Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time

This article has a collection of images to further represent its content. To see its gallery, visit Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time/Gallery.

This article contains content from the EvaGeeks.org Wiki article Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time. Please view that page's revision history for the list of authors.

There exists much information that should be added to this article. You can help by expanding it.

This page needs expansion of:

• detailed plot summary

Type	Film
Genre	Mecha
Medium	Movie
Producer	Khara inc.
Created by	Khara inc.
Directed by	Hideaki Anno Kazuya Tsurumaki Katsuichi Nakayama Mahiro Maeda
Written by	Hideaki Anno
Release Information
Release Date	08 March 2021
Rating	G
Length	155 mins

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time (シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版:||, Shin Evangerion Gekijōban:||^?) is the fourth and final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series. It was originally to be released alongside 3.0 as one film, but will now 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".

"After that, and THE END."
"NOT, and ANTI."
"EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 in production by studio khara"

"New Unit-02" (新2号機, "Shin Nigōki"), as illustrated by Hideaki Anno

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 previous one.

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.

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.

Unit 8+2 in the preview of Final

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

These sections contain spoilers pertaining to new or unreleased content. Read ahead at your own risk!

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" who apparently is close friends and a father figure to Asuka. 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. 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", and Shinji decides to call her "Ayanami". 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. Ayanami 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. Sakura appears and fires a gun to prevent Shinji from boarding, infuriated at getting into Evangelion 13 in the previous movie. She is forced to give in and Asuka takes back aboard the Wunder. 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. 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 Kitakami 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 thanks Shinji 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. Misato and Shinji have a conversation in which Misato asks Shinji to take care of her son. 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. The adult Shinji (voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki) and Mari head out holding hands into the world, and the sequence transitions into a live-action sequence of Anno's hometown, implying that all the Children have found closure in our reality.

Spoilers end here.

Production and development

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. 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. 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.

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. Dialogue recording wrapped on November 19, 2020. On December 16, 2020, Studio Khara announced that compositing and editing work had finished.

Anno was very reluctant to return to work in 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. He felt he 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 wish to pay homage to the city in the opening sequence of the movie, entitled AVANT ("before" in French), seeking to surpass his earlier depiction in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water Parts A and B, set after AVANT, started recording in early 2019. Due to the pandemic restrictions, recording was mostly done by the voice actors separately as many dozens of takes were necessary, and they organized themselves through a Line group.

A making-of documentary aired on Japanese broadcaster NHK in March 22, 2021 Anno fell into a bout of depression after the previous movie, and initially intended to not involve himself much in the film, wishing to delegate most of it to his directors, particularly Kazuya Tsurumaki, 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. 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." On March 28, 2021, the cast held a stage greeting and commented on the film.

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, but 3.0+1.0 is intended to be his final Evangelion work.

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

• 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 Eva Mark 09 or Eva 00.
• The English logo is handwritten by Hideaki Anno.

External links

• Official website
• The preview of Evangelion: Final
• シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版　特報1
• シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版　特報2
• シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版　特報2.5
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』特報1
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』特報2
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』特報2'
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』特報2.5
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』本予告【公式】
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』本予告・改【公式】
• 『『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』TV SPOT 15秒
• 【シン予告】シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版:||
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』本予告・改２【公式】
• 『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』『Ｑ :3.333』版予告・改２【公式】
• TV SPOT B 15秒『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』絶賛公開中
• 追告 A『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』絶賛公開中
• 追告 B『シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版』絶賛公開中