9 years and 3 postponements later, the fourth and final Rebuild movie, 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time, premieres March 8th, 2021.
This post contains a plot synopsis, c*mr*ps, terms/definitions, and booklet scans, available under the read more until the raws are subtitled in English or the movie becomes available for legal streaming (whatever comes first). Afterwhich, I’ll tag 3+1 posts with “#3+1 spoilers” in case anyone wants to hold out even longer.
I also have a locked twitter account for spoilers. Request at your own peril! You can also follow my main (spoiler-free) account at qritsuko.
As demonstrated in AVANT (first 10 minutes of the movie), WILLE can restore FAR-infected areas to their pre-Impact state using “Angel Sealing Pillars” that de-core-ifies the red Earth and creates habitable lands for surviving Lilin.
Shinji, Asuka, and QRei wander until they are picked up by a truck, transporting them to a nearby Lilin settlement.
Toji is a village doctor and father of a young child named Tsubama (with Hikari, who is also alive).
Kensuke is also there. He’s an avid survivalist and works for a smaller sub-organization within WILLE called KREDIT, developing and refining the re-vitalization tech used for Angel Sealing Pillars.
Shinji stays with Kensuke and Asuka. Asuka wanders around naked and has a few suspiciously intimate moments with Kensuke, who she refers to as Ken-Ken.
Shinji is nearly catatonic. He refuses to eat or engage, still shaken by what happened with Kaworu. At one point, he gets a glimpse of Asuka’s DSS Choker and vomits, having been reminded of Kaworu’s head exploding. Kensuke cleans up the vomit.
Asuka marvels how he can manage to throw up without eating anything. Frustrated, Asuka and other villagers try to forcefeed him meals. Village elders scold Shinji for not trying hard enough. Hikari implores that the elders go easier on him.
Meanwhile, QRei is exploring the settlement. She learns greetings (hello, good morning), what emotions are (happiness, gratitude), and how to say thank you.
She asks Toji why Tsubama is small - clearly having never seen a baby and generally having zero idea of what reproduction entails. She watches Hikari breastfeed; Hikari has to explain how babies eat.
A village grandma (obaa-san) wants to give QRei a name. Later, QRei asks Shinji to give her a name. Shinji insists on calling her “Ayanami Rei.”
QRei refuses to take off her plugsuit (or never thinks to). She tries to enter a public bath with her plugsuit on, tries to plant rice and pick vegetables with it on, etc.
Meanwhile, Shinji is slowly recovering from his initial shock. Asuka is protecting the village perimeter.
Kensuke teaches Shinji how to fish, elaborating more on the Angel Sealing Pillars. According to Kensuke, ASPs do not run indefinitely. Their failure will mean the end of the Lilin settlement and its inhabitants.
Here, he introduces Shinji to “Ryoji Kaji” - Misato and Kaji’s 14 year old son, who works with Kensuke on KREDIT.
Ryoji wears a light blue/white radiation suit. Here, it’s explained that Kaji died during 3rd Impact by closing the Door of Guf, while Misato was pregnant with Ryoji. Presumably, the Door of Guf can only be opened and closed with a Key of Nebuchandezzer, so Kaji could have procured two Keys from SEELE, one that he gave to Gendo, and one that he kept for himself.
Ryoji has no clue who his parents are - allegedly thinks of himself as orphaned (parallels with Kaji’s own childhood post-Second Impact). Misato had abandoned him shortly after he was born.
Turns out, Rei has an LCL deficiency in need of constant maintenance. Her body deteriorates the longer she remains outside her tank. With Tsubama near, Rei starts crying as the realization dawns on her. She has no idea how to process her death and doesn’t understand why it makes her so sad.
Before she dies, Rei finds Shinji and gives him the SDAT. She thanks him. Her plugsuit changes color from black to white and she explodes in a pop of LCL.
Shinji decides to return to WILLE and help Misato restore the world back to its pre-Impact state.
WILLE does not react to Shinji well. They quarantine him again, though this time without a DSS Choker. Asuka and Mari visit him in his quarantine cell.
Mari re-introduces herself to Shinji. Asuka admits to Shinji that she’d “liked him a long time ago” when she was still a child. Asuka is relieved to be long past those childish feelings, and happier still she had the opportunity to get them off her chest.
Gendo starts to make use of Eva 13. The Wunder embarks to destroy him and 13. Here, a battle ignites between a skull-Eva army and Units 02 and 08, repaired with the spare parts WILLE salvaged from Paris in AVANT.
Asuka attempts to destroy Unit 13′s core, first by removing her eyepatch to unleash an energy bolt from her Bardiel-corrupted eyesocket.
When that doesn’t work, she goes beast mode, only for Unit 13 to destroy her after she injects Angel blood into 02 for an emergency upgrade. Asuka dies.
Gendo plans to physically merge into an ascended version of Unit 13. Misato and the rest of the Wunder crew confront him.
Ritsuko comes up from behind and shoots Gendo in the face. The bullet cracks his visor. Ritsuko gets two more rounds into him until he collapses.
Gendo picks up his brain matter from the floor and stuffs it back into his skull. He has no eyes behind his visor. Clearly, he is no longer human, but part cyborg. His body is enveloped in Angel light.
Gendo successfully merges with 13, ready to start the final Impact. Shinji demands that Misato let him pilot Unit-01.
Misato agrees; the time has come for Shinji to face off against his father in Unit-01. However, Sakura and Midori are vehemently opposed to the idea.
Sakura, terrified and panicked, tries to shoot Shinji. Misato intervenes and takes a bullet for him (just like in EOE).
As Shinji rushes to Misato’s aid, they have a heart to heart. Shinji tells Misato he met her son, Ryoji, and liked him. Shinji hands Misato a photo of Shinji and Ryoji smiling together that Kensuke had taken moments before. Misato smiles, relieved.
Mari retrieves Shinji and transports him to Unit 01. Inside 01, sits Rei II with long hair. Shinji goes berserk.
Shinji and Gendo duke it out in Units 01 and 13. Shinji is positioned as someone capable of growth, someone who can move on from the past, versus Gendo, who is escapist, stagnant, trapped in old memories.
Shinji resolves to create a new world without Evas. During their fight, Shinji and Gendo’s memories cycle through, pulling in random scenes from their pasts: Shinji’s middle school, Sachiel stage, inside Misato’s apartment, etc.
WILLE is baffled how Shinji can pilot despite his synch ratio reading “zero” - until Maya and Ritsuko realize “zero” actually represents the number closest to zero; that is, infinity.
At one point, Gendo and Shinji stop fighting and the setting transforms to reveal a train, where they both confront each other. Gendo’s backstory is explored: he was alone and didn’t care about people, until he met Yui, who made him feel for the first time. When she died, he decided he’d do anything to get her back again.
Shinji gets right up in Gendo’s face and pops his AT Field. Gendo protests, incredulous and resisting. We see a flashback of Gendo sending Shinji away.
Shinji gives Gendo the SDAT through the AT Field. Gendo, defeated, departs the train.
Shinji turns around to see Kaworu on the train. Then, we’re treated to some of Kaworu’s old memories: including a flashback he has with Kaji.
Kaji calls Kaworu “Commander Nagisa”, implying that Kaji worked under Kaworu before WILLE was conceived. Kaworu calls Kaji “Ryo-chan” and insists Kaji call him “Kaworu.” Kaji says: “Not yet.”
Kaji and Kaworu talk about happiness. Kaji tells Kaworu Kaworu’s love for Shinji was more about making himself happy than Shinji happy. Kaji advices that Kaworu focus on his own happiness, rather than trying to make Shinji happy. Kaworu agrees.
Shinji gives his input, reflecting that Kaworu reminded him of his father, Gendo.
The scene warps into a movie studio, where Eva costumes, Tsubama-themes potato sacks, and ship miniatures decorate the shelves.
Shinji and Rei brainstorm how the new, Eva-less world will look like. Shinji says, in English, the new world will be a “Neon Genesis.”
Rebuild is set up as a sequel/loop of the original TV series. Kaworu is the same character in every Evangelion story: when he dies in one universe he gets brought back in another.
Shinji remembers the original anime inside Unit 01, which contains both the Lance of Longinus and Lance of Cassius (the lances of hope and despair, together).
Shinji attempts to impale himself as we get flashbacks from End of Evangelion. Giant Rei returns in hyperrealistic/fantastical CGI.
Misato sacrifies herself and the Wunder by colliding the ship into GNR’s giant head. Before she dies, she says “I’m sorry, Ryoji” - a parallel played straight with Gendo in EOE.
Yui blocks Shinji before he can impale himself with the Spears. Two sets of arms wrap around 01, including Eva 13 (Gendo).
Gendo and Yui reunite, smiling fondly at their son.
Shinji gets transported into the sea of LCL from End of Evangelion. Asuka is there, her plugsuit in tatters. Shinji tells Asuka that he once liked her, but now she needs to take care of Kensuke.
Asuka has an Instrumentality sequence where she confronts a giant, human-sized doll as a child. The doll removes its head to reveal Kensuke, who affirms her existence.
Final Impact commences. Shinji says “Goodbye, all of Evangelion.” Unlike EOE Impact where everyone explodes into puddles of LCL, everyone, already having exploded, regains their forms through self-discovery.
Evangelions turn into humans. Humans become men, women, children, animals, and nature.
Shinji is alone on a quiet, blue beach. Mari’s Evangelion appears and says, “Goodbye Evangelion 3.0+1.0.”
We’re treated to another train station. Adult Shinji, wearing a business suit, waits on one side of the tracks. Adult Rei and Kaworu are on the other side.
Adult Mari comes up from behind Shinji and goes “Guess who?”
Shinji replies: “a woman with a big chest.” Mari asks him if he’s “ready to go” and Shinji responds with an affirmative. Then, the shot pulls back to reveal a shot of live action Ube, Japan - Hideaki Anno’s hometown.
Fuyutsuki calls Mari “Mary Iscariot.”
Mari was classmates with Gendo and Yui.
Kaji planned on preserving the seeds of all Earth lifeforms that he stored inside the Wunder’s storage silo (as shown in the trailers.) These “seeds” would eventually be launched into space towards Lagrange 5 before Final Impact commences. A literal Noah’s Ark.
C*MR*PS (behind a locked account):
Some available at this link
Rei deteriorating + Toji and Shinji
Asuka & Shinji on the beach
Shinji & Mari during Instrumentality
Asuka and Shinji quarantine conversation
Mari and Shinji in quarantine
Misato staring at photograph
相補性L結界浄化無効阻止装置: Angel Sealing Pillars that de-corerifies the red earth, creating habitable lands for the survived Lilin. According to Kensuke, these do not run indefinitely. Their failure will mean the end of the Lilin settlement and its inhabitants.
ハイカイ: Wandering FoIs outside of Lilin settlement. Recently they seem to be walking towards the same direction, later revealed to be the Antarctica.
無人式全自動型の方舟: Kaji’s plan of preserving the seeds of all life forms on Earth, stored inside the Wunder’s storage silo shown in the trailers. These will be eventually launched into space towards Lagrange 5 before the Final Impact commences. A literal Noah’s Ark.
アドバンスド・アヤナミシリーズ：Advanced Ayanami-Series. Fuyutsuki comments that these abominations are free of sin and are results of men’s arrogant quest for Godhood/immortality.
アヤナミタイプ・ナンバー6：Ayanami Type No.6, NERV’s internal name for Rei Q.
停止信号プラグ：Stop Signal Plug. Unit 02 tried to stab Unit13’s core with this plug but she ultimately failed and fell into Gendo’s trap.
ヤマト作戦：Operation Yamato, WILLE’s operation to stop Final Impact.
L結界境界面：L-Barrier Boundary, a hexagon-shaped surface above the remains of 2nd Impact. 5 Black crosses can be seen.
NHG Erlosung (NHG-***2), NHG Erbsunde(NHG-***3), NHG Gebet(NHG-***4): “Dark Wunders” still under NERV’s control, paired with Eva Mk.10 to 12.
AAA Wunder (former NHG Buße): WILLE stole this Wunder from NERV when it was still under construction; originally paired with Eva Mk.9.
エヴァインフィニティ: Eva Infinity, the white headless Evas from the trailers. Transformed souls of people and animals.
EVANGELION Mark.07: The yellow-ish Evas with Eva-sized skull heads and halos. Swarms of these tried to stop 02 and 08 from descending into NERV’s pyramid.
地獄の門: Gates of Hell that leads to negative space. Misato’s father theorized that an ancient relic (Golgotha Object) and an imaginary Eva (Evangelion Imaginary) still resides behind this Gate.
光の翼：Wings of Light; emitted by the 3 dark Wunders that guard the Gates of Hell. The AAA Wunder also emits this wing when invaded my Mk.9. These wings look somewhat similar to the NGE 2nd Impact Wings.
アナザー・インパクト：Another Impact. Ritsuko notices that by turning the Black Moon into a X-Shaped spear, Gendo obtains more spears than needed to commence Final Impact. Later revealed this is Gendo’s own Impact so that he could, in his words, re-form Yui. (ユイを再形成する)
裏CODE999: Hidden, or Reverse CODE 999. This command injects Unit 02 with an Angel Blood substance and transforms 02 into a Radiant Giant. Mari and Ritsuko note Asuka is using the power of the 9th Angel.
エンジェルブラッド：Angel Blood, the substance that grants Unit-01 Angel-like powers Unit 02.
シキナミタイプ：Shikinami Type, a series of clones meant to become the 2nd Children. Only one clone survived these cruel trials: Asuka Shikinami.
ネブカドネザルの鍵：Key of Nebuchadnezzar. Gendo stabbed himself with the Key and turned himself into a Angel-like being with a physical AT Field and eye laser. Superficially he looks human, but upon removing the visor reveals a gaping void with a golden cross.
人類の神化と補完：Ascension (or Apotheosis) and Instrumentality of Humankind. SEELE’s plan of transforming all lifeforms into Angel-like beings. Dead Sea Scrolls fortell that humankind either be destroyed by the Angels or transform into them.
生命のコモディティ化：Commodification of Life, the natural result of Apotheosis.
海の浄化: Purification of the Sea, 2nd Impact’s goal was to remove all life from the seas.
大地の浄化: Purification of the Land. 3rd Impact’s goal of the 3rd Impact was to destroy all life on Land.
魂の浄化: Purification of the Soul, the goal of the 4th and Final Impact, to converge all souls on Earth and give birth to a new, Angel-like species.
マイナス宇宙：Negative Space, the world beyond the Gate of Hell. Only Adam (Unit 13), or those that have consumed a vessel of Adams (Unit 08) may enter this realm.
オーバーラッピング：Overlapping. Following the overhaul from Paris, Unit 08 can consume Adams’ Vessels and subsequently gain its power. After consuming all 4 Vessels, Unit 08 gains 4 halos on its back and destoys all dark Wunders with eye beams.
量子テレポート：Quantum Teleportation, Unit 13 abuses the twisted laws of physics inside the Negative Universe and teleports itself (and Unit01) every second so that Unit 08 cannot get a lock-on.
ゴルゴタオブジェクト：Golgotha Object (Inside Negative Universe), a black, cross shaped object said by Gendo to be a leftover relic from the Ancients. Visually similar to the cross-like object poking out of the Gate of Guf in Q. Has Angel Sealing Alphabet (Ancient Language) written all over it. This is the place where the world can be reshaped to its master’s will.
アディショナルインパクト：Additional Impact, where Gendo uses the black X-shaped spear transformed from the Black Moon to penetrate the Evangelion Imaginary’s chest and grants himself the ability to shape the world to his whim. This is how he plans to meet with Yui again.
エヴァンゲリオンイマジンナリー：Evangelion Imaginary, the Evangelion that is both fictional and un-real (虚構).
反動推進型エンジン：Reaction Propulsion Engines. Realizing that the AAA Wunder also holds the power to kill God, Misato realizes that another spear can be made from AAA Wunder’s Spinal Cords with the will of humans.
希望の槍カシウスと絶望の槍ロンギヌス：Cassius, the Spear of Hope & Longinus, the Spear of Despair.
ガイウスの槍：Spear of Gaius, the spear formed from the spinal cords of Wunder and Misato’s will to protect her children (Shinji and Ryouji), a sign that human no longer need help from Gods.
生命の書：The Book of Life. Kaworu writes Shinji’s name unto it so that they will meet time after time. Kaworu is stuck in a infinite loop where he cannot give Shinji the happiness he truly yearns for.
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