I can't believe the utter disaster that this movie is. I didn't mind the animation, sound, or fight scenes - NGE never does me wrong when it comes to those aspects of the story, I'm always sitting on the edge of my seat. However, I find myself coming away from this film in all other aspects bewildered and insulted.
The story... it reminds me of the sardonic depiction of an alternate anime universe Shinji sees in episode 26 of the original anime. So much of it is bogged down by cheerful slice of life content and nonsensical love triangles (which don't even make sense unless the characters are severely warped, which they are, but I'll get to that in a bit), when that space could be better put to use exploring the characters individually the way they're supposed to be. NGE is not a cheerful story - you're not supposed to enjoy it, you're supposed to be fascinated by it, disgusted by it, and entirely enthralled by it. Why am I smiling along as these characters go on field trips and cook for each other? This fits so many franchises and series and characters, but NGE is not one of them. I seriously can't wrap my head around the choices made for this movie.
However, more than anything that happened in the story, the most disappointing and again insulting part of this movie is the watered down, weak, pathetic characterizations of Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato, Gendoh, and pretty much everyone else. A lot of people seemed happy that Shinji was "finally showing some backbone," but this only seems to demonstrate to me that some watchers of NGE have a fundamental misunderstanding of Shinji as a character (and Asuka, and Rei!)
Ikari Shinji is, fundamentally, pathetic. He is weak, cowardly, and all but wretched. He's a raging misogynist who views other people, especially women, as essentially things that are obligated, required, to heal and save and protect him with their love. He has no understanding of what love is, and no capability of giving it to others, and yet demands it from everyone around him to the utmost. And then, because of his ridiculously low self-esteem and ridiculously high self-hatred, even when he does receive love he doesn't believe in it and dismisses it (barring the love he receives from Kaworu) as a lie! He can't handle anything even marginally difficult and breaks down at the slam of a door. He's so incapable of both being a functioning human being with flaws and accepting the flaws/individuality of others that it takes the world literally ENDING before he's able to realize that maybe the world as it is is actually better than joining one super-conscious. And all of that is what makes him such a brilliant main character - all of his flaws and insecurities have strong ties to the death of his mother and the fact that his father abandoned him. Everything makes perfect sense. You're not supposed to like him or condone his actions, you're supposed to make the connections as to why he is the way he is and recognize the impossibility of all that he desires. He doesn't COOK for his friends, nor is he rushing to heroically Save The Girl at every opportunity. The Shinji of 2.0 is literally Just Some Guy - he has daddy issues, but it's something he just feels a little angry about, not a hugely detrimental crutch that's ruined the way he interacts with the world presumably forever. I can't BELIEVE anyone watched the original NGE and thought Shinji should be dumbed down to the most basic, boring main character stereotype ever. The fact that he's a hateful embarrassment of a character in the original anime is literally the point - whoever the jerk in 2.0 is is simply not Ikari Shinji.
Side note: I think it's ridiculous that in the original anime Shinji's mental breakdown is catapulted forwards by merely injuring Suzuhara, without even knowing that he's inside the Eva/Angel being fought, but when 2.0 Shinji knows he's fighting Asuka and pretty much makes her comatose he just... gets mad at his Dad? He's so infuriatingly calm about things that should make him lose his mind - again, this is not the right Ikari Shinji.
And then, to have the audacity to claim that Asuka or Rei could ever be in love with Shinji! It's outrageous! Asuka of the original NGE despises Shinji, full stop; she's not a tsundere, she sees all the flaws I've mentioned above and is disgusted by him because of that. At best, she uses him to quench her discomfort in situations such as when Misato and Kaji stay out late one night. She's straight up abusive to him sometimes. She is just as damaged as Shinji is and even shares some characteristics with him because of that, which repels her from him even further because his codependency upon whoever is available is, according to her and her unnecessary desire for total independence, an insult. She does not and never could love him, ever. The fact that he doesn't even have to do anything for her to get some stereotypical crush on him absolutely raises my hackles - Asuka deserves a thousand times better than this!
Rei, too, might care for Shinji in some capacity, but to make that the center of her growth is borderline grotesque. Rei wants individuality because she is literally Gendoh's doll from day one - why would she seek freedom for the sake of another man? She wants it for herself. She hates Gendoh, why should she care if he and his son are able to reconnect? It's totally ridiculous to have her original arc be so much about finding herself and knowing herself on her own terms, because she's never been allowed to have that, only to throw all of that completely under the bus for some ridiculous fanservice and a weak love plot (which, also, come on now - she shares traits with Shinji's mother nearly to a T, can we not have them be romantically interested in one another?).
I'm not here to harsh on the Rebuild series as a whole - I liked 1.0 okay and I'm still looking forward to 3.0 and 3.0+1.0. Nevertheless, it's really disheartening to see this film made by the original creators of the first NGE series and movies. I don't know why this is what they want an updated version of NGE to look like - this film is, at best, a weak, fanservice-packed action anime movie for people who want to numb their brain for a couple hours. It does not carry any of the weight, charm, nor impact of the original series. If you really want to watch this Rebuild series, I would recommend skipping this movie from it entirely.
