Anime: Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Q 6v2l1l

The movie came out in late 2012, and since I've been able to revisit it and take a more detailed look on the movie. It's a bonafide blockbuster with a reportedly limitless budget only matched by the equally limitless enthusiasm fans showed before having watched the movie. Did it live up to the expectations?

Coming from a studio like Khara, which can boast a strong pedigree (and an even stronger wallet) that'd make any other studio envious, it was a given that at least the presentation would be above par. With talented composers like Sagisu Shiro at the helm, we could also expect a good soundtrack. In this area, the movie delivered well - although not as well as one would have expected. It is at least, the strongest part of the movie.
The animation is for some parts of the movie, inexplicably done in 3DCG, despite the fact that they have both the talent and resources to avoid relying on it. For some scenes, even main characters are turned into 3D constructs, and quite often the camera pans around with 3D movement, making the flat Eva's and characters appear like cardboard cutouts. The ridiculous lego-like battleships and 3DCG-angel constructs only make things worse, as there is no reference point for these things to exist in the story, making them seem like generic video game enemies with no charm or personality - only to be beaten for the next level to appear.
The designs for the characters are also very sketchy, with unrealistically long jaw-lines and increasingly unrealistic attires, only creating a jarring effect since the story being told is trying to take itself seriously. The plugsuits gets tighter, to the point where they in some cases cannot be distinguished from body paint. On the whole, the designs are either over-engineered and designed messes or comically dumbed down to the point of pointlessness.

In of design, the movie is a clear downgrade from the previous two entries.

The animation itself suffers from the above, having to give life to such janky and awkward designs. Although Evangelion was never at any one point known for it's detailed character animation - detailed mechanic animation perhaps, but the characters are as stiff as ever. Not that it's a bad thing, it's fitting the established style. But even the mechanical animation in this appears rigid, and in some cases like in the opening battle where the space carriage opens itself, very much appears like an amateur 3D animation project with it's linear movement - even in space. Imaishi brings his own style to the table, which may be well done on it's own, but it too ends up jarring itself with the designs and art style of the rest of the movie, being mostly 3D.

Despite all it's flaws, the overall impression is that of an expensive and crisp animation. A 5/10.

As for the soundtrack, Shiro Sagisu does exactly what he's done the last two movies - which works out, more or less. Definitely the best part of the movie - a 6/10

It's sad to say that the above are the only good things about the movie - the techincal aspects, the crafts that can be bought with enough money and man hours. What's more difficult to create, is an engaging story people believe in and can take seriously. What's even more difficult, is to create well-founded characters that live within said story. This movie does not even come close to achieving any of that.

Even if one were to close one's eyes to the abrupt change of setting where every single change is handwaved away by some external unknown plot device, one would still be left with a situation where even the established setting fails to justify itself. The same goes for it's characters, who proclaim to want one thing, but inexplicably does another. In the case of WILLE, they proudly explain themselves as enemies of NERV, EVA awakenings, and detail to the protagonist (and the viewer) how to preven them - only to proceed doing exactly what they were trying to prevent in the first place. At this point, if one hadn't lost the sense of disbelief already, this is the point where most people do like Shinji and "get off" the story. It's no longer something to be taken seriously, as the characters have clearly been turned into plot devices with no motivations, development or even detailed characterizations of their own. They simply do what the plot requires them to, regardless of it making sense or not. What's left of these characters are only empty husks with precision-engineered sexy and moe appearances to appeal to the otaku that are already attached to these characters.
The plot is contrived, unrealistic, and seems purpose-built just to achieve a singular thing:
The pointless and damaging removal of Rei's character, a principal figure in the previous two movies. This character is simply whisked away and handwaved away, despite being last seen at the same place as Shinji, as well as the "SDAT" they were holding. Everything makes it out, including the SDAT - only not Rei. This couldn't be ratified or explained rationally, but the writers were still keen on doing this - so they introduce a timeskip, and suddenly make the entire cast hate Shinji and unreluctant to explain anything. Not even to themselves or inbetween themselves. This is only the first half of the movie. The last half is worse and continues the same trend of neglecting story, character and plot in order to conjure up fanservice scenes for certain fans in the audience.

Some might comment that they enjoy the confusion and lack of coherence, citing a similar experience while watching End of Evangelion - which speaks for itself. Their lacking understanding of both 3.0 and EoE is just that, a complete lack of understanding. Those that do understand 3.0, understand that it's a surgically precise movie intended not to create a story, but rather a framework which obsessive otaku can relate to. It has no value of it's own, it is effectively void of characterization or depth, what's in it is purely what you project onto it. As such, 3.0 becomes the ultimate device for escapism - but only for certain otaku.

This is why none of the reviewers, none of it's fans have even after five years been able to produce a story that works in this movie, much less a message that is genuine, and not an unsubtle mandate from the director for which character to like or not to like. It all comes down to the creators egotism in the end, which is understandable if you know Anno. His works past EoE have been described by his peers as "masturbatory", in which he only creates works to please himself. Therefore watching his stories is like watching him masturbate live. That and many other golden nuggets concerning Anno can be read here: https://www.gwern.net/otaku

In short, there is no story. There are no real characters. There most certainly, isn't any genuine message that isn't the crude egotism mentioned above: "like my favorite characters or else". Only in the technical, strict sense are there characters, as in there is a persona with a name that exists within the story. But they do not develop or act as anything but plot devices. What's left of them is their superficial value, which is where Kaworu comes in - the character with an alleged deep relationship with the main character that does not exist in the movie. Anno proclaims their relationship meaningful, and so it is - without it actually being that in the movie. It's crafted for his own increasingly extremist cult following.

This is one of the rare cases where the story, characters and plot do deserve a 1/10. It can't receive a rating unless it's actually there.

The same goes for the value and entertainment one might get of it - it's completely dependent on the viewer already being a subscriber to the idea that a story can be demolished as long as their favorite character is portrayed positively. In essence, that is what 3.0 turned Rebuild into. It's extremely niche, but attracts an extremely loyal fanbase. For regular people, there is no enjoyment.

As a whole I'd give it a three out of ten. One point for the music, one point for the animation, and another for the audiovisual direction.

Compilation/Alternative Version Review
This material is a movie/OVA compilation or alternative version of an original work that was previously aired in TV format. The review will only comment on the differences between those works, therefore those who want a full analysis of the show must read the original review before this. I won't be reducing the scores solely because the work is a retelling, my scores will reflect the work as a standalone as far as I can.

Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Q (Evangelion 3.33) is the third movie of the tetraology that rebuilds the classical Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE). This time, however, we take the "rebuild" word to the extreme, as nothing here is the same as the alternative telling of the TV series. Those who want a better understanding of this review must also read the review of NGE and the first movie.

Differences
After the first movie of the tetraology was released I noticed many were disappointed because it didn't have anything different or new. I was one of those, but I saw people really angry because of that. The second movie parted with the original plotline a bit and succeeded in being fun, even though it lacked the depth of the original's psychological play. They nearly stripped the show of its slice-of-life portion and put Shinji to the sidelines while focusing on Asuka and the action-packed events that unfolded.

Now, in this third movie, we get back to Shinji. Studio Kara made sure to listen to the demanding more changes and the events of this movie are totally different than anything you've expected. As a start, the Third Impact, which basically meant "end of the world" in the TV series, happened in the last scene of the second movie. So, what can a post-apocalyptic setting do to keep itself as Evangelion? That's a tough job, and one that even Studio Kara failed to perform.

1. What the f...
   Right off the bat you're given even more information than in the entire second movie. , names, characters, objects, a red sea, weird ships, new angel (Was that truly an angel? The show never bothered to be clear about it), Asuka with an eyepatch, Ristuko with a new terrible hairstyle, Misato acting like the angry pirate captain, etc. What I thought was that NERV went rogue against SEELE, but nope, Misato is the one that went rogue against NERV, creating a new organization. But that's something you don't need to bother. They are only mentioned twice in the show and you're left completely blank about what exactly happened after the last scene of the second movie.
   
   How did all this sh*t happened?
   Anyway, I don't mind the pirate-style but... an airship? Or is this a spaceship? Flying cruisers and frigattes suspended by an AT-Field (or magic? They don't tell about that either)? Fourteen years has ed? Wow, that's a lot of things to see within 10 minutes. Care to explain about it then? No? Not even a simple explanation?
   
   The show never bothers to clear our doubts. It just throws more and more stuff at you, expecting to be "mysterious", but sadly none of it makes sense considering what happened in the first two movies. Fourteen years ed, Shinji and Asuka look the same and the only thing you get about it is "Eva's curse". Asuka's personality changed a LOT and prepare yourself to wonder why until the next movie, because you'll barely see her this time around. Misato also look a lot rebellious and angry as she never was and you won't be getting an explanation for that either. The world nearly ended with Shinji's trying to save Ayanami, but even this is left out of explanation. What happened to mankind? Why is everything so damn red? Care to tell us why there is a new spear besides Longinus? Care to tell us anything?
   
   One hour to start...
   Alright. After the flashy and overwhelming start what we have is about one hour of Shinji recollecting himself in an attempt to make up for the lack of psychological play in the second movie. This time though, is not as nicely done, as he still questions the same things he did before as if nothing happened of more importance (like the Third Impact, death of all humans, Misato going rogue, NERV reduced to a pile of rocks, etc). Even when he finally learns that his mother was a testing subject to the Unit 01 (finally something familiar here) he simply ignores it and move along with Kaworu by playing piano. Is this Shinji? The guy who broke at every new hardship he faced? The cry-boy who never managed to act without a big push from Misato, his father, or one of the girls? Anyway, it takes one hour, which is basically two-thirds of the movie in order to the plot move forward. So expect a lot of weird scenes between Shinji and Kaworu, more scenes as he once again attempts to understand Ayanami (although there's no progression whatsoever this time) and anything else that doesn't make sense. Then you finally have something happening.
   
   Seriously?
   Okay. The Third Impact happening mid-show was intriguing and promised a lot of changes. But now... another one? The show simply goes crazy in this third movie. Not only it lacks any explanation of how things ended up this way or why fourteen years ed, but it also forgets to promote any kind of character development besides going in rounds with Shinji. Asuka only yells her punch line now "Baka Shinji!!". Mari is... what is she anyway? Once again she is left to the sidelines, useless and completely unecessary, I thought they were going to use her now, but that's not the case, she's just one more girl to make promotion material in sexy toys and marketing. Misato is only angry with the world and that's it. We have Touji's sister which is totally useless, Gendou now only talks in circles and even shorter lines. Kaworu is even less developed than in any other Evangelion rip-off I've seen and in his only struggle he already breaks and vanishes. Hell, it's hard to find something decent here. And hey... where's Kaji?
   
   Bones?
   I've wrote in my review of the second movie that it started to look like a Bones show. Now it simply sured the lack of sense of any Bones show I've seen. The bizarre setting doesn't give us any notion of how the world currently is. The dialogue is completely based on that we barely know about. The characters only talk shortly and quickly, always mysterious or without giving us a direct answer. The only guy who talks in a way the audience can understand is Shinji, but even he has changed to something different. He was the cry-boy without self-motivation, now he magically becomes the boy who acts even when everyone around tells him not to. Asuka with an eye-patch. Rei dumber than ever. No slice-of-life to develop these bizarre personalities. Unit 02 with a mad-dog-mode when I though Eva's were created in the image of god and humans. Adam-vessels? When did that absurdly big ship got built? Why? What the fu*k happened? Another impact? One more spear? Sh*t, Evangelion was always complex, but they had references in the sidelines. Like Longinus spear, Lilith, Adam, the Third Impact as a biblical apocalypse, angels, survival, cloning, etc. Now it's just... just... I don't know what it is anymore. Even Bones failed to create such a convoluted show as this. The Instrumentability overwhelmed the entire show.
   
   Production Values
   At least the animation quality is still as good as ever, although the red background plagues the show and takes out a lot of the beauty of having a background at all. Sound-wise the show is as good as ever, maybe even better than the last ones, with no nostalgic feel attached this time.

Comments
Well, with this my expectations of the show went downhill. I was a bit suspicious things could go badly after Studio Kara gave a convoluted ending to the second movie, throwing new when they were supposed to be explaining old ones, but now it's certain.

It's terrible for me to see this. One of the greatest animation of the industry turned into a mind-twisting fest full of , no explanation, lots of flashy new ships, eye-patch girl, pink-useless girl, lack of personalities, lack of beautiful backgrounds, etc. It's not even a good show to look at because, although it has top-quality art and animation, the concept itself is broken and is basically a bunch of red seas with red sand in a red sky with red ruins and mechas spilling red blood. Ah, and red halos, red clouds, red... argh, so much red.

Anyway. Now I can't say I'm expecting anything good from the last movie. Even if they once again completely change everything it will still lack any sense. If they try to explain everything that happened it is bound to become even more convoluted and bizarre, and if they don't we'll be all left in the dark (or in the red, in this case). If at least Shinji acted like Shinji when it mattered, or Asuka and Misato were still the same characters as before, maybe something could be salvaged.

Average Scores of the Movies

Evangelion 3.0: Q – You can (not) redo: The wait was long, the expectations were high, the speculation went beyond reason. And still, when it finally hit the audience after a three year's wait, all we could think was:
We were (not) prepared for this!
Nevertheless my experience with this film was an intense and touching yet disturbing one. I would even compare it to my first watching of End of Evangelion. Thus I want to present you with my personal experience of the movie and while you are reading, please bear in mind that this is merely my individual experience, since this movie has managed to evoke very different reactions in viewers. Here goes:

Visuals/Audio:
Let's get the easy stuff done first: No matter what you think of this film, there's one thing you just can't deny: The animation is simply gorgeous! It even sures it's preceding movies and watching this in 1080p is pure eye-candy! The character models are detailed as ever, the backgrounds look stunning and even the CGI Models blend in very smoothly with the drawn animation (and there's a lot of them).
The character design has changed slightly for a lot of characters but in a convincing and natural way. Nothing feels forced or implausible and the new designs reflect the new environment and circumstances that those characters had to deal with very nicely (more later). For most of the main cast (the Children) the design has stayed pretty much the same, only Asuka got some pretty nifty enhancements. The technical design has also changed slightly. We get to see most of the classic EVA-Designs (00 – 02), although in some cases on new Units. We also get a few great, completely new EVAs and the old ones are changed and enhanced in a lot of ways. Another thing that really convinced me are the designs of the new technical and sci-fi elements which certainly improved a lot in the time between 2.0 and 3.0!

Needless to say, the soundtrack is another masterpiece from the master Sagisu-san himself! The music relies heavily on orchestral arrangements and choirs on the one hand and calm piano pieces on the other. Even Johann Sebastian Bach's “Ode to Joy” found it's way back onto the soundtrack. The music in general carries a much more dark and serious tone than the previous soundtracks, which of course relates to the movies different setting and atmosphere. The only thing that bugged me a little was that in my feeling the background music was far to faint in most scenes and sometimes barely noticeable! In this way some tracks didn't quite get the momentum they deserved in my eyes.

9/10

Plot (spoilers ahead):
Ok, now this is where it get's difficult...
I think the one big issue or “problem” with this movie is simply the massive time skip between the Near Third Impact ending of 2.0 and the beginning of 3.0: Since the awakening of EVA 01, the start of Third Impact and it's sudden reset by Kaworu and Mark.06, a full 14 years have ed and the world has changed quite a bit. Just let that number sink in for a moment... 14 years! Needless to say, a lot has happened in those years and so the chaos unfolds.
With the start of the movie the viewer is thrown right into the shoes of the protagonist, who awakens from a 14 year absence and is thrown into a new, disturbing and cruel world that neither he nor the viewer can comprehend at this point. Very quickly most of the old main characters are reintroduced such as Misato, Ritsuko, Asuka, Mari and yes, even the Bridge Bunnies Maya, Aoba and Hyuga are back. But alas, we are not in the well known comfort zone of NERV Headquarters and waiting for the next Angel attack. Instead, we find ourselves within a new paramilitary faction under the lead of Misato Katsuragi who now obviously fight NERV and SEELE and their plans for Human Instrumentality: WILLE! Why and how all of this came to , no one bothers to explain to poor Shinji (or the viewer). Instead Shinji is getting nothing but very negative emotions and distrust from absolutely everyone of his old comrades and that only adds to the confusion. Without explaining all the details, the plot is set into motion when a seemingly recovered Rei Ayanami attacks WILLE in the new Eva Mark.09 and takes Shinji to the old NERV Headquarters where he once again meets his father Gendo (of course with Fuyutsuki-san attached). Within the old/new NERV confusion and despair continue: Most of Headquarters is destroyed and Gendo, Fuyutsuki and Rei are the only people left there. Still, no one bothers to explain anything to Shinji.
It is at this point that the second part of the movie starts with a fateful meeting: Amidst all the horror and depression of this new world, Shinji encounters a ray of hope: Kaworu. The most part of the movie is marked by Shinji's and Kaworu's interaction and Shinji's desperate tries of reaching out to the strangely apathetic Rei while trying to find answers to his/our questions. The viewer and Shinji finally get a little bit of history about the drastically changed world from Kaworu, but that only generates more questions than it answers. In the end, Kaworu shoulders Shinji's burden and offers him a possibility to erase all the pain and confusion and to redo the changes done to the world.
This leads to the climax and the finale of the movie which is now marked by action, strife and chaos. And if the viewer wasn't confused enough already, in the last 30 minutes of the movie there's just so much stuff happening which neither you nor the protagonist can comprehend in any way, that at some point I just lost track and simply sat there watching, completely overwhelmed by the events.

Maybe some of you a different movie in the Evangelion series, while reading this... Yes, I am of course talking about End of Evangelion. The experience of my first viewing of 3.0 came pretty near to that of my first time experiencing EoE. Meaning that at the end I was completely overwhelmed and just thinking: What did I just watch?!
And while this kind of experience is probably the reason a lot of people didn't like Eva 3.0, for me it was simply amazing! I love it when a movie manages to completely pull me out of my comfort zone while demanding all my thoughts and senses to concentrate just to handle the impact of the experience. It is then that a movie becomes much more than just entertainment but a challenge and a riddle that leave me with dozens of questions and sensations to think about. I spent the week after my first viewing researching Evangelion forums and fan theories and after a second viewing last weekend a lot of things became a little clearer and less overwhelming. Since EoE, no other movie has been able to provoke this reactions in me and therefore I have come to love Evangelion 3.0 for all that it is: all the confusion, despair and overload that makes this film such a challenging and yet so rewarding experience. Maybe some parts of it could have used more time and the pacing could have been a bit more humane, but in the end I have to conclude:

8/10

Characters:
Now, that we have the hardest part out of the way, let's make this one quick.
The movie has a heavy focus on Shinji and his interactions with Kaworu, so we don't really get to see much of the other characters. That is kind of disappointing since all of them have many new stories to tell and many new facets to explore. Also the new WILLE-Crew hardly gets any attention which is a pity since some of them have a lot of potential. Maybe the time skip would make for an awesome WILLE-centered OVA... ? Another interesting character here is Asuka and her reactions to Shinji. Although she shows mostly resentment and her typical bossy attitude towards him (he even gets a new nickname) there are still some moments that hint at a lot more beneath the surface...
Still Shinji's character development is reasonable and well executed. Kaworu finally gets some of the screen time he deserves (but still too few) and the new (tentative) Rei Ayanami also makes for a lot of creepy yet interesting moments in the movie. Kaworu mostly serves the same purpose as a ray of hope for shinji as he did in the original series but their interactions and cooperation get a new level of depth and another brutal climax...
Overall this movie centers around Shinji's decline into absolute despair which we know quite well from Episode 25/26 or EoE. For the rest of the cast, it merely set the stage for the great finale yet to come!

7/10

Impact/Value:
In the end, what is it that makes this movie so remarkable?
My answer would be this: For the first time in the Evangelion Series, we as the viewers really get to identify with Shinji and his situation! By giving the viewer near to no clues about what happened during the time skip and how the new world came to , we are in the exact same situation as Shinji. More than once Shinji utters an overwhelmed “What is going on? What is this?!” and the viewer can only nod and agree with him. With the ing of the movie Shinjis confusion and despair become more and more tangible and eventually become the viewers own emotions. That is what I call identification with the main character! Think about it: When in the original series did you ever really see things from Shinjis standpoint instead of silently judging him from outside in the light of his actions and surroundings?
With this movie Anno-san has taken another step forward with the story of Evangelion by finally giving the audience the chance to feel and suffer with the main character in a pure way and thus preparing us for his/our final katharsis to come!
Also, by breaking with most traditions of the story and offering something completely new in of plot and setting, we are given not only a lot of questions but the possibility to search and find our own answers to all those questions again. And isn't that what made a good part of NGE's appeal? Evangelion has always been more than simple entertainment but an emotional quest and challenge not only for its characters but also for its viewers. That's why we love it!
With Evangelion 3.0: Q Anno-san has managed to truly revive all those factors about Evangelion and to stir up the audience's emotions again... albeit in a different way. And for this I thank him.

9/10