A few months ago, all four of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies appeared on Amazon Prime. This marked my first opportunity to watch the fourth and final movie in the series, but since a fair number of years had passed since I’d seen the others, I decided to just start afresh and watch all of them. Having now completed that task, the time feels right to pen some thoughts about the experience.
Warning! This review is going to be pretty spoilerific, so you might want to wait until after you’ve seen all the movies for yourself.
My relationship with the Evangelion franchise began in the early 2000s, when I eagerly devoured the TV series as part of my plan to watch all the anime I could get my hands on. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, Shinji’s depression and lack of self-worth resonated with my own struggles with depression. As it must have done for so many people, the series shone past it flaws and became a core part of my anime experience.
Nonetheless, there was always a feeling that Evangelion was an incomplete, imperfect thing, always striving towards Anno’s vision of some platonic ideal of itself. Back in the day, the consensus seemed to be that episodes 25 and 26 of the TV series were to be disregarded, merely being the product of a show that had run out of time and money, but which still needed to finish its run. The ‘correct’ thing to do was to skip those episodes, and instead regard the End of Evangelion movie as the true ending, a slot-in replacement that more accurately represented what Anno wanted to achieve.
But even then, Anno wasn’t satisfied, and it was with mixed feelings that I received the news that he was trying once more to tell his story – this time with a quartet of movies entitled “Rebuild of Evangelion”. Was this a cynical cash grab, or did Anno really feel that he needed one more go to reach that platonic ideal? Whatever the case, I found myself booking tickets to go and see the first two movies in the cinema.
Evangelion 1.11
The first Eva movie is a largely faithful retelling of the start of the anime series, omitting some elements for time and bringing the action to glorious HD. There’s also a toning down of the “get in the damn robot, Shinji” elements, with our protagonist showing an increased willingness to step up to his role. All in all, what we have is a streamlined version of the TV show experience, and while it’s sad to lose some of those extra events and details, it still feels like a strong first entry in the movie series.
Evangelion 2.22
The second film in the series is where things start to diverge. First off, we’re introduced to new Eva pilot Mari, a clear indication that the story is not going to progress as it did before. From hereon in, we’re seeing a new spin on events, including a major change to the tragic fate of Unit-03. It’s clear from hereon in that we’re no longer seeing a polished a refined version of the original Evangelion, but that Anno is playing with something new – familiar characters and faces, but things unfolding in quite a different way.
Evangelion 3.33
Evangelion 2.22 ended in appropriately spectacular fashion, with Shinji managing to trigger the dreaded Third Impact. Where could the narrative go from here? Well, in fact it jumps ahead fourteen years, as Shinji reawakens in a world much worse off than even the one he left. The people who remain are tough, embittered and hardened, and Shinji no longer knows who to trust. The only recurring thread is that everyone he meets tells him that he really shouldn’t get back in the damn robot. Naturally, he ends up ignoring that advice, ultimately fucking things up even worse than they were already.
Evangelion 3.33 is a curious beast, a lull in the action that feels more interesting to analyse than it is to watch. While it’s nice to have some time and space to develop the relationship between Shinji and Kaworu, much of the film feels meandering and aimless. It certainly stands as the weakest entry in the quartet.
Taken purely as a viewing experience, there’s not a lot to be gained from Evangelion 3.33, but nonetheless, fans have found plenty to say about it. Is this Anno taking the themes of Evangelion to an extreme, in an effort to get people to be careful for what they wish for? Take Rei, for example. The version of Rei Ayanami seen in this movie is a clone with even less personality and free will than the one we originally came to know and love – her entire existence revolves around obeying orders.
Let’s take a step back for a moment. The original versions of Rei and Asuka played up to anime stereotypes, embodying the quiet, demure girl and the tsundere tomboy respectively. By diving deeper into their lives and personalities, we, the viewer, were meant to come away with a sense of how mentally unhealthy it would be to live these archetypes. Instead, however, the viewers loved these characters unironically, embracing them as their “waifus” and “best girls”. Well then, says Anno here, will you still miss the point if I turn the dial up to 11? Can you still love Rei when she’s a soulless automaton with zero independent will, or can you finally see what’s problematic here? So, you long for a girlfriend who would do whatever you say, do you? Here’s that idea taken to the extreme – do you still want it quite so much.
With those points made along the way, finally Anno turns to the one thing pretty much every Eva fan has demanded of Shinji at one time or another – that he stop prevaricating and get in the damn robot. After an entire movie’s worth of people telling him not to get in the Eva, Shinji ignores them and does just that, with unfortunate results. Getting in the robot isn’t just about beating up bad guys and being the hero – these actions have consequences. Once again, be careful what you wish for.
Evangelion 3.0+1.0
In 2021, the journey that began all those years ago finally drew to a close, as the fourth and final Rebuild movie was finally made available for our viewing pleasure. Given all the time that had passed, and everything that had gone before, was it truly worth the wait? In many ways, yes – for finally we have what feels like a true and proper ending to this saga.
Clocking in at just over two-and-a-half hours, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 is a film of two halves. In the opening act, Shinji, Asuka, and the Rei clone from 3.33 take refuge in a village populated by survivors of previous Impacts. Toji, Hikari ad Kensuke are all there, now adults with lives of their own. Even Misato’s son is there, proof that this is a very different timeline to what came before.
The movie starts with Shinji at his most pathetic, unwilling to even eat. But as time passes, he slowly starts to recover, while even the once automaton-like Rei finds fulfilment in helping the women of the village with their farming duties. It’s a important glimpse of a life without Angels and Evas, but inevitably, one that cannot last.
One of the expectations for this movie series is that giant robots should frequently wade into battle, and so it is that the second half of Eva 3.0+1.0 is dedicated to scale and spectacle. Large scale set pieces, over-the-top action and general Eva weirdness and symbolism abound here, and will surely sate any fan’s Evangelion needs.
But above and beyond the content of the film, the thing we really need to discuss is the ending. After all, this is the conclusion of a much beloved franchise that has persisted, endured and been revisited and reimagined more than once. And it’s one you really need to see for yourself to understand that this is really the only way the Evangelion story could and should have ended.
When all is said and done, Shinji gets the chance to decide the form of the world from now on, and he chooses one in which Evangelions no longer exist. With Mari at his side, Shinji is reborn into the ‘real’ world, and at this point we can finally understand why Mari was introduced at all. She isn’t just another ‘waifu’ for Shinji’s harem, she represents the world beyond Evangelion. Rei and Asuka’s stories and identities are too intimately tied with the Evas themselves, and furthermore, choosing one of those two would be to pick a side once and for all for the ‘best girl’ debate.
Instead, Anno has shown us that it’s time to move past all that, and past Evangelion itself. Shinji hasn’t just chosen a world without Evangelions for himself, but for Anno, and for all of us. This is it – the story is over. It’s time for all of us to put it aside, for Anno to close this long chapter in his life, and for us, the viewers, to get on with our lives.
Now, that being said, watching this films has in fact rekindled my interest in the franchise. Helped along by the recent UK blu-ray release of the series, plus the ready availability of the manga in eBook format, I actually plan to dive right back in. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to experience Evangelion again, as an older and perhaps a little wiser person than when I first encountered it.
Final Thoughts
Despite some flaws and misdirections along the way, the Rebuild of Evangelion movies take us to where we need to be, concluding the series in what, in hindsight, was surely the only way it could end.
