ElMariachi wrote:I think you're mixing it with the early draft of 3.0 (which is available in the bonus of the 3.333 blu-ray): the surprise timeskip was already decided by the time 2.0 was released (Kaji mentioning the tale of Urashima Taro was a foreshadowing), Anno didn't got past initial ideas and plans for this movie (the NTP was made using what few elements he made from that initial idea).
Yeah. Anno has likely some initial ideas (like Commander Nagisa and ViceCommander Kaji), but I really doubt he has a lot planned for his original of a movie without Shinji.
In fact, Kaji being alive (and living in Neo NERV) in the imageboards of an early version of 3.0 shows that he sacrificing to stop the Third Impact wasn't always planned. That said, Kaji being absent in 3.0 implies that the staff had already decided that he was dead at that point.
ElMariachi wrote:But in the end, the second half was pushed to Thrice. I don't think that we have explanations on why did Khara decided to do that, maybe we'll get more info in the CRC? One theory that I've seen is that after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, they removed the second part because having a group of survivors surviving in makeshift house would hit too close to home (since that was happening to hundreds of thousands of Japanese at that same moment), but this is just speculation.
Honestly, I think it's just that they don't have enough time to properly develop the characters.
In the imageboards, the scenes of Shinji reuniting with his friend and Rei Q finding a place happened very quickly.
I think the staff just noticed they need more time for a proper development of the events in the Village.