Official Synopsis : This final movie version was created as an alternative ending to the NEON GENESIS EVANGELION TV series, remaking the final two episodes from the series. SEELE plans an attack on NERV after failing to create a man-made Third Impact. After reaffirming both her own and her mother’s existence in a state of despair, Asuka returns and begins the counterattack. However, new enemies descend from the heavens. Meanwhile, Shinji witnesses the horrifying wreckage of Asuka’s EVA-02 while piloting EVA-01. Mass production models surround EVA-01 and perform a solemn ceremony.
What does it mean to complete a human heart?
With its distinctive mixture of religious mysticism, psychoanalytic theory and awkward teenagers piloting giant robots, the anime TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion was a cultural sensation on its initial broadcast in 1995. However, the original series ending caused a rupture within its passionate fanbase. Two years later, creator Hideaki Anno returned to retell the ‘true’, definitive ending on the big screen.
The result was THE END OF EVANGELION, a bold, challenging and confrontational feature that delivered cinematic spectacle while also digging deeper than ever before into the series’ psychological and emotional bedrock. It also pulled back the curtain, breaking the fourth wall to reveal the trials of those behind the scenes – most specifically Anno himself, who used the film to explore his relationship with otaku fandom and his struggles with depression.
THE END OF EVANGELION was a huge commercial and critical hit in Japan in 1997, and its reputation has only grown over the years. Now, it is regarded as one of the masterpieces of animation, one that is as avant-garde as it is arresting – and one that deserves to be seen big and loud in the cinema.
A word to the wise: this feature is essentially a retelling of the final two episodes of a 26-episode anime series. While it has many qualities that can be experienced out of context, it is not recommended as a starting point if you haven’t yet seen the original run of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Ghibliotheque presents is a monthly screening series at the Prince Charles that showcases the best of Japanese animation. Each screening is picked and introduced by Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham, co-hosts of the animation podcast Ghibliotheque and co-authors of the Ghibliotheque Anime Movie Guide, which charts a path through the wildly creative and influential anime industry with 30 standout feature films, from Akira to Your Name.
Please Note : We're screening the official Japanese subtitled version.