Top Ten Things Evangelion Rebuild Got Wrong

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!  Welcome back to part two of This is (Not) and Evangelion Event’s lineup of Talkative Thursdays!  If you remember last week, I covered some of the good things from the films.  You know, those moments of story-telling or added character development that could please any fan of the series and welcome newcomers to the franchise.  Well, as I always say with my reviews, for every upside to any show, film, or franchise, there’s always a downside.  And today, I’ll be covering some of the biggest downsides to Rebuild so far, ranging from the small to the big and with some things that I personally thought were way off sprinkled in between.  And yes, I am keeping in mind that the fourth and final installment to the films is currently in production and many of these problems will hopefully be resolved.  As it stands, though, these are problems that I’ve found with the films so far.  And with that, let’s talk about the top ten things I thought the Rebuild films got wrong.

Just like last week, there will be some spoilers, especially on the last film.  You have been warned!

10.The Condensed Plots of the First Two Movies

Okay, I know this point seems a little odd to focus on seeing as it’s what started my list of the top top ten good things to come out of the films.  But as nice as it is for people who have never seen Evangelion, it’s also a problem for fans of the series.  Newcomers to Evangelion can certainly appreciate the film in that it shortens the content of six episodes into an hour and a half film.  But for fans of the original series, it poses a problem for two reasons.  For one, it’s nothing new.  If you watched the series, many of the major events that happened in the film are of no surprise because you saw them in the series and know how they’re going to play out.  For me, watching Evangelion 1.11 was simply a repeat of the first third of the series because I saw the beginning of the series and knew what would happen.  The same could be said for 2.22 to some extent.  Another problem was that some details were either added or taken away that changed the overall plot.  Sometimes this was for the better, but other times it hindered more than helped.  Some added scenes like Misato taking Shinji to Central Dogma to show him Lilith were fine because they helped further the plot, but then you have points like the Key of Nebuchadnezzar that just get thrown in and raise questions that never get answered.  In fact, some of the points on this list are some of these added scenes.  Some scenes from the series that got taken away really cause a lot of inconsistencies with the overall plot.  Again, some of those are on this list-one of them I’ll be talking about next.  Either way, whether you take things away or add new stuff, it’s safe to say that fans of the series can agree that the first two films can’t beat the original.

9.The entirety of Evangelion 1.11

As I stated before in my first point and in my review of the film, Evangelion 1.11 is more of a summary of the first six episodes of the series than an original retelling of Evangelion.  For fans of the series who watched this, it was pretty boring.  And while 2.22 has its own problems relating to this issue, 1.11 was probably the worst offender.  Granted what new details that were added actually helped make the movie its own and didn’t do much harm.  The same can be said for what was removed.  But when talking about this film, I have to say there was one moment that I was very disappointed in not seeing in the movie.  Before Shinji goes out to fight the third Angel in the series (fourth in the film), there’s an important moment that happens.  As the Angel attacks Tokyo 3, reverberations from the attack reach Nerv and cause some debris to fall.  Shinji is almost hit by this debris but is shielded by Eva Unit 1 at the last minute.  This was important because it hints at the connection between Shinji and Unit 1, or more specifically, Shinji’s mom and Eva Unit 1.  We get hints and an out right confession throughout the films, but with all of that, this should have been an essential scene to include.  I have stated that newcomers to Evangelion will like the film, but there’s no denying that fans will tell you that Evangelion 1.11 left much to be desired.  So it’s pretty clear that 1.11 did more than just retell the same story.

8.Revealing Rei’s Origins

This was probably more of a personal problem than anything, but it seemed strange to me that the films did this.  We all know that Rei is an enigma of character in Evangelion.  But it’s not until much later in both film and series that we get some idea of who-or rather what- Rei is.  In the series, it’s implied that Rei is a clone of Yui Ikari (aka Gendo’s wife and Shinji’s mother).  But note the “implied” statement; we know towards the end of the series that Rei is homunculus clone.  Of who she’s a clone of is implied to be Yui Ikari.  The series doesn’t out right mention it, but rather it lets the audience determine that for themselves.  It allowed for some discussion around the idea of who Rei is.  In the films, they just say it.  In Evangelion 3.33, Fuyutsuki pretty much tells Shinji straight up front that Rei is a clone of his mother.  Again, this isn’t a massive problem, but I feel like it insults the intelligence of the audience a little bit.  I think the overall audience is smarter than I think the creators give them credit for, and the series took that seriously by not revealing Rei’s origins and allowing the audience to come to that conclusion themselves.  Besides, part of what makes the franchise memorable is the constant discussion and fan theories that surround it.  And sure, Rei’s origins as a clone of Shinji’s mom are something that’s already known, and you could very well make the argument that this was intentionally revealed for time sake, but I think it goes against what Evangelion is known for: it’s themes, discussions, and fan theories.  Yeah, it may be a small detail, but it has a big impact on the franchise’s foundations.

7.The Eva Beast Mode

As cool as this was to see, there was absolutely nothing explained about it.  Introduced towards the end of Evangelion 2.22, this was an ability that the Evas could technically achieve.  But as cool as it was to watch Eva Unit 2 pull this off and just go nuts with it, it still leaves a lot of questions that never get answered.  How exactly does this mode work?  Is Eva Unit 2 the only one that can pull this off?  Can the other Evas do this too?  How does it turn into a jaguar/cat hybrid thing in 3.33?  Better yet, why does it turn into a jaguar/cat hybrid thing in 3.33?  Yeah, I think you can see the problem here.  And to give my least favorite character here some credit, all Eva Unit 2 really needed was to have a good pilot like Asuka at the helm.  Granted, that’s not to say this ability is useless and unnecessary; on the contrary, it’s actually very useful in taking on some powerful Angels and other Evas.  But honestly, it’s just for show and has no other purpose than that.  Overall, it looks cool, but has no substance.

6.Inconsistency between the Second and Third Films

Remember the preview we got at the very end of Evangelion 2.22 where it showed us what the third film was supposed to look like?  You know, where Eva Unit 1 is in suspension, Rei and Shinji are missing, Kaworu becomes an official character, and we possibly learn more about other characters in the films?  Yeah, we got none of that in Evangelion 3.33.  For better or worse, the third film was different.  But in the case of this countdown, I’m talking about the worst part of it.  There were a lot of things that happened in the third film that really didn’t make sense and completely turned away from what had already been established in the first two films.  Things like the formation of Wille, Eva Unit 6 being an autonomous unit, and even little things like Shinji and Asuka not aging were all things that go completely against what was already established.  As a result, it makes the third film almost kind of jarring.  It’s almost like Anno wanted to be 100% different and make us completely forget what already happened.  Well, he got one of those things right.  I’ll be talking more about this on Sunday in my review on 3.33, but consider this a preview for the review that’s to come.  But since were still on this topic, there is one moment from this movie I will bring up…

5.The first 30 mins of Evangelion 3.33

The biggest gold mine of plot points and inconsistencies in Evangelion 3.33 -not to mention terrible pacing and storytelling- was the first thirty minutes.  The film essentially throws you into the action without any kind of introduction or explanation as to what’s going on.  I can understand that the film is trying to take the emotional experience approach and have us feel what Shinji is feeling as he experiences the on-going chaos that surrounds him.  But even then, it’s still not done very well.  If done right, you can get easily invested and have a full understanding of what’s going on.  Films like Mad Max: Fury Road had this idea in mind, and it works very well by giving us subtle introductions to the main characters while throwing the audience headfirst into the action.  I’ll even admit that Spirited Away does this perfectly.  But Evangelion 3.33 throws us into the action, but doesn’t allow for any time to introduce us to the charcters or explain what’s going on.  In fact, we get to see so many new characters but only get a proper introduction to one of them.  Not only that, but there are so many plot points that get left unanswered.  How did WILLE start and how were they able to recruit members?  Are they fighting just Nerv or are they fighting other Angels?  Could they possibly be fighting Seele?  Who’s responsible for those robots they keep killing?  What are those things anyway?  Are they purely robots, or are they part Angel?  Oh, and let’s not forget the one question that has wracked my brain since seeing this movie:  what exactly is “the curse of the Evas?”  For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, this is the answer that Shinji and the audience gets when it’s asked why he and Asuka still look like they’re fifiteen even though fourteen years have passed.   It’s a bull crap plot point that gets no explanation but that.  There’s so much more that I could say about this, but I’ll end this point with this: I said in my review on re:Zero that the first episode should be entertaining and give us an idea of what will happen.  Well, let’s just say this same logic can apply to films to, and 3.33 failed at it miserably.

4.The Non-Cannon angels

I don’t know who oversaw the character design for these Angels, but something tells me they didn’t watch the original series… at all.  Getting to the point, the angels that weren’t cannon to the original series were stupid!  And that’s both in design and abilities!  For a show that’s known for it’s big scary monsters, these were just lazy.  With the vast library of Angels from the original series, why couldn’t the animators pull from some of these?  There were so many Angels from the series that were a threat to Nerv but still looked cool while causing mass mayhem.  What about Matarael, the eyeball spider looking Angel that cried acidic tears?  Or Israfel, the Angel that when split in half creates two clones that are in perfect sync?  Or my personal favorite, Leliel, an Angel who looks like a giant psychedelic orb at first glance but’s real body is in fact its shadow? And though it’s not to say that some of the angels in the series were just as lazy and forgettable (Gaghiel the fish Angel and Arael the space snot, anyone?), but at least those that were still had some ounce of uniqueness and originality that still made them interesting to look at.  Here, we get some long necked Angel that can use it’s body like a helicopter and that one that looks like the bird dipper thing your grandmother keeps in her kitchen with these random ice and warp gate abilities.  Yeah, for a show known for its Angels, were laughable insults.  Seriously, the other Angels are laughing at these guys!  Nothing else I can really say here.

3.Asuka

Much like I did in my review on 2.22 last week, I’m going to get straight to the point here, ASUKA IS THE WORST CHARACTER IN EVANGELION!!!  Granted, if you’ve read my blog at all, I have voiced my obvious hate for her.  But that’s not why she’s on this list.  In both the series and the films, she’s cocky, hot-headed, and violent.  But compared to the series, Asuka is ten times worse in the films!  To give you an idea of what all she does in the films, here’s an abbreviated list:

1.      When meeting Shinji for the first time, she knocks him to the ground and taunts him for being a wimp

2.      She moves into Misato’s apartment with two moving truck’s worth of stuff, moving Shinji’s belongings out of his room, and taunts him about how he’s being replaced by her.

3.      She attacks other students for no apparent reason

4.      She continually gripes about Japanese customs and behaviors and makes zero efforts to try and understand any of it

5.      And finally, she continually picks on Rei simply because she’s “the teacher’s pet.”

Reading this list, you’re probably thinking that this wasn’t any different than what she did in the series.  But here’s the thing: in the series, we know why she does these things.  A very crucial detail that we get in the last few episodes of the series is that she witnessed her mother’s suicide as a child and has since then dedicated herself to being an Eva pilot to become stronger.  As a result, we realize that Asuka is probably just as insecure as Shinji is.  While I still believe this doesn’t make her all that relatable, we understand why she acts like such a stuck-up brat.  In the films, none of this is revealed or even hinted.  Therefore, we get the impression that she acts like a butthole just because she can.  And that, believe or not, is one of the biggest insults to this character!  There where we see this insecure side of hers and she does in fact calm down towards the end of the second movie, but we never learn what causes that insecurity.  It makes her look worse than she already does and leaves no room to sympathize with her.  In fact, there’s a scene in the second movie that I was actually looking forward to her having her cocky butt handed to her.  To keep myself from ranting any more than I already have, I’ll end this point by saying this:  if you have a character that has the temperament of a rabid badger in heat, then they’re the farthest thing from a sympathetic and likeable character.  Definitely not “best girl” in my book!

2.Mari

If I could summarize Mari in a few short words, it’d be this: wasted character of Evangelion Rebuild.  Now I know what you’re thinking, but let me ask you guys this, have you noticed that by the third film in Rebuild we still know very little about Mari?  Yeah, think about it.  We know that she was a test pilot for Eva Unit 5.  We know that she took down the third Angel and was responsible for destroying the Chinese Nerv base in the process.  We also know that she is the only one who knows how to activate the beast mode in Eva Unit 2.  Other than that, all we know is that she’s a lazy creeper with no sense of personal space.  Yeah, despite what knowledge she possesses about the Evas, she really doesn’t get that much development.    Heck, she’s on the cover to the Evangelion 2.22 DVD!  You’d think if a character was so important she warranted being on the English DVD that she’d actually be fleshed out in the film!  We know almost nothing about this character like who she really is or where she’s from or what her motivations are and the films do nothing to expand on her.  I will give her some credit that she’s not terrible like Asuka is, but I really think the films missed out on this character here.  I’m really hoping that we learn more about her in the fourth and final film cause as it stands, she’s no better than Kaworu was in the series.

1.The Fight with Eva Unit 3 (the Ninth Angel)

This scene from Evangelion 2.22 takes the number one spot here for a couple of reasons.  Many people who saw this fight scene in the movie thought it was dark and disturbing.  Well, I’m glad you guys thought that because honestly, I thought this scene was stupid and cringe-inducing, especially when compared to the same scene in the original series.  Before I go any further, watch the two videos below.  The first is from 2.22, and the second is the same fight scene but from the series.

 Shinji VS. Eva Unit 3 (Evangelion 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance)

Shinji VS. Eva Unit 4 (Neon Genesis Evangelion [original series])

If you watched both videos, then you probably saw that there were some obvious differences.  So now to better explain why I thought the scene from 2.22 was so awful, I’m going to break it down by key differences.

First, let’s start with the fact that in the movie, Shinji is fighting Asuka.  Remember what I said earlier about there being a scene that I was actually looking forward to Asuka getting her butt kicked?  Yeah, this was that scene.  As I stated before, Asuka acts like a she-demon the entire movie and we never learn about the awful past that Asuka suffered from, so there’s no real reason to feel any sympathy for her when she enters the fight.  In fact, she brags about how great an Eva pilot she is that you almost expect her to find a way out of this situation.  It turns her into this damsel in distress when it’s in fact very contradictory to what we already know her to be.  On top of that, Shinji actually knew it was her in the cockpit, which takes away a lot of the drama and suspense.  Now let’s look at the series.  Though it’s not mentioned in the above video, it was Toji who was the pilot instead of Asuka.  Remember him?  Shinji’s actual friend?  What’s more, we get an idea two episodes before the fight that Toji is involved somehow, so we get this suspenseful build up leading to the ultimate dramatic payoff when we realize Shinji has to take down his in-experienced friend in an out of control Eva.  And to add even more drama, Shinji doesn’t even know Toji’s the pilot; it’s not until the end of the episode that he finds out he just gravely wounded one of his closest friends!  So, in comparing these two scenes, the changing of the pilots really hurts the scene from 2.22 because there’s not that much dramatic payoff.  Besides that, the second, and probably most offensive reason why this scene is terrible is the music choice.

I don’t know who picked the music for this scene, but I think they were too obsessed with trying to make a point rather than picking good music that fits the scene.  In the series, the music was big and dramatic, as it should be given it’s set to a big and dramatic scene.  In 2.22, we get a children’s choir singing a song about making new friends accompanied by an acoustic guitar…that’s not disturbing, that’s just confusing.  I will give the film some credit that it’s trying to create this juxtaposition between the fact that Shinji and Asuka are technically supposed to be friends and Shinji is literally tearing her to shreds.  But honestly unless you either understood Japanese and could listen to the lyrics or actually had the English lyrics on screen to read them aloud, it’s hard to pick up on.  In other words, the film tried to use irony to make the scene disturbing, but it tried way too hard and instead created a gigantic mess. 

This kind of contrast between music and scene is nothing new.  It can and has been done in anime and western TV and movies to great effect.  But here this scene is so raw and intense that what Evangelion 2.22 tries to do doesn’t work.  You would have to either go all out like the series and be big and dramatic or hold off on the audio from the fight or cut it completely and just have soft dramatic music playing as the fight reaches it’s bloody conclusion.  Trying to combine the elements makes it very overwhelming, confusing, and even uncomfortable.  To give an analogy of what this scene is like, imagine if your friend jumped off a two-story building and unto a trampoline but jumped so high off the trampoline that they face-planted in the ground, leaving you to only cringe and say, “that was bad.”  That’s pretty much this scene; it tried to pull a stunt that should have looked cool, but instead did more damage to itself than anything else.

I know that this was a long explanation, but like I said, there were a couple of reasons why it was so bad.  And it just goes to show you why the fight scene between Shinji and Eva Unit 3 in Evangelion 2.22 was by far the number one moment that Evangelion Rebuild got wrong.

Well, that took a little longer than I thought, but thanks for sticking around for today’s post!  That wraps up part two of This is (Not) an Evangelion Event Talkative Thursday!  Stay tuned for this Sunday when I review the third and currently last film of the Rebuild series, Evangelion 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo!

-Hanime on Anime