August 17th, 2021 
Charles Solomon 
After twenty-five years of fans debating, discussing, speculating and impatiently waiting, Hideaki Anno finally brings his Evangelion saga to a conclusion in the feature Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.01: Thrice Upon a Time, airing on Amazon Prime.
The broadcast series Neon Genesis Evangelion debuted in October, 1995. Eerie female voices exhorted, “Zankoku na tenshi no you ni, shounen yo shinwa ni nare” (“Like a cruel angel become a legend, young boy”). When 14-year-old Shinji Akari arrived in Neo-Tokyo 3 to meet Misato, an officer who would look after him, humanity was locked in a deadly struggle against monstrously powerful creatures called Angels. Only the Evangelions or “Evas,” gigantic cyborgs guided by psychic teenagers, could defeat them. Shinji had been drafted by his brutal, scheming father to become a pilot.
`Evangelion” (pronounced Ehvan GEL eeon, with a hard “G”) is derived from the German evangelium, which refers to the Christian Gospels, but is also a slang term for absolute truth. The series blended titanic mecha battles with Western apocalyptic symbols and elements of Jungian psychology. The Angels’ names come from Hebrew and Christian mysticism; behind the scenes, the cabal SEELE (“soul” in German) is plotting to redirect human evolution according to a plan outlined in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Evangelion scored a huge hit: When the final episode aired in March, 1996, more than 10% of all the televisions in Japan were tuned to it. But the last episodes did not depict a glorious victory for humanity. Overcome by the grueling battles and his father’s treachery, Shinji’s psyche seemed to implode in a protracted internal discussion with the other characters.
The finale of Evangelion quickly became the subject of prolonged discussions on the Web and at anime cons, as the series developed an enthusiastic following when it was released outside Japan. Like Jack Skellington, the Evangelion characters never went away: Fans continued to wear the T-shirts, watch the videos and buy the models.
Despite the popularity of the series, the ending of Evangelion satisfied no one, including Anno, who admitted, “the story has not yet ended in my mind. I don’t know what will become of Shinji or Misato, or where they will go.” He recut the last episodes, then reworked them into the feature Death and Rebirth (1997); End of Evangelion (1997) offered a different conclusion. Neither succeeded. Anno had created a vast, complex, menacing world that demanded a powerful conclusion.
In 2002, Anno announced plans for a four-feature “rebuild” of the story, unconstrained by the financial and technological limits of the original program. In Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007), he retold the first six television episodes with impressive new effects. He took the story in entirely new directions in Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009) and Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012). Thrice Upon a Time brings the saga to what feels like its definitive conclusion.
At 154 minutes—twice the length of most American animated features–Thrice Upon a Time is a demanding film. It offers battles with spectacular effects that rival big-budget Hollywood movies. There are intrigues, betrayals, revelations, violence, sorrow—and hope. In a long respite, Shinji recuperates in a small community that evokes Taisho era Japan (1912-1926).
After the climactic final battle, Anno brings the story to a close. Is it an ending fans could have predicted? No. But it is an ending that feels definitive. Anno and the audience now know what became of Shinji and Misato and where they went.
In a recent interview, I asked Anno how it felt to conclude Evangelion after so many years. He replied, “I don’t feel a need to see Shinji and the other characters any time soon. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see them ever again: There might come a time when I meet them again.”
It took 25 years, but Shinji heeded the singers’ exhortation and became a legend–of sorts.
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