Is there any valid reason why they don't house the pilots in the GeoFront?

[Lavinius]

Is there any valid reason why they don't house the pilots in the GeoFront?

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Rei is a secret project, so it's best to hide her away in soon-to-be demolished buildings. Shinji and Asuka live with Misato, and her reasons for living where she does probably involve pricing and a lack of red tape.

[Sachi]

They do attempt to have the kids live somewhat normal lives, which is why they go to school and everything. IIRC, isn't that why Asuka has to go to school with the others even though she's technically a college graduate?

[BC Baron]

There's plenty of reasons...

Are any of them actually valid?

Umm, no. I don't think so.


Living quarters somewhere within the Geofront would seem to make more sense from the standpoints of both convenience and safety, as the pilots would be much closer to NERV's central facilities and the Eva cages if an Angel were to just suddenly appear without prior warning (which has happened on at least one occasion).

NERV, however, seems to place the convenience and safety of its pilots pretty low on the list of priorities.

Say, for example, one of your pilots is getting beaten up at school. Should Section Two have standing orders to intervene and prevent possible injury to one of the very few people that can save humanity in an emergency? No, it's probably more prudent to just have them sit back and observe, maybe write up a detailed report and notify his guardian/bosses about it later. We wouldn't want to overstep our authority.

Of course, if that same pilot is hanging out with one of his classmates at a campsite, enjoying some food, light conversation, the possibility of making a new friend and/or just generally behaving like a kid for the first time since he arrived in the city? Well, in that case you call for backup and intrude upon the scene with weapons drawn ASAP!

[Sachi]

Say, for example, one of your pilots is getting beaten up at school. Should Section Two have standing orders to intervene and prevent possible injury to one of the very few people that can save humanity in an emergency? No, it's probably more prudent to just have them sit back and observe, maybe write up a detailed report and notify his guardian/bosses about it later. We wouldn't want to overstep our authority.

Of course, if that same pilot is hanging out with one of his classmates at a campsite, enjoying some food, light conversation, the possibility of making a new friend and/or just generally behaving like a kid for the first time since he arrived in the city? Well, in that case you call for backup and intrude upon the scene with weapons drawn ASAP!

The first of these events is explained in the show: Section 2 determined that he was in no real danger, and there was no reason for them to unnecessarily intrude upon his life. It was just a schoolyard beating, and a mild one at that. He wasn't going to die and be seriously injured.

As for the second one, you're leaving out the fact that Shinji had been missing for days. They humored his little runaway attempt, but after a while they would have needed to bring him back either way. Nerv can't afford to have their only on-call pilot aimlessly wandering around the country side. This is portrayed a bit better in Rebuild, when Shinji calls out to them to bring him home, aware that they'd been close by the entire time. And as far as I remember, in the series, no weapons were drawn.

[BC Baron]

^ The schoolyard beating in question took place on the premises of a school which NERV signed him up for and forced him to attend (despite the heavy obligations involved with his new piloting role and all of the extra time he will be devoting to training, synch testing, and future battles). NERV clandestinely places all of their potential pilot candidates together in the same educational institution and Shinji was given no choice in the matter. Meanwhile, the whole reason Touji started the fight was due to injuries sustained by his little sister during the battle against Sachiel. IOW, events that are supposed to have happened while Shinji was discharging his duties in the employ of NERV.

Could said injuries have been avoided by a more experienced pilot? I dunno. Frankly, it was never made clear where exactly in the city Touji's sister was when she was hurt or precisely when it happened. Perhaps it took place before Unit-01 was even launched? There were certainly a lot of explosions (including an N^2 mine detonation) on that same day and it's entirely possible that many casualties were the result of collateral damage brought about by the JSSDF. Maybe Touji still wanted to blame the whole thing on Shinji simply because it took so long to actually intercept the Angel and he believes that quicker action to neutralize the threat could have prevented what happened to his sister.

From where I'm standing, NERV contributed heavily to this situation. They brought him in at literally the last possible minute, emotionally blackmailed him into the cockpit and threw him out there with zero preparation. Touji isn't pounding on Shinji because he plays the cello, listens to an SDAT player, or managed to attract the attention of most of their female classmates. Those might actually qualify as examples wherein the consequences of Shinji's personal life had earned him an (albeit unjustified) ass-kicking.

Instead, Shinji is being blamed exclusively for his role in dealing with an impossible scenario that was brought about almost entirely due to NERV's unique brand of incompetence. Section Two (and by extension Misato) are trying to rationalize away their responsibility by re-categorizing it as a facet of Shinji's personal life. Then they collectively have the gall to actually pat themselves on the back for allowing Shinji to be their scapegoat, claiming that any attempt to stop the fight or explain the whole truth about what happened and what led up to the battle would be interference (and apparently they're far too ethical to ever consider such a thing).

Wow. Take a bow, NERV, because that is some major league spin right there. Too bad I see right through it. Section Two couldn't be bothered to get off their asses and either say or do something during or immediately following the fight because they were afraid of making NERV look bad. Whether Shinji was being seriously hurt by Touji is not the issue. What about the damage to his reputation? This kid put his life on the line to protect everyone related to NERV (plus the rest of Tokyo 3) and you guys just hung him out to dry. By utterly failing to come to Shinji's defense and at least attempting to point out some of the mitigating circumstances, NERV (and more directly, Misato) has already demonstrated that when the going gets rough, Shinji should in no way count on them for support. And furthermore, he shouldn't even be required to ask. NERV has revealed themselves as the true cowards here.

As for the second one, you're leaving out the fact that Shinji had been missing for days. They humored his little runaway attempt, but after a while they would have needed to bring him back either way. Nerv can't afford to have their only on-call pilot aimlessly wandering around the country side. This is portrayed a bit better in Rebuild, when Shinji calls out to them to bring him home, aware that they'd been close by the entire time. And as far as I remember, in the series, no weapons were drawn.

They can completely afford, however, to let their only viable pilot get punched in the face repeatedly, take the entire blame for NERV's mistakes in front of his peers, and then quickly follow that up by reprimanding him for violating military protocol while single-handedly defeating the second angel he faced that month.

Running away is the polar opposite of what Shinji did when he charged at Shamshel. It would also seem to imply that there's somewhere to go. Shinji never contacted his former teacher/guardian to notify him that he was leaving Tokyo 3. I submit that he just needed some time away from Misato and all the unfair contradictions she and NERV represented to him at the time. Maybe that's the difference between being a full-fledged soldier versus an adolescent who's in way over his head (and just beginning to realize it). One doesn't question orders while the other needs several days of downtime to process what's happening to his life.

[Sachi]

Wow, that post is all over the place. And frankly, it would seem you and I place our values in significantly different areas, so I'll only respond to a few major points.

Regarding the schoolyard beating, your reasoning appears to be that since Shinji was representing Nerv when Toji's sister got hurt, Nerv should take responsibility and defend his reputation for him/jump in and fight his fights for him? That's silly. Yeah, it's not exactly fair that Shinji is getting beat up for something he didn't even want to do, but it's not Nerv's responsibility to defend his honor. Go ahead and blame them all you want, but it would have been truly unnecessary for them to step in and get involved. I can picture that making Shinji even more hated among his peers.

They can completely afford, however, to let their only viable pilot get punched in the face repeatedly, take the entire blame for NERV's mistakes in front of his peers, and then quickly follow that up by reprimanding him for violating military protocol while single-handedly defeating the second angel he faced that month.

He was punched in the face literally twice, and it seemed for a moment that the second punch wasn't even going to happen. He doesn't need the secret service going red alert because he got punched in the face. If he was getting the living shit beat out of him (bloody nose, broken ribs, etc) that would be a different story. I've been punched in the face before, on school grounds, and I went into my next period like nothing happened. May have been a little sore a little later, but it was no big deal.

The real question is: where is the school faculty? What were they doing when their students were violating rules of conduct?

Running away is the polar opposite of what Shinji did when he charged at Shamshel. It would also seem to imply that there's somewhere to go. Shinji never contacted his former teacher/guardian to notify him that he was leaving Tokyo 3.

Running away doesn't necessarily mean that there's somewhere to go. Running away means leaving a place, not going to a place. Plenty of kids run away from home with no idea where they're going.

[Stillborn]

Instead, Shinji is being blamed exclusively for his role in dealing with an impossible scenario that was brought about almost entirely due to NERV's unique brand of incompetence.

Are you still talking about scene with Touji? Cause that sounds pretty much like third movie

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Living quarters somewhere within the Geofront would seem to make more sense from the standpoints of both convenience and safety, as the pilots would be much closer to NERV's central facilities and the Eva cages if an Angel were to just suddenly appear without prior warning (which has happened on at least one occasion).

That's only if you believe the Nerv propaganda that the GeoFront is actually a safe place to be. Almost every time an angel attacks (with few exceptions), they attack the GeoFront and then attempt to go straight down into Nerv's basement. In that sense, the GeoFront is actually where the battle lines are drawn, and is therefore the least safe place to be ever. Nerv, knowing this logic, could be placing as many of their people outside of the GeoFront as possible. There's no need to place important Nerv personnel at the one place on Earth that's nearly designed to consistently draw angels to it like a magnet.

[BlueBasilisk]

^Several of the Angels approach Tokyo-3 through the outlying cities and towns. Except for Sahaquiel and Bardiel blowing up the Matsushiro test cage, they don't really destroy anything outside of Tokyo-3 unless they're attacked first. I don't think they even knock down buildings accidentally like any other kaiju would.

[Sachi]

That's only if you believe the Nerv propaganda that the GeoFront is actually a safe place to be. Almost every time an angel attacks (with few exceptions), they attack the GeoFront and then attempt to go straight down into Nerv's basement. In that sense, the GeoFront is actually where the battle lines are drawn, and is therefore the least safe place to be ever. Nerv, knowing this logic, could be placing as many of their people outside of the GeoFront as possible. There's no need to place important Nerv personnel at the one place on Earth that's nearly designed to consistently draw angels to it like a magnet.

By that logic, they shouldn't have all their pilot candidates and pilots in one classroom. What happens if a random Angel appears without notice (a la Lelial) and happens to destroy the school with everybody in it before Nerv can react? Whoops.

[CommanderFish]

^Several of the Angels approach Tokyo-3 through the outlying cities and towns. Except for Sahaquiel and Bardiel blowing up the Matsushiro test cage, they don't really destroy anything outside of Tokyo-3 unless they're attacked first. I don't think they even knock down buildings accidentally like any other kaiju would.

The angels are actually very polite compared to other giant monsters trying to destroy the world. Quite professional, really...

By that logic, they shouldn't have all their pilot candidates and pilots in one classroom. What happens if a random Angel appears without notice (a la Lelial) and happens to destroy the school with everybody in it before Nerv can react? Whoops.

Leliel is better than that. Leliel would never do something just for the lulz-liels.
But on a serious note, I don't think any angel would ever do that. Unless Lilith or Adam are somehow within the school, they would really have no reason to ever attack it (unless they're going for a "blow up the whole world" strategy like Sahaquiel. But in that case where they attack is not really of consequence).

[Sachi]

I don't mean Leliel specifically (just the way Leliel appears in the middle of the city unnoticed), and I don't mean to say the Angel would destroy the school on purpose, but rather in an accidental way, the same way Toji's sister got hurt. Point is, keeping all one's eggs in a single basket is a bad idea because Murphey's Law; accidents can always happen.

[CommanderFish]

^I agree on that point. If an angel is provoked it could attack back and easily hurt innocents (which is what probably happened with Sachiel/Toji's sister). And there's always collateral damage if the angel's blast radius were big enough, or something.
And I know you didn't mean Leliel specifically; I just wanted to make that dumb Leliel-related joke because it's been in my head for a while now.

[BC Baron]

That's only if you believe the Nerv propaganda that the GeoFront is actually a safe place to be. Almost every time an angel attacks (with few exceptions), they attack the GeoFront and then attempt to go straight down into Nerv's basement. In that sense, the GeoFront is actually where the battle lines are drawn, and is therefore the least safe place to be ever. Nerv, knowing this logic, could be placing as many of their people outside of the GeoFront as possible. There's no need to place important Nerv personnel at the one place on Earth that's nearly designed to consistently draw angels to it like a magnet.

I wouldn't necessarily define the GeoFront as totally safe, but given that it's located underground beneath layers of armor, it's probably a little bit safer than anywhere up on the surface of Tokyo 3 (especially whenever the military decides to toss a few N^2 mines around). I think NERV probably tried to distinguish (at least to some extent) the difference between what they consider essential versus non-essential personnel. It might be more important to have people who work for the security, maintenance, or strategic divisions nearby during times of emergency, as opposed to the cooks and cleaning crew, for example.

Although I still find it a bit strange that they let all of the pilots live in apartment buildings completely separate from the GeoFront. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure neither Katsuagi's nor Ayanami's respective buildings even have the ability to retract down underground, like many of the skyscrapers within the city do.

I'm not saying that they should all live in the same exact location within the GeoFront, but I would imagine that in general, the quicker your pilots can gain access to the Eva's, the better. If NERV had a suggestion box, I might even consider proposing a schedule of rotating shifts where one of the Children remain on standby already wearing their plugsuit, just in case rapid deployment to intercept the enemy is required. Perhaps they could overlap these timeframes with individual synch testing to 'kill two birds with one stone' as it were. Just a thought.

[The Eva Monkey]

In real life, they would absolutely live on base, and be schooled on base. They would need to be deployed at a moments notice. They can't be getting stuck in traffic or blocked by a destroyed road, or even getting killed by a suddenly attacking angel.

[BC Baron]

^ Yeah, I agree. I mean, IRL NERV would need to be prepared for an angel attack at any given moment; not just on weekdays during business hours.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

^ True, but IRL Nerv would be dealing with weapons designing and manufacturing, and "Third Impact" would be the name of their next line of weapons products produced for the military.