@The:
Alright, I'm curious.
Well here goes.
But we need to start at the beginning. From the original series.
To put it quickly: Overall NGE soared high….and then fell flat, dropped down a flight of stairs in almost a comedic fashion, but then climbed back up at “meh” again. (Rise and fall of quality, “original ending”, EoE) The biggest thing though was that it left me feeling empty and depressed; by the end I was left feeling apathetic towards the characters and story as a whole.
And then came Rebuild, and I fucking loved it. To me, it was Evangelion done right. It had a far better tone (which I appreciated above all), more interesting character dynamics (for everyone!), great story, and let us know early on that it wasn’t simply going to be “Evangelion in HD”; this was going to have a completely new story and ending!
The ending of 2.22 was one of hardest times I ever fanboyed. A series that I had honestly nearly given up on, seemed to come alive with promise and hope. It was going to be different, awesome, and a fantastic ride! All I had to do was wait….
And then “3.0” came out….what left me bitter were two things. It was “Completely different….and yet more of the same”.
When I say “completely different” I mean that all of the aspects of the previous two Rebuilds were seemingly done away with. The characters; now all unreasonable assholes without the development to make it seem understandable (and an “explanation” given far too late for me to care and a gigantic plot hole in an of itself). Or in the absolute worst case with Rei; now a completely different character than at the end of 2.22. The plot had been all but abandoned; developments, character arcs, plot points, and a multitude of unanswered questions dropped like a stone. By all accounts this felt like a sequel to an entirely different movie.
And now…“More of the same”. This is by far the biggest problem I had with the movie; only amplified by the former points I made. What felt like a kick in the balls and filled me with bitterness even today. In terms of tone and atmosphere it feet like I was back at the original series….What attracted me to Rebuild was this sense that things were going to be a bit more….positive. Now, I’m not saying I wanted “Happy sunshine rainbows”, hell no. One of my favorite mangas of all time is “Berserk”; I can handle dark. But while the original series got sucked into depression, self-hatred, apathy, and isolation Rebuild looked like it was going to avoid all that. Shinji and the story were going to progress in a much more healthy and meaningful way. Which is why I loved 2.22’s ending as much as I did. Shinji making the biggest stride towards this than at any point thus far. It seemed like I was at the door…..And then 3.0 came along and brought me back to square. Fucking. One. Which is why it makes me as mad as it does.
But this is all just my opinion. I don’t mean to bash you if you really did enjoy it. But I just wanted you to understand where I was coming from.
Lordy I wrote a lot….guess that speaks about how strongly I feel about it XD