Ignoring the blatant character assassination of Shinji aside, many characters are severely underdeveloped. For example, Mitsato and Ritsuko have such little screen time, which is fine with the context of the original route (since you already understand their motivations) but for the rebuild route means when they show up in the final act, their existence has little meaning, acting like emotionally flat robots. This is worse for Asuka and the other pilot (the girl who is introduced as the 4th children in Rebuild 2.0). These characters receive 0 development and only refer to each other as "4 eyed crony" and "your highness". I'm 99% sure the other pilots name isn't even mentioned once in this film. In an attempt to make her spunky like Asuka, the other pilot also only refers to Shinji as if he's some obedient dog. This is stupid as these two characters have barely ever interacted, and also because Shinji is the opposite of a dog. Sure, he'll follow other people if it makes him feel useful, but there are several times in both routes he attempts to run away due to his conflicted moral compass. Overall, this leaves the characters feeling like they were written by AI. It would've been better altogether to leave some of these characters out of it and savw them for the final film, so the shorter run time 3.0 has could have been used to better effect.
The worst contenders by far though, are Kaworu and Rei-4(or Rei-0?) From the very end of 1.0, it is made apparent Kaworu would play a much bigger role which is perfect, because he is a very memorable character who gets little screen time in the original route. Unfortunatly here though, he feels more like a plot device. Rather than spending time with Shinji because he takes an interest in Shinji, helping Shinji learn to like himself and that opening up to other yields happiness, he instead is practically forced to be friends with Shinji, as their friendship feels very superficial as it is just required to move the plot forward. A far cry from the well written Kaworu who previously left a deep psychological impact on Shinji's mental health. This is probally more the fault of how Shinji is written though, as he is so far broken and disconnected from the rest of the characters in 3.0 he has to spend his time being constantly angry at the world. This means he doesn't have time to have a fun gay twink sidequest, as he basically spends the entire film in the same mental state he was when he runs away in episode 4/1.0. A far cry from the independant, resilient fighter we see at the end of 2.0 who saves Rei-3. Speaking of Rei, there is nothing inherently wrong with her in this film, it's just there is so little time spent in either of the routes discussing her feelings towards Seele, shinji, gendo or even Yui that with the 14 year time skip it would've been the perfect opportunity to have her gain her individuality -especially since she spends time away from the many characters she piloted an Eva to be close too in this film - and give her a decent character arc. Heck why not even learn why she is so sold on the idea of the human instrumentality project, it cant just be the bond Yui's soul and Gendo share right? Or maybe it is? Alas though, this film does nothing to further Rei's character instead letting her act as yet another catalyst for shinji to move the plot forward. This is incredibly disappointing as well, as I remember one of the writers of Eva 1.0 only even agreed to join on the condition Rei-3 was a focal point of this film. Instead we get a different Rei clone! How contradictory...
If you're wondering why I gave this a 7/10 it's because it is inherently a good film. The apocalyptic setting works well for Evangelions darker side, feeling like an evolution of the tone and atmosphere of EoE. The Eva fights feel new and fresh from the same beat the crap out of Angel fights we've always had that bring a really cinematic feeling to it all. Shinji does provide a good perspective of the post near third impact world, and it is fun to learn with him what has happened, even if it ruins his character in the process. I can't say much more without spoilers, but this feels like the perfect way to expand on Eva's story and world despite recycling the same characters from the original route. It's just a shame the character writing is so far of course, that it really brings down the emotional weight the other two films had built up. Defiently watch it if you're a massive fan of Eva or even just liked the other two films, but I can't reccomend it if you're nostalgic for Eva and want to feel the same connection for the characters you feel when watching Neon Genesis. Just go rewatch thatfor the 100th time instead...
