Reviews

Evangelion was always weird. Is this any exception? No. In fact it's even weirder, to the point where you're left wondering "what are they even doing?" But it's enjoyable. I feel this was the strongest of the four films, presenting us with with hope, rather than despair. Shinji becomes the person we've all wanted to see become for years, he bears the guilt, but still manages to get up again, rather than sulk and cry. Did this live up to every expectation I had? by far. I didn't come in expecting much, hell I didn't expect this film to ever actually happen, but it did. If this is the true end to Evangelion, then it is an ending well deserved. I grew up watching Evangelion in my early years as an anime fan, not knowing how insane the original series would be, or that the Rebuilds would finish in my late 20s, but it was by far worth it, it was worth every second I was left wondering "what exactly just happened?"

Is this "Evangelion presented how it should be"? No. Rather it's clear that Anno realized a straight remake would have been boring and not worth anyone's time, instead creating an original story that would rival that of any of his previous works. The ending itself I absolutely loved, and I feel that these films can stand equal to the original series overall. Anno played to his strengths here and created something so insane, that I don't think he could top it. In fact, I'm not sure if he would want to top it. It seems as though he wants to step away and direct other projects, rather than do more Evangelion. This felt like it was meant to show Anno saying goodbye to the series that he's spent a long time working on, he's moving on from the series that has been his passion and will eventually create something crazier.

Evangelion was always weird, be it the explanation of who Rei was, Shinj being Shinji, even the Angels themselves. But that's what made this so great, the weirdness of it all only serves to make it something you need to rewatch to fully understand what exactly it is that you just watched. These films were a risk, deviating from just a remake is something that could have seriously hurt them, but instead that's what made them so great. The fact they didn't stick to the original and forged their own path. This is what we need more of in anime and films in general, risk taking. A "safe" movie that you can figure out what happens in the end, by the first 10 minutes is boring and bland. The Rebuilds became an attempt to think outside the box, to do something crazy, to think "What if I did X instead of Y" and that is what makes these films perfect.

It's the End of Evangelion and I'm happy that it ended on a film such as this one.