Shinji really did just want Asuka and no other women

[Asunji_Yuko]

I think Asuka was wrong (in EOE) when she told Shinji he saw her as a generic girl to fill his loneliness void, that is, "anyone else would do."

If that were the case, he wouldn't have:
1. Avoided asking Rey and Misato for help altogether, regardless of the excuses he used, and
2. Activated third impact when Asuka rejected him. He would've gone on to pursue other girls if Asuka really were as replaceable as she thought herself.

Rather, Asuka's rejection of Shinji is a projection of her own low self esteem. She believes "anyone would do" for Shinji because she doesn't believe he actually wants only her, since she believes he's rejected her before and doesn't know she misunderstood, nor does she believe she's good enough for anyone to want genuinely.

[C.T.1290]

Well, she was the only one available, so Shinji came to her out of desperation, and maybe a little bit of lust. And Asuka rightfully called him out for it, although she’s not without blame either, since she was lusting after Kaji at the time to fulfill her desires to be more “grown up”.

But I think over time, his feelings towards her might become more genuine, and vice versa. They’re both still young and confused, so may not understand their hormonal feelings.

[MoonRabbitMallow]

I think... I think this might be true, but also I see Shinji as the type of person to just kind of latch onto people who show him any sort of positive attention (like Kaworu), although I don't think he's shallow by any means. If anything, he seems to be closed off even to people he knows and is "close" with. In some ways, Asuka isn't entirely dissimilar.

So I think what Asuka said is more of a half-truth. I don't think Shinji sees Asuka as replaceable, but I also think he has the capacity to latch onto anyone. I also think that Asuka showering him with mostly negative attention makes it more likely that Shinji does generally have some sort of genuine ...Respect? Attraction? Interest? Liking? Towards her. If a little... messed up and clearly driven by emotional desperation. Otherwise why be so interested in her, ya know? I'll be honest, I haven't got a clue as to why he seems interested in her considering how rocky their interactions tend to be overall- seems to me more like they just hate each other at times with Shinji being the occasional butt of the joke. (Unless I missed something important.)

So, it's not that anyone else would do for Shinji, I just think that the way in which he chooses to get attached to or reject people is very strange due to his many, many emotional issues and not founded on any continuous logic or pattern, it's more like his attachment pattern is kind of all over the place and not making too much sense on a surface level. I'm sure if we sat down and analyzed it the way he gets emotionally invested in people would make some sense but I'm certainly not the best at doing that myself lol.

So Asuka isn't wrong, but she's not entirely right either in my opinion.

[Blockio]

We have threads for shipping already; this is just that with extra steps.