'Shin Evangelion Theatrical Edition: 𝄂') is a 2021 Japanese animated epic psychological science fiction action film co-directed, written and produced by Hideaki Anno.

After a protracted development and multiple delays, Thrice Upon a Time was released on March 8, 2021, and received critical acclaim, with praise given to the screenplay, animation, directing, themes, production design, voice-performances, emotional weight and satisfactory closures and answers.

In Paris, young crewmembers from the WILLE organization, led by Maya Ibuki, work to restore the city and its defensive systems.

Asuka Langley Shikinami, Rei Ayanami and a still despondent Shinji Ikari are walking across the outskirts of Tokyo-3, arriving at a settlement of survivors where they encounter Toji Suzuhara, Hikari Horaki and Kensuke Aida, now adults.

However, Unit-02 refuses to attack Unit-13, forcing Asuka to remove her eyepatch, revealing the Ninth Angel contained within, converting Unit-02 into an EVA-Angel hybrid like Shinji's Unit-01.

Meanwhile, Misato evacuates the crew of Wunder and sacrifices herself and the ship to create the "Lance of Gaius", which gives Shinji the power to rewrite the world.

Shinji talks with and provides closure to Gendo; to Asuka, he returns her feelings; with Kaworu Nagisa, he discovers the existence of a cycle the story's cast is trapped in.

Gendo and Yui sacrifice themselves to spare Shinji from doing so himself, bringing back all humans and animals transformed in the Near Third Impact and restoring the world.

In 2016, Anno filed a claim for debt collection, fearing not only for the return of the money but also because of Gainax selling production materials to third parties,[21][22] after a precedent of other sales of intellectual property without informing him.

Anno had often visited the film's music composer Shirō Sagisu, who lives half the year in Paris, and wished to pay homage to the city in the opening 10 minutes of the movie,[29] entitled AVANT1 ("before" in French), seeking to surpass his earlier depiction in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.

[27] AVANT1+2, including a further 2 minutes of the opening sequence, was also streamed on Khara's YouTube channel and Japanese Amazon Prime Video for free for two weeks.

[50] He was once more inspired from the usual process in live action, where scenes are first shot from multiple angles and then stories are created and then selected during editing.

[58] For the village itself, Khara had a box model custom-built to orientate the artists, and Anno personally adjusted it to the smallest details like individual house layout, with road and utility posts to make it as realistic as possible.

[64] BS Japan also broadcast an extended version of the documentary on April 29, 2021, totaling 100 minutes of runtime, featuring unused footage.

[68] Kim Morrisy of Anime News Network described it as tumultuous: "There were several occasions shown when he decided that the work he had done at the time was insufficient and would scrap it entirely.

"[69][70] In the documentary, Anno is depicted as frequently late or absent from the studio, or would often stay overnight adjusting individual scenes he was unsatisfied with.

Part A had been rewritten 40 times due to the difficulty staff had in depicting it, and at one point Anno was so lost on how to resolve the storylines he considered restarting it from scratch after nine months of work.

[51] On March 28, 2021, the cast was fully reunited for the first time in 14 years and held a stage greeting, commenting on the film and their bond to the characters.

[94] Utada noted this was the first time they wrote the song's lyrics based on reading a finished version of the film's script, instead of simply skimming over early rough drafts.

[99] The 3-disc score utilized several revamped tracks from Sagisu's previous works for Anno, like Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Kare Kano, as well as featuring cover versions of "VOYAGER ~ Hizuke no Nai Bohyou" by Megumi Hayashibara, originally written and performed by Yumi Matsutoya for 1984's Bye-Bye Jupiter, and a cue from 1977's The War in Space, originally composed by Toshiaki Tsushima.

[1][111] A day before the first screenings, fans managed to hack into a closed caption app intended for visual and hearing impaired audiences, extracting the full subtitle and audio tracks, which prompted further attention.

[115] Internationally, Amazon Prime Video acquired exclusive streaming rights to the film; it was released in worldwide on August 13, 2021, excluding Japan.

[138] After the film's August streaming release, it broke Amazon Prime Video's all-time high day-one view amount since its launch in Japan.

[153][157] Similarly to End of Evangelion, reviewers considered the film to have the theme of "moving into reality", but were divided on the effectiveness of its execution and the resolution of its plot lines.

[158][159] Bunshun Online concluded that unlike the 1997 film, 3.0+1.0 did not intend to give viewers a mystery to solve, but to provide a more straightforward answer.

[166] Anno had partly re-created his hometown of Ube as it existed during his youth for the ending scene, prompting tourism from fans to the town.

The website's critic consensus states, "With its characteristic boldness, Evangelion:3.0+1.01 more than thricely rewards fans with a cathartic finale to the 26-year-old iconic anime tale.

[170] Kyle McLain of IGN praised the film for having themes of maturity, hope and positivity, but disliked the final act as "inscrutable".

[171] Matt Schley of The Japan Times shared his opinion, saying: "Thrice is not the charm for those hoping for a definitive, easy-to-understand ending for Evangelion.

[173] SoraNews24 expressed puzzlement at the ending, but noted the film is "complex, hits different people in different ways, and is something that immediately triggers a repeat-viewing reaction".