My take on the manga ending was that the peeps in the last scene are the Reincarnations Yui mentions.

But it's not nearly as straighforward as people put it, with the MP EvAS being there, obviously time having passed... I can't remember if the scene of Shinji emerging from the ocean was there, or if they started the whole process of lie from the beginning again as implied by those drawings of plants & animals.

Helping Asuka out of the train is a continutation of the huge 'hand' metaphor as one of the manga's own motifs & how Shinji could also se them to do ramdom good things, obviously it has to be Asuka as the archetypical other.

I wouldn't say it's a 'happier' ending as TI pretty much happens as is, the EVA series nap him even after he fights back and Asuka gets tanged anyway so its seemed kind of futile perhaps underlining the overall power & control of SEELE in this.


To an extent, big part of the show's 'magic' such as found in the original and Rebuld is Anno as a decision maker; Between him the VAs and the hole team you got that lightning in a bottle effect.
But calling it "hollow" or inferring such mean spirited unprofessional rationales goes to far.

Generally I'd say that the manga had some interesting bits here n there but is fundamentally a spinoff/addition and at some places the dramatics went over board or the implementation was clunky (see strangle-happy Ritsuko or that whole 'made of straw monologue), Anno does the mtaphorical mindscrew scenes better etc. but if it was too similar or too different it would be boring imho. its a commentary on the original.


That said, I'm quite schocked to see the test tube story referred to as a 'dehumanization'
You know real life people are born because of IVF, right?
Sadamoto explained that it was his take on what is Asuka's fundamental trauma of having this sense that her mother never had a man's love (among other things), or explain where her perfectionism comes from with her mom 'making her to be perfect' (a metaphorical exaggeration of stage parents in general that often produce) You can like or dislike the implementation but it was just an attempt to do his own take on it?

As as for Kaji showing up in instrumentality, it's quite in line with Ritsuko for Maya or Misato for Hyuuga, as they both are sorta idealized crushes that are also mentors. nobody ever said the person you see is your ideal soulmate or anything just someone who'd lower your defenses.

Asuka was always fundamentally a rival & someone who is hard to coexist with (as a stand in for all the problems of coexistence - not just does she have a strongly contrasting & conflicting personality, sh's often someone that Shinji feels he has failed and/or experiences rejection from.), with teenage lust on both sides being a function of the rivalry and conflict - part of what makes coexistence with other peeps hard as that you can't just quit it/ humans do have a certain need for each other.


The deal with Rei, wether you see it as vaguely romantic or friendship was a bit deeper and something about identity (a point you essentially miss if you make it all about the Yui thing, Rei is her own character), communication & finding a little bit of fleeting human warmth in a dark world; In any case they're young & things usually go to hell before anything happens or gets further defined, unless we're talking of the 'pure fanservice' spinoffs.

And frankly, it's not like the original series or Rebuild don't have a vaguely romantic bent there ... Even the proposal introduced her like this. This, much like the surprise incest angle, is just another part of the whole 'doomed from the start tragedy setup' of Rei's life in general.

Of maybe i would be more accurate to say that both stories are about communication in different way & distinct aspects of it; in the end it's not about 'which girl wins' but about telling some good stories.

Pretty much all iterations of the EVA frachise have some R/S content (Angelic Days nonwithstanding) whereas only some of them have anything between Asuka & Shinji, the VA pretty much confirmed that Asuka didn't even as much as like him.


My headcanon is that the uncle and cousin exist in canon verse and that Shinji ending up with the sensei intead is a reflection of canon Gendo giving marginally more of a fuck.

Shinji was supposed to be with the family of Yui's sister in the manga. In anime canon, Yui's dad was a member of Seele, so one might expect a peek at her relatives to address this connection in some way, rather than completely ignore / obfuscate it. Like Asuka's stepsister, these characters have no reason for existing in the anime.

Reichu wrote:Shinji was supposed to be with the family of Yui's sister in the manga. In anime canon, Yui's dad was a member of Seele, so one might expect a peek at her relatives to address this connection in some way, rather than completely ignore / obfuscate it. Like Asuka's stepsister, these characters have no reason for existing in the anime.

Except if they opted out of / wanted nothing to do with the family business, perhaps because Yui got some paretal favoritism because of her genius intelligence, adding further reason for animosity toward Shin-chan?

I mean even the whole 'Yui's parents are cult/conspiracy peeps' angle is not even said aloud, it's all nebulous and nebulous on purpose, though obvsly you're right in that they could have done more with that.

But even so, Shinji's backstory is actually the most mysterious one out of all non-Kaworu pilots, lots of alluded incidents we don't ever actually see, first of all the "3 years ago" confrontation with Gendo.

Though Sadamoto added some tidbits there, too, mostly mood setting pieces.