Early Access - Neon Genesis Evangelion | Episode 25 "The World Ending" Reaction & Review

I enjoyed this anno documentary on youtube. I wouldn't watch it until at least EoE, and perhaps even the rebuilds if that's on the menu later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiqTmSii_qc

I feel like the last two episodes are the "true" ending, even if things were a bit scuffed because they had to rush. I'd go into it more but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just save it for next episode...

DrakDoodles

Yeah, the final episodes of Eva are certainly something... I personally consider the final 2 episodes and the End of Eva movie to go hand in hand and to collectively make up the ending, so on those grounds I'll have to hold my tongue with regards to comments, as it's tough for me to give my thoughts on the episodes without also referencing the events of End of Eva.

A Toilet Duck

I've been meaning to check out Romania Black's reactions and reviews for a while.

tom

I agree with you that the Misato and Rei stuff is probably the most interesting. The Rei stuff feels the most "new", as we get more insight into her we never have than with the other characters, and the three Reis is an interesting visuals that also solidifies this idea of multiple Reis throughout the series. It's also fitting that there are multiple Reis, as this concept of Rei prodding at the other characters' psyche co-exists with Rei being subject to this same prodding. I didn't even mean for both of those sentences to contain exactly 3 Reis, but there you go. And the Misato stuff is just so visceral. I'd forgotten about that shot with more and more tape over baby Misato but that was something that had stuck (lol) out to me upon my first watch. However, something I did remember and still will is the repeated "Chigau!" scream from her as she's confronted with her love of Kaji. That strained forceful denial is so resonant in the voice acting and sound editing. And when she finally admits she isn't happy, the delivery is so good. The way it cuts to that exact scene in episode 15 when she admits it is such a unique feeling that I've been trying to articulate exactly how the reused footage creates it in so many prior episodes (mostly ep20). It's like the narrative intentionally foregoes the immersion of grounding us in a specific scene to give this flowy meta-feeling exploration of the reality created thus far, and it's almost like a montage but not quite. The Shinji stuff has some amazing imagery like you noted, though Asuka's sequence also felt a bit undermined by its repetition, which admittedly could be due to how much golden new material she's had the past few episodes and maybe burnout from me overanalyzing it all -- but I've always loved how Asuka's step mother finds her to be creepily mature, that was always memorable to me. I also like the distinct difference between how she masked her pain from a young age to where she is now, with baby Asuka using an almost perpetual stoicism (I always love the dispassionate way she tells the old lady at her mother's funeral that she doesn't need to cry) and only later learning how to keep up appearances with fake cheeriness, like we see with her phone call to her step-mother (which also logically tracks with how they eventually bridged that distance). Speaking of bridging gaps, I feel like Evangelion was sort of in the middle of me developing taste in media/stories. I've commented a bit on the DW reactions on my experience with how those episodes affected me before and after that phase in my life, but this was what kicked off me having a more critical lens. I was in my late teens and it threw me for a loop, forcing me to reconsider what I value in storytelling and how layered and immersive it can be. I still remember being up late and binging so many episodes, having the haunting "introspection theme" as I sometimes call it, the spacey echoing chimes, the vocals, looping in my head during school the whole next day (don't forget the snazzy percussion). It's weird but I think most of what I remember from that first watchthrough is these final two episodes, they feel like they were much longer than they were even though I didn't rewatch anything until years later (though maybe my memory is combining scenes from the other episodes, such as 14/16/20/22).

tom

Fantastic EVA discussion as always! when you brought up other End of Evangelion reaction approaches, my mind immediately thought of the channels Teaboo, and Romania Black, who I believe (prior to you;) ) are the gold standard for eva reaction/discussion. Teaboo opted for a full length timer based reaction on youtube, with picture in picture bitchute/mega links in the comments, while Romania Black posted just her (5 hour...) discussion to YT with a Vidyard link to a full length picture in picture reaction. both are very much still up, along with their links. Hope either approach could be helpful to you, their channels are 32k and 8k subs respectively if youtube police "heat" matters. Logistics aside, you and any other patrons here should check out their discussions, quite good. Excited to hear your thoughts on 26!

Greg Fette

This is how I feel too. And I hope my comment a little while back didn't give the wrong impression to him when he mentioned both sides of the issue (if he even saw it). There were obvious production issues, that is well documented. I was just making the distinction between budget and time, because for a long time there was a rumor of this show resorting to this approach because of its low budget which is just silly when you look at the spectacle of animation it provides early on. The real debate, I'd say, is about the authenticity of this -- actually, subsequently BOTH -- ending(s) contextualized within these factors. I think they complement each other and I roll my eyes whenever someone suggests skipping one or the other, or watching in a different order.

tom

I'm on the "movie is the true ending" side but I do feel like both endings compliment each other. They were definitvely time contraints on production side but they managed to turn it into an artistic/minimaliatic approach.

Kon

Yes, it is a production crash. So the movie fix the problem but still catch the same approach.

Andy Lyu

I seem to have gotten a refund I didn't ask for, not sure if patreon bug or what

sonic

Please watch Made in Abyss some day!

Andy Lyu