The End of Evangelion

Sequel/Alternate Ending to Neon Genesis Evangelion

Genre(s): Mecha, Psychological, Drama, Sci-Fi, Dementia

Age-Appropriateness: 18+ (Sexuality, nudity, violence, gore)

Platforms: Netflix

Episodes: One 1 hr. 30 min. movie

TheAwersome Rating: 8.3 / 10 (Definitely will get a reaction from you)

Premise: With the final Angel vanquished, Nerv has one last enemy left to face—the humans under Seele’s command. Left in a deep depression nearing the end of the original series, an indecisive Shinji struggles with the ultimatum presented to him: to completely accept mankind’s existence, or renounce humanity’s individuality. Meanwhile, at the core of a compromised Nerv, Gendou Ikari and Rei Ayanami approach Lilith to realize their own ideals concerning the world’s future. The End of Evangelion serves as an alternate ending to the polarizing final episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

TheAwersome’s Thoughts: To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed with this finale. I left the main series thinking ‘Okay, I don’t really know what happened, so at least there’s the movie to clear that up.” The movie shines a little light on what was happening in the series’ final episodes, but creates more questions than answers. I absolutely loved the first half of this movie. I thought it was expertly done and brought back the raw terror and emotion that Evangelion does so very well.

Then it does exactly what my initial beef with the series was and accelerates off the rails faster and faster. Some of the core messages, themes, and events are spelled out too plainly, while others are anyone’s guess. In general, I love me some good abstract, psychological exploration, and artistic expression. I love some unanswered questions and mystery. But when a third of the movie is the Pink Elephants dream sequence mixed with gore and random stock footage, it’s hard to stay engaged.

TLDR: A trippy alternate/extra context ending to the series.

From an animation and direction perspective, there’s a specific scene that absolutely stands out with Asuka that is in my all-time favorites of anything I’ve seen. Coupled with the music it’s one of the most impactful sequences I’ve seen in a movie or in TV.

While I haven’t seen the Rebuild of Evangelion series at the time of writing this, I feel that despite the frustratingly confusing aspects that Evangelion is known for, it is definitely worth your time. There’s a lot of honest, meaty, raw humanity and complexity to the characters that even if anime isn’t your thing, and even if you don’t understand a lick of either ending, you’ll still enjoy the ride.