I don't think NERV or Seele groomed the pilots to accept instrumentality, i think they just didn't care about them since they were just a means to an end. All they needed them for was the elimination of the angels, and this led to setbacks to both of em. Seele lost the lance and NERV lost Rei II, al...

^ Mari was also urging him to stop being naive and get to know there world as she was ejecting him so there is also that. As far as Mari being the one that dies, i'm not sure how effective that would be. For a death to be effective there should be an emotional connection to a character for it to mea...

I wouldn't say they "ignored" his status as an Impact trigger, since that's the very reason they gave him a bomb collar. I'll keep it brief to not derail too much anymore. Ignored perhaps wasn't the best way to put it, but what i got from Ritsukos' genuine surprise that NERV wanted Shinji...

^ Been watching it too, this season has been great and i have really enjoyed the full use adult swim as far as content is concerned (that joke had me laughing for a good minute). Makes the 13 year wait for a conclusion seem not so bad.

Just because Shinji is the main character doesn't mean the world actually revolves around him. But it was an in-universe cruel sense of irony that that ended up being the case. WILLIE made the mistake of thinking just because they didn't "need" him doesn't no one else does and ignored wha...

^ i thought that version of Godzilla was less protector and more territorial animal, like how a lion will kill a hyena or leopard to get rid of competition for food and space. As far as the anime film goes, i like that direction they're taking. It's a departure from the norm and using the freedom th...

^ They could always do OVAs' after 4.0 if they wish to explore that time period. Perhaps focused on different characters PoVs.

I hope they don't rush it though and take their time with it. Rather wait 1 or 2 more years for quality than for something rushed.

I always interpreted as there being a time limit on how far back it works, otherwise there'd be serious overpopulation issues. There's also the quote in the OP, Asukas arm was split in half when she died, yet she comes back with an intact bandaged arm. That gives some interesting implications if say...

I gotta agree with the sentiment that others have said that it wasn't black/white choice between Asuka and Rei. While interpretations could be made for it, ultimately that wasn't what was displayed in the show + EOE. Rei was the avatar of the "deity" giving the choice to Shinji between the...

^ Well it depends on what happens in 4.0. Though i suspect they'll be shown to be friends once again by then, since Shikinami isn't as broken as Soryu and Shinji will likely have others to help him through his ordeal. It'll depend on whether Shinji is willing to listen and learn from others while st...

I hope this isn't a necro but since it's still in the front page i hope it's ok to give my thoughts on this after recently rewatching 3.0. In a way this particular line as well as her overall behavior towards Shinji reminded me of the love/hate dynamic Shinji/Soryu had in NGE, though obviously it is...

My first exposure came in the early 2000s when NGE was airing on Adult Swim. Don't even remember if it finished its full run that first time i saw it. After hearing about the rebuild movies but shortly before they were to start coming out i rewatched NGE+EoE to get caught up the whole story proper. ...