Worrying about how it would have been done in 1998 or whenever those Weta Workshop designs were done is pointless.
In today's (2014) Hollwood, and Eva adaptation would either be planned as a 210-240 minute film or a trilogy of movies all the same length. Realistically it would be one movie, as Eva, while popular, is nothing beside something like the Marvel universe or the Lord of the Rings when it comes to having a built in fanbase. Even among anime fans it's fairly controversial.
To get any idea of how a Hollywood exec would look at Eva from a risk/reward perspective, consider the size and activity of Evageeks, the FF.net Eva section, and Eva subreddit and compare that to the same for Harry Potter, ASOIAF, etc.
Most likely, an Eva adaptation would not be designed to pander to Evageeks, unless it was in the hands of a very faithful director who was making it as a passion project and had enough cloud to have the script and casting done his way.
Assuming for the moment that isn't the case, we'd bee looking at a movie that's 2-3 hours long and made to appeal to American but also to International audiences (blockbusters in today's market must rely on international receipts much, much more than they used to; producers can no longer ignore Europe and especially China, and this is having more of an effect on howblockbusters are presented, even on the scripts)
Given the pressure to avoid whitewashing, the Japanese setting would probably be kept, but the actual setting and city of Tokyo-3 would be heavily "internationalized". (I did this in Age of Marvels, installing a large American and European refugee and expat community in the city- AoM Tokyo-3 is the home of the world's last Denny's restaurants)
What this internationalization would mean is that the cast would likely be multicultural- some of the main characters would be made Chinese, or South Asian. Nerv would probably look something like Wille, in fact. Most likely, it would work out like this:
Characters likely to retain their Japanese ancestry
- The Ikari family and Rei
- Fuyutsuki
- Toji
- Hikari
- Hyuga
Characters likely to be made into an American, played by a Caucasian actor, with a Western name
- Misato
or* - Kaji
- Asuka
- Kyoko
- Kaworu
- Aoba
*The "or" here is because Hollywood would likely want the make the couple biracial.
Characters likely to be made South Asian
- Ritsuko
- Maya
(Probably not both)
Characters likely to be portrayed by a Black actor
- Aoba
(Remember, I'm thinking like a Hollywood writer/exec here. Don't judge)
Now, Eva has an ensemble cast. Keeping it as it is would mean a lot of characters being juggled in a short running time, shortchanging any development they receive. We need to merge or remove some of them.
Toji and Kensuke can be merged into a single character.
Hyuga and Kaji can be merged. They're both love interests for Misato, and softening Kaji's role by merging him into Hyuga would allow the Hollywood version to prominently feature a white female character with a Japanese love interest (bonus points for reversing a racial trope) with Misato in the more active role in uncovering secrets (bonus points for grrrrrl power) Kaji's role in the organization in the anime is too convoluted for the screen time we're running here. The producers would be comfortable making them both white, though, as an Asian male/caucasian female dynamic will be present with Shinji and Asuka.
Ritsuko and Maya can be merged. Moving Ritsuko into the technobabble speaker slot gives her more screen time and eliminates the Galaxy Quest joke of having one character yell things so another character can explain them for no logical reason.
This would cut the school down to the pilots and a beta couple. It would cut the adult characters down to Gendo, Fuyutsuki, Misato, Ritsuko, a love interest for Misato, and a comic relief character.
Now, on to the pilots.
Kaworu will most likely have to be dropped. He barely adds anything to the anime, and Hollywood would not tolerate a gay love interest competing with Asuka for Shinji.
Rei would either be made explicitly not related to Shinji, or any hint of a romantic connection between them would have to be dropped. Kaworu and Rei would most likely be merged.
The romantic tension between Shinji and Asuka would be both strengthened and softened, as Asuka would have to be made into a more traditional tsundere. Her memories of her mother would no longer be repressed. She would also be present in Tokyo-3 from the beginning. Her conflict with Shinji would be more easily and quickly and easily established this way and it would allow them to have more screen time together to resolve their conflict and spark a romance between them.
The school might be eliminated entirely, and the Toji-composite character promoted to a pilot, and Hikari eliminated entirely so he can serve as a competitor love interest to Shinji for Asuka's affections. They may even be hooked up at the start.
The pilots would most likely be aged up to 18ish, possibly older. This age bracket is hot for fiction right now, usually called "New Adult".
So let's talk about the plot.
The episodic structure of the show and the Jo-Ha-Kyuu structure used in Rebuild are not suited for a Hollywood blockbuster, particular a single 2 hour and twenty minute to three hour movie. The plot would adhere to the beats laid out in Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" system.
Here's what the major points would look like:
Set Up: As he suits up to get in Unit 01, Shinji thinks about Gendo and Yui, establishing them in flashback. He ruminates on his life as a ward of Yui's brother.
Theme Stated: Misato reminds Shinji that he mustn't run away.
Catalyst: Shinji defeats his first angel. Probably not Sachiel- Asuka, Toji, and Rei would be established as a cohesive team that don't really need him before this point. Unit 01' special berserking power would be revealed at this point.
Debate: Can Shinji handle the power of the berserking Eva? Does he want to?
Break into Two: Shinji decides to stay. His rivalry with Toji becomes more friendly and his relationship with Asuka more open, hinting at romantic possibilities.
B Story: Shinji's courage in future battles and competence draws Asuka to him, she opens up about her past.
Promise of the Premise: Angel battles, obviously, with a subplot of Misato and Kajyuga's spying on Nerv.
Midpoint: The four pilots are at their very best when disaster strikes. An angel that combines the attribudes of Bardiel and Armisael attacks and takes over Toji's Eva. Shinji freezes up, and Asuka is forced to defeat him, and he's crippled or killed. This is also the Bad Guys Close In moment.
All Is Lost: Shinji is thrown out of (rather than voluntarily leaving) Nerv for insubordination. He feels betrayed that Asuka and Misato are staying and sees it as a betrayal.
Dark Night of the Soul: Zeruel attacks, and Shinji manages to make it back to the Eva to save the day when Asuka and Rei go down. He oversynchs and is absorbed into the Eva.
Break into Three: Misato discovers that Seele has been orchestrating the whole thing and purposely releasing the angels one at a time to ensure their defeat. Now the last one is gone, and Seele plans to attack and initiate Third Impact.
Finale: On the verge of being killed, Asuka calls out to Shinji, and he awakens inside the Eva, completes his spiritual journey, and rises to rally the defenders and defeat Seele's Evas.
Final Image: Shinji and Asuka outside their respective Evas, embracing and kissing in front of the backdrop of a rising sun.
Now, there's a lot of room within this framework for adjustment. It might make sense to drop the Seele angle completely and have Gendo or Rei function as the final antagonist to be defeated, eliminating the whole MPE invasion angle entirely. That would also allow Gendo to stand in as a physical representation of Shinji's fear to be overcome.
The main point is that there is no time, nor need for the school, and without the weirdness of the main characters being right at the very beginning of puberty the romance is much more straightforward and heartfelt.
Now for this to be a fanfic and realistically represent what a novelization of a Hollywood movie would be, it would need to stick to 75-100,000 words. Big fanfics can often meet or exceed the length of The Lord of the Rings (Nobody Dies is about twice the length of LOTR at the moment) but to be true to the spirit of a paperback movie novelization we'd be looking at a medium length novel with straightforward, clean prose written at a late high school level, and it would probably be written in third person limited, but not tightly limited to an individual perspective unless it jumps around between characters (as there would likely be shifts in perspective in the movie itself)
The main thing beside the plot would be:
- Big disaster setpieces during each of the angel attacks
- Funny banter in the control room
- Conflict between Ritsuko(or whoever she's turned into) and Misato that winds up with Rits betraying Gendo in some vital way that aids the pilots in saving the day at the cost of her own life.
Thoughts?
Another possibilty I should add: Merging Asuka and Shinji, and merging Rei and Kaworu, and making the combined Asuka-Shinji character the protagonist to achieve the fish-out-of-water effect that would be helpful in explaining Japanese customs to the audience without having a Japanese person question things he's known all his life.
Combining Asuka and Shinji sounds weird and illogical, but it would make the new character the child of Gendo and Kyoko, who has lived abroad, rather than with a relative, and is returning to Japan to answer the Call to Adventure. Making her female also means more GRRL Power points.
Combining Rei and Kaworu allows for some drama at the end, and an internal conflict in the love interest over loyalty to Gendo and love for Shinsuka.
Obviously I prefer a S/A story with the characters kept more intact.
