ANI-MOVIES, *Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.11, Thrice Upon A Time

After nearly a decade, the final(?)chapter of the Rebuild Of Evangelion took its last step in 2021. Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.11, Thrice Upon A Time is the fourth of this tetralogy of films. The first two installments were a retread of the majority of the original Neon Genesis: Evangelion anime TV series, but with some new characters and plot points added, like Shinji causing the Near Third Impact. The third chapter picked up 14 years in the aftermath with most of the world decimated from this act catching Shinji in the middle of a power struggle between Nerv and its ex-members that formed the resistance team Wille. Thrice Upon A Time happens right after that conclusion with Shinji heading off into the wilderness with Asuka and a Rei clone after their failure to stop Nerv's plot to bring about the Fourth Impact. The film goes way over the normal running time at 155-minutes long trying to tie up all the loose threads. The first three parts were released in America through Funimation featuring most of the original ADV Films dub actors, but the fourth was licensed entirely by GKids which also redubbed the original three movies for its streaming distribution on Hulu, so whether or not all four movies will be available in a collected physical copy is questionable. There is plenty of debate with fans clashing between the original dub cast the one produced for Netflix which includes the TV series, plus both Evangelion: Death/Rebirth and End Of Evangelion movies which was the canon conclusion to the first anime. This finale had a humongous task of filling in the gap that its long-delayed premiere left fans dangling in the air.

The movie starts out with Wille using newcomer Eva pilot Mari helping them restore Paris to its status prior to the Near Third Impact. Our trio of survivors from the previous film find safe haven in a village near Tokyo-3 where their old schoolmates are now grown up and helping maintain the village which is shielded from the rest of the world that is now filled with headless wandering Eva units. Rei is slowly discovering her identity among the villagers while Shinji is still reeling from having witnessed Kaworu's death at the end of the last movie. Asuka kicks Shinji out of it, even though Rei has been reduced to liquid since she's been out of LCL for so long. Wille arrives in their main ship Wunder to pick up Asuka and Shinji in their mission to stop Nerv who are going to activate Eva Unit-13 to create a Fourth Impact. Mari and Asuka help the assault in their own Evas, but Asuka is taken as the key for jump-starting Unit-13 which begins the Instrumentality Project. Gendo takes Unit-13 into what is called Minus Space, and Shinji recovers Unit-01 to confront his father. Misato helps make a new spear to stop the next Impact that Mari pilots into pocket universe. Shinji uses the spear after having a heart-to-heart with Gendo, and sets him free along with the spirits of Asuka, Rei, and Kaworu who will return to their own particular selected realities. Now having control of reality, Shinji wishes for a world without Evangelions that Mari is now part of where they have achieved adulthood physically and spiritually.

Thrice Upon A Time does finish up the Rebuild saga while at the same time shows that it is part of a cycle which included the original TV series. It's uncertain if this circle has been broken at last, or if there is room for another continuation. There have been several spinoff and alternative universe manga titles where Shinji and the crew are redone as detectives or just regular students with no giant robots. The story that first started off in 1994 has hopefully been put to bed. Creator, Hideaki Anno, went on to do more remakes of live-action properties like Godzilla, Ultraman, and Kamen Rider, but finishing up the Evangelion saga was a herculean effort that is largely satisfying for long time Eva disciples.