Long Thought Impossible: 'Neon Genesis Evangelion's' Final Rebuild Movie (3.0+1.0) Finally Releases To Praise And Confusion

Few things have been as long of a wait as the last Neon Genesis Evangelion Rebuild movie. With the release of the first Rebuild movie in 2007, fans of the series have seen Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and three different U.S. presidents before getting the conclusion to their storyline.

The time between the third and fourth movies is most of that wait, with the entirety of Rick and Morty's rise and fall in cultural impact taking place within that timespan. Few were sure that the movie would ever come, with delay after delay being announced, and then the COVID-19 pandemic on top of that. The movie did eventually release, first in Japan then months later in America, on Amazon Prime, which still amazed people that it was coming out.

anyway uh……..nge 3.0+1.0 in 3 days huh

— evangelion caps (@aes_eva) August 10, 2021

I'm rewatching all of NGE, End of Evangelion, and the first three Rebuilds before watching 3.0 + 1.0. pic.twitter.com/UUViVojtqf

— Longinus (@DawoudhTuran) August 15, 2021

The movie itself had a lot of people praising the visuals, the choices made during production and the special callbacks to other points in the series' history, which was always something that fans picked up on early in the Rebuild movie saga.

[3.0+1.0 spoilers]

i really appreciated this scene, when everything was stripped back to its storyboards

nge incorporating this due to various constraints is infamous; seeing it now, lovingly embraced as a core part of what it means to experience evangelion, feels so special pic.twitter.com/nDoQ2nuxT8

— ♡ emi 𝄇 shin eva spoilers!! (@catboyshinji) August 15, 2021

Sayonara, subete wo Evangelion!
Eva 3.0 + 1.0, if anything, is a visual delight. There were so many things that are confusing, weird, but also heartwarming while being quite cerebral. Will this truly be the end of Eva?#Evangelion #ThriceUponATime #EvaRebuild pic.twitter.com/lw7bEf12Cm

— Mecha Alliance (Gurren Lagann Giveaway Ongoing) (@AllianceMecha) August 13, 2021

Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 is a visual representation of the book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

— Gita Jackson (@xoxogossipgita) August 15, 2021

As expected, because it's a Neon Genesis Evangelion movie, there were still a lot of people that were confused by the plot and how it relates to the other entries in the series, almost requiring 30+ hours of watching content and researching lore to fully understand the implications of what was being revealed in the final act. This confusion gets multiplied when people who are new to the series learn that there is so much to catch up on before heading into this new one.

it's confusing at first but relatively simple:

- Watch the entire 26 episode run
- Watch "End of Evangelion" parts 1 and 2 (all of the above on Netflix)
- Watch "Evangelion Rebuild" 1.0, then 2.0, then 3.33, then 3.0+1.0

it seems Kingdom Hearts in confusion but that's it lol https://t.co/0oDffRZfd6

— Gene Park (@GenePark) August 13, 2021

Words can't begin to describe how I'm feeling after watching Eva 3.0+1.0.

I'm happy, sad, confused, empty and yet, completely fulfilled.

This felt like it was 26 years in the making, it wasn't just the end to the movies, it's the end of Evangelion itself (for real this time.)

— Gigguk (@GiggukAZ) August 13, 2021

Finally watched Eva 3.0 + 1.0. Awesome! But I need to watch an explainer video. I’m sure I’ll still be confused after that. pic.twitter.com/z5lZGOucf4

— Daniel Kwan (@DKwan) August 16, 2021