Well, this isn't a question so much as something I've noticed. There seems to be a lot of references to "smell" in Rebuild, much more so than the original NGE. Here's a list of times I've noticed the characters talking about smell (not necessarily in chronological order):

-Shinji talking about LCL smelling like blood (I'm not sure whether this was in Rebuild or in NGE)
-Rei saying how Eva-01 smells like Shinji during the Eva-switch experiment thing (in NGE, not Rebuild)
-Mari telling Shinji how he smells like LCL
-Mari saying how Evas that smell of other people aren't that bad
-Shinji saying how his hands smell like earth/soil
-Shinji saying how his Eva smells like his mother, then how it smells like Ayanami

I think that's it, if there are any more, just say so.

Has anybody else noticed this, or am I looking too much into it? I want to say that this means something/alludes to something important, but I can't quite put my finger on what that "something important" is.

Anno has fetish for body odors

AshPhoenix wrote:-Shinji talking about LCL smelling like blood (I'm not sure whether this was in Rebuild or in NGE)

This was already there in NGE.

AshPhoenix wrote:-Mari telling Shinji how he smells like LCL
-Mari saying how Evas that smell of other people aren't that bad

I believe Mari reflects the base urges and animal instincts in human beings. As such, I believe her referring to smell multiple times is deliberate.

Xard wrote:Anno has fetish for body odors

Wasn't Mari supposed to be the character who has nothing from Anno?

Xard wrote:Anno has fetish for body odors

Sigh..

I guess I'll have to add it to the list...

Xard wrote:Anno has fetish for body odors

And yet there was never a scene where Shinji sneaks into Toji's gym bag and sniffs his jockstrap. What a waste.

AshPhoenix wrote:-Shinji talking about LCL smelling like blood (I'm not sure whether this was in Rebuild or in NGE)
-Rei saying how Eva-01 smells like Shinji during the Eva-switch experiment thing (in NGE, not Rebuild)
-Shinji saying how his Eva smells like his mother, then how it smells like Ayanami

All of these were in NGE. As for the last one, I know Shinji said the entry plug smells like his mother, but I don't know if he ever said that Rei smells like a mother.

AshPhonenix wrote:-Mari telling Shinji how he smells like LCL
-Mari saying how Evas that smell of other people aren't that bad
-Shinji saying how his hands smell like earth/soil

It's really hard for something like this to pop up so frequently and mean nothing. That it, unless Anno is completely dense and has no self-control, which can, has, and probably will again, be argued. Smells are very good a triggering long forgotten memories. Just one whiff of something and you can practically drown in nostalgia. Not that there's anything more than a sliver of a possibility that that's what's going to happen.

AshPhoenix wrote:-Shinji talking about LCL smelling like blood (I'm not sure whether this was in Rebuild or in NGE)
-Rei saying how Eva-01 smells like Shinji during the Eva-switch experiment thing (in NGE, not Rebuild)
-Mari telling Shinji how he smells like LCL
-Mari saying how Evas that smell of other people aren't that bad
-Shinji saying how his hands smell like earth/soil
-Shinji saying how his Eva smells like his mother, then how it smells like Ayanami

.

The first one is NGE (eps 7 and 16), tough 'm not sure whether it came up in 1.0.

You missed Shinji recognizing his mother's scent in ep 21 - Before he recohnizes his mom, he wonders whether it's Misato or Rei. He thought of Misato because she was calling for him (something of that could've reached him through EVA 01's eyes), thinks of Rei when he 'takes a closer look (or a closer sniff) at the actual smell within EVA 01, but eventually realizes that it's NOT Rei but his mom. (implying of course, that Rei smells somewhat similar)
In Rebuild, he notices the smell without liquifying, but he doesn't seem to be quite sure whether it's Rei or his mom. He compares the smell inside EVA 01 to both of them, but not the women with each other (as he does in 24 and, somewhat unknowingly, 16) (similarity is, of course, implied, but Shinji probably hasn't thought that far) - Here, he says "Mom" first, and "Ayanami" as a second, as opposed to ep. 21.
This could mean something or not.
Now we know that it's actually Yui inside EVA 01, but Shinji doesn't remember Yui that well/only somewhat subconciously, the Memory of his... close encounter with Rei could simply be friendly.
On the other side, ReShinji also discribes a vague feeling of comfort he doesn't understand. We know it's Yui's presence, but he doesn't, at least not conciously. So why does he say "Mom" (the RIGHT guess) first, and "Ayanami" later (as if unsure or correcting himself?) It is possibly that he, at this point, assiociates "comfort" with Rei who saved his life with a space shuttle rather than with a mother whose face he doesn't remember.
Or maybe he has begun to feel safer with Rei than with his actual parents. (luving someone more than mother and father -> old, romantic expression for teh LUV.)

The smell thing probably means pretty much as the same thing as in the original/has a similar significance.
I've always suspected that what they sense in the EVAs is not an actual smell (except for the blood part which relates to, well, LC being blood) but a telepathic echo of sorts; The area of the brain that is responsible for the sense of smell is closely intertwined with the region that produces emotion - and as neurologic terms are all over NGE, Anno or Sadamoto might've known this. The pilots were feeling the presence of the soul within the EVA or a echo left by its former occupants, and their brains processed it like a scent.
I mean, I doubt Shinji and Rei had any chance to find out what the other SMELLS like - In Yui's case, well, Babies CAN recognize their mother's scent, but few 14 year olds actually remember tracking their mother's breasts by scent... The sensation of Yui's presence might've awakened his subconcious memories, tough...

Now Shinji's hand full of earth is a difficult case. It's placement in the promotion poster indicates that it's important - it was the earth of a field with fruits on it (fertility? Mother Earth? or rather connected to Adam being forced to work on the fields after sinning for the first time?) It could also represent Shinji's thoughtful personality and what the experience that working on Kaji's melon patch means for him - Kaji and Shinji proceed to talk about "Hard work", at this point of the story, Shinji is slowly learning to 'invest' in the world around him, it is the first time he has something worth protecting in his life (the first time he got to know the scent of earth, earth he worked in), and Kaji is warning him of the "hard work" that mantaining his current "world" will require very soon.
(Bardiel/Zeruel incident - The original series reprises that scene with the second melon patch conversation - Rebuild shows the burning melon patch and Shinji running through it/standing up after falling = performing hard work, his face becomes dirtied with earth and remains so in the "clenched fist scene" Does this want to say "Look Daddy, I've learned the lesson you, Kaji and Mari were talking about!"?)
The "dirtied hand" motive also reapears - only this time, it's not just dirt, but EVA 02's blood on it.


As "scent" is connected to "contact with the gods/Evas/spiritual realm" in NGE, it makes sense to give a "medium like" character like Mari(to quote the CR: "Miko chanelling the gods") a smell fixation.
It's just perfect for Mari's way of being but spiritual and bestial, the unification of the forces of the "red" and the "blue/white" at war in the show. (Think of her Purple/Pink plugsuit!)
She IS meant to be the "angent of change", after all - and it's, of course, a memorable quirk (nothing says 'eccentric' like spontaneously sniffing at ppl. It shows how she has no restraints/just is herself in contrast to the more restrained Shinji)