YMMV / Rebuild of Evangelion

For tropes related to Neon Genesis Evangelion, go here.

---

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Just as in the original series. Much of the debate can be lifted from the series, but Rebuild's new take means new interpretations as well.
  • Shinji is certainly still depressed, but it manifests in a more aggressive, destructive manner than the original's cringing fear. This leads to his stunt at the end of 2.22, where his thorough rejection of the role forced on him leads to a new Impact. To many viewers this is much more sympathetic than the original version, but is considerably less heroic at the same time.
  • In 3.33, are Misato and Asuka really as cold as they appear to be and are barely restraining themselves from executing Shinji, or are they just too hardened by the 14 years after Near-Third Impact to properly show Shinji their affection? The movie certainly offers evidence for both with their actions. 3.0+1.0 confirms that it's the latter for both of them.
  • In the case of Misato, there's plenty of evidence hinting that she is in fact a Well-Intentioned Extremist. Also, despite having a cold tone with Shinji, Misato never actually disparages him or treats him with the same kind of contempt that most members of WILLE do. She also notably still refers to him as "Shinji-kun" in the Japanese version, hinting that her feelings for him have actually not changed at all.^note Misato's use of this particular honorific in regards to Shinji has always been to show a much closer relationship than "Ikari-kun" would Misato also never has a chance to talk with Shinji by herself, so it could be that she is only putting on an act in order to save face with the rest of the crew. It's also strongly implied that the bomb collar was insisted upon by Ritsuko, and that Misato holds the switch to keep the rest of WILLE from killing him in revenge for Near-Third Impact. And as for why she doesn't tell Shinji about what happened to Rei? It's also implied that she's preventing him from freaking out over the fact that he didn't actually save her after all. We all know what happened later in the film, and it's NOT pretty.
  • 3.0 + 1.0 shows that she never stopped caring for him at all. Rather, she's been bearing the guilt of encouraging him and causing Near Third Impact.
• Angst? What Angst?: Mari fits this trope. The other kids pilot because of various issues they have. As far as we can tell, Mari does it because fighting monsters in a giant robot is awesome.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Despite being set up as significant threats, Mari quickly demolishes the Adams in the final battle.
• Applicability: Transitioning from Neon Genesis Evangelion to Rebuild has many parallels with curing one's self of depression, much like Anno himself did between his work on the two versions of his biggest franchise; it can even be seen as Anno wanting to give his world and characters a new lease on life after he himself was given one. While NGE is highly existential, bizarre and bleak, Rebuild is much more stable, with a general tone of "hey, the world might seem screwed-up but it's not so bad after all now that you know yourself" in the first two movies. While 3.33 relapses into the cynical existentialism of the original show, such relapses are not unheard of for people getting out of depression, who occasionally go through episodes of losing hope and questioning themselves just as they did before. Come 3.0 + 1.0 and if feels like a therapy session along with meds set to animation, with the characters going through familiar existencial introspection and coming out stronger, wiser and more mature with a bright future in front of them.
• Americans Hate Tingle: 3.0 became one of the highest grossing non-Ghibli and non-Disney animated films of all time in Japan and was seen as an Even Better Sequel by most Japanese audiences. Internationally, however, the film is much more divisive, to say the least.
• Ass Pull:
  • Shinji saving Rei's soul and almost ending the world only with sheer willpower at the end of 2.22 MAY qualify for one of the most awesome ass pulls in the history of anime. But as it turns out, the majority of humanity has, indeed, been wiped out as a result.
    • Even before that, right after Shinji starts to fight Zeruel, Unit-01 runs out of power. It had only just launched, so there was no explanation for how this happened.
  • The "Curse of Eva" to some fans, as it can be interpreted as a Hand Wave to justify why Asuka and Mari haven't aged.
  • 3.0 + 1.01 revealing that Asuka is a clone, hence why her name in the films is Asuka Shikinami Langley and not Asuka Langley Soryu. But other than Shikinami being similar to Ayanami and Word of God hinting that this was intentional, there is very little if any foreshadowing to this.
  • How some fans view Shinji being heavily implied to end up with Mari romantically at the end of 3.0 + 1.01, given there was no build up for it and it comes pretty much out of nowhere by the time the movie ends. While for some it fits the movies' assumed theme of moving on and finding happiness for yourself, with Mari most likely being the only one Shinji could move on with due to her lack of emotional baggage tied to the past of not only Shinji as a character but the franchise as a whole, for others it is a couple without development or chemistry. The justification for this creative decision seems to be more metatextual if anything, as Hideaki Anno has indicated previously that Shinji is something of an Author Avatar for him, and that Mari represents his wife to a degree. Shinji's catatonic state for the first half of the film reflects Anno's depression over the tumultuous development of the Rebuild movies, with Shinji creating a new reality free of Evangelions reflecting Anno's desire to move on from the franchise, and Shinji running off with Mari reflecting Anno now being Happily Married, which he wasn't at the time when Neon Genesis Evangelion was first being made. That being said, it still comes off as this due to it being tacked on and unnatural due to having 10 minutes of screentime together, at most, and any of the other pilots would've been better used for this role.
• Audience-Alienating Ending: 3.0 + 1.0, which was intended to provide a more definitively happy conclusion than the original series' End of Evangelion, ironically ended up becoming just as controversial as End. Some fans felt that the definitive happy ending was out-of-place for a series as dark as Evangelion and that it should have been more bittersweet, while even those who wouldn't have minded a happy ending felt that a Reset Button Ending was a lazy way to go about it and that having Shinji create a new world where everything is happy and perfect actively goes against one of the messages of the original series that it is better to face problems head-on than hide from them, instead seeing this as Shinji choosing to run away from his problems. Another controversial element is Shinji's Maybe Ever After with Mari; many fans were upset that the romantic tension and pairings that Shinji had with other characters like Asuka and Rei, which were built up for literal decades, was all seemingly sunk in favor of pairing Shinji with a character he had minimal interaction with — that last one actually got Studio Khara death threats online.
• Awesome Music: Rebuild is just loaded with these, particularly any song with lyrics. Special mention goes to The Final Decision We All Must Take.
  • Also Angel of Doom from 1.11, played during the fight with Ramiel. Fantastically epic, and can also be found on the second disc of the 1.11 DVD release as a music video.
  • From the ones without lyrics, Yamashita in Rebuild 2.22. Especially striking with the animation to go with it.
  • Beautiful World Intense, emotional, and sung by Utada Hikaru, among other things. There's even two versions: The original one, which played at the end of 1.11, and a remix at the end of 2.22. Both are great in their own regard.
  • The new song from Utada, Sakura Nagashi from the end of 3.33.
  • The Anthem, a musical Shout-Out to Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. An AMAZINGLY TRIUMPHANT shout out at that.
  • The Wrath of God, In All Its Fury, which is just as exciting and frightening as it sounds. Playing at the highest climax of 3.33 also helps.
  • God's Gift, which makes its status as a Long Song, Short Scene situation even more obvious.
  • It Will Mean Victory. Ominous Latin Chanting‎ (which is actually English) combined with bombastic orchestration and sick guitar licks playing during Shinji and Asuka's fight in Central Dogma? Yes, please!
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Asuka Langley Shikinami. Reactions to her characterization falls into two camps — she is either hated by people that loved Asuka Langley Soryu, who consider Shikinami a toned down, cookie-cutter version who is more stereotypically Tsundere and lacks the backstory that made Soryu so compelling, or loved by people that hated the original version of the character, who view Shikinami as more sympathetic and likeable and less of a histrionic wreck, and find that her character development is better-executed than in the original series. It didn't help that her role as Unit-03's pilot and the Ninth Angel's victim caused her to become benched for a good portion of 2.0, with Mari hijacking her signature Unit-02 for the battle against the Tenth Angel. There is absolutely a middle ground, but the two stances are so pronounced in the fandom that it's hard to notice. The issue becomes even more complicated with Asuka's 3.0 incarnation, where she's much rougher and more of a jerkass than she ever was before in either continuity but is also a more important and powerful character than in 2.0. 3.0 + 1.0, to many people, rectified all the aforementioned issues by giving her an even more increased role in the plot while retaining and building on her strengths in the previous two movies, rounding her out both as having Took a Level in Badass from 2.0 and as being an Adaptational Badass compared to the original Soryu and even giving some closure to her grisly benching in 2.0 by establishing her as having developed her own impressive Angel powers from the Ninth Angel incident. However, this wasn't enough for other fans, who continued to complain about her role being too marginal and her development being less important than in the original show.
  • Mari. To some she's awesome, badass, and hot. Others dislike her for being a flat, unrealistic, and underdeveloped character only there for Fanservice with little effect on the plot and would rather have Asuka get more screentime, which is ironic as Anno has singled her out as the only character that is not "a part of him". While her lack of character development is somewhat justified because she's a supporting character in a movie-format continuity, some detractors point to the fact that Asuka was given new character development despite the format and her reduced role, and that doing the same to Mari could have made her more interesting. In fact, Mari was originally going to have a much smaller role in 2.0, but got an expanded role due to her popularity in 1.0's post-credits teaser. Like with Asuka, 3.0 + 1.0 rounded out her character more with additional screentime as well as major revelations about her character and backstory, and having her play a very significant part in helping Shinji during the final battle, which helped win over many of her previous detractors but also worsened some complaints about her, particularly playing a bigger role in the final battle than Rei or Asuka and especially ending up with Shinji in the end, which was seen as quite a few viewers as a clear cut example of Strangled by the Red String.
  • WILLE to the fanbase, with one side sympathizing with them and supporting their treatment towards Shinji due to the fact that he pretty much ended the world, and another side calling them out and wanting Laser-Guided Karma to come to them in varied forms, ranging from a "Reason You Suck" Speech from Shinji to Tangification.
• Broken Base:
  • While the film series has received acclaim from critics, fans are more divided over the series. Some enjoyed 1.11 for being a visually-improved version of the series, while others were quick to call it a rehash for not deviating enough from the original work. 2.22 was liked for changing things up while still featuring what made the original series enjoyable, but detractors felt that it deviated too much from the source material. 3.33 quickly became this upon release. Some like it for returning to the series' plot with a different spin, while others hate it for changing so brutally almost all of the setting and not continuing on the threads 2.0 left. 3.0 + 1.0 is the best-reviewed of the lot, let alone the best-reviewed work in the entire Evangelion franchise, but some fans were disappointed with the uncharacteristically happy ending and the handling of various plot points.
  • Because the original Neon Genesis Evangelion is a divisive affair despite its impact and importance, there's also some debate on whether Rebuild is better or worse than the original series; its lack of the original series' psychological and highly depressing elements — until 3.0 — makes it more accessible, more fun and easier to follow but also less profound, less unique, and less angsty. Some fans who hated NGE enjoy the Rebuild movies, and the reverse is also true; generally, people who were disappointed in NGE despite its reputation were won over by Rebuild (or at least 1.0 and 2.0), which seems to have been one reason why the movies were made.
  • The English dubs. In a parallel to the movies themselves, people who disliked/hated the original series' dub prefer the Rebuild dubs due to their more professional quality and the improved performances for returning characters, while people who liked the series' dub find that the Rebuild dubs are too sterile and lack the Narm Charm that was once present due to the "inexperienced, enthusiastic anime geeks dubbing a series" feel. For example, while Tiffany Grant's overall delivery as Asuka has improved, she portrays the character as less of a histrionic Large Ham and no longer drops Gratuitous German into her speech.
  • In particular, the Amazon Prime dubs vs. the Funimation dubs for 1.0 through 3.0 are this. Some people praise how the Amazon dubs were able to bring back even more English voice actors from the TV series, and continue to praise them as very good Truer to the Text English-language translations. Others criticize how they feel "drier" and more awkward, removing iconic lines such as Mari's "Point blank, shithead!" while largely being redundant as they use many of the same voice actors as the Funimation dubs. Some also feel that the performances are inferior to those in the Funimation dubs, including from the returning voice actors.
• Catharsis Factor: If one has been following the franchise since its beginning and commiserated over its portrait of how utterly hopeless things could get in life, then the last ~20 minutes of 3.0 + 1.01 can elicit a massive feeling of relief. After so many years of emotional misery, miscommunication and alienation, Shinji, Gendo, Asuka, Rei and Kaworu all manage to deal with their issues for good. Shinji and Gendo finally sit down and come to terms with each other, Gendo reunites with Yui, Shinji and Asuka get honest with their old romantic feelings, Rei finds her identity, Kaworu reconciles with his troubled existence, and Shinji closes it all entering a stable adulthood as a fresh, mature person in the happy new world created by all their efforts. It provides such a stark contrast to the existential void of End of Evangelion that it's practically night and day, like a cycle that had finally ended after two decades, and if one ever held the franchise close to their heart as the portrait of human struggle that Anno made it to be, it is possible to come near to tears of happiness with this new conclusion about how things can work out.
• Contested Sequel: 3.0 is the most controversial of the four films. It is either seen as an Even Better Sequel to the first two films that drastically ramps up the stakes, brings back the bleak tone Evangelion is famous for, and takes the franchise to all-new uncharted territory; or it is a needlessly dark sequel (even for Evangelion standards) that focuses too much on subverting expectations and making poor Shinji suffer even more after unwittingly committing mass genocide on the entire planet twice, first in an attempt to save Rei, and the second to try to correct things. It is perhaps for this reason why 3.0 is often considered "The Last Jedi of Evangelion".
• Continuity Lockout: 3.33 is next to impossible to follow if you haven't seen the original series. For one thing, most of the Continuity Nods and Mythology Gags make no sense otherwise, and the revelation that Kaworu is the final Angel comes out of nowhere. 3.0 + 1.01 takes this even further, outright recreating imagery and scenes from the original show and movie that would be completely lost on a newcomer to the franchise.
• Covered Up: This doesn't apply to any Japanese person since it's a classic pop standard and children's song, but face it — the only reason you know about "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" (assuming you're not Japanese) is either because of 2.22, K-On!, or Danganronpa 3.
• Die for Our Ship:
  • Mari has immediately become a target of this from all the Shinji shippers thanks to the ending of 3.0 + 1.01, which implies the two became an Official Couple.
  • While not to the same extent as what Mari got from the Shinji shippers, Shinji himself has been on the receiving end of this from Asuka/Mari shippers thanks to the ending of 3.0 + 1.0 implying that Mari gets together with him, with shippers feeling like they've been baited after the previous films and tie-in merchandise had seemingly teased the possibility of Asuka x Mari, only for it to be shot down in the end.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Kaworu was even more popular this time around with fanartists and shippers than ever before, even in the first two movies where he was a One-Scene Wonder. A semi-recent popularity poll from the Evangelion store revealed that he’s the second most popular character in the movie series, only being beaten by Asuka.
  • Asuka in 2.22, while still heavily marketed, played a far more marginal role than in the original series (where she was undeniably one of the main characters). Despite this, she was very well-received for being a more sympathetic character than her original incarnation and for undergoing more obvious Character Development. While 3.33 expanded on her role, she also Took a Level in Jerkass due to the circumstances, making her a more polarizing character than she ever was before in either continuity. In an officially conducted mega poll by NHK mentioned above, she beat fan favorites Kaworu and Rei, coming in first place.
  • On the villainous side, the Tenth,^note Zeruel's counterpart Sixth,^note Ramiel's counterpart and Fourth^note Sachiel's counterpart Angels remain astoundingly popular enemies. Arguably more so for the former two, since both of got overhauled designs (the Sixth Angel's shapeshifting comes to mind) and Took a Level in Badass.
• Epileptic Trees: As expected from the franchise.
  • Kaworu's cryptic comments and the various Mythology Gags that are present in the films have made several fans hypothesize Rebuild is a Stealth Sequel via a Cosmic Retcon or "Groundhog Day" Loop.
  • Another major source of Epileptic Tree fertilizer is Mari, who ends up being mysterious while somehow also being a Blood Knight Cloudcuckoolander.
  • In 3.0 + 1.0, we have the original Asuka, who only briefly appears in a vision to her clone. Is she, rather than the Shikinami we know throughout the movies, the Rebuild version of Asuka Langley Soryu? Or did she have a different name entirely, let alone a different personality from Asuka? What connections does she have to the main Asuka's backstory besides being her clone template, as well as Unit-02 and the original series' Asuka? Adding to the confusion, Asuka's official Pop Up Parade figure from the beach scene echoing End of Evangelion refers to her as merely "Asuka Langley" instead of "Asuka Shikinami Langley" like the vast majority of Rebuild merchandise, hinting that the Asuka from that particular scene is supposed to be some sort of "catch-all" incarnation representing Asuka across multiple realities.
• Even Better Sequel:
  • While somewhat debated, 2.0 was generally agreed to be the best out of the Rebuild films for a long time, for having a good balance of optimism, darkness and character development while reimagining some of the most iconic elements of the TV series in a new format, and for giving Shinji a happy ending for once even if it ended up overridden (at least in the short term). It's even praised by people who disliked the original series (though the reverse is true as well).
  • 3.0 is often seen in Japan as an improvement over the already-improved 2.0, being a film that considerably raises the stakes, subverts expectations, and takes the Rebuild films to entirely new territory instead of being a loose remake of the original series. However, the film is much more divisive outside of Japan.
  • 3.0 + 1.0 is this even moreso giving most of the main characters defining Awesome Moments and further development, pulling out all the stops in terms of emotion, spectacle and worldbuilding, and having a more hopeful tone throughout (despite the bleakness) that pays off by finally giving the cast their much-deserved happy ending. As a testament to this, it has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 100% with an audience rating of 93%, making it the best-reviewed work in the entire franchise and giving it a significantly higher score than any of the previous Rebuild movies.^note Only the original series comes close, having more critic reviews and a slightly lower audience score.
• Fanfic Fuel: The ending of 3.0 + 1.0, and how it changes everything. In a world with no Angels and Evangelions, where it shows that it's closer to real-life, and the kids were allowed to grow and be normal and probably better-adjusted, there's an infinite possibilities for a million more new stories.
  • Even the hints at what could be alternative realities, with Kaworu stating that he has relived the events in different timelines and ways, making both the original series, the Rebuild movies and probably more interpretations canon and valid.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Technically, the title itself, Rebuild of Evangelion, is a nickname that just stuck very hard because Anno and other official sources used the term a lot during the promotion for the first film; from all appearances, the term actually refers to how the first film remasters and expands on art and animation from the original series. Considering the movies are simply titled Evangelion (or Evangelion New Theatrical Edition), it's doubtful that the phrase was meant to refer to the movie series itself. The title has since become Ascended Fan Nickname of sorts, as the Blu-ray for the Japanese version of the third movie includes it in the credit box. Some promotion and summary text Prime Video release also refers to them as such.
  • "Weva", short for "Wevangelion", has been used to refer the movie occasionally, as the title of the first three 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, but the joke was right there.
  • Seele's formal names for each Angel ("Sachiel", "Ramiel", etc.) were only revealed toward the end of the original series, during an extremely brief review scene. This scene did not have an equivalent in Rebuild, with official merchandise only calling the Angels by ordinal number, even for the ones identical to the series (e.g. the Angel from the beginning of 1.11 is the "Fourth Angel", never "Sachiel"). Therefore, fans tend to use the original series names where applicable (so the Fourth Angel would be called "Sachiel", the Tenth "Zeruel", etc.), while the new Angels are only given nicknames at the best: the Third is "Tunniel" (it appears in a tunnel), the Seventh is "Clockiel" (it resembles a huge pendulum clock), etc.
  • Mari's battle with Zeruel is often just referred to as "ZA BEASTO", after the password used to trigger Unit-02's "beast mode".
  • Shinji is a sad panda.
    • Less notably, "Simonji".
  • Captain Asuka, Asuka the Pirate, or Space Pirate Asuka.
    • Arrrgh!suka
    • Big Bossuka
  • Before her name was revealed, Mari was simply Glasses Girl.
  • Some You Can (Not) Redo fans are already calling the Angel at the beginning of the film "Funniel"^note Funn- as in funnel.
  • "Kuro Rei", "Kuronami" or "Blackanami", for her black plugsuit, or also "Rei-Q"^note due to her plugsuit having a "09" on it—in Japanese, "9", or "kyu", is pronounced the same as "Q" for the Rei clone who shows up in 3.0.
  • After certain unfortunate events in Q, poor Shinji's ever-present haters have dubbed him "Impact Boy."
  • There's a boy in 3.0+1.0 named Ryoji Kaji, so some fans use things like Kaji Sr. for the adult Kaji and Kaji Jr. for the descendant.
• Fanon: It's common for fan works to depict the Asuka Shikinami Langley of the film series as a separate entity from the Asuka Langley Soryu from the TV anime rather than alternate interpretations of the same character, mostly fueled by the Adaptation Name Change along with Shikinami's differences in personality and backstory. Thrice Upon A Time reveals that, unlike Soryu, Shikinami is a clone and that there was an "original" Asuka that she was cloned from, adding a whole new dimension to such interpretations.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • While the first two movies push for Rei to be Shinji’s Implied Love Interest, many fans have interpreted their relationship (with or without evidence) as familial and prefer the idea of him ending up with Asuka or Kaworu. The fact that those two have overtaken Shinji/Rei in terms of popularity has added to this new desired endgame. All three pairings officially became this when the final movie heavily implied that Shinji and Mari get into a romantic relationship after the conflict is finally resolved.
  • For Mari, most fans greatly prefer the idea of Mari getting together with Asuka over the final film's implication of Mari and Shinji getting together. Largely because fans feel they have more development and better chemistry together, on top of their Les Yay and Homoerotic Subtext in the previous films.
• Friendly Fandoms: Rebuild and Puella Magi Madoka Magica fans get along with each other mostly thanks to many similarities between Rebuild's Kaworu and Madoka's Homura. To wit: both are mysterious individuals whose concern and love of the main protagonist has been interpreted in romantic HoYay subtext. It’s also implied that Kaworu is in a Shinji centric time loop, similar to the one Homura creates for Madoka’s sake. It helps that Anno himself enjoys Madoka Magica and has praised the series for its characters and themes.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: John Swasey, Gendo's VA, comments how surprised he was at a convention in Ireland to find how popular Gendo was. Who knew?
• Growing the Beard:
  • 3.33, to some, is when Rebuild finally stops beating around the bush with its themes and starts trying to reach for some of the reflection and the emotional and psychological depth that made the original series engaging and memorable to begin with, instead of just being a more generic Cliff's Notes version of the series with forcefully inserted fanservice.
  • 3.0 + 1.0 is a more widely agreed upon example of this, having similar reflection and emotional/psychological depth but also having a more hopeful tone throughout and pulling out all stops as a Grand Finale for the whole franchise.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The comical scene of Shinji moving into Misato's apartment, preparing to take a bath, and freaking out over finding a genetically modified macaroni penguin in the tub returns in this remake. 2.22 adds a darker note to it by implying that almost all wildlife went extinct after Second Impact—if Kensuke had to add "I think" after identifying an animal as a sea turtle, then Shinji was probably less confused over a penguin roommate and more not sure what the hell he was looking at.
  • The popular "Kaworu died for your sins" meme is taken quite literally here, with him dying to stop Shinji from totally ending the world.
  • Shinji's "Asuka! Sorry!" line from his battle with Kaworu in the original series becomes this after learning that the two of them fight each other in almost exactly the same situation this time around.
  • Also, Shinji's intense anger and confusion at Kaworu for betraying his trust in him in the original series becomes a lot more ironic in the third movie, where Shinji betrays Kaworu's trust in him for the same reasons.
  • In the last 10 minutes or so of 2.22, Shinji tries to fight authority and save a fellow Child from a homicidal beast and learns in 3.33 that he failed horribly, with horrifying and deeply scarring results, and is now resentful towards any adult authority figures left.
  • The scene in the final act of 3.0 + 1.0 where Fuyutsuki dissolves into LCL after giving Mari the means to stop Instrumentality becomes a lot sadder in light of his voice actor Motomu Kiyokawa's passing one year after the film's release.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the self-parodying radio drama Evangelion: After the End from 1996, Asuka complains that the new see-through design of the plugsuits are way too revealing. Turns out that she was ahead of the curve.
  • When Kaji meets Shinji in 2.22 and by telling him that gender's got nothing to do with love, it makes all the more humorous since his then-current English voice actor, J. Michael Tatum, is gay.
  • The Double Entry system from 3.33. As if Pacific Rim needed any more comparisons between it and Evangelion.
  • In 3.33, Shinji tries to undo the damage he caused in the previous movie using the Spears of Cassius and Longinus as Kaworu told him. The two lances (which aren't the instruments Shinji's looking for) look like giant tuning forks. So, you could say that Shinji was trying to re-tune the world.
  • The photorealistic face on the CGI Giant Naked Rei in 3.0 + 1.0 was done earlier in this video, only with Jack Black's face instead. The video's creator themself took notice after the movie's release.
  (edit 2021-08-14:)
  anno-san this was SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE WHAT THE FUCK
  • An abridged parody called EvAbridged has Gendo calling every on-screen Angel Godzilla even though they try to correct him. Four years later, Anno would actually direct a Godzilla movie called Shin Godzilla. Doubly so when Gendo states Godzilla never had an AT field when a Gen Urobuchi-written film trilogy has Godzilla Earth's force field powers being similar to an AT field.
  • Mythra, a white-clad Humanoid Abomination from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, is cited as one of Asuka's many expies across various media, complete with an "Anta baka?"/"What are you, stupid?" for good measure. In 3.0 + 1.0, not only does Asuka get a white plugsuit that vaguely resembles Pyra and Mythra's shared Super Mode of Pneuma, but she gives herself a Super Mode that turns her into a godlike Humanoid Abomination halfway through the movie. She even does this by taking off her eyepatch and activating a glowing blue power sealed in her left eye, similar to Zeke's "Eye of Shining Justice" from that same game.
  • While remaining in-character as Shinji, Spike Spencer once famously slammed the Limited Animation of the finale of the television series in a blooper reel, thanks to budgetary issues. The end of Thrice Upon a Time deliberately uses limited animation for part of its ending sequence, despite the film having a substantially larger budget, for a scene that Shinji is at the center of.
  • After many delays, 3.0 + 1.0 ended up being released in 2021, fourteen years after the Rebuild continuity started. Entirely by coincidence, that's also exactly how much time passes across the four movies in-universe, due to the Time Skip between 2.0 and 3.0.
• Ho Yay:
  • In 1.11, Kaworu awakens on the moon to promptly say "I'm looking forward to meeting you, Shinji Ikari." And at the end of 2.22, he says he's gonna make Shinji "happy" this time... oh, lordy.
    • Doesn't help that in the former case he says this while completely naked.
    • Or that he calls Gendo "Otou-san", which is also what you'd call your father-in-law.
  • The latest preview for 3.33 has Misato say that Shinji wakes up next to a mysterious boy.
  • In 2.22, at one point Kaji exhibits No Sense of Personal Space towards Shinji and pretends (?) to try to kiss him.
  • A 26-second trailer for 3.33. Whenever Shinji isn't looking pissed off or at the brink of tears, he's smiling and blushing... with Kaworu.
  • 3.33. pretty much takes this up to eleven, given how much time is given to show Shinji and Kaworu's relation. The entire piano scene sounds like they're making love, not discussing how much better duets make a song, and Kaworu getting this pose in◊ while the two go stargazing. "I was really born to meet you," indeed.
  • Asuka and Mari, though it's pretty one-sided on Mari's end, as she's fond of calling Asuka "princess" and Trolling her while maintaining the Playful Cat Smile wearing demeanor that made her such a Memetic Molester to begin with.
    • It's even more blatant in 3.0+1.01, where the first scene Asuka and Mari share together, Mari hugs her, repeatedly nuzzles against her cheek, and spends the entire rest of the scene, even while moving and taking a seat, refusing to stop hugging her. Mari noting to herself that Asuka has a lack of interest in cute boys only makes it more noticeable.
• I Knew It!:
  • Before the release of actual news of You Can (Not) Redo, there was a fake movie poster of Shinji sitting alone on the staircase◊ from the first two posters. Considering the darker tone the movie turned, it turns out this mock poster was scarily accurate.
  • Many who have read the Evangelion manga have predicted correctly that the final film would end in a similar fashion, albeit with minor and major differences.
  • 3.0 + 1.01 kind of validates the long-running theory that the Rebuild movies are somehow direct sequels to the original, although not in the way that people expected — instead of explicitly confirming that the Rebuild timeline is a direct continuation, the Anti-Universe has Kaworu explicitly confirm that a Multiverse exists and that he's experienced similar events through a cycle, while Shinji ends up projecting footage from the original series and The End of Evangelion in his last conversation with Rei.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Some fans and reviewers have leveled this complaint against 1.11, since it's a near-exact copy of the first 6 episodes, with a handful of new scenes and updated animation. It also gets a little bit of They Changed It, Now It Sucks! due to the movie cutting out some smaller scenes that helped with overall Character Development of the cast to move the plot along faster.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Professor Kozo Fuyutsuki is the Beleaguered Assistant to Gendō Ikari, one of the heads of NERV, and one of the most composed and brilliant characters in the entire cast. Before the Second Impact, Fuyutsuki was the professor to Gendō, his wife Yui, as well as her best friend Mari, and after Yui's soul was absorbed by the Entry Plug System she devised, Fuyutsuki joined Gendō in attempting to enact the Human Instrumentality Project in order to see her again. As cunning as Gendō but more principled and far less obsessive, Fuyutsuki calmly shatters young hero Shinji's mind over a game of shogi with the Awful Truth of the Rei Ayanami clones and Shinji's own mother, thus manipulating the boy into kickstarting the Third Impact for the purpose of his and Gendō's plans. By the finale, Fuyutsuki is single handedly manning NERV's mass-produced Eva military, and proves himself a master strategist and combatant by engaging WILLE's entire army on his own and nearly managing to come out on top. Even when beaten as Instrumentality begins, Fuyutsuki comes to terms with his loss, happily leaving Mari with the means to help stop Instrumentality, and surrenders to degeneration with nothing but dignity.
  • Mari Makinami Illustrious is a flirtatious and disturbingly bloodthirsty but well-meaning Evangelion pilot. Introduced tricking NERV into allowing her to pilot the experimental Unit-05, Mari manages to use the flawed prototype's self-destruct mechanism to destroy an Angel as it attacks the testing ground. Combating another Angel by activating a stolen Evangelion's secret backdoor code, Mari elates at the combat, even being casually willing to accept the end of the world when she loses to the beast and Near-Third Impact is initiated. Later joining WILLE to rebel against Gendō Ikari and NERV, Mari proves an expert tactician, reclaiming land NERV has "purified" with L Contamination for humanity to begin living on once again. Mentoring Gendō's own son Shinji and having set her scheme in motion years ago, "Mary/Maria (of) Iscariot" sees him remake the world as a more peaceful place and happily takes her place by Shinji's side, beginning a romantic relationship with him in the finale.
• Memetic Molester: Just try to do an image search for Mari without finding at least one fanart of her molesting Asuka. Or Rei. Or Shinji. It doesn't help that it's eventually revealed that she's at least as old as Yui, making her a Dirty Old Woman.
• Memetic Mutation: Shares a page with the original anime here.
• Moe: The cuteness quotient of the boys and girls get turned up a lot in this retelling, and it helps that by 2.22, they spend more time actually being happy children rather than depressing emotional wastelands.
  • Just watch the scene where Rei actually greets her classmates: when Shinji engages her in conversation, she's smiling the whole time. Rei, smiling for a consecutive eleven seconds. Did Third Impact happen while we weren't watching?
  • Or to a smaller extent: the 3.33 trailer. Rei in her High School AU uniform with three little Reis hiding behind her, shyly clutching her arms. Too bad nothing came of it.
  • Midori's default expression appears to be a permanent pout.
• Moral Event Horizon: Gendo appears to actually care for his son this time around, and that he might actually become a better person this time... Until 3.33, where he reveals that he was just pretending to attempt to be a loving father just to further manipulate his son's emotions, and then saddle him with the emotional guilt of killing millions of people. He somehow became an even bigger dickhead than he was in the original series.
• More Popular Replacement: After the introduction of Mari as the Fourth Child, she became way more popular in official merch and fanart than Touji ever was, who was unfortunately always forgotten in favor of Shinji, Rei, Asuka and Kaworu.
• Narm:
  • The supposedly cool introduction of Kaji... Ryoji Kaji in 2.22 is turned into a hysterical laugh-fest when his Japanese voice actor attempts to recite some English lines that are well out of his grasp. The effect is only compounded by the "What the hell?" face made by the person whom Kaji addresses, leaving one with the lingering suspicion that this was intentional on the creators' part.
  • Parts of the soundtrack border on this due to rather odd English lyrics.
  • The happy music and Shinji's screaming when he tries to save Rei will either scare you to death or send you into a laughing fit.
  • While the product placement has been noticeable before, it kinda takes you out of the film to see a prominently-displayed "Yamaha" logo on the piano that Shinji and Kaworu are playing. It's pretty impressive Yamaha was able to keep their company going after wide-spread genocide and the near-annihilation of the entire human race.
• Replacement Scrappy: Some fans of the original NGE aren't too happy that merchandise and marketing for the original series was eventually phased out in favor of only marketing the Rebuild movies, despite the fact that the original show still completely dwarfs Rebuild in terms of merchandise due to its age. There have been exceptions, such as the "TV Version" Evangelion figures/models and the Funko Pop! figures of the characters.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Some of those who disliked the original Shinji are more sympathetic to this version and find him more effective as a protagonist, even moreso after the Grand Finale. Conversely, many of those who liked the original Shinji tend to dislike or even loathe this one.
  • Some fans who disliked Mari found her to be a much more interesting and well-developed character in 3.0 + 1.0, being one of the last of the non-Shinji Children to survive physically before the epilogue, playing a pivotal role in thwarting Human Instrumentality, and having some major revelations about her backstory.
• Ship Mates: It didn't take long for Shinji x Kaworu shippers and Mari x Asuka shippers to befriend each other and form an alliance, since they're the most prominent gay ships in the fandom, and Mari and Kaworu are noted to have some similarities. If you come across any post-Rebuid KawoShin or AsuMari fanfics, chances are they'll likely feature both pairings in some form.
• Strangled by the Red String: How some fans interpreted the reveal that Mari is implied to be the one that ends up romantically with Shinji at the end of 3.0 + 1.0. For a lot of fans, it comes out of nowhere after the movie shoots down the possibility of Shinji ending up romantically with any of his other options with very little build-up (over the whole film series, Shinji and Mari share about 10 collected minutes of screen-time, and even less of that time actually interacting directly with each other) and even less Ship Tease between the characters in the end compared to the others. It got to the point that Studio Khara received death threats over the Shinji/Mari ship being canon and not Shinji/Asuka or Shinji/Rei. That said, according to the voice actors, they were instructed to read the final interaction between Shinji and Mari as with a platonic tone, rather than a romantic one.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • In his first appearance in the movie, Ramiel is seen flying over a rather obvious satellite photo◊. Averted for the rest of the movie though.
  • The appearance of a CGI Giant Naked Rei in 3.0 + 1.0 has been met with perhaps the most polarized reception in this area, with some viewers being of the opinion that the effect is supposed to look weird in order to invoke the Uncanny Valley, while others argue that the effect just looks plain or even laughably bad and that the uncanny effect was likely wholly unintentional on behalf of the CGI team.
• Spoiled by the Format: Audience members know that Shinji setting off Third Impact at the end of 2.22 wasn't going to take, since there are still two more movies to go. Except it did take — it just didn't take out all of humanity this time.
• Superlative Dubbing: The Funimation dubs for the movies, particularly the second one, have been heaped with praise, even from people who hated the dub of the original series. The English dub of the fourth movie isn't as creative or visceral as the dubs of the previous movies, but considering that it has no point of comparison, it's considered to be of generally high quality overall with very strong performances from the new and returning cast.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Inevitable, considering that the original series has been analyzed and over-analyzed for every day of the decade since its release.
  • Asuka's English VA, Tiffany Grant, noted in the DVD Commentary that she was sorta disappointed with the fact that, 1.) Asuka is not obsessed with Kaji in 2.22 (in fact, she barely notices he exists) and 2.) Never got to speak German. Grant subverts this, though, as she still loves being Asuka, and is glad Asuka survived getting smashed during the Bardiel battle.
  • 3.33 is getting hit by this due to its drastic departure from the previous series, and even the previous movie.
  • Unlike the original show, none of the Angels are identified by name, and are always referred to with descriptors such as "the Third Angel", "the Fourth Angel", etc. Not only does this mean that the new Angels have no official names, but it gets rather difficult, tedious and annoying when used in merchandise and marketing, when Khara could have at least gone by a Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames route and still used the Angels' names outside the movies themselves.
  • Look at the Base Breaking Character section. Much of the hate for various characters comes from the fact that they're not the same as their original anime counterparts and people disliking the changes for various reasons.
  • A lot of fans were disappointed by the new dub track produced by Amazon for the streaming release, in spite of retaining many of the same actors from the Funimation release (and even getting some actors from the ADV/Manga release of the original series and movies.) While the role reprises themselves were widely praised by fans, they also raised the question of why the first three movies needed to be redubbed in the first place given that the Funimation dubs were already widely praised and serviceable, with quite a few fans finding the Amazon dubs to be inferior. The ADR director of the Amazon dubs, Joe Fria, later mentioned that the films were redubbed due to legal issues involving Funimation's dubs.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Asuka, specifically in 2.22. While Shinji and Rei keep a lot of the development and backstory they had in the original series, Asuka's role has been stripped down drastically. Her backstory is completely absent, as are some of her quirks such as speaking German and obsessing over Kaji, resulting in a more typical tsundere character as opposed to the original Asuka's deconstruction of the concept. Additionally, the infamous Mind Rape part of her story is reduced to her replacing Toji in the Bardiel incident, which ultimately results in her being absent from the rest of the movie and replaced by Mari as Unit-02's pilot. However, this is one of many things disputed by the fandom, as some people feel that Asuka's character arc in 2.0 is easier to follow and more compelling than in the original series, making her a more sympathetic character. Additionally, her fate in 2.0 is given closure by establishing that it gave her the ability to harness the Ninth Angel's power for herself, which she uses to impressive effect (even if it ends in failure).
  • Despite being a character specifically created for the series and being one of the more important characters to the narrative, Mari is left strangely underexplored in the three films that she's in, with her backstory (which involves her being as old as Yui, if not older) only vaguely hinted at.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Several plot points teased in the preview for 3.33 happen offscreen due to the mid-development decision to skip 14 years into the future to follow Shinji's story rather than showcase the immediate fallout of the ending of 2.22.
  • 3.33 basically walks into the bathroom and swallows the entire med cabinet in one go. It makes The End of Evangelion seem subdued in comparison.
  • Then 3.0 + 1.01 comes along and basically eats an entire pharmaceutical factory. But it’s also clearly going to therapy as well.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: 3.33 was met with the most criticism from professional reviewers due to its much more cynical, depressing presentation, with many likable characters becoming bitter and distant from Shinji and the state of the world being miserable. It's likely for this reason (alongside Anno recovering from the depression he suffered while working on 3.33) that a good portion of 3.0+1.01 is focused on being more hopeful, and helping Shinji and the world-weary characters that treated him harshly recover emotionally before the plot actually moves forward.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: It's amazing how modern special effects enhanced the battles from the original TV series. Ramiel exhibits this best: while it still appears as a giant blue octahedron, it morphs and changes shape in incredible ways that would've been impractical in the 90s.
• Win Back the Crowd: After the divisive reception to the 2019 Netflix dub of the original series (in no small part due to abundant recastings), many fans were relieved and excited by Spike Spencer, Tiffany Grant, Amanda Winn-Lee, Allison Keith, and John Swasey reprising their roles for the Amazon Prime dub of the Rebuild series. According to ADR director Joe Fria, this was due to the controversy the Netflix redub of the original series received for using new voice actors.
• The Woobie: Shinji, reprising his role as Butt-Monkey and Cosmic Plaything. As of 3.33, he's become an (almost literal) Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Kuro-Rei/Rei-Q also needs a big hug, especially once she goes into an existential crisis due to Shinji claiming she's "not Ayanami."
• Woolseyism: In the original script of 3.33, Kaworu asks Shinji to call him by his first name, rather than "Nagisa-kun," as a way of sealing their friendship. In the Funimation dub, in which they use first names, he asks Shinji if they're friends, and Shinji says yes.

---