Nearly decade-long production work is finally over for Studio Khara.

Delays aren’t unusual in the hurried and harried world of anime production, but the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series is an extreme example. The first film hit Japanese theaters in 2007, the second in 2009, the third in 2012, and the fourth…well, we’re still waiting on the fourth, and it’s an even more difficult test of patience since the upcoming film, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, is supposed to end the legendary anime franchise once and for all.

▼ Trailer for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Usually, an eight-year gap between films in a series simply isn’t possible. Somewhere along the line, investors, distributors, and even key staff members get tired of waiting, and either apply pressure to speed the production process up or take their money and talents elsewhere, effectively killing off the project for good. Evangelion can get away with this, though, for two reasons: One, the franchise is so popular that the final film is all but guaranteed to be a massive box-office hit, and two, Eva is, and always has been, an extremely personal artistic expression of creator/director Hideaki Anno’s emotional outlook, and so Thrice Upon a Time isn’t done until he says it’s done.

And now, Anno says it’s done.

Studio Khara’s second official Twitter account (of course the anime studio that produces Eva has two official accounts) has sent out an announcement that fans have been waiting close to a decade to hear, which says:

“#Rebuild of Evangelion
December 17, 2020, 8:10 a.m.
All in-studio recording and editing work has been completed!

Director Anno has made the rounds to directly inform all sections in the company that work on the movie has been completed, and we have been feeling steeped in the joy of having reached the end of the project.”

Fans, predictably yet appropriately, have largely responded to the news with GIFs of the Evangelion TV series’ famous “Congratulations” scene.

https://twitter.com/e1020303010/status/1339357850284507137

The protracted production for Thrice Upon a Time was no picnic for Anno either, but he’s apparently now satisfied with the conclusion to the series, or at least satisfied enough that he’s ready for the public to see it when Thrice Upon a Time premieres in Japanese theaters on January 23.

Now if we could just get a preview of that new Utada Hikaru theme song…

Source: Twitter/@khara_inc2 via IT Media
Top image: YouTube/株式会社カラー khara inc.official
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