Evangelion 3.0

Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo

For viewers who didn't actually watch the Evangelion series when it aired, this movie can get extremely confusing with the bombardment of unknown terminologies and a rather segregated time frame from where 2.0 left off. It honestly didn't feel quite a sequel to 2.0 with so much confusion and for a moment, it all felt like a separate movie by itself. It wasn't as exciting as compared to 1.0 and 2.0 with bare moments of mecha action, but the plot does rev up quite a bit as we approach the end of the whole story of Evangelion.

3.0 takes place 14 years after 2.0 had left off, which we see Shinji awakening Unit 01 in order to save Ayanami Rei and causing the Third Impact to almost occur before Unit 01 was pierced by the Spear. (it's said to be the spear of cassius) and thus the phenomenon was called the Near Third Impact. Shinji is left unconscious in Unit 01 for 14 years before waking up and was taken into custody by Misato who is now the Captain of an Anti-Nerv organisation called Wille. She instructs him never to pilot an Eva again and would kill him if he did but Shinji does not accept that fact and flees with Rei back to Nerv HQ. It is there where he learns the truth of the Near Third Impact that he caused from a new chosen child called Kaworu and Shinji later learns the truth about Unit 01's core and the plan of Nerv called the Human Instrumentality Project. Wanting to return the world to its previous form, Shinji and Kaworu pilot the Eva Unit 13 to retrieve the Spears of Longinus and Cassius which wields the power to return the world to its previous state. Asuka and Mari tries to stop them from succeeding and even with Kaworu's uncertainty of the spears, Shinji heads in front and pulls out both spears, resulting in the occurrence of the Fourth Impact. Kaworu, who is the 1st Angel is converted to the 13th as a result of this phenomenon and in order to stop the Fourth Impact, he sacrifices himself and Shinji is later rescued by Asuka after his plug gets ejected out from Unit 13. 

Lots and lots of terminology that keeps bombarding the viewers, making this movie more confusing than the previous 2. It was pretty irritating to see how Shinji behaves in this movie as well, all immature and doesn't really want to listen to others and always thinking what he is doing is right. It wasn't entirely Shinji's fault after all, since he didn't actually expect the Third Impact to occur just by trying to save Rei. Basically the feeling that he had to save Rei was the catalyst that brought upon the Third Impact but that of course, was unpredictable as how Unit 01 had awakened. After 14 years and in Misato's Wille organisation, no one even bothered explaining to Shinji what exactly happened to the world after that event. Shinji didn't even know that 14 years have already passed since that fateful day and what exactly happened to Rei and Nerv that Misato had decided to form a Resistance. Putting yourself into Shinji's shoes I bet anyone would be equally frustrated as no one wishes to disclose anything while you yourself wants to know the truth behind it all. 

Ultimately, for answers, Shinji had returned to Nerv HQ instead. No one actually told him why Wille was formed, why the Nerv Evas had to be destroyed, and the exact reason why Shinji is told not to pilot an Eva again. Protecting the world and protecting him is one thing, but not telling him the exact reason would only produce more thirst for the truth itself, causing Shinji to find the truth in whatever means necessary. Later on, Shinji is shocked to find out the exact truth of what his actions to save Rei had cost the world, where the Near Third Impact had wiped out the entire town and the people living in it, and that his mother's conscience or soul is merged into Unit 01's core, which was predictable all along since 1.0 where this has been hinted many times. And finally, the Human Instrumentality Project. Where Nerv's aims, or Shinji's dad's aim, was to cause the entire human population to become extinct so that new lives that holds a certain characteristics can be born. Back to back, Shinji must have felt all the stress pinning onto him. Furthermore, the Rei that Shinji had saved doesn't seem to exist anymore and is "replaced" by another Rei that feels like a completely different person as compared to the Rei from 1.0 and 2.0

And given the opportunity by Kaworu that he could return the world to how it used to be, Shinji decided to pilot an Eva once again, with Unit 13 which boasts the Twin Plug System. Not heeding Kaworu's advice to stop pulling out the spears that were plunged into Lillith, driven by his will and determination to return the world to its previous state, Shinji carries on his actions, resulting in the Fourth Impact as the two spears weren't actually the Spears of Longinus and Cassius, but rather both were Longinus types. (Can't really help to explain this since I din't actually watch the original evangelion series too so this was pretty confusing) Kaworu then reveals to Shinji that he's actually the First Angel and now he became the 13th Angel under the influence of the Fourth Impact and the awakening of Unit 13. Shinji's father calls him Seele's Child too and in order to succeed his Human Instrumentality Project, he shuts down the Seele Panels that he talks too which left me blur and not knowing what things were actually going on at that moment. How exactly did Kaworu become the 13th Angel? Wasn't Lillith supposed to be dead? And was Kaworu's character an antagonist as an Angel or a protagonist beside Shinji? True enough he was an Angel, but it does seem that he has a human heart after all, and possibly that he does not wish to see the destruction of the world? Was that why he sacrificed himself to stop the Fourth Impact? Many many questions here and there, even having the prior knowledge of the End of Evangelion didn't really quite helped in this movie. How exactly was Wille formed too? If the Near Third Impact had destroyed the city, why are some who were never in the Geofront saved? And how exactly did Misato find out about the truth of Nerv and in building of the Wunder, a Wille airship that houses the Eva Unit 01 as its engines and is able to take out "fake" angels such as the Nemesis series, which brings across to another question (or perhaps 2): what was the outcome of the angels after 14 years? and what are these Nemesis series angel-look-a-likes?

The action scenes were great, the animations were detailed, there could be a little more action scenes in this movie rather than the blatant piano playing that took precious minutes away from the movie and they would have cared to explain more about their own terminologies and not just cater this rebuild of evangelion for ex-eva fans. Do hope that 4.0 would shed more light on this but I can say that this is getting more interesting as a series and a story in itself.