Almost certainly settling what’ll be the greatest animated feature to play theaters this year, GKIDS will grant a new release to The End of Evangelion, Hideaki Anno’s feature-length continuation / rejigging / total destruction of his iconic anime. The history of this film is long, deep, and strange, nicely summarized in Eli Friedberg’s piece on the franchise: “a still-unparalleled feat of beautiful, nightmarish animation wherein Shinji’s momentary acceptance of suicide triggers a psychosexual Gnostic apocalypse somewhere between Childhood’s End and Cronenberg, scored to bitterly ironic J-pop and unlike any other spectacle ever put to cel.”
All that and more––an implication of the fanbase’s evil instincts among them––when GKIDS hold nationwide screenings on March 17 and March 20, ahead of which is a brief, earth-shaking teaser. Friendly suggestion: if you’ve yet to take in Anno’s anime, prioritize it ahead of next month’s showings.
Find preview and poster below:
This final movie version was created as an alternative ending to the NEON GENESIS EVANGELION TV series, remaking the final two episodes from the series. SEELE plans an attack on NERV after failing to create a man-made Third Impact. After reaffirming both her own and her mother’s existence in a state of despair, Asuka returns and begins the counterattack. However, new enemies descend from the heavens. Meanwhile, Shinji witnesses the horrifying wreckage of Asuka’s EVA-02 while piloting EVA-01. Mass production models surround EVA-01 and perform a solemn ceremony. What does it mean to complete a human heart?
