Evangelion:3.0+1.0 Trailer 3 Discussion

[Kendrix]

The thing needs to be finished before there can be a "reaction in the industry" to it - though making it super long & split & everything could well incite a trend towards art film if it works.

Q already requires nontrivial amounts of piecing stuff together but it's a long setup still missing the punchline.

[SEELE-01]

Anno expressed some pretty lofty ambitions back when this whole "I'm going to retell Eva" thing started over a decade ago.He said he wanted to fight stagnation in the industry and move an exhausted industry forward. Have the trailers for 3.0 + 1.0 given anyone hope he'll actually pull this goal off or was this project a bust in that regard?

If anything, he became a cautionary tale on director moving forward with a large project without clear direction, goals, script and a detailed plan.
We can chuck it on depression and exhaustion and unrealistic fan expectations and whatnot, but the thing is that Anno fills too many vital roles in Rebuild's production, to the point that whenever he's out of the picture (sometimes for years a time), everything must halt completely.

[Kendrix]

One more thing: Let's appreciate all the dynamic unconventional poses/shots they're getting out of those 360 degree interfaces in the trailer(s)

[robersora]

Anno expressed some pretty lofty ambitions back when this whole "I'm going to retell Eva" thing started over a decade ago. He said he wanted to fight stagnation in the industry and move an exhausted industry forward. Have the trailers for 3.0 + 1.0 given anyone hope he'll actually pull this goal off or was this project a bust in that regard?

Considering he firmly established his Studio as one of the few animation studios who doesn't *just* churn out products, but at least tries to produce art, I think he has been resoundingly successful. Evangelion is a brand big enough to give many talented people the opportunity to work on something with ambition, instead of "my big brother is already 18, so is it pedophilia when he fucks me, what about anally, in another dimension"

[dzzthink]

Who says that's how it had to have happened? They could do something like the manga did where Asuka was a test tube baby who was engineered to be perfect. It would create a deep contrast between Mari and Asuka.

It's interesting that both Mari and Asuka don't seem to have family members and their previous life before Eva is never even mentioned. It would make sense if Asuka was a test tube baby because it fits well with her character having 'always been alone', which is what she says in Eva 2.22.

[Kendrix]

It could simply be 'cause everyone but Shinji (and a different Deuteragonist per movie - Misato, Rei, Kaworu...) is basically a side character now, or, the instrumentality montage could give us everyone's backstory at once.

We've gotten some hints at least - Asuka has that heavily mended doll, and there is that Mari-lookalike in Yui's photo.

But what you're suggesting could totally happen given that Anno "changed the settei regarding the pilots"; that could be anything from a few slight tweaks that we've largely seen already (like changing the Ikaris' maiden name situation or the lack of Kaji-related crush) to a big fundamental reveal like that they're all designer babies.

[kuribo-04]

If I'm not mistaken (I could be) until episode 22 the only references in NGE to Asuka's life are two pretty vague ones, Asuka crying in her sleep while calling to her mother and Misato saying she knows about Asuka's past.
It's not that different from Asuka having a mysterious doll and mentioning how she is always alone.

[Derantor]

We also know that she has history with Kaji and Misato before Ep. 22, that she was born in Japan but raised in Germany, and that she got her degree "last year". I think there's more, but I can't recall off the top of my head.

[Kendrix]

If I'm not mistaken (I could be) until episode 22 the only references in NGE to Asuka's life are two pretty vague ones, Asuka crying in her sleep while calling to her mother and Misato saying she knows about Asuka's past.

The closest thing we get before that is that scene in ep 20 where she is shown to have thrashed her room

[kuribo-04]

We also know that she has history with Kaji and Misato before Ep. 22, that she was born in Japan but raised in Germany, and that she got her degree "last year".

True. She knows Misato as in Rebuild as well though, doesn't she? I say it because of how she greets her post Angel fght in 2.0.

@Kendrix: True as well.

[Kendrix]

∆ True. She knows Misato as in Rebuild as well though, doesn't she? I say it because of how she greets her post Angel fght in 2.0.

Yeah, and she has her army title.

Only the Kaji thing was flat out cut, but that was probably for time and balance - I think the reasoning given in the CR is that it would have "diluted the sense that she came to Japan all on her own" in the context of the film's shorter runtime.
In a tv show you can show her being superficially sociable & still have enough time to throw in that this is not the whole picture, but here it was important to establish early that she is also isolated in her own way. New viewers who've never seen the TV show need to care about her by the time she gets Bardiel'd, especially if the first impression she makes is gonna be haughty & abrasive (if still pretty cool, her intro fight is like the only battle in Rebuild that isn't a fiasko or a by the skin of their teeth affair)

I mean it's still weird that it didn't get in because we're all used to that element just being there since forever

Granted, I was a lot more pessimistic about this before the revelation that the finale is essentially gonna be a two-in one deal. Assuming a more Q-like runtime you wouldn't think they could do more than wrap up the basic plot.

[Mr. M]

I think Khara is too Anno-centric, like Ghibli is Miyazaki-centered (after Takahata's death is more).
The only other project they got involved into, Rebuild and collaborations aside, were The Dragon Dentist (not that much to get into) and the Animator Expo, that had much Eva stuff.
ME ME ME was incredible tho.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Hopefully with the Rebuilds behind them the Studio will start branching out and let other artists control projects and Anno uses his clout to back them.

The next few years will really define what Khara is as a studio. If the next projects lined up are just future works by Anno then we can figure Khara is going to continue being Studio Anno. If it starts doing various works by other artists that would be the best outcome.

Whatever they do I just hope it’s not more Eva. I’d love to believe 3.0+1.0 is truly the end of Eva Forever but a franchise never stays dead. I just hope if there ever is a continuation it won’t be for many MANY years.

[kuribo-04]

∆ Gundam comments paint a very different future, in theory.
I'm all for more Eva...if what Anno has done with Rebuild has taught hypothetical future creatives something and each iteration is its own thing.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Nah. It’s a fucking dumb thing to do.

But they’ll do it. A franchise never ends.

[kuribo-04]

Wouldn't that make Rebuild itself dumb?

In theory an artist as capable as Anno could tackle Eva, and make a work even more different simply due to being another person.

I'd look at Final Fantasy as example of how different and inventive entries in a franchise can potentially get.

[Gendo'sPapa]

The original filmmakers doing a new take was fine because they put some distance between them. It was the artists doing another variation on their story.

But there was over a decade before they took another shot at it. If Khara doesn’t make years of new work first but starts putting out new Eva stuff soon after Rebuild ends then yeah that’s fucking dumb and really would highlight major creative issues as Khara as a whole.

And as previously stated, it’s not like Khara right now has a deep bench of works to their name. We’ll have to see where things go - 5+ year old interviews with Anno are not indicative of where they are - and hopefully they pursue original ideas and not just sticking to a franchise brand .

And from a strictly cold analytical business standpoint, doing new Eva was the smartest & most efficient way for Anno to build interest and raise capital to produce a new fledgling animation studio and free himself of Gainax. Khara isn't a fledgling animation studio anymore.

[kuribo-04]

I understand what you mean with time between entries, but in that case it was the same directors returning to the franchise. If you have a new director working on Eva, even if it's khara, you'd have an artist's first and fresh vision on the series.

[Gendo'sPapa]

We’re way off topic and it's silly to have this discussion about "future Eva" literally the day after they finally finished production on the final film so this discussion of whether more Eva is a good or bad idea has nowhere to go but in circles, but new artists in charge or not, Khara doing more Evangelion works would be the most creatively bankrupt choice they could take and it’s not something I personally will ever support as the go to option. It makes sense from an easy financial point but creatively it's uninteresting to me just on a personal level and as a lover of stories.

If they made more Eva world stuff I would watch, sure, I’m not going to pretend otherwise and I would certainly engage with the discussions to follow whether I enjoy the news works or not because I have a passionate interest in what came before it, BUT going that down option would be incredibly disappointed.

Khara has the clout from four back to back hits and has acquired the on-staff talent to tell any 100% original storyline. Their only limit is their imagination. Any fresh story in a world we've never seen before that the artists have there in a sketchbook that has been INSPIRED by Evangelion is a thousand times more interesting than “Story X but Eva”.

So I won’t be surprised if that’s what happens.

Either way, it's a silly conversation to have now, or at least a pointless one to have in a thread about another film entirely, and is one that should be had at a later date. Ideally AFTER Khara has provided a clue of what the studio wants to do next.

[Kendrix]

Personally, I like it when media has the self-control to actually end