Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
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SPOILER WARNING! This article or section contains spoiler information from Evangelion media that has been recently released and/or is of limited distribution. Do not read any further if you do not want to spoil your experience of said media. |
| Rebuild of Evangelion | |||||||
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| Written By | Hideaki Anno | ||||||
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| Directed By | Masayuki, Mahiro Maeda, Kazuya Tsurumaki | ||||||
| Theatrical Release | November 17, 2012 | ||||||
| Streaming Release | {{{streaming_release}}} | ||||||
| Video Release Date | April 24, 2013 (JP); International release TBA | ||||||
| Angel Appearances | 12th, 13th | ||||||
| Eva Sorties | Eva-02, Eva-08, Mark.09, Eva-13 | ||||||
| Movie chronology | |||||||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||||||
| "Evangelion 2.0" | "Evangelion: Final" | ||||||
Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo (Japanese title: Evangelion New Movie Edition: Q Quickening) is the third film in the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series, released to Japanese cinemas on November 17, 2012. Initial press releases for the new film series announced that the third and fourth installments would be half-length and shown together[Source needed]. On January 1st 2012, the official Evangelion website revealed the movies would be released separately[1].
The working Japanese title was ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:急 (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Kyū, Evangelion New Theatrical Edition: Rush). With the preview included in Eva 2.0, the Kyū was replaced with the identically-pronounced letter "Q" followed by the subtitle "Quickening", which has the same basic meaning as "Rush" with the added nuance of an unborn child's first movements. (Additionally, in Japan, the stylistic choice to substitute "Q" for the kanji 急 is not uncommon.[Source needed]) The full international title You Can (Not) Redo was announced on January 1st 2012[2].
Plot
The storyline departs markedly from where Evangelion 2.0 had ended. Very few of the story elements hinted at in the original preview from 2.0 remain in the final work. However, it is now under speculation if at least some of these events actually occurred prior to 3.0
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
Operation US, Wille, and the AAA Wunder
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The story begins 14 years after the events of the previous film. Most of Nerv's original adult staff, sans Gendo and Fuyutsuki, now belong to an organization called Wille (German for "will"), led by Captain Misato Katsuragi, and including Eva pilots Asuka (in Eva-02) and Mari (in the new Eva-08), Toji's sister Sakura, and several new characters. Shinji has been absorbed inside Eva-01 all this time, which is now orbiting earth inside a giant cuboidal cross-shaped satellite.
Wille uses its Evas, equipped with special rocket booster equipment, in Operation US an attempt to retrieve Eva-01 from its low earth orbit. Asuka pilots Eva-02 through several Evangelion Mark.04 units, a collection of autonomous orbital drones, and with Eva-08's support, successfully manages to grapple onto the satellite. Eva-02 uses its boosters to decelerate the cross satellite, changing its orbits so that it will fall back to earth. Following this, a Mark.04 B unit, camouflaged inside the satellite, reveals itself and begins to attack Eva-02. With no measures against it, and with Eva-08 too far away to support, Asuka pleas for "stupid" Shinji to do something. At this Eva-01 rouses briefly, destroying the Mark.04 unit with a beam of light through a crack in its container as a stunned Asuka looks on. Eva-02 and the satellite fall to Earth, as Kaworu watches and says, "Welcome home, Ikari Shinji-kun. I've been waiting for you."
Events skip ahead to the AAA Wunder (Wille's giant battleship) and her fleet of warships and aircraft carriers, currently positioned in polar waters. The crew salvages Shinji from Eva-01, labeling him BM-03, and equipping him with the DSS Choker, a collar device meant to monitor his activities and prevent him from piloting an Evangelion, specifically by terminating him if anything goes amiss. Once his identity and memories are confirmed, he is brought before Misato, Ritsuko, and the bridge crew of Wunder. Shinji is distraught over both the cold treatment he receives from everyone except Sakura, and the strange device on his neck.
Before he can be debriefed any further, the Nemesis Series attack the Wille fleet from all sides. Misato launches an initiative to activate the Wunder's main engine -- with Eva-01 serving as the power core -- that is carried out through via a cooperative effort between Eva-02, who prepares the engine and manually ignites it, and the bridge crew. The Wunder becomes airborne, and its main weapons destroy the Nemesis Series' four core blocks.
After the battle, Shinji is given a formal debriefing, where he learns the purpose of the DSS Choker, along with the fact that fourteen years have passed since he initially merged with Eva-01. Shinji demands repeatedly to know Rei's whereabouts, firm in his conviction that he saved her, but Ritsuko claims that Eva-01 yielded no trace of her, and only produced Shinji and the SDAT player. Ritsuko returns the player to Shinji at this time.
Soon after, Evangelion Mark.09 breaks through the hull of Shinji's cell in an attempt to retrieve him. Believing the Eva is the destroyed Eva-00, and hearing Rei's voice over its loudspeakers, Shinji readily steps into Mark.09's hand. Eva-08 engages the unit and manages to decapitate it with gunfire, but fails to prevent its escape. Misato cannot bring herself to detonate the DSS Choker before Shinji is out of range.
New Nerv Headquarters
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Shinji wakes up in a hospital bed with Rei standing by silently. She takes him to New Nerv HQ, and Shinji catches a brief glimpse of the ruined pyramid. HQ itself appears abandoned, with large parts of the base in ruin. They walk for a time, passing familiar landmarks, including an Eva cage (apparently Eva-01's) now open to the sky. On the floor of the cage, Shinji sees Kaworu Nagisa playing on a Yamaha piano, and is seen in turn when Kaworu looks up.
Eventually, Rei leads Shinji a huge area housing a biomechanical "womb" containing the under-construction Evangelion 13. Gendo appears, wearing an unusual visor instead of glasses, bluntly orders Shinji to pilot the Eva with Kaworu when the time comes, and just as quickly vanishes. Shinji calls after his father, but is ignored.
Shinji is given quarters at New Nerv HQ and is left to freely bide his time. Processed food substances and clothes are provided by an automated system through a portal in the wall. He wanders the grounds looking for Rei, finding no traces of human life, although there are abundant signs of past conflict and evidence that Evangelions are being mass-produced at the facility. Eventually, he happens upon Rei's special LCL-immersion facility, where she lives in a makeshift room containing little more than a sleeping bag and a lamp. Shinji attempts to engage Rei in conversation, but finds her unusually unresponsive, similarly ignorant of what is occurring at the base and having no memory of her past life. She does nothing but wait for orders.
Gendo and Fuyutsuki are shown observing the Seele monoliths, which are now silent. Fuyutsuki says that he will continue to follow Gendo's plans.
Shinji attempts to use the SDAT, but discovers that it's broken. He ruminates upon words he's recently heard from others -- Misato, Asuka, Sakura, Gendo, Rei -- which produces visible distress, due to his current state of ignorance and alienation. Hoping to assist Rei's memory, Shinji tries to encourage her to do something Rei once enjoyed: read. He selects books from Nerv's disheveled library and stacks them neatly outside Rei's room. But with nothing else to do, he loiters around the Eva-01 cage.
Here, Kaworu invites him for a chat at the piano and encourages Shinji to attempt playing piano, because trying new things is an important part of living. Despite initial hesitations, Shinji quickly shows talent, and he and Kaworu play a duet. Afterward, the two exchange names for the first time. Shinji checks in on Rei with more books, but finds that she is absent from the facility, and the original pile of books remains untouched. He then returns to the Eva cage for more piano training with Kaworu. Over the course of a montage, Kaworu shares various kernels of wisdom, and Shinji learns to duet with him skillfully.
The next time they talk, Shinji asks Kaworu if he can fix the SDAT player, to which Kaworu obliges. The two end up staying at the cage until nightfall and watching the stars. Here, Shinji shares that he finds the starry sky reassuring because it's the only thing in his world that's remained constant, from which Kaworu deduces Shinji's fear of change. Kaworu eventually tells Shinji, "I really was born to meet you." The day after, the automatic dispenser gives Shinji a shirt that he notices is too large, only to find Toji's nametag sewn to the inside; this comes as an enormous shock.
That morning, Kaworu returns the now working SDAT, but notices that Shinji looks sullen. Shinji reveals that he is worried about what has happened to Tokyo-3 and his friends who lived there. Kaworu asks if Shinji wants to know, and Shinji accepts. The two travel down a precarious stairway outside of New Nerv HQ, with Shinji wearing an environment suit. They eventually reach a platform, and the clouds around HQ part to reveal the landscape.
Shinji observes the post Third Impact world: The moon now appears enormous, orbiting far closer to the earth and spinning rapidly about itself. Its surface is covered in new bloodstains and a strange pulsing red grid. The landscape itself fares even worse, having been turned completely red (into core material), the ground covered with crevices, one of which has somehow morphed into a colossal mouth complete with teeth. Enormous red crosses are scattered all over the landscape, as far as the eye can see. Nerv HQ itself now sits at cloud level, thousands of metres above the ground atop its old main shaft, emerging from the center of what looks like a giant blue iris. Headless red creatures resembling Eva-01 stand frozen among the core-ified ruins of the town below.
Kaworu explains that this is the result of the Nerv's Human Instrumentality Project, and tells Shinji that he began the process when he rescued Rei from Zeruel 14 years ago. Shinji is stunned, expressing disbelief and denying any involvement. Kaworu says that the rest of humanity thinks otherwise, but that no sin is beyond forgiveness.
In the ruins of Gendo's office, Fuyutsuki comments on the situation developing between Shinji and Kaworu, and expresses his disapproval over how Gendo keeps his son in the dark. Here, we also see that Gendo still has the case containing the Key of Nebuchadnezzar with him. Shortly thereafter, Fuyutsuki and Shinji meet in a corridor, where the former proposes a game of shogi, to which Shinji agrees. Fuyutsuki soon reveals that the game was a pretense; his real purpose is to tell Shinji about even more truths from which he's been shielded. He explains that Shinji's mother, whose maiden name was Yui Ayanami, conducted a "direct entry" experiment on Eva-01's core and is now the unit's control system; that an Ayanami Series was based on Yui's genetic information; and that the Rei that Shinji knew is preserved within Eva-01 like Yui. A stunned Shinji exits with a bow and silently walks away. We then see Gendo in the ruins of the Command Center, the Key of Nebuchadnezzar's case by his side, vowing upon a giant Rei-shaped head surrounded by red Evas, "The time of the final contract is upon us. We will soon meet again, Yui."
Shinji confronts Rei at her quarters, demanding answers that she can't provide. He knocks over the accumulated books in rage, and, when it finally sinks in that this is not "his" Rei, he storms off. He ambles down a catwalk and has a panic attack as he's bombarded by voices. Upon reaching his quarters, he flings his SDAT across the room, rendering it once more inoperable.
Gendo and Fuyutsuki watch as the completed Eva-13 is extracted from its "womb". Fuyutsuki calls it "the final executor". As if in response, Kaworu plays an ominous chord on the piano and says, "The time has come. This is it, Ikari Shinji-kun."
Kaworu visits Shinji in his quarters, apparently having brought him the news that Eva-13 is finished and, as per Gendo's earlier orders, they're both to pilot it. Shinji ardently resists the idea: last time he piloted, only bad things happened, and if tries to do it again, the DSS Choker will kill him besides. Kaworu mysteriously removes the device from Shinji and puts it on himself, leaving Shinji both shocked and relieved. At this point, Kaworu offers Shinji redemption through a plan to retrieve two Spears from Central Dogma and use them to restore the world. Shinji is eventually persuaded to agree. The two boys begin to go on a first name basis.
Eva-13, Spears, Impact
Shinji and Kaworu board Evangelion 13 via the Double Entry System and begin the descent to Central Dogma, accompanied by a scythe-equipped, headless Eva Mark.09. Eventually the walls of the Main Shaft yield to a mass of red Evas, which Kaworu calls "failures of infinity", that look like they've been cut through to permit passage. Working in unison, the two pilots harness Eva-13's innate power to destroy the giant seal that has blocked access to Lilith's chamber for the past fourteen years.
Within, they find Lilith's giant, headless corpse merged at the neck with Evangelion Mark.06, both skewered by Spears of Longinus. The chamber's floor is covered in countless human-shaped skulls. According to Kaworu, they should have found one Spear of Longinus and one Spear of Cassius, and the two Longinus types indicates that something is amiss. Before he can get to the bottom of things, however, Eva-02 attacks from above.
Eva-13's RS Hopper drones emerge from containers on the Eva's pylons and deploy four separate A.T. Fields, preventing Eva-02 from touching its opponent. Eva Mark.09 attempts to intervene further, but is soon kept in check by Eva-08, sharp-shooting from a large crevice in the ceiling. Asuka soon manages to destroy two of the drones, and as she struggles with the remaining two, Shinji divulges his hopes for redemption and shows dismay that Asuka is trying to stop him; but to her, he is just a naive brat. Kaworu does not help in the fight, lost in thought over how the two Spears could be the same.
Asuka at last destroys the final drones and splits her weapon into two blades, which Eva-13 grips in its hands. Before Eva-02 can break through, it runs low on power and goes into energy conversation mode, enabling Shinji to easily cast the unit aside with a backhand. Seeing this as an opening, Shinji resolves to retrieve the Spears, and Eva-13 begins to ascend Lilith's corpse. Kaworu shares his unease, but Shinji is too battle-frenzied to see anything but the original goal. He cuts Kaworu out of Eva-13's controls and, deploying Eva-13's second set of arms, pulls the Spears as both Kaworu and Asuka (helpless as Eva-02 recharges its power) beg him to stop.
Both Lilith and the giant Rei head at the command center -- in fact, Lilith's missing head -- explode into LCL, and Gendo says that it's begun. Mark.06 begins to revolve in midair over the pool of Lilith's remains, as if possessed, and the 12th Angel's presence is detected inside. Mark.09 quickly decapitates the unit, with Rei saying it was done on orders, and two dark, serpentine clusters begin to form out of Mark.06's neck stub and head. They join in midair and wrap around the levitating Eva-13, creating a massive sphere. When Eva-02 attacks the sphere with its gun-arm, the dark appearance yields to a gigantic, almost fluid core, completely impervious to the bullets.
The Twelfth Angel swells in size until it breaches the pool of Lilith's LCL and, possibly influenced by it, it begins to take on Rei's form -- giggling and morphing into a massive, eyeless Rei head. Kaworu begins to manifest as the Thirteen Angel (despite originally being the First Angel), putting the DSS Choker on alert. Eva-13 effectively goes berserk, becoming unresponsive to control and its pylons bursting off so that red, crystalline wings can grow. Both Kaworu and Mari attribute this turn of events to Gendo, whom Kaworu calls "King of the Lilin". The scene cuts over to Gendo delivering a farewell speech to Seele, who are ritualistically being terminated as preparation for the Human Instrumentality they believe will soon come.
The Twelfth Angel as next seen is a gigantic red fetus, which quickly compresses into a core within Eva-13's open mouth. The Eva bites down, killing the Angel and apparently absorbing its power. The Awakened Eva-13 immediately undergoes a transformation: it glows white, its wings lengthen dramatically, and it develops two halos. The Eva begins to ascend up the Main Shaft, destroying it as it goes, and emerges out of the top of Nerv Nerv HQ with a haloed Eva Mark.09 in quick pursuit. The Door of Guf opens above the Eva, turning the skies red, and the Black Moon is pulled out of the ground. Countless Failures of Infinity are vented out of the Black Moon and spiral through the sky.
Wunder appears and attempts to attack Eva-13 in the hopes of keeping the Impact in check. Mark.09 begins to bombard the ship with explosive attacks, targeting its armaments and leaving the rudder inoperable. Wunder's wing crashes into the ground and breaks, leaving the ship dragging aimlessly. Wille's two Evas reach the surface, and Asuka assigns them separate duties: she'll help out Wunder, and Mari will go after Eva-13. Mark.09, its head regenerated, descends on Wunder's starboard side and takes root, sending blue tendrils out of its legs and into the main engine holding Eva-01, wresting control of the ship away.
Eva-02 grabs onto the Wunder's port wing and climbs aboard, then perilously makes its way to Mark.09's roost. Asuka quickly activates Beast Mode with "Code 777". This initially jettisons some of Eva-02's armor to let the constrictors emerge and frees the Eva's jaws, but when even this proves not enough, the Eva undergoes a metamorphosis into a feline shape. Eva-02 beheads Mark.09, which reboots the Seele program controlling it and gives Rei a chance to eject her entry plug. Asuka uses the empty slot to target the Eva's core, but Mark.09 regenerates almost instantaneously, from which Asuka deduces that the whole thing is a core. Low on power and time, she regretfully ejects, with Eva-02 set to detonate. Mark.09 is destroyed in the blast, and Wunder's systems are restored.
Within Eva-13, the DSS Choker has deployed gemstone-like charges that revolve around Kaworu's neck. As Kaworu delivers his final words to Shinji, he has Eva-13 impale itself with both of the Spears. He claims that they will meet again, and allows the collar to detonate, killing him instantly. Shinji stares at the blood-coated monitor screen in raw shock. Eva-13's bottom set of eyes close and the unit begins to fall, but the Door of Guf remains open. Eva-08 dashes to the fore and jumps down onto Eva-13 as it plummets down the side of the Black Moon. Mari struggles to keep hold, and the Eva's hands are soon being corroded into core, but Mari successfully ejects Shinji's plug. Deprived of both its pilots, the unit fades back to its regular color and crashes to the ground. The Door of Guf starts to close, and the Black Moon and the floating Failures of Infinity all fall to the earth.
Gendo and Fuyutsuki, situated in an area resembling the Wunder's bridge, briefly comment on the situation. On the AAA Wunder, both Eva-02's remains and Eva-08 are secured, and Ritsuko and Misato share a couple of words as well.
Shinji's entry plug has landed somewhere, and he is curled up silently in the darkness. The hatch opens, revealing an exhausted Asuka. She speaks briefly, then, disgruntled by his lack of responses, motions to leave, but she doesn't get far before she sighs and returns to more forcefully extract him. Once the two are outside the plug, Asuka spots Rei approaching, and recognizes her as the pilot from the earlier conflict with Mark.09. After taking some measurements, Asuka concludes that they won't be rescued due to "L barrier density", and they have to travel somewhere where "Lilin" can pick them up. Pulling Shinji along, Asuka takes off over the endless red waste, and Rei follows.
Preview
The preview shows a composite Eva 8+2 fighting multiple gray-green copies of Mark.06 in red city ruins, wielding a Magorox sword. In the last two cuts, the Eva dashes past an entourage of the enemy Evas and jumps over a precipice, revealing a vast sea of the Mark.06 copies generating compound A.T. Fields, and the fallen Black Moon lying beyond them.
Updated Next Time Preview
The TV edition of Eva 2.0 which aired in Japan on August 26th 2011 revealed an updated Next Time Preview for Q, which gave a tentative theatrical release for Fall 2012. The updated (16 second) Next Time Preview included images of a bandaged and eye patch wearing Asuka flying through space in her slightly altered Eva-02. During this preview, Misato says: "Shinji Ikari awakens. Beside him stands a mysterious boy. And then, a new world waits for him."
Q posters
After the piano motif theme revealed on the Evangelion website in August 2012, October 2012 saw the release of new posters for 3.0.
References
| Episodes & Films | |
| Television Series | Episode 01 | Episode 02 | Episode 03 | Episode 04 | Episode 05 | Episode 06 Episode 07 | Episode 08 | Episode 09 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 |
| Movies | Death | Rebirth |
| Rebuild of Evangelion | Evangelion 1.0 | Evangelion 2.0 | Evangelion 3.0 | (-46h) | (-120min) | Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 |
