is a 2021 Japanese animated epic science fiction film co-directed and written by Hideaki Anno. Produced by Studio Khara, it is the fourth and final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion film series, part of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.
After a protracted development and multiple delays, Thrice Upon a Time was released on March 8, 2021, and received critical acclaim, with praise given to the screenplay, animation, directing, themes, production design, voice-performances, emotional weight and satisfactory closures and answers. The film also was a box-office success, becoming the highest-grossing film of the franchise and the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021 at . It was released internationally on August 13 the same year via the Amazon Prime Video streaming service. On June 17, 2022, it was announced that GKIDS had acquired the North American rights to the film. The film was released to theaters in December 2022 and on home video in October 2023.
Plot In Paris, young crewmembers from the WILLE organization, led by Maya Ibuki, work to restore the city and its defensive systems. Upon being attacked by NERV forces, they are defended by the Wunder fleet and Mari Illustrious Makinami in Unit-08. Mari defeats the attackers, and WILLE restores Paris.
Asuka Langley Shikinami, Rei Ayanami and a still despondent Shinji Ikari are walking across the outskirts of Tokyo-3, arriving at a settlement of survivors where they encounter Toji Suzuhara, Hikari Horaki and Kensuke Aida, now adults. Toji is a doctor and has a child with Hikari, while Kensuke is a technician. As Shinji slowly recovers from his ordeals, Rei settles into the village working as a farmer, finding happiness. Shinji meets Ryoji Kaji Jr., the son of Misato Katsuragi and the late Ryoji Kaji, who died averting Third Impact. Rei, lacking the constant exposure to LCL fluid required to stay alive, says goodbye to Shinji before dissolving away.
Wunder arrives to pick up Asuka and Shinji, the latter being placed in isolation. Meanwhile, Kozo Fuyutsuki helps Gendo Ikari restart Unit-13. In response, Wunder heads to Antarctica. Before the mission, Asuka and Shinji reconcile: Asuka admits her feelings for Shinji, while Shinji apologizes to Asuka for being indecisive in saving her from the Ninth Angel fourteen years ago.
Wunder is attacked by three NERV ships and a swarm of EVA units. Asuka and Mari sortie and move to destroy Unit-13 before it can reactivate. However, Unit-02 refuses to attack Unit-13, forcing Asuka to remove her eyepatch, revealing the Ninth Angel contained within, converting Unit-02 into an EVA-Angel hybrid like Shinji's Unit-01. Unit-13 overpowers and absorbs Unit-02 according to Gendo's plan. Moments before being absorbed, Asuka is approached by her "original", revealing she is a clone of the Shikinami series. Meanwhile, Wunder is attacked by a new EVA, Unit-09A.
In the NERV vessel restraining Wunder, Misato and Ritsuko Akagi confront Gendo. Ritsuko shoots him to no effect, as Gendo has used the Key of Nebuchadnezzar to transcend humanity. He reveals that the purpose of the Shikinami and Ayanami clones was to enact the Human Instrumentality Project, SEELE's conspiracy to force human evolution, and enters Unit-13. Shinji asks Misato to let him pilot Unit-01; Sakura and Midori Kitakami try to stop Shinji, blaming him for the Near Third Impact, but Misato protects him and is shot in the process. Misato reminds everyone of Shinji's heroism and that he should be forgiven. Mari takes Unit-08 and merges it with Units 09A through 12. Inside Unit-01, Shinji fondly reunites with the original Rei, who gives him control.
Gendo and Shinji fight in a surreal "Anti Universe", and Gendo shows Shinji the "Black Lilith" that he will use to initiate the "Additional Impact". Shinji sees into Gendo's past experiences, including how Yui's loss traumatized him. As a result, Gendo wanted this "Additional Impact" for a chance to reunite with Yui. Meanwhile, Misato evacuates the crew of Wunder and sacrifices herself and the ship to create the "Lance of Gaius", which gives Shinji the power to rewrite the world. Shinji talks with and provides closure to Gendo; to Asuka, he returns her feelings; with Kaworu Nagisa, he discovers the existence of a cycle the story's cast is trapped in. Kaworu also talks with a resurrected Kaji, who helps him understand that his own happiness shall not be tied to Shinji's.
Shinji says farewell to Rei, deciding upon a complete reset of the world where everyone can live normal lives without EVAs: a "Neon Genesis". Gendo and Yui sacrifice themselves to spare Shinji from doing so himself, bringing back all humans and animals transformed in the Near Third Impact and restoring the world. Shinji waits on a beach until Mari appears, during which her Evangelion becomes the last to disappear. Kaworu and the former pilots meet at a train station, where Shinji and Mari run off in the real world.
Voice cast
Character Japanese English Shinji Ikari Megumi OgataRyunosuke Kamiki (adult) Spike Spencer Asuka Langley Shikinami Yūko Miyamura Tiffany Grant Rei Ayanami Megumi Hayashibara Amanda Winn-Lee Misato Katsuragi Kotono Mitsuishi Allison Keith Gendo Ikari Fumihiko Tachiki John Swasey Mari Illustrious Makinami Maaya Sakamoto Deneen Melody Sakura Suzuhara Miyuki Sawashiro Felecia Angelle Ritsuko Akagi Yuriko Yamaguchi Mary Faber Kaworu Nagisa Akira Ishida Daman Mills Toji Suzuhara Tomokazu Seki Brett Weaver Kensuke Aida Tetsuya Iwanaga Alejandro Saab Hikari Suzuhara Junko Iwao Kimberly Yates Maya Ibuki Miki Nagasawa Amy Seeley Kozo Fuyutsuki Motomu Kiyokawa Michael Ross Ryoji Kaji Sr. Kōichi Yamadera Sean Burgos Midori Kitakami Mariya Ise Bijou Vann Shigeru Aoba Takehito Koyasu Jaxon Lee Makoto Hyuga Hiro Yuuki Joe Fria Yui Ikari Megumi Hayashibara Amanda Winn-Lee Ryoji Kaji Jr. Kōki Uchiyama Kohji Takao Akio Otsuka Jake Eberle Hideki Tama Anri Katsu Scott Golden Sumire Nagara Sayaka Ohara Rebeka Thomas New character
Production
Early development and delays 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, production on Evangelion: Final formally started in 2009, with a release date expected in 2015. However, in 2014, following the troubled production of the third film, director and producer Hideaki Anno became depressed and announced that the film would be further delayed to an unknown date, stating publicly in 2015 that he could not work on another film. As part of his recovery, Anno had also worked on Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises under his mentor Hayao Miyazaki. 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. Getting Toei and Toho in the same film had been a long-standing dream of Anno's. After Anno formally apologized, animation director Takeshi Honda stated that the last film had resumed development after the production of Shin Godzilla ended in late 2016, with Studio Khara tweeting 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. Animation was going through the final check by October 2, 2020. Dialogue recording wrapped on November 19, 2020. On December 16, 2020, Studio Khara announced that compositing and editing work had finished.
Financial troubles also played a part in the film's delays. In 2014, Anno's Studio Khara loaned his former company Studio Gainax ¥100 million ($916,400). In 2016, Anno filed a claim for debt collection, fearing not only for the return of the money but also because of Gainax selling production materials to third parties, after a precedent of other sales of intellectual property without informing him. This was part of several legal issues surrounding Gainax and Evangelion.
Development Anno was very reluctant to return to work on 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, as he 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. Anno felt 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 wished to pay homage to the city in the opening 10 minutes of the movie, entitled AVANT1 ("before" in French), seeking to surpass his earlier depiction in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. At the event, Ogata also recounted Anno had asked what ending she preferred "as Shinji". AVANT1+2, including a further 2 minutes of the opening sequence, was also streamed on Khara's YouTube channel and Japanese Amazon Prime Video for free for two weeks.
Dialogue for Parts A and B, set after AVANT, started recording in March 2019. As there were several changes to the plot, many voice actors had to come back and record lines again. In 2020, due to the pandemic restrictions, production slowed down further and recording was mostly done by the voice actors separately as many dozens of takes were necessary: Ogata first notified the recording as almost finished in February 2020, but as production slowed down, staff began retouching several aspects of the film, and Ogata later noted recording to be finished in November 2020. The voice actors organized themselves through a Line group. This created a bond between the cast that was unprecedented in previous productions. At the end of recording, Anno thanked the cast for their contributions. Yūko Miyamura, who played Asuka, was instructed to treat her character as completely separate from the series' Asuka Langley Soryu, and the last thing asked of her was to write the character's full name in cursive herself to be used in the movie. She had lived in Australia for the past two decades, but was still unsure of how to write "Langley". Miyamura expressed her surprise at Anno's behavior near the end of production, in contrast to his behavior during the making of End of Evangelion: "Anno-san is amazing. He has become an adult".