It only figures that just as I am in the process of releasing a video looking at all the promotional videos for Evangelion 3.0+1.0,
that another trailer would leak out that quite possibly changes everything we've come to expect.
If you haven't, I highly recommend watching my prior video first, as this video will serve as a follow up.
Leading up to the release of 3.0+1.0, whenever that ends up being
khara has been putting the prior Evangelion films out in a number of different ways.
They were released for free on YouTube via a stay at home initiative in 2020,
they were later released via Amazon Prime, and they were aired on television, including NHK and Nippon TV.
They even had a limited engagement of Death & The End of Evangelion in theaters.
Something I hadn't forgotten, but had let slip from my immediate attention was the Evangelion 3.333 IMAX release.
Yes, you heard right, not 3.33, 3.333. They added another 3.
Being as how IMAX is a larger format with higher fidelity,
and being as how animation compositing has improved in the eight years since 3.0's release,
khara reprocessed the film's original master for the release.
First and foremost, the footage was reprocessed from 1280x544 to 2048x870,
which is roughly a factor of 2.5 greater resolution.
They also took the opportunity to reincorporate a few visual assets that didn't work the first time around,
and added a few minor embellishments, like adding glow to the red details on Unit-13's chest,
and something that I had completely forgotten about, they in effect retconned the color of Asuka's plug suit in 3.0.
Whereas in the previous version, Asuka's legs were purple, similar to Mari's,
they actually recolored her plugsuit to be more like her classic all-red plugsuit.
I mention this because there are two cuts of animation in the trailers that we've seen that appear to be her old plugsuit,
which lead me to think that they were flashbacks to prior to 3.0,
however my reasoning for that may have been flawed. These cuts may take place during the events of 3.0+1.0.
Moving on, the elephant in the room is that they actually produced a new text time preview for 3.333,
including new footage, some of which has people losing their minds.
A few shots are repeated from prior trailers.
A few shots are additional shots of things we've already seen.
But there are a few new cuts of animation, and we HAVE to talk about them.
Because they've stirred up ideas about both time travel, and the loop theory.
The key new visuals we've gotten include a massive amount of failures of infinity raining down.
Rather than red, they are white, possibly from having been purified.
There is a close shot of Unit-01 rising or moving towards the camera,
which appears to match the exterior shots of Shinji duelling with Kaworu in Unit-13.
And we have three cuts of Shinji in the Eva hanger at Nerv, in his plugsuit from Evangelion 2.0.
This corresponds with the animation from the climax of Evangelion 2.0
which, in turn, corresponds with episode 19 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Now, what has everyone scratching their heads, and considering both time travel and the loop theory,
is the question of how this fits into the chronology of the film,
because it almost certainly doesn't take place when 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 are set, for two key reasons:
1: Unit-01 should be powering the Wunder, rather than at Nerv.
2. If they are at Nerv, it shouldn't be in this condition.
So, how then, could this animation factor into the film?
Let's weigh the possibilities, and do a bit more speculation.
Possibility Number 1: Time Travel
As I mentioned last time, the English title “Thrice Upon a Time” is a reference to a novel with a plot that involved time travel.
The choice of title could also simply be a play on words, referring to the third time Anno has produced an ending to Evangelion.
The choice of title could also be because, like the novel, time travel factors into this film's plot.
We have Shinji on the platform at Nerv, with animation that corresponds to Shinji returning to Nerv to pilot Unit-01
and defend against Zeruel's attack. But previously, he was wearing his school uniform,
which is what has fans speculating that there's time travel, or that Shinji is getting some sort of do-over,
like he did in the popular Re-Take doujinshi.
Perhaps while 2.0 Shinji is off NOT getting in the robot,
Q-Shinji arrives at Nerv HQ in order to prevent Zeruel from devouring and absorbing Unit-00 and Rei 2.
As a result, Near Third Impact doesn't occur at that time, or ever,
and the timeline is drastically changed, theoretically for the better.
The question is, well, where does the story go from there? There's still several angels that would be outstanding,
including the 11th, which is completely unaccounted for, the 12th, which we see trapped in Mark 06 in 3.0,
and, of course, the 13th angel, Kaworu. Perhaps, as was suggested by GoatJesus,
the duel was actually between Unit-01 and Mark.06, which would make way more sense, if Shinji goes back in time.
Possibility Number 2: A Flashback, or a Memory
Something that a lot of fans want is to see this last film explore the time between 2.0 and 3.0.
There's a major disconnect in how everyone treats Shinji in 3.0, with regards to his actions in 2.0.
There's this resentment and contempt that they exhibit which doesn't make sense.
Yeah, he inadvertently messed everything up by causing the Near Third Impact,
but it's not like that was what he was trying to do, he was just trying to save Rei, and they even cheered him on.
There has to be something he did in between to account for all of that contempt and resentment.
Maybe we have an incomplete picture of things, and there's a lot more that he did to impact the world. No pun intended.
When the Wille crew brings Shinji back, they talk about the continuity of his memory,
which is somewhat vague, and could refer to either his last memories being what happened in 2.0
because that's the last thing that he experienced, or because that's the last thing that he REMEMBERS.
As I mentioned last time, brainwashing, and the manipulation of memory exists in some form in Rebuild.
In Evangelion 1.0, as they are executing the preparation for Operation Yashima,
Fuyutsuki asks Gendo if they'll resort to brainwashing Shinji should he choose not to return to active duty.
And then in 3.0, Fuyutsuki tells Shinji that he saw Yui absorbed by Unit-01,
but his memory was subsequently wiped, probably to protect that secret, as well as Rei's likeness to Yui.
Perhaps Wille had to extract him from Unit-01 in order to use it to power the Wunder,
and they thought the best, safest, or most humane thing to do would be to wipe the past 14 years from his memory,
and what we are seeing in this and subsequent trailers is what happened to Shinji and Unit-01 after Kaworu's arrival from the moon.
Again, Unit-01 dueling Mark 06 would make more sense.
Possibility Number 3: A Dream, a Nightmare, or Instrumentality
In more than one way, Evangelion has played with perception,
and this animation could be some other perception of reality.
It could be part of a dream or nightmare where Shinji confronts his actions or his father.
Maybe it's a dream where he's yearning for what could have been.
It would be a huge tease to include dream sequence material in a trailer, because it can leave audiences feeling deliberately misled.
Alternatively, because Evangelion has the mechanics of instrumentality,
where the perception of reality can be played with, perhaps this is a new instrumentality that Shinji takes part in,
and that is how Shinji is able to say “Bye-bye, all of Evangelion” and purify the world and or the failures of infinity.
Possibility Number 4: Bogus or Doctured Footage
I've already mentioned the possibility of doctored footage. We saw it with Mari's recolored plugsuit in a prior teaser,
we probably saw it in a prior teaser with Unit's 01 and 13 glowing during the daytime,
but we may be seeing it again here. Maybe Shinji's plugsuit isn't the one from 2.0,
maybe he gets an RGB plugsuit like the ones Asuka and Mari have.
Or maybe it's an entirely new plugsuit that they don't want to give away.
Another possibility to consider is that maybe the Evangelion we see isn't Unit-01, but Unit-13,
or an entirely different Evangelion that they don't want to reveal yet.
Personally, I don't know which of these possibilities is most likely,
but I will say that while time travel would be new, and ambitious,
what I want it to be is a flashback or a memory.
Part of what I dislike about Evangelion 3.0 is the lack of exposition to the timeskip.
I understand that they probably wanted 3.0 to be an experiential film,
that we were supposed to empathize with Shinji's experience, but I was left wanting more,
and being as how 3.0 is the shortest of the three prior films, and given how successful these films have been,
they could have afforded to incorporate more exposition or worldbuilding to better flesh things out.
My hope or assumption is that doing that would have been going down a rabbit hole, that they were saving for this film.
And given how long the wait has been, I do hope the screen time reflects that,
and we get something that is at least a solid two hours that complements and enriches the prior film.
Guys, thanks for listening to me ramble about this again. I hope I gave you something to think about.
Before you go, give this video a like if you don't mind,
and leave a comment down below, with which of these possibilities you think we'll see.
Take care, and I'll see you all again soon.