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Information

A.k.a.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
Year
1997
Runtime
87 min.
Directors
Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hideaki Anno
Genres
Action, Drama, Animation
Rating *
8.3
Votes *
18,537
Checks
8,200
Favs
672
Dislikes
109
Favs/checks
8.2% (1:12)
Favs/dislikes
6:1
* View IMDb information

Top comments

  1. KuroSawWhat's avatar

    KuroSawWhat

    I hate to break to to everyone, but Evangelion--both the series and this movie--is neither deep nor complex. It is a shallow alien-invasion robot mecha anime, written by a man battling depression, animated by a talented studio, which was mis-managed and ran out of money during production, leading to a finale that consisted mostly of clips from earlier in the series combined with minutes-long shots of a single frame of animation and nothing happening. They randomly threw in lots of Biblical and mythological names to make it seem "interesting and exotic" to Japanese people, never intending for it to be seen by Western audiences.

    End of Evangelion is their re-try attempt for the final 2 episodes of the series, which they were forced to make because the fans of this unusual anime were so pissed off at what an underwhelming piece of crap they had been given for an ending, even vandalizing the animation studio.
    image
    In the writer/director's own words, this is what the show is about: http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Hideaki_Anno:_What_were_we_trying_to_make_here.3F Note, there is nothing out of the ordinary there, aside from his obsession with being depressed. It is a giant robot show. That's all.

    A typical scene of Evangelion might run something like this:
    "The Magi have detected an Angel, Type Blue! Activate the Eva unit! We need the Lance of Longinus as specified in the Dead Sea Scrolls to defeat it! Activate the 666 Barrier or they might reach Central Dogma where Lilith, our source of Adam, is!!"

    Translation:
    "Computers have detected an alien presence, red alert! Prep the mechs for combat! We'll need to activate the super-weapon that we got from the alien technology to defeat it! Shields up! We can't let them into our core area of some importance, where we keep our captured alien!"

    Yes, the animation is beautiful. Gainax is a very talented studio. However, the story is filled with annoying, unlikeable characters, constantly whining about their lot in life. My favorite must be Shinji, known for sitting in a corner and crying. He opens up the movie by visiting his friend who is in a coma and masturbating onto her chest. He's a really "deep and complex" character. The plot is, similarly, about an inch deep, and all the pseudo-Christian imagery in the world doesn't change that. To quote Roger Ebert: "If you have to ask what it symbolizes, it didn't." None of the questions from the series or this movie are explained, like "What the hell was going on?" It is thoroughly unsatisfying.

    I'll admit, I almost enjoyed myself during the second quarter of the movie, when it was bordering on coherence. But after that, it all falls apart into a massive cluster-hump of pretentious, impenetrable symbolism that doesn't symbolize anything. A movie that begins with a character jerking off, ends with the director jerking off, and he's the only one having fun, assuming he wasn't still on suicide watch.

    (feel free to call me an unintelligent rube who just doesn't "get" it)
    10 years 3 months ago
  2. LMTR14's avatar

    LMTR14

    and no, you can´t skip eps 25/26. they happen simultaneously to eoe (at least partially) 10 years 5 months ago
  3. Duke of Omnium's avatar

    Duke of Omnium

    I rented this disk without being familiar with the series . Little or no exposition here; it obviously presumes familiarity with the background and characters. It was visually impressive, and the characters almost made me want to know more about the Evangelion series (except for the whiny little guy). The action was kind of creepy, which is a tribute to its complexity and the seemingly inherent strangeness of anime in general.

    My only excuse is that I was chasing iCM checks.
    11 years 2 months ago
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In 8 official lists

  1. This movie ranks #24 in IMDb's Animation Top 50
    IMDb's Animation Top 50's icon

    IMDb's Animation Top 50

    24
  2. This movie ranks #33 in IMDb's Sci-Fi Top 50
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    IMDb's Sci-Fi Top 50

    33
  3. This movie ranks #42 in IMDb's 1990s Top 50
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    IMDb's 1990s Top 50

    42
  4. This movie ranks #47 in Paste's The 100 Best Anime Movies of All Time
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    Paste's The 100 Best Ani…

    47
  5. This movie ranks #50 in IMDb's Action Top 50
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    IMDb's Action Top 50

    50
  6. This movie ranks #364 in 366 Weird Movies
    366 Weird Movies's icon

    366 Weird Movies

    364
  7. This movie ranks #511 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films: 1001-2500
    TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films: 1001-2500's icon

    TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…

    511
  8. This movie ranks #806 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
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    Sight & Sound's The Grea…

    806
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