Shin Eva - Official Social Media: 2.22 You Can (Not) Release

[ElMariachi]

Unit 13 destroying Asuka's entry plug with its mouth? Man, the final fight seems to reference the incident with Unit 03 in so many ways...

The entire final battle is one redux of the 9th Angel fight: Asuka being trapped inside a possessed Evangelion with dark colors and four arms because of the 9th Angel, and Shinji is the only one that can save her with his Unit 01, he's even wearing his old 01 plugsuit which he wore last time against the 9th Angel, and at the end of the battle Asuka is given the body she would have had had she not been infected by the Angel and cursed by Evangelion. This entire fight was the universe letting Shinji undo his past mistake. (and the following scene to have him undo all of his mistakes and then more...)

It's kinda interesting how different Kaji's & Misato's reactions were to losing Shinji.
Kaji goes & dotes on some other kid (at least in the Manga verse you could see his tendency to mentor random orphans 'atoning' for what happened to his little brother), whereas Misato decides that she's through with this whole parenting thing & utterly incapable of it - maybe she feared that she was gonna get Ryoji jr. killed just like what happened with Shinji.

Personally I think that while N3I hit her hard, the real catalyst to her change of personality was losing Kaji and see the world destroyed by A3I.

[JupiterCallisto]

3.333 updated the NEP for 3.0 to make something that isn't ugly and actually uses clips from the film so that's cool and might be worth the double dip alone.

[Registration]

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This makes me angry, all evangelions are way fucking cooler in Yamashita concepts arts rather than the final movie. I've always felt this way with the angel designs in 2.0 CRC, but seeing all those cool evas and the end result is so sad.

[ElMariachi]

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This makes me angry, all evangelions are way fucking cooler in Yamashita concepts arts rather than the final movie. I've always felt this way with the angel designs in 2.0 CRC, but seeing all those cool evas and the end result is so sad.

It looks like a mix between an Eva, a Metal Gear and the Anger Carriers from ANIMA, Tsurumaki seemed to really had wanted to see his idea of Eva reusing the defeated Angels' powers animated! It would had been cool thematically to see WILLE using humanity's enemies' powers to fight their new enemies.

There are also tweets about EVA-08's arm bracers from the final battle, which confirms that its arms were still not fully healed until it started nomming Adam's Vessels, and the first versions had said bracers to double with giant power fists:

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But in the end the boring design won, even Yamashita admits in his tweet that the final design is plain (but a pain in the ass to draw):

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The tweet also reveal that said arm bracers came from the Paris armory, which makes me wonder why did what looks like a secondary base had so much specific material: new Eva armors that let them become "overlap compatible" a full JA unit, limbs bracers, even the axe pizza-cutter thing came from there! Seriously what was up with that base that they had shit still relevant after 14 years of advancing technology!?


Also there's a tweet from yesterday that drops a bombshell: it's an illustration from 2013 with Units 01 and 13 piloted by Shinji and Gendo respectively, revealing that this final battle was planned from the beginning, but the circumstances of this battle were very different, as back then Tsurumaki instructed Yamashita "to simulate a father and son who would continue to fight for eternity, even after their bodies were lost, for as long as they could." and called it "the End of Everything"!
Father and son locked in a battle with their very body long disappeared and their Eva transcending physicality, until the end of times. Holy fuck, this is Kars level of "fate worse than death" here!

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[BernardoCairo]

I just saw this on Twitter. Damn, my jaw literally dropped. Talk about a fate worse than hell. It's so crazy to think that Tsumaraki actually considered adding this to the movie. Honestly, I think it's a shame he didn't. I mean, I understand why they chose to discard this idea. That said, WOW, this looks cool (and bold)!
Shinji and Gendo fighting forever. A struggle that never ends. Yeah, it's really cool. I imagine that, at certain moments, the fight would almost end, only to start all over again (like that scene in They Live lol)

As for the actual fight against Unit 13, the parallels between it and the ninth angel's incident are inevitable. The major difference is that, this time around, Shinji actually did something and saved Asuka

[Kendrix]

Making it look like it could last forever that that was the OG plan - in the movie proper they fight a long time & then it becomes clear that brute force won't lead to a result.

Though of course this way to visualize it with the 'ghostly' EVas might have also been cool as an alternative to the 'stage set' look.

The stage set itself could be seen like a beefed up version of the "instrumentality stage" in the og series endings.


It is neat that they're publishing all these crazy brain storming drafts tho.

looks like Yamashita got enough material there to do "ANIMA II, Rebuild version"
I also understand why they'd want a more "cobbled together" look rather than going for maximum cool factor as WILLE's desperate situation is important to communicate

I do feel that the Rebuilds were a bit short on the body horror, my inner horror fan wanted to see like, the bulging stomach angel design, more detail of poor Asuka getting corrupted, or that they had killed off ReiQ more graphically (for all that my heart very much does not want that) or indeed this idea of having the fight extend to a point where their bodies burn off.
Though I also see why they had Rei plopp into a puddle with a cross/rainbow as a way to confirm her 'angelic' nature in this 'verse, since there was nothing like that bit in ep 24 where she neutralized Kaworu's AT field.

As a whole the aesthetic shifted a bit from 'biological grossness' to 'transcendent light show' - EVA 01 becoming a radiant giant rather than acting like a predator animal, or EVA 02 going all shiny breaking out of it's restraints, the glowing eyes etc.
On the one hand making everything glow makes it look more 'unreal/inexplicable', but you lose a bit of like, the visceral oomph pf bulging veins and gore.

[BernardoCairo]

The stage set itself could be seen like a beefed up version of the "instrumentality stage" in the og series endings.

Yeah, it also remembered me of EoTV's Instrumentality and how it played with this idea. The end of episode 25 (in which Asuka, Shinji and Misato are on stage, while B-9 Infantile Dependence, Adult Dependency is playing in the background) must be one of my favorite moments from Evangelion. It's the ultimate collision of the three cases covered during this finale. The way the camera moves back and reveals the characters looking at themselves on stage is just amazing (Misato's description of Human Instrumentality makes me shiver). Perfect scene.
I'm actually very happy that Khara is toying around with this concept again. Many people who watched the movie told me that Shinji acts as a "director" during his friends' Instrumentality sequences (running things behind the scenes). That's cool in a number of ways. That said, I also love Tsumaraki's original concept as well. I hope these ideas can eventually be reused in some side stories.

I also see why they had Rei plopp into a puddle with a cross/rainbow

Usually, the moment an angel dies is portrayed as bombastic or triumphant. Ayanami's death (as well as the destruction of Unit 03 and Kaworu's demise) subverts this notion. I truly want to know how they implemented the rainbow and the cross in this sequence. It seems to be a very melancholy and subtle scene.

[Kendrix]

the sandbox scene in EoE also had a "stage like" framing

So instrumentality went from a simple school auditorium to a proper theater stage to a big special effect budget with props

[Konja7]

Usually, the moment an angel dies is portrayed as bombastic or triumphant. Ayanami's death (as well as the destruction of Unit 03 and Kaworu's demise) subverts this notion. I truly want to know how they implemented the rainbow and the cross in this sequence. It seems to be a very melancholy and subtle scene.

Yeah. I also wonder how they will implement these aspects.

It's interesting that Rei Q's death has a rainbow/cross in her death.

Kaworu didn't have one when he died in Q. And Rei II, who technically died in Ha, didn't have one either.

[ElMariachi]

It's interesting that Rei Q's death has a rainbow/cross in her death.

Kaworu didn't have one when he died in Q. And Rei II, who technically died in Ha, didn't have one either.

I think it's probably because Rei II and Kaworu didn't completely died but wete absorbed in their respective Evas, while Rei Q did die for good.

[BernardoCairo]

the sandbox scene in EoE also had a "stage like" framing

True and that's another great scene right there. The lighting is on point and the ambience is somewhat unsettling. It's one of the few moments in EOE that I genuinely feel sorry for Shinji. The whole thing starts by showing the equipment that is lighting the place. It's really cool when the camera moves back and reveals the back of the stands. The girls (who look a bit like Asuka and Ayanami) also seem to be "fake" (as if they were dolls). Great sequence!

So instrumentality went from a simple school auditorium to a proper theater stage to a big special effect budget with props

This kind of reflects the difference between EoTV's and Shin's budgets. One is an introspective journey into the human subconscious and the other is a big blockbuster animation. It has always struck to me how, in the midst of "production issues", Gainax managed to create episodes as special as 25 and 26.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

In the creative fields, you come to learn that infinite time and money allocated to a project does not mean infinite quality. The law of diminishing returns is strongly apparent when it comes to making art: you can make a rough sketch in one minute, some lineart in ten minutes, a nice drawing in one hour, and a fantastic drawing in ten hours. But if you gave someone a hundred hours, how much would they be getting done in each of those remaining ninety hours compared to the first ten?

When you have limited resources, you are forced to play to the strengths of the medium in which you are creating. Deadpool is a great example of how to make a modern superhero film on a small budget, by playing to the strengths of practical effects and computer-generated imagery. (As it happened, the director used to be a videogame cinematographer, and so knew a thing or two about how to shoot for CG!) Episodes 25 and 26 play to the strengths of television animation, with some of the cuts used and reused, holding long shots, lots of narration, selective animation... and it created an experience that we haven't seen replicated.

[BernardoCairo]

That is true. limitation breeds creativity. I was replying Super Mario 64 these days. Much of this game's identity comes from the hardware limitations of the N64. A good example is how each stage has multiple objectives for the player to complete. This was done to save memory, but you don't think about it while playing. All that goes through your head is how much freedom you have to tackle each of these goals (in whatever order you want, for eample).
I think the strength of episodes 25 and 26 is how they focus on the "big picture", instead of minute details. Instead of wasting time explaining what exactly Human Instrumentality is, they show us. It's a ride through the consciousness of Shinji, Misato and Asuka. It's the final collision of their stories and everything is wrapped up nicely. I love how episode 26 deftly uses its simple aesthetic to show how everyone is melding into the same being. It perfectly captures the lonely nature of Human Instrumentality and absolute freedom.
When I first watched Evangelion, I had the impression that EOE was better than EoTV. These days, though, I can't decide which ending I like best. Both make me feel many emotions, even if different. I wonder if Shin will also mark me when I watch it. Probably not the same way, but that's ok.

[Konja7]

My feelings about Episodes 25 and 26 are complicated. I really enjoyed these episodes, but I don't like them as an ending for the story.

I feel EoE works better as an ending for NGE even if it feels too depressing for me.

[BernardoCairo]

Well, this is a very subjective topic. I understand what you're saying, but I don't feel the same way. The End of Evangelion has a melancholy aesthetic, but I think it sends a very positive message (the last 15 minutes of this movie are beautiful). As for EoTV, it just makes me feel happy and alive. I love how Shinji's voice is mixed with Asuka's and Misato's when he says "But maybe I could love myself!" I can't think of a better way to wrap things up. Ok, maybe One More Final. Damn, I truly can't decide between the two! We are lucky to have both! lol

[BernardoCairo]

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Yeah, the 10 billion mark is materializing!
I admit I didn't expect this so soon...

[Kendrix]

I think a new official art came out, seen on tumblr on reddit:

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I love how this time Kaworu is the one being comforted (and I'm always a sucker for tender hand gestures). Even before this, there were a bunch of fanarts like this after the movie.
I wonder how many more pics they have lying around...

[bogusman]

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Yeah, the 10 billion mark is materializing!
I admit I didn't expect this so soon...

So this is the "Final" Evangelion huh..

[Kendrix]

And they're luring ppl in with beguiling mermaid Mari and the handsome Commander Nagisa

[BernardoCairo]

I think a new official art came out, seen on tumblr on reddit

It was drawn by Mr Shuichi Iseki. I'm not sure if this is an official piece of artwork or if he's just toying around with the characters (probably the latter). Regardless, it's a nice drawing! This guy is a pretty good animator. I mainly associated him with DBS (he supervised an amazing episode).

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