Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time · reception & legacy
2021 · Kazuya Tsurumaki
How Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
After the polarising Evangelion 3.33 left fans bracing for another gut-punch, Thrice Upon a Time landed in 2021 as an unexpectedly warm act of closure — a smash in Japan (the year's highest-grossing Japanese film) and now widely regarded as that rarest thing: a decades-long saga that actually stuck the landing.
What's debated
The eternal fan debate: is this gentle, healing farewell the mature culmination of Evangelion, or does The End of Evangelion (1997) remain the 'real' ending it can't replace?
Its footprint
Its tagline — 'Bye-bye, all of Evangelion' — became shorthand for Anno finally letting go of the franchise that defined (and tormented) him for 25 years, and fans still make pilgrimages to Ube, Anno's hometown, which figures in the film's imagery.
Where it stands
The capstone of one of anime's foundational canons — a Letterboxd favourite as an ending more than a standalone, the payoff you earn after committing to the whole saga.