6 Unresolved Mysteries & Plot Holes In Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
Neon Genesis Evangelion started all the way back in 1995, when it launched as both an anime and a manga. After that, a reboot project started in 2007 as a film series dubbed The Rebuild of Evangelion. Now, at long last, the series is finally complete with this fourth and final film, which offers fans a three-hour epic finisher.
This movie has a lot of what fans wanted to see from the original series’s ending. It also concludes in a satisfying way for the film series. However, like any great medium, it does have a lot of unexplained plot lines and things that just don’t add up. Evangelion is a complex story that deserves rewatching for deep analysis in order to try and make sense of it all. There will be spoilers ahead.
What Happened During The 14 Year Gap?
The biggest surprise in the third movie was seeing the skip in time. It was a huge change in the series’ lore. Shinji was trapped in a sort of stasis while the world went on without him for fourteen years.
This time period seems like the perfect way for this series to continue as either another movie, anime, manga, or something in-between. The movie answered a couple of questions, but there are still so many gaps left open during this time period.
Where Else On Earth Is Protected?
The opening of Thrice Upon A Time sees Mari and the others liberating Paris in order to make it a safe zone. Shinji also stumbles into a safe zone, in what is presumably an old area of Japan. Where else in the world is safe? Are there other havens out there?
This is related to one of the bigger questions in the original anime as well. The other sections of the world are barely touched on. It would be interesting to see the perspective of these situations played out in different countries.
Gendo's Army
When Mari and the others liberate Paris, there is a remark that the team has to rush down below in order to cobble together parts to repair the ship and the remaining Eva units. As the world is in ruins, it makes sense that everyone has to make use of everything and anything out there. They are a scrappy bunch of rebels, essentially. What about Gendo?
How is Gendo mass producing all of these ships and Eva units? It seems like his team consists of just himself and Fuyutsuki. Part of these units look like they are made out of angels but it seems like there is also a lot of mechanics involved as well. His side seems a little too stacked, for what the state of the world is in.
Asuka’s Eye
Whenever an anime character gets an eyepatch, it is safe to assume they aren’t just missing an eye. Usually, they are hiding incredible powers underneath, like Kakashi from the Naruto series, or King Bradley from Fullmetal Alchemist. That was exactly the case for Asuka, as she was hiding a barrier in her eye that was suppressing her angel powers.
Asuka fused with the Eva unit, or Eva angel rather, in the second movie; this is probably when half her body became an angel. Somehow the others figured out a way to suppress it, although shoving something that big in her eye is questionable at best. It’s never really explored — along with more than half of the trippy stuff that takes place in the last hour.
Mari’s Backstory
Mari is the most mysterious new addition to these Rebuild movies. She comes out of nowhere and seems to know too much for what she is supposed to be, a simple Eva pilot. Every pilot in the films and anime has had their own issues to deal, with but not Mari. The only thing she seemingly has to control is her unquenchable thirst for violence, Asuka, and Shinji.
Fuyutsuki makes a remark that he knows her as Mari Iscariot. When Gendo has his flashbacks, it seems like she was a friend of Yui’s — which is true in the manga. Why, then, has she remained so young? It could be the curse of the Evas, which the other pilots suffer from as well. Still, it seems like there might be more to it.
The Ending
Is this really the end? After the 90s anime the series appeared to be over, and then the first film was made. Then, years later, the reboot films were announced, and it has taken over a decade just to produce four. It seems like everything wrapped up, as Shinji reset the universe to make it without Eva units. There are still questions, of course, but everything seems happy — or as happy as they could be, given this twisted series.
But will this reset really hold? Other endings or storylines have shown more carefree examples like this ending. The Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days is one manga with a more simple take as a typical Japanese school story. There are some games that approach more lax levels as well. Yet, everything always resets eventually.
Shinji might have broken the loop for good this time, but that’s what makes the ending so ambiguous. Suffice it to say, it will be at least a long time before anything related to Neon Genesis Evangelion comes out again on this scale. Still, it might be cool to see an actual rebooted anime, on this scale, with a new catchy intro and everything.
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