The End of EvangelionThis is a movie... that I give a thumbs up.
To start off, I actually think it's pretty interesting to me how apparently a sizeable amount of people took issue with
Neon Genesis Evangelion but liked
The End of Evangelion more while I on the other hand was actually the opposite, at least initially.
But unlike some who have said
The End of Evangelion is an alternate ending to the ending of
Neon Genesis Envengelion, I on the other hand really believe that they are one in the same and that
The End of Evangelion, beyond just offering more explanation by filling in some of the gaps as well as giving us some kickass Asuka action, is a different perspective of the same events and is heavier on the visuals that are both stunning and unsettling.
The biggest thing I'm still trying to process right now is the
very ending, which I slept on even.
Spoiler
At first Shinji just straight up choking Asuka almost to death is something I interpreted as a regression in character, especially when you consider how he grew in the ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion and I even for a moment forgot all about the dialogue in the human instrumentality that happened earlier.
But I decided to go back and watch the ending again and took in the beauty of that dialogue again. While it's possible I may not fully understand the very end I do take back my bit about regression and have some different thoughts the second time around, like initially Shinji getting a grip on reality was a bad joke I made but maybe it's not actually that far-fetch at all considering that he just came back from human instrumentality, not to say that human instrumentality isn't real at this point but rather still trying to figure out if he's in reality as we know it with individuality and free will. As well I think on the surface Asuka's comment "How disgusting" could very well be that they were all just sharing the same consciousness and she probably saw what he did in the beginning, but it could very well a part of a deeper meaning of joy and pain, how one can't exist without the other and therefore you cannot experience joy without also experiencing pain along the way, and particularly how Shinji rejected human instrumentality because he still wanted to experience joy even if it also meant experiencing pain.
With all that now in mind this is indeed a great movie I think (though you have to see
Neon Genesis Evangelion first, otherwise what on earth are you doing). Do I think it's better or worse than
Neon Genesis Evengelion? Honestly I can't even say because I honestly feel that they both just go together hand in hand. But yea I'll be looking out for a blu-ray copy. Thumbs up.
Also the
Death and Rebirth movie which I saw beforehand is completely optional and I'd even skip if I knew that before, I didn't see
Nightmare Asylum's post until after the fact and had my very own Baka Mitai moment.
Death and Rebirth is literally a condensed
Neon Genesis in the first half and the first half of
End of Evangelion in the second half.
I plan on seeing the
Rebuild of Evangelion series of films but I'm taking a break first after that long marathon, even just to take the time to further process and appreciate.
