Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

After 25 years, Anno finally allows Evangelion characters to do something they've never done before: communicate honestly. And as things get more and more meta, it becomes more and more about a now-healthy Anno reflecting on Evangelion and learning to put the past behind you. Shinji gets to confront his old man and not only learns his lesson, he can now help others overcome their own problems. I wasn't the biggest fan of the Rebuilds so far, but this was worth it. Incredibly cathartic.

Ultimately, all three ends to Evangelion are flawed in their own ways and yet all three nevertheless have something unique to say and something meaningful to be gleaned by the attentive viewer. I'm glad this film exists.

Came in expecting a big ole mess of plot and obtuse character studies in-between EVA fights and, by god, that's exactly what we have here.

While I did enjoy the rebuilds before this I still wasn’t entirely sold on how necessary they were but OH MY GOD this is so beautiful and weird and life-affirming and I loved every second of it. As a compliment to the original series, and as an artist recontextualising his work now he’s in a better place mentally, it’s close to masterpiece-level. The trippy stuff is as mindfucky as anything Anno’s done before but the amazing evocative character work is the true star. Phenomenal.

this is not the magnum opus that is The End of Evangelion; it is its complement. a more than fitting conclusion to a singular franchise which, despite being outwardly about mental health and personal growth, has managed to captivate the world. the last 30 minutes are just as audacious as anything Anno has done, and a rewatch might lead me to raise this score even higher. it as much a conclusion to the franchise as it is to the Rebuilds, and perhaps moreso. I am overwhelmed.

Ang Lee directed an Incredible Hulk movie that was more about wrestling with filial relationships than it was was about being Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At the end Hulk does battle with his father, a sentient lighting storm. Thrice Upon a time takes this concept and runs with it to infinity, perhaps even beyond the infinite, and that's just what you'd expect from the master Mr. Anno.

He did it, the absolute madman! He did it! Absolutely lives up to the hype I built up while rewatching 1.11 to 3.33 over the last three days. I won't even pretend that I fully understood what was going on but the beautiful visuals, mixed with awesome animation, crazy ass shit and the fact that Anno is obviously in a much better place now regarding his mental health, make this movie a sight to behold and a worthy ending for the franchise. Goodbye Evangelion, its been a wild ride!

Anno was not exactly dealt the best set of cards, in having to fill in the many gaps left by part 3 while bringing the whole series to a satisfying conclusion at the same time, but for the most part he pulls it off. Narratively this is probably the neatest wrap-up that the franchise has had so far (and it has never looked better), but personally I still prefer the two-episode therapy session of the original series, or the full-on meta "ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WANTED!?"-madness of End of Evangelion.

Putting the Evangelion characters in a Ghibli studio kind of world was a stroke of genius

Instead of finishing what was supposed to be his rebuild of the series through a straightforward story, Anno delves deep into what Evangelion is as a creation and his personal relationship with it. Obviously very autobiographical, but at the same time elevates Evangelion to something no anime has ever achieved and probably never will again.

Rei's arc is nice, if a little cheesy and manipulative. And once the summit of the mountain of lore/exposition is cleared, there is some emotional resonance to be found in the denouement's endless monologues. The rest of it I hated, for the same reason EoE loses me in its second half: an incomprehensible apocalypse, and people yammering constantly about the arcane plot. Only this time everything is rendered in ugly CGI. I've really come to appreciate the show's simple, clumsy ambiguity.

Thrice Upon a Time delivers a messy but fitting conclusion to the Rebuild of Evangelion. The slower-paced 1st half contains a decent portrayal of PTSD, before going off the rails with its biblical inspired kaiju-robots. It's all quite cluttered; from the brightly coloured characters to the swarming hives of seemingly sentient debris. The dialogue (English dub) is overly verbose & a little annoying. The finale is an elegy on grief, absentee fathers & moving on. At times incoherent but watchable.

Evangelion is finally ending, firing on Anno's traditional strength of "Telling not showing" and "Overcomplicated makes things better". Anno throws around technobabble and teleporting characters to hurry along a plot that has no conclusion and little payoff. He then hits the viewer with the message that we all must move on with our lives. Anno just write an essay instead of doing a movie, you don't have to phone it in. Also I hope your Dad finally hugged you so this series can actually end

Shinji Ikari's Bizarre Adventure

I just gave this what Criticker thought I’d give this, because what is existence? What is mind? Is there too much nudity of teenage characters? Yes. Is the animation amazing? Yes? Did the entire thing feel like the fever dream of a psychotic on acid and finally relieve me of my assumptions that I understood both other ends of NGE? Yes. NERVE WILLE KREDIT exploding heads Wagner. (I mean, it’s also a very smart amalgamation of the first two endings, but yeah, too much teenage nudity).

Wow. This was fuckin. Everything. Examining the ethos of Evangelion as a whole from multiple angles and building the characters into healthier people brick by painful brick, leading up to cosmic catharsis both in the story and for everyone who's been following it this far. Plus, amazing badass women performing the most spectacular super robot action I've ever seen, and that's a high bar considering the other three chapters. And all the characters get their due, and the playing with the medium an

Alexa, play the psychotherapeutic conga song.

a very mixed bag. the big CG "swarm" fights were trash, lots of stupid modern gianax style stuff which didn't mesh well, suddenly characters with pink hair everywhere, embarrassing fanservice, I hate Mari with a passion. but the alternate endings and fates for many of the core characters were wonderful.