Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time (シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版:&#x7C;&#x7C;) is the fourth and final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series. It was originally to be released alongside 3.0 as a double feature, but later it was decided to be released separately. The musical symbol title could either mean "End Repeat", or simply "End" if the colon is part of the title. The movie is written by Hideaki Anno and directed by Hideaki Anno, Katsuichi Nakayama, Kazuya Tsurumaki and Mahiro Maeda.

Delays and Eventual Release
It was previously slated for fall or winter of 2015. The film has been delayed most recently by the absence of Hideaki Anno while he was working on Toho's Shin Godzila (Shin Gojira)

In September 2014, the title card of the film was updated on the official film site, the new title is "Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0".



In an interview posted on YouTube from June 2017, Hideaki Anno stated that the film would be released between March and April of 2018.

At the end of July 2017, a new teaser poster (featured on the left) was posted on the official Evangelion website saying that the movie was in production by studio Khara.

On August 6, 2017, pictures of a new Eva-02 form illustrated by Hideaki Anno from the annual lantern festival surfaced as a teaser for the movie, much like for the.

On July 24, 2018, a teaser was shown before the screening of Hosoda's new movie, "Mirai no Mirai". This teaser revealed that 3.0+1.0 is to be released in 2020.

On March 20, 2019, Studio Khara revealed on Twitter that dialogue recording had begun for the film, showing a picture of Hideaki Anno's script.

On June 24, 2019, Toei announced that the first 10 minutes of the film would be shown at Japan Expo in Paris, Anime Expo in Los Angeles, in Shanghai, and in various locations across Japan on July 6. The showings will be screened simultaneously to Japan, Los Angeles, and Shanghai live from Paris. In Paris, the showing will take place at Anime Expo's Yoko Takahashi x Evangelion Stage presentation. In Japan, the showings will take place in two Tokyo locations, Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Hakata. In Shanghai, the showing will take place in Jingán District after a screening of Evangelion 3.0. Similarly to Shanghai, Anime Expo in Los Angeles will have their showing after a screening of Evangelion 3.0. Additional information, including specific venue locations for Japan, will be revealed on the EVA-EXTRA app as part of the "Operation 0706" project the screenings are tied into.

On July 18, 2019, during showings of Makoto Shinkai's new film, "Weathering with You", a new preview for 3.0 + 1.0 was revealed announcing a June 2020 release. The preview was later posted officially online.

On April 17, 2020, it was announced that due to COVID-19, the movie release would be delayed. No new release date was revealed.

On October 16, 2020, it was revealed that the movie would be released in Japan theatres on January 23rd, 2021, alongside a new preview.

On December 25, 2020, a new preview featuring more scenes from the movie was released.

On January 14, 2021, it was announced that due to COVID-19, the movie release would be delayed again, including the soundtrack by Shiro Sagisu. No new release date was revealed.

On February 26, 2021, Khara announced a new release date, on March 8, 2021.

On June 07, 2021, Khara announced a new version of the movie with corrected cuts called "Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.01" to be released on On June 12, 2021. It also accompanied a prequel manga to the events of Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, called EVANGELION 3.0 (-120 min.).

Staff

 * Planning/Original/Screenplay: Hideaki Anno
 * General Drawing Director: Atsushi Nishigori
 * Drawing Director: Shuichi Iseki, Sejoon Kim, Naoyuki Asano, Masayoshi Tanaka, Kouichi Arai
 * Deputy director: Touko Yatabe, Daizen Komatsuda
 * Design Works: Ikuto Yamashita, Shigeto Koyama, Moyoco Anno, Takeshi Takakura, Takashi Watabe
 * CGI Art Director: Hiroyasu Kobayashi
 * CGI Director: Daisuke Onizuka
 * 3D Animation Director: Yusuke Matsui
 * 3D Modeling Director: Manabu Kobayashi
 * 3D Technical Director: Takashi Suzuki
 * 3D Look Dev Director: Masanori Iwasato
 * 2DCG Director: Kayoko Zama
 * Video Inspection: Yasuhito Murata
 * Color Design: Kazuko Kikuchi (Wish)
 * Art Director: Tatsuya Kushida (Director), Toru Fukushi (T2 studio)
 * Special Director: Toyonori Yamada
 * Editing: Emi Tsujida
 * Music: Shiro Sagisu
 * Sound Effect: Toru Noguchi
 * Recording: Makoto Sumiya
 * Dialogue Director: Yo Yamada (sound team Don Juan)
 * General Director Assistant: Ikki Todoroki
 * Production Supervising Producer: Takatoshi Okajima
 * Animation Producer: 川島正規
 * Set Production: Hayato Tanaka
 * Previs Production: Seiki Kawashima
 * Production: Khara inc.
 * Distribution: Toho Co., Ltd., Toei Company, LTD., Khara inc.
 * Advertising: Khara inc.
 * Production: Khara inc.
 * Executive Producer: Tomoyuki Ogata
 * Concept Art Director: Mahiro Maeda
 * Director: Kazuya Tsurumaki, Katsuichi Nakayama, Mahiro Maeda
 * General Director: Hideaki Anno

Evangelion 3.0 Preview
The preview at the end of Evangelion 3.0 shows the Evangelion Unit 8+2 (an Eva bearing half the helmet of Unit-02' and half the one of Unit-08) fighting against unknown enemies (looking like green versions of the Mark.06), near the fallen Black Moon. Eva-8+2 succeeds in cutting down several Evangelions with a weapon that resembles the Magorox Sword, as well as defeating some in hand-to-hand combat. The Evas appear to try to engage Eva 8+2 but do not attack in coordination or with much force, for unknown reasons.



The Evas are equipped with large assault rifles akin to those used in the original series, although these rifles appear to have progressive knives attached to them as crude bayonets. The unknown Evas are not shown to use these firearms, which makes it easier for Eva 8+2 to defeat them. A much larger group of unknown Evas is seen surrounding the fallen Black Moon, projecting several enormous A.T. Fields of unprecedented size.

Plot
The film begins with WILLE stopping in Paris, France, which much like the outskirts of former Tokyo-3 has been converted into core material. A team descends from the Wunder -- comprised of Ritsuko, Maya, three of Maya's male underlings, and Mari in Unit-08 β-ICC -- and lands on top of a mysterious black pillar. Ritsuko acts as a look-out while Maya and her men connect to the black pillar via laptop in order to resume the activation of an "Anti-L System" -- something a team of Europeans had previously died while attempting. Large numbers of a never-before-seen Eva type, Evangelion Mark.44A, appears in two waves, and Mari holds them off, assisted by helmsman Sumire_Nagara utilizing the Wunder's intricate "cable flight" capabilities. Once the first wave have been defeated, two more new enemy Eva types appear from a camouflaged cocoon: a Evangelion Mark.4444C appears with a positron cannon and the small army of generator-equipped Evangelion Mark.44B that supply power to it. Cable-suspended warships equipped with multiples Enchanted Shields of Virtue are used to block the first shot, but Mari must take drastic measures to prevent the cannon from going off a second time. With Nagara's assist, Unit-08 β-ICC]charges the Mark.4444C with the part of the fallen Eiffel Tower and, at the cost of Unit-08 legs, is able to twist the tower down the Mark.4444C's gun barrel, resulting in the destruction of both it and the rest of Mark.44B.

Maya and the others successfully activate the pillar, which was actually a giant version of the sealing pillars seen in the two previous films. A radius of effect is created that pushes back the core-conversion, restoring part of the city. A large collection of Euro NERV storage lockers emerges from underground, filled with Evangelion spare parts, munitions, and components of JA-02. Two more teams come down in warships, and we're told that Unit-02 will be repaired and Unit-08 will be modified for "Overlap" compatibility. Mari promises to come back for Shinji.

The opening credits play over a montage of the red Earth, showing locations that have been turned to core. Failures of Infinity litter the landscape with an anti-gravity effect causing objects around them to float. Shinji, Rei Ayanami (tentative name) and Asuka walk together across its surface, with Asuka using the device in her hand as a compass to find their way.

They eventually arrive at a living settlement that is being kept free of the coreification process. Shinji is catatonic and is starting to feel physically sick. At the Village 3, they encounter Tōji Suzuhara (Rebuild), Kensuke Aida (Rebuild) and Hikari Horaki (Rebuild), along with Hikari's father Bunzaemon Horaki. Toji and Hikari are married and have a child named Tsubame Suzuhara, with Toji as the settlement's doctor and Kensuke as a self-described "jack-of-all-trades" handyman who apparently is close friends and a father figure to Asuka. Let’s talk about Ken Ken. First, when I received the script, I noticed Kensuke was written into it. Even though he wasn’t called Ken Ken, there wasn’t that kind of connection in the previous film, Q. In the TV series, he was one of the “three idiots.” Asuka will give people nicknames like “baka Shinji” and the like. Asuka’s not a human and can’t live with the people in the third village so she freeloads off of Kensuke. Asuka was isolated, she couldn’t grow up, only her hair grew. Ken Ken is trying to take care of an isolated Asuka. Ken Ken took the place of Mr. Kaji. Try to think about this everyone. Ken Ken is such a good guy. Do you think such a good guy would try to advance a physical relation with a troubled 14-year-old girl? Asuka says to Shinji that she's already become an adult but that doesn't mean sexually. Asuka says “I am alone (in the film)”. Asuka was isolated. Ken Ken has been watching over Asuka. I think Ken Ken is like a father [to Asuka]. Asuka and Kensuke’s relationship is not a romantic one but rather a parental one. When Shinji said “I think I liked Asuka,” it means that at the time he liked Asuka, even though he never came back 14 years ago. '''To be honest, at the time of recording the last scene, Director Anno and Assistant Director Tsurumaki explained it. Director Anno told me that Asuka’s ending scene correlates to the idea that Ken Ken is like a father to child Asuka. Asuka really wants the father and mother that she's never had and Kenken could see this so his intention was to foster something like that.''' Personally, I really think that “Ken Ken’s not a bastard.” I'm not a fan of the "Ken Ken" scene. I personally strongly think "no way Ken Ken is acceptable [as Asuka's partner]" I think the Original Asuka is not Asuka Soryu. My performance instructions were “Please do Soryu and Shikinami differently” Asuka Soryu was not a clone. When adult Asuka says, “Baka Shinji,” it has a special meaning. Ken Ken doesn’t make a move on Asuka. Ken Ken would never make a move on 14-year-old Asuka. Ken Ken whose affection is deeper than the sea, stands by Asuka's side without laying a finger on her. [Imitating Asuka's voice]. Miyamura confirms Tsurumaki was in charge of everything Asuka-related, and asks fans to create new fanworks on pixiv for her to see. Yuko Miyamura, MIYAMURA YUKO Corp. - Fanicon March 20th 2021, around 37 minute mark.    Neither Toji nor Kensuke show Shinji any hatred over the Third Impact, and try to help him recover from his trauma. Leaving the shower naked, Shinji sees Asuka, and she expresses irritation at Shinji's inaction. Shinji realizes Asuka has a DSS Choker fitted on her as well, the sight of it causing Shinji to vomit due to remembering over Kaworu's death. Shikinami has no option but to force-feed him protein bars due to his refusal to eat. Asuka starts using a scarf around her neck to avoid triggering Shinji again. She keeps playing with her game console during those times, but leaves it behind when she goes to watch him. Toji and Hikari realize that Rei Ayanami (tentative name) is not the Rei Ayanami (Rebuild) they are familiar with and call her "lookalike". Rei begins to learn more about her world, expressing confusion over the existence of a pregnant cat, baby Tsubame, and greetings such as "good morning" and "good night". She eventually settles down into village life by going to school and learning to farm alongside the older ladies of the village. The village is being supported by an organization named Kredit, which works together with Wille to provide supplies.

Rei asks Shinji to help give her a proper name rather than "lookalike", but Shinji cannot decide for one. Kensuke takes a slowly recovering Shinji out on an infrastructure check and introduces him to "Ryoji Kaji", who is Misato's son with the original Ryoji Kaji/Gallery. The younger Kaji works at repairing the WILLE-built machines as part of the organization KREDIT, keeping the village free from being turned to core. Toji and Kensuke later talk to Shinji and explain the situation with the elder Kaji's death and Misato's current state. Meanwhile Shinji finally decides to call Rei "Ayanami", but she is revealed to require constant exposure to LCL to maintain her condition, and thanks Shinji for helping her find happiness before turning into LCL before his eyes. Shinji is shocked but Ayanami's experience is implied to help Shinji recover from his previous trauma.

AAA Wunder arrives to unload non-essential personnel. Kensuke and Toji ask Shinji to stay in the village, but Shinji decides to go aboard the Wunder with Asuka. Asuka allows it, but not before tasing him due to WILLE rules. When Shinji wakes up on board, Sakura slaps him, infuriated at him getting into Evangelion 13 in the previous movie, however, she cries, somewhat relieved he's ok. Shinji is placed in isolation and under surveillance again, and both Asuka and Sakura express puzzlement at his return after discovering Kaworu's demise from the DSS Choker operational records. The bridge crew discusses the ongoing situation. Mari greets Asuka, who expresses the sentiment that Shinji "needs a mother, not a girlfriend". Ritsuko and Misato discuss their intentions in a space aboard Wunder dedicated to preserving seeds of life for all species, which is mentioned to be the original purpose of the vessel. Ritsuko implies that although Misato has a stoic face, in truth she is happy to see Shinji again, and that hiding those feelings, will only cause heartbreak. Elsewhere, Fuyutsuki monologues about the Black Moon and Fourth Impact as well as Shinji and the fate of "Ayanami-Type 6", wondering if Gendo deliberately made Shinji experience the same loss as him.

Gendo and Fuyutsuki steer the Black Moon towards the epicenter of Second Impact, at NERV's former Calvary Base in Antarctica, intending to restart Evangelion 13. Misato and Ritsuko discover this and have completed a "signal suspension plug" to stop this event. Misato and the bridge crew reminisce about Kaji's death and their determination to fight NERV and restore the world to its original state. Mari and Asuka get their new plugsuits, and Mari reintroduces herself to Shinji. Asuka and Shinji talk and Shinji reveals that he understands Asuka's anger at his inaction in the previous movie. Asuka expresses her feelings for Shinji. She says she liked him at the time, but "grew up first" Mari and Asuka, satisfied, get into their Evangelions. A vision of Kaworu appears to Shinji saying that they will meet again, and Shinji agrees. AAA Wunder launches and heads towards Antarctica with the objective being the neutralization of Evangelion 13, in what Misato calls "Operation Yamato".

Near Antarctica, Wunder is attacked by three NERV ships of the NHG Erlösung, NHG Erbsünde and NHG Gebet all apparently under Fuyutsuki's control. The Wunder is also approached by a swarm of Evangelion Mark.07. During the battle, the Wunder resorts to using the guided-missile destroyers in its support fleet as giant guided missiles. Asuka and Mari sortie and battle their way through the swarm of NERV Evangelions. Asuka attacks Evangelion 13 with an anti-core weapon, but Evangelion 13 puts up an entirely unexpected A.T. Field. Wings of light appear from the remains of Calvary Base in a manner much like Second Impact, indicating an attempted Impact, not in SEELE's scenario. Asuka removes her eyepatch and removes a restraint within her eye that keeps the Ninth Angel under control, transforming into a new Ninth Angel and converting Unit-02 into a previously unseen radiant giant state. However, she plays into Gendo's plan in the process as Evangelion 13 awakens and destroys Unit-02 in much the same manner as Unit-01 destroyed Unit-03. During the process, Asuka is approached by "her original", revealing that she is a clone of the Shikinami series, and is absorbed by Evangelion 13. Wunder is taken over by a new Evangelion Mark.09-A, which Fuyutsuki is implied to have been responsible for.

Gendo is revealed to be in the uppermost NERV vessel restraining the Wunder, and Misato and Ritsuko confront him. Ritsuko shoots Gendo, however, her bullets are entirely ineffective. It is revealed that Gendo has used the Nebuchadnezzar's Key and has thrown away his humanity by adding "information that surpassed the logic of the world" to his body. Gendo monologues about the purpose of the impacts and about the Human Instrumentality Project and begins the process of entering Evangelion 13. Shinji turns to Misato and asks to enter Unit-01 to stop Gendo. Midori and Sakura are appalled at the prospect of Shinji entering the Evangelion again and shoots at him, but Misato blocks Sakura's bullet with her own body. Misato apologizes to Shinji, and thanks him for saving them all from destruction using Unit-01 fourteen years previously, and explains that as his superior, the responsibility for his actions was ultimately hers, and since Shinji is still her subordinate, she will take responsibility for his actions. Mari takes Unit-08 into an "overlapping" state where it merges with Evangelion Mark.09-A, Evangelion Mark.10, Evangelion Mark.11, and Evangelion Mark.12. Shinji summons Unit-01. The original Rei Ayanami appears to him inside, with her hair grown long. She apologizes to him for not being able to make it so that he wouldn't have to get into an Evangelion, but Shinji thanks her and says he will take care of the rest. Ritsuko and Maya are shocked to discover that Shinji has attained an impossible infinite synchro-rate with Unit-01.

Gendo and Shinji fight in a "minus space" where LCL gives shape to perception, entering a surreal fight where they clash in multiple different locations across space, time, and other Evangelion continuities. Gendo shows Shinji an "imaginary Evangelion", a Black Lilith predicted by the theories of Dr. Katsuragi. Misato prepares to turn the AAA Wunder into another Spear to hurl at a giant Red Rei. Mari uses her Evangelion combination to fight a new horde of NERV Evangelions. Misato sacrifices herself to hold back Gendo's "Additional Impact". Shinji meets Gendo and sees a vision of Gendo's past experiences and life, and how Yui's loss traumatized him. Shinji helps Gendo find closure, and similarly for Asuka, returning her feelings. At this point, it becomes increasingly surreal. Shinji talks to Kaworu and gives Kaworu the closure he seeks; Kaworu and the elder Kaji speak to each other and Kaworu, whom the elder Kaji calls "Commander Nagisa", agrees to go to the settlement where the younger Kaji farms. Shinji eventually settles upon a complete reset of the world, a "Neon Genesis", a world without Evangelions. Shinji returns all Evangelions and Failures of Infinity back into human and animal forms, restoring the world and turning it into a world without Evas.

In the final sequence, Asuka, Rei and Kaworu are seen on the platform of a train station, and an older Shinji is approached by Mari from behind. Mari is surprised by Shinji's confidence when he takes out her glasses, and an adult Shinji (voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki) and Mari head out into the world, and as Shinji lets go of Mari's hand, the sequence transitions into a live-action sequence of Anno's hometown, implying that all the Children have found closure in our reality.

Early development and delays
The film was announced alongside Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo for release in 2008 as the final part of the Rebuild series under the working title Evangelion: Final. After delays of the first three films, Evangelion: Final was expected for release in 2015. In 2014, director and producer Hideaki Anno announced that due to other commitments, the film would be further delayed to an unknown date. Following the troubled production of the third film, director and producer Hideaki Anno became depressed and stated publicly in 2015 that he could not work on another film. As part of his recovery, Anno had also worked on Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises under his mentor Hayao Miyazaki. Toho (which co-distributes the film in Japan with Toei) also approached Anno with an offer to direct a reboot of its Godzilla film series, Shin Godzilla, which also contributed to the delay on 3.0+1.0. Financial reasons also played a part. In 2014, Anno's Studio Khara loaned his former company Studio Gainax 100 million yen ($916,400). In 2016, Anno filed a claim for debt collection, fearing not only for the return of the money but also because of Gainax selling production materials to third parties, after a precedent of other sales of intellectual property without informing him. This was part of several legal issues surrounding Gainax and Evangelion.

Production on Evangelion resumed after the production of Shin Godzilla ended in late 2016. After a formal apology, animation director Takeshi Honda stated that the last film had resumed development. Studio Khara tweeted on April 5, 2017, that development was going smoothly. In May 2018, the studio put out a job listing for animation staff to work on 3DCG, VFX, and 2D animation starting on June 30, 2018. Animation was going through the final check by October 2, 2020. Dialogue recording wrapped on November 19, 2020. On December 16, 2020, Studio Khara announced that compositing and editing work had finished. In 2019 the film was scheduled for a June 27, 2020 release date but received two delays due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, first scheduled for a January 23, 2021 release, before being released on March 8, 2021.

Development
Anno was very reluctant to return to work on the film in 2016. In 2018, Anno had asked for the opinion of voice actors like Megumi Ogata (Shinji) on how to move the plot forward after 3.0. Anno felt he could no longer understand Shinji and by now his current self was closer to Gendo than Shinji, and needed Ogata's input on how Shinji could recover after the events of 3.0. Anno felt that at that point the only people who could understand Shinji's feelings were Ogata herself and his personal assistant, Ikki Todoroki. Anno himself had intended to go to Paris for Japan Expo 2019, but the film's continuing delays in production prevented him. Anno had often visited the film's music composer Shirō Sagisu, who lives half the year in Paris, and wished to pay homage to the city in the opening 10 minutes of the movie, entitled AVANT1 ("before" in French), seeking to surpass his earlier depiction in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. At the event, Ogata also recounted Anno had asked what ending she preferred "as Shinji". AVANT1+2, including a further 2 minutes of the opening sequence, was also streamed on Khara's YouTube channel and Japanese Amazon Prime Video for free for two weeks.

Dialogue for Parts A and B, set after AVANT, started recording in March 2019. As there were several changes to the plot, many voice actors had to come back and record lines again. In 2020, due to the pandemic restrictions, production slowed down further and recording was mostly done by the voice actors separately as many dozens of takes were necessary, and they organized themselves through a Line group. This created a bond between the cast that was unprecedented in previous productions. At the end of recording, Anno thanked the cast for their contributions. Yūko Miyamura, who played Asuka, was instructed to treat her character as completely separate from the series' Asuka Langley Soryu, and the last thing asked of her was to write the character's full name in cursive herself to be used in the movie. She had lived in Australia for the past two decades, but was still unsure of how to write "Langley". Miyamura expressed her surprise at Anno's behavior near the end of production, in contrast to his behavior during the making of End of Evangelion: "Anno-san is amazing. He has become an adult".

Anno sought to bring in new talent and people outside the usual Evangelion core crew, like Darling in the Franxx creator Atsushi Nishigori, a protégé of his, while other core staffers like chief editor Masayuki largely stepped down in order to allow new talents to gain more experience. In addition, the series' original character designer, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, has had diminishing involvement since 3.0, and the new character designs are mostly done by Hidenori Matsubara. Anno had long stated his wish to revitalize the anime industry, and saw the sponsorship of new creators as a prime way of achieving this, as well as the promotions of events backed by Studio Khara like the Japan Animator Expo. Director Mahiro Maeda recounted Anno wanted him to figure out specific details of the plot on his own when asked. Similarly to production in the series, Anno would take ideas from staffers but have the final word in plot decisions. Anno had also been an advocate of employing new and innovative animation technologies, combined with extensive use of motion capture and computer-generated imagery, and employed them in the film. Maeda and others noted nonetheless that Anno seemed to be directing the film more like a live action film than animation, including in the way he directed the voice actors, taking cues from theatre techniques, after his previous experience outside Evangelion, despite the staff's own limited experience, something he had previously attempted in Cutie Honey. He thought Anno "wanted to get out of here the most", but expressed his feelings in film sincerely.

Director Kazuya Tsurumaki details Anno wanted to try a new process for the film. Instead of first creating storyboards and then developing the animation based on them as is traditional, Anno proposed to first draw the animation cels and then draw the scenes from them. This technique was generally referred to by staff as "pre-visualization". He was once more inspired from the usual process in live action, where scenes are first shot from multiple angles and then stories are created and then selected during editing. The latter half of the film, however, progressively returned to the traditional anime style. Tsurumaki noted the original intention was that "the first 80%" of the Rebuild series would be a "compilation" of the original anime series, and the changes would only start with the last film, in keeping with earlier comments in 2006 by producer Toshimichi Ohtsuki regarding the intention that only the ending would be a major departure from the series, as staff felt End of Evangelion could not receive a sequel, and the Rebuild movies were not going to be "metaphysical" like the original anime, but rather "oriented towards entertainment". This eventually changed, and major changes started happening as early as Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. He also noted that the previously stated goal of "destroying Evangelion" through the character of Mari was entrusted to an external party. Anno would ask the opinion of many parts of staff, including those not involved in the actual film like office staff for their opinions on several nuances. Anno's wife Moyoco Anno provided early designs for some characters. Studio Ghibli also provided assistance to scenes set in the survivor's village. For the village itself, Khara had a box model custom-built to orientate the artists, and Anno personally adjusted it to the smallest details like individual house layout, road with and utility posts to make it as realistic as possible. Staff consulted with multiple professionals and conducted research like sky-diving for maximum accuracy.

A making-of documentary aired on Japanese broadcaster NHK in March 22, 2021, with the crew following production for 1214 days. BS Japan also broadcast an extended version of the documentary on April 29, 2021, totaling 100 minutes of runtime, featuring unused footage. Amazon Prime Video included the extended version of documentary in its international release of the film in August. When production started in 2016, Anno initially intended to not involve himself much in the film, wishing to delegate most of it to his directors, particularly Tsurumaki, generally considered Khara's second-in-command, but as the release date approached with mounting production problems he progressively took more control and took on more tasks directly, also driven by his perfectionism. Maeda was also not initially serving as a director, but was brought in the middle of production. Kim Morrisy of Anime News Network described it as tumultuous: "There were several occasions shown when he decided that the work he had done at the time was insufficient and would scrap it entirely. The [final] D part of the script was eventually completed in early 2019, at the latest possible stage it could have been done to meet the deadline."

In the documentary, Anno is depicted as frequently late or absent from the studio, or would often stay overnight adjusting individual scenes he was unsatisfied with. Part A had been rewritten multiple times, and at one point Anno was so lost on how to resolve the story lines he considered restarting it from scratch after nine months of work. Anno believed he wouldn't miss working on the franchise and said everything he needed to, feeling finishing his work remained a priority, even at the expense of his well-being. Anno told Ogata later at post-production that he'd indeed miss it. Hayao Miyazaki described Anno, as an apprentice of his, as "one who sheds blood for his films". Gainax co-founder Toshio Okada criticized the documentary as "sloppy" and "propaganda" trying to make Anno look better, claiming Anno's live-action approach in fact took inspiration from Hiroyuki Yamaga's work in Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise instead of being sui generis as the documentary implied, and Anno noted the crew was in fact not present during the highly intense production of Part D for several months, nor did it cover him thanking the staff at the end.

On March 28, 2021, the cast was fully reunited for the first time in 14 years and held a stage greeting, commenting on the film and their bond to the characters. On April 12, 2021, directors Anno, Tsurumaki and Maeda, as well as Ogata, held another stage greeting. On June 26, 2021, Anno held a live stream on singer Hikaru Utada's Instagram page, and debated the film. On June 27, 2021, another cast greeting was held. Mari's voice actress Maaya Sakamoto explained she had been absent from the previous events because she felt apprehensive over the details she knew about Mari's character that Anno told her, but refused to share them: "I will take secrets to my grave". A last stage greeting was held on July 11, 2021. Anno felt he had now done everything he could with anime, and accordingly Khara denied reports that he was working on a reboot of a popular animation series. He also noted he initially attempted a shorter two hour runtime, but had to extend it.

Future of the franchise
Anno had originally intended on making a new Evangelion story since 2000 and has intended to open-up the franchise in the future to new creators and turn Eva into a "new Gundam", using the Rebuilds as a foundation for this, but 3.0+1.0 is intended to be his final Evangelion work. The Animator Expo already featured two independent works based on the franchise: Evangelion – Another Impact and Neon Genesis IMPACTS, as well as until You come to me, a short film intended to showcase the talent of younger Khara animators, not as an official trailer. In an interview in August 2021, Anno stated other parts of the franchise and story might be revisited later. In Hikari Utada's live stream featuring Anno, he comments that "the New Eva isn't 100% what I want it to be." Additionally, the 3.0+1.01 re-release and the Evangelion 3.0 (-120 min.) prequel manga can already be seen as early examples of additions to the franchise with Anno's blessing and involvement, with the former started a mere month after the film's initial release at Anno's initiative. Popular interest also remains extremely high, as can be seen NHK's making-off documentary, EVANGELION: 3.333 Breakdown (under Anno's supervision), the high number of interviews and articles done in the 6 months between Japanese and international release, with more on the way.

Staff has also commented on doubts over this being the end of the story, see Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Assorted Translations. Please see List of Common Misconceptions for an extended explanation of this and Anno's projects, such as the scenario for the events in between Evangelion 2.0 and Evangelion 3.0.

Characters

 * Shinji Ikari (Rebuild)
 * Mari Makinami Illustrious
 * Rei Ayanami (Rebuild)
 * Asuka Shikinami Langley
 * Kaworu Nagisa (Rebuild)
 * Gendo Ikari (Rebuild)
 * Kōzō Fuyutsuki (Rebuild)
 * Yui Ikari (Rebuild)
 * Misato Katsuragi (Rebuild)
 * Ritsuko Akagi (Rebuild)
 * Tōji Suzuhara (Rebuild)
 * Kensuke Aida (Rebuild)
 * Hikari Horaki (Rebuild)
 * Shigeru Aoba (Rebuild)
 * Makoto Hyuga (Rebuild)
 * Koji Takao
 * Midori Kitakami
 * Sumire Nagara
 * Hideki Tama
 * Bunzaemon Horaki
 * Tsubame Suzuhara
 * Ryoji Kaji (Rebuild)
 * Boy

Evangelions

 * WILLE
 * Evangelion Unit-01 (Rebuild)
 * Evangelion Unit-08/Unit-08β
 * Evangelion Unit-08/Unit-08γ
 * Evangelion Unit-02 (Rebuild)/New Unit-02α


 * NERV (Rebuild)
 * Evangelion Mark.44A
 * Evangelion Mark.44B
 * Evangelion Mark.4444C
 * Evangelion Mark.07
 * Evangelion Mark.09-A
 * Evangelion Mark.10
 * Evangelion Mark.11
 * Evangelion Mark.12
 * Evangelion 13

Mechanics

 * AAA Wunder
 * NHG Erlösung
 * NHG Erbsünde
 * NHG Gebet​

Trivia

 * The title "Thrice Upon A Time" may be a reference to the book of the same name, released in 1980. The main plot of the book revolves around sending messages to the past, and/or receiving them from the future.
 * In the 2020 Lantern Festival, Hideaki Anno introduced a new Evangelion Unit that will be present in this movie: the Evangelion Mark.101
 * In the new trailer for Evangelion 3.0+1.0, it was revealed that Evangelion Mark.09-A has the same colour scheme as Mark.09.
 * The English logo is handwritten by Hideaki Anno.
 * The Suzuharas' house is modelled after the Tenryū Hamanako Railroad, along with several other enviroments from Village-3 based on it and the Tenryū-Futamata Station.
 * The rice fields are modelled on the Oyama Senmaida rice fields. During research, staff was often questioned by local workers, but the Oyama Senmaida Preservation Society told them they couldn't share the name of the film in question as it had to stay under wraps.
 * The ending scene outside the train station is entirely in live action, and only the characters are inserted as animation. Anno said that the reason he chose to depict it a station is "secret".
 * About half of the segment with Shinji and Rei being guided by Asuka through the ruins and later meeting their adult classmates would have been included in the eventually cut part D of Evangelion 3.0. See EVANGELION: 3.333 Breakdown.
 * Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time won three prizes at the Tokyo Anime Film Festival 2021: It won the animated film category, Original Work/Screenplay Category and Director Category.