"She was told 'pull out the spear and get rid of it' but then she was in despair and knew he might be able to do something about it. She said 'I don't care'"

"But I think it's natural to think 'If everyone gets well, it's fine'. I 'm glad I was able to settle with everyone this time."

--Ms. Ogata, What kind of woman was Mari Illustrious?
Ogata: I didn't know until the end ... because Shinji didn't even know her name until the end.

--It's always someone else.
Ogata: That's right, isn't it. Maybe. She was like a friend of his father and mother, right? At the end, I thought she would come to him to pick up that position.

5ch comment:
Ogata outburst in dissatisfaction.
Ogata doesn't seem to recognize Mari as his lover either
"Someone else" ... I think that felt strange.

--It has been 28 years since the TV series, and after repeating it many times, the last scene of all time has finally been drawn. How did you feel?
Ogata: I'm glad you guys think so. However, I don't feel like I'm done yet. I felt like I was left in a world of work at 14 years old because I didn't do the last Shinji.

--Is there another world that doesn't lead to that last scene? I still doubt haha.
Ogata: It may lead to a sensation that it is not over. I'm really grateful that I've been able to stay close to you for such a long time.

Yuko Miyamura
“I can understand why Asuka fans are upset with "What’s up with Kenken!”
But in my opinion, it's not a relationship to worry about.”
"Think about it: a 28-year-old adult and a 14-year-old. The body. It's not possible, please calm down!”
“Kensuke is a good guy. If he was a good guy, he wouldn't touch her.”
“If Asuka was lonely and wanted to be pampered, she would just say, "Okay, okay.” There is no more than that. In other words, Kensuke is a good guy. And that's what I think.”

Tetsuya Iwanaga
“I'm sure you'll agree with me. I believe I was able to save Asuka.”
“I think it's up to each fan to imagine the relationship between the two.”
“Kensuke is a good guy, so he won't touch her. I think that's all.”

Kendrix wrote:There seems to be a whole lot of, "it's all deliberately up to the interpretation" but that was the same for the old series, too.

Konja7 wrote:It's even possible Miyamura and Iwanaga may not even have noticed that Asuka came back from Instrumentality as an adult. These scenes were not spoke.

ElMariachi wrote:Even Shinji's VA doesn't know WTF is going on in the epilogue!

Konja7 wrote:

ElMariachi#922451 wrote:Even Shinji's VA doesn't know WTF is going on in the epilogue!

Remember that Ogata doesn't make Shinji's voice in the Epilogue.

So, she is likely in the same boat as everyone else for that moment.

Makki wrote:Snippet from Director Tsurumaki's interview, he seems to confirm his intention to portray Kensuke/Asuka as a romantic relationship.
https://twitter.com/Shengong4/status/1391739123870826500/photo/1

>Anno came up with the idea of all the pairings
>Tsurumaki helped develop the relationships
>One of the scenes that stood out most to Tsurumaki was the part where Kensuke films Asuka, he describes it as a love scene between the two of them
>Tsurumaki developed their relationship as an old married couple
>Tsurumaki hopes the fans who wanted Asuka to be happy all this time will enjoy it

I'm pretty surprised, since that's quite different from what Miyamura said the directors had asked her for.

Konja7 wrote:I'm pretty surprised, since that's quite different from what Miyamura said the directors had asked her for.

Makki wrote:Snippet from Director Tsurumaki's interview, he seems to confirm his intention to portray Kensuke/Asuka as a romantic relationship.
https://twitter.com/Shengong4/status/1391739123870826500/photo/1

>Anno came up with the idea of all the pairings
>Tsurumaki helped develop the relationships
>One of the scenes that stood out most to Tsurumaki was the part where Kensuke films Asuka, he describes it as a love scene between the two of them
>Tsurumaki developed their relationship as an old married couple
>Tsurumaki hopes the fans who wanted Asuka to be happy all this time will enjoy it

Kendrix wrote:We seem to be very solidly in "up to interpretation, but intended as a possible reading" territory. (Same as the Mari thing, really; the jp comment sections under her promotion reel were an even split between reading her as a mentor & reading her as flirty. Ogata seems to prefer the "friendship" reading for Kaworu, though she's acknowledged the ambiguity and, as per Shizo/Parano, the love interest reading was intended as A possible interpretation)

The purpose of the ambiguity is probably the same as with Kaworu: So that the viewer can imagine whichever would comfort them the most if they were in Shinji/ Asuka's place. After all, they're supposed to represent the experience of being accepted just as you are. For some people that includes being wanted romantically, for others, they'd feel that was an extra expectation & would find a BFF more comforting. (though Kaworu of course comes with the 'catch' of tragedy)

Makki wrote:..I was happy Hikari became an adult.
Anno decided on all the characters relationships, though there were also aspects he didn't decide on.
So I thought up all sorts of things filling in the blanks as I drew the plot/scenes.
For example, Kensuke has supported Asuka for a long period of time, so I wanted to give off the feeling of them looking like an old married couple.
I assembled the intentions of all the directors, and filled* (uses same word as complementation) in the parts that were still lacking as I drew the plot/scenes.
-Are there any scenes that personally left an impression on you?
Yatabe: During the scene where Kensuke points his video camera at Asuka, I was given the instruction that "This is a Love* Scene" (They use the term ラブシーン, specifically meaning romantic love scene). I drew the scene very carefully so the fans who watched up until now that wanted to see Asuka become happy could become happy too.