3.0 + 1.0 Reactions

[evaunit13]

That's...a reach.

Strong disagree.

Like Nuke said, he turns away from the relatively spectacular and out-of-the-ordinary towards a very banal occluded shot of a person he sees on a comparatively regular basis.

[bogusman]

Somehow i don't see any romantical vibes at all between the ken & Asuka, not just in the filming scene but in the whole movie.

[Jayfive]

That's...a reach.

Strong disagree.

Like Nuke said, he turns away from the relatively spectacular and out-of-the-ordinary towards a very banal occluded shot of a person he sees on a comparatively regular basis.

Or...he turns the camera to show the future viewer that Asuka's there. And Asuka doesn't like cameras pointed at her. And all this leads into the dramatic video-camera shot of Shinji appearing.

Sometimes, even with Anno, it's just a cigar folks...

[evaunit13]

Strong disagree.

Like Nuke said, he turns away from the relatively spectacular and out-of-the-ordinary towards a very banal occluded shot of a person he sees on a comparatively regular basis.

Or...he turns the camera to show the future viewer that Asuka's there. And Asuka doesn't like cameras pointed at her. And all this leads into the dramatic video-camera shot of Shinji appearing.

Sometimes, even with Anno, it's just a cigar folks...

I photograph a lot, do paid freelance jobs, and almost never leave the house without a dedicated camera (e.g. not a phone). Of the many other photographers I've encountered in various international photo circles, we all share the common sentiment that the visual record is our primary medium of communicating with those that are important to us.

Kensuke's line at that moment was incredibly poignant as not just a photographer, but more importantly, as a human being that cares for another human being in ways that words can't express.

The "just a cigar" aphorism is reductive and was never actually said:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/08/12/just-a-cigar/
https://professorbuzzkill.com/sigmund-f ... t-a-cigar/

Somehow i don't see any romantical vibes at all between the ken & Asuka, not just in the filming scene but in the whole movie.

Over-the-top movie romance isn't the only type of romance. Sometimes it's just two people sharing a space and learning to Be in each other's presence.
See Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love for the most romantic movie that doesn't have any capital-R "Romance" at all.

[bogusman]

I think any ships in NTE are fanwank.

Anyway, one of the part that interest me is how mari was in the gendo's flash back, and how she seems she leads him to yui.

*Well, ok, gendo & yui, toji & hikari aren't fanwank.

[Jayfive]

Over-the-top movie romance isn't the only type of romance. Sometimes it's just two people sharing a space and learning to Be in each other's presence.
See Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love for the most romantic movie that doesn't have any capital-R "Romance" at all.

I'm seeing him more as a carer than anything else. A go-between for Asuka and the community of Village 3 as she doesn't want to go near them and they may have an adverse reaction to who and what she is.

Ken-ken doesn't feel the need to be on guard with her, is self-sufficient and doesn't ask anything of her, and keeps his distance when she needs it.

He cares about her sure, but in the same way I care about my female friends I've known since school. But with a lot less nudity.

Also there's the small matter of the fact that up until the end of the film she's still got the body of a 14 year old.

Anyway, one of the part that interest me is how mari was in the gendo's flash back, and how she seems she leads him to yui.

Mari just being up in everyone's grill as usual.

"Hey doofus, get those headphones off and come and meet my friend Yui, she's a total hottie!"

One of my smaller wishes for 3.0+1.0 was she glomped Asuka at least once. Oh and what a glomp it was.

[bogusman]

I'm seeing him more as a carer than anything else. A go-between for Asuka and the community of Village 3 as she doesn't want to go near them and they may have an adverse reaction to who and what she id.

Ken-ken doesn't feel the need to be on guard with her, is self-sufficient and doesn't ask anything of her, and keeps his distance when she needs it.

He cares about her sure, but in the same way I care about my female friends I've known since school. But with a lot less nudity.

Also there's the small matter of the fact that up until the end of the film she's still got the body of a 14 year old.

Anyway, one of the part that interest me is how mari was in the gendo's flash back, and how she seems she leads him to yui.

Mari just being up in everyone's grill as usual.

"Hey doofus, get those headphones off and come and meet my friend Yui, she's a total hottie!"

The way he covers her when she was naked in front of Shinji is somewhat shows that kind of relationship.

[Chrad]

It was very dumb, but I had fun. Honestly, the more it leaned into its dumbness, the more I liked it. Anno is completely indulging his 70s anime fetishism here with the escalating super robot nonsense. The action is very similar to 3.0s; all airborne, constantly spinning, framed too tight, crossing into total incomprehensibility. However, I think it was much more successful here, evoking at least a visceral abstract sensation of motion and violence. There were enough wacky visuals Wille had to shoot at to keep it interesting. I loved the drill.

The music and art direction were mostly terrific. The CGI was really a mixed bag. At times it integrated with the 2D really well, and at other times it looked super jarring. The GNR looked really terrible. You could argue that its stylistic clash with the rest of the film and uncanny valley face are intentional choice to heighten the otherworldly horror. Maybe, but unfortunately it invites direct comparison with the equivalent scenes in EoE, where Rei looked immeasurably more unsettling, without being stylistically distracting.

The opening hour is really strong. The village gave necessary expansion to the world introduced in 3.0. It's a really enjoyable film just as an example of sci-fi worldbuilding. The other really sorely needed thing this hour gives is some breathing space for the characters to just interact. NGE was defined by a lot of silences and stillness, but NTE has been a constant rush that's maintained the feeling from 1.0 of a clip show. I enjoyed checking in with everyone and the new degrees of maturity seen in Asuka's character.

On the other hand, I didn't buy the way that Shinji recovers his will to live over this part of the film. I like the message of being drawn out of your shell by other people's care for you, but after the relentless doom of the previous film, and seeing the near catatonic state he's in at the beginning of this one, his transition feels way too easy. I laughed out loud at the twist of Rei's head going pop in front of him - it's so absurdly dark and cruel, and I thought Anno was doubling down on a really tormented EoE-esque Shinji, but not long after that, he's right back on his feet. He's gone through his struggles, so everything's fine now. A switch has been flicked and he's cured. Is this really what we all wanted out of Shinji's arc?

Shinji is interesting because of his depression and his struggles. For the second half of this movie, he's mostly just a stoic hero, who has within him all the answers for his fellow castmates. This isn't such a big problem because there's so much plot and action going on as we go deeper into the climax, with way too many characters to juggle, but it feels hollow. I think it's working for people because it's giving people the catharsis of a traditional heroic robot anime resolution to his arc. On its own terms, it doesn't feel earned. The more time you spend building up how terrible things are, the harder you need to work to convince that a turn around is possible, but here it's almost taken for granted.

The thing is, I never needed Eva to be neatly tied up with a bow. It's much more interesting because it's messy and ambiguous and open ended. It invites discussion and debate. Maybe Anno sees that as a problem to be solved. The new film has no real mystery to it. What mystery is there is mostly empty technobabble. Hours after watching it, I realised I hadn't thought back to it at all. When I first saw them, NGE and EoE didn't leave my head for months. 2.0 and 3.0 (for all its faults) created a huge amount of intrigue. But now, it's done. Go to bed children, story time is over. Harry Potter is an adult now, with all his friends once more at the train station. All was well.

If this is by design, and I suspect it is, the irony is lost on Anno that by creating a comforting film drenched in fanservice and anime cliches, he's made something that can much more cleanly be treated as a fetish object, complete on a shelf, as part of an anime collection. Eva might be dead now, robbed of all mystery, but I don't think this isn't going to make anyone seriously consider the theme of returning to reality and not retreating into your obsessions. It's way too candy coloured, loud, filled with bouncy boobs, and disconnected from reality. It re-enforces anime fandom. That's fine, honestly. Anno's love for anime really comes out in this film, but the whole thing sits at odds with the whole 'go touch grass' messaging Anno is trying to express.

The number of butt shots in this movie is way out of hand. Serious dramatic scenes are undermined by parking the camera right behind some girl's ass. On another note of shameful fanservice, the way Asuka's plugsuit was ripped to expose her cleavage in her send-off scene was pretty terrible. NGE has always had its share of fanservice but there was at least the extent of taste to not indulge those tendencies in heavy and/or climatic scenes.

Mari is still a merchandising opportunity searching for a character. She's better written here than previously but she's still defined by surface level quirks, and she'd be better off cut to give more time to develop the stacked cast.

I will give credit to this film for being way better paced, and much better at juggling many characters and plot threads than 3.0. Honestly, seen as a 'summer blockbuster', it does a lot right. It's fun, exciting, and at times touching. I thought the meeting with Kaworu was really sweet. Gendo realising he had missed that Yui was in Shinji was also really nice. But again, it's just too fast, too much, too easy. This movie charges to the happy ending, and I wasn't convinced.

It was fun, but now that we're at the finish line, I'm wondering what the point was. I was never opposed to a happy resolution for Eva, but I wasn't clamouring for one either, so providing that in itself isn't enough. The message is ultimately the same or very similar to that of the original work, but expressed with much less depth. The final film is quite reliant on call backs for its total emotional range, so NTE can never stand alone artistically, but it suffers in so many ways once you invite comparisons to NGE, and it does that frequently. I consider this a messy but good film, and 2.0 was the other real bright spot of the project, so you could call it a success on that level, but ultimately I think all the strong points of this series would have been better served as part of a new original project from Anno.

[Kendrix]

It really is much better with the voices and pictures!

Observations re: the official subs:

- So mari IS meant to address Sumire with a term of endearment. SumiMari fanfiction incoming...
- the village scenes are really strikingly realistic in ways you don't see in animation - things in the background never case to exist, you see people even when they're not being focussed on
It reminds me of these van gogh paintings of trees and claypots that have individual flaws the ways things drawn from memory seldom do
- I don't think Kensuke realizes that Asuka was dissing/insulting Shinji any time he wasn't looking. Asuka is calling him a burden on Kensuke/ saying he's too nice for his own good... I guess he's similarity forgiving with Asuka, wanting to see the good in her & thanking her for doing what she can in her own way
I do like that. Kensuke was a bit naive as a kid but though he is more mature & hardened, he hasn't completely lost his optimism or belief in the goodness in people... I guess it shown in his description of & empathy for Misato, too.
Like - I'm glad they made him adult without turning into his opposite
- Rei's wide-eyed reaction to the "Thank you" suggests a 'soul memory' of sorts
- It seems clear from the phrasing that Shinji is also a "mock lillim" and expected to transform much like Asuka and Mari
- I like that bit of Shinji washing the dishes etc. It's comforting that they seem to have got a period of living together semi-normally despite the initial antagonism. Even if they had all died at least they wouldn't have died hating or being unresponsive to each other
- Touji knows about Asuka, from how Kensuke phrases it re: the letters. I wonder if Hikari does.
- I did not expect the official subs to go with THAT reading of Rei's last line. I'm changing my signature to "I wanted to stay forever with the boy I liked" the the moment the spoiler policy expires
- Shinji is so cool in the scene where he goes to volunteer to board the wunder
- Sakura meanwhile doesn't really come off in a shippy way voice wise as some ppl thought from the script, she's just very emotionally rattled from the events of Q.
- Ritsuko's thing about asking Misato if she's going to meet Shinji parallels that thing where Fuyu asks Gendo if he's not gonna explain to Shinji, but of course the outcome turns out very different...
- Hyuuga cleaning his glasses is mood
- Kitakami actually has a real arc - her growing discontent with Misato is shown throughout in reaction shots
- Also she crotchets apparently
- The use of musical beats in the climax is excellent
- i mean I already knew most everything and I still got chills when that musical motif from EoE recurred cause it doesn't mean anything good
- the official subs do clarify some of the Kaji business. It's interesting how he had basically given up & just wanted to fling a light into the future
- I LOVED the ATF punch. I'd assume neither of them can do it on her own, since they never do. You can tell they've been doing this for ages
- Seeing this scene I was first inclined to conclude that Asuka and Mari were DEFINITELY INDISPUTABLY going easy on their former comrades in Q cause it seems like they could have massacred Shinji, Kaworu and ReiQ if they'd truly wanted to, but then later EVA 13 is shown to be so fucking OP that I'm unsure again. Maybe they couldn't go all out because they needed battery life for the climb up and down.
- The Misato reconciliation scene was the most tearjerking of all. They hugged!
- The detail where the wunder being taken over unlocked Shinji's door
- Much like Misato, you see Maya regaining some of her old idealism but from a stronger position in her case
- Kitakami is then token normal reaction, but in a way different way than young!Maya was. Older Maya is just super used to doing impossible shit after all she's been through
- Kaji's last words are his "take care of yourself" line from ep 25. That is SO PERFECT. and of course Mari sort of says the same thing to Asuka in their parting
- Another thing that is absolutely perfect is how Gendo does not look at Shinji at all when he enters EVA 13, just turning away without a reaction
- That said, a lot of what kept the climax from staying into the ridiculous GAR territory is how strained Miyamura sounds throughout, she seels us that Asuka is really struggling. Like this scene wouldn't have hit half as well without her
- Is that a parallel to Shinji pulling the spears in Q, when Asuka wades through the water to confront EVA 13?
- Miyamura in general slayed this, her voice was very different from how she does young Asuka
- Mari is actually surprised when Shinji just asks Rei to let him into EVA 01, she thought they'd have to catch Gendo.
- Gendo's ambiguous line is referring to letting him in, unlike in EoE where he begs and pleads, ascended!Gendo at first seems unaffected by this
- Gendo doesn't monolog about how he feel about Rei but the images imply it. Whatever affection he once has all he seems now is "failed attempt to get back Yui"
- I suspected this the moment Reichu translated that one line as "the world you rejected" as Gendo being aware of the previous or parallel loops from the moment he upgraded himself with the key, but now I'm CERTAIN. Gendo knew how he failed before, how Shinji thwarted him.
- Something about Hikari crying into Touji's arms as the blue wave approaches REALLY hit me. She must be thinking, "My poor daughter only got to live 5 months!"
- The official sub makes Mari roast Fuyu - "Don't you share his ambition?"
The moment he 'ascends' he acts like he knows Ritsuko's & Misato's inner motivations, he flashes back to Rei rejecting him, he floats in the 'red ocean' that we saw Shinji in in EoE, but unlike Shinji who wanted connection & was sort of looking for it in the wrong, forced way, Gendo is utterly alone.
- THAT BIT WHERE Misato FLASHES BACK TO JUNIOR AS A BABY
- The expressions in the final battle scene... I think now the meaning behind the "thrashing the set" scene is Shinji being angry at being used by Gendo to destroy the world he cared about but his thrashing is also not helping/ also causing damage in his struggle
- I LOVE how he gets extra angry when he sees the piano / is reminded of what happened to Kaworu
- How he sees his friends when trashing the village set, and the last person, the only one not black and white, is Rei. So much about "teaching him a lesson", eh Gendo? He did the opposite of you.
- They're certainly drawing the flashback person like she *could* be the same person as Mari. I love how she trolls/teases young Gendo in that one shot
- There is a recurring motif of many buzzing objects forming a fractal pattern
- The shots of child Shinji being drawn from Gendo's PoV, including what seems to be something from before the "3 years ago" incident when contact totally ceased, featuring a grade school aged Shinji visiting Gendo's dim apartment crowded with books... I love that shot
- Like Shinji's image of himself was solidified in this moment & how he believed himself to be seen through Gendo's eyes - unneeded, pathetic. But seeing how Gendo actually saw it, it's clear from the image itself that he was actually fighting down/crushing all human feeling of compassion in him that was calling him the other way
- In Kaworu's instrumentality the two of them gradually come closer - we start out with Kaworu on the statue and Shinji on the shore, next they're both on the beach, last they are holding hands. Layers of self-deception and idealization being stripped off until they see each other equally,
- I LOVELOVELOVE how Rei's instrumentality references their exchange from EoE with that scene "mirrored" in the background. Last time, she talked sense to him in his moment of weakness; Now he's returning the favor.
Last time she couldn't tell him if he's "allowed to be here", this time, he's telling her that she IS.
- the way Mari's line was rendered as "now you're really sounding like a grownup" seems more in line with the "mentor" interpretation, though of course its open as fuck.


Now I'm gonna watch it all over again, but in German.

[Konja7]

- How he sees his friends when trashing the village set, and the last person, the only one not black and white, is Rei. So much about "teaching him a lesson", eh Gendo? He did the opposite of you.

In fact, Rei Q also appear in black and white in that memory. Only her red eyes are on color.

It's interesting that Gendo wouldn't expect this. I guess it's because Gendo couldn't imagine that Shinji has already "overcome" the pain for the death of someone pretty important due to the support of Rei Q, Kensuke and Toji.

[TehDonutKing]

lol sequel theory confirmed

[Dartz]

(Maybe I'll get the right bloody topic this time --- )

And so I've seen it.

Watched it in two parts.

I'm glad I did.

I don't particularly feel the need to discuss every moment in minute detail, or ponder on microdetail A versus microdetail B and what the fuck does the spot on her nose mean. I think I'm so much older and so much out of fandom that it's past that point. In the end, none of that matters.

I mean, when I sat down last night I realised I hadn't even watched my copy of 3.33 since I got it --- the last time I saw it was at a showing at Kaizokukon many moons ago, where the fansub sub-track was fucked and I had to download Reichu's subs and re-sync them because the video file was missing a few seconds at the start. It felt more epic than it actually was.

I'm glad I watched it. It left a good feeling, like meeting an old friend - but you sort of suspect you won't be seeing them again for a long time, but neither of you mind because you've gone in different directions in the last while and everyone's copacetic with that. At the same time, you might just meet up again - sometime.


Anyway, if Anno can finish Rebuild, I can finish that damned Fanfic. (It started a year before Rebuild 1 came out- ---- )

[Tilikvm]

One of the best movies I've seen.

The only thing I can critizice is the abrupt change of pace towards half of the movie.

It's not a perfect movie, but it's one hell of a ride and a very satisfactory ending for this franchise that has meant so much to us since we were kids.

I really didn't had good expectations of this movie. The rebuild movies were kind of souless to me, I didn't felt at all for the characters and I didn't felt there were any stakes at place. I was kind of having a crisis with my love for Eva, but this movie has made me recover my faith in Anno and his vision and my love for this characters. I don't think I have loved this characters as much as I love them now.

Thank you, Anno.

[InstrumentalityOne]

I'll keep my reaction short.

The movie was ok, I thought it lived up to my expectations by not trying too hard. I liked that they tried new things, the mocapped CGI animation in the Climax was a bit weird, but it kinda fit the tone.

SPOILER: Show

ALSO CAN WE PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE HOW THEY CALLBACKED A FLCL GAG BY SHOWING ANIME CHARACTERS LIKE THEY ARE ON A MOVIE SET FOR THE ANIME WE ARE WATCHING

I enjoyed that the last "confrontation" was Shinji and Gendou.
Really tied a nice bow on the central emotional drama of the story.

Also found it hilarious how they got rid of all the Evas in the last movie. As if the directors are screaming to us: NO MORE EVA FOR REALSIES

I also don't understand why shippers are mad. LIKE AT ALL
Adults can see each other naked and still be friends and support each other.
I don't understand those 4channers at all who think "Kensuke bagged best girl"

Asuka said she had a crush on Shinji, but went ahead and became an adult in the meantime.
Shinji gets the chance to admit and reciprocate these (old) feelings and thanks her.

It's a very subtle kind of understanding and show of vulnerability by two characters who struggle with it and also have that in common.
Very beautiful.

Spoiler for the Manga Ending:

SPOILER: Show

(Besides, for me it would canonize that Manga!Shinji and Manga!Asuka are probably off having the time of their lives as innocent kids, but that's besides the point)

[AdamMalkovitch]

It was fucking beautiful, I didn't cry until VOYAGER started playing, but fuck I cried so hard. I was a blubbering mess until the end of the credits.
The first act was so gorgeous, the visuals and sound evoke such a comfy, small town feel, which is fitting. I'm really glad my initial predictions of a survivor colony being in some wasteland was totally wrong. Hiding DSS chokers under the plug suit collars of Asuka and Mari was fuckin genius, I never even considered that. It was cathartic seeing another chaotic rotoscoped sequence of Asuka fucking with Shinji, I felt the force-feeding scene paralleled the kitchen scene in End of Evangelion very well. I was so sure all the twists and reveals had been spoiled for me, so I was shocked and a little excited when Asuka dropped the fucking bombshell that not only was the "original batch" of Reis genetically altered or psychologically conditioned to love Shinji so that they would Awaken Unit 01, but ALSO that Asuka was built as a series of clones in the same way. I also loved seeing the shots of the L-field experiments with Ryoji, I had no clue coreization could go THAT deep, shit was like 10 feet. The Wanderers were a great way to keep everything tied back to the real plot, like "this place is beautiful and a sanctuary of hope and life, but Gendo is still out there, and the planet is still fucked. You're not done yet, but you can rest for now." I teared up HARD when Shinji asked why everyone was so kind to him, if TV series Shinji was 15 year old me, 3.0+1.0 Shinji is current 21 year old me. Rei Q's death wasn't expected, especially not so soon in the story. Poor bastard saw two heads explode in the span of a week lol.

Act two was just as fantastic, because despite a large chunk of it being setup for the invasion, the rest of the second act was some of the hypest shit I've ever seen in my life. During that first chunk we got to learn Misato's true feelings, what happened to Kaji [sort of, that bit confused me. Did he die to stop the Near Third Impact, or did he die to stop the proper one, the resumed Third Impact?], what the bandanas mean, and also that Kitakami is way less cute than I thought she was when she only had like 6 lines. AND, we FINALLY got to see what said Third Impact actually was, with MK.06 having ripped off Lilith's fuckin head, causing the Failures of Infinity's heads to fall off as well and fall into Terminal Dogma as the giant skulls we all assumed were just edgy imagery when watching 3.0. The invasion of Ground Zero, oh my GOD bruh. Coolest shit EVER. The upbeat music for the first part [is Hooked on the Last Train a remix of something else? It hardly sounds like a modern Sagisu composition], and then things getting more intense as Unit 08 and New Unit 02 fucking diVE THROUGH A TORRENT OF SKULL-HEADED EVAS AND THEN THEY TURN INTO A FUCKIN GIGANTIC DRILL SO MARI AND Asuka FUCKING AT FIELD PUNCH THROUGH IT LIKE THE FUCKIN GUNBUSTER INAZUMA KICK DESTROYING GURREN LAGANN HHNNNGGGGGGGG yeah i liked it :] So fucking sick seeing Asuka go full Angel too, no wonder she was so mad after N3I they put a whole ass dildo in her eye. And then Unit 08 stealing the invasive type Mark.09's arm for herself and coming back to grab Shinji and dramatically dive into the gates of Hell with both Mari and Asuka in the entry plug, oh fuck so good.

One thing I really didn't like and thought was cheesy as hell was Shinji's sync rate "not being zero, but the closest number to zero, infinite." Like god man just have it so that they already knew that and lied to him in 3.0 saying it was zero so he wouldn't even try to pilot again. I adore how the animation gets so fucking wacky in the third act, with the kaleidoscope effect and hyperrealistic Evangelion Imaginary, I also loved the fight inside the Golgotha Object, all the cuts fuck with you to make you think it took way longer than it did, when in actuality, those cuts were jumping between different visions and memories. At first I hated the animation of the fight, since it was all mocap, but then I realized it's supposed to be parodying tokusatsu, which EVA's fights are based on. Mocap always looks like garbage when applied to stylized character designs, and the team used that to their advantage to make the fight feel almost cool, but awkward and flaccid in the way so many Tokusatsu fights can. I know it's intentional that the animation looks bad, cause the mocap had a similar framerate to the 2D in 2.0 and what little of it was in 3.0, so it didn't clash super hard with the 2D animation like the Golgotha fight does. Also notice how it goes back to the normal awesome animation after the initial Tokusatsu set fight in the city. Just another way to fuck with the viewer's head while in the Anti Universe. And speaking of the mocap, it was super clever to have Unit 13's second set of arms folded up on it's chest instead of using, and therefore having to animate, them. One of my favorite things I'm sure will be shit on by those who aren't familiar with Anno's other works is the large amount of reused animation in the Anti-Universe, so sick to see it recontextualized and reused in a way that makes sense. A gripe I have is... much more dire. Evangelion Imaginary looks goofy as fuck. I hate it. I realize it's supposed to be a blend of a real world human actor and CG elements, but the way they did it just looks like some Monty Python or Angela Anaconda shit. I really hope when we get 3.0+1.11, the face is touched up. Maybe make the cheeks slimmer, the eyes smaller, make it actually look scary like I know it's supposed to, and it's ALMOST scary. It's so close. For now though, it's a Giant Naked Blemish on an otherwise nearly perfect movie. Misato's death didn't hurt, certainly not as much as it did in EoE. One thing that confused me is that Mari clearly appears in the Gendo backstory bit, and refers to Fuyutuski as professor when she visits him in one of the Guardian ships. So it IS the same Mari that appeared in the extra chapter in the manga [Sadamoto you lying sack of shit you will pat for this]. But, she looks exactly the same as she does like 20 years later. We know that being associated with the Evangelion project causes your body to stop aging, but that didn't start for a couple years. Gendo aged a lot in that time... so maybe Mari worked directly with Gendo and Yui on the project, and just didn't age at the same rate as he did before starting the project stunted all their growths. Also why did Fuyutsuki's head explode? There was no reason for his head to explode. He doesn't need to be exposed to LCL. Did he just give up at life or something? The final spear being named Gaius was a fucking nerdgasm for me, I remembered looking up "cassius and longinus" after watching 3.0 and learning about a Roman senator named Gaius Cassius Longinus, so that shit was awesome. The one thing that totally stumps me and makes no sense is Kaworu and Kaji in the Golgotha Object. Kaworu makes sense, and it makes sense that he sits at Gendo's desk since he took over Additional Impact from him. But why was he talking to Kaji? Why was Kaji even there?

The ending was absolutely gorgeous. The Neon Genesis' music and visuals were so incredible, and the true ending to all of Evangelion being very similar to the manga ending but with the characters' memories and experiences left intact makes it my favorite ending of all three main timelines. I know people hate Shinji being with Mari, but it makes total sense. Rei II went with Kaworu and they both found happiness, Asuka stated she no longer felt anything for him, and I'm sure she went on to go for Kensuke. Mari rescued Shinji from a fading Anti Universe which held on far longer than it probably should have in the rewritten timeline he made with no EVAs, she helped him get to Unit 01 in the Anti Universe and was one of the few people who didn't seem to blame him for N3I and 3I.
The music was incredible, the visuals were [almost] all fantastic, the Japanese performances perfect, and the metaphors and ideas were powerful. I'm glad everyone got a happy ending, even if I think Gendo and Fututsuki especially didn't deserve theirs. I don't care that we didn't have every minute detail of backstory and "what happened" between 2 and 3 explained to us. Anno knows we're smart, being given all the answers outright isn't his style. I don't think it's quite as good as End of Evangelion, but it's so SO close, like one photorealistic Rei head away from being taking over for EoE as my favorite movie of all time.

Also the dub is a mess. Not bad, but fuck is it sloppy, and clearly rushed to meet the amazon prime video streaming release. Misato's line is supposed to be something about Kaji died to end N3I but we know that's not true, he was ending the real Third Impact that happened afterwards. And how the hell do you leave in a bad take and then have the good take right after it, Fuyutsuki? That's literally a Sonic 06 mistake bro. That said, I'm glad it wasn't fuckimation. They've ruined enough of EVA already. Though now I'm interested to see if the other dubs are this messy, and how they compare to fuckimation's.

New EVA memes grand total: 10
"This is cute" - Rei being cute
Rei holding her boobs
Shinjibarf.png
Asuka with a taser gun
"The reactivation of Unit 13 is only a matter of time! The reactivation of Unit 13 is only a matter of time." - dub Fuyutsuki
Ritsuko unloading a whole ass clip
"I have deeds. TO PERFOOOOORM" - dub Gendo
Evangelion Imaginary = Angela Anaconda
"Mommy Misato performs eye surgery on giantess Angela Anaconda while Christmas music plays"
Shinji saying "big boobs"

[Registration2]

that music when operation yamato starts is so out of place it hurts.

They should've just used the wunder theme.

[Pluto]

It really is much better with the voices and pictures!

Observations re: the official subs:

- the village scenes are really strikingly realistic in ways you don't see in animation - things in the background never case to exist, you see people even when they're not being focussed on
It reminds me of these van gogh paintings of trees and claypots that have individual flaws the ways things drawn from memory seldom do

The live action/CD/ model backgrounds really gelled well on the big screen. Having a smaller screen really did expose some of the shot composition for some reason.

- Rei's wide-eyed reaction to the "Thank you" suggests a 'soul memory' of sorts

There's some kind of motif/theme with Rei and motherhood/ reproduction here. I think it makes sense intuitively but I haven't nailed it down exactly what it is. I think this is a good observation because I often forget that Rei is a clone of Yui. Anno even told Rei's VA that there's is only one "Rei" whatever that means.

- It seems clear from the phrasing that Shinji is also a "mock lillim" and expected to transform much like Asuka and Mari

This was a huge "!" moment for me. It all made sense during the Asuka Angel blood transformation scene which ironed out the impact mechanics. Asuka transformed into an angel to break through New Unit 02's AT Field. As a result, Gendo tricked Unit 02 to transform to absorb the fruit of life.

- I did not expect the official subs to go with THAT reading of Rei's last line. I'm changing my signature to "I wanted to stay forever with the boy I liked" the the moment the spoiler policy expires

Same!

- Sakura meanwhile doesn't really come off in a shippy way voice wise as some ppl thought from the script, she's just very emotionally rattled from the events of Q.

I thought the dub was able to capture the emotional intensity of the same but I don't think they'd be able to get the Kansai-dialect nuance so I was really interested in how they would do this scene.

- the official subs do clarify some of the Kaji business. It's interesting how he had basically given up & just wanted to fling a light into the future

This part was a big moment for me. It explains everything we need to know about Kaji. It seems mostly these big plot expositions and revealed secrets pop up rather quickly in the dialogue.

- The Misato reconciliation scene was the most tearjerking of all. They hugged!

This part gets me every time!

- The detail where the wunder being taken over unlocked Shinji's door

For some reason, the scenes when the Wunder gets invaded by Eva Opfer Type and the other Nerv ship have a brief call back to the Nerv invasion scenes in EoE.

- I suspected this the moment Reichu translated that one line as "the world you rejected" as Gendo being aware of the previous or parallel loops from the moment he upgraded himself with the key, but now I'm CERTAIN. Gendo knew how he failed before, how Shinji thwarted him.

-The moment he 'ascends' he acts like he knows Ritsuko's & Misato's inner motivations, he flashes back to Rei rejecting him, he floats in the 'red ocean' that we saw Shinji in in EoE, but unlike Shinji who wanted connection & was sort of looking for it in the wrong, forced way, Gendo is utterly alone.

This is a good observation here. From a more broad contextual standpoint of the scene itself, in contrast with EoE, instrumentality is centered around Gendo so that he can get his wish to see Yui again. Similar to EoE, Gendo is wishing for the same reality for what happened in EoE (all souls merging to one form). So when Gendo says that, it feels like he's going down the EoE-style instrumentality path whereas Shinji has diverted from that outcome.

- THAT BIT WHERE Misato FLASHES BACK TO JUNIOR AS A BABY

You know, I thought there was a missed chance here in the dialogue. Misato is also a surrogate mother to Shinji so I was hoping the line would have expanded to my two sons or my two boys or something.

Also the dub is a mess. Not bad, but fuck is it sloppy, and clearly rushed to meet the amazon prime video streaming release. Misato's line is supposed to be something about Kaji died to end N3I but we know that's not true, he was ending the real Third Impact that happened afterwards. And how the hell do you leave in a bad take and then have the good take right after it, Fuyutsuki? That's literally a Sonic 06 mistake bro. That said, I'm glad it wasn't fuckimation. They've ruined enough of EVA already. Though now I'm interested to see if the other dubs are this messy, and how they compare to fuckimation's.

"The reactivation of Unit 13 is only a matter of time! The reactivation of Unit 13 is only a matter of time." - dub Fuyutsuki
"I have deeds. TO PERFOOOOORM" - dub Gendo

Yeah I thought it was weird that the actors said "N3I" it seems that whoever translated the script went a little too direct in places like as you said "I have deeds to Perfom!"

that music when operation yamato starts is so out of place it hurts.

They should've just used the wunder theme.

I thought this was a little surreal when I first saw but I thoroughly enjoyed this scene watching it on the small screen (at this point I've seen the movie a few times already)

[Gendo's Glasses]

"I have deeds TO PERFOOOOOOORM!" owns hard. I figured Fuyutsuki's line was like him kind of grappling with it, repeating it to himself - what does the script say? There definitely were a few lines and translations that felt odd, though. Dub Gendo definitely says they used the "power of Adam" during his Extremely Dense Loredump whereas the subtitles say "Adams" and it'd be interesting to see which one is accurate.

[Ray]

I've waited for years to finally see this movie. Did it give me the closure on the story I wanted? For the most part? Yes. But after several years waiting was it worth it? No way to slice it, after all these years of waiting and hyping up the last hurrah of Evangelion, it was always going to be at least a little bit disappointing or underwhelming. I wasn't expecting it to blow me away and make me feel the way I felt when I watched EOE or 3.33 for the first time. But I was expecting a bit more.

There is a lot I liked about it, and I appreciate they tied up as much as possible as could be expected in a tight bow. But other things about how the film went about things are bugging me and I can't properly articulate why. In some ways it did exactly what I wanted it to do to tie up Shinji's story and send the characters off on a high note, on the other hand it did exactly what I didn't want them to do by having Shinji reset the universe. On one hand it gave me what I wanted with lots of fanservice and references and a climactic final battle between the hero and the villain. On the other hand there are frustrating storylines and character moments that I feel were mishandled and could have been done much better.

I'll have my further thoughts out when I have time to digest what I watched or give it a more critical look.

I do agree with most of you about the Misato and Shinji reconcilation scene being the best part of the movie.

[Mr. Tines]

So I watched it but was quite detached through the whole thing. The South Pole sequence had me quickly thinking "How many tens of miles are they falling, long after re-entry?" given 20 Eva-lengths to the mile, and the great clouds of the things rising up to meet them, looking like dust in the distance.

I couldn't help but spot the plug for Moyoco's writing -- keeping it in the family, there, eh, Hideaki?


and WTF is that date?