Evangelion Movie 3: Q

This is my first review and I feel that this is an appropriate movie to review first because of its (i feel) incredibly skewed MAL reviews that might turn viewers off. First of all let's get the basics out of the way: Art and Sound were both amazing, and you shouldn't expect less from something that has as much budget as this movie did. Utada Hikaru's "Sakura Nagashi" is no doubt the highlight of the soundtrack, and you should definitely not skip the credits because of it. Now for the messy stuff: First of all, I am not an old Evangelion fan like many people are. People seem to think that the show's popularity stems from simple nostalgia when I am living proof that it is not. I watched NGE a few months ago and it is easily one of my favorite animes and probably always will be. Not because it is a perfect display of writing and animation or anything, but because I emotionally connected with the characters. I personally disliked 1.0 and 2.0 and in my opinion they don't even reach half of the emotional depth that NGE reached. I was very surprised to see such good scores of those two films on here. Before I watched 3.0, I was prepared for the worst. I mean I was seeing these reviews that label this movie as a 'cop-out' and stuff, so I figured this was going to suck. Turns out that people were wrong... Like always. What I've definitely learned most from this film is DON'T WORSHIP MAL REVIEWS. Especially with series like Evangelion. I'll say this: 1.0 and 2.0 are ONLY worth watching so you can get to 3.0, it's the only really good Eva movie of the three. While watching this movie, I couldn't help thinking "YES! This is what EVA is! Not what 1.0 and 2.0 was!" You'll find plenty of long, atmospheric shots that I longed for in the first two movies. You'll find a plot with more questions than answers that I longed for in the first two movies. You'll find twists and turns that I longed for in the first two movies. A lot of great NGE stuff is here! And people don't appreciate it... Most importantly: MINIMAL FAN SERVICE! Yes!! Screw the fan service that plagued the first two movies! Sexual content is fine when it serves a purpose, like it did in NGE, but completely dehumanizes characters when used like it was in 1.0 and 2.0. Not to mention they had an entire character (tits glasses) devoted to fan service who is confirmed to serve no purpose in the series. What a waste of screen time. If the Mari character was removed, OR if she was an actual GOOD character, then these movies would have been much better. Anyway, I think the reason for the bad reviews is due to people awaiting another movie like 1.0 and 2.0. THESE same people probably didn't like NGE and hated episodes 25 and 26 and/or EoE. But i'll tell you right now, if you liked NGE including episodes 25 and 26 then chances are that you will like this rebuild the most out of the three! So if you were like me, disappointed at the first two movies and unsure about the third, WATCH IT! The main problem people have with this movie is that it is ambiguous. That's not a problem, that's an asset! That's amazing! Viewers should be able to interpret a movie based on what they see instead of being banged over the head over and over with plot and exposition. That's what happened in 1.0 and 2.0. I hope that 4.0 leaves more questions than answers. People are made because they think this is a setup film for 4.0, which I guess it is. (So was 1.0 but people didn't have a problem with that...) The ending is definitely implying that. But I REALLY hope that it's not. I hope 4.0 doesn't answer everything. That's what good media is all about. Don't cater to the masses who just want transformers: evangelion. Make it enigmatic and make it amazing! You have to be open minded when watching this movie. People say that it does not work as a 'stand alone'. In my opinion, it does. If this was the last rebuild movie, it's still be great in my books. What did the three do after the last shot? Well, think of that yourself. basically, screw the haters, this is the best rebuild movie (still not as good as NGE though) and I will defend that. It's just so INTERESTING. Stop being so closed MINDED! And I hope Anno trolls everyone in 4.0 and makes it a summary or something. That would be amazing. But a normal movie would also be cool. 9/10

Ok this is my first review here… and I will try not to put my anger into that review and being objective. First of all forget the previous movies and the anime or the manga… just forget them… Now lets start with the movie… ok there is some experiment with puppies (or the version I watched had that at the start) ok skipping that bla bla bla part. The movie … starts shhhhh …. WHOOAAA DROOLS that animation I want more. Well and pretty much from that point and onwards the movie turns 180 degree and waves at you its middle finger about anything else that makes a movie enjoyable! Why I say that? Well pretty much the story development have such a huuuuuge plot hole that would fit Jupiter in it! No kidding here the movie has 1 hour long plot hole… the worse is that is not enjoyable at all! It is as if the one who wrote the scenario was Rei at best, at worse he/she got shot and was bleeding for 1 hour not able to say anything. There is no explanation of why we have that huge pause or why the dialog between the characters is to the level of mentally sick person with psychic distortion or whatever was called that. There are only 2 people that “try” to do something Asuka and Mari … but only less than 5 min between them doesn`t makes up for the rest cold chemistry between the characters. There is that feeling that they are all secondary characters and there is one main character Sinji… well I prefer watching Tom Hanks talking to his ball than that. Well they play piano at some point… gosh I wish I could play piano that well… but only that really…! The movie does manage to make you……… to DO NOT CARE for the characters at all … you don`t care for the old and new characters. Would be nice if they had spend like 15 min explaning things…having them interact between them, simple stuff like that. But no just HUGE PLOT HOLE! I can think of few movies that are worse…. Like Disaster Movie … but not by much unfortunately. As far it goes for story development and characters I wish I could give 0 … but I will give it 1 and 2 hands raised with middle finger should do. And if I go with the rating of site I love for movie reviews… the rating is “F**K YOU” !!! I warn you all you will be so pissed and surprised that you watched a movie 1 hour and 40 min (or something around that) without anything happening at all! It makes you wonder WHAT THE F**K HAPPENED TO YOU Studio Khara?????? PS. Ow yea the animation and music are nice but… just that.

Based off the two previous Rebuild of Evangelion movies, 3.0 takes the cake for being the movie that really sets Evangelion in a much radical and different direction that's foreign to even the most hardcore Evangelion fans. Arguably, Evangelion 3.0 is a step closer in the direction of a much more darker Rebuild movie that is almost on the levels of its original roots from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Evangelion 1.0 was merely a summary of the events of the first half of Neon Genesis Evangelion, while Evangelion 2.0 offers a gradual diverge from the original series and ended on an optimistic note. With 3.0, it's this type of film that thrusts you into a whole new atmosphere you will (not) be ready for, no matter how many times you re-watch it. This is only natural however as there's still one more movie left to go with a lot more material to explain and cover. So, what exactly does 3.0 offer? To start off, I must emphasize that it is not recommended to make the same mistake I did and drop it within the first ~30min of 3.0. The reason I mention this is because the first 30min of 3.0 is arguably the most jarring part of the film that leaves you scratching your head, or worse, feeling frustrated. This is because nearly nothing makes sense at all, as characters you once knew in previous installments of Evangelion are now acting as if they did a complete 180 on their personality. Nearly everyone exhibits a state of being cold, angry, and uncaring. Not to also mention, NERV is not a single entity but instead branched off into a rogue organization known as Wille. Details behind the "who, what, and why" are never disclosed, which is quite a pitfall in the story telling considering the 14 year time-skip that took place; what you saw as a preview from Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance is not applicable to this film at all. On top of that, spoken dialogue by the Wille staff (which features most of the former NERV employees) consists of a lot of technical babble that is not explained to the viewer, rendering the viewer feeling at a state confusion. Granted, even in the original Neon Genesis Evangelion, the NERV staff would spew out technical terms that wouldn't make complete sense, but at least you got the idea that "Pattern: BLUE" meant the enemy was an Angel or when the psycho graphs went crazy, it meant the Evangelion pilot was in deep trouble. For 3.0's case, it's not entirely easy to figure out what Wille's objective was during the "decisive battle" sequences. At the very least, you can infer that Wille is trying to combat Angel related beings, even though the unknown attackers behave in odd ways, even stranger than your average Angel threat. However, not every character is trying to make you play the guessing game. Thankfully, our main character, Shinji Ikari, is the pinnacle boy that the audience can sympathize with. Why? As you will quickly notice, Shinji will also be entirely and utterly confused, lost, and frustrated just as the audience is. If anything, this is director Anno's clever spin of Evangelion to make the audience of naysayers as well as fans of Shinji to be able to sympathize with this character more easily; the whole cast around him are far too alienated away from the audience, as there's not much choice but to default and rely on Shinji to help progress and make sense of what's going on. As the movie presses forward, a familiar (iconic) character makes his appearance: Kaworu Nagisa. Similar to how Kaworu interacts with Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion, he is no different in 3.0. This is the only character in the film to make the audience breathe sigh of relief knowing that there is at least someone else that will open up to Shinji and make better sense of what's going on. Not only that, but Kaworu has more screen-time compared to Neon Genesis Evangelion, which can be seen as a good thing since it allows the viewers to see a more developed Kaworu. Watching up to this point is rather important as you will see how they fit some explanations into 3.0 with the events that took place in 2.0 to a degree. One of the high points of this movie however is the OST. While the last two Rebuild movies recycled some old Neon Genesis Evangelion tracks with a modern spin to it, 3.0 takes a bold approach and actually consists of new unheard Evangelion tracks. Only a few NGE tracks transgress into 3.0, such as an altered musical score of "Decisive Battle" which is still just as good as the ones featured in previous Evangelion installments. To further elaborate how well the rest of the OST did, it's really a mash-up of various musical elements thrown into each individual track. Usually, one might say opera singers, electronic bits, classical instruments, and guitars would make a terrible soundtrack. To my surprise, 3.0 does exceptionally well to use such aspects and create an epic-aspiring piece to help the movie stand on a leg; "The Ultimate Soldier" and "God's message" being prime examples. Oddly enough, while this movie isn't as merry as the past two Evangelion movies (well as merry as you can get when it comes to Evangelion), the OST helps keep a hopeful tone in the atmosphere throughout the movie without many depressing themes. Animation wise, some of it is rather decent. The reason I say decent is because while the quality is there, like in the previous two films, it's a little over the top. For instance, a whole sequence is dedicated to seeing this new and unheard of aircraft, called the Wunder, take off from the sea and unneeded CGI takes up screen-time. In some ways, it doesn't blend well with the rest of the anime as the CGI will stand out too much. In other areas, it is lackluster, as the CGI is mostly used for objects not used for action sequences and eye candy seen most notably in 2.0. When CGI isn't a major glarring issue, it's still worth a viewing experience, especially towards the end where the animation is pleasant to see accompanied by a "godly" OST. Overall, gathering from this review, it may seem I was displeased with Evangelion 3.0, and you would be correct. As most of us know at this point, Anno is not one to cater and spoon feed to his fanbase, no matter how much we kick and scream; 3.0 definitely expresses this bombastic notion. However, I feel it is too early to jump on the band wagon and say this is the the most horrendous Evangelion movie I've ever seen. While I did 'rage quit' the first time I watched this, the more I looked into it and read up others' take and interpretation of 3.0, the more it didn't seem like such a bad movie. What I mainly want to applaud this film for however is how effectively Anno was able to mess with the audience's emotions and actually feel like you were literally in Shinji's shoes. Other than that, take it as you will and brace for the most confusing Evangelion movie at the current point in time until 4.0 is released to hopefully clear up the story better.

I’m honestly shocked at how badly such a great universe like Evangelion can be ruined. In 3.0, the animation is really solid, same with the sound design, but everything else is rock bottom. The visual effects are impressive, but they can’t save the weak storytelling. The characters are terribly written, with virtually no unique personality. Most of them feel one-dimensional, and even major characters like Shinji or Asuka lose the depth and complexity that made them compelling in NGE and EoE. The story feels childish and is easily predictable, with many plot points lacking logic or proper explanation. It’s hard to take any of the drama seriously, and I feel like this movie is directed at kids rather than longtime fans. Even the atmosphere is off – there’s almost no tension or emotional engagement compared to the original series. Scenes that should feel intense or tragic just fall flat. At this point, I’m not even surprised that the studio behind it went bankrupt. It’s just sad. 3.0 could have been a worthy alternative version of Evangelion, but instead it diminishes the universe fans fell in love with.

Considering the cult following of Evangelion, this review is more from an objective point of view. It will be short and brief with as little spoilers as I can possibly make it. Story: This movie seems to almost discount what happened in the first two movies and the viewer is left completely in the dark as to what's going on. Nothing seems to make sense and it begs for another movie. (Reminds me of the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, lots of action, no idea what's going on, gotta wait till the next one) Art: Amazing (as expected from a big budget and a ridiculous amount of time to make) Sound: Amazing (as expected from a big budget and a ridiculous amount of time to make) Character: Just like the story, there is no character development. It doesn't explain things, and it begs the question, why are you watching it (other than because you are a fan or you've watched the other two) Overall: I honestly cannot say this is a good movie. The character development is terrible, it discounts the first two movies. The story is confusing because it leaves the viewer in the dark making me wonder what their original idea was for this movie was. The "previews" they showed ended up not being in the final cut at all. Overall, the art and music is what saves this movie from being a complete "why do I care about watching it other than it being an eva movie?" If it didn't have it's amazing art, sound, and brand "Evangelion" this movie could be passed on as a B list or C list movie. Opinion (spoilers, kinda, you've been warned?): I am hoping the fourth explains a lot. It annoyed me quite a bit that everyone in this movie is an a**hole without explaining anything till about an hour into the movie to a clueless main character that has been in a coma the whole time (honestly can't stress this enough). The character development, there really is none other than the one friendship the main character gains in the movie. If anything, it's more of a character underdevelopment and the main character regressed beyond the first movie (so I guess that's a development?) Sorry if you are a hardcore eva fan and dislike this review, I tried to review this solely as a movie in a quadrilogy instead of as a fan of the Eva series or hater of the Eva series. People should be honest with themselves instead of giving 10 star ratings on series or movies that really don't deserve it.

I liked the first two rebuild movies, I really did. I gave both of them an 8/10 and while the second movie was a little lower on that spectrum, It came through in the end by fully realizing my absolute favorite angel battle of the old TV series, it was really that awesome. And boy was all of those angel fights just wonderful! Absolute splendors to behold, at least all the ones they focused on which is the reason I say 2.0 is a low 8, but boy did it set me up for the 3rd movie! I'd get to see shinji get turned into goop along with Rei and they would have their moment and we'd find out what happended to Shinji's mother and Kaworu seemed to have been built up pretty good so I wouldn't doubt that the final battle at the end of the movie wouldn't be even better than the one in the TV Evangelion. There was even a trailer at the end of the second movie that seemed be just that: the last arc of the show, and it was glorious. . . . And then I saw 3.0, and it wasn't what I wanted, it wasn't the trailer that was shown to everyone at the end of the second film, it was Anno's fan fiction fun time, oh boy was it Anno's fan fiction fun time. Look, I love Anno's NGE, I love how Anno's His and Her Circumstances is shaping up to be, and I loved his live action film: Love and Pop, and I certainly loved the first two Rebuild films; so why did we get Anno's fan fiction fun time? This movie wouldn't even have been that bad if it came after the rebuild's version of the Death of Evangelion film, it would have been kind of dumb, but I would have still had fun watching it. I still like all of Anno's things too, he did pretty good with the Rebuild films even, so why in God's name did this have to come after the second film right after Kaworu had clearly stopped the third impact? Just watch the first two films, and when the credits are done, stop. There is no need to watch this: all the character that you loved become unlikable jerks, Kaworu is never gets fully realized as a character, Genji is barely in this film at all, Rei was completely sidelined, and to top it all off every new thing they put in this movie makes as little sense as everything at the end of Death of Evangelion times three, and might as well have just been Shinji's dream all along after being turned into literal TANG; but it isn't. Now that I mention Shinji, he is the best character in this film. Since all the other character decided to either be mostly dead, barely shown, or a caricature of an authoritative character that appears in every teenage-pandering story, he is by default the most relatable character here, because he is about as lost as you will be if you do decide to watch 3.0, and you will have given up on life just like Shinji when the credits roll. This movie could have been great, but this wasn't what they had promised after the 2nd film now was it? I could tell you what exactly happened in this movie, but I think I'm already doing you a favor by telling you to just leave it at 2.0; You really don't need that movie spoiled for you.

Wow the Evangelion Rebuild Duology was awesome, right guys? What an ending! Kaworu piercing Unit 1 with the lance of longinus, preventing the third impact and saving the world for good. Full credit should go to the writers for ending the series in a way that satisfied everyone this time. For some reason some people have started trolling us by pretending that a 3rd film for the series has been released called "Evangelion 3.0 You can (not) redo" But I can confirm this is all lies. It was a two film series that ended. Repeat after me everyone: "There was no Eva 3.0, There was no Eva 3.0, There was no Eva 3.0, There was no Eva 3.0, There was no Eva 3.0........." *Cries himself to sleep* "What did you do to Eva?" *sobs* "Why?, Why?" *Sobs*

This movie really shows how as soon as Anno and the team of writers step outside the very tightly written NGE and EOE story, how good the original story was, and how unnecessary Rebuild as a whole is. This Kaworu/Shinji movie is pure fancervice, because it's a popular ship, but Akio Satsukawa is no longer in the writer's room to make it gay and romantically ambiguous. No, instead they took an idea that they never used in ep. 24 back in 1996, when Kaworu and Shinji met in abandoned school's music room. Kaworu played piano and Shinji played cello. So, even here they didn't have any fresh ideas, but just took leftovers from the original script, that were never used, because, well, they were not good in the first place. Besides playing the piano and saying that he will save Shinji now, Kaworu does absolutely nothing worthy of mention. They just fuck around in NERV headquarters, while plot is just standing still. So utterly boring. Not a single unpredictable turn of events, or plot twist. There was more character development in Ep. 24, than in the entire 1.5 hour movie of 3.0. And it was 10x more fun. And that's about it. The rest of it is just Evangelion turned into Nadia: The Secret of the blue water. Misato became Captain Nemo, Ritsuko turned into Electra (she kind of always was, but now it's official) Asuka is just angry now, just like Nadia but all the time. And of course we have flying ships. And Nadia is complete. Nadia, without all the cool death scenes, just aesthetically. Mari is Annoying and useless as ever. And yes, to make Shinji go to NERV, they needed to make every single person on Wunder a complete idiot, that couldn't tell Shinji what the fuck is happening with him, that it's been 14 years. No, instead, they scare the shit out of him, putting an explosive collar on his neck. Brilliant. Everyone is an idiot now. This movie really shows how impotent Anno's direction and writing has become.

For those who aren't aware of what the Rebuild of Evangelion series is about, it's pretty much the Neon Genesis Evangelion series with changes there and there and an ending that's promised not to be a complete failure. Also it gives eyegasms and eargasms to any person that watches this movies, which is expected for an anime that has such a big budget. But does You Can (Not) Redo live up to the hype that the outstanding You Can (Not) Advance set for the audience? The answer is well, rather difficult to say. Fourteen years have passed since the last movie, which had a very strange ending that wasn't explained to the viewer and I expected it to be explained properly here. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Evangelion 2.0 ended with the so-called Third Impact as a consequence to Shinji doing...something. So our protagonist wakes up after all that time not having aged and he doesn't understand why. The problem is that throughout the movie, you'll be as confused as Shinji here. Several plot devices that appear here just come and you'll have to swallow it like that food your mother used to make that you didn't like. A few more things happen and the film ends. Like seriously, I'm not even joking. Stuff such as the two spears in the end is never explained why things happen when you interact with them, no one ever explains to us what does waking the EVA up means, nobody explains to us why it took this new organization, WILL-E (who want to throw down NERV for whatever reason), fourteen years to find Shinji's body on the EVA. All those plot holes can be slightly ignored due to the fact that 4.0 has yet to come out and they may be answered, but if not this movie could throw all the amazing work 1.0 and 2.0 did out of the window. If you recall the extremely popular and controversial anime Sword Art Online, one of the main problems it had is that the time-skips didn't show the characters evolve or gradually turn into different people, they simply changed because the plot demanded it. Here, sadly, it's the same case. The characters are the weak point of 3.0. Shinji had become a much more likeable person in 2.0, much manlier, let's say, not letting his emotions show off like a seven year old kid playing Call of Duty. But now, due to all this mess that's happening to him, he's back to his whiny side. However, I think that (finally) it's acceptable that he's a wuss, because you know, thinks are pretty different from what he remembers. Rei is literally a different character, for reasons you'll find out when you watch the movie. She's as dead as she was in the beginning of 1.0, all that development for nothing. Asuka remains still pretty tsundere-ish, although we're not explained how the hell did she survive from that event on You Can (Not) Advance. However, the biggest problem here and what makes the character aspect of 3.0 mediocre is Misato. On the other movies, Misato cared a lot for people, never took things too seriously and was extremely close to Shinji. On this movie, we see she's not like that. She doesn't speak much, she's cold and even hesitates wheter if she should KILL Shinji or not. What's even worse is that if she had talked a little bit to the protagonist about what has happened the whole movie wouldn't exist. Why is she like this? The movie doesn't tell us. We have to bear with it. What about the new introduced members of the crew? They appear only in the first scene. To never talk again. What about Kaworu, that white haired guy? He is the most likeable of all the characters here, but, there are still problems. Why does he care so much for Shinji when they just met? How did he come into being? It is seen in the movie that he can survive in conditions normal humans can't, but why? Fuck knows. Gendo and Fuyutsuki have around 20 lines together and Mari still seems like she's only for fanservice particularly in that scene in the end where her boobs jiggle around like jelly. Saving the rather average aspects of the movie is the Art and Sound. Evangelion 3.0 looks beautiful, every little piece of detail that's added in the backgrounds still blows my mind. The movements are never rough, everything extremely "soft" let's say. There is always something to look at, the scenes in the movie as alive as they could be, except for that LSD piano song. As for the music, the epic soundtracks still fit the action packed anime that Evangelion is, particularly that tense song in the ending. Overall, did I enjoy Evangelion 3.0? Well, yes I did. Maybe it's that dear spot that the Rebuild series goes in my heart, that feeling where I can understand most of what's going on that I didn't have in the original series (which, might I add, isn't the case here). The animation, the soundtrack and the outstanding first minutes just kept me thrilled throughout the whole movie. It's just that lasting appeal which dropped more and more that left me with a bittersweet flavour in my mouth. That and the rather short length of the movie for what they were trying to go for. You see, while the "action" begins right when the movie starts, the plot begins 50 minutes into the movie. It seems like that even the developers knew this due to them showing us viewers the title of the movie "Evangelion 3.0" at that moment when they sort of explain to us what originated this much destruction in the world. This wouldn't have been a problem in a movie like The Disappearance of Haruhi, which starts slow but is an hour longer than this. You should watch Rebuild of Evangelion, including this one. It may have been a huge disappointment, but it's still pretty good and my expectations are really high for 4.0, with hope that they will explain all the loose ends this movie has.

SEE! EVANGELION... IN THE FUTURE! SEE! EVANGELION... IN SPACE! Taglines suited for a Mel Brooks treatment of anime's headiest mecha drama, but oddly apt as well in the case of Evangelion 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo (I didn't have the pleasure of a theatrical screening of 3.0), which jetisons generally familiar stomping ground to weave a new story. That it has been paired with a live action/CGI Studio Ghibli short which fits neatly into Nausicaa continuity is particularly curious, as one might expect such a short to be more controversial by the nature of its medium. But Evangelion is not a production to be shown-up. In all fairness, this film is a mixed bag that tends towards greatness, hampered by trying to do too much in too short a run time. In its opening, it immediately makes clear that its audience is the least of its concerns - you want a conventional opening? You want to know what's going on at every single moment? Not happening on either count. And what an opening! It's the movie's strongest scene; remember reading about how much engineering went into The End of Evangelion's Mass Production Eva fly-in shot? I'd hate to know how much of the Redo budget was spent on the first few minutes, but it was well worthwhile. The imagery recalls a psychedelic trip out of the Japanese-set 2009 Cannes competitor Enter the Void: a fractal which changes little by little in a dark and empty distance until we at last see Unit 2. The opening battle scene is a fantasia of action. As we watch Shinji watching it, we have about as much an idea of what's going on as he does. But that does not detract from the beauty of the mad rush. Switching from high-octane spectacle to snail's pace exposition, the movie does somewhat falter. The entrance of Rei Ayanami is especially clunky and worthy of criticism. But it can almost be forgiven as the story, alternately fat and thin, continues to unspool. Visual references are made to NGE Episode 24, which might be the only thing audiences expected upon entering theaters or popping in the disc; but visual references to Episode 25? Color this reviewer surprised. Jeers are already filed panning the re-write of Shinji's relationship with Kaworu as more on par with fan fiction than official Eva-dom. Although the dynamics of this supremely important relationship are largely new, it only keeps with the rest of the film's odd new world. For as much fault as could be levied on too-short treatment of the pair, at least that much keeps with the television source material! Meanwhile, Fuyutsuki's role is made significantly more important; while setting a Shogi board, the man drops more bombs on Shinji's perception of reality than the JSDF dropped on the Third Angel. Indeed, we and Shinji are caught-up on the backstory principally by way of three conversations over the course of the film. None of them are integrated well by the script. Whereas the NGE television series was renowned for the intricacy of its plotting, the third Rebuild feature cannot boast much beyond stunning novelty. Had it been any less stunning, it would have been unforgivable. The impression can come across that as Anno retreads his material for the umpteenth time, his heart is less committed while his aim to abuse his audience's sensibilities increases (when he considers the audience at all). We will not be able to rule definitively on this film until the next is released, which fact is, itself, is a troubling weakness. Its own pitfalls aside, the second in the Rebuild series was alone a staggering achievement in transforming the Evangelion mythos. Had more time been spent making it less obscure, the third feature could have been the jewel in the Rebuild crown. As it stands and will likely remain, it is the most incomplete of the new movies, a nouvelle cuisine entree served mysteriously lacking some sine qua non. Here's hoping the conclusion of this "thoroughly modern," multi-course meal is, itself, more satisfying.

I have a hard time writing reviews for things I particularly enjoyed, as I fear I would be doing them a disservice, but I'm going to attempt to review this movie anyway. Many people have criticized the third Evangelion movie as being far removed from the original series. Respectfully, I would agree to disagree. The second movie has almost nothing to do with canon, yet is the highest rated media from the franchise. Regardless of it's intention, I did not enjoy the non-canon fanservice trash that was the second rebuild movie, and I will die on that hill. I am told the first is supposed to be an accurate portrayal of show, the second is supposed to be the creator's interpretation of the fandom/the fandom's interpretation of the franchise, while the third is how he himself views it. If this is true, then man does the fandom have a scary interpretation of the franchise. The second movie ends with Shinji throwing away his own life in an attempt to save Rei. The third movie only builds off of what was already established. We start off with Shinji finding out he has been essentially out of commission for the past 14 years, and is nearing age 30. He threw away his adult life in an attempt to rescue Rei, ever the metaphor for waifu culture and escapism. Despite wasting his adult life, he has not aged. He still has the body(and mentality) of a traumatized 14 year old boy. I fear this probably hits many hardcore anime fans a little too close to home. Shinji leaves his responsibilities behind in an attempt to seek out his escapism(Rei), only to find out that his waifu is hollower than ever. She does not have thoughts, feelings, or wants of her own; she is a doll. He begins to seek out escapism in other ways after finding out his waifu was never real, where we finally encounter Kaworu. One of my biggest criticisms of the original franchise was that we only got to see Kaworu for one episode before his tragic death, and that I wished we had gotten more characterization. Man, does this movie make up for it. Kaworu is a nihilist, but not a negative one. He more or less chooses to accept his fate as life continues to throw him for loop after loop. He is calm, affectionate, and friendly. He is the friend we all wish we had, and it is easy to see why Shinji turned to him for his escapism. I see Kaworu as a character bound by his own idea of fate, believing that he cannot change his purpose in life and must follow what he was created for and this movie is no exception to that interpretation. The one time Kaworu attempts to change his fate, he is punished for it, in yet another tragic and gory death. My biggest criticism of this movie is that immediately after Kaworu's tragic death our emotions are interrupted by a completely unnecessary boob jiggle scene. I really don't know why the animators thought to put the one fanservice scene there out of all places, but damn did it ruin an otherwise amazing movie. I've seen a few people complain about how Shinji ruining everything over and over is not canon/accurate, but I would agree to disagree that this was the exact kind of feeling the original franchise was attempting to convey with the infamous Hospital Scene; the feeling that one has messed up so badly that they can never make up for it. While having Shinji cause the third impact is much less controversial/offensive, I do understand why many feel like that is exactly why it may not have the same emotional impact. We see him beating himself up, but it's much less relatable to the audience. While we can all relate to the feeling of thinking that we ruined everything, we can't relate to literally doing so. I think the Hospital Scene may actually do this a lot better. Shinji was misguided and traumatized when he caused the third impact, but sexual assault is an unarguably unforgivable act, it is objectively disgusting, and it is a stark contrast to the Shinji from the beginning of the show who was extremely guilty about accidentally walking in on Rei changing. It allows us to see exactly how the character has degraded over time. It reminds me a little bit of Breaking Bad, where we see Walter White writing out a list of pros and cons in the first season on why he should or shouldn't kill someone who wishes to kill him, but by the last season he has no guilt whatsoever about poisoning a child in order to trick someone he abused into helping him kill someone who wants to hurt him. Yes, I dared to mention a piece of mainstream media in an anime review, please don't shoot me. Overall, I enjoyed this movie a lot, and I can't wait to see what the 4th and final one has in store.

The story is ok and plot holes for our cash for next movie but the most thing i hate is the art but animation is really good though but it seems they rely on cgi way too much in the movie. The character design and looks aren't good it look like your typical mainstream modern look which doesn't fit well because of the sharp edge look design and also character exsperesion look cartoony like i can't even tell if its drama or comedy like asuka giving a corny piss off face look. Its like star war episode 3 revenge of the sith were story is good but some part doesn't look right or doesn't belong. Music score eehhh its there Shiro Sagisu direction is like lets make it cool with guitar riff and shit but there some part that felt epic in it like the begining part of the fighting scene with the vocal and orchestra which felt like your iconic evagelion vibe. Overall it felt like a cashcow money grab but feel like a mixture rating of a 5 or 6/10

Being an avid fan of the original 1995 Evangelion series, I had high expectations for the remakes. Some may say that Anno's taste is eclectic, but deep in far reaches of my soul I was able to connect with the intensity of scenes that seemingly made little artistic sense. Eva 1.0 and 2.0 served as good recaps after over 14 years, and the deviations were welcomed as an attempt to recapture a modern imbecilic audience that had not feasted their eyes on the 1995-1996 masterpieces. However, Eva 3.0, was just pure shit. The story made little to no sense. The progression was unclear, and the time skip of 14 years seemed to be more of an excuse to invent new characters and new scenarios than to invest a honest effect to write something coherent. Clearly, Anno has lost his wits. It seemed like Anno had milked the cash cow to such an extent that he could to wave wads of cash spent on extravagant 3D animated scenes. The one, single, only redeeming aspect of this movie was the Kaworu + Shinji match-up. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Kaworu make his moves on Shinji. If only their finger tips would just meet. I am just tired of seeing Ayanami and Shinji. He clearly does not deserve screen time with her. On the whole, a dreadful movie.

The third movie in the Rebuild of Evangelion quartet does not disappoint. Being the penultimate film does not cause it to flounder in any way, as is common in series longer than 3 installments. The fourth film is set up nicely while providing an exciting and well made story. The animation, as with the previous 2 films, is gorgeous. Even if you are not a fan of the Evangelion series, you should watch these films just to appreciate how beautiful they are. One of my favorite things about these, which occurs again here, is how animation is to its fullest extent in ways live action could never do. Besides the intense and stylized fights and the fantastic creatures and scenery, the animation changes, getting choppier and more frantic as the walls of reality break down. I have seen similar techniques used in fight scenes in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Casshern Sins, but I believe it is most impressive in the Rebuild of Evangelion series. I’m afraid I can’t comment on the voice acting, as I watched the film in Japanese. The previous two films’ English cast has been astounding, and from what I could gather, it is the same in their native tongue. The film is not perfect, though. It takes a while to set up and I often found myself questioning what exactly was going on. This is something one comes to expect from Evangelion, though, despite the reassurances that this new movie series would be more “accessible.” For more of my reviews, go to tuesdaysdusk.tumblr.com/tagged/review

I'll be honest here, the first time i watched NGE a month ago, I bought the concept of 'Neon Genesis' of the world brought through Evangelion units and thought it was pretty damn cool, but after plowing through the whole series, End of Evangelion, and then THIS, It left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. First, the story is haphazardly paced, but i think that was obvious from the way they handled the final fight in 2.0 - so go figure. The movie makes VERY little attempt to bridge the gap between the abrupt ending where Shinji gets speared with the Longinus by Kaworu and the events leading up to the situation in 3.0 - to the disdain of many rebuild fans. How about the trend of Anno being incredibly cryptic with his stories ?You will find that his realization is still going on strong here - the climax sequence of the film was pretty much End Of Evangelion 0.5. Let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with being cryptic in a narrative, but one should do it a manner that complements the story - obviously Evangelion has never done its storytelling in a satisfying fashion so it's a big minus. The rule of thumb is: it's entertainment, and you ( the producers ) are supposed to narrate the story - by using any means - in a fashion that is deemed comprehensible and entertaining by the END of the story. By saying this, No , i do not believe audiences have to be spoonfed with information every single time they are seated - a good story is where elements and plot points are revealed in tandem with the pace of the story. That's all that is asked for out a story, to be honest. I could go on but this just 3.0. so many things may be answered by the final so again, here's to me hoping things will clear up. This is a major problem, among many in the movie and here's to me hoping that the revelation in the final will be substantial and conclusive. Props go to the characterization of Kaworu Nagisa and his interaction between Shinji, as he was probably the only person who was not harassing Shinji [for being a wimp]. In the original, this Child always had the feel of being tacked on to the final stretch of the show and simply felt too rushed as a character to fit in the story. In this rebuild however he did his role nicely as an 'apologist got Shinji' -- whom is always afraid and is need of guidance through his life. Kaworu was the only person Shinji could lean on and have no doubts about - a refreshing break from all the angst and emotion from the first half of the movie. It was a good feat of characterization altogether , though there seems to be no other way to make him a more realized character. I always loved the design of the EVA units and the way they did the 3D renders of the fight sequences, albeit very draggy at times. They rarely felt out of place and fit nicely into the visuals of Evangelion overall. The original Evangelion had the best OST and it's not wrong of them to just remix and rehash them for the purpose of the movie; the pieces sounded fitting and had its own trademark tunes to itself. Overall, I thought Rebuild would've been a more coherent alternate to the original, but awesome visuals and animation alone can(not) save this movie. Cheers

I'll preempt this by expositing my relationship with Eva. I watched the series for the first time this year, and didn't like it all that much. I watched EoE, and thought the same. Most of my interaction is through reading various fanfictions for it. That was mostly why I bothered to watch Rebuild—I like the fanfic, and 4.0 just came out. I really liked 1.0. Much of what I disliked about the original was the characters, and how nonsensical many of the plans were. 1.0 fixed many of these problems, in my opinion, as well as looking excellent and having a soundtrack to match. 2.0 continued the trend. I didn't entirely understand the ending of 2.0, but the soundtrack was immaculate, Asuka's character was better, and everyone else continued being more enjoyable to watch. So I came into 3.0 with the expectation that that would continue: reasonable characters, a sensible plot (even if it can't just retell the series now), and excellent music and art. Well, the art and music sure are great. While I think that 2.0s is the best OST of the series, 3.0 has some really great songs, with The Ultimate Soldier standing out to me. Artwise, it looks excellent most of the time, though the CGI can be a bit jarring and out of place. And that's where my praise ends. Let's start with the characters. Wait, hah. What characters? Importantly, there is a 14 year timeskip that occurred between 2.0 and 3.0 that affected every character except for Shinji (who was busy taking a nap). Now, 14 years is a long time, so it would make sense that all the characters would change, yes? Incorrect. Imagine being stupid and thinking that. Asuka, despite being a 28 year old woman now (that's one year younger than Misato in the series, btw), still acts as if nothing has changed- focuses on piloting, gets mad easily, is unreasonably mad at Shinji for no reason given how they knew each other for what, three months (14 years ago), and the only difference I could tell was swapping out 'baka-' for 'gaki-' when referring to Shinji. And we're just starting. Misato is unreasonably bitter toward fourteen year-old Shinji, seemingly blaming him for all that's wrong in the world, despite how much she and everyone else were cheering Shinji on at the end of 2.0, and the trend continues throughout most of the cast. Ritsuko is an exposition machine who exists to give Shinji his suicide choker ex machina, the unnamed and new characters that make up the bridge all hate Shinji, Fuyutsuki is another exposition machine, Gendo exists to fulfill his keikaku, and Rei is back to not being interesting. Out of all the characters (of which there were less than 20 in the entire movie, I do believe), I liked Mari, Sakura, Shinji, and Kaworu the most. In order, Mari, because despite not having a character that's interesting in the slightest, she still manages to stick to it and not be stupid. Sakura, in her four lines manages to be sympathetic to Shinji unlike the rest of the crew. And Shinji, because for someone who just spent 14 years in a coma, he could be doing worse. Not a whole lot worse, mind, but it's possible. It seems like every character was gutted from 1.0 and 2.0 to make way for soulless tropes that made way for teenage rebellion, instead of the well honed anti-NERV organization this is supposed to be. Nearly every character, despite half or more of their life having passed since they last saw Shinji fucking despise his guts for no reason. I realize I've never hated someone for destroying the world, but I imagine I'd be able to at least get over *some* of it in 14 years. Asuka sure hasn't. And that's just characters. Let's get started on the plot. It's completely nonsensical. Why was there a 14 year timeskip if we won't have anything explained for the interim? Misato and most of NERV have decided to split, forming their own organization, and apparently have a few dozen aircraft carriers and destroyers to make a fleet with. Speaking of NERV, it consists of Gendo, Fuyutsuki, Kaworu, and Rei Q. Not exactly a world-ending threat there (or are they????). After all, apparently NERV, or Seele, or whomever has been working for the past 14 years to get the Fourth Impact to happen. For a few examples, Shinji and Unit 01 got thrown into a coffin in space... somehow, and nobody decided to stop this, or retrieve him, or wake him up... or anything. Just left him there for fourteen years. Also, they have some sort of foundry that can make Evas, judging by the newly created Eva 13, older Eva 9, and presumably hundreds of mass produced Evas that server as fodder for the first thirty minutes of the film. And they can do all of that but don't have the budget to rebuild their base so it's not just a hole in the fucking ground? Oh, sorry, actually it's a hole that got lifted a few thousand feet into the air... somehow by the Near Third Impact, despite it not causing anywhere near enough damage for that from what I remember of 2.0. In the end, I see some people praising this movie for returning to the roots of what made Eva great, but I just don't see it. Perhaps I'm just not a 'real' fan, but 3.0 seemed like a nonseniscal mess of strung together plot points, abysmal character writing, and mysteries that were left unsolved for 9 years. At least I can only assume they were answered in 3.0+1.0, as I haven't seen it... but my hopes aren't high. (Subjective ratings) Story: 2 Art: 8 Sound: 9 Character: 3 Enjoyment: 2 Overall: 4

Important note before read: English is not my native language. This review can contain spoilers. As somebody who enjoyed the original anime of NGE, I must say that the tetralogy of Rebuild had potential to show us a different way that the original anime may have taken in 1995 but it couldn't because of Gainax's bankruptcy situation in those years as NGE was going to be their last work. But, thanks to many people who supported the franchise with the summary movie Death and Rebirth, Gainax was saved and produced The End of Evangelion which answered some questions that the anime left unanswered and, why not? it left some more unsawered questions. When I watched the first movie of Rebuild I said myself: "Neh, more summary movies but now remasterized and with better animation", but when I watched the second movie I regretted and definitely ended loving the new movies. Evangelion 2.0 was unforgottable: the animation, the character development (Rei's development was definitely the best of all) and a new interesting character, the soundtrack and most of the annoying mental jackets finally removed. As somebody who hoped the third movie to be the best of all and wait uncountable days for the premiere and when I finally watched it after months of waiting, I said: "What the hell were the writers thinking when they released this?. They even sponsored the movie in trains in Japan and this is the final product?" This movie it's worse than awful: It is as if somebody had put your head in a washing machine, you had been slapped in the face, then somebody had ejaculated on your head, they've been given you a mint ice scream and before you'd realize they put it in your ass!. Story: 3 The story makes no sense: The story is set 14 years after the Near Third Impact but does not even explain what the hell is going on. There are tons of plotholes, incongruences, continuity errors and canon-smashers everywhere: -When and how was the Evangelion-01 placed around the Earth's orbit?. -Why was WILLE founded to destroy NERV and why are they trying to destroy the organization that once belonged?. -What happened to the Ayanami Rei that Shinji saved from Zeruel? Was she not with him into the Evangelion-01? Why he has gone out and she did not? -The Impacts are now so frequent that they should be announced in the weather news. -There have been many new Evangelions but they jumped the 7th. -Why the Evangelion-09 does look as primitive as the Evangelion-00?. -The Cassius Spear... eh? how many spears are there?. -Kaji is still alive? In this continuity he have not yet done enough anything to get killed. -It is my or NERV has now just 4 people? at least in the movie apart from Gendo, Fuyutsuki, Ayanami and Kaworu a soul is not seen by the facilities of NERV ... and there is not a fucking maid! Who maintains and / or build the Evangelions?? and above all, who pays the bill? (Could be Seele, but hey, is one of the things I liked about Evangelion, I mean the "realism" in this sense). In this everything seems to work alone, without anyone to take care of anything, and of course do not explain how they developed the Evangelion 13, the MK-09 and those flying Evangelions that are saucers with bug pins (yeah, they are EVAs, I've read somewhere). -In this movie Toji's sister is introduced a little more... What has been of Touji and Aida? And by the way, what happened to the rest of the world? because what you see in the movie around the planet is a desert. -The Nebuchadnezzar's Key... Is it a relevant object or the writers don't know what it is for and they think that we are fools thinking that we have forgotten that it exists?. -How can Kaworu be the 1st and the 13th Angel at sametime? By the way, they have jumped on the 11th angel. -The Evangelions do not needed external power supply? They have now infinite energy without a reason. If we remember, in the original anime the Evangelion-01 devoured Zeruel and assimilated his core and developed his own S2 Engine but in this movies, the EVA-01 did not eat Zeruel and it has not S2 Engine. Does now all the EVAs developed their own S2 Engine from the ass?. -How and when was the 12th Angel placed into the EVA MK-06?. -What the heck is that bullshit about the "EVAs curse"?. Characters: 2 Oh man, the characters had a great development in the previous movie and this movie just ruined everything: -Shinji had finally become an "adult" in the previous movie that could take decisions by himself and not let himself to be dragged everywhere by others... but now, he has returned to be the same crying baby with depressive problems as in the beginning. -Asuka became a Big Boss 2.0. Nothing else to say. -Ritsuko... is Ritsuko. -Misato passed from being the only person in NERV to care for the pilots, to a screaming bitch who uses everybody for her own sake. -Rei "misteriously" disappeared from the EVA-01 and a new and even more autist clone replaces her wasting all the development she had in the previous movies. -Kaworu: By far, the writers did something in this movie with Kaworu that they could not do in the original anime, the manga or End of Evangelion movie: The characters pleases everybody. Seriously, is attentive with the protagonist, has a sense of humor, he is the only one that explains things to Shinji as well he comforts him. -Mari was overshadowed by other filling characters having minimal presence in the movie. -Gendo... is Gendo. Art: 6 The 2D animation is great but, I felt the excesive use of CGI really unnecessary. Sound: 8 The classical composition with pieces of art from Beethoven fit correctly with the scenes. He stills being one of my favourite compositors of all time. Sadly, the music was not enough to save this movie. Enjoyment: 3 I almost fell asleep during the film, all I waited during an hour and half was the end of the movie or at least some answered questions. Overall: 3 I don't recommend this movie not even to the greatest fans of Evangelion. If you watch the first two Rebuild movies, STOP! and don't go any further from 2.0. Consider the ending of 2.0 as the true and absolute end and forget completely that there is a third movie.

Now, since this movie hasn't been seen by a lot of people, I going to keep my review somewhat vague. Let's just say I was disappointed. After seeing the masterpiece that was 2.0, I was expecting a lot from 3.0, and boy was I let down! For the story, its been 14 years since the events that happened at the end of 2.0 and a LOT has changed. I'm not going to spoil it but let's just say that for how much has changed, not a lot really happens in this installment, and it seems to be almost like the filler movie of the series. Also, I sure hope you didn't care about pretty much every key character in 1.0 and 2.0, because they are barely featured. Misato, Asuka, Rei and several others are pushed to the side when really as an audience we want to see them and how they have changed in those 14 years, but we don't get that. Since there is a timeskip, there's barely any character development, Shinji is back to his old self, and like I said before, the key characters from the last 2 movies get barely any screentime, all the development happened within those 14 years we didn't get to see. We are introduced to two new characters, but I'm using "introduced" in the loosest sense here. As always, the animation is quite good, the music is nice, and I actually liked the interactions between Shinji and Kaworu during the middle of the movie, so there is some good here. Overall, nice art, but terrible story.

Quite possibly one of the worst Anime Films that I have ever seen. And I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say so. While I'm sure there are other Films in the Anime Medium that are far worse, judging from what I've seen - this is the absolute worst so far. Its position in the Evangelion Franchise is confusing. As even people who liked the more campy/bombastic bad Michael Bay esq. parody movies like Evangelion 2.0 cannot defend this in terms of its entertainment value. The only thing that gets people to defend this garbage project is rabid-fanboyism. Contrary to popular belief, this film is not in the least psychological, although it is framed as such. I could understand people mistaking it for a psychological film due to its presentation, however the content runs completely hollow. The Plot doesn't make any sense, the action sucks and the CGI is overused but that is the least of our concerns. The biggest problem is that there isn't a shred of substance in any of the dialogue. The characters aside from Kaoru and Shinji are not even given much screen-time or any meaningful lines and what happened in this 14 year timeskip after N3I (that was somehow Shinji's fault - but not really because they retconned it, a movie later) made the other characters unbearably disconnected. Misato is not Misato, Asuka has very little dialogue, we never get to know how she feels, she's completely forgotten. Rei is just a hollow emotionless doll - which ironically goes towards the opposite of what Rei's development was meant to represent in Eva, making her a fucking parody of herself. Shinji's just depressed as usual but somehow comes across completely emotionless this time instead of being lonely. Which at some point started to get on my nerves. Not only are the characters a parody of their original counterparts with any sort of depth removed, they are also hollow figures within the narrative, thereby making the Film not only shallow but also boring. Now a rabid fanboy will say: that was the intent. Anno wanted to make you feel disconnected. Let's grant him that, however one must ask to the purpose of such a decision, to which a rabid fanboy may reply: It reflects Anno's mental state. That counterpoint is meaningless, to put it bluntly. The Room reflects Tommy Wiseau's mental state. Batman & Robin reflects Joel Schumacher's mental state. However does that make "The Room" or "Batman & Robin" good movies? Precisely Not. Every Art-piece reflects the Author, but whether that Art-piece itself is meaningful has nothing to do with who the Author is. I have seen countless videos of rabid fanboys trying their hardest to analyze this Film to reach for a message and they all fail. They try to assert that Anno gave the Otaku what they wanted by trying to show them what their decisions lead to. The truth is: he made a bad corny blockbuster movie out of Evangelion and then tried to counter it by making an even more shallow yet meaningless piece to cash off of rabid fanboys that being as pretentious as they are, eat the same Otaku crap that they claim this movie criticizes, despite the rebuilds being the same Otaku garbage that they think it's not.

Evangelion 3.0 is basically "Evangelion 2.0 2.0: The Nonsense and Disillusionment Continues." I don't know what generically bad anime trope the movie attempts to implement at the beginning, but it's cringy. Shinji wakes up with amnesia, Asuka has an eye patch for no reason, Rei is more lifeless than ever, and Misato is needlessly angry. All the characters are effectively murdered. Let me put it this way. Kaworu was the character from the series with the least exposition and camera time. He's pretty much the main character of this movie, and he's still WORSE here. It takes effort to be this bad. The plot: Evangelion 3.0 attempts to present itself as overly complicated, but tries too hard to be so. It's visibly an abomination of storytelling. They throw useless nomenclature at us that was previously done or mentioned subtly. They directly discuss things that didn't need to be discussed, as if naively trying to be something it's not. It's like that annoying kid in class that's always raising his hand and giving stupidly complicated answers just to show off that he's smart. Except Evangelion 3.0 is not smart. It spends most of its time doing this awkward world-building, just to end it with the most shameless Deus Ex Machina crap I've seen. It's truly infuriating how much this defames the Evangelion franchise. So how can I say all these bad things about it, and still give it a 'Decent' score? The honest answer is that it's not that bad. It's just that bad in comparison to the Evangelion series. In a vacuum, it's still better than Gurren Lagann. As badly as the plot is executed, it still has more substance than most other anime I've seen. It's pretty. The musical score and voice acting are done well. It's just impossible to enjoy because of how terribly the characters are portrayed in comparison to their series' counterpart. I would not recommend this to anyone that has seen the series or the first movie.