Project E

[AdamMalkovitch]

The eternal question, "Why doesn't NERV have on-site psychological therapists? If there's a hospital for physical injuries, why is the mind neglected in such a stressful line of work, especially on the pilot's part?"
We may never know the definitive, canon answer, so I'm making my own. Dr. Ritsuko Agaki is the first to bring up the Hedgehog's Dilemma, along with other psychological concepts, so, what if she decided to interview the pilots after each sortie for her own research, slowly coming to care for and act as a counselor for them? How would the story change if Shinji had a perfect stranger to talk to about his father, or if Asuka was able to slowly open up to the idea of enjoying being with other people [without getting Angel-infected and nearly fuckin murked like 2 minutes later]?
I've started a very basic outline of the story on Docs, and I'd like your ideas and suggestions. I'm well versed in Eva lore and the characters, the story of the anime and the manga adaptation too, but I don't know everything, so lore and occasional grammatical help through comments would be rad.

Do note that this is just a small idea I had in the shower like 30 minutes ago, so it's entirely possible I'll change my mind and just drop it if I don't see it going anywhere, BUT, IF that happens, I'll make a personal copy and open the document up for anyone to edit so you guys can carry on without me.

LINK: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GG8 ... sp=sharing

[Zusuchan]

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think Ritsuko qualifies as a ''perfect stranger''-she's still one of NERV's top people, works with Shinji and is shown to act colder than Misato. I don't mean to discourage, it's just that the fact that Ritsuko isn't just a random psychologist, but someone whom the pilots know and work with should probably be discussed in some way, as should Ritsuko's own myriad of mental health problems.

Rei being there too could be interesting. Ritsuko knows enough about Rei that there's not a risk of confidential information finding its way to third parties, but whether Gendo would even allow Rei into therapy is a good question in/of itself and Ritsuko doesn't really like her, so it is possible she just ''forgets'' her or something. I do love Rei as a character, so I have my motivations for seeing more of her.

Anyway, this could be potentially interesting and you don't seem like a bad writer, so I'll stay tuned.

[AdamMalkovitch]

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think Ritsuko qualifies as a ''perfect stranger''-she's still one of NERV's top people, works with Shinji and is shown to act colder than Misato. I don't mean to discourage, it's just that the fact that Ritsuko isn't just a random psychologist, but someone whom the pilots know and work with should probably be discussed in some way, as should Ritsuko's own myriad of mental health problems.

Rei being there too could be interesting. Ritsuko knows enough about Rei that there's not a risk of confidential information finding its way to third parties, but whether Gendo would even allow Rei into therapy is a good question in/of itself and Ritsuko doesn't really like her, so it is possible she just ''forgets'' her or something. I do love Rei as a character, so I have my motivations for seeing more of her.

Anyway, this could be potentially interesting and you don't seem like a bad writer, so I'll stay tuned.

Maybe I could play around with her backstory a bit if I need to, the idea is that she starts out debriefing/interviewing the pilots just for her own research, but slowly begins to genuinely care for them, unintentionally causing the interviews to turn into something resembling a counseling session. Actually, once Ritsuko realizes she's being more of a mentor and friend than a scientist, she could justify to herself that she's also doing this to try to deal with her own psychological issues, even if that wasn't true until just that moment when she decided it was.

As for Rei, I didn't think much about that aspect. Ritsuko would probably remain cold towards her since she sees her as an object with a soul injected into it, and becomes increasingly jealous of Gendo's care for her as the story goes on. She would still be interviewed for research, but it probably wouldn't be very interesting since the two already know each other, and Ritsuko has a mild resentment towards Rei while Rei only ever opens up in the manga storyline until around Ramiel, so early interviews will likely just be alluded to. For the sake of Rei's character and Shinji's slightly more proactive role in them, I'll be basing the story on the storyline of the manga adaptation.

[amitakartok]

You could always have Ritsuko realize that despite appearances, Gendo doesn't care about Rei any more on a personal level than he does about Ritsuko. All he cares about is Rei fulfilling her purpose and Rei doesn't care about anything other than that either, making Rei just as much of a victim and a tool of Gendo's manipulations as Ritsuko and Naoko.

Once that comes out, then can Ritsuko start teaching Rei to want to live. First as a fuck-you to Gendo, then to prove to herself that she's a better person than Gendo.

[Zusuchan]

Maybe even make Ritsuko realize the depth of Rei's loneliness? Idk, just an idea. But yeah, what amitakartok said is a good idea.