After what feels like an eternity, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 international release is nearly upon us. As serious Evangelion fans my partner and I were planning to see this film in Japan until a certain something happened. In the early days and months of the pandemic I was hoping that the film would be delayed until things had significantly improved in the global situation but obviously that was - and is still going to be - a very long time, so it's understandable that it would be released sooner and it's a good development for the anime industry to embrace digital theatrical releasing, although I'll have to temporarily abandon my avoidance of greasing the palms of the Amazon machine (although using and losing the free Prime trial is the plan).
We're rewatching the Rebuild films (just 3.33 to go now) and it's interesting to see how many things don't happen that do happen in NGE, which my brain kinda fills in subconsciously but actually for anyone new to Evangelion would seem kinda rushed or strange. I still think 2.22 is better than 1.11 and I still think NGE (excluding D+R and EoE) is the best, and I doubt 3.0+1.0 will change any of that. I've also seen plenty of spoilers but even so, the endlessly captivating thing about Evangelion is that you can rewatch it and always find something new, or have a different opinion on something you though you understood. With that in mind, I think the final Rebuild film will still be interesting to understand how Anno wanted to (eventually) wrap this interpretation of Evangelion up, even though it's likely very different to what he first had in mind when approaching this film, let alone 3.33.
And to see it off in style, of course we're going to put some of our Eva merchandise to good use! And yes, to confirm, you could probably live off Eva merchandise alone...
