A nation thrown into a (unexpected? predicted?) crisis with urgent and immediate danger -- a government frozen, with seconds ticking away as the threat grows and mutates.

Sweet Hideaki Anno crafted this kaiju movie as a response to Japan's reaction to the Fukushima disaster, but watching this in 2021 brings to mind another botched disaster. While in the US, our leaders fought and lied and downplayed and bragged their way through coronavirus, but the bureaucracy and red tape that this movie focused on seems to be one reason why Japan is still fighting the virus. The chain of the command, the hoops and loops of gaining approval, the special teams, the special meeting rooms, the printed out everything -- all while the googly-eyed boy gets bigger and angrier.

I really loved watching this movie, especially when I realized that the dialogue-heavy exposition wasn't just a prologue to get us situated, but the vibe of the whole movie. Anno takes this rapid-fire, dense script, and still makes it engaging and exciting, even when the big boy isn't on screen.

And what fan service for Eva fans! The music, those familiar timpani tones, the angles and the POVs, the audio stings and the monsters crushing their way through Tokyo. I absolutely ate it up.

Do you think Misato would have sat through all of those meetings to authorize a missle? Absolutely not!

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1 KAIJU MOVIE; COUNTRIES: Japan; DECADES: 2010s | My Hooptober List