User reviews

Several years has passed since the previous installment and I simply could not remember where the story has stopped. Therefore, I decided to revise the whole thing starting from 1995's original. It took me about 18 hours and I must say it was a good time as always. It took me back more than 20 years, when I watched it for the first time. I was overwhelmed by it. It made me think of my life from a different perspective and I even made some changes as I thought for the best.

Now, two decades later, I can see that most of my dreams did not come true and I am still a little boy trying to find my place among other people, find myself. While watching Eva today, I have remembered my friends from school and university, teachers, family members long gone, colleagues from my very first job - and how they all were really nice to me, though I didn't noticed it at that time. After all those years, Evangelion still resonates in my heart, even more than it was at the first time.

For me 21st century Evangelion movies were something that kept me going through my life. Every time things went from bad to worse I thought that I need to live long enough to see that upcoming Evangelion move. And now, the project that occupied Hideaki's mind for more than 20 years is released. So was it a good movie? Well in a matter of fact - yes. I wasn't expecting any revelations or mind-blowing philosophy, I just wanted to see it all again, and a new movie is quite a good excuse to watch it all from the very beginning. It was pleasant to see old friends, memorable locations, to experience emotions that I felt 20 years ago. I do not care about the plot, action, or CGI - I am just happy seeing Rei smiling again. All the things that I really care are present here. It is a nostalgic movie - it makes you try to remember, try to go back in time to see if you have missed something, not only in the movie but in your life itself. It's also a sad farewell movie, an end of the line, the real end of Evangelion, because there will be nothing more. Evangelion time has passed, now we live in a world without Evas.

I have watched Evangelion when I was just a young student. This is maybe my third time returning to it in more than 20 years. Will I watch Evangelion again? I would love to... Maybe in 10, maybe in another 20 years. But will I live for that long? I am not sure... Most likely, it is a "Goodbye Evangelion" forever. Sayonara old friend. I wish I could see you again for a last time, before I go.

I'm a fan of the series, I watched the TV series decades ago, and now the Rebuild movies, but they are still inherently flawed in that it has always been almost incomprehensible.

So what is wrong with it? Here's what I find myself saying many times:

1. What does that even mean?!?!

It uses unknown terms in a sentence then again several minutes later as if that would help understand what it meant in the first place. Then when it does use a term that is vaguely familiar, it is used in a completely different manner and context.

2. What is that?!?!

It tries to wow us with imagery and animation that is incomprehensible. I don't even know what I am looking at!

3. What is going on?!?!

The main flaw is the story telling. It only allows a portion of it, just barely enough, to understand what is really going on. Frankly, it could lose the audience.

But hey, I am still a fan, love the characters, most especially Rei, distantly followed by Asuka, and I will watch whatever comes next.

I was very skeptical before watching this film, I am a huge fan of the original show and film and I didn't think they had to be "rebuilt".

It also didn't help that I thought the previous three films kind of sucked (though I did rewatch them before watching this one and I liked them way more the second time).

But, here we are, 9 years after the last Eva film, 24 years after Evangelion's previous theatrical conclusion, we have this movie, a beautifully animated 155 minutes long love letter to the Evangelion franchise and its fans.

This time the ending can satisfy all fans, those who look for great action, those who watch for the surrealist imagery and philosophy, those who love the characters, this movie ties every loose end beautifully.

Only issues I had here were some unnecessary fan-service scenes (though there are fans who watch it for this kind of stuff, I guess) and the 3D CGI fight scenes look kind of jarring sometimes but other than that, this was yet another high quality film by Hideaki Anno and I would highly recommend it.

Bye-bye, all of Evangelion.

Everyone can relax. It was good.

It took the stunning visuals to the next level.

It stayed true to the characters.

It continued its use of incomprehensible techno-biblical-psychobabble.

The music was incredible.

There's gratuitous fan service.

And I left the experience feeling satisfied even thought I didn't completely understand what I just watched.

Yes, this film will finally answer so many of your burning Eva questions: Will Asuka ever say anything nice?

Will Rei ever learn to be a real person?

Will Shinji ever stop being so depressed?

In the end, it was not the game changer that End of Evangelion was. But it's still a great addition to the story.

I love this movie.

Eva 3+1 and the whole rebuild series is complimentary to the original series. If you're going into this movie hoping to find if it's a parallel universe to the original series, or if it's a time loop, crazy mech action, a romance drama, or anything of that nature, you'll be approaching this series in a way that will leave you dissatisfied.

This is a psychological/meta commentary. It's experimental, it revels in its babel and self-indulgence, and that's what I love about it. It examines itself, it's exploring themes around the series, fans of the series, the creator, and what the series means to all of the above.

The rebuild series takes the messages and ideas of the original series and takes a step forward, and this final movie is where that is cemented.

If you liked the last two episodes of NGA and could appreciate what they were trying to do, then there might be something here for you.

The best movie and anime i've ever seen. As the ending set in i bawled my eyes out. You can really tell the love and detail that went into making this movie.

I don't know if I was the only one, but when these movies that forced the plot in numerous moments in order to arrive to a happy ending, feel quite incompetent, unearned, incongruent, and ridiculous.

Plus, This utter of a mess films make me turn around to look at EOE, and it's quite rampage on its own, though, the film surprisingly makes more sense as well as feeling more satisfying than that universe/ sequel/ reboot/ loop/ or whatever you want to call since that plot is nonsense..

The first half of the film was enjoyable. It's a shame that the most common though I had during the second half was "man, I really wish I was watching the End of Evangelion". I found that it tried to do more or less the same as the 1997 movie without the same impact, being it thematically or visual.

The battle were worse, the characters were worse, the presentation of the themes and ideas were worse... I'm cursed with the knowlledge of the older film and now I can't enjoy this without drawing lines between the two.

It's a fun watch, don't get me wrong, but the more I think about the film, the worst taste it leaves in my mouth.

Shin Evangelion (Evangelion 3.0+1.0) has finally come out and it not only ends off Rebuild, but the entire franchise while also acting as a new beginning.

The animation feels distracting at specific points and has some weird choices, especially with which scenes are animated with or without cgi, but doesn't take away from the experience.

The movie isn't afraid to get meta and personal at moments and the scenes look so detailed and beautiful that you can't help but stay hooked.

Be warned that there are, although a very select few, scenes may confuse at first glance without prior knowledge of the prior installments in the franchise.

The music helps add atmosphere and drives home the themes of the movie and tetralogy very well.

Overall, this movie was absolutely worth the wait and should be watched by everyone, especially with the rest of the Rebuild series.

Sayonara, subete no Evangelion. (Bye-bye all of Evangelion)

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a franchise unlike any other. Made by a young man struggling with depression, it told the story of a teenager not unlike himself as he thrust into the role of an unwilling hero. It would become successful, infamous, and influential all at the same time, and this is addressed in the best way possible with its one true finale. Now upon first watch, I did much of the film's latter half to be very confusing because of its use of surreal imagery. There were also several things which didn't make sense but I thought it was good. But on the second watch, I realized what all this is truly about. Being human and what it means. It has apparent throughout the franchise that in spite of its popularity among anime fans, often seen as escapists, it was very much against escapism. Doing the research and seeing the real world influences in the story, you realize this isn't Anno's story anymore. It's not just about what him or the fans want, but what's best for its cast of characters. Moving on and growing up are without question the central themes of the film, and plays into how the characters get an ending that's not meant to satisfy the fan, although it still does, but give the character that suffers the ending they needed. Needles to say going back and rewatching for a second time refreshed my idea of what the film and series as a whole were telling us, and I was holding back tears catharsis after the fact.

First off, to the people new to Evangelion: you really should watch the previous three rebuild movies before this one to get a better grasp of what's happening. If you have patience, it's well worth watching the original episodic series and the original Evangelion movie from 1997 to get the best grasp possible, this take 2-3 days if you binge watch.

Truth be told, I didn't have high hopes after the last movie (3.0).

I thought the unexpected story from 3.0 had written itself into a corner, that there was no redeeming the Rebuild series as there were too many questions left unanswered that can't be explained with one final movie, but the story from 3.0+1.01 did as well as you can possibly hope for it to do--It tied up some loose ends, explained things that made sense of the last movie and added to the Evangelion lore in a meaningful way.

There are fighting scenes but as usual for the Evangalion franchise, some of the best scenes are the interactions between the characters Shinji, Rei, Asuka and the people around them. The most interesting of these is near the end of the movie when Shinji confronts his intimidating father who has been a mystery for so long. We learn he's not too different from his son, he just has a different way of coping.

Many themes about humanity are explored such as maturity, loneliness, compassion and the importance of responsibility and these themes are told in such a way that it didn't feel like it was hammering away at you to make the point like you're an idiot but it wasn't very obtuse either that no one gets it.

This movie easily contain some of the best drawn animations in current anime history, it's filled with fluid animation from unique angles, which helps with some of the fanservice (and there's heaps of it in this movie) Combined with the top notch shot composition, the movie is beautiful to watch. You can see the money being spent on screen.

It's not perfect. The first 15 minutes seemed like a drag even though it was an action sequence, the CGI can be quite jarring in contrast to the hand drawn stuff and certain parts of the story is not easy to follow (this is why i recommend you watch everything else first) but the movie is so great as a whole that it still gets a 9 from me. Evangelion has already cemented itself as one of the most esteemed anime of all time and the last movie elevates its status to something higher.

Aside from the no brainer cutting edge Mo-cap + CGI + cel shading + mind blowing cinematography, this was a tear jerking closing for Evangelion.

People don't seem to understand that Evangelion transcends conventional plots. It is more of a vehicle for Hideaki Anno to debate and discuss social and individual idealisms.

Thank you Hideaki Anno.

My first review, here goes nothing.

Besides the awe inspiring visuals and just overall production of this thing the emotional impact this movie gives me is something I can't put my finger on (yet).

I think many people can dislike this movie for very "obvious" reasons, but I think they miss the point. This isn't about mecha's and the OG evangelion anymore, it's something that is saying something about the evangelion franchise as a whole, how we must ultimately move and let go of it.

It's time to move on and find to other things to love.

I have no idea what happened there, but this doesn't look good in the sense of narrative as well as message because it all seemed crafted by someone at midnight before presenting an assessment.

I didn't really have much hopes for this movie ever since 3.0 because that film is personally awful, and this one doesn't improve that much either the state of those movies.

Perhaps, the only thing which I can find fascinating, is the 2d, but by looking the 3d is like seeing a low-budget DVD-animated movie. Oh goodness.

I created an account just for making this review. By seeing my pseudonym on the internet, you can guess that I have a special interest in the original series which drastically changed my life for the best or the worst... a curse of some kind in my quest for understanding my existence. You can now understand that this will not be your typical review, but more of a reconciliation of my state of mind.

I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time around 2000. I was around 16 years old and it kind of called me even more because of the age proximity with the characters. At first I was just expecting some giant robots until the plot and the twist unfold after the first couple of episodes. The character development is still unmatched to this day. It made me cry so much due to the connection I made to my personal life which is freaking drastic, it is just insane. Even today, nothing has changed about that.

Basically, there is a character that I was just despising. A character that I share a bond with. I was literally witnessing my life on screen... in granularity. I am not talking about the story of course, but who that character is. The background, the family, the emotions, the challenges, the attitude, the determination, the pride, the hate, the anger, the perfectionism, the independence, the beauty, the torment, the pain, the emptiness, the all or nothing... if you didn't guess I am talking about Asuka Langley Sohryu, then I don't know how you couldn't figure it out. I could not endure looking at her, it was hurting me. I cried so much because I understood why I was like that and for the first time in my life, someone somewhere had been able to paint me in a picture without even knowing me, and that person had been able to create a character that literally was me in a nutshell. I was just hating her... until I realized it was me. To this day, if I had to simply describe myself, the only thing I would need to do is referring someone to go watch the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series. They would be able to make the link without a shadow of a doubt.

To this day, it just haunts me. I am even doing some art and she is my point of focus, because she is proof of my existence. Ironic that a fictional character can be a proof of my existence, but in reality people will never really know who I am while millions know who she is, so in reality people will know what kind of person I am inherently.

So all this for explaining that the original series changed my life. I was expecting this movie series to maybe bring me other philosophical revelations about myself by analyzing this character under a new optic. To my huge disappointment, this was not possible because Asuka is not the same character. There is a reason why they changed her name to Shikinami, because this Asuka is just heavily inspired by Sohryu, but it is not her in this second spin.

I am not going to go further than this, but the story revolves around Shinji and there is no character development which was literally why the series was so disruptive. So nothing that was good from Neon Genesis Evangelion was there. Just questionable choice and plot decisions... like who the hell is Mari?

This was nothing more than a fan service that was not meant for the fans... like the new Star Wars trilogy. If there is something you need to get out of this is just don't bother if you are a fan of the original. The only thing you are going to find here are crushed expectations.

After almost a decade of waiting we finally reach the conclusion to this epic series, people will love or hate it but I can tell you that this undoubtedly the most incredible anime ever made, so thank you Anno-san, the cast and everyone involve.

What what I honestly don't have anything to say. I'm just confused on what I just watched not in it being too complex but seemingly stupid and with 0 creativity and logic. But tbh this was expected since Evangelion 3.0 its prequel was was just horrible. I only watched it cuz I felt like completing the franchise. They took some inspirations from the series while diverging it from quiet a lot. They left us with so many questions in the last prequel and this movie still didn't answer them but instead added some more confusion.

The characters are the same pretty much. Though some of them are completely ruined and the way they were written felt like parodies and fanfic instead.

Pretty good sound effects and music. Visuals are pretty good also though the CG is questionable and a bit aggressive at times.

Don't watch it its a waste of time I only watched it cuz I felt like completing it.