Follow TV Tropes

Following

Anime / Rebuild of Evangelion

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cover_evangelion_extreme.jpg
You Can (Not) Rebuild.note 

"Breaking the world is easy enough. But rebuilding it, that isn't so easy."
Kozo Fuyutsuki

In 1993, Hideaki Anno—fresh out of rehabilitation caused by problems during the production of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water—began work on what he envisioned as a mecha fan's dream show. However, Anno's increasing disappointment and dismissive disdain for the Otaku community, issues in his personal life, and Studio Gainax's financial troubles transformed the show into the brutally-depressing deconstruction of the Super Robot Genre known as Neon Genesis Evangelion. While the result was groundbreaking and insanely popular, his displeasure would lead him to end the work on a pitch-black note with End of Evangelion, leaving a very clear impact on fans.

In 2002, Anno—now happily married to Moyoco Anno, filthy rich and respected by his peers—decided to revisit the most popular and influential anime franchise of the past decade. But this time, he would do so without his depression influencing the story. Anno made plans to re-tell the Evangelion saga by giving his Byronic Hero cast a second chance, making them (somewhat) more emotionally stable, and showing them a light at the end of the tunnel. He resigned from Gainax and established Studio Khara, taking some of Gainax's staff with him in the process, and also snagged a massive theatrical budget to help his plan become a reality.

Thus begins the salvation of Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Asuka Langley Shikinami in the four-film saga known as Rebuild of Evangelion. In addition to serving as chief director of the films, Anno also wrote the screenplays. The films were directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, Mahiro Maeda and Masayuki, with Evangelion veteran Toshimichi Otsuki serving as executive producer along with Anno. Ikuto Yamashita once again designed the mecha and Hiroshi Kato reprised his role as art director. The music team from the original series returned; Shiro Sagisu returned to score the films and Mike Wyzgowski worked with Sagisu on the English-language songs. Utada Hikaru also contributed to the soundtrack.

The saga comprises the following films:

  • Evangelion:1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.Japanese title (September 1, 2007)
  • Evangelion:2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.Japanese title (June 27, 2009)
  • Evangelion:3.0 You Can (Not) Redo.Japanese title (November 17, 2012)
  • Evangelion:3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a TimeJapanese title (March 8, 2021)

In spite of Hideaki Anno's improved mental state, Rebuild does not have a Lighter and Softer tone compared to the original series: horrific scenes from the original either stay horrific or become more nightmarish than before. Each Rebuild film exponentially increases the dark tone to a point where people have argued that 3.0 is even grittier than the original series. Though the events of Rebuild don't always turn out well for the protagonists, this retelling offers enough glimmers of hope throughout its plot to lead to a promise of a happier ending. Think of Rebuild as the original story on proper medication: ultimately no happier than before, but a hell of a lot more stable... And then falling off the wagon, followed by working hard to get back on it again.

1.0 and 2.0 (to a lesser extent) are, aside from some subtle differences, streamlined remakes of the first two-thirds of the original series. After that, in meta-acknowledgement of Eva's ending, Shinji completely changes the direction of the narrative, with 3.0 presenting a very different take on the Angel conflict mixing the remaining third of the original story with tons of new elements, and laying the groundwork for 3.0+1.0, Anno's promised alternative ending for nearly identical characters. In any case, Hideaki Anno has signaled that the final, 155-minute film in the tetralogy will mark the end of his involvement with the franchise, or at least that he intends to take a break from anything Evangelion-related for a while. Anno has claimed that while Evangelion will continue to be a mainstay for Khara's output, he wants Evangelion to become like Gundam, to be reconstructed and reinterpreted by many other artists. Anno has also expressed interest in exploring the events that occured between 2.22 and 3.33, which is only glanced at and discussed in the movies themselves.

Note: When released on home media (or theaters & streaming services in the case of 3.0 and 3.0+1.0), each film received a few enhancements to its audio and visuals. The film's number receives an update to reflect this: 1.0 became 1.01 (DVD) and 1.11 (BD), 2.0 became 2.22, 3.0 became 3.33 (BD/DVD) and 3.333 (theaters and UHD BD), and 3.0+1.0 became 3.0+1.01 (theaters and streaming) and 3.0+1.11 (BD/DVD). The films also received other minor, plot-irrelevant additions. Both sets of numbers are used interchangeably on all the pages related to Rebuild for this reason.

Additionally, this iteration of Evangelion is the basis for the Evangelion parts of Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D at Universal Studios Japan.note  In 2022, this collaboration with Shin Godzilla would also extend to Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider to form what has been referred to in promotional materials as the Shin Japan Heroes Universe, a loosely-connected series tied together by the involvement of Hideki Anno. Though it's unclear what form this will take, all four involved companies have promised more to come.

Please move any character tropes to the proper character page. Also, if you choose to continue reading, you can (not) avoid spoilers. You Have Been Warned.


The Rebuild of Evangelion films contain Rebuild-exclusive examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    #-M 
  • 10-Minute Retirement: Both of Shinji's instances of this in the original series are repeated (after the Shamshel fight and after the EVA-03 incident). He does it a third time in 3.0 after learning that he caused Third Impact.
  • 13 Is Unlucky: In this version, Kaworu is the 13th Angel. We also have Eva-13, built to cause Fourth Impact.
  • 20 Minutes into the Future: As in the original TV series, the first two films are set in 2015. Beginning with 3.0, however, the film takes place in 2029 due to the 14-year Time Skip between 2.0 and this film.
  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects:
    • Ramiel and Sahaqiel fit this to a tee, but there are other minor examples as well, especially the former. An example of Tropes Are Tools, because although they stand out against the traditionally animated background they are also Eldritch Abominations, so it works which makes them eerily resemble biblically accurate angels more closely.
    • Averted for the CG background characters. Who could have told all those people walking about Tokyo-3 were completely digital?
  • Aborted Arc: None of the events in the 3.0. teaser trailer appear in the movie proper. Hideaki Anno later clarified that the events depicted in the sequence happened offscreen, but weren't shown in favor of starting after the Time Skip, since that's when Shinji returns.
  • Accidental Pervert: When Asuka, startled by PenPen, runs out naked into the kitchen, Shinji turns around and, as per the original TV series, accidentally sees her. She blushes and retaliates with a kick to the face.
  • Ace Pilot: Both Asuka and Mari are presented as professional pilots, even though they have very different approaches to combat. Asuka's even an ex-Air Force pilot in this continuity.
  • Achilles' Power Cord: The Eva's use power cords to function for prolonged periods of time, limiting their range and combat abilities. By 3.0. however, battery technology has advanced to the point that this is far less of an issue — though it does come conveniently in time for Asuka to be unable to stop Shinji executing Fourth Impact.
  • Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene:
    • Between Asuka and Shinji in "You Can (Not) Advance", in a rare moment of sensitive interaction: the night after an Angel fight, Asuka enters Shinji's room - without knocking - and enters his bed, while he's still in it - without greeting him - deliberately facing away from him. She opens to him some of her thoughts (as delicately as she dares), and he reciprocates.
    • Pretty much the entire Village 3 segment of Thrice Upon a Time. Especially since nearly everything after it is either the all-out assault on NERV headquarters or Shinji trying to avert Instrumentality.
  • Activation Sequence: All four movies are very fond of sequences where immense machinery rumbles to life while technicians call out progress updates.
  • Adaptation Distillation: As to be expected from a Compressed Adaptation of a 26-episode anime and a movie, Rebuild cuts out some of the fat in order to deliver an actionized retelling of the series.
    • 1.11 is a pretty straightforward adaptation of episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, with a couple of notable changes peppered in throughout.
    • 2.22 introduces more new elements to differentiate the series from the original source material, and in the process, it adapts episodes 8, 9, 12, 17, 18, and 19, while also adapting elements of episodes 22 and 23 along with The End of Evangelion.
    • 3.33, while largely original, takes inspiration from episodes 20, 21, and 24, along with some elements of End of Evangelion.
    • 3.0 + 1.0 is largely original as well, but the climax bears many similarities to The End of Evangelion and episodes 25 and 26 (down to making use of Limited Animation), while also taking some influence from the ending of the manga.
  • Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Either to cut down on time or to avoid "angst" a lot of material have been cut from 1.11 and 2.22. This results in character actions coming from apparently nowhere and many events happening without any explanation as to why and how. 3.33 has apparently given up on trying to be friendly to new viewers at all. The film just assumes you know that Kaworu is an angel and how an "Impact" is activated while throwing images and phrases at you that only mean anything to those familiar with the original show.
  • Adaptation Name Change: Asuka's last name was changed from Soryu to Shikinami (the reason for which is only explained in 3.0 + 1.01). Yui's maiden name was similarly changed from Ikari to Ayanami.note 
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: Rebuild's Asuka Langley Shikinami has a completely different backstory than Neon Genesis' Asuka Langley Soryu. Instead of being traumatized by her mother's suicide, this Asuka is a clone who has no parents.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Misato's father, whose Heroic Sacrifice has been portrayed as a key element of her personality both in the original and Rebuild, was originally a workaholic dismissed by the scientific community for his crackpot theories and went to Antarctica to prove said theories, resulting in Second Impact. 3.0 + 1.0 reveals that he was the one who came up with the idea of the Human Instrumentality Project in the first place and even Misato calls it an insane dream.
  • Adapted Out:
    • The Jet Alone arc is completely absent, however Asuka's Evangelion Unit-02 is eventually heavily augmented with Jet Alone parts in 3.0+1.0. NERV also ends up making their own autonomous Evangelions in its place to fight WILLE with.
    • From the Angels: Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matarael, Iruel, Leliel, Arael and Armisael. Sahaquiel's new design includes elements of Sachiel and Leliel, and the 12th Angel somewhat resembles Armisael.
    • In spite of her importance to Asuka's story in the original series, Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu (or rather, Shikinami) is never mentioned at all. Somewhat justified by the fact that this version of Asuka is a clone.
  • After the End:
    • Rebuild taking place 15 years after the "Second Impact" destroyed most of the world is still a crucial element to the story. In 3.0, the story jumps to 14 years after the disastrous "Near-Third Impact", which wiped out most of what was left of humanity as well.
  • The Ageless: Being an Eva pilot may result in this, if Asuka and Mari are to be believed — though Mari is later revealed to be much older than Asuka.
  • All for Nothing: Many of Shinji's actions in 3.33.
    • What happened to Rei after his rescue attempt in 2.22? Well, she's dead or trapped inside the Evangelion, not to mention his actions to save her meant a Near-Third Impact, the deaths of many have earned him some understandable distrust from all the people he used to know.
    • And by the end of the movie, after having to fight Asuka and turning against those he used to trust, it turns out Gendo planned ahead of all this and it would only lead to creating a Fourth Impact, which, to prevent, meant the death of his new friend, the first and last angel.
  • All the Worlds Are a Stage: Shinji's final battle against Gendo in the Anti-Universe features all of the iconic locations of the series: downtown Tokyo-3, Tokyo-3 outskirts, Misato's dining room, the Children's classroom, Gendo's office, Terminal Dogma, Kaji's melon patch, the NERV ruins, and so on. Justified due to the environment being a mental construct drawn from their memories because they don't have the appropriate senses to perceive the space in its true form, though it gets weird(er) when Shinji and Gendo start breaking through the boundaries to find that their conflict has been taking place on a literal set, complete with props, soundstage, and recording and lighting equipment.
  • All There in the Manual: There are a lot of things implied but not readily stated in throughout Rebuild, but this reaches ridiculous levels with Thrice Upon A Time, to the point theatre-goers were given a booklet containing definitions of many of the obtuse terminology used in the film. Explanations for things like the KREDIT supply chain network and who set up can only be found in printed supplements.
  • Alpha Strike: In 3.0 + 1.0, Misato orders the Wunder to fire every missile at EVA-13, and then every gun at the gunship defending NERV HQ at the South Pole. Unfortunately, there happens to be more than one NERV ship, leaving them open to attack.
  • Alternate Continuity: Rebuild starts as a retelling of the original series (with some visual nods to the show and End of Evangelion inserted throughout), only to go completely Off the Rails in the second film and start telling an entirely new story.
  • Always Save the Girl: Deconstructed in 2.0 where Shinji unintentionally eradicates most of humanity in his attempt to save Rei, only for her to end up still being trapped in Eva-01's core instead.
  • Ambiguous Ending:
    • Whether or not Misato and the other characters who died are alive again in the new world is left vague, though the Kaji seen during the last few minutes of the movie mentions retiring to a farm with Misato once this is all over. The only people shown to be explicitly dead are Yui and Gendo, who sacrifice their lives to restore the world.
    • In the last scene of 3.0 + 1.0, when Shinji waits for Mari at the train station, adult versions of Rei, Asuka, and Kaworu are seen on the opposite platform. It's unclear if they still know Shinji in this new world - Rei and Kaworu are seen talking, though their relationship beyond that is unrevealed.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Fuyutsuki keeps a photo of Yui with a young Shinji surrounded by other people, among which there is an unidentified adult woman with long brown hair, red hair clips and matching glasses. She looks enough like an older version of Asuka to be believably meant to be Kyoko, whose appearance was never clearly shown in the original series, but her glasses and hair color also evoke Mari. What does this mean, if it even means something, remains unknown. The manga's bonus chapter reveals Mari met Yui as a 16 years old, but the anime continuity doesn't seem to follow this due to the woman in the photo being clearly not a teenager. It is later revealed in 3.0 + 1.0 that the woman in the photo is actually Mari, who hasn't aged at all due to exposure to LCL and being a pilot for so long.
  • Anger Born of Worry: In 3.0+1.0, Sakura Suzuhara slaps Shinji for going against her orders not to pilot any more Evas, then breaks down crying.
  • Anime Theme Song: Utada Hikaru with "Beautiful World" for 1.0, "Beautiful World PLANiTb Acoustica Mix" for 2.0, "Sakura Nagashi" for 3.0, and "One Last Kiss" for 3.0+1.0.
  • Another Dimension: The Anti-Universe, the realm on the far side of the Door of Guf (the freaky red vortex that opens in the sky when an Impact occurs) is a photonegative realm that is home to the Golgotha Object, a Reality Warping artifact which itself contains a strange world that cannot be perceived by human senses, requiring those who go there to have images from their memories layered overtop of it if they want to interact with it.
  • Apocalypse How: Evangelion revolves around a number of world destroying events.
    • Second Impact — Planetary/Societal Disruption. Like the original TV series, a massive explosion melts the Antarctic ice cap and tilts the Earth's axis. The seas flooded most coastal areas and are now poisoned, unable to sustain any life. Species on land perished due to the change in seasons and weather and humanity nearly wiped itself out in war. The reformed humanity is far more united than before but also in heavy denial about how much the world has changed.
    • Third Impact — Projected to be Planetary/Total Extinction. All of humanity believes another "impact event" will leave no survivors. This is why the world's governments are willing to throw all their money and support behind the bizarre and mysterious NERV.
      • "Near-Third Impact" — It turns out to be another Planetary/Societal Disruption in 3.0; numerous people die, and the world is changed.
    • Fourth ImpactJust like in the original series, this is Gendo's ultimate goal, i.e. Instrumentality. It's simply been bumped up a number thanks to Shinji accidentally triggering Third Impact without Lilith/Rei/Yui to guide it along the path Gendo desired it to take... although we all know how well that worked out for him the first time around.
      • Additional ImpactAfter Fourth Impact fails, Gendo is fully intent on pulling a repeat performance to finish the job.
  • Apocalypse Wow: The end of 3.0. Remember Unit-01's halo slowly expanding into that vortex thing at the end of the second film? The third film names the phenomenon as the Door of Guf and at the beginning of Fourth Impact, Unit-13 opens one that's easily dozens of times as wide so violently it sweeps aside all clouds. Then the Geofront starts rising out of the ground and the Red Evas start to float by the millions, circling the event with the same otherworldly shrieking as the original series' Second Impact flashback. And we haven't even talked about entire buildings being alternately pulverized by the shattering ground or floating weightlessly in the air as Shinji stares in horror. To Ode to Joy.
  • Arc Words: "Did I save you/her?" throughout 3.0. This being Evangelion, the answer is no.
    • Also for 3.0+1.0 in the climax: Bye-bye, all of EVANGELION.
  • Armor-Piercing Attack: Wille has developed anti-Eva ammunition that can rip right through armor and A.T. Fields. But they do nothing against Unit-13 because apparently it doesn't use an A.T. Field.
  • Art Shift: This occurs when Kaji tells Shinji about Misato and the Second Impact.
    • Used to great effect in 3.0+1.0, particularly in Gendou's Instrumentality flashbacks, and when Shinji is waiting for Mari near the end of the movie, in a callback to the Limited Animation style used in episodes 25 and 26 of the original series.
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Monster of the Week Kaworu becomes a major character in 2.0 and 3.0 where he stops the Third Impact and then becomes a major ally of Shinji 14 years later.
    • Toji's nameless sister, who was never even seen in the original, shows up in 2.0, becoming a supporting character as an officer for WILLE named Sakura in 3.0..
  • As You Know: Ritsuko's explains Operation Yashima to Misato, the one who came up with the plan in the first place. In the English dub, the dialogue is changed to Ritsuko incredulously listing all the potential failure-points of the operation before remarking that there's "nothing crazy about that".
  • The Atoner: Shinji tries to be this in 3.0. in order to make up for causing Third Impact. Subverted in that in the end, he only makes things worse.
  • Attack! Attack! Attack!: Mari's default strategy.
    • She does, however, ultimately ditch the Unskilled but insanely determined mantle in favor of becoming an insanely effective sniper after the Time Skip, leaving the offense to Asuka.
    • She's right back to this trope by the time 3.0+1.0 rolls around.
  • Attack Drone: All over the place after the Time Skip, as literally all of NERV's fighting force except for Unit 13, the first Eva Mark.09 and one of the Wunder's Erlösung sister ships is automated.
  • Autobots, Rock Out!: "It Will Mean Victory", from 3.0. 3.0 + 1.0 further adds "Paranoia" to that list.
  • Awful Truth: Shinji tries to cope with his actions by telling himself that at least he saved Rei, when Fuyutsuki shows him the truth behind Rei, he breaks shortly.
  • Ax-Crazy: The dummy system rips targets into bloody shreds, as seen when Unit 01 tears apart a Bardiel-possessed Unit 02.
  • Babies Ever After: 3.0+1.0 reveals that Toji and Hikari have not only married, but have a baby. One of Toji's first shots is him holding his kid in his arms.
  • Bait-and-Switch: In 3.0, Shinji notices that his school shirt originally belonged to Toji, implying he may be dead. 3.0+1.0 reveals that he's alive and well.
  • Balance of Power: The Three-Active-Evas-per-Country-Limit imposed by the Vatican Treaty, which leads to sealing off Eva-02. It's not really balanced, seeing as Japan has all the working EVAs. Provisional Unit-05 was destroyed along with Angel 3 and Mark.06 is going to stop by NERV HQ pretty early in 3.0, probably. And aside from those, Unit-04 is missing (or destroyed) and Unit-03 became dinner for EVA-01, so it's far from balanced, really, when only one country has the EVAs, even if they get locked away.
    • Considering all the Angels are attacking Japan, it's probably better for the safety of the world that they have more Evas than not.
    • Thrown out the window in 3.0 with Units 02, 08, Mark.09, Eva 13 and multiple Mark.04 drones all operating in Japan. Wille also has possession of Unit 01, but it's unknown which, if any, government they answer to. NERV is also shown to be building hundreds of Evas and the intro of 3.0+1.0 reveals that they've even managed to create fully automated Eva-based weapon systems Ritsuko claims were expressly banned by the Treaty.
  • Barrier Warrior: Eva 13's only weapons are its fists and four drones that create an artificial AT Field. It has infinite power while Wille's Evas don't, so it only needs to stall for time until their batteries run out.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space : Kaworu can do this because he isn't exactly human. And it's shown the Angels can breathe in space. Him being an Angel, after all...
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: At the end of 2.0, Shinji is granted the object of his current desires and it seems everyone else pays the price. Literally everyone else. On the planet. The Eva seems to hear "forget everything else and save Rei" as "annihilate everyone else in the world and save Rei". Luckily, the worst effects are deterred, but not before Shinji is granted some nifty, if worrisome, gifts — a spiffy new paint job for his Eva, nifty glowy eyes, and oh, yeah, about five minutes of godhood. 3.0 reveals that even if it's not the End of the World, Near-Third Impact is pretty much the end of the world.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: By 3.0, it's made clear that Fuyutsuki still works for NERV out of a desire to save Yui and see her vision come to fruition with Shinji's cooperation rather than any loyalty to Gendo.
  • Betty and Veronica: Rei and Asuka fill the roles respectively in 2.0 for Shinji.
  • Big Bad: Gendo has become this as of the end of 3.0. Having manipulated the death of Kaworu, dethroning and removing SEELE from power, and has manipulated the events behind both Third and Fourth Impact to fit his goals.
  • Big Budget Beef-Up: Everything got an upgrade for the films (even SEELE's logo!), but most notable amongst the Beef Ups are Ramiel (the Angel of Thunder) and Operation Yashima (which involves much more Five Rounds Rapid and property damage).
  • Big Damn Heroes: Shinji pulls his last minute save of the Bridge Bunnies again, just like in the series. Then he gets his ass kicked by the Angel, again, just like in the series. Then, when the EVA shuts down, he starts breaking down emotionally, begg—wait. What? He DOESN'T break down? Nope! Shinji ends up ripping Rei directly out of the bastard... ascending to godhood and kicking off the Third Impact in the process.
    • Kaworu pulls this off in the end of 2.0, preventing the Third Impact by showing up in his Evangelion Mark-06 and impaling EVA-01.
      • 3.0. reveals that this wasn't enough to prevent the destruction of most of humanity from its effects, though, forcing Asuka to pull this trope again to stop Shinji from unknowingly finising the job.
    • Mari gets a good one saving Ritsuko at the last minute in the opening battle of 3.0+1.0.
  • Big "NO!": Just like the original ADV dub, when everyone sees the blue angel ooze that's infected Unit-03 Misato shouts "No!"
  • Blind Without 'Em: Mari needs her glasses to see and spends part of her scene where she crashes into Shinji patting around on the ground after they drop from her head.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Rei, Mari, and Asuka (Rei's not exactly blonde, but has a very light hair color nonetheless)
  • Blood from the Mouth: From both unit and pilot when Zeruel stabs through Eva-01 with its various tentacle ... sword ... bandage ... thingies. Said pilot then goes through it again, twice in rapid succession, when Unit 13 runs itself through with two spears to abort Fourth Impact.
  • Bloodier and Gorier: Oh hell yes. Now almost every Angel explodes into a shower of blood-red, not blue this time. Sahaqiel takes the cake, effectively drowning the entirety of Tokyo 3 in a sea of gore. The effects of this are shown in the second film, where a giant water purifier is dedicated to undoing both Second Impact's red sea and Angel ichor.
  • Blood Knight: Mari again. Her two fights in the second film are Eva-destroying demolition derbies fueled by her decision to win at any cost. In the final two films, her switching to being the sniper/gunslinger of WILLE's Eva pilot team does not reduces her desire to bliss out on inflicting as much damage as possible.
  • Body Horror:
    • Lilith's giant rotting corpse in 3.0 has been eviscerated and has an engorged Mark.06 fused with the neck stump.
    • The Mark.06's body has been entirely consumed by the 12th Angel, leaving just the armor to flop around bonelessly. Parts of it swell and enlarge as the Angel searches for a way out.
  • Book Ends: You Are (Not) Alone opens with a shot of waves from the lifeless red ocean crashing against a beach (itself a callback to End of Evangelion). The same shot is played again at the end of Thrice Upon a Time, only now the water is blue due to Shinji having rejected Instrumentality and recreated the world without EVAs.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Mari lands three perfect headshots on the Mark.09, completely decapitating it. Unfortunately for her, the Mark.09 is much more than it seems.
  • Call-Back: Many, both subtle and not.
    • Shinji reawakens at the start of 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 to an unfamiliar person — shortly revealed to be a Suzuhara — leaning over him. In 3.0, it's him meeting Sakura, and in 3.0+1.0, it's him meeting an older Toji with his baby daughter Tsubame.
    • Also, Shinji having to wear Toji's old clothes in both 3.0 and 3.0+1.0.
    • The Additional Impact sequence in 3.0+1.0 is essentially a huge repeat of Third Impact in the final two episodes of the original series as well as End of Evangelion, with Lillith-Adam appearing in the form of a giant naked Rei, various reused shots, and the events of the original series having happened in another timeline, among other things.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: After the Eva-03 incident, Shinji attempts mutiny against Gendo by attacking Central Dogma with his Evangelion, and was only stopped by the timely application of excessive LCL cabin pressure.
  • The Cameo: Kaworu after the credits of the first movie. Rei in the third.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: A justified example. The sheer lack of information given to Shinji drives the plot of 3.0, but the brevity of the plot of 3.0 also structurally supports the lack. The first ten-or-so minutes after Shinji's awakening are spent ascertaining his authenticity. Strange, but considering that between the end of 2.0 and the beginning of 3.0 Shinji's friends in NERV discover that Rei is actually a, well, an unauthentic human being, and that it's been fourteen years since Shinji has had communication with any of them, the check is necessary. The next five-to-ten are spent engaging a hostile entity of angelic power, of which Shinji has no knowledge or means to engage and destroy, as he had done every other time fourteen years ago; no one pays him the time to explain the new threat and/or the new world in which they live because they are about to enter a battle of the highest stakes since NERV's confrontation with Zeruel. After this first victory in fourteen years, Misato, Ritsuko, Toji's sister Sakura, and Asuka finally confront Shinji — all of them grieved at having to live in the world he created for them, bitter because he had spent the entirety of that time asleep inside the world's safest bed-chamber (cradled by their hard work), and regretful with the knowledge that they (namely Misato) encouraged him to take the action that had caused Third Impact. Almost as soon as the reunion begins, another enemy engages the Wunder. It's Rei "Q", piloting an EVA that looks like EVA-00, and his old friends are trying to kill her. Shinji cannot understand or accept this. He escapes with whom he believes to be Rei, who takes him to Gendo, who benefits tremendously from Shinji's confusion and disbelief of the Wille crew.
    • Further justified by Eva Mark.09 and Mark.04, which intervene every time Wille tries to explain things to Shinji, to the point that ensuring Shinji's ignorance appears to be their primary mission.
  • Cataclysm Backstory: As in the original series, the Second Impact is a very well-done example of this trope.
  • Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: Misato tries this with Shinji in 2.0, but he steps away, rejecting her.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • Remember the Lance of Longinus and how it was used the last time to take out the Fifteenth Angel? Well, the Fifteenth Angel hasn't appeared yet in Rebuild, and Instrumentality can still be executed (as per End of Evangelion).
    • The DSS Choker, although it ends up Double Subverted because although Shinji's and Asuka's chokers both fail to kill the actual intended victim, said failures still end up contributing to Gendo's plan by eliminating Kaworu instead and allowing Asuka to be absorbed into Eva 13, respectively.
    • The Key of Nebuchadnezzar. After briefly being shown and named in 2.0, 3.0 + 1.0 reveals that it's the reason why Gendo is now wearing a visor.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Toji's sister, Sakura, who is only mentioned in the first film and appears in a voiceless cameo for a few seconds in the second film, shows up in the third film as an officer of WILLE.
  • The Chessmaster: It turns out Gendo not only knows that Kaworu is an Angel, he planned everything in 3.33. And it went just as planned.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Kaji, Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, and Pen-Pen are all missing from 3.0., with what happened to them being completely unexplained. It's presumed that they may have been casualties of the Third Impact, but they subvert this by coming back in 3.0+1.0.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Mari seems to be a tad detached from reality, at least when she is inside an EVA.
  • Clones Are People, Too: Shinji refutes Rei's belief that she's "replaceable" both before and after he learns that she's a clone. When Fuyutsuki reveals her true origins to Shinji, as well as that the Rei he's been seeing all throughout 3.0 is not "his" Rei, he is more distraught over the fact that he failed to save his friend than her true nature, and thus revoking the name "Ayanami" from Rei Q, viewing her as merely a soulless copy. Over the course of 3.0+1.0 however, as Rei Q starts to assert her own independence, grow as a person, and attempt to befriend Shinji once again, Shinji ends up growing to see that she is just as much her own person as well as being Rei Ayanami herself, and ultimately apologizes for denying her before and giving her the name "Ayanami" back (right before she ends up dying of Clone Degeneration, over which he does openly weep for her). Then even by the end of the movie when he does reunite with the original Rei, Shinji continues to treat them as separate entities sharing the identity of Rei Ayanami, asserting to her that she can choose whoever she wants to be, regardless of her origins
    • In this continuity, Asuka is a clone as well of the Shikinami series, much like how Rei is from the Ayanami series, explaining many of the differences between her characterization as Sohryu in the original series. Despite this however, no one ever treats her any differently because of this, and her character arc, much like Rei's, asserts that what her origins are less important than who she makes herself to be.
    • Subverted with the Advanced Ayanami Series, shown later in 3.0+1.0, who are little more than merely tragic Elite Mooks for Nerv
  • Combat Tentacles: Shamshel and Zeruel as usual, as well as the Eva Mark.04 Code B guarding the tesseract imprisoning Unit-01 at the beginning of 3.0 and the Code 4Cs that attack the Wunder.
  • Cool Plane: Several examples, including an ekranoplan.
  • Cool Shades: Misato and Gendo sport a pair in 3.0.
  • Cool Ship: The AAA Wunder, WILLE's flagship.
  • Crapsack World:
    • Many aspects of the original series' near post-apocalyptic setting still apply, but the series mostly concerned itself with the human population and geopolitics. In 2.22, we get a better look at the ecological disasters wreaked by the Second Impact. Kaji invites Shinji and his friends to a combination desalination plant and aquarium, where they can offhandedly discuss their baseline knowledge on nature. Most marine species have gone extinct, judging from how the kids specifically marvel at the aquarium's living sea creatures; even animals as iconic as sea turtles are implied to now be obscure. Shinji also curiously points out the smell of the sea breeze, and Kaji has to explain that decomposing sea life makes the odor and most of the ocean is now too lifeless to carry that scent. Land-based livestock agriculture is also implied to be impossible —everyone is astonished at Shinji's cooking skills, pointing out that he's working with artificial, plant protein-based "meat".
    • Things get even worse after Near-Third Impact, which has rendered Japan, the most powerful nation after Second Impact, into a completely uninhabitable wasteland.
  • Crash-Into Hello: Mari to Shinji. With a parachute, no less.
  • Creepy Hand Puppet: In something of a parallel (or antithesis?) to the main series, Asuka keeps (and talks to) a hand puppet that vaguely resembles herself. "ASUKA" is even written on its dress and it briefly appears in Asuka's Instrumentality segment as a life-sized costume worn by Kensuke.
  • Creepy Child: Kaworu. Though he has yet to truly show his colors, so far it seems he picked up all the creepiness that was dropped by Rei. Unnatural absence of any and all self-preservation? Check. Cryptic discussions with the secretive cabal on the surface of the Moon? Check. In the nude? Check. Subverted in that he's the only unambiguously good and heroic character in 3.0, concerned about the survival of the human kind and objecting SEELE plans of Instrumentality. More a case of Too Good for This Sinful Earth now.
  • Crew of One: 3.0 implies that Gendo and Fuyutsuki have been running NERV all by themselves.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Zeruel is on both ends of one. So is Unit 02 in 3.0 + 1.0.
    • At the beginning of 3.0, Unit-01 wakes up just long enough to julienne an Angel that was roasting Asuka.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Third Impact for almost the entire cast.
  • Darker and Edgier: 3.0, compared to the last two films.
  • Death World: The Earth goes from being simply post-apocalyptic to a much more empty wasteland after the Near Third Impact. However, it may not be as bad as Shinji is led to believe. The Wunder's fleet consists of at least 40 ships, including multiple aircraft carriers and submarines, and several helicopters are seen delivering supplies. Plus WILLE has the resources to launch space missions and maintain at least two Evangelions, which were noted to be huge money pits. They're getting significant resources from somewhere. The fourth film clarifies that there are scattered pockets of civilization left, behind special "L-Nullification Barriers" that prevent the landscape from being affected by an Impact, but even these are predicted to eventually fail.
  • Delayed Explosion: During the climax of the first movie, there's a scene where Ramiel blasts down a bunch of missiles headed towards him. It takes about a second for the first one to explode, and about two more before the last one does.
  • Demoted to Extra
    • Formerly fleshed out, relevant supporting character Dr. Ritsuko Akagi is almost nonexistent as far as plot contributions go in Rebuild, at least as of 2.0.
    • 2.0 had to cut most of the standalone "Action Arc", covering 12 episodes while the first movie covered only 6 from the original series. The Bridge Bunnies also lost most of their relative character development as a result, e.g. both Ritsuko and the Bridge Bunnies got most of their character development in episodes 11 and 13, which don't exist in Rebuild.
    • Kaji also loses quite a bit of importance, with his subplot about investigating NERV and SEELE being nonexistent (as far as what has been seen). There's a brief moment in which Kaji IS spying on Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Then there's the scene where Misato asks him some info on SEELE.
      • He's completely absent in 3.0., and the events that have occurred have rendered his spying completely meaningless.
      • He's revealed to be dead in 3.0+1.0, but he's credited with having essentially saved the world from Near-Third Impact, so that should probably count for something. He does get a cameo during Instrumentality, though.
    • Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari, who at least had some characterization in the series, have been reduced to Those Three Guys in this version. Especially Toji, who is no longer the pilot of Eva-03, therefore losing any real plotline significance.
      • Like Kaji, neither of the 3 appear in 3.0. In fact, it's implied they all perished in 3rd Impact. Subverted in 3.0+1.0, which shows the three of them alive and living well in a small village of remnants of humanity, and play a strong part in helping the three pilots in accommodating and having a long period of piece. Kaji, however, is revealed to have a Small Role, Big Impact, having died in the time-skip between 2.0 and 3.0, having founded WILLE as the last resistance force against Gendo and NERV.
    • While certainly not an extra, Asuka also seems to lose quite a bit of an importance, even in her absorption of Toji's major plot point. She's only a major factor for about half of 2.0, at which point she falls into a coma. In 3.0, she's a major factor for the beginning and end segments of the movie, but is all but completely absent in the middle. She makes a more significant return in 3.0+1.0, featuring heavily in a mid-movie action sequence and becoming the crucial angelic element in Gendo's Another Impact scheme.
    • Also, Rei is an important focus in 1.0 and 2.0, but is barely in 3.0 mainly because it's not the same Rei.
  • Despair Event Horizon:
    • Mixed with Determinator, oddly enough. The Unit-03 test and its subsequent destruction affects Shinji so hard that he loses it, and he nearly destroys humanity when he kills Zeruel in an attempt to save Rei. He doesn't realize the consequences of what he's doing until after the fact, but he's so determined to make up for his prior failure that he doesn't really care what happens.
    • It gets worse in 3.0 after Kaworu's death and near Fourth Impact.
    • Shinji ultimately recovers from this in the final film, with a lot of effort from his allies — and it allows him to successfully save the world the third time around.
  • Determinator: Shinji turns into this near the end of the second movie.
    Shinji: "I don't care what happens to me! I don't even care what happens to the world! But I'm bringing Rei back! I promise I'll save you, Rei! Even if it's the last thing I do!!!"
  • Deuteragonist: A variation of this, since the role shifts with each movie.
    • In 1.11 it's Misato; in 2.22, Rei; in 3.33, Kaworu; and in 3.0 + 1.0, its Rei Q and in the end, Mari.
  • Disney Death: Asuka in 2.22.
  • Don't Make Me Destroy You: The attitude of Shinji and Asuka to each other in their fight in 3.0. Reprised with Shinji and Gendo in 3.0 + 1.0.
  • Double-Meaning Title:
    • The final film's Japanese title, Shin Evangelion Theatrical Edition𝄇, is rendered as ambiguously as possible. "Shin" is written in katakana, which depict phonemes but not meaning; potential meanings include, but are not limited to, "new", "true", or "divine". We currently have no way to know what "𝄇", the symbol at the end, actually is because it only appears in images and is always omitted when Khara renders the title in Unicode. It may represent a colon followed by the end-of-piece (𝄂) sign in musical notation, or if taken as a whole, the "repeat" sign (𝄇), which starts the piece over from the beginning. It may even represent a colon followed by the UPC digit "4". Another wrinkle is the fact that this title uses the original katakana spelling of Evangerion from the anime series instead of Rebuild's Wevangeriwon, whatever that may mean.
    • In light of the above, the English title 3.0+1.0 may be an example as well — 3+1=4, of course, but it may also imply a recursive cycle where 3.0 leads back into 1.0.
      • The English title, Thrice Upon a Time, as detailed in Shout-Out below, is a reference to a novel by James P Hogan, which is about the ramifications of sending messages into the past and/or receiving messages from the future. It also alludes to a modifier for the number three ("thrice") preceding a modifier for the number one ("a"), or 3.0+1.0.
  • Down the Rabbit Hole: As badass and touching as the "Ayanami rescue" scene is, it should be noted that Shinji basically gives up on reality. This being Evangelion, it's not a good philosophy to follow — and the results are shown in 3.33.
  • Duct Tape for Everything:
    • As in the TV series, Misato's poor car is taped together after withstanding the Fourth Angel's onslaught.
    • Asuka's plugsuit in the first half of 3.33 is patched in several spots with something that is probably more high-tech than duct tape, but it sure looks like it. This seemingly serves as effective visual shorthand for WILLE's chronic supply issues after Near-Third Impact but as it's revealed in the prequel short manga distributed with 3.0 + 1.0, Asuka did actually have her new plugsuit ready but pulled out the old one and duct-taped it together less than an hour before launching for sentimental reasons.
  • Early-Bird Cameo:
    • Kaworu (natch), SEELE, and Lilith all cameo in 1.0. Asuka, in the meantime, only appears in the preview for 2.0.
    • In 3.0., assembly lines for parts for the Mass-Produced Evas seen in the trailer for Final are briefly shown.
    • Gendo's and Fuyutsuki's final appearance in 3.0 takes place on the bridge of the Erlösung, hinting at the existence of the other three Wunder-class ships.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: 3.0+1.0 ends with Shinji using Instrumentality to make amends with the other pilots and his parents, and not only does he reject Instrumentality, but he wishes that everything involving the Angels and the Evas never happened. As a result, all of Evangelion is undone. The final scene is of an adult Shinji meeting with an adult Mari at a train station (with cameos of adult Asuka, Rei, and Kaworu there as well) and they run out together towards their bright future.
    • On a meta level for 3.0+1.0, after years in production, including multiple delays, including further ones in 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Anno finally has his definitive ending for the series. Not only that, but 3.0+1.0 broke multiple records, being Anno's highest-grossing film to date (surpassing Shin Godzilla) as well as Toei's, being the first film it's ever released to break ten 10 billion yen mark.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The technology behind the films has finally evolved to the point where the Angels have graduated from the freaky kaiju of the television series into truly mind-shattering, reality-defying fiends. They routinely exist simultaneously in multiple states of matter, flicker in and out of our dimension, and fiddle with the variables of E=mc2 like a child playing with Lincoln Logs.
    • Eva Imaginary in 3.0+1.0. An Eva in the Anti-Universe that doesn't even actually exist.
  • Enhanced on DVD: Some footage has been added, along with some general touching up and redrawing, for both movies' video releases so far. To reflect this, the films' numbers were changed: 1.01 for You Are (Not) Alone's initial DVD release and 1.11 for the further improved Blu-Ray, and 2.22 for the You Can (Not) Advance DVD/Blu-Ray.
  • Everything's Better with Rainbows: Yeah, there've been a couple so far... refracted through raining blood. Every time an Angel dies, there is a rainbow, with the sole exception of Kaworu, but he did tell Shinji they'll meet again.
  • Evil Counterpart:
    • Unit-13 is seemingly this to Unit-01. Not only do they have the same coloration, armor design and Shinji as pilot, both enter into a "pseudo-evolved form" after consuming an Angel (Zeruel for Unit-01, Twelfth Angel for Unit-13), starting an Impact in the process. The only difference is that Unit-01 triggering Third Impact was accidental, while Unit-13's triggering of Fourth Impact was completely deliberate, if not with the desired outcome. Practically enforced in 3.0 + 1.0, with Gendo himself piloting Eva-13 and fighting Shinji, who's piloting Eva-01, and their movements mirror each other in every hit.
    • Mark.09 to Eva-00. Shinji even confuses them when the Mark.09 first appears. Subverted in that this is not its true form.
    • Kaworu's Mark.06 is presented as Seele's answer to Unit 01. Similar powers and design, but with a dark blue and yellow/orange color scheme and a glowing red visor.
    • The Wunder's sister ships in 3.0 + 1.0, all of them being black and blue with spiky and blade-like hull components instead of the Wunder's blocky gray and orange.
  • Explosive Leash: WILLE puts one on Shinji as a precaution. Kaworu later takes it off him and puts it around his own neck, which he uses in the climax to sacrifice himself. It's revealed in 3.0 + 1.0 that Shinji wasn't the only one with an explosive choker. Mari and Asuka themselves have their own, with the same restrictions as Shinji's.
  • Explosive Overclocking: During the Wunder's startup scene, all the cables connecting the ship to the various generators and condensers carried by the escort fleet went yellow-hot and violently exploded from the sheer power pumped through them.
  • Eye Beams: One of the Angels' powers. Used by Eva Unit-01 in 2.0 and 3.0. Taken further by the Mark.09 in 3.0, which fires extremely powerful eye beams from its neck stump and ramped up another notch in 3.0 + 1.0 where Gendo fires one too once his visor is knocked off.
    • In fact, NERV actually managed to reverse-engineer this during the Time Skip and strap eyeball-like spherical turrets onto the Wunder's sister ships. The Erlösung alone has six of them.
  • Eyecatch: Each film contains one around the midpoint, showcasing the film's English name in the same way that the episodes of the original show did.
  • Eyepatch After Time Skip: Asuka sports an eyepatch 14 years after the events of 2.0.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Asuka sports one in the 3.0 trailer, but then you realize what it references.
  • Fan Disservice:
    • After consuming Eva-00 and Rei, Zeruel grows a hundred foot-tall female body. The unnaturally long arms and Angel-body for a head only reinforce just how wrong it is.
    • Asuka spends a large part of the first half 3.0 + 1.0 at Kensuke's house wearing nothing but panties and an unbuttoned jacket, but she's so disillusioned and obviously unhappy that it's far more disturbing than titillating.
    • The Evangelion Imaginary, which is the new version of 'Giant Naked Rei'. Still gigantic, still stark naked, but now rendered in a very unsettling photorealistic style.
  • Fanservice:
    • This is taken to such levels with the female characters that some American fans have been more annoyed by it than otherwise. The males get some too (especially Kaworu), but those clips aren't akin to the brief shot of Mari's breasts jiggling in her plugsuit. Perhaps all the promises made by Misato during the episode previews are finally being acted upon.
    • The only female plugsuit that doesn't seem to play this trope to the hilt is the Eva-05 one, which actually flattens the pilot's chest somewhat — much to Mari's discomfort.
    • Lampshaded when Asuka points out how revealing the test plugsuit is when she pilots Unit 3.
    • As a rule of thumb, these movies are much less generous with censoring: although Asuka gets Scenery Censor assistance in 2.0, that's about all for the entire film. Neither she nor Rei enjoys the benefits of Barbie Doll Anatomy anymore.
    • Especially jarring in 3.0 when Mari gets a boob jiggle right after Kaworu dies.
    • Taken to whole other levels in 3.0 + 1.0, with jarring scenes of both Asuka and Mari stark naked (yet seen from the back) that linger more time than they should. Misato's promises of fan service were guaranteed and paid for.
  • Fauxshadow: 1.0 and 2.0 still include many of the plot beats from the original series, but many of the twists they were originally hinting at are graudually rendered much less dramatically meaningful or even non-existent as 3.0 and 3.0 + 1.0 increasingly go Off the Rails. Especially Yui, who turned out to have a sizable Present Absence in the original series, are ultimately a much less important character in the Rebuild series as a whole.
  • Feminine Women Can Cook: Rei thinks so in 2.0... unfortunately, judging by the number of cuts on her hands, she mostly wields the kitchen knife upon herself. By contrast, Asuka — who behaves more masculine than Shinji — is, at least, a very messy chef.
  • Fighting Across Time and Space: During their fight in [[spoiler:Minus Space, Shinji and Gendo end in various locations that reference the original timeline. After being thrown around by Gendo, its revealed that the locations are actually Toku movie sets in keeping with the series tradition of having a Mind Screw finale.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water:
    • A major part of 3.0. is Shinji waking up 14 years after 2.0. and realizing/coming to terms with just how much has changed- and how much of it is his own fault.
  • Forbidden Zone: A huge chunk of Japan in 3.0. The crater containing the ruins of Tokyo-3 is sealed off by a ring of pillars, and as the Wunder flies away, a line of enormous white crosses can be seen on the horizon. Conditions are toxic to Lilim. The Wunder's massive support fleet implies that other parts of the world are better off.
    • Antarctica survived Second Impact in this continuity, but Gendo describes it as a cursed place where humans cannot go. When the forces of NERV and Wille converge at Calvary Base, the epicenter of Second Impact during 3.0 + 1.0 the continent's depicted as a quiet, desolate land dyed red and orange with an Alien Sky decorated by crosses of black light, and any normal human beings outside of the protective confines of an L-containment barrier dissolve into LCL.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In 3.0, Shinji ends up playing a game of shogi against Fuyutsuki, and Fuyutsuki tells Shinji that he will lose in 31 turns. Exactly 31 minutes later in the film, Kaworu dies and Shinji is sent into another traumatic coma, with Gendo and SEELE's plan going on unhindered.
    • This is probably more of a coincidence rather than intentional foreshadowing, given that the original plot of 3.0 was scrapped shortly into production and ultimately taken in a completely different direction, but it's almost Hilarious in Hindsight: In 2.0, when Shinji is musing out loud about Rei's upcoming party we see that there are posters of planets and nebulas on the walls of his room. Come 3.0, Unit-01 (with Shinji trapped within it) starts the movie literally in space.
    • Mari refers to Gendo as "Gendo-kun," using an honorific you wouldn't usually use for someone older than you. That's because Mari is actually Yui's and Gendo's contemporary.
    • While visiting the marine preserve in 2.0, Rei compares herself to the fish by saying that, like her, they can't survive outside their tank. In Thrice Upon a Time, Rei Q ultimately dies after being away from her LCL tank in NERV HQ for too long.
    • In Thrice Upon a Time, Asuka is seen wearing the same kind of choker put on Shinji in 3.0. At first it seems to just be an plan to get a reaction out of him, but then it's revealed that Asuka was altered to be kind of a Angel-Human hybrid (possibly during her time in Unit-03 in 2.0) in the past when she uses her power to breach her own Eva's A.T. field, meaning that the choker was not just there for show.
  • Four Is Death: Just like in the original series, Unit-03, the fourth numbered unit, needs to be terminated and severely wounds its pilot, and Unit-04 tang-raptures the entire state of Nevada during its activation test.
    • There's even one of the symbolic variety: Fourth Impact is supposed to invoke End of Evangelion, all the way down to the final shot of the pilots leaving the Eva and into the wasteland.
    • Unit-13 itself is an entire walking Four is Death. Appearance-wise, it has four eyes, four arms and armed with four RS Hoppers. It has also two Entry Plugs and armed with two spears: The Spears of Longinus and Cassius. The number two, if squared, becomes FOUR! And last but totally not the least, it is built to cause the Fourth Impact. It's also one of the four Adams.
    • The Evangelion Mark.04/Nemesis Series which NERV has been using to hound WILLE. Not to mention that the Wunder itself is one of four ships of its class as well.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: A subverted example occurs in 3.0 + 1.0. Shinji in his catatonic state is taken to one of the villages where humanity survives, and absolutely no one bears ill grudges against him, and in fact his old grown-up friends are downright ecstatic in seeing him alive. We also revisit some of the Wunder's crew, and we see that, despite everything, a lot of them don't hate him, they're just worried and wary of him. A couple of them still do hate him for what happened, but it's mostly restricted to those who lost family members to Third Impact. Asuka herself can't bring herself to hate Shinji, but in her usual tough love way, she wants him to assume the consequences and grow up.
  • From Bad to Worse:
    • The EVA-03 test with Asuka as its pilot, which is even more apparent compared to the series because of the more lighthearted first half and it being the starting point of going Off the Rails.
    • 3.0 starts off this way in relation to the previous movies, and ends with the situation getting much, much worse.
  • Funbag Airbag: How often does a girl drop from the sky by parachute with her breasts landing right in your face? And Shinji thinks life is so hard for him.
    • Well, while his face had some protective padding, the back of his head gets clonked against the floor (ouch), which would take the fun out of that (or pretty much any) kind of situation.
  • Fun with Subtitles: In one translation, while lots of Techno Babble is floating around, there are too many voices at once, so all we read is BALLSBALLSBALLS.
  • Furo Scene: Not long, nor heavy with Fanservice, but one nonetheless.
  • Gainax Ending: Not quite to the same extent as the original series, but the last 20 minutes of 3.0 + 1.01 offers a more measured iteration of this trope compared to other entries in this franchise. After a series of bombastic battle sequences, the narrative ends with incredibly trippy finale that plays heavily into both the symbolic, therapy session-like narrative of the TV show's infamous ending and the striking imagery of End of Evangelion. Which also remakes shots from that movie, makes use of footage from the Instrumentality sequence, and the title cards of the Rebuild movies — including 3.0 + 1.01. You might need a guide for this one.
  • Gatling Good: Shinji uses one against Shamshel. Asuka also uses one in the final battle, as depicted in a trailer.
  • Gecko Ending: Not content with simply regrowing a new tail for the series, 3.0 ensures that everything below the "neck" of Evangelion is going to be completely new.
  • The Ghost: Averted; for the first time in franchise history, we see Toji's little sister in the second movie. Then in 3.0., not only does she finally get a name (Sakura), she becomes a minor character, as a Second Lieutenant in WILLE.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom:
    • In 3.0 Asuka's eye glows just like Mari's did when activating Unit-02's Beast Mode. Her left eye also appears to glow despite being covered by an eyepatch and being blue instead of the usual green associated with Beast Mode. 3.0 + 1.0 shows that the eye itself is intact and glows once again when she goes into Heroic RRoD.
    • Units 01 and 13 get bulbous, glowing eyes when they awaken. Unit-08's eyes also glow when it enters "overlapping mode".
  • Godzilla Threshold: The crew of the Wunder is initially prepared to kill Shinji and/or Misato before allowing Shinji to get into Unit 01 for the final battle. Understandable, since he nearly ended the world the last two times he did it. However, with Gendo in the middle of his own world ending plan already, they eventually relent.
  • Gone Horribly Right: A meta example. "So, you want Shinji to be less of an Angst-ridden shmuck and more of a badass? Here you go. It's only going to doom most of what's left of humanity and almost every good relationship he had. Which adds more angst."
  • Gone Horribly Wrong:
    • The expedition to find Adam, like in the original series, is what causes the Second Impact.
    • And then there's Shinji's attempt to save Rei from being absorbed into Zeruel, which causes Near-Third Impact. And then Shinji's attempt to fix that... which causes Fourth Impact. Let's just agree that pretty much everything Shinji does goes horribly wrong.
  • Gorn: Each time an Angel is killed, it bursts into an ocean of blood and gore.
  • Grand Finale: 3.0 + 1.0 is the final entry for the Rebuild films and represents the completion of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise as a whole, at least for now. The tagline on the poster hammers this home: "Bye-bye, all of EVANGELION."
  • Gratuitous English: Many of the examples of this trope are maintained from the original series, such as "dummy plug", "progressive knife", etc. Notably, one old example is averted—the series uses the English term "children" as both singular and plural, resulting in Shinji being the "Third Children". Rebuild simply translates the term to Japanese—so Shinji is now the "Sanbanme no Ko".
  • Gratuitous French: The majority of the background tracks' titles.
  • Gut Punch: The entirety of 3.0, especially everything involving Rei.
  • Handicapped Badass: Asuka doesn't need two eyes to kick ass and take names!
  • Heroic BSoD: Shinji, once again after the EVA-03 incident.
    • Shinji spends most of the second half of 3.0. like this after it's revealed he caused Third Impact, which wiped out most of humanity. Then, after Kaworu sacrifices himself, he falls into an even worse state, mirroring his condition in the first half of End of Evangelion.
      • Shinji, once more, remains the first 30 or so minutes in this state in 3.0 + 1.0. Notably, he goes out of it really quick.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    • Kaworu pulls one at the end of 3.0 in order to prevent Fourth Impact. Subverted in that it doesn't actually stop it — it's Mari ejecting Shinji's plug out of Eva-13 that does the trick. The scene was extremely ambiguous. Mari was unable to pull the plug out until a very pale figure of Kaworu appeared on screen and afterwards, the Eva shut down completely, allowing Mari to pull out the plug. The ending has Ritsuko wondering who they should thank for this, indicating (just like the soundtrack God's Gift) it was Kaworu's interference that somewhat played on their favor. Of course his image only appeared after she got the entry plug eject also makes it possible that it was Mari, which is why it's ambiguous. Furthermore, Shinji was added as the second pilot as a failsafe precisely because it was feared Kaworu would sabotage the plan.
    • It's revealed in 3.0+1.0 that Kaji sacrificed himself offscreen shortly after the events of 3.0 to stop Near Third Impact.
    • In 3.0+1.0, Misato sacrifices herself by ramming the Wunder into the Imaginary Lilith, delivering the Spear of Gaius to Shinji.
    • Gendo of all people seemingly pulls this off in the closing minutes of 3.0+1.0, as he and Yui impale themselves on the Spear of Gaius to spare Shinji from having to do so.
  • Heroic Second Wind: Shinji invokes this at the end of the second film after Unit-01's internal battery runs out.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Of all people, Shinji shows signs of becoming this near the end of 2.0. Like in the original series, he wants to avoid becoming like his father. In the end, his sole motivation is to be reunited with a loved one, even at the cost of killing everyone else in the world. Like father, like son. He does get better in 3.0. Kind of better, anyway.
  • High-Pressure Blood:
    • Unit 01's blood spray from its eye socket during the fight with Sachiel, just like the original series.
    • It bursts up out of Unit-00's legs when Zeruel eats its body.
    • All of the Evas gush blood when seriously injured. The fact that Mark.09 doesn't after having its head blown off clues Mari into its true nature.
  • High-Speed Missile Dodge: Asuka does this in her debut battle, dodging a multitude of projectiles fired by an Angel.
  • Holding Your Shoulder Means Injury: Shinji does it after being hit by the abrupt landing of a parachuting girl.
  • Hope Spot: Kaworu's actions at the end of the second movie had quite a few fans believing (well, hoping) that he'll be spared and live through the end of Rebuild. He is gruesomely killed in the sequel.
  • Hot-Blooded: Despite the naysayers, Asuka still has some pretty fiery blood coursing through her veins. And Mari... well, let's just say that she would fit into the cast of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann pretty neatly. To say nothing of Shinji channeling Simon the Digger, Noriko and even some Naota in 2.0.
  • Hotter and Sexier: At times, the Fanservice is a lot more prevalent than in the original series.
    • A blatant example would be Asuka's shower scene in 2.0.
  • Human Popsicle: Shinji spends years dissolved inside EVA 01. When he awakens, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming
    • The Japanese titles of the movies are derived from jo-ha-kyu, a pacing system used in noh theater and other Japanese art forms. The three parts can be translated as "beginning, breakdown, crisis", meaning that an action begins slowly and becomes steadily faster and faster as it reaches the end.
    • The title for 3.0 plays around with this a lot, taking advantage of the fact that "Q" sounds just like "kyu", and that "Quickening" is a suitable translation of the kanji involved. (Especially since, unlike a noh play, Rebuild will have a fourth act.)
    • When we recall that "Evangelion" can be translated as "Gospel", "Q" also evokes the Q Document, a hypothesized source of the Gospels.
    • On another note, "Q" in Japanese is a pun: it can literally mean "decision". Rewriting the above, the "jo-ha-Q" can also literally mean "beginning, breakdown, decision". Finally, in That Other Wiki, one area for decision is Epileptic Trees.
    • The fourth movie has 𝄂 as its subtitle in Japanese, which is the "end" bar in musical notation. However, the Japanese title also includes a colon (:) right before the symbol, which may mean it is in fact subtitled 𝄇, the "repeat" bar line.
  • I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: Misato sums up her plan to literally catch the falling Sahaquiel with Units 00, 01, and 02 as coming from "woman's intuition."
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Shinji didn't just fail to save Rei, he might quite possibly have trapped her in a metal monstrosity, if she isn't just plain dead. Guilt and abject despair follow instantly.
  • Immediate Sequel: 3.0+1.0 takes place pretty much immediately after 3.0.
  • Impaled Palm: Sahaquiel gives Shinji stigmata. Later, he's seen with bandages.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
    • In The Stinger of 2.0, the Mark-06 piloted by Kaworu literally smites the recently transcended Eva-01 with a lance-like weapon (which has a very different design from the classical "Lance of Longinus". The appearance doesn't match the series because this is a different lance, known as the "Lance of Cassius."
  • Insistent Terminology: The incident at the end of 2.22 is referred to as Near-Third Impact by WILLE and Third Impact by NERV.
  • Ironic Echo: 3.0 is full of these to Episode 24 of the TV Series and the End Of Evangelion Movies.
    Exhibit A: Episode 24 and End : (1) Kaworu dies from having his body pulverized by Shinji and his head being all that remains. (2) A catatonic Asuka being strangled by Shinji (3) While a giant pale-white Rei overlooks the desolation.
    Exhibit B: You Cannot Redo: (1) Kaworu having his head pulverized in front of Shinji with his body being all that remains. (2) A catatonic Shinji being beaten and dragged by Asuka. (3) While a black clad Rei follows them to saftety through the desolation.
    • In a musical sense, in 2.22, Shinji and Asuka's bonding scene has a slow paced piano piece as soundtrack; when Shinji and Asuka meet again in 3.33, there's a fast paced piano piece on the background.
    • By the end of the movie, when Asuka finds Shinji, she later states that he didn't save her, given which were the Arc Words of 3.33 and what happened in the movie...
    • In 1.11, Misato shows Lilith to Shinji, in a way of convincing him that he needs to pilot the Eva and do something for the world; in 3.33, she coldly tells him that he would never do anything again.
  • Indecisive Medium: 3.0+1.0 features an extended sequence in the minus dimension where everything turns into one of the Toku series that originally inspired Anno. Buildings fly around like cardboard models, characters touch the painted backdrop of the sky, and at one point the wall gets smashed and the action spills into the backstage area.
  • In Spite of a Nail: Despite all the differences from Neon Genesis and Rebuild, Misato still gives her life to help Shinji.
  • "It" Is Dehumanizing: In 3.33, Shinji is referred to as Test Subject BM-03 by WILLE while Rei-Q is called by Asuka a clone of the Ayanami Types.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Asuka to Shinji. Basically her motivation for being the test pilot for Unit-03 in the end, allowing him to go to Rei's party.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Asuka, though she is introduced in 2.0 as a textbook Jerkass; after some Character Development and a surprisingly mild case of Break the Haughty (which doesn't even involve actual breaking), she is shown to have a (somewhat) considerate, friendly and caring side as she reevaluates her opinion on some of the people around her and comes to some sort of tentative understanding with the introverted Rei Ayanami in this universe; she even takes her place in piloting Unit-03 in its ill-fated testing run so that the quiet girl could host a dinner party in the hopes of getting Shinji and Gendo closer to each other. It doesn't happen exactly because of the EVA-03 disaster.
  • The Juggernaut: Zeruel retains his status as the only Angel to breach NERV by brute strength alone. He blasts all the way through the 24 armored layers above the Geofront with just one attack. He even No Sells an N2 missile at point blank range without his AT field.
  • Kids Rock: Two examples in 2.0: "Give Me Wings" (Tsubasa o Kudasai) and "Goodbye to These Days" (Kyou no Hi wa Sayounara). This either comes off as incredibly creepy, heartachingly tragic, or hilariously inappropriate.
  • Kill on Sight: In 3.0+1.0, while Misato and Gendo exchange deadpan pleasantries on the bow deck of the Wunder, Ritsuko pulls a Dynamic Entry by shooting Gendo in the head before she's even on camera. It's a nice reversal to the scene in End of Evangelion where she was shot and killed by Gendo.
  • Kill the God: Gendo proclaims that God is dead with the death of Kaworu in in 3.0, and that Fourth Impact will "kill God".
  • Last Girl Wins: Strongly implied with the end of 3.0+1.0 — Shinji and Mari's interaction and dialogue positively drip with flirtation and romantic attraction. Also, the fact that they run up the steps to face the new world together, hand in hand, is highly suggestive.
  • Lensman Arms Race: "3.0" really hammers this one home. 14 years worth of post impact development has led to both sides making huge strides, including gigantic flying battleships, truly mass produced EVAs, longer running times, particle beam weaponry, and a limited ability to create artificial Angels, mass AT fields, and use AT fields as propulsion.
  • Let Me Get This Straight...: English dub-only example; the scriptwriter turns the egregious example of As You Know involving Ritsuko's explanation of Operation Yashima in the original into an example of this. It works... about as well as can be expected, anyway.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: In stark contrast to the original series Shinji decides, "Screw being a wimp! I'm going to save Rei!" He also screws everyone else, apparently.
  • Letter Motif: Rebuild changes Asuka's surname from Soryu to Shikinami to fit in with both Rei Ayanami and the new girl, Mari Makinami (while keeping the Vehicular Theme Naming from the original).
  • Licensed Game: The first movie was adapted into a video game for PS2 and PSP. Since the first movie only covered events in the anime through episode 6, the rest of the game adapts the TV series up through End of Evangelion.
  • Lighter and Softer: Not that it doesn't have some decidedly dark moments, but Rebuild is this in comparison to the original series — the characters angst less and aren't as emotionally crippled while still having the same base problems as before, and they aren't subjected to quite as much trauma and Mind Rape that they are in the original (not yet, anyway). Not that being less dark than Neon Genesis Evangelion is particularly difficult. 3.33 is much darker than previous films, with Shinji back to his Butt-Monkey status and getting traumatized all over again.
    • Of course, when one considers that the original series' first 15-16 episodes were also Lighter and Softer compared to last 10, this actually makes some sense. Just like in Rebuild, the depressing cynicism and darkness that the series is infamous for doesn't really start to become apparent until after the fight with Bardiel in Unit-03.
    • Even then, 3.33, while incredibly bleak, is still lighter than it's original counterpart, at least in some regards. In the series, Kaworu's advent was marked by pretty much the entire cast in shambles (Asuka was catatonic, Ritsuko was a shameful wreck, Misato seemed to be stable, but was still grieving the loss of Kaji, Rei was different, and Shinji was left all alone and confused). In this version, most of the (surviving) cast is mentally stable (if immensely bitter) and in top form, most of the cast isn't killed off (the exceptions being Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari, and even then it's left ambiguous), Kaworu is much less of an Anti-Villain and much more of a genuine Nice Guy, and even though things get much, much worse at the end, things still seem to be somewhat hopeful.
    • 3.0+1.0 is lighter than both End of Evangelion and 3.0.
  • Light Is Not Good: The four Adams and Evangelion 13 (which is one of them) glow brilliant white when they Awaken and trigger an Impact. Unit 01 also glows in its Pseudo-Evolved form, but that's a furious red color.
  • Literal Genie: The nature of the Impacts, as revealed in the final movie.
  • Living Ship: AAA Wunder.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: At the climax of the First Act of 3.0, the Bridge Crew relay every piece of critical information that Shinji needs to hear... except onethe knowledge that his Father's true intentions are to cause Fourth Impact, and, by default, Fuyutski's as well.
  • Long Song, Short Scene: God's Gift. While the scene it plays in is very awesome, it's also very short, so the full awesomeness of the song is sadly not heard in the movie itself.
  • Lost Common Knowledge: Shinji and his friends' visit to an aquarium of cloned marine life in 2.22 demonstrates how little they know of what the ocean was like before Second Impact rendered it nearly lifeless. Kensuke correctly identifies a sea turtle, but isn't sure of himself, while Shinji is initially confused by the briny smell because most of the ocean no longer features enough decaying plankton to create the scent.
  • The Lost Lenore: As in the original show, Yui for Gendo, but as of Q, the second Rei seems to have followed her footsteps. She is physically gone, but her shadow still hangs heavily over the movie — for once, her relationship with Shinji was instrumental to turning the setting into a postapocalyptic wasteland, Shinji mentions her, his attempt to save her or other facets of her character and their relationship in half the scenes he's in, all of which ends up throwing her currently active clone into existential horror.
  • Love Epiphany: Well, in a sense. Rei describes to Asuka her feelings towards Shinji, which Asuka realizes is love. In short, the wrong person has the epiphany.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: Each and every Angel dies this way.
  • Machine Blood: When an Evangelion is injured, the corresponding body part of the pilot is wreathed in foamy bubbles.
  • Magnetic Weapons: Main cannons of AAA Wunder, which are noted to be railguns.
  • Making a Splash: The Seventh Angel shown after 2.22's prologue is able to freeze small areas of seawater to form a walking surface and can attack by generating enormous geysers.
  • Male Gaze: Having lost the Stripperiffic outfit she was complaining about towards the end of the previous movie, Asuka seems to have a lot of establishing shots in 3.0 featuring the groin or buttocks of her plug suit.
  • Marshmallow Hell: Or "why parachutes are fun". Even more hilarious because this is the second time that Shinji ends up being an Accidental Pervert, and also the second time that he's the only one freaked out by it (this isn't counting when he sees Asuka naked earlier in 2.0 — referring strictly to boobs here).
  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover: 1.0 appeared in Super Robot Wars L and Super Robot Wars Z 3.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Jo-Ha-Kyu is a Japanese aesthetic whereby a performance art (theatre, tea ceremony, kendo, etc.) should begin slowly, break tempo, and then finish swiftly. Think the three acts of a Western play: set-up, confrontation, and resolution.
    • "Quickening", in addition to referring to speeding up, also refers to an unborn child's first movements, or bringing something to life. Given that at the end of 2.0, Shinji and Rei are stuck in Unit-01... Quickening also refers to the birth of Eva 13.
    • Each of the English subtitles also bears meaning to the plot of their respective movies.
      • You Are (Not) Alone: Shinji is, indeed, not alone throughout the movie, since he has support from Misato and Rei.
      • You Can (Not) Advance: Shinji spends much of the movie trying to get close to his father and win his approval. When Gendo has Unit-01's dummy plug eviscerate Unit-03 and almost kill Asuka, though, all hopes (or desire) to earn his father's love go right out the window.
      • You Can (Not) Redo: Shinji tries to Set Right What Once Went Wrong after nearly causing Third Impact at the end of the previous movie. His efforts have the opposite effect.
    • "Wille" (Will in german) is an important term in the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. For Nietzsche, the "Wille zur Macht" is related to the so called "amor fati", meaning embrace of all good and bad aspects of life despite potential suffering and stop running away from difficulties.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: Eva-02' is outfitted with a fully robotic arm that can be swapped out for guns and tools, as well as a new Beast Mode called 'Code 777.'
  • Medium Blending: In the ending of 3.0 + 1.0, we see Shinji and Mari leaving a train station to the real world of Ube, Anno's hometown.
  • Mega Neko: The aforementioned Code 777 Beast Mode. It looks like a giant saber-toothed cat.
  • Membership Token: All of the members of WILLE (except Misato, their leader) wear a blue bandanna tied around one arm (Sakura wears hers around her neck, though).
  • Men Like Dogs, Women Like Cats: Present throughout the series. Asuka and Mari, the two most prominent female pilots, are both heavily identified with cats (and in Asuka's case, gains a cat-shaped Super Mode for her Eva), while Shinji, the lone male pilot, picks up the nickname of "puppy boy". In the fourth movie, Toji is also shown to own a dog, while Rei Q gets a scene where she bonds with a cat.
  • Mermaid Arc Emergence: In 3.0 + 1.0, Mari does this at the end when she emerges from the water after Shinji resets reality.
  • Meta Fiction: The battle between Shinji and Gendo at the climax of 3.0 + 1.0 leans in this direction when their two Evas begin breaking through environmental boundaries and find that they are actually located in a literal production studio. However, this all takes place in the Anti-Universe which is constructed from their thoughts and memories, leaving the significance of this reveal ambiguous at best.
  • Mind Screw: This being Evangelion, this was bound to happen, though it wasn't prominent in 1.0 and 2.0. 3.0 did have minor elements of this, with using Lilith to initiate Fourth Impact, and how the entire state of the world is a hellish landscape, but it's coherent enough that most people will get it on their first watch. 3.0+1.0, on the other hand, goes completely off it's rocker, particularly during the second half. Basically, Antarctica has become an Eldritch Location, the four Adams were turned into warships (with a fifth one being Evangelion-13), and Gendo becoming the "Final Angel" after using Nebuchadnezzar's Key. The "Minus Space" is especially confusing, as Humans can't actually percieve it, thus uses memories to form a location. The Final Battle and ending are also confusing, and might take a few rewatches or a recap to explain what even happened. Oh yeah, and there is also a Photorealistic Giant Naked Rei.
  • The Missing Faction: EVA Units 07, 10, 11, and 12. In addition, the 11th Angel is also unaccounted for. 3.0 + 1.0 features the EV As, with 7 being a mass-produced model and the Mark.09 through 12 being Vessels of Adam. The missing Angel is still unaccounted for.
  • Monumental Damage: A heroic example ; Mari uses the Eiffel Tower to destroy an Artifical Angel / Eva in order to gain access to NERV Europe's HQ.
  • Mood-Swinger: Asuka suffers a case of this in the movie, regarding her lunch. You know what about, you know EXACTLY what.
  • Mood Whiplash: Compared to the series and 1.0, 2.0 has a much more Lighter and Softer feel to it, with everyone happier than the original series... then Asuka becomes the pilot of EVA-03. Then in 3.0., after the slightly hopeful ending of 2.0., we find out that Shinji's actions at the end of 2.0. did cause Third Impact and wiped out most of humanity, sending the film into pure Darker and Edgier territory.
    • The after-the-credits trailer for Final contains Misato's "Service, service!" from the original series. This is after the ending that leaves Shinji horribly traumatized (again) and Gendo poised to win and initiate Fifth Impact.
  • Morality Kitchen Sink: If the original series were already ambiguous enough, then 3.33 takes it further.
    • In summary: Gendo and Seele remain as the Big Bads until Gendo manages to wipe out Seele, meanwhile, Fuyutsuki remains as the Beleaguered Assistant of Gendo and is at best an Anti-Villain; WILLE, formed by many ex-members of Nerv, are the only organization left fighting against them; however they are also cynical and flawed due to the 14 years of constant war, Misato, their leader, has almost become a Knight Templar. Asuka is another member of WILLE and has a strong grudge against Shinji for having a hand in Third Impact, yet she remains amongst the few people who still see him as a person rather than an object; Mari is straightforward in her allegiance to WILLE and does fight for a good world, it doesn't stop her from being a Blood Knight; Kaworu's position is firmly in the good side, but he can be manipulative to an extent; Shinji is also one of the good guys, but after gaining knowledge of his actions, he becomes The Atoner, without much success at the end; lastly Rei-Q is a completely neutral person who only follows orders until she falls into an existential crisis.
  • Motion Parallax: Every monitor, particularly at the NERV headquarters and including non-plot-relevant ones, displays 5D parallax screens. This facilitates tracking where the Evas and Angels are in relation to each other but is mostly just Extreme Graphical Representation.
  • Mr. Exposition:
    • While she was already fairly good with explaining what the hell was going on in the original series, Ritsuko Akagi's role has been reduced to this in Rebuild due to her being Demoted to Extra.
    • Fuyutsuki gets to play this role in 3.0 when he has a conversation with Shinji over a game of shogi, as well as when he explains part of the truth behind the Eva project and Rei.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Rebuild, being a film series that no child can accidentally see, allows Anno to bring-on-the-sexy by the truckload this time. Rei, Misato and especially Asuka get a LOT more screentime in extremely Nosebleed provoking poses and (lack of) clothing. However, they have really stiff new competition in the new Ms. Fanservice, Mari Illustrious Makinami.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous:
    • Eva 03 grows a second pair of arms from its shoulder pylons while grappling with Shinji.
    • Eva 13 from 3.0 has two pairs of arms.
    • New Unit-02 from 3.0 + 1.01 grows an extra pair of arms after Asuka activates Code 999 and fuses with the remains of Bardiel, activating New Unit-02's Beast Mode.
  • Mummies at the Dinner Table: Gendo talks to the dead severed head of Lilith and calls it Yui in 3.0.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Poor Shinji gets to have at least three such moments in Q. Once when Kaworu shows him the devastation of Third Impact which he inadvertently caused, once more once the latter really sinks in and he realizes that he couldn't even save Rei, and one last time when he realizes that his attempt to fix the situation with the spears has just made things worse.
  • Mythology Gag
    • Many of the additions/changes from 2.0 reference Evangelion side projects. For example, the "experimental" plug suit was mentioned (but obviously never shown) in the radio drama on the Addition CD.
    • And of course Toji's reaction when the topic of Unit-03 comes up.
    • The series also continues the Running Gag of Kensuke wanting to pilot an EVA but getting denied the chance. In the original series NERV and SEELE switch over to the Dummy Plug system before his name comes up in the Marduk file, the video games and mangas where he does become a pilot aren't canon, and in Rebuild he (probably) dies in Near-Third Impact along with Toji and Hikari.
    • If you watch carefully, you'll notice that Shinji's SDAT skips to track 27, which it never did in the TV show, just before 2.0 goes completely Off the Rails. Even lampshaded by Shinji's finding it odd.
      • Taken even further in 3.0., where the main two tracks that Shinji's SDAT player plays are tracks 27 and 28, symbolizing that the movies are now entirely Off the Rails.
    • Don't forget the infamous Asuka and Rei scene on the elevator (awkward silence, thankfully only 12 seconds this time around).
    • One that has fans particularly suspicious is Kaworu's claim that he'll make Shinji happy this time, although he says something different in the English dub.
    • Sahaqiel's redesign has him looking sort of like a combination of Matariel and Leliel, neither of whom made an appearance in the movie, before turning into something that more closely resembles his old Giant Eye of Doom form.
    • Give 2.0's version of The Beast a listen. (It plays as the contaminated Unit-03 attacks.) In the background, there's a bit of ominous chanting. Some may argue that it's a pointless addition. You wouldn't notice it at first, since the syllables are spaced out, but they're chanting "hallelujah". Consider that Asuka's inside 03. Definitely rings a few bells, doesn't it?
    • On this note: when it came to the original Unit 03 fight in the TV series, a lot of people's reaction to the fight with Unit 03 was "Well, why the hell didn't Shinji think to at least grapple with it and prevent it from choking him, he didn't have to just give up". Come 2.0, Shinji does in fact manage to pry Unit 03's hands off of 01's neck and for a moment it seems he can at least fight it to a standstill... and then Unit 03 sprouts two more arms, allowing it to pin 01's arms and strangle it at the same time, leaving Shinji properly helpless.
    • Watch Eva-02 during the climax of 2.0 very closely. You'll notice that once Beast Mode is activated and its armor starts breaking off, the head elongates into a shape very reminiscent of the MP Evas from End of Evangelion.
    • Speaking of this scene: the musical piece used to represent a berserk Eva throughout the franchise is called "The Beast", as noted above. What passcode does Mari use to unlock Unit 02's "deliberate berserk" mode? "Za Beasto", of course. Ironically a different, original musical number plays at this point.
    • And then, of course, there's the fact that after a decade and a half, we finally get to see... Toji's sister. And she's all better too!
    • In End of Evangelion, Shinji as a child builds a pyramid out of sand, then stomps on it. After the Bardiel incident in Rebuild, in his anger Shinji inside Unit-01 stomps on the NERV headquarters pyramid for real.
    • As noted below, the "Asuka kicks Shinji for seeing her naked" scene happened in Girlfriend of Steel, though under slightly different circumstances.
    • The opening shots of 1.0 (and the red sea in general) are rather evocative of End of Evangelion.
    • 2.0's depiction of Second Impact is clearly End of Evangelion inspired. Right down to a song with clear Musical Nods to both "Komm, Susser Tod" and its unused sister piece, "Everything You've Ever Dreamed".
    • The animation during Unit 02's introductory scene — in which she dodges and weaves through a series of Angel limbs — is an almost exact recreation from the scene in The End of Evangelion in which she dodges and weaves through a series of JSSDF missiles.
    • Shinji falls into a Heroic BSOD at the end of 3.0. that leaves him in a state where he can't even move and Asuka has to drag him around, similar to End of Evangelion. There are also several extreme close-ups of Shinji's widened eyes under duress.
    • In the climax of 3.0., the Ode to Joy plays again in a similar situation as the original.
    • As with the manga, Kaworu is introduced playing Ode to Joy in a ruined area. However, unlike the manga Kaworu, Shinji takes an immediate liking to him.
    • A more subtle one, but in 2.0 when Gendo and Fuyutsuki visit the moon base and first see Kaworu, he's sitting with his back to the camera on top of an Eva's hand before turning his head and facing them/the audience and greeting them/us. This is very similar to when he and Shinji first met in the original series, though Kaworu had a shirt on and was sitting on top of a headless angel corpse instead. Kaworu's hair is even the same style as his original series counterpart before it got spiked up and shorter in 3.0!
    • WILLE soldiers are equipped with Heckler & Koch assault rifles and purple BDUs and tac gear, referencing the JSSDF in EoE since they're equipped with the same weapons and gear, although they had G11 and WILLE uses XM8s.
    • In 3.0 + 1.01, Ritsuko laments the state of the city of Paris after the Near Third Impact, noting it used to be called the "capital of flowers". This is the same title used by Misato in the original series to the describe Old Tokyo when on their way to the Jet Alone debut test. In Japanese, this title coincidentally applies to both cities.
    • Ritsuko confronts Gendo inside NHG Erbsünde with a weapon aimed at him. Unlike EoE, she shoot hims this time. This doesn't work since Gendo uses the Nebuchadnezzar's Key.
    • Sakura uses the R-92 revolver when she tries to fire it at Shinji. This was the same weapon used in EoE when Ritsuko confronts Gendo for the last time.
    • The song The Path from Thrice Upon a Time contains a Musical Nod to Kanon D-dur, which was used as the end credits song for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth.
    • The cover of VOYAGER ~ Hizuke no Nai Bohyou used in Thrice Upon a Time includes a Musical Nod to Komm, Susser Tod at the very end, cementing the whole "Third Impact, but in reverse" parallel the finale of the film has going on.
    • Like in the manga, the series ends with Shinji using Instrumentality to erase the Evangelions and Angels from reality, and the final scene takes place in this new reality, where he meets his love interest before leaving the train station.

    N-Z 
  • Never Trust a Trailer:
    • The teaser for 2.0 showed Misato slapping Ritsuko, suggesting that Leliel (the 12th Angel) would be present in 2.0; it was not. It wasn't just speculation bait: even the slap itself was absent from the theatrical release.
    • A similar situation exists with Mari: in the trailer she was shown looking at a flight of birds that was fleeing the city... with what looks to be the opening barrage of cross-blasts from Zeruel. Mari also looks practically melancholy here... which is something she seems nearly incapable of in the final movie. In the end, Mari was busy Evajacking Unit 02 when Big Z showed up.
      • Oddly, a scene like the trailer one was included in the final movie... one that just showed her looking at the city at dusk as a flock of birds flew away from the city center. It seems to serve no purpose other than being brief eye candy now.
      • An interview with the staff indicates that there were significant script rewrites between 1.0 and 2.0, hence the altered and missing scenes in the teaser.
    • How much of the footage from the 3.0. teaser at the end of 2.0. ended up getting used in the movie proper? None of it.note  Everything Misato says in the trailer actually did happen, just off-screen during the 14 year time skip that the movie deals with the fallout from.
    • In all the trailers for 3.0., Shinji's bomb collar was edited out of all shots.
    • The trailer for the final film in 3.0 shows Unit-02 and 08 combined into a single unit and fighting an army of green-colored Mark.06 units. This is nowhere to be seen in 3.0 + 1.01, although Unit-08 being able to merge with other Evangelions is a major plot point, and mass-produced Evangelions are a persistent threat. Like 2.22, the narration for the trailer does fairly accurately describe the plot of the film.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Some of the things Shinji does with the Unit 01 in 2.0 are completely amazing, especially since we haven't seen anything like them before. Particularly his use of the AT Field to THROW an Angel across the Geofront, in the form of a giant FIST no less. And for that matter, replacing the cut-off arm not with a new one grown from Zeruel's cutter material, but forming a pure AT field arm. Not to mention the previously-reserved-for-the-Angels Eye Beams.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The iconic Third Impact scene caused by Shinji is still a crucial element to 2.0. This time around, he causes it when he seemingly rescues Rei. By the time of 3.0., most of humanity has been wiped out. Then Shinji tries to make up for it by redoing the events with the Lance of Longinus and Spear of Cassius, which also requires two souls to wield. Kaworu aids him with Rei Q joining them on orders, but Kaworu realizes they've both been manipulated and tries to warn Shinji not to pull out the lances. However, Shinji ignores his pleas and causes Fourth Impact, leaving Kaworu to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to fix things.
  • No Endor Holocaust:
    • During the operation against Sahaqiel, most of the Kanto Plain is crushed underfoot by the Evas moving at supersonic speeds. After Sahaqiel's destruction, anything not leveled by the sonic boom is annihilated by a massive flood of "Angel Blood". No mention has yet been made of the billions of dollars in property damage.
    • Subverted in 3.0. Shinji starts the Third Impact at the end of 2.0, and Kaworu appears to have stopped it in time. Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief... until it was revealed that most of humanity got annihilated.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
    • "Kind" is apparently a synonym for "fucked" in Rebuild. Asuka pilots EVA-03 for Shinji and Rei's sakes. Misato calls her "kind" for this, just like Hikari dubbed Toji kind before the same ordeal in the original. And then - just like Toji in the original series - her EVA becomes possessed by Bardiel and attempts to destroy the world: consequently, Gendo overrides Shinji's control over his Eva with a "Dummy System", by which EVA-01 unleashes a life-threatening, permanently shattering assault upon Asuka, completely destroying Bardiel.
    • This trope happens twice in 3.0.: At the beginning of the movie, it's implied that Shinji unconsciously awakened EVA-01 to save Asuka, who was in mortal danger in space. As a consequence, WILLE put an Explosive Leash on him by fear that he awakes an Eva again. Later, Shinji tries to make up for causing Third Impact - despite Kaworu's protests. The result? Not only has he made things worse, it also resulted in Kaworu, the only person who treated him well throughout the whole movie dead.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Unit-01 under the influence of the Dummy Plug. Later, Zeruel on Mari, Rei, and briefly on Shinji while Unit-01's out of power, right up until Shinji's Heroic Spirit Curb Stomps him.
  • "No More Holding Back" Speech: Shinji gives a variant of this trope, both to himself and those trying to talk him down, at the end of 2.0 as he finally realizes he has something to fight for.
    Shinji: I don't care what happens to me. I don't care what happens to the world. But I'm bringing Rei back... I promise I'll save you, Rei... EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!!!
  • No Name Given: As of 3.0., unlike in the TV series, the Angels themselves (except for Lilith) have no names. Officially, they are only referred to by numbers — "the Fourth Angel," "the Fifth Angel," and so on. Even Super Robot Wars L, the only Super Robot Wars game to showcase Rebuild thus far, uses this system. However, most of the fandom uses their TV series counterparts' names, where applicable, for simplicity's sake. This is especially important when comparing the two media, as the order of their appearance is significantly different.
  • Non-Dubbed Grunts: The Amazon Prime Video dubs leave in a few Japanese grunts, screams, and sobs if you know what to listen for, mostly Shinji's, but Spike Spencer's new, higher pitched take in this dub makes them blend remarkably well together for the screams he does replace.
    • For 1.11, Unit-01's howling is left as is as opposed to the Funimation dub that layered a growling roar with the original one.
    • Also 1.11, right after Shinji stabs Shamshel there's a closeup of his crazed roaring where Megumi Ogata's screams is left in, but Spike's yelling in the rest of the fight sounds similar enough for it to not stand out.
    • In 2.22, after Shinji's hands are impaled by Sahaquiel, Spike screams in agony, but when it cuts back to the cockpit for Shinji to defiantly look up with tears in his eyes, Megumi's brief grunt is left in.
    • In 3.0+1.0, when Rei-Q finally convinces Shinji to come back to the village, Shinji breaks down into Megumi's loud, angry sobbing. Once again, Spike's higher pitch this time around lets it blend in better than it otherwise would.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: The Evangelion Mark.04 series look like flying saucers with shoulder pylons attached. The Code 4A has an Eva's lower body and legs on its underside, but the legs taper into blades below the knees.
  • Noodle People: You may notice in this new version of Eva that along with redesigns of several of the Angels, the Evas are a lot more stringy looking than they were in the original series. note 
    • Unit 05 and Mark.06 have an extra abdominal plate, making their waists look longer and thinner than the standard Eva's. Mark.09 and Eva 13 also have these.
    • Subverted by Unit 02' and Unit 08's upgraded forms in 3.0, which have bulkier armor on their waists and limbs, giving them more human proportions.
  • No Place for Me There: While Kaworu wants to help humanity, he also states that people fear or/and hate him for being an angel; it's unknown whether Shinji will follow or not in Thrice Upon a Time.
  • No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Mari seems to think so when she fires Unit 02's shoulder fin-mounted spike-launcher at Zeruel's face, with the English dubbed version even shouting "Point blank, shit-head!!!" as she pulls the trigger.
  • No-Sell:
  • Not Growing Up Sucks: Asuka and Mari. See Older Than They Look below for details.
  • Nothing but Skulls: In 3.0, Terminal Dogma is filled with a sea of giant humanoid skulls.
  • Not His Sled:
    • Fans who remember the battle against Zeruel from NGE will be hit hard by this trope when Eva-01 shuts down in the middle of the fight, and instead of Shinji panicking and begging for the Eva to move again, his eyes turn red, he whispers "Give Ayanami back!" and he proceeds to destroy Zeruel and rescue Rei, before nearly causing the world to end. Among a few others.
    • The pilot of Eva-03? Asuka, not Toji.
    • Unit 01 is strongly implied to be an Adam instead of Lilith's clone.
  • Not Quite Dead: In the climax of the first movie, as Shinji fires the first shot at Ramiel, it first appears that it hit, as Ramiel practically explodes, making an utterly insane scream and covers several buildings with blood... Then he reforms himself and blows up a mountain.
    • Possibly implied with Kaworu at the end of 3.0. He says he'll see Shinji again, there's no rainbow or cross when he dies as with all the other Angels, and there's a peculiar shot of him flying away as Shinji ejects from Eva 13.
    • Possibly Unit 02 as well. Only one cross appears when its self destruct kills the Vessel of the Adams and the upper body survived the blast. Two crosses appeared when Unit 05 did this in the previous movie, so Wille might be able to salvage Unit 02.
  • Not so Dire: One scene in 2.0 is Rei ominously holding a large kitchen knife. No, someone didn't goof and give her the opportunity to slit her wrists, she wants to learn how to cook.
  • Now, Let Me Carry You: In 3.0+1.0, Shinji pulls an amazing inversion of Neon Genesis' episodes 25 and 26 in the climax. Rather than the entire cast helping Shinji reconcile his mental health issues together, Shinji has hit this point already after receiving the support of others in the Rebuild series and instead helps the cast members reach their own realizations. Gendo, Kaworu, Asuka, Rei and Misato and others are all supported by the newly-grown Shinji to reconcile their issues all the way up to the very last scenes of the movie.
  • Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: After sticking with a predictable 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 format, the fourth film ditches a 4.0 subtitle in favor of 3.0+1.0. Likewise, the English iteration of the title ditches the You Are (Not) Alone, You Can (Not) Advance, and You Can (Not) Redo subtitle format in favor of Thrice Upon a Time.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: A ton of action occurs during the time skip between 2.0 and 3.0 that is only referred to in passing. This includes as Kaji sacrificing himself to prevent another Third Impact, which occurs when the 12th Angel possesses Evangelion Mark.06 and beheads Lilith in the Terminal Dogma. The aftermath of this can be seen during the climax of 3.0.
  • Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: By the time 3.0 rolls around, NERV is operating out of a base that’s mostly ruins, with the only staff ever seen being Gendo, Fuyutsuki, Rei Q, and Kaworu, yet it’s capable of doing things like building artificial Angels and mass producing Evangelion units in all sorts of bizarre configurations. One shot suggests their logistics are now completely automated, but how they found the resources to do that is unexplained as well. In a way, this was foreshadowed by 2.0, which showed the Evangelion Mark.06 under construction at the Tabgha moonbase, along with a total lack of workers to do the constructing and all their equipment standing motionless and empty. It’s certainly deliberate, given Rebuild’s many loving shots of heavy equipment being built, moved, activated, and monitored by armies of engineers.
  • Off with His Head!: A recurring motif:
    • Unit 01 crushes Unit 03's head with its fist.
    • Unit 08 blows Mark.09's head off with a handgun.
    • Lilith has been decapitated and her head is in the old command center atop a pile of headless Failures of Infinity.
    • The Failures of Infinity, the giant red Evas littering Tokyo-03 and NERV HQ, are all headless.
    • Fuyutsuki shows Shinji a catacomb containing at least 50 severed Rei heads.
    • The pool in Lilith's chamber is full of skulls.
    • Rei Q cuts off Mark.06's head to free the 12th Angel.
    • Unit 02 tears the Mark.09's head off again.
    • Kaworu is killed this way by the DSS Choker.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • As per the original TV series, Misato gets one at the beginning of 1.0 when she realizes that the JSSDF is going to arm an N2 mine on Sachiel. She and Shinji brace themselves as the explosion occurs.
    • Kaworu, of all people, displays this look in 3.0. when he realizes that he and Shinji have been deceived into believing Fourth Impact would fix the damage from Third Impact, when it reality it'll just finish the job.
  • Older Than They Look:
    • Asuka and Mari in 3.0. have not physically aged due to piloting the Evangelion, which stunts their aging in some way. Asuka even starts calling Shinji "brat" instead of "stupid" now that she's 14 years older than him mentally.
    • 3.0+1.0 reveals that Mari has been thus since her first appearance in 2.0..
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: At first impression the music that accompanies Angel battles seem to be this, but they're actually in grammatically correct English.
    Angels of doom come call-ing, with no mer-cy / No fear, no heart, no judgement, no cle-men-cy.
  • One-Way Visor: Gendo wears one that closely resembles Keel's in 3.0.
  • Only Sane Man: As of 3.0 the only named characters who could be described as reasonably sane are Kaji, Fuyutsuki, Sakura and Kaworu.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: That doll Asuka has with her in 2.0? That's the same one from the original series, complete with "ASUKA" labeled on it. For some reason, she kept it, even though it was an indirect relation to her mother's death. But that's not the main point: All There in the Manual states that Asuka talks to it whenever she feels OOC (i.e., not her Fiery Redhead, Jerkass side, but her Shrinking Violet side). Considering the direction of Rebuild, that doll may have an entirely new meaning.
    • And then there's Kaworu's looks of worry leading up to to his Oh, Crap! moment in 3.0. When Kaworu is the one freaking out, you instantly know something's wrong.
  • Orchestral Bombing: "The Anthem", which accompanies the Wunder's launch in 3.0, is more epic than previous instances of this in the franchise or the Nautilus' theme from Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, which this piece was based on.
  • Our Angels Are Different: The Angels are even more Lovecraftian — similar to the Cherubim's appearances in the Bible and the Talmud.
  • Our Souls Are Different: SEELE is this mixed with Time Abyss and The Ageless type of immortality. They've been around since the beginning, gave man civilization, have changed their appearances over time, and have been working towards instrumentality since the beginning. Gendo kills them all off by simply turning them off.
  • Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Actually deconstructed. The Angels now completely liquify into blood (LCL?) when they die instead of simply exploding, to the point of flooding Tokyo-3 each time. The beginning of the second movie has a trip to an aquifer/aquarium made to purge both the red water from Second Impact and Angel blood left over. This might seem excessive, but when you think about the size of some of the Angels and the sheer volume of material converting to liquid....
  • Parental Substitute: Misato to Shinji (as usual), this time sans the original series' Unresolved Sexual Tension.
    • In 3.0, not so much. She feels extremely conflicted about Shinji for being the cause of Near-Third Impact and the death of most of the Earth.
    • In 3.0+1.0, during the Village 3 sequence, all three pilots are taken "under the wing" of various adults, so to speak, even though those adults are technically their childhood friends: Shinji by both Touji and Kensuke, Rei by Hikari and some of the women in town, and Asuka lives with and seems to have a friendly bond with Kensuke (perhaps similar to the one she had with Kaji in the original series, except, once again, without any sexual component to it).
  • Pep-Talk Song: The lyrics to "Beautiful World" seem to pretty clearly have Shinji as their subject, apparently sung from the perspective of someone who cares for the boy and wants to see him grow into his potential. The versions ending each film even seem to reflect the person he makes the deepest emotional connection with in each film (Misato in the first, Rei in the second).
    • Alternatively, and more fittingly, the lyrics are from Kaworu's POV. The pronouns "boku" and "kimi" in the song indicate that the speaker is a boy, and the song fits Kaworu's speech patterns. Both songs appear after (in 1.0) and before (2.0) Kaworu appears on screen, and the first movie even has it after Kaworu looks up to earth and says, "I look forward to meeting you, Shinji-kun." Wanting to meet Shinji is a recurring theme of the song. The ending then changes after they finally meet in 3.0 (to Sakura Nagashi, Shinji's mourning for Kaworu's death).
  • Perilous Power Source: The Wunder's main engine uses the awakened Unit 01 as its power source.
  • Pet the Dog:
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: In Q, Shinji asks this of ReiQ after he finds her naked in her quarters. What may have been funny under other circumstances becomes rather something of an Ironic Echo to Shinji's fateful visit to Rei's appartment; During the following conversation, it becomes apparent that the person he's talking to is not our Rei...
  • Poor Communication Kills: 3.0 may as well be the poster boy for this trope. Shinji is trying to figure out what the hell happened after 2.0, but all his inquiries get him are death threats by Misato, a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown by Asuka and collective silence (or untimely interruptions, the beatdown being an example) from everyone else. And when they finally are telling what's happening, they are interrupted by Mark.09 attacking the Wunder. He doesn't even know that there are other Rei clones, or that he caused Near-Third Impact until two-thirds through the film. And to top it all off, it was Kaworu who ultimately had to fill him in.
    • The ultimate communication failure is probably Shinji not listening to Kaworu when he tries to tell him not to pull out the spears. They're both at fault really - Kaworu could only give vague warnings since he only had a horrible feeling (he didn't seem to know exactly what would happen if the two Longinus spears were pulled out), while Shinji was just so desperate to try to fix everything that Kaworu's vague warnings went through one ear and out the other. This culminates in Fourth Impact.
    • That one could also be seen as an Inversion. Kaworu clearly tells to Shinji that "something isn't right", that they need both the Lances of Cassius and Longinus to undo the Near-Third Impact, but those two lances are supposed to look different while the two in front of them are identical, and while he doesn't seems to know what would happen if they pull the twin Spears of Longinus from Lilith he begs Shinji to stop and listen. But Shinji is too determined to atone for his biggest failure to be able to process the thought that he can not redo the past.
    • Asuka joined too in the same scene when Shinji explained clearly to her that he didn't have the intention to set off another Impact but wanted to repair the world with the spear, instead of taking at least a few seconds to try to tell him why he should stop and surrender, charged him with the intention to take him down, ending with her defeat and being powerless to stop Shinji from pulling out the spears.
    • Thrice Upon a Time demonstrates this may in fact be the entire theme of the franchise. After twenty-plus years of storytelling, the world is only truly saved and the Evangelion cycle broken when Shinji and Gendo finally stop fighting against each other and have a damn conversation as a family.
  • Power Limiter: The twin Lances of Longinus in 3.0 appear to do this for Eva 13, glowing a radiant white during its awakening and allowing the Eva to hold a solid form instead of transforming into an energy being.
  • The Power of Love: Shinji reactivating Unit 01 to save Rei was only possible due to this. While not outright subverted or deconstructed, the basic trope is still warped in an interesting way: In most works, the power of love is what causes the villain's undoing, a force that screws up their plans because they cannot comprehend it. This includes EoE itself where Rei's love for Shinji makes her betray Gendo. Here, however, the antagonists explicitly pushed the two of them together with the intentions of exploiting the strength of their connection and set Shinji up to inadvertently blow up the earth in his attempt to save her. Also, whether he actually saved her or not is currently up in the air as of the Gut Punch conga that was 3.0.
  • Pre Asskicking Oneliner
  • Precision F-Strike:
    • "Just... fucking... die!!!"
    • "Point blank, shithead!!"
  • Product Placement:
    • The camera lingers on brand-name foods occasionally, such as a Pizza Hut logo that shows up in the first movie.
    • When Shinji first opens Misato's fridge, she has shelves packed full of Doritos and, as in the original TV series, Yebisu beer.
    • In the original series, Asuka's shipping boxes are labeled DHU, but they clearly say Deutsche Post in Rebuild.
    • Misato's laptop is a Panasonic. So is Kensuke's videocamera in 3.0+1.0.
    • The Wunder's crew uses rugged Panasonic laptops from the Toughbook series to restart NERV's systems in Paris. Doubles as a case of Shown Their Work because the series is well known among engineers and technicians for its reliability in harsh environments and for coming with specialized IO options from the factory.
    • Yamaha's still around and selling product 14 years after Near-Third Impact, as Kaworu's piano can attest to.
    • One scene near the end of 3.0 + 1.0 shows DualShock 4s jerry-rigged into some studio equipment.
    • Kensuke drives a Suzuki Jimny in Thrice Upon a Time.
    • Also in Thrice, Maya can be seen using an iPad with a visible Apple logo.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: Shinji's actions in the second film all comes back to bite him back in the ass in the worst way possible in 3.0.
  • Pun-Based Title:
    • As noted in Idiosyncratic Episode Naming, "Q" has multiple meanings in Japanese. Starting with the obvious, "Q" is used as a substitute for "kyu" note , which indicates a faster-paced storyline than the previous. When used literally in Japanese, "Q" note  is used as an abbreviation. Both definitions are extremely climatic points present in the original series and End of Evangelion. In fact, the former was used for the final two episodes of the series, and the latter was mostly based around Shinji's decision for saving the world.
    • There's also Thrice Upon a Time, as the English title for 3.0 + 1.0, since "thrice" refers to the number three and "a" refers to the number one.
  • Race Lift: Unit 01 now has pasty white skin, red eyes and red teeth instead of the brown skin, green eyes and white teeth the NGE version possessed. Justified since this Unit 01 is implied to be an Adam instead of Lilith's offspring.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: WILLE; an amalgamation of whatever military organisations survived Third Impact, including soldiers who grew to maturity since then who've been given whatever hasty training was possible during the struggle to survive.
  • Ramming Always Works:
    • Subverted: in the climax of 3.0., the Wunder rams into Eva-13 in its new godly form, which, while still causing damage, isn't enough to stop it.
    • In 3.0+1.0, Misato sacrifices herself by ramming the Wunder into the Imaginary Lilith, delivering the Spear of Gaius to Shinji.
  • Rasputinian Death: Evangelions 09 and 13 can take incredible amounts of abuse before ceasing operations. Mark.09 in particular only dies after Unit 02 self-destructs in its mouth.
  • Reconstruction: Of the source material. It's even right there in the title. Seemingly used as an apology for everything the original series did to the viewer, though those things are still there just much milder - in fact, a good analogy for the reconstruction is that the flaws and cracks of the characters and setting are still there, they're just much less prone to breaking, and when they do its not without good reason. Even though there's 3.0, reminding everyone that this is indeed an Evangelion series, some of the aspects of the movie indicate that things may turn for the better. Perhaps the most moving reimagining is what they do with the theme that the characters simply seek love and affection from others - rather than wallowing in this desire until things are too late, it's that exact desire that means they're willing to reach out to others, even if first, they need to take baby steps or even regress. Shinji is more considerate of others and proactive in helping those he loves, Asuka isn't the borderline-violent tsundere she once was when she starts growing closer to others, and even Gendo gets this treatment finally realizing he is to blame for his own emotional isolation and reconciling with his son; this is what earns him the right to be with Yui, rather than remaining the distant, manipulative planner he did in the original series. And ultimately, is what ensures a positive ending for everyone, because Shinji was willing to move on and reach out rather than let the pain his father caused him hold him back from others.
  • Recycled Soundtrack:
    • The films use new renditions of the 1995 music tracks from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
    • 2.0 uses new renditions of some tracks from His and Her Circumstances (Hideaki Anno's next series, with music by the same composer) and one track from the 1979 semiclassic The Man Who Stole the Sun.
    • Stilt-Angel's theme sounds plucked right out of Bleach (another soundtrack by Shiro Sagisu).
    • "God's Message," which plays during Asuka's fight with the Angel in 3.0's opening sequence, is a slightly remixed rendition of "Light of Babel" (which Sagisu also composed).
    • The Wunder's theme, "The Anthem," is a new orchestral rendition of "Our Almighty Battleship, New Nautilus."
    • Thrice Upon a Time plays "Clash! Todoroki vs. Great Demon Ship" from the 1977 Tokusatsu film The War in Space during the Wunder's attack on NERV HQ, and "VOYAGER ~ Hizuke no Nai Bohyou" from the 1984 sci-fi film Bye-Bye Jupiter during the pivotal ending scene where Shinji rejects Instrumentality and saves the human race.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Shinji snaps, his eyes change color. This also applies to the Evangelions, infact, red eyes apparently precede an awakening.
  • The Remnant: NERV is still around in 3.0 after the Time Skip. Although its manpower seems to have been reduced to a handful of people and fully automated installations, with Gendo still pulling the strings.
  • Renegade Splinter Faction: WILLE to NERV. Inverting the trope, WILLE's goals are benevolent compared to its progenitor agency.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Averted with Shinji and Rei Q. Once he has acertained that she is not the same girl he knew and that her being a clone doesn't make her the same person, he mourns "his" Rei and treats Rei Q like the Empty Shell-like stranger she appeared to be at the time. This also shows that he wasn't just seeing Yui in her, because Rei Q still looks like Yui.
  • Reset Button:
    • In Q, the Lances of Cassius and Longinus (along with two souls to wield them) can be used as such, or rather, it's suggested it will simply restore the earth back into a planet humans can survive on as the earth is slowly becoming uninhabitable for humans. What they find instead is, in fact, two of the same lance that continues the obliteration of human civilization rather than undo it, much to Shinji's immediate horror.
    • Happens to happier results in 3.0 + 1.01, where Shinji recreates a world free of Evangelions and Angels, and the cast is implied to be much happier for it.
  • La Résistance: WILLE, comprised of ex-NERV members, is this to NERV and SEELE.
  • Restraining Bolt: Unit 02 has literal restraining bolts intended to limit is power and maintain its pseudo-human nature. Mari was able to release them to activate the Beast mode. It's likely that these restraints are also present in the other Evas, though 02 may have the most complete set as a production model. They're ejected entirely when Asuka activates the Code 777 beast mode.
    • The Lance of Longinus retains this function, keeping Lilith dormant on her cross. The Lance of Cassius is one as well.
  • Rewriting Reality: Happens at the end of 3.0 + 1.01, where Shinji not only returns all Evangelions and Failures of Infinity back to their original forms but also rewrites all of reality into a world without Evas and Angels, which transforms into a world similar to our own.
  • Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The finale of Q. So much. Both Shinji and Asuka were actually trying to save the world - But only one of them had correct intel on what pulling those accursed spears would actually do. Meanwhile, Kaworu figures out what Gendo was really planning; but instead of listening to him, Shinji decides he must have gone nuts if he's taking Asuka's side, so he disconnects Kaworu's Eva controls and charges off to accidentally almost destroy the world again... almost a literal example.
  • Roger Rabbit Effect: The final shot of 3.0+1.0 shows live-action footage of the train station the characters are at, with the characters animated to blend in with the footage.
  • Rule of Drama: The lack of communication in 3.33, specifically Shinji absolutely refusing to believe Wille when they tell him about the Time Skip and Rei's absence, and later totally disregarding Kaworu when he says they should leave the should leave the Spears alone for now. Thanks to these two easily-avoidable events, he plays right into Gendo's hands.
  • Rule of Symbolism: The piano from the teaser trailer for Q. Quatre Mains (four hands) is a duet song with the trailer focusing on a grand piano.
    • Shinji's rescue of Rei at the end of 2.0. To do so, he descends to deeper and deeper plug depths until he reaches the ultimate barrier, which appears as a pool of water. On the other side, his body appears ghostly white (just like Rei's) before it begins to decompose. Shinji's journey was basically a descent into the Well of Souls to bring Rei back from the dead.
    • Shinji's tape player counts as well in a Spot the Thread way, specially in 2.0 and 3.0; in the first, it's linked with his desire to bond with his father, after the Eva-03 incident, he throws it away, only to be found by Rei afterwards, by the time of the fight with Zeruel and what happened afterwards, it comes to represent his hope; in the latter, this meaning is carried on but in a different context, as in the hope of atonement and redemption that Kaworu gives to him, signified by him in bringing the tape into the entry plug of the Eva-13, after the near Fourth Impact and Kaworu's death, he accidentally drops the tape while Asuka drags him into the wild, reflecting his loss of hope and will to live.
  • Same Character, But Different
  • Scary Shiny Glasses
    • It wouldn't be Evangelion without'em. Though in at least one case, the shininess is shown to come from a screen rather than Gendo's sheer awesome.
    • Mari can switch between Meganekko and Scary Shiny Glasses at the drop of a hat.
  • Scenery Censor: Asuka becomes a victim of this trope after her shocked reaction at seeing Pen-Pen in the shower for the first time, standing in the exact same position where Shinji was when he was scared by the penguin in both the original TV series and 1.0... though this time, she got the addition of a bent straw to cover her nipples in 2.0. Shinji, however, gets to see her full frontal — and, as expected, receives a full-on Megaton Kick to the face as punishment.
  • Scenery Gorn: 3.0 possesses some truly breathtaking shots of the scarred, ruined landscape once Shinji learns the truth of what happened during Near Third Impact. Likewise, the beginning of 3.0+1.0 has the kids walking through a ruined cityscape that has been turned red by the effects of the Impact.
  • Schizo Tech: Rotary phones and Shinji's tape player exist harmoniously alongside modern laptops and cell phones. The Tape Player is said to be his father's, and it's one of Shinji's last possessions from him (indeed, Shinji throws it away later when he rejects his father's orders, so he might have kept it as a keepsake rather than it being a common item). Rotary phones require much less power than push button phones (being mechanically powered), and in the resource-scarce world after the Second Impact, that would make them useful.
  • Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Anno and crew actually seem to be trying to avert this as much as possible this time around. A good little example is during Unit 05's bootup sequence at the start of Rebuild 2.0; evidently Joe Average Evangelion has ~250 terabytes of active memory, which seems about right for all the calculations an Eva would need to operate.
  • Security Cling: Asuka does this in her tsundere fashion, entering Shinji's bed at night and lying with her back to him.
  • Self-Destructive Charge: The final battle of the second movie is this, full-stop. Not only is Shinji increasing his plug depth to the point that his life is in mortal danger, but when he reaches for Rei, his skin starts to split open.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: Kaworu shoulders the blame for 4th Impact and allows the DSS Choker to kill him, believing it will stop Eva 13 and close the Door of Guf. However, this merely weakens the Eva, and as Mari shows shortly after, ejecting both entry plugs would have achieved the desired result.
  • Sequel Escalation: The TV series / End of Evangelion ended with Third Impact. In this version, "Near" Third Impact happens at the halfway mark, Fourth Impact partially occurs in 3.0, and there's still one more movie to go. Additionally, each film becomes gorier and darker than the last.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: What Shinji and Kaworu intend to do with the spears - By Kaworu's words, "What has been changed by EVA can also be changed back by EVA". Unfortunately, they didn't know the movie they were in was called "You can (not) redo". note 
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • Mari may be this in 3.0, or maybe she just likes teasing Asuka about Shinji.
      Mari: (Catsmiling) You sure you didn't visit him just to see his face?
      Asuka: No! I went there just to punch it! Now I feel so much better!
    • At the climax of the movie, she also tells Shinji to "At least save the Princess! You're a man, aren't you?!" referring to Asuka.
  • Ship Sinking:
    • After delivering plenty tease for several pairings (mainly Shinji/Rei and Shinji/Asuka), in the first movies, 3.0 tries to torpedo them: The original Rei is either flat-out dead or still stuck elsewhere, and Shinji absolutely will not accept Rei Q as a replacement, Kaworu dies, and although Shinji shows signs of being attracted to Asuka, she seems thinking of him as a selfish, immature child.
    • 3.0 + 1.01 takes another turn by laying on Shinji/Mari instead, with Asuka admitting to Shinji just before the final battle that she used to like him but moved on with her life during his absence (or at least that's what she says, given that she's flustered when she learns that Shinji reciprocated those feelings) while Rei isn't even touched as a love interest by the narrative.
  • Ship Tease:
    • A lot more obvious this time, particularly between Shinji and Rei during 1.0 and 2.0.
    • 3.0 applies a bit more of this sort of shipping, as well as going off in a different direction. Namely, between Kaworu and Shinji, as well as some less prevalent teasing between Asuka and Shinji. For the latter, there's the fact that he's happy that she's alive, even though she harbors a serious grudge against him, and there's also the fact that she's the one who drags him out of the cockpit after his serious Heroic BSoD. Not to mention the fact that in the opening scene of 3.0, Asuka screams for Shinji to help her against the Mark.04B units, and in response Shinji somehow awakens Unit-01 after years of it being inactive, to save her. Cue Held Gaze between the stunned Asuka and the Evangelion unit.
    • 3.0 + 1.01 also validates the Shinji/Asuka pairing even if that's not the narrative end goal of the movie. Asuka forcefully tries to get Shinji to overcome his own depression out of concern for his well-being, although she refuses to admit it. She also checks on him frequently when he's waiting at the lake to make sure that he's okay, and later warms up to him and notes that he's matured. In a conversation at the end of the film, the two admit that they had romantic feelings for one another in the past (and it's implied that they still do, to some extent), even if they don't end up being a couple at the end of the film.
  • Sigil Spam: NERV puts their logo on everything! SEELE gets to join in on the fun, too.
  • Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: This trope appears at the first half and near end of 3.0: in the former, Misato's (and perhaps WILLE in general) bitterness and distrust towards Shinji is what makes him go with Rei Q when she comes for him; and at the end, Asuka's unwillingness to talk or reason with Shinji is what pushes him to his breaking point and eventual retrieval of the lances.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: In 3.0, this trope is shown in the consequences from Shinji's actions in 2.0 and to a lesser extent in the climax of 3.0 in which Shinji's desperation makes him trigger Fourth Impact.
  • Someone to Remember Him By: Kaji Ryoji Jr. The revelation of his existence in 3.0 + 1.0 is the first and only proof that his parents were even a couple (2.0 shows them as exes without any sign that they ended up reconciling like they more explicitly did in the original anime). That said, Misato makes no effort to actually be a mother, leaving her child in the care of others while she dedicates her life to WILLE.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: Wouldn't be Evangelion without it!
    • Twice in 2.0: A children's song plays while Unit-01 munches on the out-of-control Unit-03, and it plays again when Shinji kicks off the Third Impact.
    • Q does it as well, with "Ode to Joy" playing as Shinji accidentally sets off Fourth Impact. It wouldn't be Evangelion without Beethoven, either.
    • In 3.0+1.0, "Joy to the World," best known to most people as a Christmas song, plays as Misato rams the Wunder through Imaginary Lilith's hands and into her eye, eventually sacrificing herself to bring the Spear of Gaius to Shinji. It's way more epic than it has any right to be.
  • Space Base: Tabgha Base, NERV's lunar base, the site of Evangelion Mark.06's construction and Kaworu's home until the end of 2.0.
  • Spectacular Spinning: Before it can take off, the Wunder needs to use a bunch of spinning power plants to crank up a giant flywheel for powering up the ignition system of the main engine, before it switches to Unit-01 as a power source. It then defeats several Nemesis units by spinning them around and smashing them into each other, before opening fire with dorsal railguns and completely eviscerating them.
  • Spider Mech: EVA-05, though not by choice, since they sent it into combat in an emergency.
  • Spot the Thread: There are several visual indications that Rebuild is more than a direct remake of the original Evangelion, including:
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: Misato pulls off a superb Stealth Hi on Shinji and Asuka while the latter is complaining about the "lack of privacy" (sliding doors) in Misato's house. The two are appropriately freaked out once they notice her.
  • Stealth Sequel: A number of key details throughout the film series suggest, but don't directly confirm, that the series is somehow a sequel to the events of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime and The End of Evangelion. To wit:
    • The red ocean at the beginning is indicated to be a result of Second Impact in Rebuild, but it distinctly mirrors the red/orange ocean from End of Evangelion and the framing is taken from scenes near the end of the movie as well.
    • In the opening scene in 1.0, we see a picture of some houses flooded by the red water, with an outline of what looks like an MP EVA in the cross-position from the end of End, where the MP EVAs had fallen to the ground.
    • The scene right at the end where we see what looks like the original version of Lilith in a grave on the Moon.
    • The enormous red streak running across the moon's surface, mirroring the blood spray that Rei/Lilith left on the moon in End when she died.
    • Kaworu's line at the end of 2.0, "This time, I'll make you happy." This time?
    • In 3.0, Gendo briefly speaks to the head of a dead, smiling Rei corpse.
    • Kaworu was the First Angel before being forced into acting as the Thirteenth in 3.0.
    • In 3.0, Kaworu tells Shinji "I really was born to meet you", paralleling a conversation from the original series where he told him "Maybe I was born to meet you."
    • In 3.33, people calling Shinji by his name: taking into account what he unwittingly did, it's a sign that they still see him as somebody rather than something.
    • The angel sealing runes count as this, specially in 3.0 where they are featured in Shinji's DSS Choker and Asuka's Eyepatch of Power, amongst other examples.
    • 3.0 + 1.0 reveals that those whose name is written in a "Book of Life" are fated to continually repeat the same series of events. Kaworu's has been in it for as long as he existed and he added Shinji as well to ensure that they will always meet each other no matter what.
      • Furthermore, the movie also reveals the existence of an "Anti-Universe" where fiction and reality become one, with much of the scenery in there explicitly referencing the original series and even breaking the fourth wall at times.
      • At one point during Instrumentality, Gendou tells Shinji, "I chose a world that you refused," suggesting it's not just Kaworu and Shinji who are aware of events that have taken place in previous iterations of the "cycle."
  • The Stinger: The first three films have one in the form of a "Next Episode Preview" recalling those of the original TV series, complete with Misato's promises of fan service. 2.22 goes one step further, adding an entire additional scene between the credits and the preview.
  • "Stop the Hero" Twist: The climax of 3.0 revolves around the pilots of WILLE trying to stop Shinji Ikari from accidentally triggering Fourth Impact, which will finish the job that the partial Third Impact he accidentally triggered in the second film started, in his drive to fix things thanks to his immense guilt complex. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero is occurring on both sides, even — while Shinji is responsible for understandably wiping out much of humanity during the Impact, everybody who works for WILLE couldn't stop being assholes to him for just long enough to provide him with a detailed explanation of just what the hell is going on, and in his drive to obtain answers he went back to NERV and his Manipulative Bastard of a father who then turned him into an Unwitting Pawn.
  • A Storm Is Coming: The Eva being brought over from the United States is airlifted into a storm cloud approaching over the Arizona desert. Lightning flickers and thunder rolls ominously. Also counts as foreshadowing Unit 03's corruption by Bardiel, the angel of lightning.
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome:
    • Eva Mark.06 is killed off between 2.0 and 3.0 sealing the 12th Angel.
    • Rei Q suffers the same fate in 3.0 + 1.0, liquefying without warning the instant her plugsuit's life support system runs out of power.
  • Super Prototype: As in the original series, EVA-01 (the "Test Type") seems to be a whole lot more powerful than the later production models. And then there is the Mark.06, Kaworu's very own EVA, which is openly described as having an "odd" construction method. Which is to say, it's built on top of something that looked a lot like series-Lilith. This seems to be a reference to the mass grave of Eva-prototypes Ritsuko referred to as a "dumping ground" as she revealed it to Misato.
    • In 3.0, the Mark.06 is revealed to be the can for the Twelfth Angel itself, which has its entire body being a core. The Mark.09 and Unit-13 counts as well:
      • The Mark.09, a Unit-00 lookalike, is an Angel-like entity referred to as "Adams' Vessel" and is outright confirmed to have been the entity originally controlling the Wunder. It even tries to hijack the ship during the final battle.
      • Unit-13 was built specifically for starting Fourth Impact. Uniquely among Evas, it has two entry plugs and accordingly two pilots. In 3.0, the Eva's "pseudo-evolved form" was impaled by not one but TWO Spears of Longinus AND one of its pilots committed suicide in the entry plug... yet the Eva still kept going until the other pilot's entry plug was forcibly ejected.
  • Surprisingly Happy Ending: After an unrelentingly bleak 3.33, the Rebuild series ends on a happy note with 3.0 + 1.01, with Shinji successfully stopping Instrumentality, restoring life to a world without the pain caused by Evangelions, and helping Gendo, Asuka, Kaworu, and Rei come to terms with their problems, before running off with Mari to a more hopeful future.
  • Swivel-Chair Antics: Misato spins around on a chair in 2.0.
  • Take My Hand!: Both 1.0 and 2.0 end with Shinji offering Rei his hand.
    • Kaworu offers his hand to Shinji, who takes it, symbolizing his trust in Kaworu and the extent of their friendship.
  • Take That!:
    • 3.33 has the honour of actually slapping both ends of the Idealism and Cynicism scale.
    • Taking into account that Anno has gone into rehabilitation, then a possible interpretation of some parts of the plot of 3.33 can be counted as a general slap to the face to the deep end of the scale of cynicism in the form of WILLE (and by extension, Asuka and Misato): their general attitude, overall bitterness and the obvious lack of communication is what forces Shinji to escape at the beginning. If that wasn't enough, the fight at Central Dogma and the following events could have been prevented had Asuka stopped to talk to Shinji, who was clearly confused and willing to reason with her. In short, while reckless idealism leads to mistakes, complete cynicism accomplishes nothing, and in fact, can be even worse at times.
    • Then again, considering communication breakdown is inherent to EVA's theme (as well as the dissolution of the concepts of "fairness" or "deserved privilege"), the slap may as well been meant for those expecting an evenhanded exposition of what had happened over the past 14 years—Shinji and the viewer alike. When emotions flare, sometimes dialogue fails and confusion prevails; all one can do is make the best of that which with they're left.
  • Taking You with Me:
    • In her debut, Mari does this to take down an Angel. She ends up OK; her EVA and the Angel don't. This was apparently purposefully planned out by the NERV commanders.
    • Later on, Rei attempted the same with Zeruel and an N2 missile. As it turns out, Zeruel's body is Ragnarok-proof; Unit-00 isn't.
    • In 3.0., realizing she can't defeat the Eva Mark-09 normally, Asuka self-destructs Eva-02 to take it out (though she ejects safely before the explosion).
  • Tempting Fate: While on his rampage to rescue Rei from Zeruel, Shinji mentions that he doesn't care what happens to him or the rest of the world as long as he gets her back. Guess what happens.
  • Theme Naming:
    • The same as the original series, with a partial change (Asuka lost a carrier in her full name).
    • Further, the female pilot's names are Rei AyaNAMI, Asuka Langley ShikiNAMI, and Mari Illustrious MakiNAMI.
    • The trend of naming organizations after German words for the mind/soul continues in 3.0. After Gehirn (brain), Seele (soul) and Nerv (nerve) now comes Wille (will).
  • There Are No Therapists:
    • A very meta aversion. No matter how this ends, it's nice to know Anno's a lot happier then when he started the franchise.
    • Played straight for many of the embittered survivors of Near Third Impact in 3.0.
      • This might be justified in 3.0, since Third Impact caused massive destruction and eliminated a large part of the Earth's (already reduced) population, so there really might be few to no therapists around, and no colleges/literature to instruct new ones.
  • They Died Because of You: In 3.0, Misato and Kaworu explain that Shinji causing Third Impact wiped out most of humanity. This doesn't sit well with Shinji.
  • Throat Light: Unit 01 vs. Zeruel, complete with breath that sounds like pissed-off winter. But no breath weapon to accompany the Eye Beams.
  • Through His Stomach: Rei's opening up in 2.0 is triggered by Shinji giving Rei some food. Both Asuka and Rei attempt to do this to Shinji, though in Rei's case it's to get Shinji and Gendo to reconcile. 3.0 + 1.0 makes a dark reprise on this with Asuka Force Feeding Shinji after the latter has become so traumatized that he's no longer eating anything and in fact has trouble keeping any food down.
  • Time Skip: 3.0 starts off 14 years after the events of 2.0.
  • Title Drop: At the end of 3.0+1.0, when Shinji tells Rei his plan to rewrite reality into a world without Evas and Angels, he describes this new world as a "Neon Genesis".
  • Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Naturally, considering it's where Lilith is kept.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: 3.0+1.0 reveals that Asuka is a clone, the only one in the Shikinami-line of clones that was successfully created.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Shinji once again against Zeruel. And to top it off: while it's ambiguous why Unit 01 reactivates in the series... it's extremely obvious that it was Shinji himself forcing his Eva to reactivate this time around.
  • A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: The finale of 3.0. Talk first, shoot later, Asuka, especially if the enemy seems willing to talk! Hear Kaworu out before you touch the artifacts of Doom, Shinji! And Kaworu... Couldn't you have thought of any other course of action that the one you took?
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Specifically, Asuka's eyepatch appearance during the trailer for 3.0. Although we knew they were still alive, we weren't sure if they were still human.
  • Trauma Conga Line: By the time of 3.0, Shinji is unable to save Rei and is isolated from his former friends for causing Third Impact. Then, he goes with Kaworu to try to fix things by instigating Fourth Impact. Unfortunately, things get a lot worse when it's revealed that Fourth Impact will wipe out the rest of humanity, forcing Kaworu to sacrifice himself before Shinji's eyes. After all of this, it's no wonder Shinji crossed the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Trilogy Creep: Originally, the series was to be two individual features followed by two shorts packaged together as a third "film". After the resounding success of 2.0, however, plans apparently changed and 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 were both expanded and made into feature-length movies themselves.
  • Tsundere: This time around, Asuka is closer to an actual Tsundere than just a female-Jerkass, in that she actually expresses her better side through kind behavior towards other people, rather than holding it in. She becomes far heavier on the tsun side in 3.0, after what she's been through.
  • Two Beings, One Body: Evangelion Unit-13 is piloted by both Shinji and Kaworu. In addition, the preview for Evangelion 3.0+1.0 shows an EVA composed of one half of Unit-02's body and one half of Unit-08's body stuck together, entitled Unit 8+2. It turns out to be a Red Herring - until Unit-08 enters an "overlapping mode" and proceeds to cannibalize several other Evas. Unit-13 also gets back in the game as, in addition to Kaworu, it now also somehow contains Asuka's original, with Gendo as the sole pilot.
  • Two Girls to a Team: Inverted. Shinji and Kaworu are the two guys to the other girls.
  • Unholy Holy Sword: What about those so called "Spears of Hope" again, Shinji?
  • Unstoppable Rage: After Unit-01 takes out the infected Unit-03 with Asuka inside using the dummy plugs, Shinji goes berserk and starts attacking the NERV pyramid himself until Gendo gets bored and orders the LCL pressure inside the EVA to unsafe levels, causing Shinji to pass out (so actually a Very Stoppable Rage, as it turns out). And then, there is his behavior in the battle against Zeruel.
  • Updated Re-release: 1.01 and 1.11, we're looking at you. 1.01 added several new elements to the original theatrical release of 1.0, and 1.11 fixes problems with that release (most notably, severe darkness issues). Although there were certainly American fans in a rage when Funimation announced they'd be releasing 1.01...given that 1.11 had already been out for months in Japan. Fans in the UK luckily did not have to suffer this; 1.01 and 1.11 were released as a double-disc set, albeit several months after the US release. Meanwhile 2.0 and 3.0 were similarly tweaked and released as 2.22 and 3.33, but without the problem of staggered DVD and BD releases.
    • There is now a newer release of 3.0 entitled 3.333.note This release updates the visuals of the movie to be released in IMAX theaters and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
    • 3.0+1.0 had an updated 3.0+1.01 release as a patched theatrical release near the end of the film's theatrical run, and would be later released on Amazon Prime Video. This release, however, was not made for the IMAX standard and was only shown in standard formats. A 3.0+1.11 version was also made which further updates the film for DVD, Blu-ray, and in IMAX Enhanced standards like the original 3.0+1.0 and 3.333 for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
  • Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: The trailer for 3.0+1.0 and the final movie proper shows Unit-01 — the test-type Evangelion — duelling Unit-13 with the two Lances of Longinus.
  • Values Dissonance: An In-Universe example. Asuka, as in the original TV series, grumbles at least thrice about the Japanese, including apologizing a lot, not spitting it out, and Japanese doors. Misato interrupts one of these rants by demonstrating another annoying Japanese cultural Quirk: Fucking Ninjas!
  • Vapor Wear: As noted by Asuka, the experimental plugsuit during the EVA-03 test is even tighter than standard issue and barely covers anything. It's actually a full-body-covering suit, but the lighter midsection looks like it's not there at all.
  • Ventriloquism: Asuka having a 'conversation' with her doll about not needing others, in a highly unsettling scene.
  • Victory Is Boring: Discussed between Misato and Ritsuko during Shinji, Rei, and Asuka's Eva-test.
  • Violence Really Is the Answer: This gets deconstructed in 3.0 + 1.0 in which Shinji's attempts to fight Gendo are either evenly matched or either get him thrown around like a ragdoll. It's only when Shinji finally forced to understand Gendo that he's able to finally end the Additional Impact.
  • Visual Pun: If you're wondering, 0 (zero) is replaced with "Ø" in the titles, otherwise known as the Empty set symbol. 3.0+1.0, however, uses musical notation; the symbol is either 𝄂, which signifies the end of a piece of music, or because it has a colon in front it may instead be 𝄇, which signifies that the song must repeat from the beginning.
    • The 3rd Angel in 2.0 is designed by Mohiro Kitoh, and it is shaped like the skeleton of a dragon. "Skeleton of a dragon" in Japanese is Ryugai, the Mons in Shadow Star.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Mari and Asuka seem to be a mild form of this in 3.0. Half of the dialogue between them includes some form of put-down, but considering that they have been fighting side by side for fourteen years after the events of 2.0, they work well together when the chips are down.
  • Weird Moon:
    • It's got an enormous bloodstain stretching across it. Perhaps a nod to EoE.
    • This gets much weirder in 3.0. It's perilously close to the Earth, seems to have an atmosphere, is spinning much faster than it should, and it's covered in a blood-red grid of some kind.
  • Wham Episode: One for each movie.
    • 1.0 is more or less a shot-for-shot remake of the first 6 episodes of the series... Until Ramiel shows up, and completely wrecks Shinji. Misato then shows him Lilith. After Ramiel is defeated, things seem to go back to normal... but then, there's The Stinger, which has Kaworu on the moon, with the tombs of other Angels. There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss it line referring to Sachiel as the Fourth Angel instead of the Third, dropping an early hint that this isn't a mere remake.
    • The second half of 2.0 has Asuka and Unit-03 being mauled (she survives, but is comatose) and Rei being eaten by Zeruel. Shinji then completely gives up on reality, life and himself by becoming ridiculously powerful with his EVA's AT Field. Furthermore, he unwittingly starts the Third Impact this time around by trying to save Rei. It's only with the intervention of Kaworu that the apocalypse is averted, and even then most of the Evangelion Units have been demolished while there are still more Angels to come, with both Shinji and Rei trapped inside EVA-01.
    • 3.0 ends on the note of Shinji causing the Fourth Impact and Kaworu dying to stop it.
      • Hell, All of 3.0 could be considered one. From showing that Kaworu was too late to stop much of the damage from the Third Impact to Shinji's second fuck up, there's very little non-wham.
      • If you'd like a particular wham scene, there's Shinji finally seeing his a photo of his mother; and realizing the truth about Rei, Unit-01, and Gendo. This shoe has been waiting to drop since the original series.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • After Eva 13 Awakens and destroys the main shaft, New Nerv HQ takes flight, suspended by red strings of light that lead up into the Door of Guf. It's visible throughout 4th Impact until Eva 13 impales itself, and is never seen again after that. Gendo and Fuyutsuki briefly appear on some kind of command bridge with blackened viewscreens, implying they may have flown up into the Door of Guf offscreen.
      • 3.0+1.0 reveals that they have their own Wunder-class ships.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Everyone in 3.0. (save Kaworu, Rei, Fuyutsuki, and Sakura) call out Shinji for inadvertently causing Third Impact at the end of 2.0, which only left a few remaining humans. He feels that he deserves this, but wants to make up for it.
    • There's also the fact that they pulled him out of a box with an angel in it. They aren't ready to trust him right away (if ever).
    • In 3.0+1.0, Misato gives Shinji a Bitch Slap for disobeying her orders to pilot an Eva.
  • A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Eva Mark.09 looks very similar to Rei's Unit 00. It's quickly revealed as the Vessel of Adams, which is a whole lot worse.
  • World of Badass: World of Adaptational Badass
    • Beginning at the start of 1.0, with Sachiel. For one thing, the standard military hits the opening Angel with lots More Dakka than in the original, and we get a better look at how destructive the N2 Mine/missile is. None of it works. Finally, although this is more backhanded, Sachiel vs. Unit-01. Yes, Unit-01 still CurbStomps him. The difference, is that the sequence takes noticeably longer than it did in the series. Even if Sachiel can't hope to win, he can still last a bit longer than before.
    • Then, we skip to the battle against Ramiel. For the sake of keeping a short example, just compare the original fight against the one in Rebuild. Ramiel, Shinji, and to one degree even Rei have clearly taken numerous levels in badass.
    • Moving on to 2.0, Asuka takes out an Angel all by herself.
    • Then, cue the Tenth Angel. What happens when The Juggernaut Takes A Few Levels In Badass? Zeruel. What happens when Shinji starts playing Unstoppable Rage even better than Unit-01? Third Impact.
    • And then, finally, Kaworu.
    • 3.0 + 1.0 manages to top pretty much everything seen in the franchise so far, from Unit 02 transforming into a semi-Angel glowing giant to Gendo, of all people, getting into an Eva himself and managing to fight Shinji to a draw.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: The title of the first 3 films is written with the obsolete we katakana (ヱ) and the esoteric wo katakana (ヲ), rather than e (エ) or o (オ). The w is not pronounced when reading these characters in modern Japanese, so it is still read as Evangerion rather than Wevangeriwon. It's not the first time these rarely used characters have been used in the series, as Kaworu's name has always featured the wo kana. Interestingly enough, this doesn't apply to the fourth film, which returns to the "normal" Evangerion spelling from the original anime.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: During the second movie, Rei decides to throw a dinner party for everyone she knows - in order to give Shinji and Gendo a chance to reconcile their relationship. Unfortunately, that party was scheduled for the same day in which Unit 03 is supposed to go through its activation test, and is hijacked by Bardiel - with all of the unpleasantness that follows.
  • You Are Not Alone: The subtitle of the first of the Rebuild films is surprisingly appropriate.
  • You Do Not Want To Know: Shinji wants to know what the chances are of catching an Angel. Although Ritsuko told her the odds earlier, Misato cheerily replies that it's best if he doesn't know that.
  • You Know What You Did: WILLE's treatment towards Shinji shows signs of this trope in the matter of Third Impact, however, this is Deconstructed because Shinji truly didn't know what he had caused and eventually led to him leaving them. Asuka outright confirms that the 12th Angel/Mark.06 was responsible for Third Impact during the battle in Central Dogma, but Gendo and Seele's plans hinge on Shinji thinking he's responsible and everyone hates him so he can be manipulated into piloting Eva 13.
  • Your Head Asplode: Poor Kaworu bites it in a way in direct contrast to his death in the original series ——- instead of having his entire body crushed and his head pop off, the bomb collar that he takes from Shinji obliterates his face.


 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Alternative Title(s): Evangelion New Theatrical Edition

Top

Screams Geometrically

Ramiel takes the form of an octahedron that can unfold itself in physically impossible ways to fire an incredibly powerful blast.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (26 votes)

Example of:

Main / SinisterGeometry

Media sources:

Report