Shinseiki Evangelion Movie: Air/Magokoro wo, Kimi ni

Shinji Ikari is left emotionally comatose after the death of a dear friend. With his son mentally unable to pilot the humanoid robot Evangelion Unit-01, Gendou Ikari's NERV races against the shadow organization SEELE to see who can enact their ultimate plan first. SEELE desires to create a godlike being by fusing their own souls into an Evangelion unit, while Gendou wishes to revert all of humanity into one primordial being so that he can be reunited with Yui, his deceased wife.

SEELE unleashes its military forces in a lethal invasion of NERV headquarters. As SEELE's forces cut down NERV's scientists and security personnel, Asuka Langley Souryuu pilots Evangelion Unit-02 in a desperate last stand against SEELE's heaviest weaponry.

The battle rages on, and a depressed Shinji hides deep within NERV's headquarters. With the fate of the world resting in Shinji's hands, Captain Misato Katsuragi hunts for the teenage boy as society crumbles around them.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Souryuu, Asuka Langley Main

Miyamura, Yuko Japanese

Ayanami, Rei Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Ikari, Shinji Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Katsuragi, Misato Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Nagisa, Kaworu Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Pen Pen Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Ikari, Gendou Supporting

Tachiki, Fumihiko Japanese

Kaji, Ryouji Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Akagi, Ritsuko Supporting

Yamaguchi, Yuriko Japanese

Ibuki, Maya Supporting

Nagasawa, Miki Japanese

Ishikawa, Mitsuhisa Producer

Anno, Hideaki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Screenplay, Setting, Animation Director, Original Creator, Planning, Mechanical Design, Key Animation

Tsurumaki, Kazuya Director

Tanaka, Hideyuki Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 26, 2024

Ke1chan

Recommended

Now, I won't focus on how great Neon Genesis Evangelion itself is in general, you can read about that in my review of the series itself, where I've already said many things about the anime, but now let's talk about the movie itself and make it short.

Released in 1997, the movie “The End of Evangelion” is not just a sequel to the show. This movie, shows the canonical event of the third impact (in that time line), which is the central and concluding moment in the legendary Evangelion universe, and is therefore very important and a must-see. The fact that the movie is incredibly detailed, ... is an absolute masterpiece and an icon in the anime industry is not even worth talking about, everyone should realize that. Being a canon of the Evangelion universe, the movie is as much a masterpiece as Evangelion as a whole.

Showing the harsh reality of the events, sparing neither the characters or the viewer, the movie shows a harsh reality, making you think about many things. Whole thing is very interesting to watch, especially you liked the original series, there is a action, fascinating events, emotional moments, with visual stylization and detailing scenes that is incredible level, well, and of course with a huge space for philosophical reflections and various discussions.

Let's also touch on the soundtrack. “Komm, süsser Tod” - a perfect composition, maximally conveys the mood of the entire Evangelion, and even more so the events that we see in the movie. This composition is forever memorable and has been in my heart, as well as in the hearts of many viewers.

This movie (as well as the entire Evangelion universe) is a perfect example of how anime can be a true masterpiece.

(Detailed review about the series: https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=528934)

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 9, 2025

Shineix

Mixed Feelings

The most confusing watching experience you'll ever have. The Evangelion movie was a very carefully planned out movie but the main area it lacks in is it's explanation of the story.

Overall the story, depth and message are really good and even the characters are interesting in this path of Evangelion however this is only if you can understand it while watching.

Since the review is strictly on the movie I have to give it a bad rating, the movie doesn't explain basically anything going on and just expects you to follow the many random and odd events. If you went and searched up everything on ... google later you'd realize that the movie was actually good and well made but google shouldn't have to be used to understand it and the movie itself should be explaining what, how or why all this is happening. All the hardcore Evangelion fans are going to come after me for this but I had full focus on the movie and anime but they simply never explain anything at all which ruins the entire experience.

Overall the movie had potential to be amazing but since it requires you to search up everything it just ruins it all and makes everything feel random especially near the end.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 11, 2024

OhsnapitsDavid

Not Recommended

Funny

ABSOLUTE WASTE OF TIME. If you watch this movie for its "deep plot" you will be disappointed. The Neon movie gets a 10 by a lot of people mostly because it just looks like a classic movie poster, but don't get it twisted. This movie does NOTHING amazing except for having a higher budget in its animation with smoother fights, darker tones, and more gore and nudity than a TV show.

Main problem:
It attempts to be complex, but ends up being inconsistent, riddled with plot holes, villains with god-like power, absurd characters....

Many people argue that "no bro you just didn't understand the symbology." No. I got ... it. It's pretty clear if you ever watched the TV series or this movie what the message goal was of spirituality, free will, and confronting reality is. It's so dang simple, I get it. The problem IS that this message gets stretched out harder than a college student racing to finish an essay 15 minutes before its due. The essay becomes one long filler just to explain why water is wet. That's why this movie's plot fails as well. It takes almost 40mins of flashy scenes just to repeat the message of having a choice, i.e. what is Shinji's choice that he makes.

Shinji is a problem in itself as addressed in my Neon TV review, but in terms of what "Shinji resolves" it doesn't matter because Shinji does not undergo any learning curve. What does he learn in the TV show? Nothing. What does he learn in the movie? To accept reality....then choking Asuka because JK Shinji is still the same angry wimp with self issues.

The only ACTUAL learning curve that Shinji ever showcased was in the TV series, and that was just a filler episode that by now doesn't even count in the main plot (the scene when everyone is congratulating Shinji).

No. Because Shinji DOES NOT have any character growth means that the plot for this movie was wasted. All that absurd fiction. All those absurd drawings and animation. All those absurd moments of flashy edgy attempts of attempting to depict a theme or message, were all wasted the moment Shinji chokes Asuka. WHY? Because how does that scene DIFFER from Shinji in Neon episode 1? Answer: it doesn't. That's it. No character growth. Plot wasted. Message wasted. Consistency wasted. ALL IS WASTED. Shinji is meant to be the character that the author chooses to be a figure for its plot, but SHINJI turns out to be the same wimp, the same inconsistent motives of whos side is he on, the same empty pervert, the same bland character. Shinji does not exist. The sooner people can accept that, the easier it would be to watch Neon.

Once you accept that Shinji doesn't matter, you start loving Neon because Neon's "deep plot" doesn't matter. Why? Because Neon's "deep plot" has so many plot holes, fails to be consistent, and fails to be a good story because the main plot just does whatever it wants, no ifs ands or buts. If the world turned yellow. Don't worry guys its "a deep plot." If everyone turned out to live,Don't worry guys its "a deep plot." If a giant monster appeared, and the universe caved around it, Don't worry guys its "a deep plot."

This is why I say that Neon's attempt of having a message becomes TOO edgy, too convoluted, too poison, too absurd, too complex falling into itself, to SIMPLY just gloss over and say "yeah, I liked what Neon's message was." Because there is no 1 message. There are SERIES of messages that all fall into each other. Like slapping a bunch of paint and calling it art. Like pasting a bunch of symbolism and calling it deep. Like drawing a lot of animation and calling the movie good.

I can't rate the manga, but I CAN say that both the anime and the movie were gorgeous to watch, but as a whole completely butchered it's own lore through inconsistencies, shadow secrets people never learn, pacing direction that is just all over the place, bland characters, and a horrible main character.

If you really cared about the Neon series, you would recognize these flaws. In a future recreation you would want the story to be clear, the characters to be alive, and the plot to be decisive. No reason why doing this you can't also be a little artsy. But it seems Neon TV and movie went the other direction with being too artsy first, and everything else second...... 6/10 for pity.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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