I considered writing something of a thorough review for my 2-5AM experience with 3.0+1.0, but reconsidered after I realized that any such review from me would include, in no particular order and in presently un-assessed frequency:
- What are hell are you talking about?
- What is that?
- What the FUCK is that?
- No seriously, that shit is going to haunt me in my dreams.
- With what resources could you even begin to make that?
- What the hell is Mari's purpose?
- What is even happening?
- Does the bulk of this plot actually matter?
All of the good parts of this movie were the parts where people just talked with each other without the action mecha fuckery, with the exception of Mari (who's at least a cougar or a GILF... somehow... so she has that going for her), and I actually really liked the dissection of Gendo's personality-- you really get the sense that this is Shinji's father. But I kept asking myself the questions I listed above without being able to come to any conclusion about the underlying symbolic value-- if any-- of much of what I was strongly reacting to. I kept thinking about the possibility that all this frankly aimless action was meant to be some kind of summative critique of
something in the industry or in Japanese culture, like Anno's playing a multi-million dollar, multi-year joke at the viewer's expense.
I'm currently at a point where I actually think that there
isn't much underlying symbolic value. What really pisses me off about this is that in the original series + EoE, there's certainly a sense of "what the fuck is going on" at some points but when you think through everything you realize that the series is tightly operating on the world that it built over the course of 24 episodes, and new worldbuilding isn't ever shot out rapid-fire without the chance to digest. It's not that big a deal, in the grand scheme, that SEELE created the Mass Production EVA series completely off-screen in EoE. It's a thing, and it's not that big a bolus to swallow in one go, given their purpose later on. Ditto for them being used in the particular way they are to instigate Third Impact. Even the entire Human Instrumentality sequence, for however "what the hell is this" it is, is fine, because the takeaway is "Human Instrumentality is happening". Technobabble that either gets across some detail (e.g. "Asuka's sync ratio is low" is really just a hint about Asuka's declining mental stability) or doesn't mean
or impact anything (e.g. most of what's said at the bridge as a matter of routine) is absolutely fine. Even if it's not your focus, the main plot is at bare minimum important for being the delivery vehicle for your themes and messages, so it should get respect.
Even then, I was extremely willing to forgive the movie for being more concerned about its themes and messages compared to its lore and worldbuilding because I recognize that the heart of Evangelion is about commentary/critique on the nature of the self and interpersonal relationships. But being assaulted with so much pure nonsense in so little time, having said nonsense lack cohesion with
itself, and having said nonsense be completely unmoored from the aforementioned "core" of Evangelion to the point that it's hardly operating as a vehicle to deliver the themes and messages
yet still occupy enough of the runtime and prominence as to be directly implicated in the progression of the story, is all a bridge too far.
I have sympathy for artists that succeed in creating what they want to create, without the fetters of executive meddling or the schizophrenic desires of a fanbase that oftentimes has no idea of what goes into the art and has their own fixations. But while I recognize the effort and even heart that went into this finale, as well as some of its good (its simple interpersonal interactions, the music, most of the animation), and while I bet it'll become as much of a cultural icon as the original series and EoE, I couldn't enjoy 3.0+1.0 in total.
To more simply contextualize my viewpoint: I largely agree with Demolition D+'s take on the Rebuilds.
