After almost 25 years, the characters of the renowned anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion have found closure. The fanbase has too.
In many ways, Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s legacy is defined by its relationship to its fandom. When the show premiered in 1995, it wasn’t all that different from similar shows about teenagers using giant robots to fight monsters. As the series developed, its approach to the genre would subvert viewers’ expectations, drawing the audience into the degrading mental state of the characters as the world falls apart around them.
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Famously, Evangelion director Hideaki Anno went through a depressive episode while producing the show, and combined with increasing problems keeping production to schedule and changes to the plot, the show began to reflect his mental state. By the finale, Evangelion did not have the ability to wrap up the show’s many hanging plot threads, instead using its last two episodes to dive into the main characters’ subconscious fears.
While it’s beautiful to watch, a lot of fans were upset that they did not get to see an action packed finale. Anno and Gainax, the production studio that worked on Evangelion, followed up the show with two different movies. The first, Death & Rebirth featured new animated footage that would then be worked into End of Evangelion, the feature film that served as a second, all new ending to the series.
The movie is a masterpiece of animation and ties up the loose ends of the show’s plot, but in some ways it feels hostile to its viewer. End of Evangelion opens up with Evangelion main character Shinji Ikari masturbating over his comatose friend’s naked breasts. Fan favorite characters return to the series just to die, often gruesomely and on screen. In the middle of the movie, hate mail from fans is projected in a theater, some of which are death threats to Anno. In a documentary about Anno and the legacy of Evangelion, Anno said that this harassment from fans made him lose the will to live. In the documentary, Anno describes considering suicide.
End of Evangelion premiered in 1997, and since then the merits of the movie and the original televised ending have been debated endlessly by fans. But 10 years later, Anno apparently decided to give the entire series another go, distanced from the emotional problems he was experiencing at the time. While the first two movies in the series re-animate the original show with few variations, the second two of the four movies are a radical departure from the events of the show. Dubbed Rebuild of Evangelion, the movies would also be subject to missed deadlines and rewrites, but the work has a different emotional tenor than the original show. Rather than seeing hope get crushed over and over, characters who reached rock bottom find their way out of that darkness. The final movie, titled Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time, so named because this is Anno’s third try at ending Evangelion, even has a mostly happy ending.
Rather than hate mail and death threats, fans are responding to Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 with joy. When I first watched the series as a teenager, all I wanted was for Shinji to be happy. I, and other fans of the series, are so pleased that he finally found a way to love himself.
The response to 3.0+1.0 has been overwhelmingly positive from fans and critics alike. The film was a critic’s pick at IndieWire, whose review says that “it truly feels like the Evangelion story Anno wanted to tell all those years ago.” Over on the Evangelion subreddit, fans have minor quibbles over plot points but mainly, they’re happy to see the series get an ending they feel like it has always deserved. Moreover, it’s a movie that leaves the viewer without a lingering sense of despair.
“I’m happy that I didn’t leave the movie with sadness or confusion but more happiness,” wrote one fan. “I do have questions but that ending made me feel good.”
“Once the film ended, I really felt ‘done’ with Evangelion,” wrote another fan. “Sure, I’ll watch again someday, and I would like to see this film again along with the rest of the Rebuilds… but wow, somehow the way it ended made it feel so final, so complete, that I feel ready—as Anno intended—to ‘move on.’”
A Japanese fan even set up a website for fans to say farewell to the series as a whole. Yesterday, there were over 600 messages. Today, there are over 800 messages, as fans from all over the world say goodbye, and thank you.
“Both the series and the movies helped me accept myself. Thanks Evangelion, Farewell, Good bye,” writes a fan from Brazil.
“Grazie per tutto. Arrivederci,” another fan writes from Italy.
I wrote a message on the site last night. I first watched Evangelion as a teenager, had followed all of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies through my adulthood, and now, at 31, the series has come to a close. Like Anno, I have gone in and out of depressive episodes—annoyingly, growth isn’t linear. Like other fans of the series, watching 3.0+1.0 did, finally, give me a sense of closure.
Since I watched the movie over the weekend, I’ve been listening to Utada Hikaru’s song that plays during the credits over and over. “Can you give me one last kiss?” they sing. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.” I can’t help but feel like I’m supposed to sing along with them, my final words of appreciation towards a show that’s been with me for most of my life.
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