Rei's pills

Discussion of the new series of Evangelion movies ( "Evangelion Shin Gekijōban", meaning "Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition"). The final instalment made its debut in Japan on March 8, 2021.

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TheChosenJuan
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Rei's pills

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Postby TheChosenJuan » Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:06 am

My Japanese is a bit frosty/inexistent so I was wondering what that pill was Rei was looking at in 2.0?
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Cybermat47 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:21 am

I assumed it had something to do with preparing her body for instrumentality, or perhaps to keep it intact until that time.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby pwhodges » Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:28 am

Cloning a higher-order animal is very difficult, and the results are nearly always unstable. I have always presumed that Rei's pills are medication to keep that tendency to decay in check; but what any writing relating to them says I have no idea.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby TheChosenJuan » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:03 am

View Original Postpwhodges wrote:Cloning a higher-order animal is very difficult, and the results are nearly always unstable. I have always presumed that Rei's pills are medication to keep that tendency to decay in check; but what any writing relating to them says I have no idea.


I dont know, that seems a bit unlikely since they made so many clones. They probably got all of that figuered out so my best guess is either a plain suicide capsule or a sample from one of the other seeds or so.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby pwhodges » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:20 am

What other clones? There's no reason to suppose that all the Reis don't take the same. The Reiquarium fluid probably contains the necessary for simple delivery (and those clones fall apart very easily when Ritsuko destroys them).
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby AdamMalkovitch » Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:29 am

I remember reading somewhere on this forum that they were some sort of food pill, it seems to be most of her diet, as the only times we see her eat actual food are during the annoyingly cliche picnic scene in the ocean restoration plant, and (I think, I haven't really checked to see if she's eating real food or just pills) with Gendo, discussing the concept of the dinner party with the two of them and Shinji.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby TheChosenJuan » Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:58 pm

Well she drank the soup, but there is some universal speculation if soup is really food. And didn't she eat the food Shinji gave her? At least the tray was empty in her apartment.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby pwhodges » Wed Jan 31, 2018 5:48 pm

View Original PostTheChosenJuan wrote:there is some universal speculation if soup is really food.

Speculation? Universal? Where on earth did you get that nonsense from?
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Reichu » Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:08 pm

The pills are an element from the original NGE, and from Rei's room in the abandoned Gehirn facilities we see that she's been on them from the beginning. NGE, at least, implies that her body is very unstable for what may be entirely metaphysical reasons. Rei's death drive is very high, a point made repeatedly with her dialogue, and somewhat indirectly with the clones.

While soulless, they appear to be linked via LCL to the personality data in the giant brain-like structure. When Ritsuko initiates "Destrudo Release" with her remote, the clones all spontaneously disintegrate. Rei herself exhibits similar behavior in EoE when her "A.T. Field can no longer hold [her] shape", and Lilith dies the same way. It's sometimes thought that Ritsuko makes the clones undergo destruction, but "destrudo release" says otherwise. Destrudo refers to the death drive within every organism, so releasing it means that she simply allowed the clones to destroy themselves. Destrudo receives another prominent mention in 26', where Shinji's death drive is systematically overloaded in the 3I ceremonies, until his body (is very strongly implied to) spontaneously burst into LCL -- in other words, it self-destructs. Thus uncontrolled destrudo results in literal self-destruction.

The pills, then, might be aimed at suppressing Rei's death drive. In NGE, anyway. In the new movies, I have no idea. It may just end up being a holdover that is never explained, not even through indirect means.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Cybermat47 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:06 pm

View Original PostTheChosenJuan wrote:I dont know, that seems a bit unlikely since they made so many clones. They probably got all of that figuered out so my best guess is either a plain suicide capsule or a sample from one of the other seeds or so.


That actually makes it seem more likely to me. They figured out that they need to give Rei these pills after working on the other clones (if there were any before our Rei in the Rebuild universe).
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:26 am

Rei eats food. She not only eats Shinji's soup, but even if you have an internal debate as to whether or not soup is food, we also see in Eva Ha that she has regular dinners with Gendo during which she eats actual food. Rei's pills aren't food pills.

Rei doesn't have a natural mother, though, so they could certainly be "lack-of-natural-mother" pills. (AKA, pills that keep her body stable due to the fact that she's a cloned being.)

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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Cybermat47 » Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:40 am

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:have an internal debate as to whether or not soup is food


Easily my favourite deleted scene from End of Evangelion. Shinji was asking the important questions in instrumentality.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby AdamMalkovitch » Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:01 pm

Looking through these posts, I think it's very likely that these pills are used to hold Rei's physical form intact. It makes sense, as forcing the soul of a god into a human body is bound to have a few negative side effects. This is all well and good in Neon Genesis, but it hasn't really been confirmed in New Theatrical that Rei has a fraction of Lilith's soul, so this could be something completely different in NTE.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Reichu » Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:08 pm

Not confirmed, no -- but the hints are piling up. The Rei-shaped Lilith head makes it especially unlikely that this particular element will change.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby TheChosenJuan » Thu Feb 01, 2018 3:37 pm

Seems like the remakes not just have most plot elements, but also the numerous unanswered questions in the original series in common. Anno should've better made an entire reboot-show instead of some movies, but I guess shows don't make that much money nowadays even if it's a show with a big fan-community behind it.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Joseki » Thu Feb 01, 2018 3:47 pm

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:Rei eats food. She not only eats Shinji's soup, but even if you have an internal debate as to whether or not soup is food, we also see in Eva Ha that she has regular dinners with Gendo during which she eats actual food. Rei's pills aren't food pills.


SPOILER: Show
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Is this food? They look like a handful of pills to me. She doesn't even have a dish, a fork or a knife.

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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Reichu » Thu Feb 01, 2018 4:33 pm

I feel lame for missing that all these years. :lol: Thanks, Joseki!

Confirmation in the script:

C-0723

食事は、カプセル、パック
Her meal is [comprised of] capsules and (a) pack(s)

"Pack" is pretty vague and I'm not sure what it's supposed to refer to, at least in the final movie. If the storyboard shows something different, I can't check it right now.
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Joseki » Fri Feb 02, 2018 5:40 am

View Original PostReichu wrote:I feel lame for missing that all these years. :lol: Thanks, Joseki!

Confirmation in the script:


"Pack" is pretty vague and I'm not sure what it's supposed to refer to, at least in the final movie. If the storyboard shows something different, I can't check it right now.


I'd say the pack is the open drink container. It looks like a bit like this

SPOILER: Show
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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Fri Feb 02, 2018 7:19 am

View Original PostJoseki wrote:
SPOILER: Show
Image


Is this food? They look like a handful of pills to me. She doesn't even have a dish, a fork or a knife.

Holy shit.

Um.... miso soup is still food, though. *nods defiantly*

(Seriously, how did I miss that when NTE is all about teeth and eating?)

EDIT: HOLY SHIT NTE IS ALL ABOUT TEETH AND EATING THINGS! (Shinji puts down Misato's eating habits in Eva Jo, Eva Unit 01 tries to eat Asuka under influence of the Dummy Plug, the Earth opens up into having teeth and a mouth in Eva Q, ect.) AND Rei BEGAN TO GAIN AGENCY AS SOON AS Shinji STARTED FEEDING HER REAL FOOD!!!

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Re: The pill... a hint to the Matrix?

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Postby Cybermat47 » Fri Feb 02, 2018 7:44 am

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:EDIT: HOLY SHIT NTE IS ALL ABOUT TEETH AND EATING THINGS! (Shinji puts down Misato's eating habits in Eva Jo, Eva Unit 01 tries to eat Asuka under influence of the Dummy Plug, the Earth opens up into having teeth and a mouth in Eva Q, ect.) AND Rei BEGAN TO GAIN AGENCY AS SOON AS Shinji STARTED FEEDING HER REAL FOOD!!!


I would say that you’re looking to deeply into it, but... it’s Eva, we can’t look deeply enough into it. Just look at the penis thread.

EDIT: Holy shit, EoE has prominent eating scenes as well! EVA-01 eats Gendo, and EVA-02 is eaten by the MPEs!
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