The world ends not with angels or explosions, but with a kid having a complete breakdown in a hospital basement. Every frame after episode 24 is Hideaki Anno processing his own depression directly into your nervous system, and the animation doesn't soften it, doesn't make it pretty. The movie answers what the TV ending couldn't: what happens when salvation stops being metaphorical and becomes about one person choosing to exist anyway, in a world that has already ended.

SEELE, a shadow organization, sends its military forces into a lethal invasion of NERV headquarters, cutting down scientists and security staff. Shinji Ikari, left emotionally shattered by the death of a dear friend, cannot pilot Evangelion Unit-01 and hides deep inside the base. Asuka Langley Souryuu takes Evangelion Unit-02 into a desperate last stand against SEELE's heaviest weapons. Meanwhile, Gendou Ikari and SEELE race to carry out rival plans. SEELE wants to build a godlike being by fusing their souls with an Evangelion. Gendou wants to merge all of humanity into one primordial being so he can be reunited with his late wife, Yui. As society crumbles, Captain Misato Katsuragi searches for Shinji, and events grow increasingly surreal. The film is a psychological mecha drama that runs alongside the final two episodes of the Neon Genesis Evangelion television series, giving them a concurrent ending.