Awhile ago, I reviewed the masterpiece series called “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. While I did have a little gripe with an aspect of the plot, that minor flaw wasn’t enough to detract from what was an otherwise masterful experience that I hope to keep thinking about decades after I’ve seen it. I’m now back to tackle The End of Evangelion. Hey, it wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t review this now wouldn’t it? I won’t waste time further other than throwing out the obligatory spoiler warning. Without further ado lets review & get this off my chest. Also, as a clarification. This is a direct continuation of my NGE review (no shit) so I apologize if this review comes off as too short or too shallow, as I don’t want to repeat too many of the points that I made in that review here.
Story: 10/10
My oh my, if I could describe the story of End of Evangelion in one word, It’s powerful. From scenes like Shinji jacking off over Asuka’s tits. The storming of Nerv headquarters. Komm Susser Tod. The scene before Komm Susser Tod that mirrors episode 15 of the series. The moment that shows Shinji building a sand castle resembling Nerv headquarters, only to then destroy it out of anger. I can go on but the number of powerful moments throughout the movie, oh who am I kidding? Practically every scene is a powerful moment in this movie. Anyway the plot itself. Well, SEELE has had enough of Gendo’s bullshit so they decide to take matters into their own hands, start the third impact, & finish the human instrumentality project. The places this story goes though, are what takes End of Evangelion and turns it into something special. I already mentioned some of the moments, & I’ll be sure to mention more awesome moments as this review goes along. That’s all I’m going to say, because even though there will be some spoilers, in this review as mentioned earlier, I’d like to contain myself on some level so that you still have a reason to watch this.
In my review of NGE, I mentioned how the awesome storyboarding, structure, & flow is a large part of what made that series for me. It’s no different here. Actually, it is different. Because it’s even better in this movie than it was in the original series. The level of seamless flow from scene to scene housed within this movie is simply ridiculous. The structure of the movie is tighter than a quad-drouple knot, & the storyboarding, the storyboarding’s flow & seamless transitions, my god. So yeah, a large part of what made the series so good in the first place is not only housed in this film as well, but its better than it ever was in the TV series. Which I thought was already masterful to begin with, but this takes it a step further beyond. The directing is also improved over the series as well, the staging of fights. Structure of scenes. Structure of dialogue. Shots. Compositional work. It’s all insane how good it is.
Characters: 10/10
Because the characters in EoE are the same as they are in NGE, & I already thoroughly discussed the characters in that review as much as I could, I really don’t have a whole lot to say or add about who they are as people, why they're such great characters, etc. So instead, I’ll list off my favorite moments of certain characters for this review. Just as a demonstration that they’re still as well written & impactful as they were in the original series
Shinji- My favorite moment from Shinji in this movie is more a sequence of events than a singular moment. But it’s when he’s in the world where human-instrumentality happens & he’s talking to Rei. The realization that Shinji comes to, that human instrumentality isn’t what he wants, & that in spite of everything, the pain he feels, how he can hurt others, & that, in spite of how painful some of those memories were, they were his memories, & a sign that he was both alive, & a person. What follows is him breaking out of giant, naked, white Rei with Eva unit 01 letting out a screech. It’s a powerful series of events & the fact that the sound design in this series of events is largely made up of ambiguity, the background is water against a red sky, oh god I love this scene. It might be my favorite moment in Evangelion, but I really can’t decide.
Asuka. Easily when she has to go up against the 9 Eva units & only has 3 minutes & 34 seconds to defeat all 9 of them. What follows in this scene is a beautiful showcase of animation, some of the finest attention to detail, beautiful fight choreography, an excellent display of Hideaki Anno’s directing capabilities, and more of Evangelion’s marvelous structure. This sequence of events houses a lot of End of Evangelion’s strongest aspects & part of why I think End of Evangelion is one of the overall best looking anime films of all time
Rei. My favorite Rei moment is when she rejects Gendo once she hears Shinji’s freakout after witnessing Asuka’s death. I love this scene because after everything that happened in the original series, it feels great to see Rei say “fuck you” without even saying it. It’s also a nice payback on Gendo after all the shit he put not only Shinji through, but everybody else at Nerv through just to achieve his selfish desires. You’re an interesting character Gendo, but you’re an asshole all the same & god does it feel satisfying to hear Rei pull a “fuck you”, merge with Adam to become giant white Rei, & go help Shinji realize what it is that he really wants.
Misato. My favorite Misato moment is before her death. When she has that talk with Shinji about “I’ve made mistakes too, some I’ve regretted”. The gut punching this scene hits me with is both tense & powerful, top that off with Misato kissing Shinji, ending with the statement ‘That’s an adult kiss”. Ohhh god I’m crying at this scene.
End of Evangelion is full of great character moments, too many for me to list off in fact. This of course falls in line with the original series having fantastic character moments. But the sheer impact that these scenes leave, the great animation showcase in the case of Asuka versus the 9 angels, really, this whole movie is a giant moment. I think that describes the film perfectly “one giant moment”.
Sound: 10/10
The sound is just as good as it was in the original series, what do you expect? All the voice actors reprise their role & do just as, if not better than they did in the original TV series. The sound design is just as amazing as it was in the original TV series. Sagisu returns to compose the OST for this movie and it’s just as great & well integrated as it was in the original TV series. Of course it’d be wrong not to mention “Komm Susser tod”. A 7:43 song with some of the most powerful imagery not just Evangelion, but film has ever seen. “Interference of Others” & “End of Midsummer” that play when SEELE invades Nerv is some really good shit. “Substitute invasion” that plays in several scenes, but particularly the Shinji, Misato dialogue scene that I mentioned in the characters portion of the review, “Thanatos” that plays over the troll credits at the middle of the film just fits for some reason. Ok, this is Shiro Sagisu’s best composition in my opinion. For as much as I praised his work in the original series, for as much as I adore Kare Kano’s compositions, I genuinely think this is Shiro Sagisu’s peak. All of his pieces are phenomenal, & their use in the film is no less.
Art: 10/10
This is most likely going to be the shortest segment of the review because really? What is there to say, it’s an artistic masterpiece. The color design, the character designs, the flow of the animation, the weight of the animation, the sound design that helps to sell the animation, the fluidity of it all? Seriously, it’s one of the best looking anime movies for a reason. The art direction, the art design, the sublime animation, what more do you want me to say without repeating myself? Of course because it’s a movie, the animation quality is obviously superior to the TV series. I shouldn’t have to say that but thanks to the Girls & Panzer movie, I feel inclined to mention rather or not anime films actually rise above TV quality or not. Jabs aside, this really is one of the best looking anime films of all time.
Overall: 10/10
It’s End of Evangelion, did you seriously think I wasn’t going to give this a 10/10 after being such a massive fan of the TV seris in the first place? The character moments are amazing, the story is powerful with many a moments of its own. The narrative structure is tight. The visual flow is some of the best anime films have to offer. The directing is one of Hideaki Anno’s best efforts. The music is Shiro Sagisu’s best composition, & the use of the pieces in the film are just as amazing as the music itself is. The way everything is wrapped up (which I purposefully didn’t mention because I didn’t want to spoil it). I think you all get it by now. End of Evangelion is a cinematic masterpiece that went down in history for a reason. If this film isn’t going to be put on an international preservation society of some form, I will go through the effort of starting my own just for the sake of preserving this film so that everyone can see it even after the world comes to an end. I don’t know how to end this review, so uh yeah, End of Evangelion is a masterpiece, end of story.
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