Does Shinji ever get the truth about Rei?

[SoryuUberAlles]

I was just going over episode 24 recently and there's this one scene where Shinji just begins to suss it...but does he ever actually, like, get it? I control-r'd some keywords in the scripts for EoE as well and I didn't find it.

I also looked over the manga again...does he ever learn it?

[NemZ]

He knows she's a clone obviously, but no, I don't think he (or anyone other than Gendo and Fuyu) knows precisely who she's a clone of.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Shinji is told the most about Rei's backstory towards the end of Episode 23 when Ritsuko exposition-bombs him and Misato. That, coupled with his experiences with Rei in the previous episodes, is all he really learns about Rei, and it scares him. Everything he sees Rei do in EoE comes almost entirely out of nowhere for him, and he doesn't process the new information very well.

[BlueBasilisk]

Nobody ever tells him, but I think he probably figured it out once he finally met Yui face to face during Instrumentality and saw what she looked like.

[CommanderFish]

To paraphrase the immortal words of Mr. Plinkett:
Shinji might not have noticed... but his brain did.

[Director Black]

Considering how scarred Shinji got after Ritsuko's explanation (That was also her trying to rid of her demons), he either came to that conclusion or put it out of mind until he was ready (And he's definitely not going to think about it after Instrumentality).

[SoryuUberAlles]

Tantalizingly, Ritsy does use the world 'salvage' but still doesn't mention Yui in episode 23.

It just goes to show how much the series it's a conspiracy against its own characters. The whole Freudian horror part of the show is such a big part of the mood to the viewers but even Asuka doesn't really know about the Mom's soul stuff until the very end.

[Director Black]

It just goes to show how much the series it's a conspiracy against its own characters. The whole Freudian horror part of the show is such a big part of the mood to the viewers

What do you expect when the organization that the Eva pilots and Major work for a government-implemented institution that's in turn run by a apocalyptic organization?

[mammaluser]

I don't remember clearly if ritsuko does or doesn't cleared out that Rei's a clone of yui, but it was eventually revealed to him (Shinji) that there are multiple reis, but if im not wrong in 3.33 fuyutsuki clears all the stuff about Rei being a clone of yui and the existence of multiple reis as well.

[RadicalRandy]

Yeah, in 3.33 Fuyutski very explicitly explains who/what Rei is. He says that Rei is a clone of his mother, Yui Ayanami, and even explains her Contact Experiment with Unit 01. That kinda messed him up a bit.

In the show, he only really knows that she's a clone, but he doesn't know who she's based off of considering he doesn't remember what his mother looks like (and Gendo got rid of the pictures). I think he made the connection when he saw her face in Instrumentality or something.

[Tumbling Down]

Shinji is told the most about Rei's backstory towards the end of Episode 23 when Ritsuko exposition-bombs him and Misato. That, coupled with his experiences with Rei in the previous episodes, is all he really learns about Rei, and it scares him. Everything he sees Rei do in EoE comes almost entirely out of nowhere for him, and he doesn't process the new information very well.

Pretty much.

I do think he might've been able to piece things together towards the end if he was interested in doing so, but he was very much not.

[Reichu]

I think his knowledge is implied when he asks what will happen to Yui right as he beholds Lilith's bisected head. These sorts of juxtapositions are done with intent.

[lilim]

i've seen people say things like "if Maya learned, through instrumentality, what Ritsuko was really up to the whole time would she stop feeling admiration for her and choose to come back alone?" or "Asuka's "kimochi warui" is in reference to the fact that she, through instrumentality, saw what Shinji did to her in the hospital and is repulsed by it" so if those things are true and the characters have a clear understanding of each other's past experiences and memories, then wouldn't Shinji then learn what Rei is even if he didn't want to piece that together himself? he would know what Gendo, Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko knew whether he wanted to or not.