Review of Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
Here's a little preface: I watched Evangelion 2.22 a long time ago. Just once. I couldn't handle watching it for a second time. Back then I thought it was the most horrible disfigurement they could have come up with for my favourite TV anime series. What happened in Eva 2.22 that appalled me that much? Please read the crazed rant I composed back then in an attempt to somehow express my anger and leave it all behind. But to sum up what happened in Eva 2.22: it trivialized. It basically took everything about the fascinating characteristics of the original and pressed it into bite-sized stereotypes.This review again will be deeply personal. But if you expect another rant for the next installment of the Rebuild series, I'm sorry to disappoint. It is true that I think it is even worse than the second one. But I don't have any energy left for anger. Just apathy. Let's get this over with.
What is it that we watch Neon Genesis Evangelion for? What is the decisive factor that polarized (and thus touched) so many and started so many debates? Is it the engaging mecha fights? Or the intriguing mystery about recreation and death? All the mystic shenanigans? It is true to say that all these perfectly executed elements shape the image of the original series. However, it is in fact the human aspect of Eva which always lifted it up and apart from all the other good anime out there. Characters interact with each other, show us their innermost personalities and weaknesses. It's a plea for the understanding of human fragility. Whereas other shows just glisten with the shiny (but eventually empty) message of "Get your act together! Be a man! Trust in your friends and all will be well!", Eva dared to show as a protagonist who cries, doubts himself and breaks under the pressure as a human being. It was criticised for that. No doubt it is scary to face your own weaknesses and realize you are actually a fragile construct instead of the blazing icon you'd like to see yourself as. I don't feel any disdain towards people who hated Eva for that. It's a truly human reaction. But you know what I hate? When the director who made me realize this basic aspect of humanity suddenly joins this group of people and tells me to "Get my act together!".
- The Characters:
In Eva 2.22 they replaced the beloved human characters of NGE with stereotypes. Bad enough. But at least they had some characteristics to relate to (even though only on the most basic of levels). Evangelion 3.33 replaces almost all of its characters with some kind of John Connor No Future variation. A version of the character who's heart is closed. Forever. Love has failed and hate prevails. Apparently, Hideaki Anno and his friends lost the slightest bit of interest in who these characters are or were. All we get now are tough, soulless war machines where once we had people of perceivable emotional warmth. I have a personal symbolic character for that: In seeing the new version of Ibuki Maya, I suddenly realized how much the insecure and inconspicuous desktop worker of the original series meant to me. Well, we don't have any of that anymore. Emotions are for kids. You don't want to be a kid. You want to be a man. Easy as that. Gaki Shinji now replaces Baka Shinji. Get your act together!
- The Story:
Again, it is something completely different from the original series. Yes, it again resembles the likes of Kill La Kill or Gurren Lagann more than anything Eva related. But that's old news. New news is that we now lost all traces of story relatability. It's a blatant mess. We have a mixture of inconceivable over the top action sequences, a lot of "the world has gone to heck and it's your fault" trash talk and some slice of life content inbetween. Not much makes sense. It actually left me quite speechless and it's hard to say anything about it. My biggest guess is that after boiling down Eva to a run-of-the-mill Mecha Shounen in the last movie, they wanted to recreate some of the mystery and grit of the original series. That being said, it's not like you cannot understand the plot. But it's not really leading anywhere. It's also not something that you can or want to think about, because it's just impossible to relate to it in the first place.
- The Design:
Wow. Now that stuff is all over the place. The appearance and disappearance of weird objects, the sudden transformations of objects into other objects while particles fly through the air and the world turns upside down play a major part in the confusion within action scenes. Is it a design flaw if you cannot tell which is which and who is who? Probably. It's a pain to watch, that is for sure. And all in 3D. When in Eva 2.22 we had the problem of bad 3D cg models blending in on 2D backgrounds, this movie turns the table around and makes 2D drawings look out of place in the completely 3D rendered environments. You can say about 3D animation whatever you want, but please keep in mind that 3D animation is usually cheaper and less time consuming to make than traditional 2D animation. Everytime you see a 3D action sequence in this movie, it is thus basically a discount 2D animation scene. A proper scene that you have missed out on. As for the character design, it's Sadamoto again. And almost every character has their John Connor No Future design update. Oh, and Asuka is now wearing a wooly hat with cat ears on top. Kawaii deshou~? Get your act together!!
- The Final Conclusion:
Sorry for not going into as much detail as I did in my review on Eva 2.22, but I am sick and tired of this movie. It managed to sink even further down than its dreadful predecessor and not only trivializes the issues and problems of human interaction and intimate exchange of emotions, but actually actively tells me to forget all about it and grow up already. Don't show fear. Don't show doubt. Don't show pain. We don't give a damn about what you feel. Oh, and besides killing the original idea of the franchise it also illustrates absolutely no action dynamics, no story relatability, no real emotional character interaction, some really bad 2D animation (just look at the way Shinji moves while playing the piano. or at the inconsistency of Kaworu's design) and some horrible over the top videogame 3D sequences.
If it was Anno's goal, he finally succeeded in throwing me off this train. I am leaving the stage of the next and final Rebuild movie to the fans of random 3D action, nonsense mystery and style over substance. Eva is dead, baby, Eva's dead. In mind and matter.
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Oh, I'm still going to watch it though, the next one that is. Whenever (and if ever) it comes out. And I will most probably be devastated again. I guess I won't be getting my act together anytime soon.