During the scene where Misato is berating Shinji for not following her orders in Shamshel fight. Misato gets angry, yanks him up which causes his drink to fall off from his hand and is about to slap him but stops after seeing the spilled drink and his smile. After Misato slaps herself, we again get a close up shot of spilled drink.

In Evangelion, whenever camera pans at some object, it always means something symbolic. Like when later Misato talks about her father at the bar with Ritsuko, we get close shot at Misato's cross, representing its importance as an object that connects her to her father. Now why a close shot of spilled drink? I don't know if it was a cold drink or milkshake but I couldn't find any event related to a spilled drink or something similar in TV series related to Misato.

Why would Anno chose to show a close-up shot of something simple as spilled drink twice? It's got to mean something to Misato, any ideas or theory?

I don't think the shot has any deeper meaning besides showing the consequences of Misato lashing out, with the second time it comes up being her reminding herself of said consequences

Maybe a callback to NGE, where in episode 24' Asuka slaps Shinji and coffee gets spilled as a result. Just a callback is rather unsatisfying, though, since preferably these things make sense in their own context as well. But I haven't seen 1.0 in a while so aside from that, I got nothing.

Facetiously speaking, its Freudian. It's always Freudian. The straw in the hole suggests that both parties want insertion. Badly. (That's my Matt Greenfield impression. Like it?)

Honestly, though, anime (especially Evangelion) has a tradition of cutting to static shots while action is implied to be occurring off-screen, or simply as a way of adding tone and atmosphere to the scene. The significance of the cup is that it was in Shinji's hands as he addresses Misato entirely by avoiding eye contact with her, suggesting a devil-may-care, too-cool-for-you, "bad boy" attitude. Misato knocks that attitude out of Shinji, as shown by her kicking the cup out of his hands, and then Shinji runs away because that "bad boy" persona was never his to begin with, and truly he's very insecure about himself.

I think it's also that the spilled drink resembles the delicate relationship Misato and Shinji formed took a hit at this moment.

^ See, that's how I read Misato slapping herself right after.

I think it's a visual way to better convey Shinji's apaty. In that sequence he's almost literally a sack of potatoes in Misato's hands, and the drink fell out of his finger were barely applying any force to it. Misato then slaps herself because she had the impulse of harming a child in that mental state, a deplorable action.

FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:Facetiously speaking, its Freudian. It's always Freudian. The straw in the hole suggests that both parties want insertion. Badly.

Here am I, laughing like a maniac at work, thinking of the implications that comment has in the context of Ep. 23