pwhodges wrote:You're taking my remark out of proportion. Anno will surely give us a satisfactory conclusion in which Shinji will learn how to value himself and see his true worth in the world. But the way he gets there will involve more people saying harsh truths to his face than I've represented. Really, I've only shown Asuka being like that with him, and she was kept away until he was on the path to recovery.
Well, truth be told currently he's so broken that anyone can tell him any harsh truth (or plain harsh words) and he won't react or even register them.
So fatally he needs to first get out of his funk and then slightly out of the mindset that he's a monster that deserves one thousand times to burn in the fires of Hell, or else he'll only take at face value what everything will say to him to fuel his self-hatred.
Now as to who and how many times he'll get told harsh truths, that's only my opinion ofc, but I think that only two times by two different people will be enough: Asuka for sure, there's just no way she'll pass the opportunity to empty her emotional bag and tell him a few well chosen home truths, probably about how he tends to jump to conclusions and actions without thinking of the potential ramifications and consequences (hello Bardiel), and someone else could probably talk to him about trust and how to try to determine in who and what you can put your trust, that it's one of life's big difficulties but still a necessity, as stopping to trust into anything and anyone will just make you alone and miserable, and like Gendo. Here I can really see Kaji take that role, Sakura and Mari doesn't know Shinji since long enough to be pertinent, and with Misato I fear that it will fall flat, since everything she did while he was in the Wunder just screamed at him "get the fuck out of here ASAP". (even if it was more the fault of the circumstances than anything else)
But more would be overkill and really hammering past indigestion: having harsh truths and lecturing coming from Asuka, then Sakura, then Mari, then Kaji, then Misato... yeah, Shinji has big flaws and issues, we got it, thank you, no need to rehash it ad nauseam, I know that technically he's a kid compared to the rest of the WILLE cast, but no need to have said whole falling on him with reprimands, or else he'll look like too much like a little kid being scolded and that risks to undermine his character development, he's supposed to grow up and mature from this journey, not to be the hopeless kiddo mascot of the group that get scolded by the rest of the cast and then forget about because what else can do, he's still a kid? (Especially since growing-up ASAP seems to be the norm in this new world.)
In fact (to get back on topic too), I feel that any harsh truths told by Misato will potentially fall flat:
- "you should stop doing what you want and act according to other's wishes and needs" : she's the one that told him to fight for his own reasons and not because other people tell him to do it, and from his point of view that was a few weeks ago.
- "you jump to conclusions to hastily and don't think about the consequences" : she pointed an armed detonator at his face and told him that Rei doesn't exist anymore even when Rei is just next to them, it's impossible to make any conclusion other than "she's lying to me, better get the hell out ASAP", or to imagine that the guy the whole planet presented as the commander of the organization tasked to save the world is in fact evil. Again a better example of him jumping to conclusions and not thinking about consequences (or listening to people) is when he interacted with Asuka, both during Bardiel's fight and in the fight in Lilith's Chamber, that's why I think she's the best placed to address this flaw of him.
- "deep down you don't trust anyone, that's why you can't have faith to anyone and end manipulated by everyone": see again previous point, also the fact that Ritsuko explicitly stated that they don't trust him at all, and trust is a two way street.
That's why I think that the route you've taken in your fic Paul is the best one: whatever her heart feels toward Shinji, first let him get better and have his harsh truths told to him and have the time to reflect over them, then have Misato and him meet again and talk, as any meeting previous that will only be a blaming game where both parties have their fault.
