Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)
August 22, 2021 12:23 PM - Subscribe

In the fourth and final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Shinji gets in the robot, possibly for the last time.

Discussion open to all of Evangelion as needed because this film is the kind of film that raises questions which can only be answered by a cutscene in a video game from fifteen years ago.
posted by betweenthebars (17 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I ended up binging all of the Rebuild movies yesterday (I think I watched most of 1.01 when it released in the US initially, but managed to be busy with life for the rest of it). 3.33 and 3.0+1.01 were definitely a jarring change to start directly after the end of 2.22. It definitely feels like someone got Macross in my Eva, or something along those lines. And then giant CG Rei-head, which, whelp, back to Eva again.

As a retelling/modification of the Eva mythology, Rebuild as a whole is an interesting change. I won't claim that I understood the full context of the original / End of Evangelion endings when I watched them 20+ years ago (then again, I was much younger, and paying less attention to the emotional details). This version is at least coherent, and I appreciated the meta anti-universe scenes which appeared to be set on a, well, disintegrating film set. I wonder how much this version reflects being written (or at least architected) by an older Anno, with a different relationship to the industry and his own demons. The Wikipedia article claims Anno asked the voice actress behind Shinji for input on where to take Shinji's story, which I wish we knew a bit more about.
posted by Alterscape at 1:55 PM on August 22, 2021 [1 favorite]


Hard to know what to say. I loved it, but I was confused as hell. But when it ended, it left me feeling...happy? Hopeful? I've never had that feeling while watching Evangelion before.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:41 PM on August 22, 2021 [4 favorites]


Seeing a functional Shinji in the final scenes felt very moving. The final scenes between Shinji and his various romantic interests all felt like good ways to say goodbye to those relationships, too. It rates pretty high on the Eva-weirdness-ometer while remaining fairly followable, though the whole multiple spears thing made me lose track.

I thought this was a satisfying enough conclusion that any further Evangelion watching on my part will be a bit begrudging. Though, more generally, I hope the stories of teens battling mental illness inside giant robots continue to be told.
posted by Rinku at 7:38 PM on August 22, 2021 [3 favorites]


And to check because I'm honestly not 100% sure because it's not like I'm reading fansites these days, but this completes the following sequence?

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012)
Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)

And is basically a retelling of Eva without the budgetary / studio interference the original anime suffered from?
posted by Kyol at 8:58 AM on August 23, 2021


That's the sequence, collectively known as "Rebuild of Evangelion".

1.0 is a remake of the first half-ish of the original series, with new animation, but shortened to a movie length format. In 2.0 the story diverges, and events play out differently. The final two parts are completely new material.

So it's not just a retelling but a new version of the story, from an older and less depressed Hideki Anno.
posted by automatronic at 11:25 AM on August 23, 2021 [2 favorites]


I checked last week to see that this was available in Prime Video, and then checked to see if the other rebuild movies were and I was glad to see they were. I'm going to have to wait until the kids go back to school in September to see these but it's good to know they'll be ready and waiting when I do get the chance to see them.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:23 PM on August 23, 2021


When the first part of the rebuild dropped in 2007, I rolled my eyes thinking about all the previous rehashes, and declined to watch it until they actually finished it.

I figured it would take a while, but I hadn't really expected to be waiting fourteen years.
posted by automatronic at 1:11 PM on August 23, 2021 [3 favorites]


Eva means a lot to me for a variety of reasons and it's one of my favorite pieces of art, honestly. I think I started watching it in ... 1999? 2000? Long enough ago that we were still watching it on videotapes copied from the DVDs. I've revisited it several times and I love it for its ambitious messiness (the messiness is the point!). I like both the series ending and The End of Evangelion (well, I don't like End of Eva, exactly, because it's not meant to be likable. I appreciate how angry it is, though, and what Hideaki Anno was saying with it). I feel like both endings exist together.

And I also think that's what I like about the Rebuild movies. It's a continuation in a lot of ways (Kaworu saying something to the effect of that they've done this before and they'll do it again). It's not meant to be a replacement for the series. It's not the "real" version -- all the versions are "real." And so I think it's great that Hideaki Anno found another way to tell this story and explore these themes in a different way, with a different perspective (and clearly, with a different maturity).

I loved the ending of this. It did feel final but I don't think that cancels out the other endings, either. I feel like I needed those for this to work, too.

I'm not the same person I was when I was 19-20 and first watching this show. I'm not the same person I was the past several times I rewatched the series. I like how much Anno let this story grow up with him. I think he finally was able to say what he wanted to say, mostly because he wasn't quite ready to say it until now.

I may revisit all of Eva at some point again, but I finished all four of these movies last week (I'd seen the first one & the second one without subtitles years ago) and I just felt satisfied, like this long journey I'd been on was finally complete.
posted by edencosmic at 3:04 PM on August 23, 2021 [4 favorites]


It's not meant to be a replacement for the series. It's not the "real" version -- all the versions are "real."

It's the Multiverse of Instrumentality!
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:55 PM on August 23, 2021 [2 favorites]


A lot is explained in the post-credits sequence, which I've transcribed below. Spoilers!

[GENDO IKARI enters after a long day at work, and hangs up his hat.]
GENDO: Hey pops. How you doing?
FUYUTSUKI: Good. How was your day up on the building?
GENDO: Well, we finally topped off the 22nd story. And I'm beat. How's he been? [indicates SHINJI IKARI, who is looking at an object he is holding in his hands] He give you any trouble?
FUYUTSUKI: He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day. World of his own.
GENDO: I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. What's he thinking about?
[GENDO gently takes the object out of his son's hands and places it on the television. It is a snow globe. The camera slowly zooms in on the snow globe to reveal that it contains the HEAD OF YUI IKARI.]

END
posted by phooky at 7:33 AM on August 26, 2021 [3 favorites]


(I watched it; it was fun and very pretty. The sound design was excellent; I expecially appreciated the upsetting creaking latex noises the plug suits made during the quieter moments. It didn't really change my opinion that Evangelion is just "what if Gundam, but Char is Amuro's dad" with the pathos cranked up to 11.)
posted by phooky at 7:39 AM on August 26, 2021 [1 favorite]


It's cool seeing some high-budget anime with lots of flourishes like wild camera moves and detailed, smooth, high-frame-rate action.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 11:14 AM on August 26, 2021


I was getting really worried around the village part that Anno was setting up for an even more gigantic ‘fuck you’, but they actually delivered a real happy ending. I loved it.

Not entirely sure what to make of the Mari/Fuyutsuki deal but Evangelion has a history of great questions and disappointing answers so it may be for the best that they left that one hanging.
posted by rodlymight at 9:16 PM on August 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


Also, Decisive Battle gets a lot of play, that tune owns.
posted by rodlymight at 9:23 PM on August 29, 2021


I was getting really worried around the village part that Anno was setting up for an even more gigantic ‘fuck you’, but they actually delivered a real happy ending. I loved it.

I think I would have been OK with the main focus of the movie being Shinji and Rei slowly adjusting to normal life and dealing with the trauma of being child soldiers while stuff was happening in the background without any further participation needed from them.

The movie looked and sounded nice and I didn't hate Shinji by the end of it so I'd say it worked.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:28 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]


Asuka is a clone in the Shikinami series. Rei is a clone in the Ayanami series. This means that Mari is a clone in the Makinami series right (all named after Japanese warships)? Rei has some of Lilith in her, does that mean that the Asuka and Mari clones have Lilith or some other Angel as part of them, ie is Angel DNA/material required for the clones or is it something that Gendo did only for Rei as part of his plan to bring back Yui? I'm asking because if Angel DNA is needed for the clones then that means that all of the other Eva pilots besides Shinji either have Angel DNA in them or are an actual Angel in Kaworu's case. None of the pilots, including Shinji, aged during the timeskip either. I don't know what that says about Shinji but he can't be a "normal" kid can he?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 7:39 PM on September 21, 2021


> 1.0 is a remake of the first half-ish of the original series

mostly yes but in the rebuild, when they are in the Unit 01 hangar and the first angel attacks outside, causing seismic damage within the deep hangar, Unit 01 does not act on her own to shield Shinji from the falling debris, as she does in the original TV show.

the significance of this is, like all things Evangelion, left up to the viewer to decide.
posted by glonous keming at 12:13 PM on March 28


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