Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Hideaki Anno
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Running time
87 mins
Year
1997

"The End of Evangelion"

By kaylachemgirl89
10th Oct 04

Wow... "The End of Evangelion"... This is truly a must-see for any Evangelion fan and Anime fan, and even if you aren't a fan of either, I'm sure you'll enjoy it too. However, I STRONGLY encourage that you see the series before you watch EOE, or at least see "Death and Rebirth."

WATCH OUT, THIS REVIEW CONTAINS LOTS OF SPOILERS, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN "THE END OF EVANGELION," ADD THIS TO YOUR FAVORITES AND THEN COME BACK HERE AND JOIN US!

Okay, we start out the movie with a bunch of real-life, non-animated Japanese women talking about how rude and unpolite men are to them. I'm not going to put the whole script here for obvious reasons, but it's VERY meaningful to the series and if you really want to know exactly what they're saying, put the subtitles on, our you can e-mail me at KeiImouto@aol.com and I'll be more than happy to send you the English script. Anyway, to sum things up, Episode 25, named "Air" is mainly about the JSSDF (Japan Strategic Self-Defense Force) invading NERV Headquarters as a plan to seize the Evangelions and attempt to put an end to the Instrumentality project. There's a lot of gore and violence all throughout the episode, so if you're not really into that kind of stuff, you always have your fast forward button! But, it is very emotional and good imagery, and I advise you watch it. In my opinion, the two best scenes in this episode are between Shinji and Misato and also when Asuka kicks butt when she's destroying the JSSDF and the remaining Evangelion series. The advice that Misato gives to Shinji is crucial, and it's an EXTREMELY emotional scene. (I think I cried my eyes dry)... When Shinji looks down at her bloody cross that she gave him before she dies, he starts to break down, and it's incredibly beautiful, yet so sad. As for my second favourite scene, we totally see Asuka kick some butt when she's in her Unit-02 and hurls a ship at the JSSDF's base and destroys anything of their's that gets in her way! Then, the SEELE organization dispatches all of the remaining Evangelions and Asuka totally rips each of them apart, in a gruesome, emotional, and absolutely beautiful scene of battle and art! While she is defeating the remaining Evangelions, the song in the background is of course "AIR - ORCHESTRAL SUITE NO. 3 IN D MAJOR, BWV. 0168" - composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Within her five minutes of power left (her cord was severed by a JSSDF missile), Asuka incinerates the remaining Evangelions except for one, who throws the fake Lance of Longinus at Unit-02 and penetrates her AT Field, then piercing Unit-02's head as if it were a needle and pin cushion. Asuka's power runs out and the remaining Eva units reactivate and since they have S2 engines, they feed on Unit-02's carcass (much like Unit-01 did to Zuruel- the 14th angel in episode 19) and totally destroy Unit-02, leaving Asuka SEVERELY hurt.

Episode 26... "Sincerely Yours"... This episode is what makes EOE the twisted, confusing, brilliant, and mind-blowing masterpiece it is. In this episode, there is a ton of religious symbolism and tons of double meanings. The imagery is incredible, especially towards the end. In this episode, the fate of the world is put into Shinji's hands and a ritual begins between the remaining Eva units and Unit-01, which is soon to be joined by lilith (uber Rei...lol.). Lilith is taken down from the crucifix when Gendo attempts to get Rei to take him to Yui, by placing his arm (with the hand that has Adam infused in it) into Rei's uteral area. Since Rei is already well aware that Gendo is only using her, she betrays him by taking his arm and then inserting herself into Lilith. Now, since the embryonic adam is in Rei, Lilith takes the form of Rei and becomes an incredibly large super-being. This is where the third impact begins and the rest of the episode is mostly a lot of symbolism, interesting sexual metaphors (since Anno is truly the most knowledgeable man on the subject of psychological differences between male and female), and also a ton of meaningful quotes that probably everyone in the audience can relate to. The ending ceremony enfolds the most beautiful animation I've ever seen and the script in this episode is just a masterpiece.

This movie overall is definitely my favourite movie, and I think it always will be. It describes the human dilemmas incredibly and the music and imagery is totally beyond what is expected of the copacetic GAINAX animation studio! This movie answers a lot of questions, and brings up even more. Be prepared to watch this more than one time, because there is only one person on this planet that will get at least 97% of this movie, and that is the man who created this wonderful masterpiece, Hideaki Anno.

Kudos to you GAINAX, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, and Hideaki Anno!

10+++/10!!

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

-- kaylachemgirl89 10th Oct 04

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion Images