I like Evangelion. I like Misato, Rei, Asuka and Risuko. Truth be told; I’ve never been that much of a fan of Shinji Ikari because he whines a lot. I feel as I’ve made some allies by the time this, the third movie, rolls around. Few of the survivors really like Shinj either.
This is a review of the third movie so it will have mild spoilers if you’ve not yet encountered the rest of Evangelion.
The action in s You Can (Not) Redo picks up in typically gorgeous Evangelion style as Asuka and Mari drop into combat in their Evangelions to retrieve a container. The container happens to hold Evangelion Unit 01 and Shinji.
Shinji’s been trapped inside for 14 years after causing the Third Impact and essentially ending the world as we know it.
A lot has happened in those 14 years but, sadly, we don’t get to find out what. In fact, much of the movie is Shinji trying to put together the pieces of what happened and trying to come to terms with destroying the world.
It’s hardly surprising that the survivors aren’t too fond of it. He’s banned from piloting an Eva again and has an explosive collar placed around his neck. If you tell Shinji not to do something because it might destroy what’s left of the world you can pretty much guess what his natural inclinations are to do.
He’s not the only twat in the list of characters though. Rei is different. Risuko is a grumpy so-and-so. Asuka’s not changed. In fact, none of the Eva pilots have aged in the last 14 years.
While we’re not dealing with fantastically beautiful Evangelion battle scenes – like something out of a surreal dream – we’re dealing with Shinji’s emotions.
Shinji’s guiding hand in this process is Kaworu Nagisa. The encounters between the two young men are loaded with sexual tension.
Meanwhile we have to deal with more plans from Shinji’s dad, Gendo, we’ve some sort of battle between NERV and the new group called WILLE as well as the predictable twist with alien lifeforms and the Spears of Cassius and Longinus.
You have to watch this movie if you’re an Evangelion fan because it’s the third of four. It leaps us forward in the timeline but doesn’t explain much (let’s hope the next one does). I don’t claim to understand everything that goes on and I certainly can’t work out everything that happened. This anime is beautiful chaos.
Watch it with one question in mind; “Can Shinji manage to avoid ending the world again?”. It’s not the strongest of the movies so far.
My copy of Evangelion 3.33 – You Can (Not) Redo was provided for review.
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