This provides a much more grandiose and satisfying ending than the last episodes of the series. In theory, those are the same events, but the series only shows what happens inside Shinji's mind while the movie shows everything that happens around it, which is a world-level extinction event, and it's breathtaking. It also shows what happens for other characters, and what all the events of the main anime have been leading to.
There's a great fight ([spoiler]Eva-02 vs the Mass Production Evas[/spoiler], one of the most incredible end-of-world scene out there, and Shinji whining. Yep, don't expect a change back to him being a hero, he literally does nothing but whine during the whole thing. However Asuka is the one who finds her confidence again [spoiler]before being brutally killed[/spoiler].
Even if you have no clue what is happening, the whole [spoiler]Third Impact[/spoiler] scene is breathtaking, with a very weird and yet great music choice for world ending.
On first watching what happens there is a complete mindfuck. However after seeing it again, I realize a lot of things are explicitly said. It's just that it is so much information that needs to be combined with small clues spread around the series, while at the same time trying to grasp the mind breaking events that are taking place, that it's very hard to make sense of it. At this level, we're put at the same level as Shinji, which is basicaly just "wtf wtf wtf".
There are so many things in the series that are only hinted at, vaguely shown for just a few frames, that need to be inferred from discussions between characters in the known that never address the subject directly, or that are never shown at all. But they're useful to understand what happens there. (Although there is also an extra bit of information that was only available in one of the Evangelion games, that brings the final pieces of the puzzle)
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That's it for the review. I actually expected to find explanations in the comment, but it's mainly people wondering what they've seen, so I'll try.
So what happens here ?
The main thing to understand is that, despite the initial setting of the the show, this has never been about protecting humanity from an eventual Third Impact. Basically everyone who really know what things are want the Third Impact to happen. **This is all a power struggle about how and when Third Impact happens and who will be in control of it**: the angels, SEELE, and Gendo Ikari each have their own designs.
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So let's start from the beginning, like the very beginning, billions of years ago.
The first question is:
What are Adam and Lilith ?
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[spoiler]This is the info that only comes from the game. There once was a First Ancestral Race, an alien race that was on the verge of extinction. They sent several vessels (7), containing Seeds of Life to try to spread their life elsewhere. That's what Adam and Lilith are: Seeds of Life.The vessels are the moons/eggs/geofronts found under Antarctica and Tokyo-3.Each vessel also contains a Spear of Longinus. This is a living weapon that is able to pierce any AT-Field. One of its functions is to incapacitate a Seed if needed.The Dead Sea Scrolls are manuals on operating the Moons, the Seeds and the Spear. I'm assuming they can be used to predict the appearance of Angels because they detail how Adam would create life.
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Adam, and his descendants, the Angels, possess the Fruit of Life, something that gives unlimited energy. It is what is referred to as the S² Engine in the series, situated in the Angel's core. EVA-01 obtains it by devouring Zeruel's, this is why it does not need to be plugged afterwards.
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Lilith, and his descendants, humans but also all life on Earth, possesses the Fruit of Knowledge, what makes humans able to do science and stuff despite being a lot weaker physically than Angels.
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It is unclear whether they are the only type of whether the other Seeds had different Fruits.[/spoiler]
What is the First Impact ?
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The first impact is believed to be a cataclysmic event that happened billions of year ago, where a meteorite hit the Earth, resulting in the creation of the Moon. Actually it's not that far from the truth. It's just that the meteorite was [spoiler]the Black Moon, the vessel that contained Lilith. It will be found (a lot) later by humans: this is the Geofront under Tokyo-3 where the NERV is installed.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]One of the vessels arrived on Earth, several billions years ago. This was the White Moon, that contained Adam. This is what is later found by humans under Antarctica. Adam was then supposed to spread life, created from him, on the planet.
However before that, a second vessel arrived, the Black Moon, containing Lilith. This was not supposed to happen. It was violent (First Impact) and Lilith's Spear was destroyed. Two Seeds are no meant to be in the same place. As a safety protocol, one needs to be deactivated. Since Lilith's Spear was destroyed, Adam"s Spear activated and incapacitated him.
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And so Lilith's life started to spread on the planet.[/spoiler]
What is the Second Impact ?
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Cover-up story is a meteorite fall. We then learn this was related to Adam and the Katsuragi expedition.
[spoiler]When Adam was found an experiment was attempted to merge him with human DNA. It didn't go well. Adam awakened, they fell to stop it with the Spear, but they managed to artificially overload his S² engine. This had several consequences.
1) It generated a huge explosion and an anti-AT-Field that destroyed all Lilith based life in the surrounding.
2) It greatly hurt Adam that reverted to an embryonic state.
3) It also removed Adam's soul from his body. Which was retrieved by SEELE.
4) It either created or activated the Angels.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]It's not clear whether the Angels were created by Adam a long time ago and only given a soul at that moment, or whether they were created then. Not sure either whether this happened when Adam activated, of his own will, or when he was hurt by the overloading of his engine (one theory being that Angels are parts of Adam blown away during the explosion.
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However one thing is clear: this was not accidental. Provoking the Second Impact was part of SEELE plan. Either just to follow the predictions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, or because creating the Angels and defeating them was necessary.
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By the way this is how Kaworu was made. He is the human body created during the contact experience and has been given the soul of Adam.[/spoiler]
What are Angels ? What are humans ?
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[spoiler]Angels are the life created from Adam, the same way that the currently known life on Earth, including humans, are the life created from Lilith. They're all individuals of the same species.
Both species are actually made from the genetic material of the Ancestral Race (Angels are a 99.98% genetic match from humans). Main difference is that they possess the S² engine that makes them extremely strong and able to manifest a powerful AT-Field. [/spoiler]
What is the Third Impact ?
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Second Impact was not a complete event as it was stopped and limited to Antarctica. Third Impact would be the same, at the global level. However depending how it is provoked the consequences would be very different.
What is the Angel's goal ?
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Angel all target the NERV HQ. Their goal is to reach the Terminal Dogma and reach the Seed there. [spoiler]It's not clear whether some know that Lilith is there, and want to get rid of it, or if they all think, like Kaworu, that Adam is there and want to merge with it.
In any case, an Angel initiated Third Impact would destroy all Lilith based life and make them, Adam based life, the dominant life form of the planet.[/spoiler]
Stopping this is the first purpose of EVAs, and where SEELE's and Gendo's goal align. The next step is what is referred to as the Human Instrumentality Project, it is basically a human initiated Third Impact and its aftermath.
In this case, humanity would still cease to exist, but instead of being destroyed, they would transcend into one entity.
What is SEELE's goal ?
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[spoiler]The Third Impact would also create a global anti-AT-Field. Losing their AT-Field, which is the barrier allowing the soul to create its form, all humans would lose their current form and return to their primordial form: LCL. All the souls would be collected, and merged as one. The collective soul would be then put into a God-like body, ie possessing both Fruits, Lilith based, but with a S² engine for immortality.
The initial plan is to use Lilith as base, somehow merged with Adam, (but apparently they need the Spear for that, not clear why). That is why Gendo uses Arael's attack as an excuse to get rid of it. The backup plan is to use EVA-01. EVA-01 is made from Lilith - contrary to all other models that are made from Adam - and it has acquired Zeruel's S² engine.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Note that it also seems to be Yui (Shinji's mother) original plan, as she says she wanted humanity to live on forever inside the EVA.[/spoiler]
What is Gendo's goal ?
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[spoiler]He only cares about one thing: to reunite with Yui, that at least is clear. How to achieve that and how it differ's from SEELE"s plan is not clear. For this he wants to be the one in control of the Third Impact, using Rei (a clone of Yui containing Lilith's soul), Lilith's body, Adam's body (which is merged in his right hand), and obviously EVA-01 (that contains Yui's soul).. A lot of things are unclear:
- whether he also got back Adam's soul after Kaworu's death
- why his plan does not involve the spear contrary to SEELE's
- whether his body would be also used
- why he needs Adam and/or Lilith since he will need EVA-01 anyway and it already contains both Fruits[/spoiler]
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OK, so that was a lot of preliminary, now what happens in the movie ?
For the easy to understand part (aka **Episode 25'**)
[spoiler]SEELE needs EVA-01 for their Instrumentality Plan. Gendo refuses to give it as he has his own plans.
They first try to take control of the NERV HQ by hacking MAGI. It fails thanks to Ritsuko.
They then send the army to take control, kill all pilots and secure the EVAs.
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Asuka, still traumatized is put in EVA-02 and sent at the bottom of the Geofront lake. But she revives when she realizes that her mother's soul is in the EVA and was always with her. She beats the army forces.
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SEELE sends the Mass Production EVAs to deal with her. They have S² engines and are piloted by dummy plugs based on Kaworu. She manages to defeat them before her energy runs out. However because of the S² engines, they can easily regenerate unless their core is destroyed. They all awaken and EVA-02 is destroyed and Asuka killed when it was on the verge of going berserk. It's also revealed that they are equipped with human-made replica of the Spear of Longinus.
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Meanwhile Misato manages (difficultly) to bring Shinji to EVA-01. Shinji is also in a very bad state psychologically since he killed Kaworu. He hates himself, and the world. He's just whining and crying. EVA-01 is immobilized, so he can't go and help Asuka anyway.
After Asuka's death, EVA-01 moves by itself, freeing itself, allowing Shinji inside, and releasing its AT-Field to escape.
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Shinji sees the remains of EVA-02 and understands what he means for Asuka, he screams. That does nothing good for his state of mind.[/spoiler] End of 25'.
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**Episode 26'** is the Third Impact / Human Instrumentality Project
Why does the Spear of Longinus comes back from the moon by itself ?
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[spoiler]Following Shinji's state of mind, EVA-01 goes berserk. Feeling this, the Spear of Longinus comes back from the moon. Remember it is a living weapon designed to stop the appearance of an entity like EVA-01 that possesses both Fruits. Not clear why it stops short of destroying it though.[/spoiler]
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Beginning of Third Impact
[spoiler]SEELE begins to initiate the Impact using the Mass Production EVAs, the Spear and EVA-01.
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Meanwhile Gendo tries to initiate his own version. He inserts his hand (that contains Adam's embryo) into Rei's body. Feeling Shinji's despair, Rei wants to help him. She refuses Gendo, keeps his hand (and Adam) and merges with Lilith. She is now full Lilith (body and soul, plus Adam's body, and possibly Adam's soul too. She then grows to a gigantic size (several thousands kilometers) to face Shinji inside EVA-01. She wants him to be in charge of what happens next (scary given how fucked up he is right now). The Spear merges with EVA-01 and it becomes a Tree of Life.[/spoiler]
Why the giant Rei/Kaworu ?
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[spoiler]Seeing the giant Rei doesn't really help Shinji's state of mind, so Rei/Lilith takes Kaworu's appearance to calm him and tries to ask what he wants to do.[/spoiler]
What's the link with the initial ending ?
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This is where the real mindfuck starts. We see inside of Shinji's psyche, while [spoiler]Rei/Lilith/Adam/Kaworu[/spoiler] tries to understands what he really wants. At this point Shinji has already lost his corporeal form and it seems he also has access to the already dead's souls, prompting interactions with Yui, Misato and Asuka.
This is also what happens in the initial end episodes of the series. We only see this part, from the inside of Shinji's mind (and a bit from others'), without any clue as to why it started and what happens in the physical world at the same time.
What's Shinji's decision ?
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[spoiler]Following several very symbolic scenes, revisited flashback, introspection and Asuka's rejection of him, Shinji initial reaction is basically that everyone hates him, life hurts, world sucks, and everyone should die.[/spoiler]
At this point [spoiler]Rei/Lilith[/spoiler] complies with his wish and the Third Impact goes on, ending the world as we know it.
[spoiler]She releases a global anti-AT-Field, all of mankind loses their form and reverts to LCL, all souls (including the people that were dead before the event) are collected inside the Black Moon. Lilith absorbs the EVA-01/Tree of Life. There is no more individuality, all of mankind is one, there's no barrier between people, they can all understand and complement each other.[/spoiler].
A weird thing here is that the NERV staff seems to understand what's going on while this information should be only known to Fuyutsuki.
What happens to Gendo ?
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[spoiler]Gendo seems to be the only human not turned to LCL, instead a vision of EVA-01 kills him. Maybe a sign that Yui rejects him for how he treated Shinji.[/spoiler]
And then ?
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Weirder introspection continues, including live-action shots. [spoiler]Shinji finally realizes that he still wants to live, that despite the fact that interacting with others can bring pain, it is worth it. He wants to regain his own self. AT-Field should be brought back even if it means that people will again be able to hurt each other.[/spoiler]. That's also what happens in original episode 26, when Shinji realizes he wants to be himself (prompting the congratulations and end of the show).
How does that translate in the real world ?
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[spoiler]Again, Rei/Lilith complies with Shinji's wish. Instrumentality stops. EVA-01 regains its form and gets out of Lilith. The other EVAs are destroyed. The Black Moon is destroyed and releases all the souls back to the LCL sea. EVA-01 goes away (supposedly carrying Yui's soul as she wished, though it has been petrified.
From now on any soul that wishes it can retrieve its ego and come back to life by creating its AT-Field again.[/spoiler]
What's the last scene ?
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[spoiler]Shinji has already regained itself for a while. Asuka appears near him. This shows that even souls of people dead before Third Impact can come back. Asuka presumably comes back because she had one of the stronger ego in the series. Last interaction between Shinji and Asuka was inside his mind when she rejected him and he started strangling her. So he starts strangling her again. Maybe because he's afraid of her hurting him again. Maybe because he's not clear whether she is a real separated person from him or he's still dreaming/merged inside Instrumentality. However she shows kindness, so he stops and cries.
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Note: The Genesis in the title could suggest that Shinji and Asuka are the only people left, being new (biblical) Adam and Eve. But it should not be the case as it's stated that anyone who wished it can come back to a physical body.[/spoiler]
