Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo

Confusing, nonsensical, over-the-top, incoherent, childish, tiring to the eye, not quite fit for a child because of mature scenes and character outfits, certainly not fit for an adult because after a certain age, one usually feels the need for something to make sense to be able to follow and not have his mind scream 'Stop!Please, stop torturing me!" With a bit of alcohol, good company (and... I dunno... maybe mushrooms?), *maybe* you'd be able to enjoy this, if ONLY it didn't take itself so seriously. And it's difficult for me to imagine what must feel to be the author(s) of this thing. I've often found myself wondering what it was that they smoked to get such a bad trip. Nevertheless, I gave it a 2 star, because the animation is not at all bad, (if only the speed and twirl of some of the scenes didn't give you headaches), it does have decently good aesthetics, within the anime style, but the plot, extremely hard to follow, never feels like it is a plot, rather a filling, a pretext for putting in nice moving pictures a cocktail of everything (but ab-so-freaking-lute-Ly everything!) someone found cool in his whole lifetime of a being a geek obsessing about sex and robots and aliens and monsters and sex and kids and battles and sci-fi and sex - all of them cool on their own, but completely randomly connected into an enormous, chaotic amalgam that does not go anywhere, and is even somewhat insulting to the intelligence of the people who actually have an appreciation of all those things. I could never find cool a protagonist that whines and is wimpy, annoying and pathetic, then goes straight "over 9000" because potato, he's the protagonist and shut up, he must be cool and you must like him and get a gratuitous and fake sense of achievement. It made me just sad, and longing for something like "Samurai Champloo" and "Cowboy Beebop" kind of anime, and feeling a little sorry and hopeless for the future of this genre. And all this outrage exactly because I really, really want to like anime, I know it has so much potential, but I keep walking into this sort of disappointing incoherent and over-the-top shark-jumping disasters that turn me away. And this one right here competes for the title of the biggest mind-f** in this otherwise appealing genre. In other words... No! Just don't watch! Never! This thing is full of big, fat NOPE. Unless you hate your brain, then, yes, by all means, knock yourself out... speaking of, now please excuse me, I have a wall to hit with my skull, repeatedly, and hope it helps me forget... whatever that was I just watched a few nights ago...

Third in the "rebuild" of the original series and advances nothing. It's all action and whiny Shinji - Will he ever quit whining? Otherwise there is no character advancement - the others hardly speak. The story moves forward 14 years, yet the EVA kids have not aged, and Shinji has been in a coma all this time. It's several large battles and extended scenes with Shinji whining again. I don't know what they're trying to accomplish but I watched it twice and it's a real failure as a standalone film. They've turned the EVA storyline upside down, yet fail to explain why any of this has occurred. May be it's the translation, but I doubt it. 6/10, and I'm being kind. Well, have to wait another year to find out how this mess ends - again.

Disappointing and I really hated this film, the Rebuild Series looked so promising but this completely killed it for me. I mean to me its as if everyone has just gotten completely nuts! Also Third Impact was not Shinji's fault at all, it was Gendo's. Honestly Shinji didn't know what he was doing and only ones who knew what was going to happen were Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Yet everyone treats Shinji like crap not caring about their own contributions or even how much their behaviour is playing into Gendo's hands. No matter what they claim to be WILLE are just plain tools of Gendo whether they know or not, their stupidity and pathetic behaviour confounds me. Shinji is even more unstable and easily manipulated yet the only really sane one in this is Kaworu Nagisa. Frankly the series has turned into one of those where I am actually rooting for the antagonists, part of me wondered throughout the movie is 'Would Fourth Impact really be so bad?'. Kind of scary, huh? I have never been so disappointed as the series started quite promising and yet they pull up this crap. Other disappointment with the Evangelion franchise included End of Evangelion and the awful manga!

I am extremely surprised at the number of people who where confused or disappointed at this film. If this movie is confusing then Evangelion is not the series for you, stick to something lighter and easier to digest. EVA has always been for the hardcore anime fans and 3.0 delivered a mind-blowing epic storyline with absolutely amazing visuals. It was a surprise that the story took a different turn, but it was pleasant because it's new material for the true EVA fans. Do you really just want to keep watching a remake of the old series crammed into 1.5hr with better graphics? Why not just go and watch the original series then? (The people complaining didn't actually understand the original series anyway) Not only is this new material, but it is executed extremely well, and I am sure the true EVA fans can appreciate it. The story is so deep and touches elements of philosophy, psychology, and spirituality. It's understandable that many people simply cannot fully grasp all the depth that is contained in this film.

"Evangelion 3.0", or as I prefer to refer to it "Evangelion Q" is, in my opinion, the brightest piece in the revival movie series so far; it doesn't just replicate the script of the original series with updated visuals like its predecessors, but strives to create a soul for itself and carve a new path for the series as a whole. From the first view it is easy to see that Q wasn't tailored for neither the casual viewers nor the die hard fans, no, it was made with a way more specific yet elusive audience in mind, that is, the intelligent crowd. Q is, at its core, purely an exposition film much like 1.0; and whoever dwells in whatever events the film shows is a complete moron because that is clearly not the focus, the purpose of the film is to set up the rules of this new universe. What Q does differently from its earlier predecessor is that while 1.0 was easy on the viewer and evoked a sense of security, Q's objective is to shift the paradigm as aggressively as possible, to feel alien and uninviting. And why should it be any different? At this point we're in a world torn by a Third Impact, failed Instrumentality and fourteen years of war, like Shinji, we're not supposed to feel welcome, everybody knows more than they let on, but the time skip gives the movie a reason not to disclose this new logos. Exposition is a tricky thing to do, if you say too much without a reason you bore your audience, Q understands this; it shows instead of telling, it doesn't have Asuka or Misato talk around for hours about what transpired in those 14 years because they don't need to, they both already know it, so discussing it would be forced. Q is careful enough to show us a lot, but give us very little context, its daring new direction will insult the dimwitted, but will pique the interest of those who understand what Anno is trying to do here.

"Evangelion is like a puzzle, you know. Any person can see it and give his/her own answer. In other words, we're offering viewers to think by themselves, so that each person can imagine his/her own world. We will never offer the answers, even in the theatrical version. As for many Evangelion viewers, they may expect us to provide the 'all-about Eva' manuals, but there is no such thing. Don't expect to get answers by someone. Don't expect to be catered to all the time. We all have to find our own answers." - Hideaki Anno End of Evangelion released on July 19th, 1997 in Japan Evangelion 3.33 released on November 17th, 2012 in Japan. The story of 3.33 begins 14 years after 2.22's conclusion. Ultimately, the plot does not matter. The story was never meant to be about the lore, or the EVAs, or the Angels. The story is one of Japanese society, and those who reject society and seek ways to escape their lives. 2.22 was an idealised version of the original series by the fans, and in Eva's irony, Eva's characters have become caricatures on which Otaku and Hikikomori can escape reality, Rei in particular. 3.33 is Anno talking to the audience.