Review End of Evangelion

Despite being an instant classic, the last two episodes Evangelion were a mystery to everyone who watched it. There was a great outcry because there was no great finish. It was just confusing. People demanded an answer. Gainax in their infinite wisdom gave them an answer. This movie is it. In fact the movie is split into two parts being the outside reality of episodes 25 and 26. If you haven’t seen the television series, read no further for it contains spoilers.

After defeating the seventeenth angel, Gendo Ikari begins preparation for the completion of the Human instrumentality project. However the SEELE organization doesn’t like the way Gendo is going about things and has decided to take care of him and NERV with a military strike. All this happens while Shinji and Asuka are still inside their own neurotic head trips caused by the events of the later episodes of the television show.

A very common comment made about the final two episodes of Evangelion is that they are a head trip. One warning I have for this movie, if you are expecting a definitive answer for all the questions you had watching the Evangelion television series, forget about it. The End of Evangelion is, if anything more of a head trip. This movie will raise questions, questions that will force you to watch the movie again, listen to commentary track, scour the Internet for other people’s interpretations, read some philosophical books to understand some of the symbolism, and so on.

The End of Evangelion has spectacular animation. The animation for the End of Evangelion is very detailed like most anime movies when it needs to be. However, some of the visuals will change styles as the movie progresses. This is not a lapse in budget or animation staff slacking off but the work of the director of not only this movie but the Neon Genesis Evangelion Television series, Hideki Anno.

Often times I term an anime movie a supplementary movie, a disposable movie that is nothing more than a long episode. The End of Evangelion is very different than those movies a better term would be a complementary movie, something that adds to the viewers understanding of the whole product. As Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered one of the great classics of anime, being something that not only wowed the viewers but transformed the entire mecha genre, the End of Evangelion is literally a must for anybody that watches anime must see to complete their understanding of anime. I give the End of Evangelion a rating of Fantastic!

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