Will Shinji Ever Find Love In The End?

[AlphaGamma]

As much as I'd love for an NME Shinji and Asuka romance to happen, romance doesn't seem to be the point of NME. A possibility sometime after EoE depending on your POV, sure. But I don't see how it could happen in NME when the focus is Shinji fully accepting himself and the world despite all the bad shit that's gone down (and will continue to go down, I'm sure).

Please don't quote an entire post, only quote the relevant sections. - SSD

Tbh, as someone else pointed out, shipping and Eva don't really get along. Looking back at NGE, it's probably one of the series with the highest amount of unrequited loves, for one reason or another. We have (Shinji/Asuka, Asuka/Kaji, Hyuga/Misato, Ritsuko/Gendo, Ritsuko's mother/Gendo, Maya/Ritsuko, Fuyutsuki/Yui...) and not even one ends well... Not even the actual romantic relationships have a good ending (Kaji/Misato).

The rebuild, on the other hand, never even focused on the romantic side of the relationships (i don't see Rei/Shinji as romantic). It's highly doubtful that that's going to change, especially after the event of 3.0. The closest we may get to Asuka/Shinji would probably be just one more unrequited love, with Shinji developing feelings for her after seeing/realising what she's gone through, and Asuka being "unable to see him as mature" (as in unhelpful/unsupportive) enough to consider him a romantic interest (for old time's sake...). Only this time around she wouldn't come across as hypocritical.

I do believe though, that Asuka will be the focus in a way. Her being called princess just sticks in my head as something with relevance to the future development of the rebuild (i know...it sounds like a very silly reason...).



As for all the Rei/Shinji shipping related to the manga. Sadamoto was recently interviewed when he came to Italy. He was asked the reason why he decided to focus more on Rei as opposed to Asuka and he answered "...I preferred to focus more on the relationship between Shinji and his mother, which is at the core of my manga (mother-son theme ofc)... Of course my relationship with my mother is different (laughs)... a manga i was influenced by was Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu, that focuses on the relationship between a mother and her son. Every mother in the world wants the best for her son, and that's what my manga is about"(interview link http://www.dummy-system.com/sadamoto-days-i-fan-meet-e-lintervista/). It's actually worth pointing out that he refers to Rei as mother, he doesn't even refer to her as a clone of Shinji's mother, to further highlight the way Rei should be seen in his manga.

He also said that his favourite character, personality-wise, is Misato. So, no, his favourite isn't Rei (although i'm pretty sure he said he likes to draw her the most). It would definitely help understanding Evangelion (that is alrdy confusing enough as it is) if people stopped shipping and paid attention to what official sources say...

[monitoradiation]

As for all the Rei/Shinji shipping related to the manga. Sadamoto was recently interviewed when he came to Italy. He was asked the reason why he decided to focus more on Rei as opposed to Asuka and he answered "...I preferred to focus more on the relationship between Shinji and his mother, which is at the core of my manga (mother-son theme ofc)... Of course my relationship with my mother is different (laughs)... a manga i was influenced by was Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu, that focuses on the relationship between a mother and her son. Every mother in the world wants the best for her son, and that's what my manga is about"(interview link http://www.dummy-system.com/sadamoto-days-i-fan-meet-e-lintervista/). It's actually worth pointing out that he refers to Rei as mother, he doesn't even refer to her as a clone of Shinji's mother, to further highlight the way Rei should be seen in his manga.

Ahcrap. tangent incoming... I admit to not having read through the manga (I only got through to i think the 4th book when I was young and had limited funds). Though, I find it strange that he would choose to (almost) conflate Rei and Yui when they are said to possess souls of their own. The reason is this (the below is written at the risk of strawmanning Sadamoto since he didn't exactly say that Rei = Yui, but only said that the Shinji-Rei relationship is a son-mother one...):

To me the defining characteristic of Rei in NGE (and why she's compelling) is that she finds her identity in spite of being a biological clone and knowing she's replaceable and possibly quickly expiring. Without this identity there cannot be Rei, not even a pronoun that represents her. That she's a clone Shinji's mother is a direct result/complication of her biological lineage, not her identity. If Rei were a clone of some random lady, she can still conceivably have the same personality. It's just that it is a convenient plot device for the writers to create shock value, taboo, and neatly wedge some psychoanalytical jargon into the series like "mother is the first other" and "separation anxiety" etc for the series to explore.

Therefore, to equate Rei and Yui based on their biological lineage (even that might be disputable because she could contain biological material from lilith - but then again, all of mankind does) is to do the character herself a disservice and would literally make no sense. You see this differentiation stated more explicitly for effect in Q where ReiQ starts to question who she is and explores the idea of self and figures out that her numerical identity is irrelevant to her actual identity. If individual clones can have identities, then the entirety of Ayanami Series is not Yui. Simply put, a clone of me, aint me.

It would therefore follow that since Rei is not Yui that it's kind of weird for him to say that their relationship is a mother-son one... I can see a point maybe though, that one of the two (or combination thereof) is what he means...
1. Rei is the personification of the classic maternal figure; an avatar of lilith, the mother of mankind. And her affection for Shinji would be an expression of a goddess for her creation.
2. Rei feels protective of Shinji like a mother/big sister would because she knows that she's a biological clone of Yui. Shinji feels like Rei is his mom because he figured out Rei is Yui's clone. They are unable to see past her (and his own) biological lineage and that their feelz are intrinsically tied to biology.

And perhaps that's what he means...

But back on topic:

You're right in that in NGE none of the relationships have a good ending - not just romantic relationships, pretty much all relationships are faulty and broken. This is Anno's way of showing the the follies of interpersonal relationships and being separate entities forced by our biological imperative to interact. It's kind of the motif in EoTV and EoE about striving onward looking for happiness knowing full well the pain that will occur. So I think by storytelling necessity all of the relationships in NGE cannot end well since not following that modus operandi would stick out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of massive amount of pain...

[ElMariachi]

Watch Anno be completely true to not catering to his audience and not release a CRC for Q. Ever.

Q seems such a drastic change compared to the original series that it must have necessitated a lot of work, and I don't think that Khara will pass the opportunity to show their work and all the new process they used for their movie(such has mo-cap), besides the demand of Q-related material is extremely high(if only to try to understand a little more about this new and mysterious setting)

But since Q looks like a prologue for FINAL, I could see the 3.0 and FINAL CRC being released at the same time in one gigantic CRC after FINAL is released in theaters.

Just an aside: gendo's plans in 1.11/2.22 to intentionally make Shinji/Rei closer to bring eva-01 to awaken is so abhorrent that I've long lost any sympathy for his character. I think it's a failing on Anno's part that in the Rebuilds he's arguably less human than even Seele. It's really hard to buy into his circumstance when all he does is be as big of a jerk as he can. And I can't help but think that Asuka being allowed to sync with eva-03 to her demise was somehow in the plans to rid Rei of a potential competitor for Shinji's interests. Shinji would either lose his cool and make eva-01 awaken right on the spot vs bardiel or forge a stronger will when the Big Z ultimately messes everyone up. They know Seele's boy is on the moon watching and will intervene anyway so gendo is really just forcing Seele's hand.

Well, his plan can be see under a sympathetic light : sure he wanted to get Shinji and Rei close to awake EVA-01, which would left them absorbed inside its core, but :

• he never stated that he wanted them to become lovers, just that they get close emotionally, and when you look at it, they never were lovers(look my post at the previous page about their relationship in NME), but just two lonely teenager who found that they have things in common and want to put back the pieces of the Ikari family together, with Rei included. It's everyone else(Misato, Asuka, Kensuke) who put their shipping goggles on and jumped to conclusions that they are in love, except that even if from an outside point of view it looked like they were in love, actually they were just two lonely teenagers learning about human interactions.
  When I think about it, I wonder if Anno didn't wanted to make the rest of the cast as a representation of the shipping fandom : after all, if even the characters in-universe can see their bonding as love, then it means that there is really love in the air! Except that even the character in-universe can be wrong.
  
  An excellent indicator is Misato and Ritsuko's conversation in the former car : Ritsuko said that Rei changed a lot and is more open, and wonder what make her take initiatives such as the dinner party. Misato immediately said that it's love, and Ritsuko immediately responds "That's impossible!"
  Now remember : Ritsuko is Rei's personal doctor, the one who make all her check-ups, she knows she a clone and probably know from who she has been cloned(a rapid search in the NERV database with Rei's DNA can give her the answer in minutes), and thus she knows that Rei and Shinji are brother and sister. But that's not all : Ritsuko has a purely scientific mind, and never once in the movies made any judgment on a person, ever, but only judge the facts, when they were arguing about Misato's plan to defeat Sahaquiel, she never said that Misato was insane, but that the plan was insane and that the Magi calculated that the probabilities of success were almost null.
  And in the conversation in the car she clearly said that Rei's reason for making the dinner party being love is "impossible", because she knows facts that Misato ignores : that Rei is actually Shinji's "sister" and that she knows Rei very well for being her doctor and also her confident(seen when Rei asked to Ritsuko to borrow her phone to thank Asuka for volunteering to pilot EVA-03), a big change from NGE where she barely tolerated Rei, and thus know her well enough to know that she's not in love, because she's simply too socially inept to know how to behave when being in love(and that her behavior make people think she's in love) and that her objective isn't to get the boy, but to get close to both Shinji and Gendo, meaning being all three being "poka poka" like a family.
  
  
• Shinji and Rei absorbed inside EVA-01 mean that they are trapped yes, but also that now they are reunited with Yui and in the safest place possible before Gendo launches the last phase of his plan(which was completely derailed by whatever happened during the time skip that wrecked the world and left him alone with Fuyu)
  
  
• it's not Gendo who forced SEELE's hand, but the contrary : 2.0 has a big cold war happening between SEELE and Gendo, who began at the beginning of the movie when the latter sabotaged Bethany Base and stole the Key of N. It's very heavily implied that what happened to EVA-04 was a sabotage from SEELE as a retaliation, and it's possible that what happened with EVA-03 was also their doing, or at least that they knew that Bardiel would infect EVA-03 and didn't said anything to Gendo. All of this in order to weaken him to later remove him and his organization to be replaced with their shiny Mark.06.
  And the creators really thought about this possibility : an unused scene had a reunion between SEELE were they reveal that they were being the EVA-04 and EVA-03 incidents to weaken Gendo and obtain data about Angel/human and Angel/Eva fusions, the same kind of researches that they were making at Bethany but were stopped by Gendo's sabotage so he could keep the upper hand.(all these researches paid off in 3.0 with the Nemesis Series, and probably also Mark.09)
  The loss of EVA-04, then EVA-03 and a pilot were very heavy losses for Gendo.
  
  
• Gendo didn't had any necessity to put Asuka out of commission to prevent Shinji from diverging from the planed relationship : first as I said that wasn't love between him and Rei, and second since Gendo planned to have them absorbed by awakening EVA-01, and that it needs an Angel to do so, he knew that Shinji would have stayed little time in Tokyo-3, and not enough to eventually fall in love with Asuka, and even then that don't mean that he wouldn't try everything and beyond to save Rei.

No, Gendo definitively crossed the moral horizon in Q, where he kidnapped his son, putting his life in danger while doing so(thanks god Misato still had a sherd of humanity and could bring herself to trigger the DSS Choker), and then it's implied that he's the one who orchestrated Shinji's descent to madness(via Toji's shirt which was the starting point of the marathon of mind-shattering revelations), and then put him in a position where he will have to fight his former friends, before finally abandoning him like an used tool at the hands of WILLE, who could very well execute him to prevent any more risks, without a second thought, all of this to advance his own plans.
The unexpected time skip made Gendo change by removing his morality chain(Rei and in a lesser way Shinji), which changed him into an ruthless machine able to actively destroy his son to reach his objectives.

[Shinoyami65]

I think it'll probably end up like in EoE, with the possibility of them starting a relationship, but with no clear conclusion, and with both being aware of the other's flaws and the fact that even if they did get into a relationship it would be troubled and by no means ideal.

Either that or it'll be a tragic end when one dies to save the other.

[monitoradiation]

@El:

Good post. But i didnt say that Gendo had planned for Rei and Shinji to become romantically involved, just that i found what he was doing to "bring them closer" to be in poor taste. Also when i say that Gendo was forcing Seele's hand, i know that the Bethany base incident and Bardiel was Seele's doing. Im just saying that Gendo likely knew that he can safely let eva-01 awaken since he knows Seele's got a Spear on the moon ready to stop the impact and was in a way goading them to show eva-06.

As for the aforementioned bardiel incident; its just me speculating. Nothing serious to level against Gendo.

Edit: As for Ritsuko's comments regarding the dinner invites, i see that as her saying that it would be out of character for Rei to display affection in the way that Misato implies. I definitely agree with you that the in-universe characters are reading too much into it and are projecting (mainly Misato because she was getting her Kaji relationship rekindled - we see her swooning on the chair during the sync test prior to eva-02 lockout). But i wouldnt presume Rei to tell Ritsuko much at all in terms of feels, i think thats a bit of an unwarranted stretch. If Ritsuko is Rei's confidant she should be more in-the-know regarding Rei vis-a-vis her discussion with Misato where she gave her Rei's renewed card...

[Kendrix]

That sadamoto interview has the problem of contradicting itself with the Kaworu thing and that statement that he's got this from being exposed to Rei's feelings - her certaily wasn't overcome by a sudden urge to parent Shinji.

Never mind that earlier Evil!Yui commment... ("So the story ends as it began, with Yui's self indulgence". )


This exists, people. There's the weird armisael hug thing, Rei being present in the "girls in suggestive poses scenes" as Shinji ponders the hidden sides of them he doesn't know (Rei is namely NOT the token safe one; She's in there), there's Shinji visibly struggling to no look at her nekkid (or swimsuited) form...

Mothers do not want to "become one" with their children; They want them to leave the nest and produce grandkids. They also don't get dissapointed when the "kid" isn't looking at them.

Even the fucking proposal already introduces her as "learned about feelings after she falls in love."

Everyone in Rebuild calls it what it is; Ritsuko is notably someone who sees Rei as a thing, I don't think her judgement should be trusted here. The Gendo relationship may not be present, but even if there's no personal hate involved (which a certain omit scene, would it have been included, would have hinted at) she's still the token callous cynical person on the cast.


People tend to use a sibling bond as shorthand for "two ppl get along, but don't fuck", but it's a specific kind of relationship, ppl. The closest analogue would be a friend you knew since elementary school or earlier - There's evidence to suggest that it registers as something similar to the brain, hence similar eww-reactions.
Either way, it's something that forms, not something you automatically get.
If you're parents gave you up for adoption upon birth, you wound not recognize them on the street.
And even if there's as many different sibling bonds as there are pairs of siblings (the relations can be positive or not etc), it's generally the result of sort of having always been around each other and... acting natural. The whole ep 7 rant about family? Yeah.

Just look at how these scenes are cut, and compare them to, say, scenes involving Touji and Kensuke. The dwelling on each and every minute reaction and exchange, the specific trickle of words... they don't come all at once, but unlike regular akwardness, they do come.


So, Rei wants him to get along with Gendo. Well, that's great for Rei, because who doesn't want their significant others to get along? Also, it's a huge dream of Shinji's.
She wants him to be happy. Duh.
Did only your mom ever want you to be happy?

She may have been willing to jump in with she shield, but that wasn't really directed at him and Rei explicitly states that she's doing her job; He only gets her interested in him specifically, gives him anything beyond the "because you're an EVa pilot" thing he's got such a complex about, when he earns it.
Your mom, is, by default, the one person you DONT have to earn, because it's the easy starting level for beginners. This goes for most relatives to a lesser degree.
Rei wasn't invested in Shinji to begin with. First she's wjeeled past him and doesn't react, then, curiosity because he picked her up from the floor and fought the monster (but still far from instant love) and then they saved each other's lives.
And heck, while Shinji was, in some aspects catching up to her, he ultimately proves that he's just as willing to give his life for her. Does that now make him want to be her dad?
(Unlike in most anime, walking on the girl nakds is nOT sufficient. You gotta face things that nearly barbecued you, then maybe there's a chance. We often have this dynamic of Shinji showing Aside his own worries when there's another person in danger, and that's pretty much the opposite of running to your mommy. (Then, of course, comes Bardiel and turns this on its head/against him.Basically, there were endangered people in both directions))
A parent child relation is, by default, asymetrical - someone's gonna be the parent, and someone else the child. But Shinji looks out for and tries to protect Rei just as often. .

It's also not as if Rei is this ideal doll thing; She's very willing to pull out the brutal honesty on him. And he outright states that he admires her streght, there's that dynamic of "catching up." note that Rei also opens to people in general, not just Shinji - The original series had this thing with Touji going on, but Rebuild is obvious in how many "Thank yous" get heard after the initial one, and that she starts greeting her classmates.
And there's emphasis on him being drawn to what was already there in terms of human girl, the emphasis on the book thing etc.
ReiQ is created from the same materials, yet she doesn't react to him.

They're 14, and inexperienced even for their own age. Of course they're not invested or expressing with the deliberateness and maturity of an adult married couple. Little tokens of affection, showing telling akward behavior, holding hands and hugging is as far as most ppl come at this age.

That they're doomed by BG details so we can have tragedy and cheap squicks does not in any way excluse that they simply do have an attraction there and act that way (where'd any westermark effect even come from, with them meeting as teenagers) and that they have compatible personalities and a generally positive effect on each other.


---

As for Gendo, don't forget that he was AGAINST using EVA 03.

[Bagheera]

This exists, people.

It exists in the minds of people why style themselves "Team Blue", nothing more. In reality there is no more to it than there is with any other pairing involving the kids -- i.e. nothing at all. You see what you want to see and dismiss anything that doesn't fit your narrative, even direct quotes from the script and the show's creators! The only real truth at work here is that none of the kids had a chance to resolve their own issues to the point where they could meaningfully connect with other people. That was the whole damn point of the exercise.

Now can we cut the shipping bullshit and either get back to the point of the thread or just lock it and move on?

[Chuckman]

It exists in the minds of people why style themselves "Team Blue", nothing more. In reality there is no more to it than there is with any other pairing involving the kids -- i.e. nothing at all. You see what you want to see and dismiss anything that doesn't fit your narrative, even direct quotes from the script and the show's creators! The only real truth at work here is that none of the kids had a chance to resolve their own issues to the point where they could meaningfully connect with other people. That was the whole damn point of the exercise.

Now can we cut the shipping bullshit and either get back to the point of the thread or just lock it and move on?

The film purposely contrasts Shinji and Rei's interactions with Asuka's ham-handed teenage seduction attempts directed at Shinji. One reading is that this is meant to highlight that Shinji isn't approaching Rei on a romantic level, since he doesn't seem to "get" the message Asuka is clearly sending him. The other is, as Kendrix apparently believes, that Shinji and Rei are fumbling towards a romantic attachment without really understanding what they're doing.

They're both equally valid readings, as I see it. There's a definite sexual component to Shinji and Rei's relationship- the groping scene, obviously, but there's a sexual undertone to her rescue from Zeruel's core (Rei, or her spirit form or whatever, is naked- but has Shinji's S-DAT. She doesn't have to be naked, so why is she?)

[Bagheera]

The film purposely contrasts Shinji and Rei's interactions with Asuka's ham-handed teenage seduction attempts directed at Shinji. One reading is that this is meant to highlight that Shinji isn't approaching Rei on a romantic level, since he doesn't seem to "get" the message Asuka is clearly sending him. The other is, as Kendrix apparently believes, that Shinji and Rei are fumbling towards a romantic attachment without really understanding what they're doing.

Kendrix is pretty clearly talking about NGE as well as NME here, conflating the two as she often does, and my statement was made in that context. If people want to talk about a possible Shinji/Rei hookup in Final they're welcome to start a thread on it, but what does that have to do with the topic at hand?

[Chuckman]

"No, there is no possibility of an Asuka/Shinji ending to rebuild because {reasons it'll be Shinji/Rei}" is a perfectly valid answer to the thread topic.

My answer would be no, because Asuka is 28 years old, but something tells me that can and will be thrown out of the window if the needs of the story require it.

[TheFriskyIan]

If Shinji and Asuka get together, than that blows my "Mana coming in at FINAL and seducing Shinji" ending out of the water!

[Bagheera]

"No, there is no possibility of an Asuka/Shinji ending to rebuild because {reasons it'll be Shinji/Rei}" is a perfectly valid answer to the thread topic.

Not when it's grounded in NGE conceits, it's not. In NTE the Rei for whom that was a possibility is dead, with the current incarnation being a soulless clone who, judging by her responses thus far, is far more likely to hook up with/be friends with Asuka or Mari than Shinji.

My answer would be no, because Asuka is 28 years old, but something tells me that can and will be thrown out of the window if the needs of the story require it.

Q!Asuka has bigger fish to fry than Shinji by this point, assuming the Curse of Eva hasn't squelched the impulse altogether.

[ElMariachi]

Well, determining if Shinij knew what romantic interest feels and looks like via his relationship with Rei II could help us to imagine if he could start a romantic relationship with Asuka or anyone else.

The point I wanted to express with Rei's example is that everyone, both out and in-universe, interpreted their interactions are a burgeoning love, but the problem is that Shinji and Rei lived so far a life so solitary and secluded that Shinji and Rei are starting from very far, so far that for me they aren't even considering love in a romantic sense between them because they are still at the state "learning to connect with someone else".
It's possible that with time, their connection would have evolved into something romantic, but then Zeruel and N3I happened and cut it short before it could go anywhere beyond "something I care for" level.

Now for FINAL it will depend how fast Shinji recover his sanity and start to trust people enough to start a connection with them(and mend the relationship with the people he already know) to see if he can be ready for a romantic relationship.
As for Asuka... well it will depend on how much time FINAL will spend on fleshing her character and make her interact with Shinji, because if she have a similar role than in Q, meaning being a soldier for WILLE to bring us cool fighting scenes, any romantic relationship is out of the question.
But since FINAL will have Shinji having to regain hope and learn to interact again with people, mending his relationship with the people he knows(mainly Misato and Asuka) should logically be an important of the movie, so I don't have much concerns that they will at least interact, a lot.

"No, there is no possibility of an Asuka/Shinji ending to rebuild because {reasons it'll be Shinji/Rei}" is a perfectly valid answer to the thread topic.

My answer would be no, because Asuka is 28 years old, but something tells me that can and will be thrown out of the window if the needs of the story require it.

Well, that whole curse of Eva nonsense must be here for a reason aside purely marketing purpose...

@ Bagheera : I wouldn't say that Rei Q is soulless, she does have emotions, and the way Q presented her to us she seems to go toward the path of being her own persona which happens to have the same appearance than Rei, instead of a "Rei III"(the "tentative name :" part of her official name being a big hint).
As for her own relationships, she will probably stay close to the people who will give her answers about who she really is, maybe FINAL will surprise us and Ritsuko will be the one who will take her under her wing! But because her biological connection with Yui and the fact she has been used as a bait for Shinji, the two of them will have to have a conversation at some point.

[Bagheera]

@ Bagheera : I wouldn't say that Rei Q is soulless, she does have emotions, and the way Q presented her to us she seems to go toward the path of being her own persona which happens to have the same appearance than Rei, instead of a "Rei III"(the "tentative name :" part of her official name being a big hint).

"Soulless" and "emotionless" are different things. Rei Q clearly has emotions, but we're told flat out her soul is elsewhere and that Rei II became a part of Unit 01. That suggests Rei Q is a clone without a soul, no matter that she might have a personality of her own. But it's moot anyway since the bulk of her meaningful interaction and development occurred with Asuka and Mari, not Shinji.

[Chuckman]

We have to step back and see that there is still a distinctly sexual component to Rei and Shinji's relationship. While 1.0 followed episodes 1-6 fairly closely, it still made any number of small (or major, like revealing Lilith) changes, but the groping scene was kept verbatim. Much like Shinji's watch, which tells us it's all a dream.

This doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to have babies forever. It means that Rei retains her significance in Shinji's passage from childhood into adulthood. She's integral to that moment when his lizard brain wakes up and realizes that Boobs Exist. His boobiepiphany, if you will.

That also doesn't mean that she's moved out of the "Shinji's mother" sphere, practically or thematically, as most men's sexuality and pair bonding is deeply affected by their mothers.

Currently I'm trying to decipher the meaning of the deliberate contrast between Shinji seeing Rei naked and Asuka naked. I know it revolves around the fact that Rei was passive and accepting while Asuka kicked him in the face (yet simultaneously flashed her vajajay at him). I require deeper meditation before the meaning of this becomes clear to me.

Q!Asuka has bigger fish to fry than Shinji by this point, assuming the Curse of Eva hasn't squelched the impulse altogether.

I take it that by "bigger fish to fry" you mean "Mari to have sex with".

[Rei IV]

I actually envision Asuka lecturing Shinji about a little thing called life in the next movie and giving him some tough love. Who knows, she might be the one to help him break out of his shell, to a degree. I don't see LRS happening either, but I strongly believe they'll be some closure around them.

[UBERGEEKZILLA]

Heres the best way it could possibly end now.

Ok so in the end EVERYONE DIES from fourth impact....BUT because of their exposure to evangelions, angels, ect. Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and mari evolve into giant naked beings. They stare upon the empty zone in space where earth once was. they cry for themselves and everyone they have lost and what has happened to them...but then they realize though that now they can recreate the human race all across the galaxy and provide hope for mankind's future. Shinji then splits into 3 and each Shinji flies into different directions with Asuka, Rei, and Mari. all of them fly across the galaxy having sex in space for all eternity with endless happiness together. as they lay their eggs upon numerous planets and mankind has another chance.

all the pilots live in happiness and are ( not ) alone, they can ( not ) advance as humans, but they have gone beyond that, they can ( not ) redo, but they CAN make the future better/ and in the FINAL, they live in happiness, everything Misato and them did was not for nothing, and humanity will thrive more then ever across the galaxy.

[Mr. Tines]

Son, you just went full Ideon.

[pwhodges]

Heh! I watched Ideon specifically because of an earlier suggestion in the same vein.

[ElMariachi]

"Soulless" and "emotionless" are different things. Rei Q clearly has emotions, but we're told flat out her soul is elsewhere and that Rei II became a part of Unit 01. That suggests Rei Q is a clone without a soul, no matter that she might have a personality of her own. But it's moot anyway since the bulk of her meaningful interaction and development occurred with Asuka and Mari, not Shinji.

Well it's not really clear what Kaworu's comment about the soul not being at the right place meant anyway, could be that Gendo finally managed to discover a way to create artificial souls or that he made a stock of spare souls taken from the many victims of 3I...

Anyway, her meaningful interactions was split between Shinji, Mari and Asuka :
- Shinji planted the seed of doubts when he first called her Ayanami and gave her token of affection(meaning he knows who Rei Ayanami is and identify her as Rei Ayanami, confirming what Gendo told her that she's Rei Ayanami), but asking her question that for him Rei Ayanmi should know, but she didn't("how did you escaped from EVA-01?", "You still enjoy reading English books right?" "Did I saved you?") before claiming that she's "not Ayanami", and since he's someone with authority on knowing who Rei Ayanami but says that she's not Ayanami, Rei Q starts to be confused.
The seed of doubt began to grow

- then Mari comes and unknowingly add water to the seed with her comment about an "original". It's the second time in a row that someone put her identity in doubt. Rei Q is even more confused : "there was another me? Was it the person Ikari-kun though I was? But then who I am?"
The doubts grow even more.

- then Shinji indirectly shakes her beliefs again by freeing the 12th Angel, that take the form of a giant Rei head. Rei Q is completely confused and utterly horrified : "what is this thing? Why did it have my face?! What does that mean about me? What I am?"
The doubt give way to a certainty that there is something she don't know.

- and finally Asuka, when Rei Q ask her what would Rei Ayanami do, answer that she don't know and what does she want to do, translation : "I didn't knew Rei Ayanami well enough to know what she would do, and it doesn't matter 'cause you're not Rei Ayanami, so do what you want to do!"
That's the very first time in her life someone told her to follow her own wishes, and the doubts sown by Shinji and Mari made her, again for the fist time in her life, have her own wishes : to know the truth about her origins, and decided to get the hell out of Mark.09 and after to go look for Shinji and Asuka, the people who have the answers she seek.

I actually envision Asuka lecturing Shinji about a little thing called life in the next movie and giving him some tough love. Who knows, she might be the one to help him break out of his shell, to a degree. I don't see LRS happening either, but I strongly believe they'll be some closure around them.

The trick is to know just how much of life does she know : if her life since Bardiel resumed to being in quarantine in a laboratory and after that constant fighting, then she wouldn't know much more than Rei II by the end of 2.0

It's possible that Shinji and Asuka's interaction will be two-way : she will help him to adapt in this new world and to get out of his shell and stop thinking of the world as how it affects only him(a world-view born from his many years of solitude pre-Tokyo-3), and maybe find a way to make-up for everything he did(at least N3I, N4I and the destruction of EVA-02, we don't know precisely about his implication in the destruction of the world), while he could help her to remember the time before Bardiel and to reconnect with the more hopeful past her.

And I'm ready to bet that Mari count on it, after all she only knows Asuka since after Bardiel, so she could very well think that being with someone from before that and for whom the memories from 14 years ago are still fresh would do many good to her, while she will certainly make him "man-up"! A win-win situation for a change!