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With the last angel defeated it seems that NERV has finally won the battle for
humanity’s survival. However, Ikari Gendo has other plans for the Evangelions,
ones that will shake SEELE to its core and force the shadowy council to order a
hostile takeover of NERV’s MAGI supercomputer system. When the electronic
attacks fail, military forces are sent in to eliminate everyone at NERV
headquarters and capture the Evangelions. With all three Eva pilots unable to
respond to this threat all seems lost, but as the end of the world draws closer
with every passing second, destinies will finally be revealed and relationships
defined.
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For those disappointed or befuddled at the last two episodes of the
Neon Genesis Evangelion, Anno Hideaki delivers an alternate conclusion to his
controversial series in End of Evangelion. Granted, the movie was not so much a
labor of love as it was a semi-bitter response to the death threats leveled
against Anno and Studio Gainax. In lieu of that fact, EoE still stands as a good
movie in itself that manages to give the viewer a gruff psychological thriller
amidst a contorted visual medley of assorted religious symbolism.
Technically, EoE is considerably superior to its television series cousin. The
visuals, unhampered by bothersome scene transitions and budget strains, are on a
level that NGE never manages to achieve. Visuals in this movie predominantly
consist of graphic violence or disturbing imagery, which are animated in fine
fashion. One particular sequence involving Evangelion combat is worthy of
particular notice, especially for fans of Asuka and Unit-02 who felt that the
character never really got a lot of chances to exhibit her combat prowess in the
original series. As good as the visuals are in the first half of the movie
(constructed to replace the penultimate episode of NGE), I personally felt that
the events portrayed in the final installment of the title (the equivalent of
NGE’s television finale) were even more effective and awe-inspiring than its
forerunner. Indeed, the apocalypse hadn’t looked as good as it did in the waning
moments of EoE. As for the audio, the movie benefits from one of the best
ensembles in the business. Exceptional performances from Ogata Megumi (Shinji),
Mitsuishi Kotono (Misato), and Miyamura Yuko (Asuka) were complemented by an
overall great performance from the rest of the cast. Tons of dialogue was
implemented into the script in order to try and illuminate the more ambiguous
parts of the plot and the seiyuu work did more than its part to try and get the
audience involved in this gritty work. On a side note, the music’s tone and
melody may occasionally seem misplaced when compared to what’s on screen, but a
closer examination of Sagisu Shiro’s lyrics will come to prove otherwise.
Brilliant work in this aspect of the movie as well.
Despite the EoE’s extravagant, and most effective, assault on the
senses, the movie is, well, Evangelion property and the one thing that is
guaranteed about that fact is that it will have a dizzying array of obscure
Judaeo-Christian references embedded throughout its story. This is especially
evident in the final installment of the movie where the Evangelion saga finally
reaches its troubling close. In what was supposed to be the final answer to
hundreds upon thousands of unsatisfied (and some unruly) viewers, Anno slyly
ends up giving his audience a conclusion that is even more open-ended than the
one administered in the original television series. A wise move to short-change
his critics, but one that stunted the resolution of the events depicted in this
particular piece. All in all, not the product that we might have truly desired,
but one that is worthy of the tireless Eva legacy that fans around the world
have grown accustomed to.
Although the plot goes without a fan-favored ending, EoE remains a
movie that should be merited at the very least for one of the smartest pieces of
direction ever put to cel animation or even film in general for that matter. If
you ever found yourself lost in the television series’ interpretation of the
Human Instrumentality Project, do yourself a favor and check out End of
Evangelion. Not was this ending produced under a more flexible budget, but it
ends up aiding the viewer visualize the end of the world in impressive, albeit
haunting, fashion.
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