Kwaoru and Kaji are dead, Shinji is broken, Misato is
vengeful, Ritsuko is imprisoned, Asuka is comatose and Rei is…well not the
same. With NERV in shambles, Gendo Ikari
seizes the opportunity at hand. What
begins now is a bizarre voyage of the mind that hopefully ends with humanity’s
secure future. Is this the end of
everything? Or the beginning?
Here we are…24 episodes of action, chaos, existentialism
to the max and some of the most hearbreaking moments of any anime ever. It’s all be building to this. The final showdown, the Third Impact, the
great resolution…so what in God’s name did I end up watching here?
I decided to do a review on these two episodes solely on
the basis of the great controversy surrounding them. Episodes 25 and 26, the series finale of Neon
Genesis Evangelion, is a deep study of several of the characters as it examines
where they are now and just how messed up mentally they have become. We get looks at Asuka, Rei and Misato,
however the main subject of this 45 minutes combined study is Shinji…because we
need to be reminded of how truly f’ed up this kid is more than
anyone…NO!!!! The best moments of this
two parter are not the extended look at his needy subconscious. The best thoughts come from Rei, who finally
begins to show her true feelings behind her existence and how she wants herself
to die so she won’t have to serve Gendo’s needs. That is great character growth, even if it is
from the third in a series of clones.
Even Misato gets some good moments.
Her declaration of wanting to be so imperfect and dirty so the world can
hate her is deep as is her fear of Shinji seeing her in such a light.
But let’s face it as interesting as some of this might be
it’s not what was expected after 24 episodes of build up. Be forewarned going into these two episodes:
there is no action, no real character resolution, it’s all in everyones head
and do I dare mention the STILLS, LOADS AND LOADS OF STILL PHOTOS. Yes this was definitely a point where the
infamous production and budget issues plaguing the series real their ugly head
in the worse way. Save for one notable
sequence ill get to in a moment, this two parter could just be a slideshow of
images ranging from what we’ve come to expect from the series to the earliest
of sketches for the show. The only real
bit of movement we get is from a fascinating alternate world in which everyone
is…well…happy. Shinji’s kind of a smart
ass and likes girls (except for Asuka), Yui is still alive and happy with a
carefree Gendo and even Rei is a bouncy ball of energy. This sequence is in and around five minutes
long before the final “resolution” and could have benefited from being it’s own
episode. Kind of sort of sadly there is
no animated continuation of this world.
HOWEVER it has spawned a number of manga spinoffs, most notably Angelic
Days and the Shinji Ikari Raising Project.
If you have ever wanted to see the Evangelion cast in a far more happy
and positive light like seen in this alternate world then please check those
titles out.
So we conclude with Shinji realizing he doesn’t want to
be alone like he thought and that he wants to feel emotions with
others…culminating in a final image of him being surrounded by Misato, Asuka,
Rei, his parents and all of NERV’s essential personnel wishing him
“Congratulations.” Has the world been
saved? What about SEELE and Lilith? What about Gendo’s master plan and Rei’s part
in it all? What about the cloud of doom
looming over NERV? So many questions
left unanswered…leading to one of the most mind boggling but ultimately
disappointing endings to any Anime ever.
I think there are some good ideas here but not enough for me to label
this as a great ending.
Now there are some who disagree and like this
ending. Some thought that given the
philosophy heavy turn the series took that this was the logical ending the show
was heading for. Most others were…not as
kind. Hideki Anno, the director, even
received written death threats from fans over his shows ending. That’s serious. In fact, I should note that despite these
being the last two episodes, I am not going to give my final series judgment
yet. Anno did respond to the backlash in
his own way. His angry fans wanted an
ending…oh they were going to get one…just be careful what you wish for. Ominous enough ;)
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