Text Version
I guess it’s been a bit now since the final Evangelion movie, Thrice Upon a Time has come out, but being the huge fan of it that I am, I wanted to share my thoughts on it. I’ve also heard that Studio Khara has been very protective of the copyright of this movie, so please enjoy what is on-screen, as it is what I believe, a very eye-popping piece from the movie itself. So, to say goodbye to my favorite anime series, here we are. As I had expected, 3.0+1.0 explained a lot of the things that made 3.33 confusing to some people and in classic Evangelion fashion, it all went down a route of either you love it or you hate it. The Rebuild series opts for a completely different ending than either the TV series or End of Evangelion, going down a more happy route, giving Shinji a chance at having a life that no other place in the franchise did. Maybe this is due to Hideaki Anno’s changing philosophy on creation, wanting to send this boy off with a happy ending before saying goodbye to him for good and moving his way into more live action oriented projects, or maybe it’s just Anno showing us that even the most depressed, abused, introverted individuals have a chance at happiness too. If anything, the Evangelion itself was a source of tension in Shinji’s life, it represented the ability to be useful, especially to his father Gendo Ikari, to Misato Katsuragi, to Ritsuko Akagi, and to his friends. It represented power that he didn’t have otherwise, the power to protect what he loved and also the power to destroy what he loved, in the cases of Tohji Suzuhara in the original series, Asuka Langley Soryu in the Rebuild movies, and Kaworu Nagisa in the original series as well. It created opportunities for him, but it also bred problems for him. With the Evangelion, Shinji can become someone important, without the Evangelion he is no one important.
3.33 followed up on Shinji saving Rei Ayanami from within Evangelion Unit 01 in 2.22, triggering the Near Third Impact, a concern a lot of people had with it, was the tonal shift into everyone straight up hating Shinji for an issue caused not completely by him, but by the orders he acted upon by Katsuragi. 3.0+1.0 explains this with Ritsuko confronting Misato about Shinji’s return to the WUNDER, a ship Misato’s faction, WILLE had repossessed from NERV. Misato had shouldered the burden of Shinji’s actions, because of her orders, and while she may have been rough with him, she only wanted to protect him. What’s interesting is what this revelation leads into. Up until this point in the movie, we’re mostly fed some extra exposition about what happened in the years between 2.22 and 3.33, as well as in between the events of 3.33 and 3.0+1.0 – coupled with visiting Village Three where we reunite with Tohji Suzuhara, Kensuke Aida, Hikari Horaki, and a few new characters. I will say, 3.0+1.0 really does wrap everything up with every character you wished to see. One point that NGE I do believe skipped out on, by just evacuating the side characters from Tokyo-Three to focus more on the core cast near it’s ending. We learn what these people have been doing since Near Third Impact, what their lives are like and what they’ve become, and in Ryoji Kaji’s case, we learn he has died, much like in the original series, due to the events of Near Third Impact, and his and Misato’s son has inherited his name.
It’s the second half of the movie, that really starts moving in true Evangelion fashion. Shinji decides, one final time, to pilot Evangelion Unit 01 and fight his father, after Mari and Asuka begin their assault on NERV’s army, an apparent mix of a new series of Mass Produced Eva units, some of which appear to be more angel-like in their design. The culmination of the movie is Shinji vs. Gendo, in both reality and unreality. Shinji gets a look into Gendo’s mind, and to be honest with you, I never thought I would ever cry because of Gendo Ikari. The original NGE, even in his past, made him seem like a rough guy that was pretty egotistical, when the only shed of emotions he had were for Yui, Shinji at a young age, and Rei. 3.0+1.0 opens Gendo’s book fully up, explaining the significance of Gendo’s tape player handed down to Shinji was a way for Gendo, like Shinji to avoid society, if the hedgehog’s dilemma was a thing that affected Shinji, it was because Gendo grew up similarly. Like father, like son, we got a look into the younger Gendo, a piece of his life that NGE did not touch. I shed some tears when the words came out of his mouth, “I’m sorry Shinji.” For sacrificing his own humanity, other’s lives, all for a chance at seeing Yui again and putting his family back together, of course none of these intentions are changed from the original series, but to see Shinji exit Unit 01, realize it was Yui inside and Unit 13, with Gendo inside grabbing Unit 01, and stabbing a spear through them in a lover’s suicide was just magical and emotional to watch.
So, I’ve told you a bit about the story, some pieces I think it did better than the original series, by filling in some gaps and how it connected the films together. But, did any of that make it a good movie? Well, to be honest. It’s Evangelion. Your mileage may vary here. I thought it was the perfect sendoff for the series, the perfect goodbye, especially the ending scene, which may have some people fired up at some particulars of it. Others may feel like it adds too much, especially those not a fan of the time skip in the first place. One of the more rough parts was the huge exposition the movie needed to go through to explain just what 3.33 did to change things up a bit, it wasn’t boring by any means, but we’re talking about a near 3-hour movie, where almost an hour is dedicated to exposition. Is it necessary? Yes. Is it interesting? Mostly. Will it get on some people’s nerves? For sure. I’d say, if 3.33 put a bad taste in your mouth, give 3.0+1.0 a chance. If you’re not a fan of the Rebuilds in general, you’re probably wasting your time here and can use the time more wisely. Of course, the only major spoiler you’ve gotten so far is how Gendo dies and that Misato and Ryoji had a kid together. We’re going to get into the ending scene now, so if you don’t want to know about that – you can skip the next paragraph.
SPOILERS START
So, I’m an Asuka fan, I always have been since she popped on screen in the original series. Her fiery personality, no fucks given attitude has always made her a great character in my mind. Then taking her apart piece by piece and shattering her psyche made her even more interesting. Up to the point when she was fighting for her life against the MP Eva in the End of Evangelion, I wanted to see her win. I knew she wouldn’t, but I wished she had a chance. Some of you are probably Rei fans in similar ways, liking a quiet girl who still gets the job done, even though she may feel like it’s an order. She’s blindly accepting of things because she doesn’t understand them, unless of course you insult someone she cares about deeply. Then you’re on her bad side. There’s probably a huge group of you guys that are Kaworu fans too, whether you think it was a romantic relationship or not between Shinji and him, you can’t deny that Kaworu was the first among many that really made Shinji feel understood, unfortunately for Shinji he wasn’t meant to live. I can’t imagine many of you are Mari fans, though. So when Shinji wished for a world without Evangelion, the main source of tension in his life – finally creating the dream reality we saw attempts at in NGE, his friends are living again. Rei, Asuka, Kaworu and Mari, except they’re living their adult lives, free of Evangelion. We see Mari approach Shinji and cover his eyes, asking a question she did earlier in the movie, “Guess who?” his reply, “I don’t know? Glasses and big boobs, maybe?” echoing Mari’s words from earlier. They flirt for a little then run off, holding hands up a staircase, ending the movie. A lot of you probably feel that Mari shouldn’t have been that person Shinji ran away with. It should have been one of the others, and I feel that, as an Asuka fan, I do feel that. But let’s take a closer look at this.
Rei is a clone of Shinji’s mother, well, maybe not in this reality but the image of her being Yui’s replica will always be in Shinji’s mind. He and Asuka are genuinely not compatible. Though she finally admitted she had feelings for him, and he to her, there’s a real chance at a toxic relationship there that I believe both of them realize. Kaworu and he were probably the most compatible and while they understand each other, there’s one thing holding Kaworu back – the same thing that ultimately holds Rei and Asuka back as well, the association of the problems of the Evangelion and problems. The Evangelion ended up bringing the difficulties of these individuals, to their head. Rei’s humanity, Asuka’s loneliness, Kaworu’s life, and Shinji’s insignificance. Mari, does not have that association with her. She was a character hamfisted into the series by the production team that did not have a negative outlook on her life. She was, probably, the happiest of the Eva pilots. So to find use for her, differentiating her just enough from the original cast and acting as a reset of sorts for Shinji is a great role for her. Do I think Shinji would be happy with Mari? More so than the rest of the cast, as I think memories would haunt him from life before the Evangelion. They may be gone physically, but the emotional damage caused by them and what they brought upon humanity may hurt Shinji more.
Finally, to touch upon Mari’s true name, Mary Iscariot, and a bit of my thoughts behind it. I’ve read a few differing opinions on it already on how it signifies her being a traitor to NERV or an alien to Anno’s creation, her being a traitor to the meaning of Evangelion and it being Anno’s way of getting back at the team for forcing her in. But here’s what I think, we didn’t learn much of Mari until she confronted Fuyutsuki near the end of 3.0+1.0, where he spoke her true name, and we discover she was a friend of Yui’s in school. Here’s a point that may have been looked over, or rather hidden from the viewer. Like the original NGE, where characters had been named after Imperial Japanese WWII Naval Warships, the namesakes of characters from Rebuild are also through warships, though Anno had opted for post-war ships this time, using Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force vessels instead. Their names? Ayanami, Shikinami and Makinami: all three of which are Ayanami-class destroyers. It was revealed in 3.0+1.0 that Asuka Shikinami, much like Rei Ayanami was a clone, and with the revelation that Mary Iscariot was alive alongside Yui, only two possibilities come to my mind: One, Mari Makinami is a clone of the original Mary Iscariot, or two: Mari Makinami was one of the original recipients of the Curse of the Evangelion, obtaining it not after Near Third Impact, but much earlier in time. Option One, leads us to a more rounded story, option two not so much, but it differentiates Mari from the two original girls slightly, so much as to say “she’s not mine” from Anno.
SPOILERS END
So for one final time, Goodbye Evangelion. You were a major part of why I enjoyed anime in the first place. You got me interested in it, you made me return to it, and now the book on you is closed for good. While I still have other pieces of media to consume in the Evangelion franchise, such as the various different manga and the Evangelion Anima novels, I now no longer have to wait for movies that will seemingly never be released, contemplate on if something is a hint for it 5 year prior to its release, or what. It’s the end of a chapter for anime as a whole, though originally Evangelion made its impact back in 1995 and 1996, it has stuck with fans and haters through the 25 years since it’s premiere. It’s the one show you can always go back to as an example of the best anime you’ve ever watched, or the worst. Either you don’t understand it, you do understand it, or nobody understands it. The opinions on Evangelion are vast, and I don’t think another show will come around and create a similar impact any time soon.