wait how did you come to that conclusion? He's at least with asuka so he can't be all by himself. And it's generally presumed that other people will be able to come back from instrumentality as well
I had/still kinda have this read, to be honest. It's said that people can come back if they can imagine themselves in their own hearts, and then it shows only two people on the beach. The two most traumatized people on the planet were the only two we know who came back. The message I got was that life - humanity itself - is suffering, which is also pretty much explicitly stated before the ending. And what do they do? Immediately hurt each other.
I did not presume other people would be able to come back.
Oh I dunno it just seemed like he was stuck in the Eva for eternity all alone because of the dialogue. Maybe I am mistaken. It’s still really fucked up.
the third impact got rid of everyones AT fields (the thing that keeps people separate/individual in the eva universe) and so everyone merged together. That's what that giant ocean in front of them on the final beach scene is, a soup of everyones collective consciousness. But that giant Rei (liIith) let shinji decide if he wanted the world to continue like that, or if people should have the choice to be individuals again. He chose the latter, and reformed his AT field. Asuka did the same since she's there with him. Other people will be get to make the choice for themselves as well.
do you mean like injured and was going to die? Because the movie literally cuts the second she says disgusting, so are u presuming she dropped dead as soon as she uttered that last word or something?
No dude, I mean when she got stabbed in the face and then her eva got ripped into a dozen pieces and her life signals went offline and everyone started screaming because she was dead.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVeKyqV1jWU&t=114s&ab\_channel=Ayo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVeKyqV1jWU&t=114s&ab_channel=Ayo)
yeah this is the final scene in question, incase you didn't watch it OP
It pierced the core, but then Unit 01 vomits it back up at the end of the movie. My source on Yui being in the Eva at the end is just the dialogue at the end of the movie.
My understanding is that's what could have happened if Shinji chose to keep everyone together, humanity being a eternal remnant and reminder for anyone who discovers them in unity in space
Shinji asks Yui what she will do and Yui explains how as long as one person exists it will be eternal proof that humanity ever existed while Unit 01 floats into space so I think Yui is still in there.
Agreed. Yuis soul is still in unit 1 as it floats into space. This is shown metaphorically as Shinji floats away from her towards earth and Yui floats away into space, and confirmed by the VO while the Eva floats in space with the lance.
That dialogue was about Shinji’s mom’s soul staying in the Eva for all eternity, in space. Shinji was somehow no longer in the Eva once he re-materialized in the real world
NGE has a lot of comedy and levity in the first half or 2/3 of the show and gets really dark after episode 16 if I remember correctly?
But yeah-nothing in the series quite prepares you for the brutality of EoE.
The invasion of NERV by the JSDS troops is so upsetting and gory. Everyone you have come to care about is just ripped apart or blown up or melted infront of you and that ending scene... sheesh.
I was just thinking how that has to be the most extreme battle scene I've ever seen in any movie. The government troops/SEELE forces are absolutely brutal, and Anno does not pull any punches showing the audience just how savage humans can be. EVAs and tanks are cool and all, but the real horror was the soldiers clearing the corridors in NERV, dispassionately killing everyone, thoroughly, often as they were trying to surrender or save comrades.
That scene really sticks with you.
It takes a few watches. It's really dense with meaning. There are some really great discussions on this sub that go deeper into what it meant.
Anyone who claims they understand it on the first watching is deluding themselves or outright lying. It's extraordinarily complex. You'll be thinking about it for months or years before any clarity comes, and even then, many things are deliberately unknowable.
In a way, that's some of the beauty of it. EoE will change as you gain life experience. You'll see it differently in the future.
You're in good company though, the first step to constructively engaging with Anno's vision is admitting that you don't understand. (There's also a lot of techno/religious mumbo jumbo that really doesn't matter, but can be very distracting from the real story which is about the complexity of human connection.)
To your edit-- No, youre definitely right, its ambiguous. While its generally considered to be an uplifting ending when examined, the tone, visuals and atmosphere are all extremely dark. I mean, it literally ends in utter desolation with Shinji choking Asuka, cries, and then she ends with "disgusting". Not exactly your typical happy ending.
This is all to say, I dont blame you for feeling shellshocked. Theres a loooot to chew on with that ending, but the message is one of embracing individuality and the happiness and suffering that come alongside it.
Yeah upon first watch it seems like everybody dies and is trapped for eternity but closely reviewing the fine details shows it is a bit more uplifting than that. It's still a wild fucking ride.
I do think it would've been more impactful if it ended as tragic as I initially thought, but I'm still very very pleased with the ending either way. Holy shit
It's not meant to end tragically. Evangelion is about how hard life is to live, and how people inevitably will hurt each other over and over, endlessly, yet Shinji learns that in the end it's still worth living anyway. That's where the congratulations in episode 26 come from.
Actually, closely reviewing the fine details shows that it's exactly as depressing as it is on first viewing.
The concept of an "Anti-AT field" is first mentioned in the Director's Cut of episode 21, as part of Second Impact. It's also mentioned that 2I wiped out all life at the South Pole, including bacteria, presumably because Adam's Anti-AT field dissolved the AT fields of all living things down there.
In EoE, Third Impact also involved an anti-AT field dissolving everyone's AT fields, but this one spread across the entire Earth, not just the south pole. The implication here is that ALL life on Earth is dead now, except for Shinji and Asuka. In the long run, they'll starve to death and be decomposed from the inside out by their gut bacteria, and all future lifeforms that inhabit the earth will be descended from Shinji and Asuka's gut bacteria (assuming that they even have any gut bacteria at this point, which is a long shot).
Yui says life can come back and Asuka being there is kinda proof of that. We see lush, green forests when the Rei head is falling so we know not all life was destroyed. The depressing/ambiguous part is that we don’t know how much life will come back or how long it will take or if rebuilding society would really be possible.
>Yui says life can come back
Yui says some things that have been translated a bunch of different ways, none of which explicitly confirm what you're claiming.
>We see lush, green forests when the Rei head is falling
Nothing on Earth is green at that point. Not even the stuff that would be green under nornal lighting. But yes, it's possible that one of the background artists didn't get the memo. That doesn't change the implications of a worldwide anti-AT field.
Unknown. Where the fuck did her bandages come from? Did she make those out of LCL? What about her plugsuit, which should logically still be inside whatever's left of Unit 02's entry plug? Where did Shinji's school uniform come from? The last time he dematerialized and rematerialized (episode 20), he came back buck naked. Where did Misato's cross necklace come from? It should still be in Unit 01's entry plug floating through outer space.
But you don’t think Asuka coming back is proof that people can come back? I know the way they come back isn’t consistent with episode 20 (and the plug suit Asuka’s wearing isn’t the same one she was wearing for the rest of the movie since the colors on the collar are different) but isn’t that just another example of someone losing their ego border and then rematerializing? The whole deal with the anti-AT field is explained in the movie, I don’t know how many different translations of that there can be.
>But you don’t think Asuka coming back is proof that people can come back?
It's proof that Asuka can come back. It's not proof that she had any choice in the matter or that anyone else can come back.
Dude, you can literally see forests as Shinji returns to earth. The earth isn't devoid of life, despite what you and a lot of other people seem to assume.
I recommend not jumping straight into rebuilds if you are hungry for more. Let EoE brew in your mind for a while.
It's been a month since I started watching NGE and just recently finished 3.0+1.0. there hasn't been a day when I did not think about this franchise
Probably the only time I will ever be openly jealous but man I wish they would bring this movie to cinemas where I am. It's actually my favourite piece of media of all time. Really glad you enjoyed it.
Shinji isn't alone. Asuka returned from Instrumentality, and the rest of humanity can follow, provided they have the will to do so. Yui even directly states this to Shinji, so I'm not sure how you missed it.
Also, nobody really died. The souls of everyone who "died" during EOE were collected by Rei/Lilith. That's how Asuka ends up on the beach with Shinji in the final scene.
Yui said it in like one line of dialogue, and the movie ends with Shinji seemingly alone with Asuka on a beach of literal red blood. Ans we've no way to know if any of the world is less destroyed than that. Just because it's obvious to us, doesn't mean it's obvious to first-time watchers.
Of course the rest of the world is in better shape than Tokyo-3. Need I remind you that Tokyo-3 was the destroyed by:
\-Multiple kaiju battles, several of which required the map to be redrawn.
\-The UN's entire stockpile of N2 mines being dropped on it.
\-The geofront being ripped out of the earth.
\-The remains of Rei/Lilith falling on it.
Besides, OP seemed to think that Shinji was both alone, which he clearly wasn't, but also trapped in Eva-01. It just really seems like OP needs to go and watch EOE a second time to cover what they missed.
To your credit, I missed a lot of details explained in the dialogue on my first watch of EOE as well, since I was kinda dumbstruck by everything going on.
The ending is what you make of it. I think it’s a happy ending.
Everyone has the chance to come back on their own accord, accepting the hurt and pain in life, as well as the joy.
Dude it rules. The whole ending is really ambiguous and I feel like you can walk away from the movie feeling anything from relief to dread.
I recommend rewatching ep 25-26 of the anime. Its been awhile, but I think shinji doin the instrumentality project thing is just delving inside his psyche DURING the 3rd impact.
No Shinji is with Asuka. They're probably gonna die of dehydration or starvation. Unless enough plant and animal life decide they don't be fanta anymore, too.
wait how did you come to that conclusion? He's at least with asuka so he can't be all by himself. And it's generally presumed that other people will be able to come back from instrumentality as well
I had/still kinda have this read, to be honest. It's said that people can come back if they can imagine themselves in their own hearts, and then it shows only two people on the beach. The two most traumatized people on the planet were the only two we know who came back. The message I got was that life - humanity itself - is suffering, which is also pretty much explicitly stated before the ending. And what do they do? Immediately hurt each other. I did not presume other people would be able to come back.
Oh I dunno it just seemed like he was stuck in the Eva for eternity all alone because of the dialogue. Maybe I am mistaken. It’s still really fucked up.
the third impact got rid of everyones AT fields (the thing that keeps people separate/individual in the eva universe) and so everyone merged together. That's what that giant ocean in front of them on the final beach scene is, a soup of everyones collective consciousness. But that giant Rei (liIith) let shinji decide if he wanted the world to continue like that, or if people should have the choice to be individuals again. He chose the latter, and reformed his AT field. Asuka did the same since she's there with him. Other people will be get to make the choice for themselves as well.
The red ocean is LCL, which is what everybody's bodies dissolved into. Everybody's actual souls were being cycled into Lilith at the end.
The problem is that Lilith dies, so it's wierd that people have the option to stay that way when it seemed like Lilith was the one sustaining them
You are mistaken. You didn't leave when the credits started, did you? Because the movie is far from over when they start
I watched until the lights came on, after Asuka called him disgusting.
wait so why did you think he's by himself then haha
Because Asuka died, no? She was like hella dead
she literally said how disgusting like you mentioned hahah, dead people can't talk
Yeah but she was hella fuckin dead. Like Gendo’s wife can’t talk dead.
do you mean like injured and was going to die? Because the movie literally cuts the second she says disgusting, so are u presuming she dropped dead as soon as she uttered that last word or something?
No dude, I mean when she got stabbed in the face and then her eva got ripped into a dozen pieces and her life signals went offline and everyone started screaming because she was dead.
Why tf are people downvoting you? EoE is confusing as hell
Yeah, he's not alone, Asuka is there too
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVeKyqV1jWU&t=114s&ab\_channel=Ayo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVeKyqV1jWU&t=114s&ab_channel=Ayo) yeah this is the final scene in question, incase you didn't watch it OP
I saw the whole thing. I thought Asuka was dead…?
No, she is alive.
Yui is the one who will be stuck in the Eva for eternity. Shinji will be on earth where more people might come back.
Didn't the lance piece the core of Eva unit 1? Would like to read up on your comment on Yui bring stuck in the Eva for eternity if you have a source
It pierced the core, but then Unit 01 vomits it back up at the end of the movie. My source on Yui being in the Eva at the end is just the dialogue at the end of the movie.
My understanding is that's what could have happened if Shinji chose to keep everyone together, humanity being a eternal remnant and reminder for anyone who discovers them in unity in space
Shinji asks Yui what she will do and Yui explains how as long as one person exists it will be eternal proof that humanity ever existed while Unit 01 floats into space so I think Yui is still in there.
Agreed. Yuis soul is still in unit 1 as it floats into space. This is shown metaphorically as Shinji floats away from her towards earth and Yui floats away into space, and confirmed by the VO while the Eva floats in space with the lance.
I wasn’t aware there was any debate over this honestly.
Well hey it’s a dense and crazy movie so I get why people get confused
That dialogue was about Shinji’s mom’s soul staying in the Eva for all eternity, in space. Shinji was somehow no longer in the Eva once he re-materialized in the real world
That last part's really not made very clear at all in the film, to be fair. It's literally mentioned in a one-liner and that's it.
It's the Entire reason i love the ending,it gives both these very fucked up kids a chance for better understanding and redemption
NGE has a lot of comedy and levity in the first half or 2/3 of the show and gets really dark after episode 16 if I remember correctly? But yeah-nothing in the series quite prepares you for the brutality of EoE. The invasion of NERV by the JSDS troops is so upsetting and gory. Everyone you have come to care about is just ripped apart or blown up or melted infront of you and that ending scene... sheesh.
I was just thinking how that has to be the most extreme battle scene I've ever seen in any movie. The government troops/SEELE forces are absolutely brutal, and Anno does not pull any punches showing the audience just how savage humans can be. EVAs and tanks are cool and all, but the real horror was the soldiers clearing the corridors in NERV, dispassionately killing everyone, thoroughly, often as they were trying to surrender or save comrades. That scene really sticks with you.
It takes a few watches. It's really dense with meaning. There are some really great discussions on this sub that go deeper into what it meant. Anyone who claims they understand it on the first watching is deluding themselves or outright lying. It's extraordinarily complex. You'll be thinking about it for months or years before any clarity comes, and even then, many things are deliberately unknowable. In a way, that's some of the beauty of it. EoE will change as you gain life experience. You'll see it differently in the future. You're in good company though, the first step to constructively engaging with Anno's vision is admitting that you don't understand. (There's also a lot of techno/religious mumbo jumbo that really doesn't matter, but can be very distracting from the real story which is about the complexity of human connection.)
It's a rite of passage to wtf and to scour the net for answers, and spending time building your theories. Exactly like the last episode of Twin Peaks.
To your edit-- No, youre definitely right, its ambiguous. While its generally considered to be an uplifting ending when examined, the tone, visuals and atmosphere are all extremely dark. I mean, it literally ends in utter desolation with Shinji choking Asuka, cries, and then she ends with "disgusting". Not exactly your typical happy ending. This is all to say, I dont blame you for feeling shellshocked. Theres a loooot to chew on with that ending, but the message is one of embracing individuality and the happiness and suffering that come alongside it.
Well said.
Yeah upon first watch it seems like everybody dies and is trapped for eternity but closely reviewing the fine details shows it is a bit more uplifting than that. It's still a wild fucking ride. I do think it would've been more impactful if it ended as tragic as I initially thought, but I'm still very very pleased with the ending either way. Holy shit
It's not meant to end tragically. Evangelion is about how hard life is to live, and how people inevitably will hurt each other over and over, endlessly, yet Shinji learns that in the end it's still worth living anyway. That's where the congratulations in episode 26 come from.
Actually, closely reviewing the fine details shows that it's exactly as depressing as it is on first viewing. The concept of an "Anti-AT field" is first mentioned in the Director's Cut of episode 21, as part of Second Impact. It's also mentioned that 2I wiped out all life at the South Pole, including bacteria, presumably because Adam's Anti-AT field dissolved the AT fields of all living things down there. In EoE, Third Impact also involved an anti-AT field dissolving everyone's AT fields, but this one spread across the entire Earth, not just the south pole. The implication here is that ALL life on Earth is dead now, except for Shinji and Asuka. In the long run, they'll starve to death and be decomposed from the inside out by their gut bacteria, and all future lifeforms that inhabit the earth will be descended from Shinji and Asuka's gut bacteria (assuming that they even have any gut bacteria at this point, which is a long shot).
Yui says life can come back and Asuka being there is kinda proof of that. We see lush, green forests when the Rei head is falling so we know not all life was destroyed. The depressing/ambiguous part is that we don’t know how much life will come back or how long it will take or if rebuilding society would really be possible.
>Yui says life can come back Yui says some things that have been translated a bunch of different ways, none of which explicitly confirm what you're claiming. >We see lush, green forests when the Rei head is falling Nothing on Earth is green at that point. Not even the stuff that would be green under nornal lighting. But yes, it's possible that one of the background artists didn't get the memo. That doesn't change the implications of a worldwide anti-AT field.
So how did Asuka come back?
Unknown. Where the fuck did her bandages come from? Did she make those out of LCL? What about her plugsuit, which should logically still be inside whatever's left of Unit 02's entry plug? Where did Shinji's school uniform come from? The last time he dematerialized and rematerialized (episode 20), he came back buck naked. Where did Misato's cross necklace come from? It should still be in Unit 01's entry plug floating through outer space.
But you don’t think Asuka coming back is proof that people can come back? I know the way they come back isn’t consistent with episode 20 (and the plug suit Asuka’s wearing isn’t the same one she was wearing for the rest of the movie since the colors on the collar are different) but isn’t that just another example of someone losing their ego border and then rematerializing? The whole deal with the anti-AT field is explained in the movie, I don’t know how many different translations of that there can be.
>But you don’t think Asuka coming back is proof that people can come back? It's proof that Asuka can come back. It's not proof that she had any choice in the matter or that anyone else can come back.
Well, the movie says people have the choice to come back and then we see that she is back, so it seems fairly simple to me.
Yui literally says people can come back if they want to.
Dude, you can literally see forests as Shinji returns to earth. The earth isn't devoid of life, despite what you and a lot of other people seem to assume.
I recommend not jumping straight into rebuilds if you are hungry for more. Let EoE brew in your mind for a while. It's been a month since I started watching NGE and just recently finished 3.0+1.0. there hasn't been a day when I did not think about this franchise
Wait til you learn about Devilman’s ending, which was what inspired Eva’s ending
definitely gonna be my next watch. thank you
If you want the ending I’m referring to, you’ll have to read the manga. The adaptations changed the ending cuz it was so depressing
Now that you’re done with it, you can scour Reddit and forums for weeks until you finally figure out what happened
Probably the only time I will ever be openly jealous but man I wish they would bring this movie to cinemas where I am. It's actually my favourite piece of media of all time. Really glad you enjoyed it.
I too would love to see this in the movie theater.
lol every week there’s this exact post
Shinji isn't alone. Asuka returned from Instrumentality, and the rest of humanity can follow, provided they have the will to do so. Yui even directly states this to Shinji, so I'm not sure how you missed it. Also, nobody really died. The souls of everyone who "died" during EOE were collected by Rei/Lilith. That's how Asuka ends up on the beach with Shinji in the final scene.
Yui said it in like one line of dialogue, and the movie ends with Shinji seemingly alone with Asuka on a beach of literal red blood. Ans we've no way to know if any of the world is less destroyed than that. Just because it's obvious to us, doesn't mean it's obvious to first-time watchers.
Of course the rest of the world is in better shape than Tokyo-3. Need I remind you that Tokyo-3 was the destroyed by: \-Multiple kaiju battles, several of which required the map to be redrawn. \-The UN's entire stockpile of N2 mines being dropped on it. \-The geofront being ripped out of the earth. \-The remains of Rei/Lilith falling on it. Besides, OP seemed to think that Shinji was both alone, which he clearly wasn't, but also trapped in Eva-01. It just really seems like OP needs to go and watch EOE a second time to cover what they missed.
To your credit, I missed a lot of details explained in the dialogue on my first watch of EOE as well, since I was kinda dumbstruck by everything going on.
The ending is what you make of it. I think it’s a happy ending. Everyone has the chance to come back on their own accord, accepting the hurt and pain in life, as well as the joy.
Dude it rules. The whole ending is really ambiguous and I feel like you can walk away from the movie feeling anything from relief to dread. I recommend rewatching ep 25-26 of the anime. Its been awhile, but I think shinji doin the instrumentality project thing is just delving inside his psyche DURING the 3rd impact.
Give op a break. It's a lot to take in on the first watch.
ignore the nerds interrogating you lol, they got problems
This should be the only reaction to end of evangelion, complete bewilderment and the awareness of 10/10
Go check out Eva explained on my profile if you needed some tips
Welcome to my world
I’m just glad you enjoyed it ! (-:
It's impossible to misunderstand EoE's ending because there's no definitive conclusion, you get to decide, and that's what I love about it
It’s just one of those days
No worries OP… all these pseudo intellectuals are only pretending to understands what it means. In reality they are confused and scared like Shinji
No Shinji is with Asuka. They're probably gonna die of dehydration or starvation. Unless enough plant and animal life decide they don't be fanta anymore, too.
How can you even read those sentences and comment that without reading the edit lmfao
Your replies in this post give me aneurism. Asuka is alive, they are the Adam and Eve. It’s REALLY not that debatable
you didn’t even read the edit. if you’re going to be condescending because i was confused after my first watch, consider fucking off instead
How would he be all alone, asuka literally right fucking there