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Evangelion: Every EVA Unit from the Original Series Explained

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• Neon Genesis Evangelion 's original ending is emotionally driven, and explores the concept of the Human Instrumentality Project, blurring the line between reality and a mental realm.
• The End of Evangelion movie provides context to the events of the series finale by depicting the real-world happenings during the Instrumentality scenes.
• Rebuild of Evangelion takes a different path from the original series, with a complex plan for Instrumentality and an ultimate decision by Shinji to keep the world as it is while erasing the existence of Evangelions. The ending shows the growth and development of Shinji in a unique way.

Neon Genesis Evangelion has a reputation for having one of the most confusing endings in all of anime, and anyone who's watched it would surely agree. While the ending of the series may not be particularly clear to most viewers, it does have some real meaning behind it, and isn't just weird for the sake of being weird. The anime's ending is best understood with the context provided by the End of Evangelion movie, which should help to clarify some of the more confusing points.

The Original Evangelion Ending is Vague, but Emotionally Driven

Evangelion is pretty straightforward to follow right up to the last two episodes, where the show begins to break from traditional narrative style for a more experimental (and far less clear) style. In episode 25 of the series, the Human Instrumentality Project, which has been discussed heavily but not explained, is put into motion. The goal of Evangelion 's Instrumentality was to dissolve the "AT Fields" that exist around a human soul, keeping it distinct from other souls. These are the same AT Fields which the EVA units used to protect themselves from Angels, further confirming the biological nature of EVAs.

When Instrumentality activates, the minds and souls of every human on Earth are joined together into one collective unconscious . The images and scenes shown in episodes 25 and 26 are set in this mental realm, not in reality, hence their confusing, dreamlike nature. Shinji, Rei, and other characters contemplate why they exist as separate beings, and if that's worth all the suffering that it causes. In episode 26, Shinji sees an alternate version of his life without Evangelions --a peaceful world where he has friends and his family is happy.

This is just a fantasy, however, and Shinji can't accept this fantasy world as real. It does, however, help him to realize that his life doesn't have to be the way that it has been--it's not necessary for him to suffer in misery and loneliness. There are other lives he could lead besides that of an EVA pilot. This gives Shinji the courage to accept himself and the world , prompting congratulations from the other characters, who are shown in a circle, applauding around him.

Neon Genesis Evangelion's EVAs are some of the most unique aspects of the series. Here's a run down of every EVA encountered in the original anime.

The Big Screen Brought an Action-Packed End to Evangelion

The movie The End of Evangelion presents an alternate perspective on the events of episodes 25 and 26, to the point where the movie is effectively broken into two parts: episode 25' and episode 26'. These parts of the movie depict what was happening in the real world at the same time as the scenes within Instrumentality from the series , providing context to some glimpses of reality seen in the series proper.

Following the defeat of the final Angel , NERV and the secretive group SEELE immediately go to war, as Gendo has his own plans for Instrumentality which differ from SEELE's. SEELE arranges for a massive attack on NERV HQ, first by the Japanese Self Defense Force and then by 9 mass production EVAs. While Asuka seemingly manages to defeat the EVAs, they slowly get back up right as Unit 02 is running out of battery power, destroying it and killing Asuka. Shinji finds Unit 02 destroyed and realizes that Asuka is gone.

Rei, meanwhile, has begun to merge with Lilith, the being kept underneath NERV HQ. Rei, as a clone , was designed to be a human vessel for Lilith, but she doesn't give Gendo what he wants, instead allowing Shinji to shape the fate of humanity by deciding how Instrumentality will play out . Shinji's hatred for the world as-is leads to the dissolution of all AT Fields, with people shown transforming into puddles of LCL--the same liquid which fills the inside of the EVAs. The merged Lilith takes on Rei's appearance and personality, becoming the giant seen in the film.

Within the mental realm of Instrumentality, Shinji experiences many visions of the past, and speaks with other characters like Misato, Asuka, and Rei, who can no longer conceal anything from him. He begins to think it might be better if humanity was destroyed, and Lilith begins absorbing human souls. However, Instrumentality has done little to end the loneliness that Shinji felt, and he rejects it , causing AT Fields to begin recreating themselves, and allowing him to reform as an individual alongside Asuka. Shinji realizes that though connecting with people is difficult and scary, it may ultimately be worth it.

The Latest Evangelion Movie Goes Down a Very Different Path

Rebuild of Evangelion takes place in a very different continuity, one which moves into the far future relative to the original series. Shinji and the other EVA pilots haven't aged at all, however, as a consequence of becoming EVA pilots. At the beginning of the final movie, Shinji is almost fatally depressed after watching Kaworu's death , and takes quite a long time to recover in a small village. There, he gets to know a new clone of Rei, who eventually dissolves into LCL, which finally forces him to attempt to face his trauma.

Gendo's plan for Instrumentality is even more complicated here than it was in the series. He brings forth the "Black Moon," a ship of some sort that brought Lilith to Earth, and which was buried under NERV HQ. With a Third Impact having already taken place before the time skip, Gendo intends to bring about a Fourth Impact to establish Instrumentality. He is able to turn the Black Moon into two new Spears of Longinus, and heads to the site of the Second Impact to bring it about himself.

Gendo explains that he has become beyond human, and that humanity was always destined to either destroy the Angels or be destroyed by them. He enters a mysterious portal with EVA Unit 13 , and is followed not long after by Mari Makinami and Shinji in Unit 08. Shinji enters Unit 01 and achieves an infinite sync rate, allowing him to regenerate the EVA to its former glory. Shinji takes one of the Spears from Gendo and transforms it. In a realm where physical laws don't apply, Gendo and Shinji battle it out for the fate of humanity.

Gendo takes the opportunity to show Shinji "Evangelion Imaginary," a hypothetical EVA that can only exist here. Gendo intends to use the Evangelion Imaginary to rewrite reality and bring about Instrumentality that way. Shinji challenges his father's beliefs and tries for the first time to understand him. Their problems of loneliness and isolation are fundamentally the same, and Shinji manages to get through to him. Gendo apologizes to Shinji and disappears. Still in the imaginary space, Shinji decides to keep the world as it is, but erase the existence of Evangelions.

The spirits of Gendo and Yui use Unit 13 to make Shinji's wish a reality , and the film ends with adult versions of the EVA pilots (suggesting they were never pilots in this reality) at a train station, with Shinji seemingly in a relationship with Mari. It closes out with live-action shots of series creator Hideaki Anno's hometown, which are very much open to interpretation.

While Evangelion was an original anime, it was adapted as a manga to promote the series, which ran from 1994 to 2013. Many of the events of the anime and manga are roughly similar, but the manga has a very different ending from any of the anime projects.

The manga adapts the events of End of Evangelion and the final episodes of the series, but takes them in a wildly different direction. As a result of differences in how the manga characters evolved compared to their anime counterparts, some decisions were made differently, radically affecting the end. Shinji, for example, gets into Unit 01 sooner and is able to save Asuka from dying to the Mass Production EVAs as she does in End of Evangelion .

The final volume of the manga sees giant Rei emerge, like in the film, and enact Shinji’s apparent wish for a world without separation... but Shinji suddenly objects. Shinji breaks contact with Rei, noting that this world of Instrumentality is no different than death. Rei explains that returning to being individual beings will mean the return of the pain of separation, but Shinji accepts that, noting that they can only have moments of joy the way things were.

The giant Rei begins to fall apart as instrumentality is undone, and the Mass Production EVAs are destroyed as well, falling down to Earth. Shinji says farewell to Rei, who thanks him for being a friend to her. Shinji then, from within Unit-01, sees a vision of an island rising from the water, where his mother, and later his father, are waiting. Yui promises to watch over Shinji always, and Shinji says goodbye to his parents for the last time.

The world is able to return to its previous state, but not the state it was in before Third Impact. Instead, the world takes on the state it had before Second Impact, undoing the damage that did and returning life on Earth to normal. No red seas or eternal summer; no Angel attacks or Evangelions needed. Shinji is shown to be living with his uncle, traveling to Tokyo. The only evidence of Third Impact left are petrified versions of the Mass Production EVAs, regarded as little more than bizarre ruins by everyone.

Shinji runs into Asuka at the train station, but she keeps it ambiguous whether she recognizes him. Shinji seems to be the only person to have any memory of the world as it was. This Shinji isn’t the same, however; rather than being marred by loneliness and afraid of everything, this is a version of Shinji who has found hope and a reason to live.

The manga’s ending is highly controversial, with some fans intensely disliking the “reset button” effect, essentially undoing the entire story in the last chapter. Others feel that it’s too much of a happy ending for Evangelion , and that as a result it misses the mark in a way the other endings don’t. Still, the manga’s ending has its fans, who believe that the better, more in-depth character development of the manga justifies this happier ending.

How do the various pilots from both of Evangelion's major continuities stack up against each other? Here's every EVA pilot in the animated franchise.

Evangelion 's endings are confusing because they often focus more on what Shinji and other characters are thinking and feeling about what's happening, rather than the events themselves. Evangelion is very character-driven in this way, and the original ending perhaps went too far in portraying the feeling of events over what's physically happening. End of Evangelion was designed to fix that, so the two are best enjoyed together, rather than experiencing one or the other. Neon Genesis Evangelion 's endings are all very distinct, but come together to paint a picture of Shinji's growth in an intricate and unique way.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Ending Of End Of Evangelion Explained

The final two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion  are, to put it reductively, unusual. While most of the series resembles a conventional mecha anime series like Mobile Suit Gundam or  Gunbuster , its two-part conclusion is sparse, bizarrely animated, and comprised mostly of opaque philosophy. At the time of its release, some fans were more invested in the series' surface plot than the inner lives of its characters. They were disappointed that its ending appeared to sideline its story. Series creator Hideaki Anno received  death threats from certain fanatics following the initial broadcast.

Justifications for the change in style have varied. One anonymous source claims the series was stripped down in its finale due to budget constraints, while  Anno described it as simply "reflecting [his] mood at the time."  The original conclusion of Evangelion eventually received a companion piece in The End of Evangelion , a film that covers the same broad strokes as the ending of its parent series. However, while the final episodes of Evangelion are lo-fi yet bizarrely uplifting, The End of Evangelion is lushly animated yet tonally bleak. The film seemingly acknowledges both the change in style and darkening of tone by including live action shots of some of the death threat letters Anno received. It's as if the film is daring those viewers upset with the original ending to acknowledge that End of Evangelion 's bleakness is exactly what they wanted. 

Let's dive deeper into the mind of the characters to truly understand  The End of Evangelion .

Evangelion contains two kinds of instrumentality

In the world of Neon Genesis   Evangelion , humans are descendants of an uber-being called Lilith . Both the original series finale and the film revolve around an apocalyptic event called Human Instrumentality, which merges all humans with Lilith into a single consciousness. Different factions in Evangelion want to bring about Human Instrumentality for different reasons throughout the series. In short, in both the series finale and End of Evangelion , Human Instrumentality begins, and at its center is protagonist Shinji Ikari.

The End of Evangelion  offers a sort of revised, definitive version of the final two controversial episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion . That said, the final moments of the series and its companion film are diametrically opposed. In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji seemingly accepts Human Instrumentality. In its iconic final moments, the depressed and rudderless Shinji claims agency over his life for the first time. He then receives congratulations from the series' key characters, with whom his consciousness has merged. 

In The End of Evangelion, Shinji rejects Instrumentality, and finds himself stranded on a desolate, post-apocalyptic Earth with only Asuka by his side. The ending of the series is hopeful in tone but bleak in implication, given that Shinji's newfound bliss appears to be a product of Instrumentality rather than his own free will.  The End of Evangelion , then, presents a more hopeful future for Shinji, despite the literal destruction of nearly everything around him.

Shinji must accept humanity

Shinji's decision to reject instrumentality in The End of Evangelion is an actualization of the claim he makes to his own agency in Neon Genesis   Evangelion 's finale. Despite Shinji seeming to find direction in life in Evangelion 's final moments, he remains an indistinct part of a collective consciousness. By rejecting his merging with Human Instrumentality The  End of Evangelion , Shinji is not just claiming agency but accepting his humanity in its totality for the first time.

This triumph is immediately complicated when he attacks Asuka, his sole companion on Earth in the wake of Human Instrumentality. Asuka briefly shows affection for Shinji, brushing his cheek with her hand before calling him "disgusting" (the film's final line of dialogue). That moment is a reversal of Neon Genesis Evangelion 's surface-level hope hiding intrinsic despair. Asuka labels Shinji appropriately, given that he acted in an  infamously disgusting way earlier in the film. That said, Shinji seems to have accepted this about himself, claiming an individual human life despite knowing he is not a great person. By accepting the bad, like he experiences in the film's final moment, Shinji is ready to experience all the good his life as a human being has to offer, even if the planet is still doomed.

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The End Of Evangelion Ending Explained

The End of Evangelion Ending Explained: Unraveling the Mysteries and Symbolism

The End of Evangelion, released in 1997, is a highly acclaimed and controversial anime film that serves as an alternate ending to the popular TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Known for its complex narrative and thought-provoking themes, the film has left many viewers puzzled and seeking answers. In this article, we will delve into the enigmatic ending of The End of Evangelion, exploring its symbolism and providing a comprehensive explanation. Additionally, we will uncover seven interesting facts about the film and address fourteen common questions related to its conclusion.

Explaining the Ending:

The finale of The End of Evangelion is a surreal and visually stunning sequence that intertwines reality and the characters’ psyches. As Instrumentality takes place, all human souls merge into a collective consciousness known as LCL, blurring the boundaries between individuals. The protagonist, Shinji Ikari, is offered the choice to either accept this new existence or reject it. Overwhelmed by his insecurities and struggles, Shinji initially chooses to reject Instrumentality, leading to a cataclysmic event that results in the destruction of humanity.

However, as Shinji realizes the importance of human connection and empathy, he ultimately decides to embrace Instrumentality. This choice allows him to regain individuality and reunite with his fellow pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu. The film concludes with Shinji and Asuka awakening on the beach, symbolizing the rebirth of humanity and the possibility of healing and growth.

Symbolism and Themes:

The End of Evangelion is renowned for its extensive use of symbolism, which adds depth to its narrative. One prevalent symbol is the cross, representing sacrifice and redemption. Throughout the film, crosses are depicted in various forms, highlighting the characters’ internal struggles and the sacrifices they make for the greater good.

Another recurring theme is the exploration of loneliness and the desire for connection. The characters in the film, particularly Shinji, grapple with feelings of isolation and the longing for meaningful relationships. The ending signifies the importance of accepting vulnerability and embracing others, as it is through human connection that true healing and growth can occur.

Seven Interesting Facts:

1. The End of Evangelion faced significant backlash upon its initial release. The unconventional ending and its depiction of graphic violence led to controversy and divided opinions among fans.

2. Anno Hideaki, the creator of Evangelion, intended to provoke a strong response from viewers through the film’s ending. He aimed to challenge the audience’s expectations and provoke introspection.

3. The film’s production faced numerous challenges, including budget constraints and time limitations. These obstacles influenced the artistic choices made in the ending sequence and added to its abstract nature.

4. The title, “The End of Evangelion,” is a deliberate play on words. It refers to both the end of the TV series and the end of the world within the narrative.

5. The religious symbolism present throughout the film is a deliberate artistic choice. Anno intended to explore the intersection between religion and human psychology, using religious imagery as a metaphorical tool.

6. The film’s ending has been subject to multiple interpretations, with some viewers perceiving it as a literal event and others as a symbolic representation of the characters’ internal struggles.

7. The End of Evangelion has garnered a dedicated cult following over the years, with fans dissecting its complex themes and symbolism. It continues to be a topic of discussion and analysis within the anime community.

Common Questions and Answers:

1. What is the significance of the giant Rei Ayanami figure in the ending?

The giant Rei Ayanami figure represents Shinji’s desire for control and his struggle with accepting reality. Its appearance symbolizes his need for escapism and his eventual realization of its futility.

2. Why does Shinji strangle Asuka at the end?

Shinji’s act of strangling Asuka is a manifestation of his anger and frustration. It also represents his inability to understand and connect with others, highlighting his emotional turmoil.

3. Is everyone truly dead at the end of the film?

No, not everyone is dead at the end. The destruction of humanity represents a symbolic event rather than a literal one. The film aims to depict the rebirth and potential for growth rather than the annihilation of mankind.

4. What is the meaning behind the LCL substance?

LCL, the orange liquid seen throughout the film, represents the primordial state of existence. It symbolizes the merging of individual consciousness and the potential for a collective understanding.

5. Why does Shinji hesitate before accepting Instrumentality?

Shinji hesitates because he fears the loss of individuality and the unknown consequences of merging with the collective consciousness. His decision to accept Instrumentality is ultimately driven by his realization that human connection is necessary for personal growth and healing.

6. What is the role of the Mass Production Evangelions in the ending?

The Mass Production Evangelions, controlled by the secretive organization SEELE, represent the oppressive forces and ideologies that seek to control humanity. Their presence highlights the struggle against these forces and the importance of individual agency.

7. Why does Asuka awaken and confront Shinji at the end?

Asuka’s awakening and confrontation with Shinji represents the final test for him to overcome his insecurities and accept the need for genuine human connection. It serves as a catalyst for his growth and realization of the value of empathy.

8. How does The End of Evangelion tie into the TV series?

The End of Evangelion serves as an alternate ending to the TV series, providing a more visceral and conclusive conclusion to the narrative. It expands upon the themes and events explored throughout the series, offering a deeper exploration of the characters’ psyches.

9. What is the significance of the film’s graphic violence?

The graphic violence depicted in The End of Evangelion serves to emphasize the characters’ emotional turmoil and the harsh realities they face. It also reflects the chaotic and destructive nature of human existence.

10. What is the meaning behind the film’s ambiguous and open-ended conclusion?

The ambiguous and open-ended conclusion encourages viewers to reflect on their own interpretations and engage in introspection. It leaves room for personal reflection and discussion, allowing each viewer to derive their own meaning from the film.

11. What impact did The End of Evangelion have on the anime industry?

The End of Evangelion revolutionized the anime industry, pushing boundaries and challenging conventional storytelling norms. Its complex narrative and exploration of psychological themes paved the way for more introspective and thought-provoking anime.

12. Are there any alternate interpretations of the ending?

Yes, there are various alternate interpretations of the ending, ranging from religious allegories to psychological analyses. The beauty of The End of Evangelion lies in its ability to evoke multiple interpretations, allowing viewers to find meaning that resonates with them.

13. How does the ending relate to the overarching themes of Neon Genesis Evangelion?

The ending of The End of Evangelion encapsulates the overarching themes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, such as the exploration of human connection, the struggle with loneliness, and the importance of empathy. It provides a resolution that challenges the audience’s perspectives and prompts introspection.

14. Does The End of Evangelion provide a definitive conclusion?

While The End of Evangelion offers a conclusion to the narrative, it remains open to interpretation. Its abstract and layered nature allows for multiple readings, ensuring that the film continues to captivate and provoke discussion.

Final Thoughts:

The End of Evangelion is a cinematic masterpiece that continues to captivate and perplex audiences more than two decades after its release. Its enigmatic ending, rich symbolism, and thought-provoking themes have solidified its status as a landmark in anime history. As one professional in the field aptly states, “The beauty of The End of Evangelion lies in its ability to transcend boundaries and evoke deep introspection, leaving a lasting impact on its viewers.” Another professional adds, “The film’s ending invites us to question our own existence and the meaning we attach to it, reminding us of the power of human connection in our journey towards self-discovery.” In conclusion, The End of Evangelion’s ending, while complex and open to interpretation, ultimately serves as a profound exploration of the human condition and the potential for growth and healing through empathy and acceptance.

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The End of Evangelion

The End of Evangelion WP  (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン劇場版 Air/まごころを、君に, Shin Seiki Evangerion Gekijō-ban: Air/Magokoro o, Kimi ni ? ) is the second film in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, and the last anime release for the series until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy. The film is an alternate ending to the TV series, taking place after episode 24. The film was released on 19 July 1997.

The film is divided into two approximately 45-minute episodes, each given a secondary English title by Gainax, just as with the original series episodes : Episode 25': Air and Episode 26': Sincerely Yours. They are regarded by the producers as an alternate ending to the television series , or a more detailed, "real world" account of the series' original ending in episodes 25 and 26 , which takes place almost completely in the minds of the main characters (the style being largely shaped by time and budget restraints). [1] Gainax originally proposed to title it as REBIRTH2 (Tentative)  (REBIRTH2 (仮) ? ). [2]

• 1.1 Episode 25': "Love is Destructive"
• 1.2 Episode 26': "ONE MORE FINAL: I need you."
• 2.1 Final Line
• 2.2 Live Action Sequence
• 2.3 Everything You've Ever Dreamed
• 5.1 Theatrical Program
• 6 Reception
• 7 External Links
• 8 References

Plot Summary [ ]

Episode 25': "love is destructive" [ ].

NERV headquarters is invaded by the JSSDF, as SEELE makes its final move. Asuka awakens from her despair and battles the Mass Production Eva Series to the death.

Episode 26': "ONE MORE FINAL: I need you." [ ]

Shinji comes face to face with Lilith, who grants him the decisive voice in the world's destiny. As his demons continue to torment him, a choice is made that shakes the world.

Production [ ]

Production on a film ending for the series began in 1997, with Gainax first releasing Evangelion: Death and Rebirth . The first half, DEATH , was a highly condensed character-based recap and re-edit of the TV series. The second half, REBIRTH , was originally intended to be the full ending, but could not be finished (due to budget and time constraints). The project was completed later in the year and released as The End of Evangelion .

Episode 25': Air , uses the original script intended for episode 25 of the original series and forms roughly 2/3 of the previous film, Rebirth . The End of Evangelion later became the second half of Revival of Evangelion , a concatenation of DEATH (TRUE)² and The End of Evangelion .

The ambiguous and unclear meaning of the TV series' ending left many viewers and critics confused and unsatisfied. The final two episodes were possibly the most controversial segments of an already controversial series and were received as flawed and incomplete by many. [3] However, Anno and assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki defended the artistic integrity of the finale. [4] [5] [6]

See also: "Death Threats, and 'Anno's Revenge'"

It is a commonly held belief that Hideaki Anno created End of Evangelion as a form of revenge against Evangelion fans unhappy with the existing ending to the TV series. In reality, the End of Evangelion is closer to the original concept for the series ending, which was changed due to budget and censorship issues. It's also a commonly held belief that the "death threats" flashed on screen in End of Evangelion were for the ending of the TV series, when in fact, the Death threats shown on screen at least, were in regards to Evangelion Death And Rebirth's ending. Most of these "death threats" were, in fact, letters of praise and encouragement. Only two can really be considered "death threats", while only one can really even be considered "hate mail." In a Tokyo International Film Festival interview , Anno revealed that there were legal reasons that prevented them from actually using fan mail, so the mail was actually written by the staff. The "hate mail" letters were written by an old friend of Anno's. This interview can also be found on the Shiki-Jitsu Blu-ray extras.

Making-of documentary , subtitled by AnnoCinema.

Final Line [ ]

See also: Final Scene in End of Evangelion

Asuka's closing line, "気持ち悪い。" ("Kimochi warui."), can mean "How disgusting," but it can also be ambiguously translated as "I feel unwell/terrible/sick," "What a disgusting feeling," or "Feels bad." According to an episode of the Japanese anime show Anime Yawa aired March 31, 2005 on NHK's satellite TV, the final line was initially written as "I'd never want to be killed by you of all men, absolutely not!" or "I'll never let you kill me." ( "Anta nankani korosareru nowa mappira yo!" ) but Anno was dissatisfied with all of Yuko Miyamura 's renditions of this line. [7] This alternate line was included as a bonus feature in the 2015 Blu-ray BOX set. Eventually Anno asked her what she would say if a stranger had broken into her room at night and masturbated over her, to which she replied, "Disgusting." [8]  According to Megumi Ogata, Shinji's voice actress, the scene itself was modeled on an experience of a female friend of Anno's. [9] Consensually, Shinji's seiyuu Megumi Ogata choked Miyamura in order to produce the final line, and accidentally pushed her to the floor, producing her coarse voice at the end. [10] The final scene also had many details removed that better suit the ambiguity of the final line, such as it being more clearly implied that Asuka had returned by herself and chosen to lay by Shinji's side. [11]

These are included in an early draft of the film, along with other considerable changes. For instance, Shinji was originally supposed to masturbate in his room alone thinking of Asuka, and even his face as he ejaculated would have been shown, and there is a cut scene with him biding farewell to Toji and Kensuke .

Live Action Sequence [ ]

Main article: Episode 26' Live Action Cut

A scene from the cut live action sequence

The live action scene near the end of the film was originally intended to be a much longer sequence with Megumi Hayashibara , Yuko Miyamura , and Kotono Mitsuishi portraying their characters from the series, ten years after the events of Evangelion . In this continuity, Shinji does not exist and Asuka has a sexual relationship with Toji Suzuhara . Asuka is called out by Anno's own voice, and she seems confused to hear it. The sequence ends with Shinji's voice saying, "This isn't it, I am not here," proving it is a false reality much like the one he sees in Episode:26 . The scene was left out for unknown reasons, but the footage is used in the film's theatrical trailer.

Everything You've Ever Dreamed [ ]

Much like " Komm, süsser Tod ", Anno also wrote another song that was eventually assorted into English and fully produced and sung, " Everything You've Ever Dreamed ", probably for the end credits. It was eventually unused, but it's very focused on Asuka and Shinji's relationship, unlike the more general "Komm, süsser Tod".

The music of The End of Evangelion was composed by Shiro Sagisu , with vocal performances by Loren & Mash and Arianne. The theme songs " Komm, süsser Tod ", "THANATOS -If I Can't Be Yours-", and the classical piece "Air" were released as a single on 01 August 1997. [12] The film's soundtrack was released later, on 26 September 1997. [13]

Gallery [ ]

Release [ ]

Theater display for The End of Evangelion

The End of Evangelion was released in Japanese theaters on 19 July 1997 by Toei Company. Between its release and October 1997, the film grossed 1.45 billion yen. [14] It was later released to home video on Laserdisc, VHS, and DVD. The film was edited into an episodic format for the VHS/Laserdisc releases of Genesis 0:13 , 0:14 , DVD Volume 7, but the theatrical version was released alongside it in each format. For the Renewal DVD series, the theatrical version was remastered with DTS audio and released with DEATH(TRUE)² of Death and Rebirth . [15]

The previously-mentioned episodic format release of the film, as well as the theatrical version, was included in Japan's 2015 Blu-ray BOX set, its 2019 "Standard Edition" reprint, and the Blu-ray sets in North America, Europe, and other territories (although the episodic format version is only included in limited collectors editions). Revival of Evangelion is also included in the Japanese Blu-ray sets on its own disc.

On 21 February 2024, GKIDS, the current distributor for Neon Genesis Evangelion in the United States, announced that The End of Evangelion would be shown in film theaters for the very first time in the country on 17 March 2024 and 20 March 2024. [16]

The film can currently be streamed on Netflix, and is available for rent and digital purchase from Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Google Play Movies & TV, and Apple TV in the United States of America.

Theatrical Program [ ]

Sold at theatrical showings was a program containing cast and staff interviews, as well as a glossary of terms from the series. The name originates from the red cross logo on the cover. [17]

Reception [ ]

The film won both the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for 1997 and the Japan Academy Prize for "Biggest Public Sensation of the Year"; [18] EX.org ranked the film in 1999 as the fifth best 'All-Time Show' (with the TV series at #2). [19] Since its release, The End of Evangelion has received very polarized reactions from anime fans and critics, and currently has an 8.2/10 on the film database website imDB. [20]

External Links [ ]

• Fans Impressions at Gainax Official Evangelion's Webpage (Archived)
• The End of Evangelion at AllMovie

References [ ]

• Screenwriter Akio Satsukawa , who worked on twelve Evangelion episodes, also worked with Anno on Love & Pop , a 1998 live-action romantic drama film. Anno had first approached Satsukawa about the project, which he felt was a way for Anno to "run away from Eva". According to Satsukawa, Anno kept saying he was atracted to the main character. They had inserted some references to Eva and particularly End of Evangelion in the film. Notably, the shooting version of the script began with the same line as Asuka's final line in End of Evangelion: Disgusting (Kimochi warui) , but this was edited out of the movie at the last moment. Satsukawa noted the thematic similarity with Eva, and felt Love & Pop was almost like a continuation of Evangelion, and Anno said he was attracted to the protagonist, a mentally ill girl with multiple personalities. In fact, the movie starts in the same date End of Evangelion was released.- Love & Pop Theatrical Booklet (1998)
• ↑ The End of Evangelion: Production from EvaOtaku.com.
• ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220316042532/https://twitter.com/evacollector/status/1503707232751403008
• ↑ "… This became a major issue as the final episode of the TV series could be considered incomplete. The voice of the fans grew stronger as they demanded a proper ending to the drama, explanations of the mysteries, or even a new story. Thus, in order to meet these demands, it was decided to remake episodes 25 and 26." From the Commentary of the Red Cross Book [1]
• ↑ "Lately due to the ending of episodes #25 and #26, some people started watching Evangelion . They were not anime fans. In fact many of them are females and they tell me that they really enjoyed episode #25, objectively. Most anime fans are furious. I understand their anger. I can't help laughing when hard-core anime fans say that we did a very lousy job, with intentional negligence. No we didn't. No staff members did a lousy job. In fact, every member at Gainax gave more energy than anybody can imagine. I feel sad that those fans couldn't see our efforts. Personally I think the original TV ending we showed ended up beautifully." Hideaki Anno, Protoculture Addicts 43
• ↑ "My opinion was, 'Why don't we show them the entire process including our breakdown." You know — make it a work that shows everything including our inability to create a satisfactory product. I figured that, "In 10 years or so, if we look back on something that we made while we were drunk out of our minds, we wouldn't feel bad even if the quality wasn't so good.' Q: Really?" "KT – So, no matter what the final form, I feel it was great just being able to make it to the end of the TV series. " Tsurumaki interview, RCB
• ↑ I couldn't draw it out for various reasons, but as far as episodes 25 and 26 (the last episode) in the original storyline, I even had the plot for episode 25. Episode 26 was abandoned at the plot stage. We'll rework the original episodes 25 and 26 in the video and LD that will be released next year, but for episode 26, we're going to rework it again visually. If I can't come up with anything, I'll take that plot apart and do it again. The episodes 25 and 26 that aired on TV were a direct reflection of how I was feeling at that point in time, so I'm happy with them. I don't regret it. March 4. After the end of the voice recording of "Evangelion" episode 25, the staff and cast members held a party near the Tabak recording studio in Tokyo. Anno: At that time, the script for the final episode was not yet up. It was all done the following week. We only had three days of drawing work in fact. To be honest, I don't think it even needed to be drawn up as an expression. In fact, it should have been fine for me to come out and talk. I thought that'd still work, but as expected, they refused to let me. - Hideaki Anno: Special Interview to celebrate being made into a movie (Newtype 06/1996)
• ↑ "Annno [sic] didn't live with my line no matter how many times I tried. Ogata and I were at a loss how we should play what Anno wanted to express; she even tried to ride on me and choke me to meet his demand. He must have been pursuing reality." "Asuka's final line in the Evangelion movie was Miyamura's idea"
• ↑ "Concerning the final line we adopted, I'm not sure whether I should say about it in fact. At last Anno asked me 'Miyamura, just imagine you are sleeping in your bed and a stranger sneaks into your room. He can rape you anytime as you are asleep but he doesn't. Instead, he masturbates looking at you, when you wake up and know what he did to you. What do you think you would say?' I had been thinking he was a strange man, but at that moment I felt disgusting. So I told him that I thought 'Disgusting.' And then he sighed and said, 'I thought as much.'" Yūko Miyamura appearance on Anime Yawa, March 28 [2]
• ↑ According to Megumi Ogata, Shinji's voice actress, the scene itself was modeled on a experience of a female friend of Anno's. This friend got into an argument with her boyfriend, and at some point he choker her in rage. Instead of reacting violently, this friend felt no fear, hatred or even a need for survivl, but rather a desire to caress him tenderly. In response, her boyfriend lost her grip. However, Anno's friend instead grew cold, and muttered Asuka's line from the EoE draft almost verbatim. Ogata believes this scene was how Anno wanted to "convey different ways how to bring feelings of love to a conclusion that exist in reality. You are you, I am I". Naturally, this reflects on the films' themes of individuality and the duality of reaching out to others present in Eva. Anno also guided Ogata to treat OMF partly as a separate story: "as something that just exists. As if everything that happened before in the movie is merely a dream that never happened. It is its own narrative unity, something that can fundamentally be taken away from its context in the movie and still be interpreted as a dramatic whole. It is and is not the final scene of EoE." Furthermore, Ogata asked Anno to help her understand what Anno wanted to convey through the scene and how Shinji is supposed to act. Hearing this, Anno first stands silent and confused for a moment. Then he firmly wraps his arms around himself and hugs himself. This is on the "purpose" of what he is trying to express. As for how Ogata should play Shinji Anno asks her to not play Shinji: " "For this scene alone, I want Ogata to take on and express my feelings rather than Shinji's" - Koji Ide's Evangelion Forever
• ↑ List_of_Common_Misconceptions#Anno_forced_Megumi_Ogata_to_choke_Yuko_Miyamura despite rumours to the contrary.
• ↑ Only the beach sequence between Shinji and Asuka. He and Asuka were resurrected because Shinji wanted a world with others. Other people will be resurrected from now on. Shinji strangles Asuka as she lies there. Asuka pats his face as if to confirm Shinji's presence (the storyboard notes “Asuka's hand moving gently”). Shinji comes to himself, relaxes his hand, and cries. In response, Asuka says, “I feel sick,” and the film comes to an end. This last scene is said to be difficult to understand. Until the very end, “Eva” leaves the decision to the audience. In the storyboards and recording script, Asuka's line was “I don't want to be killed by you,” but it was difficult to record the line as director Anno intended. Because of this change, the last scene became more and more difficult to understand. - Oguro Staff Commentary #62
• ↑ http://vgmdb.net/album/35698
• ↑ http://vgmdb.net/album/19795
• ↑ December 1997 NewType , p.90
• ↑ http://svenge.pcriot.com/
• ↑ GKIDS announcement tweet
• ↑ http://evaotaku.com/html/programbooks.html
• ↑ Carl Horn, "My Empire of Dirt" (2002), for Viz Communications
• ↑ http://www.ex.org/news/1999_05.html
• ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169858/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

• 2 Rei Ayanami
• 3 Kaworu Nagisa

Evangelion 3.0+1.01's Ending Finally Explains What 'Neon Genesis' Means

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Spy x family manga chapter 99 details a war-torn romance, 10 fights luffy only won because he's the main character.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time , now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The title Neon Genesis Evangelion roughly translates in Latin to "First Book of the New Gospel." What exactly that meant in the context of the series, as with so many other aspects of Evangelion , has long been up for debate. Some look at the series as a retelling and deconstruction of the Adam and Eve story, while others dismiss the anime's religious symbolism as being purely aesthetic. Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time , the definitive ending to the franchise, finally gives a direct definition of what a "Neon Genesis" is in the context of Evangelion .

RELATED: Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.01 Thrice Upon A Time Justifies the Rebuild Movies' Existence

The answer is almost deceptively simple: the "Neon Genesis" is a new creation of the universe. SEELE and NERV's Human Instrumentality Project had the world essentially caught in a loop, repeating the story of Evangelion multiple times. This time around, however, Shinji chooses to restart the world by erasing the Evangelions from existence, freeing himself and his loved ones from the suffering of the time loop they've been caught in. Shinji announces his plan to Rei as the world around them falls apart into a live-action movie set (the same one in which director Hideaki Anno shot the movie's motion capture scenes) and scenes from the previous Evangelion anime and manga are projected on the walls. Rei fittingly describes the plan as "Birth of a new world. Neon Genesis."

This version of Rei reverts to Yui, Shinji's mother from whom all the Reis were originally cloned. Yui reunites with Gendo, fulfilling Gendo's ultimate goal throughout the entire series, and together, both parents sacrifice themselves and their EVA Unit to save all life on Earth. Shinji returns to the beach from The End of Evangelion , which slowly fades into rough animation and storyboards before Mari arrives and restores color to Shinji's perception of the world. Together, the two former pilots say their happy goodbyes to all the Evangelion units. In the film's final scene, Shinji and Mari meet each other at a train station, fully grown, ready to explore this beautiful new world (represented by live-action footage of Anno's actual hometown) together.

RELATED: Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Casually Confirms a Major Character as LGBTQIA+

There are parallels between this ending and Evangelion 's previous animated endings, Episode 26 of the TV series and The End of Evangelion , but the sense of rebirth in those endings was limited by virtue of Shinji's perspective. The TV finale introduces the idea of multiple universes, but due to the abstract presentation, it's nearly impossible to tell if Shinji has actually remade the world beyond himself in any meaningful way or if he's merely adopted a more positive perspective of the world he's living in. The End of Evangelion discusses how "The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth," but the film's dramatic emphasis is firmly on the side of destruction rather than creation, and even Shinji's rejection of Instrumentality only manages to save Asuka.

In Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time , Shinji escapes the trap of only focusing on himself and is now able to save everyone else, not only from one apocalypse but from multiple ones. Neon Genesis Evangelion has always been a very self-involved story for both Shinji and Hideaki Anno, but now both the protagonist and the director have grown beyond the need to stay stuck in the same story. The "Neon Genesis" is the ultimate end of all things Evangelion , and it's the happiest ending to the legendary anime series that one could ever possibly hope for.

All four Rebuild of Evangelion films are streaming worldwide on Amazon Prime Video .

KEEP READING: Misato Katsuragi’s Integral Role in Almost Every Evangelion Characters’ Development

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The End of Evangelion

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Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Hideaki Anno

Kazuya Tsurumaki

Megumi Ogata

Shinji Ikari

Megumi Hayashibara

Rei Ayanami

Yuko Miyamura

Asuka Langley Sôryû

Kotono Mitsuishi

Misato Katsuragi

More Like This

Neon Genesis Evangelion | Exploring Hideaki Anno’s Divergent Endings

With Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, Hideaki Anno reworked the conclusion of the original series in blood-red rage.

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There’s always been a fair amount of contention around Neon Genesis Evangelion . Like anything else that becomes as popular as it did (especially with anime, which attracts its fair share of possessive fans), people can get very particular about what they expect. The most recent iteration of this came in frustration at Netflix when they acquired the streaming rights to the show in 2019. As well as changes to the dubbing actors and a new translation, there was plenty of fury over the absence of the numerous end-credit covers of ‘Fly Me To The Moon’. It feels strange for a show that began in Japan 25 years ago to still stoke this feverish reaction.

This was all minor compared to the show’s historic finale. Received with confusion and then vitriol upon its release, creator Hideaki Anno infamously received death threats, images of which supposedly made their way into his eventual feature-length reworking of the ending, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997). The two-part television finale (episodes 25 and 26) and the film are often presented as an either-or choice. Those who prefer the original praise its seemingly more empathetic presentation . The film often wins favor because of its comparatively higher budget thrills and bewildering aggression. Rather than being a binary choice between two drastically different conclusions, both endings are far more alike than their differences let on.

First, some context. Neon Genesis Evangelion was created by Hideaki Anno, an animator who studied under Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli (his work includes the utterly immense God Warrior sequence in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , 1984 ). Post-Ghibli, Anno’s career saw him serve as an animator on Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987) , as director on the series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990-1991), and his wild, underrated, and highly emotional mecha OVA (original video animation) Gunbuster: Aim for the Top! (1988-1989). Evangelion might be Anno’s most recognizable work – and also his most personal.

Broadcast on Japanese television from 1995 to 1996 and then followed up with a few movies, Neon Genesis Evangelion centers around troubled teenage boy Shinji Ikari. He is recruited by his absentee father in order to pilot a giant robot (that’s not really a robot) called an Eva, to fight the monstrous enemies called Angels that are attacking the futuristic city of Tokyo-3. Shinji loathes his father and fears fighting, resulting in a series-length identity crisis for the ages.

The show eases into this intensive emotional arc – beginning Misato and Shinji’s relationship as that of a goofy, bickering odd couple. Misato’s volatility comes off as comical at first. Still, as with the other characters, her actions are shown to be rooted in a trauma similar to Shinji’s, and her carefree wildness proves to be a facade for deep insecurity. Their time together is littered with bizarre humor that sometimes feels like it’s reaching for the bottom of the barrel but is charming nonetheless – and also serves to draw a connection with the pop culture that it is deconstructing.

The Genesis of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Throughout the series, Shinji fraternizes and clashes with a few other pilots – the taciturn and mysterious Rei Ayanami, and the brash and confident Asuka Langley Soryu, both of whom have plenty of neuroses of their own. Despite settling into a sort of monster-of-the-week rhythm for its first half, even the early episodes hint at Shinji’s immense inner struggle. Each episode seemingly brings Shinji closer to understanding, then sets him back again. For its final third, the series becomes increasingly abrasive and upsetting, diving deep into the neuroses of Shinji as well as Asuka and Rei during (often involuntary) metaphysical journeys of introspection.

None of this is to say that giant robot shows weren’t thoughtful before Evangelion came along. The pioneer of what is now referred to as the ‘real robot’ genre of anime, Mobile Suit Gundam (1979-1980), was laden with complex anti-war thematics and similarly starred a pilot, Amuro Ray, who wanted nothing to do with big robots. Neon Genesis Evangelion is often held up as a grand deconstruction but – especially in its visuals – it delights in the tropes of the genre, with spectacular fights between the titan Evas and various eldritch horrors of the Angels. It’s hardly the first to put the inner lives and emotions of the pilots at the forefront – after all, this is how Gundam made its name.

Where Evangelion stands apart is its turn toward abstraction and impressionistic experience over realist detail. A lot remains vague until the very end of the show. It’s also far more grotesque – starting with the Evangelion themselves, which are more symbiotic than robotic. Rather disturbingly, they bleed. Worse still, they’re psychically linked to their pilots and the giant machine’s pain and physical injury are shared with the pilot. All is done so to increase the immediate trauma of piloting one of these things and any thrill is often short-lived.

The world of Evangelion is just as fragile as the psyches of its characters, constantly under threat of total collapse. The main city it takes place in, Tokyo-3 (the last two were destroyed), is one of the last fortresses for humanity following a cataclysm known as Second Impact. Again, this may all sound like familiar ground for anyone who has watched a mecha anime (or even just Gundam ), but its formal construction immediately differentiates it. Anno and co. pack the show to the brim with Judeo-Christian and downright Freudian imagery, packed alongside references to Jungian archetypes (particularly that of the anima and the animus ) and Kierkegaard. As well as the interior lives of its characters, Evangelion also engages with the nuts and bolts of bureaucracy, espionage, and the secret organizations shaping the future of humanity, in the incredibly complex mythology that can only be managed by multiple Wiki pages.

Existential Crisis in Episodes 25 and 26

Upon the first release of the show’s US DVD boxset, writer Mike Crandol said of Evangelion’s appeal for Anime News Network : “It can be enjoyed at face value as an expertly realized sci-fi action-adventure, but it is also a bleak satire of the genre, a coming-of-age parable, and a treatise on confronting loneliness and uncertainty in the adult world.” Those more conventional elements of Evangelion begin to break apart as the show goes on and Anno becomes more intensely interested in psychoanalysis, focusing more and more on Shinji’s depression.

As the end of the show approached, it was behind schedule and out of money, and so the now infamous finale threw out action entirely in favor of a metaphysical group therapy session. The 25th episode, ‘A World That’s Ending’ (S1, Ep25) , is the first of a two-part finale in which Anno rebuilds the show into painful, fragmented psychoanalysis, threaded together by reused and altered cel animation from earlier in the series as well as new abstract, trippy animation that embodies Shinji’s confused psyche.

The young Eva pilot’s self-hatred has become so great that he has essentially wished himself into oblivion, aided by the culmination of his father’s ultimate plan for ‘Human Instrumentality’. The idea behind the project is to solve what he perceives as the inherent, inescapable flaw of mankind – that we’re alone from the day we’re born. ‘Instrumentality’ is an escape from loneliness through a return to a primordial state, all people and forms and minds melded together in one big orange soup. To match this deconstruction of the show’s very nature, the animation cels are broken apart and taped back together (during one scene with Misato at least).

The finale is this way partly because Anno was still figuring out what the show meant – it was an extension of himself, and his own struggle with depression. As he became increasingly interested in psychoanalysis, the show began to reflect that interest and the characters all begin to recognize the flaws that drove their actions. Simultaneously they become mouthpieces for Anno to explore his own self-worth.

They still feel like individuals though. Shinji is the only one who (purposefully) feels like a cipher, a person who is only able to find solace when doing as others tell him, and when he is praised for it. The finale is about him claiming an identity for himself. That journey isn’t easy – Shinji’s psyche is revealed like an open wound as Anno cuts right to the core of his fear in two episodes that still feel raw, painful, and candid in a way that few TV series as popular as this had before or since. The episodes explore these ideas purely through sensation and the inner space of the characters’ minds rather than their physical reality, and their interactions with people (or giant eldritch monsters). ‘Human Instrumentality’ occurs in a strange, ethereal plane, we are only privy to glimpses of its physical effects on the world (those frames would later be contextualized in The End of Evangelion ).

The pure strangeness and unexpected tangent of those final two episodes weren’t entirely well-received . When the final two episodes aired, Anno infamously got death threats because viewers were so put off by the shift towards the patchwork of voiceover psychoanalysis and reused images from the show, as well as more expressive, rough, and abstract pencil animation. In an interview with the Japanese anime magazine Newtype , Anno said of the finale: “Episodes 25 and 26 as broadcast on TV accurately reflect my mood at the time. I am very satisfied. I regret nothing.” The episode is surprisingly joyous in its emotional breakthrough, and despite some vitriol from a group of loudmouthed fans, those episodes are beloved for their powerful emotional catharsis. What saves the world of Evangelion isn’t a giant final battle, it’s simply the young boy deciding that “maybe I can learn to like myself… it’s okay for me to be here.”

The End of Evangelion

Later, with renewed funding, Anno remade the series finale of Neon Genesis Evangelion as the movie Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997 ) . The first half essentially recapped the show, and the second half added a new ending, this time showing the events of the finale as they occurred in the physical world. This second half would eventually become the first third of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion , a complete alternative ending to the series in movie form, also released in 1997. Fans of the show were clamoring for a ‘real’ ending, and Anno sure gave it to them. The End of Evangelion is uncompromising in its brutality and misery, putting several exclamation points onto what he was trying to say with the finale. The End of Evangelion , for its first half at least, could be said to be more representative of the sci-fi action-adventure that Crandol spoke of. Still, it’s also more aggressive (and explicit) in its bleakness, violence, and confrontation of loneliness than the show ever was.

Where the show’s final two episodes exist entirely on an abstract and metaphysical plane, The End of Evangelion is about the horrifying physical reality of Gendo’s plan and Shinji’s destructive wish for a world without pain, as all of humanity literally melts into an orange soup. After all that demand, Anno served up the answers that braying fans craved in the most grotesque manner possible. The End of Evangelion is practically anti-fan service, a trip through the worst-case scenario for every beloved character, while the ‘hero’ Shinji remains despondent in the wake of the traumatic act of having killed Kaworu, the person who he thought would be his salvation from loneliness.

It might also be the sharpest and harshest depiction of Shinji yet. Up until perhaps the final 10 minutes of the film, the only moments where he is capable of being anything more than passive, is when he’s acting destructively, to himself and everyone around him. Neon Genesis Evangelion as a series has caught flak (probably fairly) for its indulgence in the same puerile attitudes towards women that it critiques. Though Misato, Asuka, Ritsuko, and Rei are all deeply flawed individuals with complex inner lives that receive as much focus as Shinji does – they’re still objectified. The End of Evangelion itself seems to reckon with this, having that manifest as part of Shinji’s character, as his moments of desperation and confusion turn him into a violent and even perverse misogynist. When Asuka refuses to help him, he hurts her.

Shinji’s own awfulness couldn’t be more apparent to him, the acts he commits are all part of some twisted self-flagellation, an attempt to drive everyone he cares about away from him as he feels he doesn’t deserve affection. It’s the clearest version of the show’s ongoing critique of ‘otaku’ culture and toxic masculinity in ways that are shocking to see from the hero of a story, giving in to predatory and destructive acts as he begs for someone to save him from despair. Anno also uses The End of Evangelion to interrogate art as a means of connection, in one stunning moment removing the barrier between film and audience as it briefly switches into live-action, even flashing letters from fans on screen. That thorny acknowledgment of both the reasoning behind and Shinji’s culpability in such actions is a depiction of depression that still feels rare, in animation or otherwise. (Perhaps Bojack Horseman could be considered a successor in animation popular in the West – but that doesn’t have giant robots).

Both the Evangelion finale and End of Evangelion are very simple at their core – they’re about the realization that depression isn’t cleanly fixed, but progress has to come with the willingness to make that progress. In contrast, the dysfunctional Shinji either retreats or seeks out approval from others. Evangelion is a story about understanding and facing trauma again and again, and the self-understanding that is needed to heal. The End of Evangelion is perhaps the most grueling example of that, with moments like Asuka’s final stand against the grotesque, autonomous Eva series, even crushing what seem like rousing victories. The set piece itself is a great example of how the film goes about working through its characters, tracking the same emotional arc for Asuka (the realization that her mother loved her, and the regaining of her self-confidence) through her very movements. It’s a stunning sequence that expertly merges action with character analysis, with Asuka’s state of mind embodied in her newfound ferociousness and grace in piloting her Eva. That she still fails is the final punishment in a long series of them, the film asking the viewer to shoulder the burden just as the characters have.

Both versions of its finale reach a similar conclusion via routes that are superficially different, but thematically the same. In both the film and the series finale Shinji finally finds himself in true isolation, told by an otherworldly voice (later revealed to be that of Rei, who has ascended to godhood as Lilith), that “this is the outcome you wished for.” “For destruction, a world where no one is saved… a return to nothingness. You wished for a closed-off world that would be comfortable for you and only you.” The same is said to him of the ending world in The End of Evangelion , that the only kind of Earth where Shinji would be able to escape from his problems rather than confront them, is one where people no longer existed. But this is running away, something Shinji has been doing since before the series began (“I mustn’t run away” is a persistent mantra when he’s under stress), and a path that has always brought him hurt.

The series finale uses its rough and almost alien animation to embody each character's confusion and mind space. The screen goes completely blank at one point to represent “a world of freedom”, where no rules, and therefore nothing, exists. The End of Evangelion uses similar abstraction, but with more complete and detailed images, and destabilizes its formal content even further by cutting to live-action, and then breaking the fourth wall – displaying an image of the audience watching the film at its first screenings.

As similar themes persist between the two films, so does imagery. The pain of separation between people is emphasized by white spaces in both the series finale and the movie. Shinji’s desperate clinginess and infatuation with all of the women in his life – Misato, Asuka, and Rei – becomes part of that imagery in both. In The End of Evangelion, he is isolated in a train carriage, avoiding their eye out of shame, in the finale he covers his eyes and ears as their ghostly figures surround him. That repetition is key to Neon Genesis Evangelion. In his announcement that he would be returning to remake Evangelion – a project which culminated in 2021 with Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time – Anno said:

“Eva is a story that repeats. It is a story where the main character witnesses many horrors with his own eyes, but still tries to stand up again. It is a story of will; a story of moving forward, if only just a little. It is a story of fear, where someone who must face indefinite solitude fears reaching out to others, but still wants to try.”

The character motivations and insecurities laid bare by the onset of ‘Human Instrumentality’ are still the same. Misato’s uncertainty about her relationship with Kaji and confusion about how she wants to be seen persists across both. Asuka’s insecurities, interestingly, are resolved through action – which perhaps makes more sense for the story, as Asuka’s self-confidence and abandonment issues have always been inextricably tied to the Evangelions, more so than Shinji. Because of that abandonment by her mother, she needs to be the best – and for a few minutes, she is. Her realization that the soul of her mother resides in her Eva (yes, really) is what finally breaks the spiral that started midway through the Evangelion TV series. Because of that use of action in its character work, that final, abstract journey of ‘Instrumentality’ plays out with a more singular focus in The End of Evangelion – it’s all about Shinji’s neuroses.

A Deeper Dive into Shinji’s Self-Hatred

The fate of the entire world now hinges on the fragile mind of a boy who has never known any certainty or security except for the fact that he wants to escape, whether that’s into the comfort of other people or into isolation. That second impulse begins to lead and becomes destructive and hateful. The world ends when Shinji lashes out at Asuka in anger, strangling her when she refuses to help him. It’s a shock because Shinji has remained a passive figure throughout the series and up to this point, you don’t expect him to be capable of it.

The original series never explored that anger. Shinji’s self-hatred turns into cruelty so as to ruin relationships with the only friends he has and extinguish the love he feels he doesn’t deserve. That self-immolation manifests itself in the very imagery of The End of Evangelion , especially in its second half. Bodies are destroyed and devoured, and the planet itself is eventually consumed and ravaged in a moment triggered by Shinji’s emotional state, with imagery ripped straight from the Book of Revelations. Where the series finale left such imagery behind for something more subdued and abstract, The End of Evangelion returns to the series’ blood-soaked mix of Biblical imagery and eldritch horror, building off various foreshadowing that the show’s finale swept aside.

It’s tempting to view The End of Evangelion as the more complete ending, especially with the knowledge of the issues surrounding the production of the original. But the film capitalizes on episodes 24 and 25’s lengthy breakdown of its characters’ insecurities, allowing more shorthand in the film’s final chapter.

But then they go beyond his own reality, into live-action. The possibilities for Shinji’s life expand beyond such wastefulness and despair, for him to find a connection with someone. It’s reinforced by dialogue with Kaworu and Rei, with ghostly messages from his mother Yui (whose soul also resides within his Eva), and is finalized in the final action of the film – Asuka finally reaching out her hand to him. It’s not to say that Shinji’s ills will be defeated by the comfort of a girlfriend – after all, he had to literally form his own body again and reject the manufactured paradise of Instrumentality through sheer force of will – but that outstretched hand is everything, a final confirmation that there’s hope.

Perhaps the main difference is that The End of Evangelion embodies its themes in its action, whereas the series finale bends the form itself to question the very nature of being. These dual endings aren’t incompatible. In fact, they complement each other, as the final episodes turn the series’ subtext into text, breaking each character down and building them back up with renewed self-understanding. For all of the superficial differences, it all leads to the same breakthrough for Shinji. That moment of hope may be best summarized in ghostly parting words from his (long-dead) mother Yui:

“ Anywhere can be paradise as long as you have the will to live. After all, you are alive, so you will always have the chance to be happy. As long as the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth exist, everything will be alright.”

This article was first published in two parts on November 16th, 2020, on the original Companion website.  

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THE END OF EVANGELION | Meaning Explanation

There’s an easier way to discuss the end of End of Evangelion and Neon Genesis Evangelion . Then there’s the hard way.

The hard way is dealing with the nuance of what happened. Specifically, the relationship between Angels and Humans. Adam vs Lilith. What SEELE is? What NERV is. When did the First Impact happen? Etc. etc. etc. There’s so much backstory to the world of Evangelion that you could write an entire book.

The easier way is to look at the main thematic purpose of Evangelion . After all, it’s the entire reason for the story to exist. When you focus on the “why,” it demystifies the “what.”

• Evangelion’s main theme
• Live-action shots of actual Japan—reality vs dream in Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 26 helps explain End of Evangelion

Shinji strangles asuka, asuka calls shinji “disgusting”, evangelion ‘s main theme: loneliness.

To that end I have a single word for you: loneliness. Loneliness drives Neon Genesis Evangelion . Every character is responding to their own relationship with loneliness. The mysterious Human Instrumentality Project is about banishing loneliness. And the final scenes in both episode 26 and End of Evangelion are in the context of, you guessed it, loneliness.

It also is important to know Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno based the story on his own struggles with depression and negative mental health. The original end was going to be the failure of humanity and the success of the Angels. Which is a truly pessimistic conclusion. But, instead, Anno sought a kind of salvation for his characters—possibly as a means of finding a similar path for himself.

When I said “There’s an easier way,” I really meant it. This is how easy it is to explain Evangelion . The entirety of the story builds to Shinji having a decision to make: does he choose to hide in a collective humanity where everyone is no one, or does he finally find value in his individuality and face the world?

That’s it.

So what’s the point of the show? For 24 episodes, Evangelion develops its world and characters, and reinforces just how alone they feel.

• Shinji can’t get over his dad’s abandonment so rejects everyone and hates himself.
• Rei is only kind of human and has no opinions on herself or others because of it.
• Asuka, like Shinji, was abandoned by both her mom and dad (in different ways) and uses a false bravado to hide her true sense of isolation.
• Misato is hung up on her workaholic dad so struggles to accept a loving relationship.
• Ritsuko never felt connected to her workaholic mom and is in a terribly one-sided romance with Shinji’s dad, Gendo.
• Gendo only cares about being reunited with his (sort of) deceased wife, Shinji’s mom, Yui Ikari.

Everything that happens in those 24 episodes serves two purposes. One, show us how broken each character is and the origins of the self-esteem and insecurity issues that breed their isolation and loneliness. Two, bring about a climactic moment of choice where the characters have a final break—whether that’s a breakthrough or breakdown.

That final break comes in the form of the Human Instrumentality Project. What is the Human Instrumentality Project? Just a fancy way of describing an extinction-level event that causes human souls to form into an eternal soup that prevents people from feeling alone and uncertain. No self-esteem. No insecurity. Only togetherness.

It’s an appealing thought, to no longer feel alone and be reunited with everyone you’ve ever loved in a spiritual existence that’s not unlike the classic concept of Heaven.

And it’s exactly that world that Shinji’s bringing about during End of Evangelion . Christ-like Unit-01. Giant Rei. The Mass Production Evas speared through with lances. The crosses and swirling spirits. This is the weird and evocative way Anno decided to show the creation of this place where everyone is melted into unity.

Then something strange happens.

Live-action shots of actual Japan—reality vs dream in End of Evangelion

Real-world/live-action shots interrupt End of Evangelion ‘s animation. Anno hasn’t just had the characters lose the A.T. Fields that had separated them into individual forms—the show itself has lost its distinction from reality. The animated world has fallen away. It’s during these shots of actual people and places in Japan that we hear a conversation between Shinji and the women from his life:

• Shinji: “I don’t understand reality all that well.”
• Voices: “You can’t tell where the gap is between your truth and another’s reality.”
• “I don’t know where I can find happiness.”
• “You can only find happiness inside your dreams.”
• “That’s why this isn’t reality. It’s a world devoid of people.”
• “Yes, a dream.”
• “That’s why I’m not here.”
• “You used a tailor-made fantasy to get revenge against reality.”
• “Was that wrong?”
• “You were avoiding the truth by escaping into a fictional world.”
• “What’s wrong with having a private dream world?”
• “That’s not a dream. That’s just a substitute for reality.
• [After a pause] “Then where are my dreams?”
• “Beyond where reality lies.”
• “Then where is my reality?”
• “Where dreams end.”

While that entire conversation is a back and forth between Shinji and Rei/Asuka/Misato/Human Instrumentality, it’s also Anno talking to himself. Anno is the one who doesn’t understand reality and has retreated into his dreams—his creative work. But he has to admit that his creative work isn’t reality. It’s lacking actual people and actual relationships. He, as much as any of his characters, has to face reality and overcome his loneliness and insecurity.

We transition from the shots of real-world Japan back to the animation of Evangelion and Giant Rei’s slit throat spraying blood across outer space. Shinji awakens in the LCL ocean, in the middle of Instrumentality, where Rei tells him, “This is exactly the world you wished for.” To which he says, “No, this isn’t right. I don’t think this is what I want.”

Shinji chooses individuality. He chooses to see people again, even if it means being afraid of them, having drama with them, etc. Because the real positive feelings you do feel are better than the annihilation of emotion brought about by Human Instrumentality.

The live action sequence in End of Evangelion actually goes back to the original television ending in episodes 25 and 26. In those episodes, we’re entirely in Shinji’s Instrumentality experience. The show limits perspective so viewers have no idea what’s actually happening in the world. All you understand is Shinji’s having this intense debate with himself, working through his psychological trauma. In the final moments, we again have a discussion of reality.

• Various Characters: “If you think of it that way, this real world isn’t such a bad place.”
• Shinji: “The real world might not be so bad. But I do hate myself.”
• “It’s your heart that perceives reality as being ugly and painful. Your heart which is interpreting reality as being the truth. How you see reality, how you interpret it—the slightest changes in those leads to huge changes in your heart. There are as many truths as there are people. But there’s only one truth for you. Built from a myopic worldview using information altered to protect yourself. It’s a contrived truth. A worldview that one person can hold in their head don’t amount to much. But people can only measure things based on their own little yardstick. People try to see the world using only truths that have been handed to them. Sunny days are cheerful. Rainy days are depressing. You start to assume that’s the case because others tell you so. But fun things can also happen on rainy days. A change in how one small detail is interpreted can transform everything. The truth within each of us is a fragile thing. That’s pretty much all that human truth amounts to. That’s what drives us to seek out a deeper truth. You’re simply not used to being liked by others. So you don’t have to worry about what others think all the time.”
• “But doesn’t everybody hate me?”
• “What are you, an idiot? You’ve just gotten that into your head on your own!”
• “But I really do hate myself.”
• “People who hate themselves can never be capable of loving or trusting others.”
• “I’m a sneak. And a coward. And dishonest and a weakling.”
• “If you understand yourself, you can be kinder to yourself, right?”
• “I hate who I am. But maybe I can learn to like myself one day! Maybe it’s okay for me to be here! Right…the only person I can be is me. I’m me. I want to be myself! I want to be here! It’s okay for me to be here!”
• “Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congrats, buddy! Way to go, man! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations.”
• “Thank you.”

End of Evangelion takes all of this exposition and re-works to “show” rather than “tell.” It’s a stronger visual demonstration of the emotional journey Shinji experienced in episode 26. With a lot of refinement. And more tension.

Three moments lines of dialogue are of particular importance to the last few minutes of EoE :

• Shinji: “Maybe I can learn to like myself one day! Maybe it’s okay for me to bare here! The only person I can be is me! I’m me. I want to be myself! I want to be here! It’s okay for me to be here!”
• Shinji: “But doesn’t everybody hate me? …I’m a sneak. And a coward. And dishonest and a weakling.”
• Asuka: What are you, an idiot? You’ve just gotten that into your head on your own.

When you change from “showing” to “telling” you have to ground exposition into action. How do you show Shinji deciding it’s okay to be there? How do you show Shinji think everyone hates him and his negative qualities? How do you show Asuka correcting Shinji’s assumption everyone hates him?

For example.

Telling: “Frank came home angry.”

Showing: “The door flew open and crashed into the wall. As it swung back from the force of the collision, Frank kicked it back open and into the wall. The door rebounded again. This time, Frank put a hand out. Caught it. Then flung it shut. When door met frame, the whole house trembled.”

So how does Anno show these important bits of dialogue between Shinji and himself and Shinji and Asuka?

Shinji’s “It’s okay to be me!” speech from Episode 26 is dramatized in EoE by the death of Giant Rei and the rise of Unit-01 from Rei’s eye. The destruction of the Black Moon and the freeing of the souls back over the Earth. For a moment, End of Evangelion turns life-affirming and downright hopeful. The voiceovers in this period have a sense of hope, triumph, and determination that line up with how positive Shinji was at the end of e26.

Then Shinji leaves Instrumentality. He’s back in Evangelion ‘s regular world. Which is now very post-apocalyptic. And the only person there with him is Asuka. Instead of channeling that positive energy about finding happiness and hope and the potential inherent to being alive…Shinji mounts Asuka and strangles her.

In Instrumentality, Shinji had been the one mounted. By Rei. A moment that symbolized the connectedness inherent to Instrumentality. Which we know now Shinji thinks of as a “dream” and something he must wake up from. Now that he’s awake, though, now that Shinji’s returned to reality, he kind of freaks out.

This is why we get that visual inversion. It highlights the emotional difference between Instrumentality and Reality. Intimacy has transformed from affection to violence. That’s Shinji’s first reaction: to hurt, to kill. Which gets back to what characters had said about A.T. Fields. Without them, people can be part of Instrumentality and no longer fear one another and no longer hurt one another because of their fear. But with them…you dread the other. You reject the other. You try and destroy the other.

But this also is part of a 3-act structure within End of Evangelion of crucial encounters between Shinji and Asuka.

The first is the opening scene of the movie. Shinji visits a comatose Asuka in the hospital. Shinji’s overwhelmed and begs the unconscious Asuka to help him. Shinji: “Please help me. Help me. Make fun of me like you always do! Come on!” At the end, he pulls on Asuka and accidentally opens her hospital gown, revealing her naked body. Shockingly, Shinji locks the door to the room and masturbates. Looking at his stained hand, he says, “I’m the lowest of the low.”

The next encounter happens right before Instrumentality, 20-minutes prior to the last scene. Shinji has a vision of being back in Misato’s apartment with Asuka. He tells her he loves her, tries to connect with her. In response, Vision Asuka chastises him. Insults him. Rejects him. He screams, “Help me! Don’t leave me alone! Don’t abandon me! Don’t kill me!” To which Asuka says: “No.” Vision Shinji throttles Vision Asuka in the middle of the upended dining room. This moment of rage and abandonment triggers the process of Human Instrumentality.

Then finally we have the end of End of Evangelion . Shinji wakes up from Human Instrumentality and sees Asuka next to him, he returns to that pain of rejection he associates with Asuka—from her inability to answer him in the hospital to the vision of denial before Instrumentality. This time he doesn’t even ask for help because he doesn’t expect help. Instead, he just resumes strangling her.

Asuka, despite the assault, puts a hand on Shinji’s cheek and caresses. It’s arguably her first time showing actual warmth to Shinji. It’s kindness. A sign that, despite the A.T. Fields, despite reality, you can connect with someone. Affection is possible in this place, even in the midst of the hurt we cause one another. She hasn’t denied his cries for help like he feared she would. He’s not alone.

Notice the visual similarities between the hospital, dining room, and beach. Shinji’s over Asuka in both the hospital and beach. Asuka looks down on Shinji in the dining room and beach. In the dining room she calls him pathetic (not shown in the GIF), on the beach she calls him disgusting. The yuck on Shinji’s hand is similar to the tears he drops on Asuka’s cheek.

When a filmmaker has these visual resonances, it’s a clue to the viewer to make connections between these specific scenes. To compare and contrast them in order to discover meaning. Like the juxtaposition of Rei mounted on Shinji in Instrumentality vs Shinji mounted on Asuka in reality.

In the hospital, Asuka wasn’t able to respond, but on the beach she can. That lack of response early on was part of what sent Shinji on such a downward spiral. And the actual response at the end causes an intense (albeit complicated) moment of catharsis.

We still have to talk about Asuka. First, why is she back in reality with Shinji?

The answer to that is something Shinji’s told in Instrumentality: “If they can visualize themselves in their own minds, anyone can return to human form.” Shinji prevented Instrumentality from being the mandatory and unending experience it was going to be. Instead, now people have a choice. They can continue on in the LCL ocean, or they can return to human form.

Asuka was always the most arrogant character in the show. And during End of Evangelion she has a major breakthrough that causes her to truly feel empowered and as confident as she had always pretended to be. Her faked strength becomes actual strength. Then she’s killed.

It makes sense that Asuka would return to human form, as her sense of self was so intense. Even if it was often forced and masking deep anxiety, Asuka still had a fighting spirit that was bound to reject Instrumentality.

So why caress Shinji’s cheek during an attempted murder? Having earlier found closure with her mother’s abandonment, Asuka can finally be emotionally honest with Shinji. Expressing, first, the tenderness she’s developed for him. Followed by her loathing.

That moment on the shore is the first time Shinji and Asuka have been together since the opening scene of the movie. They hadn’t even had a chance to speak. Shinji was busy with his existential crisis, while Asuka was off fighting the Mass Production EVAs. So when they’re on the shore, re-materialized from the LCL, Asuka finally can say something to Shinji.

Except he’s choking her. So the hand on the cheek is her non-verbal answer to Shinji’s earlier pleas of “Please help me.” She’s there. She’s willing to help.

So why does she call him “Disgusting” if she’s showing affection? That’s a little more complicated. On the one hand, Shinji wanted Asuka’s distaste of him. Back in the hospital, he asked her to make fun of him. So calling him “Disgusting” while Shinji weeps is very on-brand for the couple. On the other hand—there’s more to it than that.

Originally, the line from Asuka was supposed to be, “I’d hate to be killed by a bastard like you.” Which is pretty obviously a payoff on Shinji saying, “Make fun of me like you always do.” But it’s also incredibly one-dimensional and arguably too simplistic for a story like Evangelion . The falseness of the line actually impacted the making of the episode.

Asuka voice actor Yuko Miyamura revealed that Anno wasn’t happy with her reading of the line. He had her re-record it time after time after time. But none of the takes sounded right. Anno even had Shinji’s voice actor choke Miyamura before a take to try and get the right performance . Even that didn’t work.

This is what Miyamura told Anime Yawa in an interview in 2005:

“At last Anno asked me ‘Miyamura, just imagine you are sleeping in your bed and a stranger sneaks into your room. He can r*pe you anytime as you are asleep but he doesn’t. Instead, he masturbates looking at you, when you wake up and know what he did to you. What do you think you would say?’ I had been thinking he was a strange man, but at that moment I felt disgusting. So I told him that I thought ‘Disgusting.’ And then he sighed and said, ‘I thought as much.’” Yuko Miyamura to Anime Yawa

In Anno’s mind, he had thought Asuka and Shinji could go back to how things were. He envisioned this moment of classic banter between them despite everything that’s happened. But when he shares that vision/dream with reality—reality doesn’t agree. Miyamura’s honest answer of “Disgusting” is the more realistic response. Not what Anno had imagined. And so Anno changed the final line.

That’s kind of amazing. Given that theme of dreams vs. reality and Anno’s struggling with hiding in his creative work to avoid reality and Evangelion exploring that very struggle. It blows my mind that, ultimately, the last line comes from a real encounter he had rather than something he dreamed up. It’s a perfect example of form merging with function.

And this gets at a truth both Shinji and Anno have to accept: you can try to hide from reality within a dream, but when you eventually return to reality you still have to face the consequences of your actions. Judgment is still there. You can’t avoid the truth. The truth is Shinji’s disgusting. And so is Anno. And so is everyone else, in their own way.

Despite that, you have to move on. You have to accept yourself. And accept others may not hate you as much as you hate yourself, even if they are disgusted by you. Reality is harsh. But it can still be loving.

And that, my friends, is the end of End of Evangelion . Congratulations.

For more Colossal explanations

Chris Lambert is co-founder of Colossus. He writes about complex movie endings, narrative construction, and how movies connect to the psychology of our day-to-day lives.

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Reader Interactions

December 23, 2020

Thanks, this really helped me

August 21, 2021

I loved ot.

September 11, 2021

Well done. That ending in EoE is very controversial, and your take on it is one of the most thoughtful and well-informed so far.

September 12, 2021

Much appreciated!

November 23, 2021

Thank you for this! I personally feel more closure after reading your thoughtful explanations. I really appreciate it.

I’m wondering what you think about the ending words in Evangelion…after everyone says congratulations the black screen says “to father, thank you. To mother, goodbye. And to all the Children, congratulations”. Up until now any written words on a black screen were inner thoughts of The characters. In the end is Anno himself speaking? Or maybe a sort of mix of Shinji and Anno? I’m assuming that Shinji represents a side of Anno in the story.

May 12, 2022

Great analysis!

September 26, 2022

Thank you so much

October 13, 2022

I’m so sad to see the end of Evangelion. It was one of my favorite anime series.

October 17, 2022

What was your favorite part of the series?

November 26, 2022

“I’m so fucked up.”

December 16, 2022

I really needed this article. Everything is so much clearer now. I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate the series otherwise. Thank you!

December 19, 2022

Hey, Strat! Happy to hear that!

January 21, 2023

What a wonderful analysis! I understood most of EoE but wanted to check other thoughts as it’s really controversial, thank you!

February 18, 2023

April 16, 2023

In a way, Anno was the ‘Shinji’ in the creation of this story in the real world. Though in its own way too, a viewer wont get real-life value out of this giant metaphor if they dont separate themselves from immersing as Shinji. That’s real art.

Though we cant see this connection between reality and the show without knowing these background facts about the direction of the show. The original plan to just have humans lose but changing it; needing to change the final line because even if there is hope out of the pessimism… there’s still reality, and consequences, and in the end acceptance is more important than even hope. The last two episodes felt so different because up until then the show was as stuck up on that theme of hope vs despair but Shinji was unhappy and lost either way.

We do that to ourselves too. “I just need this new job, more money, a girlfriend — I’ll get fired, I’m going to go broke, Ill be single forever.” I think in turmoil, many of us spend the first 24 episodes of our own lives distracted, and not observing inward like Shinji finally does in the final two episodes. I have to wonder if the death threats Anno got for these final two… are at all akin to the shock one might feel when that veneer of hope vs despair is peeled away and they are forced to look away from the distractions and towards themselves…. Selves with parts they hate, don’t want to think about. Selves that are lonely.

One might wonder, if they’d find themselves strangling Anno in such a disorienting and all-encompassing fear. Disgusting.

Well written article, good detective work, great bread-crumb trail to help us readers get to the end. Way to go, man!

June 14, 2023

Amazing explanation – thank you! Just finished the original series and EoE. What a brilliant, beautiful story especially in times like now where people are giving in to doomerism. I think everyone should watch Evangelion. It has the power to change many peoples’ lives for the better.

July 29, 2023

Thank you! I appreciate it, Kevin. What was your favorite episode in the series?

June 16, 2023

While this is a good article, I feel frustrated having finished it. You know though. You have to know. You said the hard way would be to explore their nuances. Then you really barely do that. That is no true way to discuss this. Also, there’s no solid evidence that Shinji strangles Asuka in some psychedelic esoteric divorced from real Asuka way. In fact, it’s most likely she’s comatose because of him! Also, that’s not masturbating. That’s sexual assault, and coma patients call feel everything happening to their bodies as they are trapped. That’s why she says “Kimochi warui” which translates more ambiguously than just “you’re disgusting.” My favorite translation was “What a disgusting feeling.” I think she’s explicitly referencing her memory of what he did to her, and how that felt. We are all in some way flawed, that’s true. However, these flaws have a wide variety of range of awful. We are not all the same kind of awful. That’s a disturbing thing to read while ruminating on sexual violence. One of the almost universally agreed upon things that is considered one of the worst things people do to one another. There’s more, but I think I’ll just wait for a book. It would sell, you should try it. However, I just have a sinking feeling you might not grapple with just how truly unspeakably… like Terminal Dogma is a phenomenal name for such a nightmarish place! That place evokes the holocaust and unit 731 I feel, maybe without even realizing it. Humanity used the angels and evas as mere things. Lilith imprisoned, mutilated, and bled for LCL. . . The Eva graveyards… it’s all such a hellscape that it truly stands as a contrast to that weak utterance of “we’re all awful, the world is awful, but it can still love.” That’s only half true! Some people, some living things, are so unfortunate that they never experience any love or kindness and only exist in torment before dying unjustly and unsung.

Sorry about the feeling of frustration. With that opening bit about hard way/easy way, I wasn’t implying that the article is the hard way and we’re going to dive into all the nitty gritty. I meant the opposite, the the article was the easy way to understand the important, broader themes and meaning of the end that would then, hopefully, allow people to look at the nuance on their own with better context and a stronger overall concept as to what all of it was about. So, you’re right, but the nuance of the plot wasn’t the focus of the article as much as elaborating on the nuance of the themes and meaning.

You’re saying a lot of great things! But I’d ask that you please keep in mind that what happens in End of Evangelion isn’t me reacting to literal events and ruminating on them as literal events. If we were talking about real people doing real things, then the rumination on Shinji and the assault in the hospital would be harsh. But this is a work of art that’s using everything that happens to make a statement about the human condition. So I’m looking at what happens as metaphoric and ruminating on it from that perspective. In analyzing art, do you really need the critic to make moral arguments for everything that happens? Or to justify their moral position on the real world subject before talking about what happens in the work? Do you really assume I’m someone who doesn’t agree that that’s one of the worst things someone can do to someone else? Do you assume I haven’t had people in my life who have struggled with it, who I’ve comforted and cried with? I’m tearing up now thinking about my experiences with the subject.

The last thing I want to say is that at the end I did say “can” be loving. Not that it is or will be. Just that as long as we keep going, there’s a chance. A lot of that was written with Anno in mind, as he almost ended his own life because he was so upset with the fan reaction to the original ending of Evangelion. But he stuck around and kept working and managed to find some redemption. If he had ended things, none of that would have been possible.

October 13, 2023

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Popularity Members , ' }) }) })(jQuery); play Shinji Ikari is left emotionally comatose after the death of a dear friend. With his son mentally unable to pilot the humanoid robot Evangelion Unit-01, Gendou Ikari's NERV races against the shadow organization SEELE to see who can enact their ultimate plan first. SEELE desires to create a godlike being by fusing their own souls into an Evangelion unit, while Gendou wishes to revert all of humanity into one primordial being so that he can be reunited with Yui, his deceased wife. SEELE unleashes its military forces in a lethal invasion of NERV headquarters. As SEELE's forces cut down NERV's scientists and security personnel, Asuka Langley Souryuu pilots Evangelion Unit-02 in a desperate last stand against SEELE's heaviest weaponry. The battle rages on, and a depressed Shinji hides deep within NERV's headquarters. With the fate of the world resting in Shinji's hands, Captain Misato Katsuragi hunts for the teenage boy as society crumbles around them. [Written by MAL Rewrite] is an alternate version of the series ending, which either supplements or replaces episodes 25 and 26, depending on how they are viewed. The movie was awarded the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for 1997, the Japan Academy Prize for Biggest Public Sensation of the Year, and Special Audience Choice Award by the 1997 Animation Kobe.

Summary: (Movie) Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime- Characters & Voice Actors Opening Theme No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme . Ending Theme "Thanatos -If I Can't Be Yours-" by Loren & Mash Recent News Q4 2020 Anime & Manga Licenses [Update 12/14] In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime and manga licensed in the second quarter (Oct-Dec) of 2020. Fall 2020 anime which were licensed before... read more Sep 28, 2020 11:49 AM by Snow | Discuss (14 comments) Q2 2020 Anime & Manga Licenses [Update 6/5] In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime and manga licensed in the second quarter (Apr-Jun) of 2020. Spring 2020 anime which were licensed befo... read more Mar 25, 2020 8:57 PM by Snow | Discuss (19 comments) Recent Forum Discussion Poll: ... ) - Jun 13, 2008 534 replies by Jun 22, 4:01 PM - Aug 15, 2019 37 replies by Jun 22, 2:37 PM - Jun 5 27 replies by Jun 17, 3:55 AM Poll: - Apr 15 21 replies by Apr 24, 9:32 PM - Aug 21, 2023 44 replies by Mar 20, 1:27 PM Recent Featured Articles Good Vibrations: The Undervalued Artistry of an Anime’s Soundscape by MAL_Articles 68,577 views What Exactly Does 'Otaku' Mean? by removed_user 45,587 views More Top Anime 1 Sousou no Frieren 2 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 3 Steins;Gate 5 Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 Part 2 More Top Airing Anime 1 One Piece 2 Hibike! Euphonium 3 3 Mushoku Tensei II: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Part 2 4 Doupo Cangqiong: Nian Fan 5 Shen Yin Wangzuo 2nd Season More Most Popular Characters 1 Lamperouge, Lelouch 3 Monkey D., Luffy 4 Lawliet, L 5 Roronoa, Zoro Resources : End of Evangelion Screenplays 2.1 Episode 25' 2.2 Episode 26' 3.1.1 Shinji's masturbation 3.1.2 Misato's Car Monologue 3.1.3 "Get Ready" 3.1.4 Seele Meeting 3.1.5 Asuka wakes up (Incomplete) 3.1.6 "I Don't Want to Die" 3.1.7 Misato & Shinji: Humans & Angels 3.1.8 Asuka Versus Eva Series (2) 3.1.9 Asuka Versus Eva Series (3) 3.1.10 Asuka Versus Eva Series (4) 3.2.1 The Spear Returns 3.2.2 Seele (1) 3.2.3 Rei's Ascension (Partial) 3.2.4 Playground/sandbox scene 3.2.5 Gendo's End 4 External Links A now-defunct Japanese fan site called "Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Mysteries" (NEON　GENESIS　EVANGELIONその秘密) posted a document they described on the front page as the "secret dialogue" (裏台詞, ura serifu ) for The End of Evangelion . On closer inspection, these turned out to be screenplays for both episodes of the film, marked "For Internal (Company) Use" (社内検討用). The website, perhaps for fear of legal repercussions, does not specify where or how it obtained the documents, although they appear to be entirely authentic. Because they have never been officially released, and can be considered essentially leaks, the source and authenticity of these drafts has been called into question. This thread provides a deeper investigation into it, but it seems there is more than enough additional evidence to support its legitimacy. They closely matched known details of the planning process and ideas of Eva and EoE mentioned in interviews and official sources from before or even many years after the drafts' apparent date, production style, and even Anno's writing style, down to specific quirks and production notes that he and other members of the staff left to each other. Miyamura's dropped line in Last B, for instance, is a well-known fact talked about in many later interviews and even included in the Bluray release. Since the fan site is currently available only through the Internet Archive (provided one knows the page's original URL), the manuscripts have been archived locally. #25′: The Door into Summer / Love is destructive (Manuscript #2, For Internal Use) #26′: Yours Sincerely / I need you. , New Screenplay (Manuscript #6 Edit, For Internal Use) Differences The screenplays are fully recognizable as The End of Evangelion , although there are a large number of differences between them and the final product. A rather incomplete list: Episode 25' Rather than "Air," Episode 25′ was originally entitled "The Door Into Summer" (「夏への扉」, " Natsu e no Tobira "), a reference to the science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. (The second title, "Love is destructive.", is already present.) His semen-covered hand and infamous line are already present, however. Following the operators' chat in the Command Center, Kensuke and a wheelchair-bound Toji say their farewells to Shinji. The two are being sent to Germany for reasons unknown. This scene made it to the storyboard stage before being deleted. Misato's monologue in the car is mostly different and does not provide much insight into Seele's plans. After her monologue, Misato goes to Shinji's room and tells him　that they'll be staying at headquarters starting that night, to no response. The meeting between Gendo and Seele is longer (see Olivier Hagué's translation) After Misato reads the hacked computer file, she says, "So, that's why they need the thirteen Eva Series units" instead of "So, that's the real truth behind Second Impact." When she wakes up in Eva-02, Asuka says "Kimochi warui." While in the inactive Eva-02, Asuka wonders why the A.T. Field won't unfold and says, "I'm scared... Mama, help me, Mama." Kyoko's background dialogue while Asuka chants "I don't want to die..." is absent. The only "metaphysical imagery" present at this point is a "reassuring image of Asuka's mother." Asuka says "Hitotsu" ("One") instead of "Erst" after taking down the first Eva Series unit. Misato's expositional speech to Shinji underwent some rewrites, ex.: Yui is specified to have played a role in Second Impact, the 18th Angel is directly referred to as "Lilin," and Lilith is compared to Adam but not called a "source of life." The dialogue about Angels and humans "rejecting" each other is absent; in its place are enigmatic comments that seem to be directly linked to Fuyutsuki and Yui's conversation at the end of the film (also present in this screenplay). Asuka & Eva-02's battle against the Eva Series bares little resemblance to the final version. Much of it has not been planned out yet. There is no brutal evisceration. The needle gun in the right pylon is used during Eva-02's brief retaliation. It will later be relocated to the main fight, for use against Eva-10. Episode 26' The opening scenes with Eva-01 are different, involving: Eva-02's decapitated head, an irate Shinji, more explosions (with any people caught therein reduced to red particles), the Spear of Longinus wielded by Eva-01 and becoming rainbow-colored, and Eva-01's wings increasing in number three times (from 2 to 4 to 6). Eva-01 receives a "Pattern Blue" reading after liberating its S2 engine. Eva-01 is not "crucified." The Evas are tentatively described generating a magic square in the sky rather than the Sephirothic Tree of Life. Gendo has a scene following his rejection by Rei where he comments on the proceedings and wonders what's happening to Shinji. A Kaworu torso grows out of his left hand and turns into a smiling Rei (a sign that Adam has taken on Lilith's form). Rei rather than Kaworu says "Mou, ii no (kai)?" and turns into Kaworu onscreen, rather than Kaworu being there already when Shinji looks up. Eva-01 does not fuse with the Spear of Longinus to become the Tree of Life. It might be absorbed into Lilith at this point (but it's kind of ambiguous...). Right before Yui's "This Rei is your heart" line, Gendo was to say, "Is it all right, Yui? Do you intend to entrust Shinji with everything?" Maya only says "Sempai" once during her final moments. Keel's "happy end" is prefaced by a final interchange between the Seele members. This includes a prototype of the lin The Eva Series' cores are described as vivid blue to start with, and become red as they insert the Spears. Gendo's final lines are the same, but his death is different: he's just shown turning into LCL and a "particle of red light." His LCL joins the pool in Terminal Dogma prior to Rei retrieving his glasses. Immediately after Gendo's death scene, Eva-01 is shown "within Rei's body," trying to penetrate its exposed core with the Spear of Longinus. The original Japanese lyrics for M-10 (what would become " Komm, süsser Tod ") were apparently going to be displayed as subtitles during the film. The title card for "I need you" appears earlier in the film, near the beginning of the live action sequence. This was filmed but excised from the final. It was eventually released on the bonus DVD included with the limited edition Renewal of Evangelion DVD Box Set. Shinji destroys the original Spear of Longinus. The Eva Series destroy their cores when they pull the Spears out -- they didn't kill themselves before -- upon which they spontaneously petrify. The Black Moon cleaves in half instead of bursting apart. The giant Rei's body is described as changing into red LCL and red particles of light. (Her arm drops later, though, so apparently this transformation isn't complete?) The entry plug is shown being ejected from Eva-01 and falling to Earth. See also: Theory and Analysis:Final Scene in End of Evangelion Last A: The prototype of the final ending. It depicts grave markers erected by Shinji, inscribed with the names of the people he'd known (with the exception of Rei). Asuka is shown kicking down her marker. (A stand of grave markers, complete with one that's been kicked down, are still there in the finished film, but no explanation is provided.) The infamous throttling scene is present, but Asuka's line afterwards is different: "Idiot. I'd never let someone like you kill me." [1] Last B: Also uses the desolate beach for its setting, and includes the grave markers. The Rei "specter" is briefly sighted. Shinji is lying on the beach holding the hand of a disembodied white arm, and he talks to himself about how he'll "never see them again" but he'll go on living regardless. End credits are present, set to an unspecified song (probably would have been " Everything You've Ever Dreamed "). Behind the credit scroll, there would have been a Moon-Earth-Sun-Stars sequence similar to what appears near the end of the final film. Here, Eva-01 is lying on the surface of the Moon instead of floating in space. Translations A full translation into English is not yet available. Olivier Hague translated/summarized many of the scenes towards the end of episode 26', which may be found archived at MDWigs' site . Translations here are by Reichu unless otherwise indicated. Episode #25' Shinji's masturbation. Translation by Shiro. ○ Shinji's room (Or would it be better at the hospital? To consider.) The sound of cicadas. A sketch of Shinji's room. You hear Shinji's ragged breathing off-screen. Images to insert. Shinji's hand softly opening clothes (first person). Breasts that are exposed (first person). These images repeat over and over. Shinji's post-ejaculation face in profile. The image of the breasts nearby next to Shinji's semen-covered right hand. The breasts in the back vanish, and Shinji's room goes from sketchy to real. Shinji enveloped in self-hatred. I am the lowest. Misato's Car Monologue ○ Mountainside Highway - Night Beyond the dilapidated old town, car lights blinking on and off. Misato's car stopped at the side of the road. Misato inside the car, her severe expression reflected in the rear view mirror. Misato: "The final Angel, Adam's children, they're are all gone. Kaji-kun, it's just like you said. Misato: "And the remaining Eva Series. They still haven't given an order to dismantle them. The committee still plans to use them in their scenario, whatever comes next. The Evas, and not Lilith." Misato: "We can't surrender our lives or the Evas to Seele's lot." "Get Ready" ○ Shinji's Room It's dim and the lights are off. Shinji cowers in bed. S-DAT with dead battery display switching on and off. The sliding door opens and Misato's silhouette appears. Misato: "Shinji-kun. Starting tonight, we're staying at headquarters. Get ready." Shinji doesn't respond. Misato knits her brow. (Not needed?) Seele Meeting ○ Seele Council Monoliths in circular formation. Ikari and Fuyutsuki at the center. Kiel: "The time approaches." "The Promised Time." "All people must return to the haven of the Promised Land." "To the side of our mother, Lilith." "Where humanity's stagnant souls will be complemented." "With the Spear of Longinus currently lost, Instrumentality cannot be achieved with Lilith directly." Kiel: "I pray for Instrumentality through Eva Unit-01, Lilith's sole alter ego." Ikari: "That's impossible." Fuyutsuki: "The future we envision is a bit different from yours." Fuyutsuki: "Man existed for the purpose of creating Eva." Ikari: "Humanity should advance to a new world. That's the purpose of the Eva Series." Kiel: "We aren't abandoning human form just so we can board the Ark called Eva." "There's no need to seek out a new land." "Humans can be called that because of their current form. Eva's form is no longer human." [2] "It will fulfill its task through death given to all people, and to all life indiscriminately." "This is merely a right of passage to bring about the rebirth of life that was imprisoned." "There can be no true beginning if nothing ends." "The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth." Kiel: "For the sake of finally uniting God, Man, and all life under Lilith." Ikari: "Death births nothing." Kiel: "Then may death make plans for you." The monoliths disappear in unison. Two men are left behind. Fuyutsuki: "Humans exist because they have the will to live. This is Yui-kun's wish, after all." Fuyutsuki: "So, even though pieces are missing, they're putting the Humanity Instrumentality Project into action." Ikari: "Indeed. Yui stayed in the Eva of her own accord for this moment." Asuka wakes up (Incomplete) Translation by Numbers-kun . Asuka feels nauseated. Asuka (putting her hand over her mouth): "I feel sick [Kimochi warui]... The medication has run out. I don't care... anymore." "I Don't Want to Die" ○ Lake bottom Eva Unit-02. Depth charges explode at point-blank range. Plug interior, hit by massive tremors. A frightened Asuka. Asuka: "...I'm alive?" ○ Geofront Depth charge vehicles arranged on the periphery of the underground lake ejecting their load. Giant pillars of water rise from the surface one after another. ○ Lake bottom again. Eva-02. Depth charges detonating one after another at point-blank range. Plug interior being jolted around a lot. [3] Asuka: "Why isn't the A.T. Field spreading?" Asuka: "I'm scared... Mama, help me, Mama." Direct hit to the head. (The eyes go out.) Asuka seizes her head with both hands. Asuka: "No... I'm don't want to die. I don't want to die." Shock waves continue to hit Asuka. [4] Asuka: "I don't want to dieeeeeeeeee!!" Insert. A reassuring image of Asuka's mother. (Some track-up.) [5] Asuka's tearfully smiling face. Asuka: "Mama... So you've been here, Mama." Suddenly, the entry plug lights up. The monitor comes back online, as well. An utterly dumbstruck Asuka. A cold smile forms on her face. Eva-02's four monitor eyes light up. Misato & Shinji: Humans & Angels ○ Central Dogma Deep Underground Facility Misato's car emerges from a tunnel. (First person view-ish.) Graveyard with dozens of scrapped Evas from a decade before. They're lined up in the darkness like sprouts growing from a seedbed or white spermatozoa. (Use #23 NPC) Misato and Shinji heading for the Cage. Misato: "They intend to cause Third Impact, using the Eva Series, and return all humanity to nothingness." Misato: "Fifteen years ago, people, including your mother, [6] reduced the scale of Second Impact by making Adam undergo degradation." Misato: "Shinji-kun... what's made you fight up until now?" Shinji is silent. Misato: "The Angels. Enigmatic, non-communicative entities. The 18th Angel remaining in the end is mankind. The Angel called Lilin, born from Lilith, who is like Adam. [7] " Misato: "Angels and Man are fundamentally the same thing. Angels are merely another possible humanity: humans that cast aside human form." Misato: "People cannot live without the mothers of life -- the Sun, Earth, and Moon. But an Angel that isn't dependent on them would be a new form of life, capable of surviving the harshest conditions. Misato: "Eva was its model." Misato: "People will probably perish, any which way. But right this moment, we can't just sit back and let humanity get annihilated." Misato: "Okay? Destroy the entire Eva Series. Preventing Third Impact is the only way everyone can stay alive." Asuka Versus Eva Series (2) ○ Geofront The Eva Series slowly and steadfastly encircle Eva-02. [8] Eva-02 brandishes its prog knife. It stabs the knife into Eva-11's face. The blade of the knife yields with a snap. Sparks scattering, the blade goes into the Eva's head. Eva-02's right hand. The next blade comes out. Asuka: "Next!" Eva-02 prepares to leap onto Eva-06. However, Eva-11 restrains 02 by the arms. (11's head is fracturing.) The cable is severed by the other Eva. The countdown starts. [9] Asuka: "Tch!" Inserts of hand-to-hand combat. Asuka: "Dammit! I shouldn't be the only one running off internal power here!" Inserts of hand-to-hand combat. Asuka: "Why are they still operational?!" Eva-02 tears off Eva-11's head. (The vertebrae remain attached.) Asuka: "...They couldn't all have S2 engines?" Eva-11 pursues even though its neck is broken. [10] Asuka: "Geez! They just don't stop! I can't even count on that idiot Shinji!" Asuka Versus Eva Series (3) ○ Geofront Another one or two Evas are taken down with a spinning round kick? (Give this some thought.) After dealing the blow, or whatever, the timer count finally hits "0". Eva-02 comes to an abrupt, lurching halt. Asuka: "Crap! I've stopped already?!" Eva-02 receives a light kick from the front. It collapses heavily into the forest. Eva-02 is pinned down and immobilized with a knife (Spear?) in each arm. The Eva Series open their mouths wide. [11] Still holding 02 down, they bite off the chest armor. (This is, again, a straight image of rape.) [12] Asuka seizes her chest, her expression tainted with disgrace and humiliation. Asuka Versus Eva Series (4) ○ Geofront, once again Eva-02's armor is torn off and the basic body exposed. A white Eva plants down 02's face, about to forcibly dislocate the mandibular joint. Asuka's face strains as though her own jaw has been seized. Her face is fraught with humiliation and rage. Asuka: "Dammit! I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you!!" Eva-02's four eyes suddenly open. It's gone berserk. Eva-02 fires from the needle gun in its right shoulder pylon. The other Eva's head is torn asunder. Eva-02 delivers a kick to the Eva's back, then rises. Asuka: "How dare you harm this beautiful body." [13] A Spear of Longinus suddenly flies towards Eva-02. (From an Eva Series unit or launched by a Giant Transport Aircraft, maybe?) [14] The A.T. Field stops it at first, but its light is devoured and eroded. Asuka: "The A.T. Field can't be--!?" The Spear of Longinus pierces Eva-02's head. Asuka lifts her face. She presses down on her left eye as blood ceaselessly streams between her fingers. Asuka (enduring great pain): "What is this...?" The shapes of the Spear stuck into the ground and the fully immobilized Eva-02. Asuka: "No! Spears of Longinus?" (Three whooshing sounds.) And then, the Eva's chest, abdomen, foot, etc., are skewered. In an instant, Eva-02 is turned into an objet d'art . [15] Episode #26' The spear returns. ○ Subtitle: "Yours Sincerely" ○ Geofront Woods whistling, Eva-01 hovers in mid-air with two wings. Uprooted trees, the wreckage of JSSDF ordnance, etc., in the area rise into the air. Eva-01's satanic face Shinji in plug interior. (No interface headset.) Shinji: "Asuka?" Eva-02's head held in the mouth of an Eva Series unit. (The severed end is not pretty, as though the head was forcibly torn off.) Shinji: "Uwaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Rei notices that something's wrong with Shinji. (Side profile close-up, insert.) Rei: "Ikari-kun?" Shinji is nonetheless enraged. Eva-01 unleashes four wings at once. ○ Surface of the Moon The Spear of Longinus stuck in the ground, casting a long shadow. [16] It flies out with a "whoosh". ○ Geofront Peripheral Section From off-screen, there's dialogue from a panicking military correspondent, etc. JSSDF Intelligence Officer: "There's an object flying in from the outer atmosphere at just under the speed of light!" JSSDF Intelligence Commanding Officer: "What?!?" A light piercing the atmosphere. (Insert.) Fuyutsuki: "No, not the Spear of Longinus?!" The Spear of Longinus comes to a sudden stop right in front of Eva-01. Eva-01 slowly takes the Spear of Longinus in hand. Shinji (miserable): "No more... I can't take any more of this!!" In an instant, the Spear becomes the colors of the rainbow. Eva-01's wings become six in number, as well. Everything around turns to light and is blown away Command Center 2 is hit by the shock wave. Aoba, kneeling on the floor as he looks up at the console monitor rolling with noise??? Aoba: "Eva Unit-01 has released its S2 engine! Changing to analysis Pattern Blue!" Fuyutsuki: "This is bad." Forest, ruins, ordnance, and people are swept away as grains of light. (Red light for people only.) [17] The Eva Series are standing there. They and Eva-02 are untouched. The Eva Series watch intently, without emotion. [18] Eva Unit-02's eyes look as though maybe they're watching this, with a similar detachment. [19] Shinji is screaming. The wings of light increase two at a time and issue forth, simultaneously on both left and right sides. ○ Seele Council Room [20] "At last, our hopes will be realized." "The original Spear of Longinus has returned, as well." Keel: "There aren't quite enough, but it can't be helped." All: "Return the Eva Series to its rightful form." All: "Evangelize humankind and restore us to our true form." All: "With equal amounts of death and prayer, restore all people to their true state." Keel: "And may all souls be at peace." Keel: "Then, let the ceremony commence." Rei's Ascension (Partial) ○ High altitude skies Pure blue sky. The eleven Evas hang in the air above the sea of clouds. [21] Shinji continues screaming. Eva-01's wings of light finally become 12. ○ Terminal Dogma Lilith's mask floats on the LCL. (Not needed?) Ikari lingers. His left hand. Red particles of light flitter about. Like a jimensou , Kaworu's upper body emerges from around the base of his thumb. [22] This in turn transforms into a smiling Rei. Ikari: "Adam is taking on Lilith's form." Ikari: "Has it... begun? This isn't Rei's doing. Yui? No... Shinji?" Ikari: "Is Shinji doing this?" Shinji continues to scream. Eva-01's 12 glowing wings of light. The form of a giant Rei slowly rises up from below the sea of clouds. Shinji is in shock, eyes still full of tears. Shinji: "Ayanami, Rei?" At the sound of her name, Rei blinks open her eyes (which are formed in the process). (Eva-01 across from her.) Shinji has no screams left. Above the clouds. Rei and the 11 Evas opposing each other. Playground/sandbox scene The extended sandbox scene is very opaque and full of symbolism which is difficult to analyze ; fortunately, the draft has a longer version, which differs in some key ways . Translation by Numbers-kun : Gendo's End For dialogue that remains same as final, bochan_bird's translation is used. ○ Terminal Dogma Ikari: "I've been waiting for this moment for so long... To finally be with you again, Yui." Yui in labcoat, standing in front of Ikari. Ikari: "When I'm with Shinji, I only hurt him." Ikari: "So, it's better that I do nothing." Yui: "So, you were afraid of Shinji." Ikari: "I don't believe that I can be loved by others. I'm not worthy of love." Kaworu: "You're just afraid that hurting people is all you can do." Standing behind Ikari. Yui: "That just isn't the case." Rei: "You hate yourself, after all." Nude, standing behind Yui. Ikari: "So this is my retribution. [ Alt.: "So the way things stand is what I deserve.] Forgive me, Shinji." Ikari too turns into a particle of light and LCL. Ikari's LCL runs off into the LCL within Dogma. (On second thought, show it later?) His glasses remain on the spot. (Harkening back to episode #5.) A hand picks the glasses up carefully. The second Rei, standing to one side. All notes by Reichu. Acknowledgments to RockManBalls for providing translation help. You're awesome, man. Sometimes the dialogue is identical to that in the final script. In these cases, I often found myself referencing the best translation of EoE's dialogue out there, Bochan_bird's . (Especially since I'm none too great with dialogue.) These screenplay translations are my own work, by and by, but when I didn't feel like I could come up with a "better" take on a particular line (not that any of the lines I did translate differently are "better"), I went with what he got. Not sure if he would consider that a compliment or mere thievery. Given our "ambivalent relationship"... Er... ↑ Miyamura's original recording of this line is available on the Evangelion Blu-ray collection as part of the bonus material. ↑ Kiel says その姿, "that form", rather than referring to Eva directly, but directional words don't work entirely the same in English, so leaving it as "that" doesn't quite sound right for translation purposes. ↑ There's a note here, （赤と紫パラの置き換えで）, which I'd be able to translate if I knew what the hell the para part meant. Damn these animators and their jargon. ↑ Another note here, （長尺で）. Again, I suspect this is some bit of animator jargon and I have no idea what it's referring to. ↑ I honestly don't know how you can have just a little "track-up" (TU), but that's the best I can do for （TU加味）. I'm doing pretty bad here. ↑ Misato says, "Anata no okaasan-tachi", literally "your mother" followed by a vague pluralizing suffix that usually functions along the lines, "and those in association with him/her". Probably an allusion to "coworkers" here, i.e. the fine people of Gehirn, though I could be wrong. That the body of people specified as playing a role in what happened to Adam includes Yui here is interesting, since she was never part of the Katsuragi Expedition... Or am I reading too deeply into a deleted scrap of dialogue? Maybe. ↑ "Like Adam" in what way? Doesn't really bother specifying. ↑ Honestly not sure what その様にも is "doing". Yes, I did look it up. ↑ Whoa, whoa, hold the phone. In this version (manuscript #2), the umbilical cable actually got severed earlier by the JSSDF, complete with "I don't need the umbilical cable blah blah blah!" So what's going on here ...? Is this an artifact of editorial oversight, maybe? Proposal: Perhaps in the draft before this (manuscript #1, I guess), the cable WAS supposed to be severed by Eva-06(?), but, starting with this one, the JSSDF cuts it -- and they forgot to write these two lines out. Whoops? Not that nitpicky fans were ever supposed to see the manuscript anyway. ↑ If the damage sounds like it doesn't match up -- it's either because it doesn't , or I just don't get them Japanese verbs. 首を引きちぎる makes it sound like Asuka was trying out a move she learned from playing too much Mortal Kombat , but 首が折れて makes it sound like a neck is still there, just... broken. I'm lost. ↑ Doesn't really specify whether it's one Eva or many. Bloody Japanese. ↑ Um... huh ... Maybe a reference back to something from earlier in the script. I'll try to fix it at some point so it makes actual sense. ↑ The juxtaposition of a partly-naked Eva-02 with Asuka huffing "HOW DARE YOU HARM THIS BEAUTIFUL BODY" is somehow both ridiculously awesome and mindbendingly ludicrous at the same time. Yes, that was a worthless "Note"; I apologize. ↑ Well, the latter is a possibility I've never heard anyone suggest in those "Who threw the Spear?" fanwanking sessions... Though I guess if there weren't this underlying assumption that we were only dealing with nine Spears -- in the final movie, that is -- somebody might have. ↑ Anno has a thing for " objet d'art " references in his scripts. Skewered Eva-02 is objet d'art . Dead harpies are objet d'art . Frozen Eva-01 with dead Shamshel is objet d'art . I bet there's more. I'm not sure if this is just Anno being weird, or foreign word appropriation being weird. ↑ There's a note here -- （#24 新作部と"25 で見せとく） -- but I have no clue what 見せとく means. Newly-produced material for #24 is being referenced. ↑ An interesting detail. But I can just imagine the creative meeting after this. "Er, Hideaki-kun, that's cool and all, but don't the trees have souls, too?" "...... Curses! Now I have to rewrite the whole scene FROM SCRATCH!!!" ↑ Don't know how to translate その様を here. Blah. ↑ Not sure about this, either. ↑ All of the dialogue in this scene survived intact to the final version. The only changes involved reassigning the first three lines to Seele 01, 04, and 09, respectively. ↑ Another note here I can't translate that looks like animator jargon, （絵画的に・疑似回り込み）. Plus... eleven Evas? Since when? ↑ Regarding the 人面ソ in the screenplay, RockManBalls says, "Methinks it's supposed to be written 人面瘡, jinmensou, a Japanese horror obsession of a tumor or piece of skin with a person's face." Scrumptious. External Links Episode 25′: The Door Into Summer Episode 26′: Sincerely Yours MDWigs' Musings: EoE Live Sequence and Alternate Endings. Retrieved 4/19/2009. The End of Evangelion Motion Picture Screenplay. Translated by Bochan_bird. (Despite the name, this is a translation of the final movie's dialogue formatted into a "screenplay", not the pre-production screenplay.) This page was last edited on 5 June 2024, at 15:08. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License unless otherwise noted. Privacy policy About EvaWiki Disclaimers Navigation menu Personal tools. View source View history Image Requests Flagged Pages Random page Recent changes What links here Related changes Special pages Printable version Permanent link Page information Cast & crew User reviews Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion Concurrent theatrical ending of the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). Concurrent theatrical ending of the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). Concurrent theatrical ending of the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). Hideaki Anno Kazuya Tsurumaki Megumi Ogata Megumi Hayashibara Yûko Miyamura 266 User reviews 23 Critic reviews Shinji Ikari Rei Ayanami Asuka Langley Sôryû Misato Katsuragi Ritsuko Akagi Gendô Ikari Kaworu Nagisa Kôzô Fuyutsuki Keel Lorentz Shigeru Aoba Makoto Hyûga (English version) (as Amanda Winn) Asuka Langley Sohryuu (as Allison Keith) Gendo Ikari Kazuya Tsurumaki (segment Air) All cast & crew Production, box office & more at IMDbPro More like this Did you know Trivia A screenshot of an email death threat to Hideaki Anno from angry fans and a picture of the vandalized Gainax office building are among the random images played toward the end of the film. Shinji Ikari : I'm so fucked up. Crazy credits The credits are shown at the halfway point of the movie instead of at the end. Also, they rise in a helix pattern instead of rising straight up. Alternate versions Manga Entertainment's 2002 DVD release of the movie contains some noticeable changes from the original film. In the English dub for instance, "splat" sound effects were dubbed into the scene of Misato shooting a trooper in the head and the scene in which the mass-produced Evas explode. Additionally in the dub, a shot in which a trooper attacks a NERV member with a flamethrower now has the added line "Hit 'im again!". Finally, a set of translated credits set to the song "THANATOS ~ If I Can't Be Yours" is shown after the film's conclusion, but unlike the credits appearing halfway through the movie, these credits are shown in the standard "scrolling" fashion. (The original Japanese version of the film has no credits at the end.) These and other alterations are explained by Amanda Winn Lee, the writer, producer and director of the English version, in the DVD's commentary track. However, many fans of the series carry animosities toward Winn Lee for authorizing such changes, and the DVD was criticized for its poor picture quality and errors in the subtitle translation. Connections Edited from Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Beginning and the End, or 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' (1996) Soundtracks Tanin no Kanshou (The Interference of Others) Music and arrangement by Shirô Sagisu User reviews 266 Jun 17, 2000 How long is Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion? Powered by Alexa Do I have to watch the series first to understand this movie? March 17, 2024 (United States) The End of Evangelion Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. See more company credits at IMDbPro Mar 17, 2024 Technical specs Runtime 1 hour 27 minutes Dolby Stereo D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1 Related news Contribute to this page. See more gaps Learn more about contributing More to explore Recently viewed. USA & Canada Australia & New-Zealand Southeast Asia anywhere on the site in the encyclopedia in the forums remind me tomorrow remind me next week never remind me The Most Anticipated Anime of Summer 2024 This upcoming season looks to be an interesting one. However, returning big names like Oshi no Ko and Tower of God and newcomers like Suicide Squad ISEKAI and Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian are only the start of what will be airing. So here are the ANN editorial team's picks for the series they are most excited to watch this summer. Nicholas Dupree Most Anticipated: Senpai is an Otokonoko I'm more or less going into this season blind. While there are some sequel series I'm excited about, nearly all of the new titles are total enigmas to me. That's not a bad thing! Part of the fun of every season is waiting to be surprised by something I never saw coming. Basing my pick entirely on what sounds potentially interesting, I decided to go with the cross-dressing romcom. I'm unfamiliar with the original web manga, nor have I heard much about it from existing fans. However, I am a sucker for earnest and cute romances, and the added intrigue of a character going through Gender Feelings promises a show that can bring some dramatic heft alongside the warm fuzzies. Given the comical nosebleed from our female love interest in the trailer, I'm not expecting a particularly deep or complicated exploration of gender presentation. However, having a lead who struggles with being their authentic self under the pressures of society and family is still a really engaging hook. Romance lives or dies off the strength of its character writing, and knowing that there's already more to this cast than a simple will-they-won't-they love triangle gives me a lot to look forward to. My one hangup is the staff behind this production. Both the director and writer strike me as pretty workmanlike across their combined portfolios, and none of the trailers so far inspire much confidence in the visuals. This doesn't strike me as a show that needs particularly strong animation to work, but I'd hope it can at least have some thoughtful scripting and direction if it's going to deal with such a potent topic sincerely. If nothing else, I pray this doesn't follow in Whisper Me a Love Song 's currently incomplete footsteps. Runner-up: Mayonaka Punch I can't tell you much about Mayonaka Punch , but it looks really cool and has all the elements necessary for a raucous comedy with a rather unique premise. As anime slowly catches up to the trends of the past decade, we're liable to see more and more shows about aspiring Internet Celebrities, but this one seems to have a read on how absurd and obnoxious you have to be to build your career around a view counter. If nothing else, the trailer promises a suitable number of trash gremlins for a comedy about girls trying to make it big on YouTube, and that's exactly the right kind of energy for this setup. It's got a loud and colorful art style that promises a ton of great visual comedy, and director Shū Honma has already proven himself a fantastic comedy director with Ya Boy Kongming! . Is there plenty of room for it to fall flat on its butt? Sure, but that uncertainty is part of the fun of the original series. The thrill of the unknown, of getting to hope, ponder, and speculate where this is all going, is nearly as important as the show itself. So, I'll happily stick my chin out to test how strong a punch this series is packing. For honorable mentions, I'm looking forward to Dahlia in Full Bloom for the novelty of an isekai heroine who has to deal with fantasy world divorce rather than being a villainess or whatever. P.A. Works ' other original, Narenare -Cheer for you!- , has some lovely character designs and fantastic-looking animation for its cheerleading sequences. The Elusive Samurai has equally strong design work, and I'm excited to see Yūsei Matsui 's insane historical re-imagining in motion. Giji Harem looks like it was animated during the artists' smoke breaks, but I won't say no to a whole show dedicated to Saori Hayami 's voice. I'll even give Too Many Losing Heroines! a shot, even though the last several dozen hyped-up light novel shows have been mid as hell. Most of all, I'm looking forward to the second act of Sengoku Youko and finding out how the hell they plan to follow up that cliffhanger. Rebecca Silverman Most Anticipated: Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest We all have a shonen series we love without remorse, even knowing it has plenty of issues. For me, that series is Fairy Tail , and I am delighted that its sequel series is being animated. The original series wrapped things up well enough that we knew that the characters would all be fine, so it was hardly imperative that we learned what came after. Still, it makes perfect sense that the answer to that unasked question would be "Team Natsu takes on the fabled 100 Years' Quest." It's just the sort of grandiose, over-the-top task they'd be utterly confident they could handle (or at least Natsu and Happy would be confident they could handle), and paring the cast back down to its core group is appealing. Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Happy, and Carla are a nicely balanced team, with brains, brawn, and various degrees of insanity all coming together to make a fun gang to follow, and Lucy's particular brand of magic also allows for other favorite characters to pop in and out as needed. This new quest also means they get to explore the story's world further, which is the sort of swords and sorcery place it's entertaining just to be exposed to, like the world of Slayers back in the '90s. Will Lucy and Erza have a hard time keeping their clothes on? Almost certainly. Will Natsu defy the conventions of stupidity? Also, almost certainly. But will it still be a good time with some surprisingly dark moments? I'm hoping yes because this is the shonen series I just can't let go. Runner-up: Twilight Out of Focus This series first came to my attention when Amazon declined to carry the e-book version of volume one, presumably because of the explicit gay sex scene towards the back. The story is much more than that, however, as it follows several queer romances at a high school across its volumes. The anime looks primed to do the same, rather than just focusing on the couple in the first and third volumes. I'm a little leery of how well the show will balance things out and how it will deal with the sex scenes, which I'd argue are important to the plot rather than just there for titillation. However, the story itself is interesting as it touches on questions of sexuality and attraction, and I like how the anime character designs have adapted the manga's look. It's a bit like Classmates in the way it moves between couples, and while I wouldn't put it on the same level as that manga (and film), it should still appeal to the same reader/watchers. BL seems to be doing a bit better in the anime adaptation sphere, so I'm tentatively hopeful that this will be good. Finally, I'm also cautiously looking forward to Moriarty's Perfect Crime , I presume to the surprise of exactly no one. It's not so much the Arthur Conan Doyle link that intrigues me, but the way Sherry and the original Moriarty combine. It has the potential to be very dark – the preview shows Sherry about to hang herself – and I'm concerned about the whole "light anime" label, but even Conan Doyle realized that Moriarty was an underused character in the original series (not that he cared; Moriarty came in specifically so that he could kill off Holmes), and I'm curious to see another take on the character in anime form. Christopher Farris Most Anticipated: My Deer Friend Nokotan There are some cultured contenders on the horizon this coming season. Oshi no Ko returns for its second round. The highly anticipated animated adaptation of Too Many Losing Heroines! drops. And amongst all these contenders, what am I here happily waiting for? This goofy-looking gag show about a girl with antlers. Deer god, save us all. Look, I love a marvelously composed masterwork as much as the next guy, but sometimes that quality goes hand-in-hoof with being the wildest, weirdest anime anyone can muster. Masahiko Ohta has been here before—he gave me Gabriel DropOut , which I dug the heaven and hell out of! But My Deer Friend Nokotan 's mile-a-minute madcappitude is going further, greatly giving off vibes of similarly supernatural comedy cohort Dropkick on My Devil! . This series looks cut from a very particular cloth of comic anime that jumps square into the headlights and dares viewers to label it as some crazy, random Japanese cartoon. But there's clearly a way shows like this: push the envelope, run it through the shredder, then set the shreds on fire. How am I to refuse a trailer that promises, with cinematic certainty, that "THIS SUMMER…EVERYTHING BECOMES DEER"? It's a piece of art where the titular deer girl detaches one of her antlers to reveal it's a surreptitious banana bunker. If Wit Studio , Ohta, and all his pals play their cards correctly, I'll be dealt a detonating deer delight to spice up my week all summer. Don't fear the deer. Runner-up: MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season If I shamelessly highlighted the deer shitpost anime as my most anticipated, you know, I'm sure as hell not apologizing for looking forward to this one either. It only feels fair, after all this time. Owarimonogatari , one of many "endings" the messy Monogatari franchise has reached, was the very first series I picked as a "Most Anticipated" anime back in my humble beginnings writing for this website. And while it was a satisfying closure of sorts for ol' Ararararagi, I'll freely admit that the wicked world of this supernatural series certainly seemed like it could be teeming with an outsized amount of additional occult tales. Big finish as it was, Owarimonogatari wasn't even the best entry from that late stage of seasonal sequelizations (that would be Hanamonogatari —and I can't be biased because Kanbaru is, objectively, the best). There's more to explore in Nisio Isin's roundabout stories of teenagers rambling about first-semester existentialism and horny non-sequiturs. I have my trepidations about defining series steward Akiyuki Simbo stepping down from the chief director's chair to cede the role to Midori Yoshizawa , but there's still steady experience there. And what better way to ring in a "new" round of Monogatari than with some actual new direction? It'll never win over the haters, regardless, and I don't need it to. Monogatari enjoyer, I really don't need much at all, including for the animation to be finished. I'm ready for the summer of a new SHAFT slide show. MrAJCosplay There are a lot of good slice-of-life anime coming out next season, so no matter what, I think I will probably be eating well during the summer. But no promotion video grabbed my attention more than My Deer Friend Nokotan . I grew up on shows like School Rumble and Sgt. Frog . I love the nonsensical comedies that make me look out the window and contemplate, "What the hell did I just watch?" I think the last time we had a show relatively close to that tone was Pop Team Epic , but this is potentially setting itself up as something even crazier than that. For one thing, it's got the benefit of having a rather unique premise and a presentation that makes me feel both disturbed and impressed at the same time. Some so many bizarre settings and situations make no sense out of context, but I want to see if they make sense with context. Even if I don't end up laughing at what I'm watching, I know I'm probably going to be met with punchlines and imagery that I don't think I will get anywhere else. In this day and age, it's tough to come across experiences that you can call unique, but I have high hopes that My Deer Friend Nokotan will be able to meet that threshold. Kevin Cormack Most Anticipated: MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season For my first choice of upcoming Summer 2024 anime, it could never have been anything else. It's been over five years since Akiyuki Simbo and Shaft presented us with their adaptation of feted Japanese novelist NisiOisin 's Zoku Owarimonogatai , the concluding volume of the final season of Monogatari series books. This concluded a nine-year run on the franchise, with Simbo and his directorial team producing around a hundred episodes and three movies. A couple of years ago, I wrote here on ANN about how much I loved the series despite its many potentially alienating aspects. NisiOisin is a famously prolific author fond of complex, multi-layered Japanese wordplay. If any writer could find a way around the very concept of a "final" season of books, then it would be him. So, barely stopping for breath, NisiOisin embarked on the four-volume Off Season and six-volume Monster Season , both of which were confirmed for anime adaptations from Shaft. Even this isn't the end – NisiOisin 's currently at work on a sixth season of novels! Shaft's Monogatari adaptations elevate the original novels with the use of sheer virtuoso creativity, not to mention a neck-breaking frequency of trademark neck tilts (those poor Monogatari girls all desperately need good chiropractic care). Interspersing brutal, bloody violence with provocative fan service and lengthy humorous conversations with swirling, vivid visuals, almost nothing else looks or sounds like Monogatari . While nominal protagonist Koyomi Araragi can be a polarizing character, with his often extreme horniness and wandering eyes, he has always been faithful to his frankly terrifying, sharp stationery-wielding girlfriend, Hitagi Senjougahara. She's a big highlight of the show, along with a large and varied cast of other fun female characters, all with their bizarre character quirks. I am very much looking forward to spending more time with them all in their bizarre but oddly compelling world. Runner-up: NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a Season 2 Generally, if something has Yokō Tarō 's name attached to it, I will run screaming towards it. I might then run screaming away again (such as with last year's KamiErabi GOD.app ), but I'm usually extremely excited to experience anything his seriously twisted mind produces. NieR:Automata was one of the best video games of a packed 2017, with an exceptionally strong story filled with wonderful characters, mysterious settings, and existential heartbreak. Anime adaptations of video games aren't generally successful – for every excellent Princess Connect! Re:Dive , there's an abysmal Bayonetta: Bloody Fate or Devil May Cry . Thankfully, the 2023 first season of NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a was one of the best game-to-anime adaptations yet, likely due to creator Taro's direct involvement. Not content to merely squeeze the game's complex narrative into anime form, he integrated aspects from the tie-in novels, manga, and even the stage play! This left viewers, even if they were familiar with the game, unsure of what would happen next. Taro even added anime-only episodes, in addition to changing many details of the game's story. Season one adapted up until NieR:Automata 's endings A and B. Players know this is only around half the narrative. What Taro plans for the second season is anyone's guess, but it's doubtful to be a straight adaptation. The troll-like Taro relishes messing with his audience's expectations. Perhaps this entire season will be nothing but the cute little post-credit puppet versions of the characters messing around. Perhaps Taro will kill everyone by turning them into white Lunar Tear flowers, introducing a completely new cast of mask-wearing hobbit-sized droids. Who knows? I can only hope that A-1 Pictures don't melt down during production this time... James Beckett Most Anticipated: Suicide Squad ISEKAI I have a very…interesting relationship with DC Comics ' Suicide Squad franchise. I've read a fair amount of comics involving the characters, though I'm not really a "fan" of any of the Squad members themselves. The original movie from 2016 is on the shortlist not only for the worst superhero movies ever made but one of the worst films I've ever seen period . On the other hand, the sequel that James Gunn directed in 2021 is one of my favorite superhero movies of all time, and it was directly responsible for blessing the world with one of the best superhero TV shows ever, Peacemaker . Now, here, in 2024, the Suicide Squad has me genuinely stoked to watch a triple-length premiere for an anime with the word isekai right in there in the title. Will the wonders never cease? What do you want from me, though? It's coming from Studio Wit, for one thing, and they earned a lifetime cache of goodwill from me for producing Attack on Titan , Ranking of Kings , and the first season of Vinland Saga . Also, that trailer looks like a damned good time, all around, with the great character designs and kinetic action that you'd expect from a Suicide Squad anime. As for the "isekai" thing, well, my biggest gripe with the whole subgenre is the way that cheapo light-novel adaptations have used the framework to indulge in the laziest wish-fulfillment fantasies imaginable. I don't think we'll have to worry about that in the case of Suicide Squad ISEKAI . I see nary a potato-kun protagonist nor a harem of interchangeable waifus in sight. Runner-up: NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a I'm going to keep it absolutely real with you: I am a total simp for anything Drakengard /NieR related. When you combine Yokō Tarō 's witty and subversive direction with Keiichi Okabe 's masterful musical compositions and the incredible artwork from legends like Akihiko Yoshida , I am required to obsessively love whatever the result is. I even put an embarrassing amount of hours into the NieR: Reincarnation mobile game that was so unjustly shut down by the misers at Square Enix earlier this year. This is why, despite being burned by the production nightmares that completely botched the rollout of NieR:Automata Ver1.1a 's first season, I am still just as excited as ever to dive back into the multiverse of Androids, Robots, Piss-Covered Dragons, and Time-Hopping Robot Mercantile Clones. Is this the ideal way to experience the story of NieR:Automata ? No, of course not. Go play the game if you haven't already; it's one of the landmark works of fiction of the 21st century. Can I guarantee that we won't have to endure multiple weeks/months of delays for A-1 Pictures to figure their shit out? Nope. I can only pray that those poor animators are getting the rest and compensation that they deserve. Still, NieR:Automata is one of the best-goddamned things I've ever experienced, from any medium, at any point in my life. So, regardless of how it turns out (again), there is no way that NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a won't still be one of my most anticipated shows of 2024. Richard Eisenbeis Most Anticipated: NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a Season 2 "I don't aim for bad endings—they just naturally come out." - Yokō Tarō From the twisted mind of Yokō Tarō comes the continuation of a story without a single human character that nonetheless tells a gut-wrenching story about the nature of humanity. I went into the first season of NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a with high expectations. I can say without an ounce of hyperbole that the original NieR:Automata is one of the most impactful games I have ever played. Even if the first season had covered the story beat for beat, it would be worth watching. However, that's not what the first season did. While all the expected story beats are there, large chunks of episodes are spent on new, original tales focusing on random robot enemies and their attempts to understand various aspects of humanity. But more than that, parts of the NieR apocryphal , most notably the NieR:Automata prequel stage play YoRHa, are adapted as well. However, what takes my anticipation for this second season to the next level is the elephant in the room: The ending. The true ending of NieR:Automata is something that can only exist within the interactive media of games. It's not something that can be animated; it's only something personally experienced. It is the heart, soul, and moral of the game. It's what turns the story from one of unending tragedy to one of hope—hope that things can be better if we all step up together and make it so. So… what are Yokō Tarō and the anime team going to do? How do they plan to end the series? I have no earthly idea, but I am beyond excited to find out. Runner-up: Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! Regular readers of this site will be well aware of how much I love it when stories play around with the common tropes of fiction. This anime is based around one such trope: that, in romance stories, the childhood friend always loses the game of love. In the end, the protagonist always chooses the new girl over the one who's been devoted to him (and secretly in love with him) for years. The story follows Kazuhiko, a normal, if slightly anti-social guy who is obsessed with rom-com stories. One day, he inadvertently becomes emotional support for one such "losing heroine" after her love triangle resolves. As the two continue to encounter each other, they find themselves stumbling upon other cliché love triangles—befriending the losing heroines in each. The popular girl? The shy bookworm? The sporty girl? They're all there. What comes from this is a fun little rom-com that both pokes fun at the young teen romance genre and makes its own young teen romance story at the same time. It's got more than a few laughs, and the cast of "Losing Heroines" are all cute and enjoyable in their own right. If you like rom-com anime even a little bit (especially those grounded in reality), this one is a must-watch. Lucas DeRuyter My Deer Friend Nokotan looks like it'll be weird, stupid, and deeply unserious. I desperately need it in my life! Evocative of Nichijou - My Ordinary Life , and not just because of the deer scene in that anime, My Deer Friend Nokotan seems like it's going to be one of the most madcap subversions of slice of life series yet. Do I expect it to be as touching as the bizarrely similarly premised Nichijou - My Ordinary Life manga? No, but I imagine there will be enough laughs from this anime's off-kilter humor to compensate. I'm intrigued by this anime's willingness to play with its animation style and incorporate photorealistic deer into its visuals. I'm a sucker for anything that plays it fast and loose with conventions inherent to an artistic medium, but if My Deer Friend Nokotan gets anywhere close to as wacky as Pop Team Epic , it'll be a frontrunner for my Best Of pick for next season. Also, and this is my selfish reason for being excited for My Deer Friend Nokotan , a deer girl anime means we have a chance for crossover merch with the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team!!! It is not fair that mid-market teams always get sidelined for these novel opportunities , and the brand synergy between my home state's basketball team and My Deer Friend Nokotan could not be stronger. I have a marketing pitch in my back pocket about how this anime could take Buck's logo back to its cute/queer/femme origins , but that's off-topic. By now, I hope I've thoroughly demonstrated why My Deer Friend Nokotan seems like it'll be the most "for me" anime of the year and why I'm so excited to watch it. Runner Up: Kengan Ashura Season 2 Part 2 I'm in too deep with Kengan Ashura . As my reviews of the anime's three past installments note, the anime isn't very good, and I don't care for it, but I've now given it too much of my time, and I've become emotionally attached! I'm seemingly three-fourths of the way through what could be the entirety of this anime's run, and I have to see it to the end. Will it ever get its act together? Will it finally land on a consistent animation style? Will it ever lean so hard into billionaires being awful that I can convince myself that their presence and appreciation in the story is satire? I don't know! But, due to the psychological effects of the sunk cost fallacy, I need to find out! If nothing else, Kengan Ashura has become my psychic anchor. It's not enriching my life, but it's consistently middling at best in a way that gives my life some much-needed routine. I'm a creature of habit, and, on some level, I know I'll enjoy watching this back half of season two and penning a review that'll likely match the tone of my previous write-ups. 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I finished watching the anime and the movie but im extremely confused by the ending. 143 IMAGES Neon Genesis Evangelion The End Of Presentation Evangelion Meme The End of Evangelion Tribute Poster 2020, Wolfgang LeBlanc on Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion Exploring Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Different Endings End of Evangelion Final Scene Explained VIDEO the end of evangelion the end of evangelion the end of evangelion Watching the End of Evangelion for the first time end of evangelion edit The End of Evangelion || Movie: REACTION COMMENTS School Presentation about the end of Evangelion Hello, I'll be holding a presentation about the movie "The end of Evangelion" concerning the following subjects: -About the director and its production -Content -Dystopian elements -Tendencies in society and science Maybe you can help me with the creation of this presentation or add something to it, would appreciate it. I made a EVA style template for my economic class presentation ... The #1 social media platform for MCAT advice. The MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) is offered by the AAMC and is a required exam for admission to medical schools in the USA and Canada. /r/MCAT is a place for MCAT practice, questions, discussion, advice, social networking, news, study tips and more. Theory and Analysis : Final Scene in End of Evangelion Kimochi warui. The final scene of End of Evangelion is source of some of the most fruitful discussions among fans over the years, based on in-depth analysis, interviews with the Seiyū, theories based on philosophy and much more.This article aims to assess some of the main points of view that have emerged over the years, building a solid narrative about what we can extract from the scene and ... Episode 25'/26' Video vs. The End of Evangelion While the two versions share practically all the same footage, there is a difference in their presentation. ... The End of Evangelion credits (Theatrical only) The End of Evangelion (00:41:55) This is the only credit sequence in the theatrical version, right between 25' and 26'. The text is orange in a twisting single-helix pattern scrolling ... Every Neon Genesis Evangelion Ending Explained The movie The End of Evangelion presents an alternate perspective on the events of episodes 25 and 26, to the point where the movie is effectively broken into two parts: episode 25' and episode 26'.These parts of the movie depict what was happening in the real world at the same time as the scenes within Instrumentality from the series, providing context to some glimpses of reality seen in the ... The Ending Of End Of Evangelion Explained The End of Evangelion offers a sort of revised, definitive version of the final two controversial episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. That said, the final moments of the series and its companion ... The End of Evangelion Review The End of Evangelion is a Rare Opportunity for an Artist to Revisit and Revise the Material Marred by time constraints, the original Neon Genesis Evangelion was given a second chance to further explore its themes with The End of Evangelion. Shinji finds Unit 01 stuck in Bakelite stasis, sits beside it, and continues to behave much as he has until this moment. r/evangelion on Reddit: A comprehensive explanation of the final scenes A comprehensive explanation of the final scenes in 3.0+1.0 (W/ pictures) So let me start off by saying.. I watched 3.0+1.0 and like most people came to the basic consensus conclusion that the ending was a time-skip and that the characters had their memories wiped. Shinji x Mari was a thing (or not) and that Shinji had found "happiness". The End of Evangelion The End of Evangelion is a 1997 Japanese anime apocalyptic science fiction film written by Hideaki Anno, directed by Anno and Kazuya Tsurumaki, and animated by Gainax and Production I.G.It serves as an ending to the television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which aired from 1995 to 1996 and whose final two episodes were controversial for their atypically abstract direction. The End of Evangelion The End of Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン劇場版: Shin seiki Evangelion Gekijō-ban) is a 1997 anime movie by Hideaki Anno, created as an alternate ending to the series Neon Genesis Evangelion.The film is divided into two episodes: Episode 25': Love is Destructive and Episode 26': ONE MORE FINAL: I need you. They are meant to either replace or complement the original ending in ... The End Of Evangelion Ending Explained The End of Evangelion, released in 1997, is a highly acclaimed and controversial anime film that serves as an alternate ending to the popular TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Known for its complex narrative and thought-provoking themes, the film has left many viewers puzzled and seeking answers. In this article, we will delve into the ... The End of Evangelion The End of EvangelionWP (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン劇場版 Air/まごころを、君に, Shin Seiki Evangerion Gekijō-ban: Air/Magokoro o, Kimi ni?) is the second film in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, and the last anime release for the series until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy. The film is an alternate ending to the TV series, taking place after episode 24. The film ... The End(s) of Evangelion EXPLAINED by Lynzee Loveridge, Jacki Jing, & James Beckett, Aug 19th 2021. Tune in live at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT on Friday on YouTube and Facebook to discuss the endings of Evangelion, including the TV series ... Evangelion 3.0+1.01's Ending Finally Explains What 'Neon Genesis ... There are parallels between this ending and Evangelion's previous animated endings, Episode 26 of the TV series and The End of Evangelion, but the sense of rebirth in those endings was limited by virtue of Shinji's perspective.The TV finale introduces the idea of multiple universes, but due to the abstract presentation, it's nearly impossible to tell if Shinji has actually remade the world ... The End of Evangelion Rated: 4/5 Nov 10, 2021 Full Review Timothy Lee Geeks of Color The End of Evangelion isn't just a film. It isn't just the conclusion to an incredibly popular mecha anime series. Exploring Neon Genesis Evangelion's Different Endings The Genesis of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Throughout the series, Shinji fraternizes and clashes with a few other pilots - the taciturn and mysterious Rei Ayanami, and the brash and confident Asuka Langley Soryu, both of whom have plenty of neuroses of their own. Despite settling into a sort of monster-of-the-week rhythm for its first half, even ... THE END OF EVANGELION For a moment, End of Evangelionturns life-affirming and downright hopeful. The voiceovers in this period have a sense of hope, triumph, and determination that line up with how positive Shinji was at the end of e26. Then Shinji leaves Instrumentality. He's back in Evangelion's regular world. Shinseiki Evangelion Movie: Air/Magokoro wo, Kimi ni Looking for information on the anime Shinseiki Evangelion Movie: Air/Magokoro wo, Kimi ni (Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion)? Find out more with MyAnimeList, the world's most active online anime and manga community and database. Shinji Ikari is left emotionally comatose after the death of a dear friend. With his son mentally unable to pilot the humanoid robot Evangelion Unit-01 ... Resources : End of Evangelion Screenplays The presentation is a bit more surreal than the final: Shinji's room in pointilism, unspecified "inserted images," Shinji's face as he ejaculates, etc., and his room returning to normal afterward. ... The End of Evangelion Motion Picture Screenplay. Translated by Bochan_bird. (Despite the name, this is a translation of the final movie's ... Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997) Edit page. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion: Directed by Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki. With Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yûko Miyamura, Kotono Mitsuishi. Concurrent theatrical ending of the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). Someone created a Powerpoint Template based on Evangelion I can only find a link to the template for another presentation tool. Much joy has been created this day. I thank the creator of said content. I can't find the template becuz the creator has set his post to private. 473 votes, 11 comments. 295K subscribers in the evangelionmemes community. God's in his memes. The Most Anticipated Anime of Summer 2024 Jun 21 Anime Concert's AI Flyer Art Leads to Evangelion Singer ... I'm not expecting a particularly deep or complicated exploration of gender presentation. However, having a lead who struggles ... Can someone explain the ending of End of evangelion? shinji was chosen by rei (the orange juice godess) to decide humanity's fate, so when he decides "nah fuck this" he comes back, along with asuka. anybody can come back if they want to, basically. shinji chokes asuka because of all of his emotional trauma up to this point. askua says "how disgusting" because of shinji's behavior throughout the ... assignment essay homework paper phd report review speech thesis