FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:The hospital room scene is important, both within terms of story beats and within terms of thematics and tone. Not only are there explicit call-backs to the scene (or the motivations behind said scene) later on in the film when Asuka says that she knows about Shinji's "jerk-off fantasies" about her, but it also ties in themes from the NGE TV series that reference the purpose of Shinji's hands in context to certain characters he interacts with along the series. (Rei explicitly calls attention to this later on in EoE as well by asking "Then what are your hands for?") Shinji's right hand is covered in blood when he assists Rei in Episode 1, the film cuts to his right hand preparing for action when he's piloting Eva Unit 01, and in EoE his right hand is covered in semen due to his depressed lust and desperation for Asuka. The hospital room scene in EoE also thematically ties Shinji in with Gendo. They both have the seeds of life in their respective right hands, albeit, they have seeds for very different life in their right hands. (Shinji has semen, Gendo has Adam.) Each of these seeds generally become effective when inserted inside a female, as demonstrated with Gendo saving Adam in Rei's body.
I've taken Shinji's hand motions to represent the need to hold on to someone embodying his dependency on others. This meaning you've derived due to the addition of Shinji masturbating seems
A. Less emotionally compelling
B. Less thematically powerful
C. Tangential to what Evagellion focuses it's story on
Consequently, Shinji masturbating serves to detract from the story making aspects of it
A. Less powerful emotionally
B. Less thematically powerful
C. Less focused
"Shinji's a pervert!" may make Shinji more complex, but it doesn't add anything meaningful to the story and serves to distract from a vastly more powerful moment with Shinji desperately shaking Asuka.
Another aspect in which this scene works as a story beat in Shinji's story is because it's the final straw in effectively isolating him emotionally from every female character in the show.
Asuka running away, Shinji's inability to save Asuka from the MP3's, Asuka being non-respondent to Shinji, and Shinji choking Asuka all demonstrate Shinji's emotional isolation in a way which is much more compelling than Shinji's masturbation does. Shinji's masturbation isn't important here. It's a distraction.
That isn't to say that there aren't reasons for not liking the hospital room scene.
Word.