Neon Genesis Evangelion The End Of Evangelion -1997-

To the uninitiated, the title is a mouthful of jargon. To the initiated, it is a trigger for visceral memory—the screech of a Mass Production Eva, the sticky warmth of liquefied orange Fanta, or the crushing silence of a beach with a single, bloody kneecap. Twenty-nine years after its theatrical release (and several decades of discourse later), The End of Evangelion remains the definitive cinematic punctuation mark on the 20th century’s anxieties about intimacy, depression, and the shape of the human soul.

And then, he sees her.

During the Third Impact sequence, the animation dissolves into scribbled storyboards, crude crayon drawings, and finally—live-action footage of the streets of Tokyo. We see an empty theater, a bored salaryman, and a crying baby. Anno is breaking the fourth wall to scream: This is real life. Your escapism is a lie. neon genesis evangelion the end of evangelion -1997-

But Asuka does not fight back. She reaches up. With her one good hand, she gently strokes his cheek. To the uninitiated, the title is a mouthful of jargon

He rejects Instrumentality. He rejects the false paradise of being a god. He chooses to return to his human form, with all the thorns and quills. Shinji wakes up on a blood-red beach. The ocean is LCL. Lilith’s decapitated head lies on the shore, bleeding a black rainbow. The sky is a smeared Earth and moon. And then, he sees her

Asuka’s battle is the film’s action centerpiece. Awakening from her catatonia, she realizes her mother’s soul has always been inside Unit-02. For one glorious, furious moment, she achieves total synchronization. She dismantles the MP Evas, spinning like a Valkyrie. But then the Evas regenerate. They impale Unit-02 with a replica of the Spear of Longinus. As the cable is cut, Asuka looks up to see the MP Evas in a crucifixion formation. They descend with their mass-production lances.

Shinji kneels over her. He begins to cry. He apologizes for everything—for the hospital, for running away, for wishing her dead. He then begins to choke her. He is angry. He wants her to reject him again, to give him an excuse to hate humanity once more.