is a 1997 Japanese animated apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Hideaki Anno and Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Anno, and animated by Gainax and Production I.G. It serves as an ending to the anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which aired from 1995 to 1996. Due to time constraints, particularly Anno's indecision over how to conclude the series and the disastrous production schedule, the staff had little time to produce the final episodes of the original series. For The End of Evangelion, Gainax revisited ideas that it had previously discarded due to lack of time, particularly for the twenty-fifth episode.
Taking place after the twenty-fourth episode of the series, the film, formatted as two episodes, follows the paramilitary organization Nerv as they are attacked by the secret organization Seele, who seek to initiate a process named the Human Instrumentality Project on their own terms, while Nerv operations director Misato Katsuragi searches for Shinji Ikari to pilot his mecha Evangelion. The series' voice actors reprised their roles, including Megumi Ogata as Shinji, Yūko Miyamura as Asuka, and Megumi Hayashibara as Rei.
The film has been described by Anno and in official materials as both a remake of the last two episodes and an alternative ending to the original series, like a multi-ending video game. Shortly before the release, Anno and Gainax released another film, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth; the first segment, Death, summarizes the first twenty-four episodes of the series. The second segment, Rebirth, previews The End of Evangelion. In 1998, Gainax combined the overlapping films into Revival of Evangelion. The End of Evangelion was a box-office success, grossing . The film was honored at the Awards of the Japanese Academy and the Animation Kobe, and won the 1997 Animage Anime Grand Prix. Critics praised its direction, editing, emotional power, and script, though some criticized its oblique religious symbolism and abstraction. Reviewers and publications have since ranked it among the greatest animated films of all time.
Plot
Episode 25': "Air" / "Love is destructive."
Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari is the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, one of several giant cyborgs designed to fight hostile supernatural entities called Angels. Shinji is distraught after having to kill his friend, Kaworu Nagisa, who revealed himself as an Angel in human form. He visits his fellow pilot Asuka Langley Soryu in a hospital where she lies in a coma. Trying to shake her awake, he accidentally exposes her breasts and masturbates over her comatose body.
Nerv, the paramilitary organization that controls the Evangelions, is formally controlled by the secret committee Seele. Seele plans to initiate the Third Impact and the Human Instrumentality, an apocalyptic process to merge humanity into a single consciousness. Seele discovers that Shinji's father and commander of Nerv, Gendo Ikari, intends to create his version of the Human Instrumentality Project to reunite with his deceased wife, Yui, whose soul resides in Unit-01. After a failed attempt to hack Nerv, Seele dispatches the Japan Strategic Self-Defense Forces to seize control of Nerv and execute its staff. Nerv Major Misato Katsuragi orders Asuka to be moved to Evangelion Unit-02 and placed at the bottom of a lake. Misato wants Shinji, who is wallowing in self-hatred, to defend Nerv and rescues him from the invading troops, who mortally shoot her in the process. Before her death, Misato implores Shinji to pilot Unit-01 and kisses him. Shinji discovers Unit-01 has been immobilized in special bakelite. Nerv's head scientist Ritsuko Akagi attempts to initiate Nerv's headquarters self-destruction as an act of petty revenge against Gendo, but the Magi supercomputer Casper rejects her command, at which point Gendo kills her.
Gendo meets the Evangelion pilot Rei Ayanami, who carries the soul of the Angel Lilith. Gendo possesses the body of the Angel Adam in his hand, intending to combine it with Lilith to begin his own version of Third Impact. Meanwhile, Asuka overcomes her trauma upon learning that the soul of her deceased mother is inside Unit-02. She reactivates Unit-02 and destroys the military forces, including Seele's new mass-produced Evangelion units. However, the units reanimate after Unit-02's battery runs out and proceed to disembowel it. Unit-01 then breaks free and, with Shinji in the cockpit, ascends above Nerv Headquarters. Shinji sees Seele's units carrying the mutilated remains of Unit-02 and screams.
Episode 26': "Sincerely Yours" / One More Final: "I need you." Rei betrays Gendo and takes Adam for herself. She merges with Lilith, who changes into a gigantic version of Rei. The Spear of Longinus extracts itself from the Moon, giving Seele the means to initiate the Third Impact via their scenario. The mass-produced units pull Unit-01 into the sky and crucify it, beginning the ritual to trigger the Third Impact. Lilith makes contact with Shinji. After several dreamlike contemplations, including strangling Asuka after she rejects his pleas for help, Shinji concludes he is alone and everyone in the world, including himself, should die. Lilith responds by initiating the Third Impact and dissolving human bodies into the primordial fluid LCL, reforming their souls into a single consciousness.
In this new state, Shinji contemplates reality, individuality, and happiness. Despite his previous feelings, he eventually decides life is about experiencing pain as well as joy, leading him to reject the single consciousness with a hopeful vision involving Rei and Kaworu. His rejection causes the destruction of Lilith and the mass-produced units, setting the souls of humanity free. Yui's soul tells Shinji anyone can return to their physical body if they have the will, and they bid farewell, with Yui leaving Earth in Unit-01's body. Some time later, Shinji and Asuka lie on a beach near some tombstones, facing a sea stained red. Shinji catches a glimpse of an ethereal Rei and begins to strangle Asuka, but he stops when she caresses his face. Shinji breaks down in tears, while Asuka voices disgust.
Voice cast CharacterJapaneseEnglish Gaijin Productions/Manga (2002) VSI/Netflix (2019) Shinji Ikari Megumi Ogata Spike Spencer Casey Mongillo Misato Katsuragi Kotono Mitsuishi Allison Keith Carrie Keranen Rei Ayanami Megumi Hayashibara Amanda Winn-Lee Ryan Bartley Asuka Langley Soryu Yūko Miyamura Tiffany Grant Stephanie McKeon Kaworu Nagisa Akira Ishida Aaron Krohn Clifford Chapin Gendo Ikari Fumihiko Tachiki Tristan MacAvery Ray Chase Kozo Fuyutsuki Motomu Kiyokawa Michael Ross JP Karliak Ritsuko Akagi Yuriko Yamaguchi Sue Ulu Erica Lindbeck Makoto Hyuga Hiro Yuki Keith Burgess Daniel MK Cohen Shigeru Aoba Takehito Koyasu Jason C. Lee Billy Kametz Maya Ibuki Miki Nagasawa Amy Seeley Christine Marie Cabanos Keel Lorentz Mugihito Tom Booker D. C. Douglas Ryoji Kaji Kōichi Yamadera Aaron Krohn Greg Chun Yui Ikari Megumi Hayashibara Amanda Winn-Lee Ryan Bartley Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu Maria Kawamura Kimberly Yates uncredited
Production Pre-production
After the first broadcast of the animated series Neon Genesis Evangelion, its ending attracted considerable media attention in Japan. With the broadcast of the first episode, "Angel Attack", animation studio Gainax had only roughly completed twelve of the planned twenty-six episodes after nearly two years of production, forcing the studio to produce the remaining fourteen in about a third of that time. The increasingly demanding schedule caused the production system to collapse and animation quality to decline. Gainax tried to achieve the greatest possible effect with the least possible effort in the limited time remaining. Masayuki and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, for example, produced the twenty-fourth episode in three weeks amid a state of panic, while the staff completed the final two episodes within a matter of days. According to official information and staff statements, the time constraints and the series' director Hideaki Anno's personal indecision led to the abandonment of the original script of the penultimate episode, "Do you love me?". In the case of the last episode, "Take care of yourself", Anno stated in an interview that he had roughly followed his original plan instead.
The two final episodes, which focus on psychological introspection and long inner monologues of the show's main characters, met the expectations of Gainax studio's staff but became a source of discussion for fans; although the finale concluded the most important psychological themes of the series, it abandoned the main plot, giving rise to controversy. The issue was debated throughout Japan, fueling the series' already-high popularity. Fans demanded a new ending, or, at least, a conclusion that answered the open questions. Anno also fell into a difficult psychological state. He perceived a lot of criticism towards his work, and felt he was accused of being sloppy and negligent. He read online discussions in which some people argued about the best way to kill him; Anno thus no longer wanted to work in animation and contemplated suicide. He still defended the work of the other staff members on the original ending, stating that the series had concluded satisfactorily.
On April 26, 1996, about a month after the final episode of the series aired, the magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace announced plans for a remake of the final two episodes. The magazine also announced the production of a new feature-length film. The first feature film, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997), was intended to conclude the story of the original series, while the second installment would have told a new story, with a completely different setting. Gainax initially planned to release the project as an original video animation (OVA) for the home-video market, but later decided during production to release it theatrically. The production also involved Imagica, a film post-production company, and fashion companies such as Fiorucci, Americanino, and Edwin for the clothing used in the live-action segment. At the suggestion of Neon Genesis Evangelion character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the staff planned to set the unreleased film in winter, in contrast to the eternal summer in which Japan remains trapped in the animated series.From the interviews with Sadamoto and Tsurumaki from the June and July 2013 issues of Young Ace. Anno also considered a winter setting and wanted to depict battles between Evangelions on snow-covered mountains, regardless of the technical difficulties involved. In a post-apocalyptic scenario where the destruction of Earth had rendered most of the planet uninhabitable, humans would live within an area protected by a barrier called an "AT field". Angels, the antagonistic creatures of the original series, would attack the area, concentrating their forces on the only bridge connecting it to the rest of the world and devouring humans in the process.