Shinseiki Evangelion Movie: Air/Magokoro wo, Kimi ni

(Note:- Review applies to both NGE and EoE) Unpopular Opinion:- As everyone seems to praise the shit out of Evangelion, I beg to differ as I have formed certain opinions about it which everyone won't agree. So if you're someone who gets offended quite easily, please scroll away. And with that disclaimer out of the way, let's begin without any further ado. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a poor mashup of sci-fi and Christian philosophy. In the name of creating a "masterpiece", while being high ofc, Hideaki Anno tried to create a kaiju-mecha sci-fi anime with Christian philosophical references, but halfway, when his "budget" was almost blown away, heapparently got into "depression", which lead him to show and create painfully cringy and slow episodes in the name of "psychological" art. I mean, the elevator scene was a single frame shown for a freaking minute, and nothing significant happens for so many episodes after a certain point. The last significant thing to happen was deaths of Kaworu Nagissa and Kaji. And oh! How atrociously painful and slow the final two episodes were! In the name of psychological art, everything built up was thrown on the wall to see what sticks, and that "Congratulations" in the final episode is cringy yet so freaking memable to this very day! Sure, we did get EoE, and yes, while it definitely was better than the monstrosity the final two episodes were, well, again, Hideaki Anno just seemed to throw everything towards the wall to see what sticks, but in high-quality animation. And, let's not even talk about characters! Shinji, a pussy, Asuka, a whinny intolerable tsundere bitch, Rei, a lifeless hag, Shinji's dad, even bigger pussy than him and also a pedophile, rest all characters except Katsuragi Misato and Kaji are either godfucking annoying or just forgettably blending in the wallpaper of a shitshow! Overall, Evangelion is a 3/10 anime for me. Evangelion will only look deep and appeal to those who are 14 year-old woke kids who don't know shit yet can't shut the fuck up after getting offended just slightly.

================================================================================= *Edit I hated the movie because I hated how the whole story ended. I will re-watch the series at some point and give the movie a proper score, but this review will stay, as these were my initial thoughts on the show. ================================================================================= Let it be known that this is more of a mindless rant than a review, and I'll probably spoil the entire movie. So, we get the stupid cop-out ending of what was, for the most part, a fantastic show. "What's that? They're going to fix it? That's great!"No, they don't fix it. I was confused by the end of the series, but the movie is leaving me just confused and angry. The first thing I hate about the movie is what they did to Asuka. I love Asuka! And the first thing we see is Shinji crying over her naked, unconscious body while she is in a hospital bed. Great start for the lady. (Edit* Just remembered that he also jacks off on her.) But afterwards, she gets better, regains her self-confidence and pilots her Eva again! That's good right? Well, it would if she didn't get almost killed, then gets completely broken down emotionally again, and then gets killed. Just...wonderful. Included in that time is 45 minutes of all hell breaking lose, people getting shot left and right. NERV gets invaded by some people that have proved virtually inconsequential until this point in the series. Then, for just a moment, you think that Shinji will actually grow balls for the first time in the series to save Asuka. I already told you that Asuka dies, so now I'm telling you that she dies because Shinji still didn't grow balls. The movie is also just filled to the brim with overly-sexualized depictions of Asuka, Rei and Misato, as well as flat out gross images of...idk, it’s like the chimera gods just decided to have a party in Evangelion's animation studio. Like, there's this part where there's a giant naked Rei and its splitting in half and things are growing out of it like eyes and stuff and things are like inserting themselves and molding into it and...and...ugh. And want to know how it ends? Everybody dies! At least I think so. The last thing you see is Shinji squeezing the neck of Asuka's dead body on the shore of a beach with a red blood ocean filled with crosses. I mean, what is that supposed to mean? Not to mention that 20% of the movie is filled with the same kind of psycho crap that is in the last two episodes of the series. Can't the creator try less hard on being all symbolic and stuff and just write a good traditional ending? All I want is some closure! Neon Genesis Evangelion is still a great anime series, but End of Evangelion sucks ass.

(Contains minor spoilers) The more you love someone, the more their suffering will affect you. It’s difficult for me, as a viewer, to really feel grief for a character that the author himself already hates. Rather, above all, I suppose I do feel the absolute hopelessness and melodramatic nihilism seeping through each and every frame of End of Evangelion (EoE), so perhaps I do feel depressed. But to say that I feel for the characters would be disingenuous. To create something beautiful, you must first love it. With mere hatred and resentment, one might be a victim of a fault in writing: bad melodrama. Though without establishinghow the series leading to the movie is and how the movie actually ends, this would definitely seem like an unjust critique, for arguably, this movie has quite a positive conclusion considering that this is Evangelion that we’re talking about. So let us first talk a bit about the series as a whole. Evangelion's main selling point is perhaps its strangely thorough and unflinching presentation of the characters' psyche, under the influence of a hopeless apocalypse. The most obvious trait that every character seems to share is that they all are fundamentally broken human beings with literally no redeeming quality, and the author views this somewhat as a demonstration of his own belief. That is, all humans, after exploring the deepest, most vulnerable of their Freudian ids, are exposed to be inherently disgusting, full of selfish needs and nothing else. The movie therefore ends on a loosely absurdist note, being that for one to find the meaningful in the ostensible meaningless, it accepts the fact that humans are despicable but they should all accept each other’s flaws and come to appreciate who they truly are. For context: Human Instrumentality Project eradicates structuralism, individualism, freedom of choice and any sort of desires and struggles simply because there's nothing to be desired or struggled to begin with. It is the ultimate escapism for weaklings (since abandoning the self relieves you from everything), and also is a desperate, unrealistic resolution to its abiding misanthropy. Rejecting Human Instrumentality means escaping escapism, accepting responsibilities, retaining individuality – viz. understanding one's own shortcomings, learning to deal with it and learning to appreciate others even with the pre-existing 'AT-Field'. Therefore in all of this rambling, it actually has quite a simple message with the aid of some profound ideas - accept the insecurities and flaws and appreciate yourself and others. The problem is not so much in this seemingly irreproachable conclusive message, but rather in its execution (or at times, lack thereof). As we spend the majority of the runtime in both the series and the movie exploring all the despicable human traits reside in our characters without any glimmer of faith in humanity whatsoever, the said conclusion seems rather dubious and otiose, because we have not come to love the characters, or more accurately, we’re not supposed to love them. If the movie wants us to love our pathetic absurdist self, it should’ve executed in such a manner instead of insisting on whining how the characters are so vulnerable and flawed. Admittedly, the flaws of Evangelion’s characters are very human, even relatable in many ways; though as shown through how irredeemable every character is, it is easy to lose every shred of hope and humanity, and so it seems as if we’re just experiencing a philosophical misanthropic manifesto of the author himself with a forced positive final note. It’s almost uncanny in a way. At the end of everything, the characters supposedly accept the barest of each other’s flaw, but not to have come to appreciate their valuable attributes because simply, there is none. EoE merely persuades its characters to appreciate other people’s flaws and not their strengths, because every character in the movie is too broken and similarly insecure. Talking about realism, that seems highly irrational and delusory to me. Human simply isn’t a complete blackness with only deep dark desires, nor are they all about insecurities. To undermine the goods would both be unwise and, as I’ve mentioned, melodramatic in poor taste. I’m sure for Anno who had been suffering from clinical depression at the time, this would be a feasible point of view. The total hopelessness, total nihilism, total cynicism in oneself and in humanity, and the desperate desire for the nonexistent love that is. However, this is, if anything, foolish and parochial. It doesn’t accurately represent humans, nor does it hold much worth since it derives from a suicidal man after all. For this reason, he bitterly self-inserts and has thus come to despise the characters, and perceivably struggles to see the lights within his own creations. The approach of believing in such complete absence of so many things, in such a setting that aims to convey humanity as a whole, has created this sense of misanthropy and profound hatred, ultimately resulting in the misalignment with the movie’s underlying philosophy. For better or worse, it’s clear that EoE is not within the realm of subtlety when it comes to psychoanalysis, or character self-analysis in general. I’m not talking about every little action the character decides to take here (which can sometimes be subtle), but their psychological trip that literally vomits dialogues of emotions with an unchanging formula – has a character confronted with his/her own issues, has them denied it, has them begged further to deny it, drives them practically insane, has them admitted it. I remember being so intrigued when this method of character reflection was first introduced in the second half of the series, until they kept chewing it over and over again even in the movie. The issue isn’t that it’s so raw and lacks subtlety, but it is overused with over-expositions, and thus has the earmarks of being whiny. This was slightly more balanced in the series, since different methods of characterizing are used more varyingly. Though for this movie, this method takes up the entire climax. Characters having existential crises every so often does not interest me, more so when there’s nothing new to put on the table. Shinji’s (or any other character) flaws have been previously explored, at which the movie's "crazy phantasmagoric sequences" are but visually whiny (albeit impressively so). So, contrary to some popular beliefs, the characters weren't terribly complex or anything in this movie. It also doesn’t help how convoluted of a story EoE is, making it incredibly distracting for the first several viewings. The entire point of EoE is to discern the characters’ internal struggles and appetency to appreciate and be appreciated. By way of explanation, EoE is executed as a character-driven movie. So making a plot this infuriatingly convoluted really isn’t a wise decision, because it distracts viewers from what the movie tries to convey. If, and only if, the convoluted narrative has some sort of thematic value, meta even, then it might’ve been perfectly acceptable, which unfortunately isn’t the case for EoE. Even after reading pages of explanations to fully understand the supposed plot holes, it is still the narrative’s fault for being so negligent of properly explaining all the already jarring events. It barely scratches the origin of the Angels, or Lilith, or anything, and these are supposed to be the mystery built-up throughout the series awaiting for a satisfying payoff. It is a narratively incoherent mess of a story that really doesn’t have to be so overly complicated. Sure, it's easier to shrug it all off and give the audience a big middle finger since "nothing matters anymore at that point". But this wasn't Burning, the movie, type of ambiguity. It's simply more lazy than tactful. But here we are. Despite all of that being said, I still gave this a 5, meaning it was not bad at all. Because even though the movie failed to make me deeply care about the characters, it still gave me adequate emotional depth that I could spiritually connect to. As I said, it’s a raw movie with raw emotions, about very real issues, even if under the director's disagreeable lens (since that didn’t really detract it from being emotionally impactful). Because the director and author, Hideaki Anno, is also being raw and very true to himself in the movie. It doesn’t mean I liked his bizarre point of view any better, but it’s undeniably difficult to completely hate the movie simply for how emotionally real it is. Other than that, the animation, music and choreography were also pretty great, and since I have quite a soft spot for that, I’m giving the movie a bit of personal bias here. So, audiovisual-wise, this movie is exceptional to say the least. And emotionally, it excels, considering how much I downright disdain the pov this movie took. In conclusion, ok movie, nice audiovisual, whatever philosophy, bad execution. Used to be a 10 from me for such a long time, and for holding some personal significance, I'd say it's a 5/10.

Prologue. Taking place right after episode 24 of the TV series the final angel has been defeated and all of the EVA pilots are now crippled in they own ways from Shinji being mentally broken, Asuka being comatose after getting mind-raped by one of the Angels to Rei going missing. Meanwhile, Seele puts the Human Instrumentality Project plan into monition as now Nerv must now defend themselves from Seele and prevent the third impact from happening. Act I: The creation and the main purpose of the film. Before we talk about what I thought about the story and characters of End of Evangelion let’s go over the backgroundof The End Of Evangelion as well the creator himself Hideaki Anno. Hideaki Anno created anime such as Gunbuster, Nadia The Secret Of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, His and Her Circumstances, and Gunbuster. Honestly, I really liked and enjoyed his works especially Neon Genesis Evangelion where I consider to be his best work. Now at the time when Neon Genesis Evangelion was airing like with Tomino for Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, he was suffering through depression and just like with Tomino Mobile Suit Victory Gundam the depression really hit by the second half of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Because of that the second half Neon Genesis Evangelion became a psychological drama instead of being of a monster of the week type of show. Then comes the final 2 episodes of the show and like with many people on the net we thought the ending of the TV series was total shit. It had gotten to the point where people inducing fans of the show were sending letters to Anno which some of them were actual death threats. Ultimately Anno decided to re-create the final 2 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion in the form of the movie called Neon Genesis Evangelion The End Of Evangelion where it not only was meant to close off many of the plot threads in the series but it also meant to give the series a proper ending that it deserves. Act II: The grotesque but beautifully written first half. Neon Genesis Evangelion The End Of Evangelion is by far one of the darkest pieces of media I have ever seen. Right out the bat, the movie wastes no time showcasing it’s darker tone where the first couple of scenes we are presented with disgusting acts done by Shinji where not only he tried to commit suicide by drowning he jerks off to a comatose Asuka after failing to wake her up. I really liked the first scenes a lot because not only they are extremely well directed but does a masterful job of portraying the themes and topics of suicide, depression and downfall spiral. Not to mention as soon as Shinji finished jerking off of comatose Asuka he is filled with disgust he quickly says the following lines “I’m so fucked up”. The jerking off scene may not be for everyone due it’s disgusting nature but what it was it’s a well executed as it perfectly foreshadows the tone of the movie. Now with that beautifully grotesque hospital scene done with let’s talk about the first half of End Of Evangelion. The first half of The End Of Evangelion minus the hospital scene goes back to the first half of the TV roots where it’s all action pack that its filled with explosions and fights. However, unlike the first half of the TV series, the first half of the movie has a much darker thanks to it kill them all nature whereby the end of the first half almost every character in Nerv is dead including one of the mains characters which I will talk about soon. Asuka battle with the Mass Unit Evas is by far my favorite scene of the movie. Not only it’s beautifully written and directed to the absolute core but it perfectly concludes her character arc even if her conclusion wasn’t exactly a happy one. The final thing I want to talk about in this part of the movie was Misato death. Personally, Misato was my favorite character in the series because the not only beautifully written character that we can all relate to thanks to her backstory but she’s was a fun and likable character. We don’t see Misato much in the movie mainly because he only appears in a couple of scenes but when she show’s up in the movie she is still awesome as ever as she concludes her character with an emotional bang that honestly made me cry. Act III: The fantastic psychological second half and the origin of Rei. Before I talk about the psychological elements in the movie I want to talk about is Rei’s origin as well her role in the movie. In my review of Neon Genesis Evangelion I quickly talked about Rei but now I think it’s best to talk about her origin and purpose in the series and the movie. Rei was created by Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki attempt to retrieve Shinji’s mother Yui Ikari. The attempt failed on some level where Rei may incorporate DNA from the Second Angel, Lilith because she is the vessel for Lilith’s soul. Now there are three Rei’s in the series. Rei I was created around sometime in 2004-2008 where she is shown as a small child wearing a red dress in episode 21. After that Rei 1 gets murdered by Naoko Akagi, for revealing that Gendo Ikari referred to her as an ‘old hag’ behind her back. Rei II is the second incarnation of Rei aka the Rei that we have been following in the series. Rei II is shown to be a teenager who is age 14 the same as Shinji. Rei II has a stronger relationship with Gendo meaning she does whatever he says without question. Not only that but he she as a building relationship with Shinji. She sacrifices herself by setting her AT Field to maximum to draw Armisael to herself and try to contain it temporarily and then activated Eva-00’s self-destruct to kill both of them. Right after Rei II death, Rei III was created however she has no memories of saving Shinji as she states that “I think am the third” How does this relate to Rei’s role in the second half of the movie to put this straightforward Rei is the most important character in the movie even more than Asuka, Misato and at times Shinji. She is a character that is impossible to relate too but I think that the whole point of Rei as a character. She’s not human at all but rather an angel in human form. Her whole existence in the series is meant to serve where the reason why Rei was created is so that Gendo can have a controllable link with Lilith for the Human Instrumentality Project where in the movie he tries to use Rei to allow to see Yui again. However, Rei rejects Gendo by taking his arm so she can regenerate her lost arm as well using merging with Lilith to start the third impact. Just from these are moments alone Rei has become my second favorite in the movie because not only she was a fascinating character that I loved but it all comes together in the end especially in the third impact part of the movie where she concludes her character arc. Not to mention seeing all three Rei together was amazing and it made me tear up. Now with Rei done let’s talk about the psychological elements of the movie. While the first half of the movie is action-packed with a darker tone the second half of the movie mainly focus on The Third Impact as well as all the psychological elements that the series is known for. The psychological elements are nothing but amazing. Not only it well directed that is filled with great symbolism that highlight the series core themes but all of the psychological elements and themes come to a beautiful conclusion for Shinji character as a whole. I won’t be talking about the Third Impact as well the last scene because that should be experienced for yourselves but all I can about it that it’s downright amazing and beautiful. Overall the story and characters of The End Of Evangelion is perfection to the eye. It may be confusing but if you go back and re-watch the series and the movie a couple of times everything from story, characters, themes, and symbolism will come together. Act IV Final: The wonderful visual and music upgrade. Visually this movie is fantastic. It took everything that we liked the series visual wise and expanded it to new heights. Production I.G and Gainax really did a wonderful job with its visuals as not only it is very well animated but the visuals direction and editing was just masterful. This is by far one of the best-animated anime movies I have ever seen period. The same thing can be said for the soundtrack is which is a big upgrade from the series as every single track in the moves manages to fit the tone of the movie perfectly. Now for sub vs dub Not gonna lie the dub for The End Of Evangelion has improved quite a bit when compared to the TV series but at the same time the dub still had a lot of problems. At the end of the day if you want to best experience of this series I strongly recommend the sub because not only it’s well acted but it does a much better justice on key scenes of the movie. Am not trying to say that the dub was awful or anything as it was improved quite a bit from the series but at the end of the day the dub of Evangelion is very inferior to its sub counterpart. Epilogue. Neon Genesis Evangelion The End Of Evangelion is a fantastic film. It took everything that was great from the series and expanded it to new heights. It concludes all the story and theme elements in the show. it concludes all the beautifully written character arcs that the series has built up from the very beginning. It masterfully concludes Neon Genesis Evangelion as a whole. There is nothing like The End Of Evangelion and all the anime that tried to copy it afterward (cough Darling in the Franxx and Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion) fail thanks to horrendous overall execution. If you haven’t seen the series yet then I strongly recommend you checking out the series first before watching this film. The End Of Evangelion is a masterful film that I will forever love. Final Score 10/10

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