Evangelion 3.0 + 1.01 Thrice Upon a Time, on Prime Video

Shinji Ikari's father issues are pretty extreme. Gendo Ikari has done his best to sever all connections to his son, while leading a shadowy conspiracy to destroy the world and re-create humanity into a single collective consciousness. Yet, you could say “like father, like son,” since Shinji has almost inadvertently destroyed the world, not once, but twice. That is a lot for one young person to bear. Not surprisingly, the angst-ridden mecha-pilot is not holding up well in creator-chief director Hideaki Anno’s Evangelion 3.0 + 1.01: Thrice Upon a Time, the [most likely] concluding film of the Rebuild of Evangelion reboot series, which premieres Friday on Prime Video (with a title like that, you know it must be an anime feature).

As the film opens, Shinji Ikari is so guilt-ridden, he has practically shut-down his body and spirit. He has been shipped off to a peaceful countryside community of survivors to recuperate, along with his fellow EVA pilots, Asuka Shikinami Langley (who both resents and carries a torch for Ikari) and Rei Ayanami (a clone of a clone, quietly imploding worse than Shinji).

Of course, this interlude cannot last. Eventually, Ikari and Langley will return to WILLE, the global defense agency led by Misato Katsuragi, who was something like a surrogate mother to Ikari. They first met while they were serving NERV, ostensibly WILLE’s forerunner, which was secretly founded by his father to hasten the final, world-shattering “Impact.”

Obviously, it is time for the final battle (at least until the next one), to be fought by Katsuragi helming the WILLE fleet, including EVAs piloted by Shikinami and her gifted comrade, Mari Illustrious Makinami (for whom Ikari might carry a torch) against the vastly greater forces of NERV. Eventually, Ikari will also have to face his father, EVA-to-EVA, in Minus-Space, where the rules of physics and scale measurement do not apply.

There are some anime series that get pretty apocalyptic, but Thrice Upon a Time tops them all. It also outdoes all the competition when it comes to neurotic angst. Yet, that really makes 3.0+1.01 a fitting capstone to the series. Once again, Anno’s team delivers visuals that are three or four cuts about the series anime standard. The prologue battle above a ruined Paris is particularly striking. Arguably, the first act idyl in the village drags out a bit, but it ends on a potent note that is ever so true to the spirit of the franchise.

Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo

There is nothing like partially destroying the world to cause an existential crisis.  Shinji Ikari was always a moody kid, but he is in for the mother of all guilt trips.  The franchise that rejuvenated mecha anime returns with the third installment of Hideaki Anno’s feature anime “rebuild” series, Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (trailer here), which screens this Friday in New York.

If you saw 2.0, you might be somewhat surprised to learn the climactic battle did not turn out so well, but not as surprised as Ikari. He will have quite a rude awakening from fourteen years of suspended animation.  His former protector, Misato Katsuragi is now the leader of WILLE, an outfit explicitly opposed to his father’s NERV—and she apparently hates his guts. A lot of people do, including his former hotshot comrade-in-arms, Asuka Shikinami.  Nobody will spell it out for him, but they are all adamant he should never step inside an EVA battle bot again.

As a result, he is more than willing to desert WILLE for NERV when offered the chance, particularly since the getaway EVA is piloted by Rei, whom Ikari thought he had saved at the end of 2.0.  She has changed though, whereas his father is the same old cold Machiavellian.  At least, Ikari makes a new friend in Kaworu Nagisa, with whom he plays four-handed piano and learns the full devastating extent of the Third Impact he inadvertently hastened.

Given the fourteen year time jump, 3.0 ought to be a convenient entry point to the series, but it actually feels denser than the previous two outings.  It is definitely a middle film, ending more with a lull in the action than any sense of closure. While he was never a barrel of laughs, Ikari’s mopiness becomes almost insufferable.  On the plus side, Shikinami really comes into her own as an anime action role model for girls. Listening to her tear into Ikari is good, sort of clean, cathartic anime fun.

As usual, the art of 3.0 remains several cuts above the industry standard. This time out, writer-chief director Anno cranks up the apocalyptic elements something fierce, but somehow the religious overtones do not feel as pronounced.  The complete lack resolution will frustrate casual viewers, but fans will dig the metal-on-cosmic metal action (they should also stay for the teaser-stinger).  Recommended for anime connoisseurs who appreciate the intricate series mythology and Shikinami’s attitude, Evangelion 3.0 screens this Friday (1/10) at the Big Cinema Manhattan, Saturday (1/11) at the Yonkers Drafthouse, and Saturday (1/11) and next Tuesday (1/14) at the Village East, as well as other select theaters throughout the country.

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance

In the future, child labor laws will be loosened in Japan. It will be for a good cause though: the salvation of humanity. Only pre-teens can fit into the cockpit of the Evangelions, the huge cyborg-like fighting machines created to protect the earth from the otherworldly peril it faces. It is a grueling task that extracts a costly toll from the young pilots in Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (trailer here), the second film in screenwriter and “chief director” Hideaki Anno’s big-screen “rebuild” of the popular Japanese anime, which opens this Friday in New York and San Francisco.

As 2.0 opens, the Earth is once again under attack by “Angels,” hulking robotic extraterrestrial beings apparently impervious to all conventional weaponry. Shinji Ikari still flies his Eva unit in hopes of winning the approval of his severe father, who oversees NERV’s Evangelion program. His feelings for Rei, the emotionally fragile lead Eva pilot, continue to percolate. Into their midst comes a new pilot, Asuka, a Euro hotshot who arrives on the scene like Maverick at the Miramar TOPGUN school. Unfortunately, none of them expect the radical transformations in store for the Evas, nor the resulting implications for their own humanity.

Also crediting co-directors Masayuki and Kazuya Tsurumaki, 2.0 shrewdly incorporates proven elements from popular film and television, like the shadowy cabals of The X-Files and armored behemoths pounding each other silly, a la The Transformers. However, Anno’s anime utilizes strangely inverted Christian imagery, like the killer “Angels” that often explode into crosses when they are destroyed and “Lilith,” the life-giving angel, preserved beneath NERV central command disturbingly crucified on her cross. In fact, the original anime was somewhat notorious for its dense mythology, which has reportedly been streamlined for the rebuild. While its symbolism has the potential to become deeply troubling in future installments, for now it earns the first two Evangelions credit for ambition and novelty.

Frankly, elements of the meta-conspiracy revealed in 2.0 might even confuse those who saw 1.0, but most viewers going in cold will pick up enough to appreciate the rock-um-sock-um action sequences. Anime fanboys though might be disappointed by the lack of “fan service” aside from an Austin Powers shot of Asuka. Yet as animation, Evangelion represents the high-end of anime, featuring some rather striking imagery.

For those who sparingly partake of anime, the Evangelion series is one to check out. Smarter and more neurotic than the industry standard, it is an oddly compelling excursion into apocalyptic science fiction. Many theaters, including the Manhattan Big Cinemas (1/19 & 1/20) and the Viz Theater at New People (1/18-1/20) will screen 1.0 for a few days prior to 2.0’s opening (on the 21st both here in New York and in San Francisco).

Big-Screen Anime: Evangelion 1.0

If Arthur Schopenhauer and Joseph Campbell had collaborated on the Transformers, it might have resembled Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion anime. Despite attracting a cult-like following, the series evidently became notorious for its philosophical flights of fancy and an abundance of unresolved loose ends. However, a projected trilogy of anime feature films promises to tighten up the story and answer persistent questions, beginning with Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

As the Evangelion reboot opens, mankind is in a precarious position. Having barely survived a deliberately mysterious event called the “Second Impact,” the Earth is now plagued by rampaging “angels,” robotic extraterrestrial beings impervious to almost all earthly weaponry. Of course, the citizens of Tokyo-3 never seem to ask why (perhaps having been desensitized by decades of Godzilla attacks).

The only means of combating angels are the Evangelions, enormous armored cyborg-like fighting crafts that can only be piloted by pre-teens, for reasons we should just accept. While there is a long tradition in science fiction of placing the fate of humanity in the hands of children, Shinji is a particularly problematic protagonist. Unlike Ender Wiggins, his low sense of self worth and acute father issues threaten to undermine the entire Evangelion (Eva) program, which happens to be managed by Dear Old Dad.

It might sound oddly inappropriate to refer to these agents of cosmic destruction as “angels,” but Anno is just getting started. There is some extremely unsubtle Christ imagery in the film, with a clear promise of more to come in future installments. Parents should also note there is some brief partial anime nudity (the technical term for this is “fan service”).

Unlike The Transformers movies, Evangelion has a plot. Still, it is at its best when depicting big hulking robot fight scenes. Graphically, it is several cuts above workaday anime, delivering some impressive visuals, like the huge retractable fortified city of Tokyo-3. Indeed, the animation is often quite detailed, though it never departs from the stylistic traditions of the genre.

Evangelion is briskly paced, grudgingly doling out exposition on the fly. The action scenes are well constructed and its apocalyptic vision of the future is pretty compelling. Aside from Shinji’s neurosis, which gets old quickly, Evangelion is an entertaining, somewhat idiosyncratic anime film (though probably not the best introduction for genre neophytes). It opens today at the Village East.