After three years of waiting and months of promotional tie-ins, Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo finally debuted in theaters across Japan at midnight tonight.

To get fans pumped up for the long-awaited release (as if they weren’t enough already), Nippon Television Network aired both of the previous Rebuild of Evangelion movies over the past two Fridays— Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone on November 9 and Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance last night— and topped it off with a special treat by broadcasting the first six minutes and 36 seconds of Evangelion 3.0 after the ending credits of last night’s showing.

We are pleased to bring you those six minutes and 36 seconds, as well as the newly-released music video for Sakura Nagashi, the Evangelion 3.0 theme by Utada Hikaru, below.

▼ Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo Opening

http://youtu.be/gV4jBw9Tu2k

▼ Utada Hikaru – Sakura Nagashi

http://youtu.be/JWLGEU5cfd8

The official website for Sakura Nagashi states that, “although Utada is currently focusing her energies on her “human activities,” she agreed to create this song, thanks to the fervent requests made by the movie production staff and the deep appreciation for Evangelion held by Utada herself, who also created the movie theme songs for the two prior Evangelion movies.” Thanks Hikki, we knew we could count on you to keep it simple and clean.

Perhaps as a hint to the theme of Evangelion 3.0, the site also points out that, “Unlike the theme songs for 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone and 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, the latest song is sentimental and beautiful; it is a requiem for life full of literary elegance.”

Furthermore, if you tweet your thoughts about the song and video to #SAKURANAGASHI, you’ll be entered to win one of 1000 CD jacket-sized stickers. The song is available on iTunes now.

Source: Sakura Nagashi, My Game News Flash