Sequel to Evangelion 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance
Genre(s): Mecha, Psychological, Drama, Sci-Fi, Action
Age-Appropriateness: 15+ (Violence, gore, language)
Platforms: Amazon Prime
Episodes: One 1 hr. 45 min. movie
TheAwersome Rating: 8.4 / 10 (Different, but still the same)
Premise: Fourteen years after the Third Impact, the Earth is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, human civilization is in ruins, and the people Shinji knows are almost unrecognizable. Trapped inside Evangelion Unit-01, he is recovered from space by Asuka and Mari, only to find himself a prisoner of Wille, a military faction led by his former guardian Misato Katsuragi. Cold and bitter, his former allies view him with suspicion and refuse to support him as he comes to terms with the consequences of his actions.
TheAwersome’s Thoughts: Well, this certainly diverges hard from the original series, and that’s mostly a good thing. Having such a huge amount of time pass really opens the possibilities for character development and differences. Sadly, I don’t feel this was explored nearly as much as it could have been because it almost all focuses on a big, long Shinji-sad-boy episode. I don’t feel we got nearly as much exploration of other characters, most notably Mari (the new pilot exclusive to the Rebuild series). We get a small amount for Asuka, Rei, and Misato, but not as much as I would have liked.
What I did really appreciate, though, was clear exposition and explanation of things that are merely alluded to and hinted at in the main series. Here we get them told to us plainly, which is good because it lets us move on to the new story quickly. It was also nice to see more Kaworu time and see the things that get set up for the final movie. They just better use them is all.
TLDR: All new story at this point, though a lot of the character development is the same as before, and primarily focuses on just Shinji.
The final entry in the Evangelion Rebuild series, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, which came out just this year will be our final review for Evangelion.
You’ll likely enjoy this if you enjoyed:
- Previous entries in the Rebuild of Evangelion Series
- The ridiculously good animation of Makoto Shinkai movies
At a Glance Anime 