Okay EVA nerds. Our time has come.
On July 6th, YEARS after Evangelion 3.0, we finally got the first 10 minutes of the final Evangelion Rebuild film, due in 2020.
You can watch it fansubbed in English and Spanish here:
While it looks like another 10 minutes of nothing, full of CG battle (which was LIT and you can fight me on that) and techno jumble, if you pay a little attention to the techno jumble, it reveals quite a lot about the current EVA universe.
So here are the things I learned and interpreted from the 0706 Evangelion 3.0+1.0 10 minutes:
1. The Euro branch of NERV that Mari, Kaji, Asuka and Unit 02 are originally from which was only ever mentioned in 2.0 – was in Paris.
2. Naturally Unit 02 and 08 supplies would be there.
3. The redness of the Earth from Near-3rd impact is related to the “L-Levels” Asuka mentioned at the end of 3.0, which makes the earth inhabitable for Lilins (humans)
4. The “L-Levels”/redness caused by Near-3rd Impact can be suppressed/reversed (probably temporarily – from the animation and the jargon, it looks like the device has to be constantly activated) to restore a habitable Earth for people.
5. Maya and her tech crew reference the people who wanted to leave this city for them (Euro Nerv 1). Meaning when Gendo tried to use the Shinji-and-Rei-infused EVA 01 to trigger Near Third Impact (sometimes during the 14 yr skip), Euro Nerv and everyone at NERV HQ was against Gendo and tried to leave each other some means to live.
6. Which leads to what WILLE is – Misato and people who got the fuck out of NERV when shit hit the fan.
7. Which explains why they’ve secured Unit 01 and sealed it in a ship – it’s now a God and Impact trigger and WILLE doesn’t want the world to get anymore messed up. And they want Shinji in their custody and want him to do absolutely nothing. They don’t want anymore Impacts while they clean earth up.
8. Ritsuko and gang reveal that the random enemies they’ve been fighting with the ship (at the beginning of 3.0 and in this latest snippet) are EVA Mark 4s/fake angels sent by Fuyutsuki. Meaning some time during the 14 years NERV HQ (Gendo) has managed to manipulate/clone an Angel and made them into new EVAs (maybe using the missing Unit 04 from 2.0 and the yet unrevealed 11th Angel, or maybe the 12th Angel that was embedded in Mark 06 revealed in 3.0, or whatever).
9. From what Ritsuko says, that these random fake EVA Angels have become like a new species in its own right by forming a colony – and maybe reproducing?
10. Meaning the red earth has become a habitat for non-Lilins (descendants of Adam like the Angels (?), and the EVA pilot children – Asuka revealed that they aren’t Lilins at the end of 3.0 as they were trying to get back to a place where Misato’s crew can pick them up).
11. Even with the earth cleaned up, it doesn’t look like any people are being revived – everyone dead might be staying dead.
Additional details:
Revealed during this 0706 event at Japan Expo is the interview with Megumi Ogata, who says that Anno had presented her with two possible endings and asked “which one would Shinji choose?”.
Assuming that Gendo’s (and Fuyutsuki’s) end game in Rebuild of Evangelion is still “to bring all souls together as one in order to see Yui again”. We can deduce:
1. SEELE and NERV (Gendo) both worked towards Human Instrumentality/3rd Impact, but for different results; SEELE wanted to get it over with and reject it and move on with life as is. And Gendo wanted to accept it so he can be with Yui.
2. NERV (Misato and crew, other branches of NERV) were left in the dark, naturally being used under false pretense. When they found out the truth, WILLE was born and WILLE just doesn’t want anymore Impacts full-stop. They just want to get on with life in the world they got dealt now.
The official captions on the promo poster for the final film includes a cryptic phrase “NOT, and ANTI”. Which COULD be interpreted as NOT = rejection and ANTI = prevention.
WHICH MEANS At the centre of all that, Shinji will be likely given a final choice when he triggers the final impact:
1. Reject Intrumentality once and for all: restore the people into a lost world (NOT)
OR
2. Prevent Instrumentality forever: Restore the world and accept the loss of its people (ANTI)
In, conclusion, I think I have a feeling Shinji is going to choose between sacrificing the world for everyone and sacrificing himself for the world. And I have a feeling Shinji is gonna choose to die. Afterall, Evangelion has always been about Shinji finding happiness via approval from others. What other way is left for him, now that the world is ruined, except to become a martyr and get eternal approval?
What do you think?
