Eight Years is Better than Never!
November 17, 2012, Evangelion 3.0 released in theaters in Japan to great fanfare within the anime community, followed by great confusion 90 minutes later. Evangelion 3.0, the third film in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, was notable at the end of 2.0 for being the departure point of the story, in which it went from a strict retelling of the series, to a loose one, to a radically different narrative.
What we were all unprepared for, was how insanely radical it was even by our generous expectations.
It was -nothing- like the preview at the end of 2.0 had shown us, not only visually, but thematically and narratively. ZERO of the footage shown in the preview was used in the final film nor even referenced or remade. The finished film was a total departure from even anything we could have expected in the slightest.
Evangelion 3.0 thus became subject to a great deal of controversy, particularly for Evangelion fans. Everything they knew about the pre-existed narrative and fictional world of Evangelion had been turned on its head.
It was a totally new story in a totally new setting, and what came before it seemed to have no influence at all on what was now happening.
As a major Evangelion fan, this is utterly crazy.
What Can We Expect
Evangelion 3.0+1.0, an intentionally suggestive and speculative title in and of itself, marks the conclusion to the ambitious turn of events that were instigated by Evangelion 3.0. A great deal of the Evangelion franchise seemed to have changed, even down to some of the most core tenets of the fictional world, almost to the point that this felt like a completely different franchise that coincidentally featured characters that looked the same and sounded the same.
The primary cast of characters had all undergone drastic visual and personality changes (Most of all Misato, Asuka and Rei), every location that existed in the franchise prior had all vanished, and even one of the most recognizable mecha in all of anime, Evangelion Unit-01, was not in the film at all beyond a very short tease in which we only see it for a split-second. Needless to say, we're all very hungry for more information about what is going on and where it is all going.
Watch the trailer here, released on King Records's Youtube channel just last night:
