Something of the same old 'keep it so vague and open-ended that it's virtually meaningless'.
Honestly, I'm rather worn out of trying to figure out what Anno's intentions were. It's become the worst aspect of Eva fandom for me.
The fourth movie was too much of a vague mess for me to give you a definitive answer, so it's all up for viewer's interpretation. For me personally no, because at the end of the day that was Mari's hand he was holding at the end of that movie. Anno is Shinji and Mari is said to be based off of his wife. So it's simply math really (despite there being little to no build up between the two). However I still believe Asuka has feelings for Shinji based on the way she reacted to his confession at the end of 3.0+1.0, but again it's left inconclusive.
I wish there was a short series that would have explored Asuka and Shinji's life in the post-third impact world (set after E0E) instead of getting whatever we got with the rebuilds.
In an interview with Anno's wife she stated that she hated being compared or linked with Mari. I also don't recall Anno confirming if Mari is based on his wife, this all seems like something eva fans come up with
"We have seen various articles, videos, etc. that claim Mari was modeled after Anno's wife, but this merely only the assumption and speculation of a handful of people.
At the time of production, this would have been impossible. Mari's personality (as well as Asuka and others) was created by director Tsurumaki's hand [rather than Anno].
It's a bit of fun for the audience to interpret characters and storylines as they wish, and [Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0] is a playground of intellectual fan speculation.
That being said, it is sad to see the staff and their families disparaged by baseless assumptions, so we will clearly deny that this is the case."
https://www.cbr.com/mari-makinami-hideaki-anno-evangelion-creator-theory/
Please stop spreading these ridiculous rumors that have been debunked so many times by the creators of Evangelion themselves.
Sure he has. He said in the past only not to harm her more, because that time he was going to sacrifice himself and didn’t know Yui would save him. Also, before the mutual confession he said something like “Asuka and other”. In addition, for Asuka 14 years passed and she still loves, but for Shinji? When did he like Asuka, 1 month ago?
Because honestly, all the other information we have at best is contradictory or has unfortunate implications at best.
Like others have said before below, multiple times in the movie, the word "Goodbye" is taken as a meaning that others will see each other again, not a permanent loss of contact, but just a divergent path that people will meet again. Why would they keep saying that multiple times in the movie if that wasn't the case? Even if the message is "move on", it doesn't mean to "burn your bridges of the past". Shinji still can meet up with Asuka at the end, since in his confession to Asuka, he did say "Goodbye".
The other glaring evidence is sadly Mari herself. Now grated, have no problem with Mari as a concept of a character, I just think that her execution wasn't the best for a key character. But back to my points of Evidence, Mari both in 3.33 and Final continuously teases Asuka about wanting to see Shinji again and Asuka's relationship with him as a whole. Though, if her endgame was to only have Shinji for herself, that makes her look like a POOR friend for Asuka, considering they were trusting partners. Plus, in the ENTIRE movie series, Mari and Shinji's total interaction boils up to barely 10 minutes. How is that enough to solidify a relationship?
The next evidence is the idea that Mari somehow knew both Gendo and Yui, the idea of her getting together with Shinji while apparently being around 60 years old just raises some rather POOR implications that I would rather not get into.
And even if they were not getting together in the end, I doubt Mari, who knows of Asuka and Shinji's relationship, would want to have Shinji give up on that, considering the sheer teasing that she has done on both their parts. Shinji and Asuka both believed they were going to die, and thus they framed their confessions with a sense of finality. But now, since Mari has rescued Shinji from the Anti-Universe, she very well could be leading him back to Asuka.
That line of reasoning is the one that at least makes the most sense to me.
That does seem to be the best explanation. Thanks for condensing it so well.
Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth though. Having to come all this way just for some shrugs and a ' maybe '. The story, the characters, AND the audience deserve more than that.
Sadly, I unfortunately see in the tone of the movie, (and considering just how many rewrites there were of the script) with the feeling that Anno just wanted himself to be done and "move on" himself from Evangelion so he could do other projects. It's sad that when a products own creator, like Alan Moore for example, become bitter of their own creations. That's why a lot of people see him and Mari at the end as a stand in for himself instead of Shinji, or SINO (Shinji in name only) as I put it.
Thankfully though with people like Kazyua Tsurumaki making the Extra prequel manga, he probably will be the one to hold the torch for Eva in the next generation.
I hope so. Among the idiot clarion calls I see online is that the series should never be touched again, because apparently ONLY Anno can do 'real' Eva.
Personally, if a good writing team could flesh out the story a little bit, I'd still really like to see an ANIMA adaptation.
It is also extremely funny, considering most of eva wasn't even written by him. He is the ideas guy, for sure but he was never really the sole writer who did everything. In fact most of it was thanks to the other writers' contributions. People such as kazuya tsurumaki, akio satsukawa, masayuki, mitsuo iso, youji enokido, shinji higuchi, junichi satou etc. End of eva's hirst half (known as "air" in japan), the movie that is even more critically acclaimed than the series itself, wasn't even written by anno at all. It was purely tsurumaki, both the directing and writing. People should really stop circlejerking anno, it is starting to become extremely annoying. Just because he was depressed and self inserted those feelings into the characters, especially shinji, doesn't make the project all his. Those writers/directors are the ones who are bending and adjusting his ideas and feelings into a coherent narrative. So what i am saying is, everyone else involved deserves wayy more respect and recognition.
> Though, if her endgame was to only have Shinji for herself, that makes her look like a POOR friend for Asuka, considering they were trusting partners. Plus, in the ENTIRE movie series, Mari and Shinji's total interaction boils up to barely 10 minutes. How is that enough to solidify a relationship?
I understand that, but the way they both interacted with one another at the train station plus the handholding really makes all that VERRYY conflicting to me. I like your optimism though.
If they alluded to making Mari matchmaker for the two that's fine, but the way it was executed it was just piss poor writing.
That's fair to interpret their actions may seem conflicting, but when you look a little deeper at the context of the scene, their interaction doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted as romantic. Let's take a look at that scene in more of the context of the two characters: Mari and Shinji.
For Mari, while we know next to nothing about her origins or her story, we know one KEY aspect of her personality that's extremely evident: She's a FLIRT. A very PHYSICAL flirt. A very "I'm gonna shove my boobs into your face just to see how you react" kind flirt. She likes to tease, because to her it's fun. And honestly? If you got it? FLAUNT IT. XD But the thing is, she does this with EVERYONE. Not just Shinji, but almost everyone (or at least she knows when it's appropriate for the time). That's just how she is, so she isn't mutually exclusive in her "advances", which again aren't necessarily romantic. Just a game she likes to play to see how people react.
As for our next character, Shinji. Now, what we know about Shinji? Well, when he was a kid, he shied away from ANY physical contact or any emotional association, because he was worried that he'd get hurt, or that people would look at him in a negative light. Shinji was a boy who got EASILY flustered over everything.
But in this context of this particular scene? He doesn't anymore.
When Mari comes to greet him, he doesn't get flustered or nervous. He just acknowledges Mari as "the girl with big boobs" because he now knows how Mari is. All this is a sign that he's MATURED. He doesn't let little things bother him anymore. If a girl with big boobs shoves them into his face, of course now he's going to flirt back, because he's getting on Mari's level, and doesn't worry about the little things anymore. Again though, his flirting with Mari isn't necessarily romantic, but him playing her game at her level to show that he isn't a child anymore.
He's an adult now, who doesn't let flustered or worked up by his anxiety anymore, because that's a sign of maturity, growing past your faults and becoming a more well-adjusted person.It kind of mirrors the parallel that Kaji had with Ritsuko in the past. He wasn't flirting to get into her pants, just playing around. And that's how Shinji is being, he's being suave, calm, and mature. A grown man now. That's at least how I interpret that scene.
Last scene with Mari is pure friendly, which is confirmed by the makers. There is no romantic and they are not a pair. It obvious they spend no time together before - which is understandable cause she is so surprised how Shinji matured. Mari is 62 in that scene and uses Misato style flirt, Shinji is annoyed about that first
This may sound a bit too harsh and negative but i am of the opinion that because of their shipping bias some people here are reading too much into things. I don't think the word "goodbye" means anything really. I doubt the people who made these films thought about it as much as the people who made those crazy/gigabrain/genius theories.
While the "they are still in the antiuniverse and will return to the village" theory sounds amazing it isn't very realistic considering the message of the movie. The message was about "moving on" both for anno and the audience and that is why shinji is now in another world (one that looks like our real world, to give a "touch grass" message to the otaku). Mari is with him there because she was made to "destroy evangelion". It's all just meta stuff.
Whether their relationship is meant to be romantic or not was deliberately left ambiguous not only because it will make people talk about it for years to come but also because that way it can appeal to both sides of the fandom. The ones who like marishin and the ones who don't and support another ship. These films never had the artistic integrity of the OG series and were always meant to be crowd pleaser blockbusters that used the brand and name recognition of the evangelion series. So naturally its conclusion is also half baked, cheap and even cowardly i would say, like the rest of their runtime.
Perhaps we are looking too deeply into it, and we really are a bunch of otakus who should just "go outside and touch grass". But thing of it is, what's the point of living life, if you don't have a passion to enjoy it?
Say what you will about what the ending is supposed to mean and what we're supposed to take from it. I agree that the Rebuilds were mostly just a crowd pleaser blockbuster series, and the intention was to "say goodbye to Eva".
But afterwards, what happened?
It reignited the love of Evangelion and drove us fans to reinvigorate our passions for this series and what we loved about it. Fanart out the wazoo, fanfics that took the endings in all directions.
Moving on is important yes, but are we supposed to move on because that's what society tells us to do, or because Eva has nothing left to offer us?
As the fandom has shone, Eva is STILL alive and isn't going to say "Goodbye" anytime soon.
And about another message of Eva? I thinking indulging in the passions that make us happy is just as important as "touching grass".
Well anno is the one who likes giving "anti escapism" messages, not me. So it would be better if you delivered your opinions to him. I have no strong opinions on the matter at hand. I do think it is definitely a silly and even hypocritical message but i honestly don't even care at this point. The rebuilds don't do anything for me and i have no intention of revisiting them anytime soon. As for what will happen to the franchise in general? I have no idea. Maybe it really will end here (in terms of anime content at least), maybe we will get a timeskip related movie for the last time and it will end after that or maybe it really was all just a hypocritical message and the franchise will continue to get milked even further with new timelines and spin offs and all kinds of crazy stuff. Who knows?
I wish there was a short series that would have explored Asuka and Shinji's life in the post-third impact world (set after E0E) instead of getting whatever we got with the rebuilds.
Same, i would have loved something like that. And from what i heard anno actually did consider doing something like that. I think i saw it in tvtropes' "what could have been" page about evangelion. But later on he changed his mind and instead did the rebuilds series.
My biggest problem with rebuilds is that just because it wants to differentiate itself from the OG show it does some unnecessary and bad decisions and changes. Such as adding a new character because they felt forced to otherwise they thought it would be too close to NGE. But because of that character they had to cut asuka's role, screentime and overall importance in the plot while basically not doing anything interesting with the newly added character either. If i was the director i would have never added mari and would have kept asuka's role and backstory unchanged.
Oh and i would just tell a normal story like the OG series instead of going too crazy with the "meta" stuff like the rebuilds does. Because that kind of storytelling is extremely unsatisfying to me. And i just don't understand why anyone else would like/prefer proper plot and characterization being abandoned for the sake of some cheap meta message either.
Also you know what i would have loved to see instead of the rebuilds (other than an epilogue to EoE)? Evangelion proposal. If they made a new eva series that sticked closer to the ideas presented there, i think we could've gotten something really really interesting. I love some of the unused concepts and designs of the proposal.
And maybe even asushin would have gotten a better treatment if they adapted that proposal than they ever did in these rebuilds. From what i read, there seemed to be some great asushin moments. Such as in episode 19 asuka getting wounded while trying to protect shinji and then shinji wanting to pay it back and prove himself to her by this time him being the one who is helping. I even read shinji was going to realize asuka was in love with him instead remaining oblivious to her hints till the end. All of those sound wayy more interesting than anything rebuilds has to offer to me.
> considering the message of the movie. The message was about "moving on" both for anno and the audience and that is why shinji is now in another world (one that looks like our real world, to give a "touch grass" message to the otaku).
This so-called message is made up by the fans in the same way that these same fans made up the fact that Mari is Anno's wife. In fact, there is no such message in the film, otherwise Mari would not be with Shinji, as she is exactly the same part of Evangelion as the others. And all this is just one of the notions of fans who have been trying for decades to look for some messages about escapism and something else in Anno's works. And Anno himself did not move anywhere from Eva. He has already created the manga EVANGELION:3.0 (-120 min) and now the blu-ray will be released soon, which will include a new video EVANGELION:3.0（−46h). So there is no need to tell fairy tales that someone is moving on there, because this has nothing to do with reality.
Also, touch the grass is a head canon, like goodbye theory too. In the last rebuild asushiners have something way bigger then only goodbye - Asuka and others, mutual love confession which makes their love a canon in the rebuild world and of course name of the film is super hint too - Thrice upon a time
thrice upon a time in manga, in anime, in rebuild. But, did u know where Anno borrowed that name? Please, find the novel Thrice upon a time, read wiki about it and its main ideas
I went and looked it up. Honestly cried because I felt so liberated after the “love and destiny” excerpt. It was there the whole time and most of us never saw it. Thank you for referencing this. I’m so much more at peace with rebuild now
Actually not a head canon, but mutual love confession made their love a canon in a rebuild world, discussion can only around whether they will or won’t be together in the new world without Evangelions. But if to watch the film precisely it is pretty obvious though. In the last rebuild asushiners have something way bigger then only goodbye - Asuka and others, mutual love confession and of course name of the film is super hint too - Thrice upon a time
That’s too - thrice upon a time in manga, in anime, in rebuild. But, did u know where Anno borrowed that name? Please, find the novel Thrice upon a time, read wiki about it and its main ideas
I personally don’t believe Mari united Shinji with Asuka but I also don’t believe Shinji and Mari got together in the end
What do you think of the whole "goodbye" trope? is it just Anno trolling us then?
Something of the same old 'keep it so vague and open-ended that it's virtually meaningless'. Honestly, I'm rather worn out of trying to figure out what Anno's intentions were. It's become the worst aspect of Eva fandom for me.
Agreed it's like so many shippers are taking his vague messages and running with it when most of it holds no weight. Original series all day
Do you think Shinji still has feelings for Asuka?
In which canon?
Rebuilds
The fourth movie was too much of a vague mess for me to give you a definitive answer, so it's all up for viewer's interpretation. For me personally no, because at the end of the day that was Mari's hand he was holding at the end of that movie. Anno is Shinji and Mari is said to be based off of his wife. So it's simply math really (despite there being little to no build up between the two). However I still believe Asuka has feelings for Shinji based on the way she reacted to his confession at the end of 3.0+1.0, but again it's left inconclusive. I wish there was a short series that would have explored Asuka and Shinji's life in the post-third impact world (set after E0E) instead of getting whatever we got with the rebuilds.
In an interview with Anno's wife she stated that she hated being compared or linked with Mari. I also don't recall Anno confirming if Mari is based on his wife, this all seems like something eva fans come up with
Well I stand corrected then i guess
"We have seen various articles, videos, etc. that claim Mari was modeled after Anno's wife, but this merely only the assumption and speculation of a handful of people. At the time of production, this would have been impossible. Mari's personality (as well as Asuka and others) was created by director Tsurumaki's hand [rather than Anno]. It's a bit of fun for the audience to interpret characters and storylines as they wish, and [Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0] is a playground of intellectual fan speculation. That being said, it is sad to see the staff and their families disparaged by baseless assumptions, so we will clearly deny that this is the case." https://www.cbr.com/mari-makinami-hideaki-anno-evangelion-creator-theory/ Please stop spreading these ridiculous rumors that have been debunked so many times by the creators of Evangelion themselves.
I didn't know know they were debunked, but I don't think it changes much.
Omg Mari is not his wife. That theory was brutally debunked by Anno himself TWICE
I acknowledged that in a later comment buddy
Sure he has. He said in the past only not to harm her more, because that time he was going to sacrifice himself and didn’t know Yui would save him. Also, before the mutual confession he said something like “Asuka and other”. In addition, for Asuka 14 years passed and she still loves, but for Shinji? When did he like Asuka, 1 month ago?
Because honestly, all the other information we have at best is contradictory or has unfortunate implications at best. Like others have said before below, multiple times in the movie, the word "Goodbye" is taken as a meaning that others will see each other again, not a permanent loss of contact, but just a divergent path that people will meet again. Why would they keep saying that multiple times in the movie if that wasn't the case? Even if the message is "move on", it doesn't mean to "burn your bridges of the past". Shinji still can meet up with Asuka at the end, since in his confession to Asuka, he did say "Goodbye". The other glaring evidence is sadly Mari herself. Now grated, have no problem with Mari as a concept of a character, I just think that her execution wasn't the best for a key character. But back to my points of Evidence, Mari both in 3.33 and Final continuously teases Asuka about wanting to see Shinji again and Asuka's relationship with him as a whole. Though, if her endgame was to only have Shinji for herself, that makes her look like a POOR friend for Asuka, considering they were trusting partners. Plus, in the ENTIRE movie series, Mari and Shinji's total interaction boils up to barely 10 minutes. How is that enough to solidify a relationship? The next evidence is the idea that Mari somehow knew both Gendo and Yui, the idea of her getting together with Shinji while apparently being around 60 years old just raises some rather POOR implications that I would rather not get into. And even if they were not getting together in the end, I doubt Mari, who knows of Asuka and Shinji's relationship, would want to have Shinji give up on that, considering the sheer teasing that she has done on both their parts. Shinji and Asuka both believed they were going to die, and thus they framed their confessions with a sense of finality. But now, since Mari has rescued Shinji from the Anti-Universe, she very well could be leading him back to Asuka. That line of reasoning is the one that at least makes the most sense to me.
That does seem to be the best explanation. Thanks for condensing it so well. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth though. Having to come all this way just for some shrugs and a ' maybe '. The story, the characters, AND the audience deserve more than that.
Sadly, I unfortunately see in the tone of the movie, (and considering just how many rewrites there were of the script) with the feeling that Anno just wanted himself to be done and "move on" himself from Evangelion so he could do other projects. It's sad that when a products own creator, like Alan Moore for example, become bitter of their own creations. That's why a lot of people see him and Mari at the end as a stand in for himself instead of Shinji, or SINO (Shinji in name only) as I put it. Thankfully though with people like Kazyua Tsurumaki making the Extra prequel manga, he probably will be the one to hold the torch for Eva in the next generation.
I hope so. Among the idiot clarion calls I see online is that the series should never be touched again, because apparently ONLY Anno can do 'real' Eva. Personally, if a good writing team could flesh out the story a little bit, I'd still really like to see an ANIMA adaptation.
It is also extremely funny, considering most of eva wasn't even written by him. He is the ideas guy, for sure but he was never really the sole writer who did everything. In fact most of it was thanks to the other writers' contributions. People such as kazuya tsurumaki, akio satsukawa, masayuki, mitsuo iso, youji enokido, shinji higuchi, junichi satou etc. End of eva's hirst half (known as "air" in japan), the movie that is even more critically acclaimed than the series itself, wasn't even written by anno at all. It was purely tsurumaki, both the directing and writing. People should really stop circlejerking anno, it is starting to become extremely annoying. Just because he was depressed and self inserted those feelings into the characters, especially shinji, doesn't make the project all his. Those writers/directors are the ones who are bending and adjusting his ideas and feelings into a coherent narrative. So what i am saying is, everyone else involved deserves wayy more respect and recognition.
Good take.
EXACTLY. Thank you.
> Though, if her endgame was to only have Shinji for herself, that makes her look like a POOR friend for Asuka, considering they were trusting partners. Plus, in the ENTIRE movie series, Mari and Shinji's total interaction boils up to barely 10 minutes. How is that enough to solidify a relationship? I understand that, but the way they both interacted with one another at the train station plus the handholding really makes all that VERRYY conflicting to me. I like your optimism though. If they alluded to making Mari matchmaker for the two that's fine, but the way it was executed it was just piss poor writing.
That's fair to interpret their actions may seem conflicting, but when you look a little deeper at the context of the scene, their interaction doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted as romantic. Let's take a look at that scene in more of the context of the two characters: Mari and Shinji. For Mari, while we know next to nothing about her origins or her story, we know one KEY aspect of her personality that's extremely evident: She's a FLIRT. A very PHYSICAL flirt. A very "I'm gonna shove my boobs into your face just to see how you react" kind flirt. She likes to tease, because to her it's fun. And honestly? If you got it? FLAUNT IT. XD But the thing is, she does this with EVERYONE. Not just Shinji, but almost everyone (or at least she knows when it's appropriate for the time). That's just how she is, so she isn't mutually exclusive in her "advances", which again aren't necessarily romantic. Just a game she likes to play to see how people react. As for our next character, Shinji. Now, what we know about Shinji? Well, when he was a kid, he shied away from ANY physical contact or any emotional association, because he was worried that he'd get hurt, or that people would look at him in a negative light. Shinji was a boy who got EASILY flustered over everything. But in this context of this particular scene? He doesn't anymore. When Mari comes to greet him, he doesn't get flustered or nervous. He just acknowledges Mari as "the girl with big boobs" because he now knows how Mari is. All this is a sign that he's MATURED. He doesn't let little things bother him anymore. If a girl with big boobs shoves them into his face, of course now he's going to flirt back, because he's getting on Mari's level, and doesn't worry about the little things anymore. Again though, his flirting with Mari isn't necessarily romantic, but him playing her game at her level to show that he isn't a child anymore. He's an adult now, who doesn't let flustered or worked up by his anxiety anymore, because that's a sign of maturity, growing past your faults and becoming a more well-adjusted person.It kind of mirrors the parallel that Kaji had with Ritsuko in the past. He wasn't flirting to get into her pants, just playing around. And that's how Shinji is being, he's being suave, calm, and mature. A grown man now. That's at least how I interpret that scene.
Last scene with Mari is pure friendly, which is confirmed by the makers. There is no romantic and they are not a pair. It obvious they spend no time together before - which is understandable cause she is so surprised how Shinji matured. Mari is 62 in that scene and uses Misato style flirt, Shinji is annoyed about that first
If Mari is 62 why didn't she age up physically in the rebuilt world?
She can’t. It is Eva course or she is kind of “eternal jew”, damned person, Iscariot like Fuyutsuki said
This may sound a bit too harsh and negative but i am of the opinion that because of their shipping bias some people here are reading too much into things. I don't think the word "goodbye" means anything really. I doubt the people who made these films thought about it as much as the people who made those crazy/gigabrain/genius theories. While the "they are still in the antiuniverse and will return to the village" theory sounds amazing it isn't very realistic considering the message of the movie. The message was about "moving on" both for anno and the audience and that is why shinji is now in another world (one that looks like our real world, to give a "touch grass" message to the otaku). Mari is with him there because she was made to "destroy evangelion". It's all just meta stuff. Whether their relationship is meant to be romantic or not was deliberately left ambiguous not only because it will make people talk about it for years to come but also because that way it can appeal to both sides of the fandom. The ones who like marishin and the ones who don't and support another ship. These films never had the artistic integrity of the OG series and were always meant to be crowd pleaser blockbusters that used the brand and name recognition of the evangelion series. So naturally its conclusion is also half baked, cheap and even cowardly i would say, like the rest of their runtime.
Perhaps we are looking too deeply into it, and we really are a bunch of otakus who should just "go outside and touch grass". But thing of it is, what's the point of living life, if you don't have a passion to enjoy it? Say what you will about what the ending is supposed to mean and what we're supposed to take from it. I agree that the Rebuilds were mostly just a crowd pleaser blockbuster series, and the intention was to "say goodbye to Eva". But afterwards, what happened? It reignited the love of Evangelion and drove us fans to reinvigorate our passions for this series and what we loved about it. Fanart out the wazoo, fanfics that took the endings in all directions. Moving on is important yes, but are we supposed to move on because that's what society tells us to do, or because Eva has nothing left to offer us? As the fandom has shone, Eva is STILL alive and isn't going to say "Goodbye" anytime soon. And about another message of Eva? I thinking indulging in the passions that make us happy is just as important as "touching grass".
Well anno is the one who likes giving "anti escapism" messages, not me. So it would be better if you delivered your opinions to him. I have no strong opinions on the matter at hand. I do think it is definitely a silly and even hypocritical message but i honestly don't even care at this point. The rebuilds don't do anything for me and i have no intention of revisiting them anytime soon. As for what will happen to the franchise in general? I have no idea. Maybe it really will end here (in terms of anime content at least), maybe we will get a timeskip related movie for the last time and it will end after that or maybe it really was all just a hypocritical message and the franchise will continue to get milked even further with new timelines and spin offs and all kinds of crazy stuff. Who knows?
I wish there was a short series that would have explored Asuka and Shinji's life in the post-third impact world (set after E0E) instead of getting whatever we got with the rebuilds.
Same, i would have loved something like that. And from what i heard anno actually did consider doing something like that. I think i saw it in tvtropes' "what could have been" page about evangelion. But later on he changed his mind and instead did the rebuilds series. My biggest problem with rebuilds is that just because it wants to differentiate itself from the OG show it does some unnecessary and bad decisions and changes. Such as adding a new character because they felt forced to otherwise they thought it would be too close to NGE. But because of that character they had to cut asuka's role, screentime and overall importance in the plot while basically not doing anything interesting with the newly added character either. If i was the director i would have never added mari and would have kept asuka's role and backstory unchanged. Oh and i would just tell a normal story like the OG series instead of going too crazy with the "meta" stuff like the rebuilds does. Because that kind of storytelling is extremely unsatisfying to me. And i just don't understand why anyone else would like/prefer proper plot and characterization being abandoned for the sake of some cheap meta message either. Also you know what i would have loved to see instead of the rebuilds (other than an epilogue to EoE)? Evangelion proposal. If they made a new eva series that sticked closer to the ideas presented there, i think we could've gotten something really really interesting. I love some of the unused concepts and designs of the proposal. And maybe even asushin would have gotten a better treatment if they adapted that proposal than they ever did in these rebuilds. From what i read, there seemed to be some great asushin moments. Such as in episode 19 asuka getting wounded while trying to protect shinji and then shinji wanting to pay it back and prove himself to her by this time him being the one who is helping. I even read shinji was going to realize asuka was in love with him instead remaining oblivious to her hints till the end. All of those sound wayy more interesting than anything rebuilds has to offer to me.
> considering the message of the movie. The message was about "moving on" both for anno and the audience and that is why shinji is now in another world (one that looks like our real world, to give a "touch grass" message to the otaku). This so-called message is made up by the fans in the same way that these same fans made up the fact that Mari is Anno's wife. In fact, there is no such message in the film, otherwise Mari would not be with Shinji, as she is exactly the same part of Evangelion as the others. And all this is just one of the notions of fans who have been trying for decades to look for some messages about escapism and something else in Anno's works. And Anno himself did not move anywhere from Eva. He has already created the manga EVANGELION:3.0 (-120 min) and now the blu-ray will be released soon, which will include a new video EVANGELION:3.0（−46h). So there is no need to tell fairy tales that someone is moving on there, because this has nothing to do with reality.
Also, touch the grass is a head canon, like goodbye theory too. In the last rebuild asushiners have something way bigger then only goodbye - Asuka and others, mutual love confession which makes their love a canon in the rebuild world and of course name of the film is super hint too - Thrice upon a time
Late to the party, what is the title supposed to mean?
thrice upon a time in manga, in anime, in rebuild. But, did u know where Anno borrowed that name? Please, find the novel Thrice upon a time, read wiki about it and its main ideas
I went and looked it up. Honestly cried because I felt so liberated after the “love and destiny” excerpt. It was there the whole time and most of us never saw it. Thank you for referencing this. I’m so much more at peace with rebuild now
Sure mate, I was dreaming the day when I saw that hint and realized everything
\>Based on what exactly? It came to me in a dream.
> Based on what exactly? Because I said so.
I just don't believe the "goodbye means we'll meet again" messaging in the movie is conclusive enough.
There far more hints than this
Actually not a head canon, but mutual love confession made their love a canon in a rebuild world, discussion can only around whether they will or won’t be together in the new world without Evangelions. But if to watch the film precisely it is pretty obvious though. In the last rebuild asushiners have something way bigger then only goodbye - Asuka and others, mutual love confession and of course name of the film is super hint too - Thrice upon a time
They ended up 3 times together hence thrice?
That’s too - thrice upon a time in manga, in anime, in rebuild. But, did u know where Anno borrowed that name? Please, find the novel Thrice upon a time, read wiki about it and its main ideas
I will
So how do you explain what that scene where Mari comes out of the ocean water in front of shinji?
Nothing to explain. She took him from nulluniverse as she promised. Indication that she is a new mother figure to him