By comparison the "just wing that mother" approach, without the luxury of years to step back and look from the outside, in making the original series lent it an organic coherence, even as the mood and intent mutated -- the whole ascent and decline have a feel of inevitability in hindsight as you watch it.

Perhaps, with the franchise's success and the improved resources available, the new movies have tipped over into the realm of self-indulgence, without the tight constraints that lead to creativity through necessity (of which episodes 25 and 26 are a shining example).

[Monk Ed]

I have finally seen Q. I figured there'd be a thread like this. This is my first post in this subforum and before I have read any other topics.

It's ... glorious.

True, there wasn't much there. It felt like it could have been a single episode. It feels easy to summarize. More than anything I'd call it a revelation-fest.

The most hilarious thing was just how much the fan community got right. A timeskip really did happen. Mini-Misato really is Touji's sister... and her name is Sakura! Wasn't that a fan name? (Or, wait, didn't it show up in NGE2? Maybe?) Even the name Near Third Impact appears, and we'd been using that name long before Q dropped. The suppositions as to just how dire Near Third Impact was were correct, or perhaps underestimated. The theme (about Shinji's whole "I don't care about the world" thing and the results of it) that I didn't really get until reading analysis of Ha long after the fact have turned out to be 100% on the mark. And the old joke that people (including me) started guessing as early as the first movie, that Lilith would turn out to be Adam? Basically true, it seems. Positively hilarious.

I'm glad that none of the potential spoilers I read back before deciding to become rigidly abstinent turned out to be true... except for only the least shocking one, which read "Kaworu sacrifices himself to prevent Fourth Impact".

I'm glad Asuka didn't die. I'm even more glad that she got to shine like she did. I'm even more more glad that she didn't turn out to be the final Angel like in one potential spoiler I saw before I decided to go abstinent.

Hell, I loved just about everything that involved Asuka in this movie. I even liked the interaction (such as it was) between her and Shinji at the end. Hilariously, it mirrors what I felt like their interaction shortly after the credits roll in EoE would be like, complete with the "You didn't help me" and yet also the "C'mon". The way she left him, and the way she came back... It all felt just right. Even if, y'know, she's Shikinami, not Sohryu, with a completely different relationship with him.

The Jesus parallels with Kaworu went hilariously overboard. When he took the collar from Shinji I thought "yep, like Jesus taking on humanity's sins". And of course, the spearing himself.

Although it felt like a lot was revealed, in retrospect it also feels like barely anything really was. None of the truly major long-standing questions got answered, I don't think. Still no clue what the Key of Nebuchadnezzer is. Still no clue where Shinji's been. Still no clue what the Adams really "are". Still no hints as to how Kaworu knew Shinji, and now he's too dead to answer any questions. Still no real information on what Kaworu is; yeah he's the First Angel, but what does that mean now that we have Adams instead of just Adam? Still no idea what Rei is/was or why Rei and Shinji together in Eva-01 was anything special. Still no real solid idea as to Gendo's true plan. And new questions have been opened too, like, are there other Shinji clones or something? The way they treated Shinji made it seem like there was a significant chance that he was not the "real" Shinji.

Oh, but I should be glad for the questions that were finally closed, or for ideas that weren't used. Asuka did not turn out to be "Asukael", and yet, hilariously, she also kinda did, but the other pilots are the same and it has nothing to do with her contact with "Bardiel". I thought that whole business was a neat twist. Also, Mari's nature as just a pilot seemed to be confirmed. She didn't turn out to be a FAR or anything truly whacked-out like that. And given how completely different everything is now, it seems weird to even try to speculate using terms that now seem like they could only possibly apply to the original.

I had been forewarned that nothing from the trailer was in the final product. Still not sure how I feel about that. No Gendo and Fuyutsuki wandering in the desert. But it's not like the preview contained that much anyway.

I'll have to watch again, because the version I saw was missing key lines in its subtitles. It was almost comically precise; the last, most key line of seemingly each scene was missing. Luckily, I happen to know enough Japanese that I got through a lot of it, but there are still certain key lines I'll have to look for a on a re-watch. As I watched I downloaded another version which at a glance is at least not missing some of the same subtitles as the first one I watched, so that's good. For example, I now know that "Wunder" is the name of that ship, because that line, where Ritsuko says that, was missing from the version I watched first. I wonder what other key points I missed.

Best thing of all? Watching Q did absolutely nothing to affect my love of analyzing the original. I had feared that Q would so completely occupy my senses and speculation fantasies that I would be unable to work on or finish my long-standing no-really-I'll-finish-it-this-year fanfic for a time, or that it would totally disrupt my ability or desire to analyze the original, which Ha (for example) did at least for a while. Instead, because there's so damn little to go on, (and because it has gone in such a completely different direction,) it has almost thrust me right back into the palms of the original .

[Hyper Shinchan]

(Or, wait, didn't it show up in NGE2? Maybe?)

Nope, this Japanese wiki gives the name "Natsumi" and it seems to say something about this name coming from NGE2, Sakura was never heard before Q afaik.

And the old joke that people (including me) started guessing as early as the first movie, that Lilith would turn out to be Adam? Basically true, it seems. Positively hilarious.

Wait, what do you mean with this?

and now he's too dead to answer any questions

Don't tell me that you're one of those who don't believe in His Resurrection!

[Monk Ed]

Nope, this Japanese wiki gives the name "Natsumi" and it seems to say something about this name coming from NGE2, Sakura was never heard before Q afaik.

Ha! So Sakura was the fan name, right? I remember hearing it before. I think it was the Japanese fanbase's fan name, right?

Wait, what do you mean with this?

Er, wasn't the thing they thought was Lilith actually the Vessel of Adams?

Don't tell me that you're one of those who don't believe in His Resurrection!

Oh, good point! After such obvious Jesus parallels, and the evidence of EoE besides, the idea that we won't see Kaworu is unfathomable. Nevermind that part then.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Ha! So Sakura was the fan name, right? I remember hearing it before. I think it was the Japanese fanbase's fan name, right?

I'm not sure about it, like I said I never heard it before Q but I could have missed it.

Er, wasn't the thing they thought was Lilith actually the Vessel of Adams?

The Vessel of Adams are Eva Mark.09 and Eva 13 to my understanding.

Oh, good point! After such obvious Jesus parallels, and the evidence of EoE besides, the idea that we won't see Kaworu is unfathomable. Nevermind that part then.

I've been thinking about starting yet another Evangelion based religion after Q!

[Monk Ed]

I'm not sure about it, like I said I never heard it before Q but I could have missed it.

I'd heard of it. I know this because I remember thinking it was an overly bland and common name. Sakura has got to be the most common name in anime.

The Vessel of Adams are Eva Mark.09 and Eva 13 to my understanding.

I'm gonna check on that.

I've been thinking about starting yet another Evangelion based religion after Q!

I didn't like this Kaworu as much as the original. Too normal. Well, I dunno. My opinion on everything related to Q keeps rollercoastering.

Update on my reaction: Before going to bed last night, I almost edited my reaction post one last time to reflect how my opinion of the movie had declined the more I thought about it. That process continued as I lay in bed for an hour or two unable to get to sleep for being so busy processing the movie. And those thoughts continued today, until I saw surprising reactions from certain other posters. To summarize my feelings at the time, I realized once it was over just how little had actually happened, and felt that it lacked sufficient character interaction, and I lost hope for the prospect of finding the answers I'd been looking for and so my desire to even speculate faded. More than anything, Q made me realize just how short 90 minutes actually is, and therefore how impossible it would be to pack into Final everything I felt it would need to satisfy my curiosities. That more than anything else is what killed even my desire to speculate.

But reading Seele00TextOnly's and especially Xard's reactions today changed all that. (I saw Seele's reaction in the non-spoiler reaction thread, then went looking for the spoiler-enabled version only to stumble upon the longpost by Xard a couple pages back from here.) I was utterly surprised to see such positive reactions, because I had an impression that all the esteemed analysts would hate the movie for its simple plot and lack of non-Shinji character screen-time, and their praises of the film made me see it in a new light and turned most of my complaints into positives, especially by pointing out how Q connects with the previous movies and fits into a much larger picture.

And as I read more posts and see more things that I missed and more thought-provoking analyses, that worry I had about "Q obsession" eating up my ability and willingness to analyze the original for a while seems to be coming true after all .

[Kodaemon]

Still no clue where Shinji's been.

That's pretty clear. He was dissolved in the entry plug of Unit 01 , which got sent into orbit. Wille needed Unit 01 to power the Wunder so they brought it back and restored Shinji.

[Monk Ed]

That's pretty clear. He was dissolved in the entry plug of Unit 01 , which got sent into orbit.

What I meant by that was the question of whether or not Shinji had been on the moon and why. Even after the movie I was still a little confused between what I saw and what I had impressions of based on early speculation, but when you say it so plainly like that it seems obvious that Unit 01 must have been nowhere near the moon.

[Soth]

Today I received the Blu-ray and I watched the movie for the first time.

I avoided the Eva community -including this forum- in order to avoid spoilers and sure thing the time skip was a shock but in general I felt quite cold towards it.
When I saw the second movie was really hyped, and when compared this movie was a bit... anticlimatic. Sure, I watched the previous movie in a Japanese theather the premier day and that really helps with the hype, but I feel this movie lacks something.
The movie was not bad, but as a stand alone not that good either... Need to see the next movie before I can really judge it.

[Monk Ed]

Today I received the Blu-ray and I watched the movie for the first time.

I avoided the Eva community -including this forum- in order to avoid spoilers and sure thing the time skip was a shock but in general I felt quite cold towards it.
When I saw the second movie was really hyped, and when compared this movie was a bit... anticlimatic. Sure, I watched the previous movie in a Japanese theather the premier day and that really helps with the hype, but I feel this movie lacks something.
The movie was not bad, but as a stand alone not that good either... Need to see the next movie before I can really judge it.

Much of this was my impression as well, not right after the movie but after digesting it for a bit, but as described in my update to my reaction, my opinion changed when I read the opinions/small analyses of a couple of other posters who had very positive reactions to the film. Maybe you will have the same experience? It's amazing how reading someone else's framing of a story can really change your appreciation for it.

[pwhodges]

Then when you watch it again, it starts to fall into place more naturally as well.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

It's amazing how reading someone else's framing of a story can really change your appreciation for it.

Most certainly true- it's help me shape my own opinions on Q.