The first half of Three Once is set in a peaceful village, where Shinji, Asuka, and Rei are taking a break from the action. Their old friends Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari grew up, became adults, and built peaceful, normal, and domestic lives that the pilots were cursed not to have. Shinji breaks the curse and gives his friends a chance to live those lives.

In Shinji and Rei's final scene together, she is holding a doll representing an infant. Motherhood was a motif with Rei's character going back to the original Evangelion, and clearly a dream she was never able to achieve, especially with the newly introduced curse.

Studio Hara

Shinji and Asuka's farewell takes place on a surreal shore with blood-red water, a sight familiar to Evangelion fans.

"The End of Evangelion" ends with Shinji and Asuka lying together on the same beach; they are apparently the only two who have chosen the painful uncertainty of reality over the bliss of non-existence. Shinji choked Asuka, while she caressed his cheek. Shinji stopped and began to cry, while Asuka watched in disgust and whispered, "How disgusting." That scene is a microcosm of the relationship the two share and the world they live in, where people can constantly hurt others, even if underneath it all they care for each other (which is one of the ways "Evangelion" is similar to "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). Shinji and Asuka have always was on that beach - but no more. They admit that they once liked each other, but they broke up and it's time to move on. To show this time is different? Asuka is finally an adult; Her old Eva plug is half torn and her hair braids are thrown on the floor as she no longer has any use for them.

Studio Hara

Studio Hara

Shinji's final act gives the world a fresh start. He and everyone else can only be happy in a world without Evangelions (er, wonder what Anno says there), so that's the "Neon Genesis" he creates. In the final scene, an adult Shinji meets Mari at a train station and they escape into a new world, the real world, and one full of possibilities. The curse of Eve and the cycle of stagnation it represented has been broken.

In "The End of Evangelion", Misato tells a near-catatonic Shinji that, in order to live, he can't be afraid to make mistakes. She keeps making the same ones over and over again, learning a little more each time, and that's inevitable when you choose to take the risks that life brings. At the end of the movie, Shinji accepted that as well; his happiness is not guaranteed, but he better give himself a chance to find it.

The message of "Evangelion" never changed (accept yourself, because you are all you have forever and go find your happiness), it just evolved. Anno ended Evangelion the first time leaving his characters in limbo, and he returned to it to complete their journey. By allowing his characters to grow and move on, he hopes his fans will too. If Shinji and Asuka learned that there is so much more to this life than Evangelion, why can't we?