Ray wrote:I mean seriously, how is Shinji going to:
1. Get out of his Catatonic state of depression even though he literally has no reason to continue.
After a few hours of walking he get out of his state of shock, or has another Hell Train sequence at the end of which he goes back to reality, or Asuka ends in a tight spot that makes him get out of his funk, there are a lot of reasons for him to get out of his catatonia. Having he, Asuka and Rei Q finally alone together and not in combat situation for some time is just too big of an opportunity to have some interaction and character development for each of them to just waste it with a Shinji staying a vegetable for the whole trip and Rei Q not saying anything.
And the preview explicitly says that he
will find hope (and with it a reason to continue) in the place he'll reach. I'm sure that the situation out of the Tokyo-3 region isn't as hopeless as what Kaworu implied, and that there's a bigass and proud Lilin settlement somewhere where everyone is working hard to rebuild the world and offer a chance for the next generations.
Ray wrote:2. Reconcile with Misato and/or Asuka after Fourteen years of physical and emotional seperation. In addition to getting them to treat him like a human being again?
And even after 14 years of separation a bond can be rekindled, once everyone get to sit down and
talk to each other, there's already an opportunity between Shinji and Asuka in the red desert, add another one with Misato somewhere in the movie and that's it. Also, I'm sure that Mari and Sakura will be of great help here. Mari was already trying to reconcile them back in 3.0 (at least that's how I interpreted her teasing, it's obvious that Shinji is a very sensible spot for Asuka that needs closure, and Mari knows it)
Ray wrote:3. Disprove popular opinion about him being "Impact Boy' and prove its not his fault and/or that he never intended to destroy the world. . .twice?
They already know that, he made it clear time and time again both when he was in the Wunder and in Lilith's Chamber that he wants to help and not to destroy the world, except that he does it wrong because he's constantly being manipulated.
Ray wrote:4. Get people to trust him enough to pilot an Eva again after causing ANOTHER Impact?
They won't trust him, they
can't trust him: he's an Impact trigger, everytime he goes into an Eva they take the risk of another Impact happening. Even if he was trained to keep his emotions in check it's just too big of a risk to take, they won't resort to take that kind of risk unless they reach the "Godzilla Threshold" were there is no other alternative. If he performs well (meaning defeating the enemy without disobeying the orders, losing his shit or triggering an Impact) then they could trust him with an Eva again. Eventually. That's it if Shinji even wants to get inside one again in any circumstance that's not "piloting now or everyone dies in the next five minutes".
Ray wrote:5. Get some kind of closure and/or final confrontation with Gendo?
Final battle, maybe Instrumentality if it happens and works similarly than in NGE. Or maybe in an epilogue if Gendo's captured and Shinji visits his cell.
Ray wrote:6. Solve the whole issue with Rei-Q
During the red desert trip for a confrontation between Shinji and her, and in parallel with Shinji's story for the rest of the movie. Rei Q's quest isn't dependent from Shinji, it's something personal and while Shinji is an important piece of her quest for identity, it's not the central piece.
Ray wrote:7. Accept Rei, the only girl he ever had a real connection with is seemingly trapped for eternity inside of Unit 01?
He already did that in Q, he knows that he didn't saved her and it sink in, he even got a mental breakdown out of it.
I think that all of this can perfectly fit in a 100 minute movie with a good usage of montage and pacing, and as Bagheera noted in the "Q does (not) suck" thread, Anno mastered the use of montage to tell us as many thing as possible in the time he has available.
Hell, just look at the insane density of information in Q just the images! And that's a movie whose main purpose was to confuse and keep us in the dark as much as possible!
