yeah more elaborated thoughts on the ending of 3.0+1.0. spoilers obviously
ok so EOE is heavily pessimistic w,ith a slight aspect of hope when examined closely. a traumatized 14 year old who has had what little was good in his life taken away and all his fears validated is put in control of the apocalypse, so OF COURSE he decides to take the easy route and create a world without individual humans to hurt each other (since thats the main option on the table). thats entirely natural and understandable. and by the time he comes around to rejecting this, its partially too late, and we’re left with a desolate world, but with the hope that people can reform and a potential for a future. he suffers tremendous consequences for what isnt so much a personal failing as like, pretty much inevitable. and i dont really like analyses that treat it as like Punishment For Shinji's Sins bc even if maybe its meant that way, this is still a situation where him and the other kids are victims. but i feel like the consequences are IMPORTANT like it shows that he has accepted the potential for pain and is willing to face it.
eva 3.0+1.0 is almost the exact opposite, where shinji knows exactly what to do, manages to make peace with everyone in his life, and create a better world. which like, if you take the og series and rebuilds as one set of media Maybe works, but on its own is a little hollow too. and definitely feels like a sudden and unlikely transition from how despondent shinjj is at the beginning with no real concrete impetus for change
i mean idk since they DID confirm timeloops i think it might be implied shinji was aware of the previous timelines and that informed his decisions? but its never really shown. idk i think id rather see some key transitional moment(s) that prepare shinji to make peace with everyone, bc as it stands its just a couple things with not-rei (and then hes weirdly unaffected by her death) and him hallucinating kaworu once and then hes suddenly like. hes good. hes fine. i mean i dont want an extra hour of him being despondent but it wuould have been nice to have a lot more buildup to him being willing to reject instrumentality/make peace with everyone.
but also i feel like a more balanced ending thats STILL very optimistic would be that hes able to reverse the destruction to the world but not reset it altogether. like its still the post apocalyptic post 3rd impact world you see at the beginning, but its no longer coreified, life can grow again. that way there ARE consequences and shinji has to live in this world he (unwittingly) created, but its one where people can live and 'rebuild' (lol) where theres a hope for the future and day to day happiness, even if its not an idealistic certainty
bc this ending feels a little weird underneath the superficial happiness like... what happened to that village and its ppl? the baby and etc? are they just gone? even if they were like, transferred to the new world, it kinda feels like everything they built was kinda for nothing.
i mean like THE core theme of evangelion is facing things instead of running away, and like on one hand shinji very much does face things (literally finding resolution in every one of his relationships, which is the emotional core of the show) but hes still kinda "running away" in a sense.... but then on the other end, its very directly a 'return to the real world' and a conclusion to the meta arc of shinji as kind of representing the audience a little, not to mention anno lol. i honestly just dont know how to feel about it. still liked it tho
