EVANGELION:3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time (2022)

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I’ll get this out of the way now. I’m a pretty big fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was one of the first anime series I watched all the way through, and I’ve always found it to be a fantastic piece of storytelling. I’ve been pretty closely following the release of the Rebuild series – 1.0 You are (Not) Alone, 2.0 You Can (Not)Advance, 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo – to see how the story wraps up.

Or, in more accurate terms, see yet another alternate ending to the story. At long last, we finally have a fourth and final installment with EVANGELION:3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time.

via YouTube

This film picks up where 3.0 left off, opening on a team of WILLE employees rushing to restore the city of Paris after the Near Third Impact. As they work, NERV attacks, and the Wunder fleet jumps into action to defend the team so they can continue the restoration. Mari Illustrious Makinami appears in Unit-08, and the NERV forces are defeated. The restoration of Paris is a success.

In the aftermath of the Near Third Impact, Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Shikinami, and Rei Ayanami are moving through Tokyo-3. They find themselves in a survivor settlement and encounter a few old classmates: Toji Suzuhara, Hikari Horaki, and Kensuke Aida. They treat the visitors with great kindness and show worry for Shinji, who won’t speak, eat, or look at them. Kensuke offers Shinji a place in his and Asuka’s home. Upon seeing the collar around Asuka’s neck, Shinji becomes ill as he remembers what happened to Kaworu. Asuka tells Shinji he hasn’t matured at all.

Rei, in the meanwhile, finds comfort in life with Toji, his family, and the older women she works the fields with. She visits Shinji often as she tries to figure out her purpose and tries to cheer him up. He continues to sulk until finally he opens up to her. Of course, not too long after he opens up, it’s revealed that Rei cannot survive without contact with LCL. She dies in front of him. This spurs Shinji into action and he follows Asuka to the Wunder when it’s revealed that Kozo Fuyutsuki and Gendo Ikari have restarted Unit-13.

The final battle commences between Shinji and his father, who are piloting EVAs mirroring on another; one is a symbol of hope, and the other despair. Gendo explains why he’s begun trying to initiate a fourth impact. He reveals a lonely life before meeting Shinji’s mother, Yui, and the way her death devastated him. The final impact would reunite them. Shinji is left to battle him in the hopes of a complete reset of the universe.

There’s a reason I mentioned my love of Evangelion before. Ultimately, this is a film for fans of the series. It’s the final conclusion for a pretty grand story that started 26 years ago, and that’s a tremendous weight to carry. So, I believe it’s important to see this film as both a series finale and a stand-alone. As far as a finale is concerned, the movie is…lukewarm at best. It often feels like it misses much of the nuance of its parent series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and adds a number of strange scenes and unresolved and underdeveloped plot points.

Most notable in this category is the connection between Kaworu and Kaji near the end of the film, the reintroduction of characters like Kensuke and Hikari from the original series that had yet to be seen at all in the Rebuild series, a lack of explanation about the Near Third Impact and its effect, and little development of restoration efforts like the one seen in the film’s opening.

In addition, there’s a number of generally frustrating – but manageable, for some – issues. Shinji’s development in the film feels breakneck with how fast it happens. He starts the film as non-verbal due to trauma and spends a good portion of the first half of the film depressed, hurt, and unable to function. Which is totally understandable, given the events of the previous film. However, it feels like his change to a typical headstrong and motivated shounen protagonist in the film’s climax is almost undeserved. We don’t get to see that development in any kind of depth, and we needed to, especially given everything Shinji has been through in the previous story and in this one, with Rei’s death and Asuka’s less than kind motivation.

While I found the exploration into Gendo’s reasoning for trying to kick off a fourth impact interesting and enjoyed him explaining to Shinji the emptiness he felt without Yui as it definitely answered a lot of questions and brought a very human element to the final battle, it also just feels like it’s too little, too late. It also feels like a backtrack on the progress in the relationship between Shinji and Gendo seen in earlier installments to have Gendo still striving to take from Shinji what was taken from him. It’s for the sake of conflict and resolution, but it’s still a little frustrating.

There’s also many scenes that are just pure fanservice; I’ve now seen more of Asuka and Mari than I needed to, and it never felt like it fit in with the rest of the film, especially when it happens in scenes where Shinji is puking his guts out from traumatic memories or they’re preparing for the final altercation against NERV. This is one of those things that’s hit or miss for some people, so it isn’t a huge deal, but it’s worth mentioning.

As a stand alone film, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 is alright. It gives a short recap of the story thus far at the beginning, so you won’t be entirely lost if you haven’t seen it before. It has neat fight scenes, and without the knowledge of the previous series, Shinji’s development feels a little less underwhelming and the final battle takes on a tone of familial guilt and trauma uncoupled with the rest of the underlying lore. It’s a sci-fi that someone might find interesting, but will most likely be put off by the amount of references and callbacks.

Technically, the film upholds the standard expected from the series. It’s well polished, mostly smooth, and the designs of characters, landscapes, and the EVAs are fantastic. The standout in terms of production, though, is the soundtrack. The film’s theme, “One Last Kiss,” is performed beautifully by Hikaru Utada (well-known for a number of Kingdom Hearts themes), as is the soundtrack by Shiro Sagisu, who worked on the score for Neon Genesis Evangelion (as well as Berserk and Bleach). There are of great pieces that mirror the original series’ score, as well as a few that match the new themes of hope and rebirth in the film. It’s really spectacular, but it’s honestly hard to expect anything less from Sagisu. He knows how to write a captivating score.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time isn’t a terrible movie. For fans, it could be a masterpiece if it answers the questions they wanted answered. However, it fails to answer all of them and even adds in a few new questions that are unlikely to receive any answers. It misses the mark by deviating from the feel of its parent series in many ways, but it does have its moments. The animation is impressive, and the soundtrack even more so, with a healthy dose of fanservice, if that’s your thing. Those new to Evangelion are better off watching the original series. Long time fans…well, this might be a hit or miss for you.