This will now be the fourth Evangelion property I’m reviewing in a row and a lot of what I’ll be writing here is predicated in previously written material. It isn’t necessary to read those reviews (they’re quite long. 10+ paragraphs combined) but it will likely help to understand a lot of how I feel about the Rebuild of Evangelion series of films.
I was largely negative when discussing Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (1.0). I only celebrated a couple aesthetic changes, but I criticized most everything else. It’s drama is incomplete, it’s narrative congestion is stifling, and the weird fanservice seems counter to the pervasive criticism of immaturity the entire Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE) franchise had been tackling in its metatext. 1.0 is a spectacle of a movie, sure, and its action and weight is palpable, containing a final fight that really asserts its worth as an overwhelmingly effective action film for at least 1/3rd of its runtime, but it’s still really messy. Plus, I didn’t like the new battle cry given to EVA Unit-01. I felt the one from the show was harrowing and otherworldly. This one just sounds like someone who’s gargling water but without the gargle.
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2.0) is definitely an improvement on general narrative structure. It introduces many more original segments and alters two pivotal moments from the show, one that comes out pretty good and the other coming out… much worse. But, let’s stick to positives a little longer. By embracing some original content, 2.0 gets to explore similar developments from the show in new ways, providing a new angle to characters people had come to love. This helps create a dramatic foundation which was seriously missing from 1.0. Rei is far more compelling this time around, and the introduction of Asuka to the group helps add some additional much-needed dynamic to the character roster that was otherwise empty in 1.0. Yes, 1.0 was already bloated and also wasn’t anyone else’s story but Shinji’s. Now, 2.0 expands the narrative to be more about everyone else. Even so, these new details permit more fiction to be explored, specifically new fiction, rather than retreading material but worse. So, I like the new stuff. The dinner subplot, the aquarium, Asuka swapping with Toji; good stuff.
What I don’t like is the gobblydygook. 1.0 included some gobblydygook scenes where Gendo talks with Fuyutsuki about the “deep lore”, of Evangelion. Or, as I like to call it: things that don’t really matter. The various how-tos and specifics of the Evangelion world don’t really matter and I would go so far as to say the majority as to why the drama works so well is because the characters are our only bastion of comprehension. Everything else matters so little, and Hideaki Anno knows this. Despite it being cut content, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (EoE) originally contained a live-action scene of Asuka, Misato, Kaji, and other characters living a normal life. The assertion was that whether they were in animated big robots fighting angels or living in modern Tokyo these people had core issues stemming from their sense of self and sense of other. The visual excitement of the show is excitement, and it’s very good excitement, but it is not the main driving force. Fans of giff-able combat can rewatch Black Rock Shooter on repeat if what they want is vapid violence. Anno knew this in 1995-1997, but I’m not quite sure what changed from 1998-2008 for him to decide more science-fiction gobblydygook was what people were interested in. Regardless, that’s exactly what they’re going to get.
The ending to this film is absolutely devoid of purpose. It is so meaningless and incomplete. Gendo constantly across these two movies is going, “Ahhh yes, according to plan.” and other characters shout empty beyond-theoretical physics jargon that literally means nothing, aggressively going full tell-nothing-and-show-even-less mode rather than the extremely proficient and borderline nasty level of show-don’t-tell of EoE. And, I am not irrational in comparing to EoE since the ending to 2.0 is clearly bait-and-switching its audience based upon their awareness of the material.
When I watched this movie on repeat years ago I ate this up like mad. I was so into it and I wept every time. I found what was happening so touching and so awesome, but now I can’t get out of my head how ironic the themes of maturity, growth, and acceptance of NGE and EoE are completely debased by the Rebuilds essentially going back and just retelling the same story but worse and without introducing any new elements. Back then I thought all of the allusions to a world in cycles and the evocation of EoE imagery was the coolest, most clever thing I had seen in a fiction, but now I’m seeing it and going, “But, your text isn’t continuing the conversation.”
Sequels, requels, reboots: I am all for it. I love interpretations and reinterpretations of material, and I think they have the unique opportunity apart from original content to overtly commune with previous material. Original content can show its influence, but it is unable to intimately communicate with other material because it is totally separate from that material. Sequels, requels, reboots can and do overtly respond to previous iterations even when they seek to separate themselves, for the attempt to separate oneself is overtly in response to previous material.
The reason some of the new content in 2.0 works so well for me is because it is clearly in communication with NGE and EoE. It’s more akin to the Manga adaption, which if you are unfamiliar with is functionally a different tale. Shinji, for instance, could never be considered whiny from his manga interpretation. Rather, his manga interpretation is heated, contemplative, sophomorically confident, yet still conflicted and anxious; a depressed teen piloting a robot. Now, the manga has the benefit of being a different medium, so changes make functional sense. Additionally, it can be more imitative because its separation from the original NGE material (TV-show) is from one medium to another. Even so, the Manga is in much better communication – a much better symbiosis – than the Rebuilds are. The Rebuilds up to this point have yet to truly explore, continue, criticize, or separate from its previous material. Sure, the literal events may be different, but it’s not only essentially the same but it’s worse than the same: it’s taking the least interesting thing about NGE and EoE – the lore – and making it the extreme focus. The lore only matters insofar as it effects the characters. That is very different than the characters becoming the lore. And even worse so, repositories for lore.
2.0 also continues not just the problem with fanservice that was present in 1.0 (especially with the introduction of Mari, a figure that is the antithesis of Evangelion’s deeply rich cast of characters) but the metatext that fanservice usually proposes: giving fans what they want. It seems to me that by Anno helming each of these movies he is capitulating to what he believes not specifically fans of Evangelion but lowest-common denominator fans of Evangelion want. Peak finger-point-soy-face imagery with science-fiction gobblydygook referencing real-world psuedo-religious texts that make audience members feel smart while watching their stand-in choose between a harem of beautiful women and girls. Goodbye disciplinary kindness of EoE asserting the extreme maturity and hardship required of growing up. Hello morning wood Mari Illustrious Dakimakura snuggle time. Eat the slop.
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