Ritual · reception & legacy
2000 · Hideaki Anno
How Ritual has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Barely released and little seen outside Japan for two decades, it lived on as semi-mythical viewing traded among Evangelion devotees — and has since been reappraised as the essential missing chapter of Anno's between-Evas years.
What's debated
Fans still argue whether it's Anno's rawest, most personal film or two hours of self-indulgent art-therapy — and whether anyone who isn't already an Eva obsessive can love it.
Its footprint
Fujitani's daily refrain 'Tomorrow is my birthday' is the film's calling card, and its painterly shots of her against the industrial landscapes of Ube — Anno's hometown — are screencap staples in anime-film Twitter circles.
Where it stands
A deep-cut cult object: the 'you haven't really done Anno until you've seen this' title on Letterboxd completists' lists.