Shin Eva finished its IMAX and 4D run in Japan on April 15. The last screening at the Grand Cinema Sunshine in Shinjuku met with tremendous applause. Khara Nigoki, the Khara employee who runs the eponymous twitter account, was a surprised and delighted witness to the event.
A little late on this, but March 27, 2021 was the 25th anniversary of Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Episode 26.
That’s right, it’s now 25 years since Evangelion ended. It’s 25 years since we saw Rei from the alternative universe running to school with toast in her mouth. And it’s 25 years since everyone landed up clapping and saying “Congratulations” to Shinji!
Neon Genesis Evangelion, the TV series, has been on the planet in full for a quarter of a century now. And what a cultural phenomenon it’s been! The franchise remains as strong as ever, and Shin Evangelion is now highest-earning Evangelion movie of them all.
To all the children…Congratulations! And don’t turn into tang!
There has literally been too much Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 : Thrice Upon a Time news for us to cover, coming all at once. While we wait a little longer for things to settle down so that we can post coherent news items, here’s a little blast from the past.
But, as it turns out, there’s another gem on that tape – during that 1996(?) convention, a couple of fans visited the great Megumi Hayashibara herself in her hotel room! That’s right, folks! An early meet-and-greet, possibly the very first in the US, with Megumi Hayashibara, the voice of Rei Ayanami, Yui Ikari, Eva-01, Pen-Pen and so, so many other characters across anime! Behold the proof, in classic 1990s VHS quality!
The recent few days have been an incessant hurricane of spoilers for Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon A Time on our forums. It’s been hard to keep track of news in the face of the first new Evangelion content in eight and a half years!
However, in the midst of the storm, the ever-wonderful GhostlyOcam retweeted two posts making a spectacular announcement.
Japanese broadcast network NHK will be airing a feature-length program about the making of Shin Evangelion/ Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 on March 22 –
Ocam further notes that the program will feature behind-the-scene footage that encompasses four years of the film’s production. That is historical in itself because it is rarely allowed.
Well, hope we hear some interesting tidbits come March 22. Chalk that down to one more thing we hope leaves Japan’s shores and heads out into the world!
On midnight March 9th in Japan (1500 UTC March 8th), there will be a release of the music video for Hikaru Utada’s “One Last Kiss, ” which is the ending theme for 3.0 + 1.0. it is produced by none other than Hideaki Anno himself. The video will premiere on Utada’s Youtube channel.
It is unknown as of this writing whether the video will be live action or a footage film comprising of scenes from 3.0+1.0. More information can be found on Khara’s Evangelion page. https://www.evangelion.co.jp/news/shin_themesong/
Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 has had its international online premiere on-schedule. EvaGeeks Forums is pleased to announce that the Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Spoiler subforum is now password-protected. (PASSWORD: spoilmerotten )
Feel free to discuss the premiere and new information in there! It’s accessible to guests and members alike. If you’re looking for juicy information, do so to your heart’s content!
Today, we have a friendly reminder from Shuichi Iseki on his Twitter account for Eva fans wishing to avoid spoilers. Iseki has worked as an inbetweener for 3.0 as well as a key animator for 3.0 + 1.0 in addition to other works such as Kill la Kill.
“It’s still early, but most likely there will be a release of spoilers after the film’s release on Twitter, so you should refrain from using it on March 8 if you don’t want to get spoiled.” (Special Thanks to GhostlyOcam for the translation)
All folks who wish to remain unspoiled should take heed of this advice. Make sure to mute key words and hashtags, so you may be more at ease over the next fews days and weeks. No need to cut yourselves off your Twitter accounts entirely.
From the official Khara twitter, thanks to Zeruss for pointing it outSealed information booklet
A crude translation reveals that the booklet is A4 size, 80 pages, all color, with a warning sign saying “There are only spoilers!” and adding that “Like Q, it is in a plastic bag like the one in the picture. You may need scissors to open it neatly.”
Former EvaGeeks founding member Reichu continues to explore the deep lore of Evangelion New Theatrical Edition (Rebuild) in her Arqa-Apocrypha blog, with two new pre-release posts (Post 1,Post 2) and two more(Post 3, Post 4) plus a guest post by BlueBasilisk, with the promise of even more to come. These summarize several of the theories and deep explorations into lore that she and her fellow discussants have conducted and set the stage for analyzing Shin Eva.
Those familiar with Reichu will remember her work on the Eva commentary as well as her deep explorations of NGE lore in the mid-2000s. These helped bring in many, many newcomers to the NGE fandom (yours truly included) and give EvaGeeks its raison d’etre.
Even though Reichu is no longer a part of this site, she continues her signature theory-crafting and her blog is the place to go to for exploring Evangelion’s deepest secrets. Be sure to keep an eye on it, folks! Or if you want to discuss it before Shin Eva releases, feel free to do so in this forum thread.
As noted by user @gotamai, this makes consecutive repeat viewings easier. The 175 minutes in the schedule isn’t some sort of expanded Shin Eva runtime, but rather an extra 20 minutes to allow patrons to exit and staff to clean/sanitize the movie theaters between screenings.
Shinjuku Wald 9 theater posted a special message in anticipation of Shin Eva’s release on their website –
To everyone who loves Evangelion. The wait has been long, but we’re happy and a bit lonely when that time finally comes. Because just like for everyone, “Eva” is also very special to us. So let’s see it together, until the very end.
“Thank you, all of EVANGELION.” – Shinjuku Wald 9
Shin Evangelion Theatrical Edition: ||/ Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time In theaters March 8, 2021.
Original from Shinjuku Wald 9 website; Translation via GhostlyOcam
In addition, JoelCrNeto reports that the T.JOY cinemas have a message board for people to thank the Evangelion franchise, image below.
As always, thanks to our ever-vigilant forumgoers for keeping an eye on social media!
This is the end of an era, folks, and it’s coming. If the messages from Shinjuku Wald 9 and T.JOY cinemas are any indication, expect moviegoers to bring along their tissues.
