Time Writer | Rizhuo
Movies should be more similar to music than novels.
With the release of "The New Gospel Warrior Theater Edition: The End" in Japan in March this year, after 26 years, the story of EVA finally came to an end.
Friends who are familiar with the series must know that this is not the first time that the Gospel Warrior series has ended.
As early as 1997, The New Century Gospel Warrior Theater Edition: Air/ Sincerely for You culminated in the third shock, ending the whole story line.
However, Hideaki Anno, the chief supervisor, was not satisfied after all, and laughed at himself, "No matter what works I create, there will be the shadow of EVA" and "I put all the most interesting things in EVA".
So in 2007, he once again renovated the stories of the first few episodes of the TV version, and launched a series of "new" works, The New Theater Edition of the Gospel Warrior: Preface.
At this time, the EVA story line still completely followed the TV version, but in 2009, the new theater version of Gospel Warrior: Breaking was released, and the whole story began to deviate from the original version.
Just like the "broken" in the title of the film, it was the myth that Hideaki Anno himself created 12 years ago that he wanted to "break".
Until this year’s release of "The New Gospel Warrior Theater Edition: The End", the story of another world will also come to an end.
Different from the ending of the old generation’s Air/ Sincerely for You, which focused on the complex psychological state of the protagonists, whether you accept it or not, Hideaki Anno chose to reconcile with the world around him with The End at the age of 60.
If you want to complete the world view of EVA series, I suggest you take a look at Goodbye, All Gospel Soldiers published by Time Jun. Today, this article only talks about the "impact" brought by this ending work.
Ps: There are spoilers in the following content. It is recommended to come back after watching the movie.
It is difficult to understand EVA, but it is not that difficult.
The difficulty lies in that Hideaki Anno throws out a series of high-concept and high-definition proper nouns all the time.
The characters are limited by the vagueness of their identities and situations, and consciously limit the vision of Shinji Ikari (the audience), impacting the hearts of 14-year-olds and the audience with a torrent of information fragments.
But as long as we understand the social and historical background of EVA’s birth, it is easy to project emotions into the role.
The sudden economic crisis, parents’ unrealistic expectations, inner hesitation and confusion make a generation of young people choose to escape from reality-just like Shinji Ikari, the protagonist of EVA.
However, young girls will eventually grow into adults, and they can be late for leaving their homes and joining the WTO, but they cannot be absent. The New Gospel Warrior Theater Edition: The End is a rite of passage for Hideaki Anno to himself and a generation of otaku girls.
Initial vs final
The story of "The End" follows the last theatrical version of "Q", but unlike the latter, which set the scene in the devastated headquarters of Nerv, Tokyo’s third city, the first half of the story of "The End" took place in the third village where survivors gathered.
Just as the second impact "evolved" the ocean, the third impact had a devastating impact on the earth. The few people who survived almost returned to the level after World War II, relying only on supply and simple land work to meet their daily food and clothing.
Compared with the third city of Tokyo, which is full of science and technology, the story of EVA seems to have returned to the world from the sky.
However, the retrogression of science and technology does not seem to make people’s sex look disgusting. On the contrary, the tone of the story turns to light, and everyone is actively involved in rebuilding their homes.
This situation also confirms the emotion of Nerv’s deputy commander, Dong Yue Geng Zao, when he saw the horror brought by the second impact in Antarctica:
The cause of the tragedy is that human beings become arrogant by relying on science and technology, so although the world is incomplete, as long as there are human beings, it is still worth looking forward to.
In The End, all the characters choose to accept the world in front of them and put themselves into real life with the most simple attitude.
Ayanami Rei VI, who knows nothing but taking orders, came into contact with human newborns for the first time here, working with ordinary peasant women, taking a bath together, and changing into favorite clothes like ordinary girls.
From a cold tool to a girl with temperature, she briefly merged into this world that does not belong to her.
Asuka also has enough experience and strong heart. He put down his favorite teenager at the age of 14 and calmly said to Shinji, "I used to like you, but I have grown into an adult first", and also got his own comfort and belonging.
Suzuhara Tohji, who did not become the fourth qualified person in the new theatrical version, and Dong Muguang, the monitor of that year, have completely transformed into adults.
The two married and had children, and Dong Zhi ran around for the life of the whole family and lived an ordinary but happy life for ordinary people.
Only Shinji is left, and his road to adulthood is still full of thorns.
Whenever he overcame cowardice and faced the burden given by fate, the disastrous consequences plunged him into deeper pain again and again.
It wasn’t until the death of Ayanami Rei VI (turned into LCL) that he got up the courage again and set foot on Miri, Malaysia’s battleship Wunder, fighting with Nerv, his father Ikari Gendou.
In the face of the true heir who took the initiative to fight (reconcile), Ikari Gendou, the core and most mysterious role of the whole EVA, finally revealed his heart to his son, and the analysis of E scientists again and again was finally confirmed:
Father Ikari Gendou is the one who is most unwilling to reconcile with reality. Under the cold face that conan the destroyer caused tragedy, he is actually a coward as weak as his son.
After the war, I watched everyone let go of the past and the camera followed Shinji into the studio.
By breaking the fourth wall, he (also Hideaki Anno) clearly told all the audiences who grew up with EVA that it was time to create a world without EVA and accept the imperfect reality.
This is the adult ceremony of Shinji, the adult ceremony of all otaku who like EVA, and also of Hideaki Anno.
Of course, not everyone can accept this farewell work of EVA.
In particular, compared with the "God-sealing" of "Air/ Sincerely for You", its "blandness" and "messing up CP" are really suspected by many fans.
In all fairness, as the end of the whole EVA series, The Final is blameless in terms of technology, but it is not impeccable in some details.
The emotional treatment between Asuka and Aita Kensuke caused great controversy after the film was released.
In Time Jun’s view, the audience is like a true heir who has been sleeping, unaware of the changes that have taken place in the world since the third shock.
However, the details in the film are explained. During this period, Asuka lived in Kensuke’s house and even walked around the house without underwear, which undoubtedly hinted at the close relationship between the two.
Shinji followed Kensuke home, and the first scene was naked incense.
The official open processing is clearly the space that the old thief of Anye deliberately left for e-scientists to interpret, which is also the routine operation of EVA series.
Shinji also gave Xiang a satisfactory response.
The emotional end-result of Shinji is a little abrupt.
As an adult, Shinji actually came together with Shinbo.
Makinami Mari Illustrious is the first character in "Broken", and her identity is not explained much in the whole series, but we can still get some information through the detailed description and the confirmation of the comic book "Gospel Warrior".
Mary was a student of Nerv’s deputy commander Dong Yue, and the younger sister of Ikari Yui, the true heir’s mother. After joining Nerv, she secretly worked for Ikari Gendou.
However, after learning about Ikari Gendou’s plan to sacrifice all mankind and reunite with Wei, he joined Wille, a rebel in Miri, Malaysia, which is why Dongyue called Mary a traitor in The End.
However, as Asuka said, Shinji needs a mother to take care of her, not a girlfriend.
Mary, who is positive and optimistic, just fills the emotional gap of Shinji, and she will always be with Shinji as promised.
Although their emotional scenes are too few to be criticized, in the adult world, appropriateness is always more important than liking, which is also in line with Hideaki Anno’s logic of dealing with the relationship between characters realistically.
Other characters always want Shinji to fight, and Mary is the one who can liberate him.
In a word, the handling of the characters and the plot in The Final may not be the most perfect, but Anye himself said that it was an unprecedented attempt to let EVA end in a "dull" way.
Time Jun likes the interpretation of an old powder very much. Maybe the rascal is waiting for us to grow up before he can understand the ending.
Looking at the tone of EVA story now, it is no longer as desperate as "boy, become a myth" sung in the Action Plan of Cruel Angels.
It’s the sentence "You are the one I can’t forget" in the ending song "One Last Kiss", which is full of helplessness. Maybe this is the world of adults.
Whether it’s to reconcile with reality with Shinji, live a strong life with regrets, or stay where you are, fans who don’t intend to reconcile, after a quarter of a century of companionship, it’s really time to say goodbye.
Perhaps its controversy and discussion will continue for a long time, but it is no longer the expectation of living in another world when I was young, but a footnote in real life.
Our youth is really over.
