Counting Shikinamis

[nerv bae]

Last fall I nursed a theory about how many Shikinami clones there are, and posted about it across a few topics. My basic thesis was this:

The instrumentality picture wall shows us that only Shikinami Type 0278 and 0313* survive, and I think one of these must be the original because otherwise we would have three Asukas to keep track of rather than two. Call 0278 the original (whether born naturally or in a test tube) because she is kept center-frame during the picture wall zoom out. Then, either the memory with toddler Shinji is 0278's, pre-cloning, later transferred to 0313 (and presumably also to the hundreds of other clones), or the memory with toddler Shinji is 0313's, post-cloning, and original Asuka 0278 never experienced it. Either way "our" Asuka 0313 has the memory and gets to look back on it during instrumentality.

*Staring at the picture wall a bit, I think there are 555 total Shikinami Types, in 15 rows of 37, so that 0278 is dead-center.

Some relevant threads, for reference:

1) Will Asuka's Angel Contamination Play A Role In 3.0 + 1.0?
2) about the pilots being mentally/psychologically enginnered
3) Thrice Upon Time questions regarding Asuka and Ending.
4) Asuka's rejection letter

I don't think that the number of Shikinami clones is at the top of anyone's unresolved Rebuild questions list, but I still had fun developing an answer and will thus subject you all to a new topic accordingly.

I think there are 555 Shikinami clones. As support, here's Euro NERV's picture wall seen in Asuka's instrumentality sequence, with my markup in purple and blue:



Purple is what we know for certain: the three pictures indicated are numbered 0241, 0278, and 0313.

Blue is what I determine based on two assumptions:

1) The pictures are arranged in a rectangular grid.
2) Picture 0278 is in the exact middle of the rectangular grid, because it is kept centered during the sequence's zoom out.

Because the difference between 0241 and 0278 is 37, then if these assumptions are both correct the entire rectangular grid will have 555 pictures in 15 rows of 37 pictures each.

Et voila, 555 Shikinami clones. But is there additional support for this?

Support 1: Here are the cloning tanks seen in Asuka's instrumentality sequence, with my markup in purple:



Each purple line indicates a column of tanks, of which I count 19. In the central columns, I count 8 to 10 tanks per column. Assume then that there are an average of 9 tanks per column; 9 times 19 gives us 171 tanks. This many tanks can produce 555 clones in 4 batches, and so if gestation is quick enough the age difference between batches won't be too great and they can all battle royale somewhat fairly.

Support 2: Here are some portions of 2.0's 9th angel sequence inside Unit 03's entry plug, during which a large number of purple crosses appear. I've read speculation that the purple crosses are the souls of the deceased Shikinami clones, embodied somehow as or with the 9th angel. So, let's count the purple crosses using a computer vision tool:




I haven't shown the entire output of the computer vision tool in these gifs, because it's too large, but from these you should get an idea of what the tool is doing: each time it sees a purple cross, it draws a markup rectangle around it and tracks its path across the screen. The accuracy of the computer vision tool is not perfect, but I think it's within 10%, and it counted 471 purple crosses. Tantalizingly close to 555!

So, that's what I've got: I think the picture wall implies 555 clones, and this is supported by the number of cloning tanks and purple crosses.

Todo: I gotta retarget the computer vision tool at the 3+1 entry plug sequence with blue crosses:



Haven't read any speculation that the blue crosses are like the purple crosses, but still might produce an interesting result.

[Blockio]

The number 555 is also interesting considering the Code 777/999 for the beast modes in Q and Shin. I would not be surprised if that were intentional.

[Axx°N N.]

Missed the discussion on crosses in 2.0 relating to clones, so this was an interesting read. That your various methods of arriving at a number reached anything even close to a consistent ballpark is pretty tantalizing. The frame's cutoff point in for instance the tanks shot might be pretty arbitrary in terms of film-making--I suggest once the CRC and Groundworks for Thrice come out that you re-apply your methods here to any storyboards, genga and such, as often with shots like this there's a larger total image that gets cropped in the final product. In other words, the actual count if it is deliberate might be easier to tally using these materials.

[nerv bae]

The number 555 is also interesting considering the Code 777/999 for the beast modes in Q and Shin. I would not be surprised if that were intentional.

Right? To complete the odd number sequences, I wonder if 111 and 333 are hidden somewhere in the films (besides the titles of Jo and Q, of course).

Missed the discussion on crosses in 2.0 relating to clones, so this was an interesting read.

I wish I could find the original discussion of the purple crosses. I don't think it's in any of the threads I linked above, but I'm pretty sure I ran across it here on EGF and not elsewhere on the internet. If anyone knows where this discussion is, please post the link.

That your various methods of arriving at a number reached anything even close to a consistent ballpark is pretty tantalizing. The frame's cutoff point in for instance the tanks shot might be pretty arbitrary in terms of film-making--I suggest once the CRC and Groundworks for Thrice come out that you re-apply your methods here to any storyboards, genga and such, as often with shots like this there's a larger total image that gets cropped in the final product. In other words, the actual count if it is deliberate might be easier to tally using these materials.

Ooh, good point, I will do that when translations become available.

Off-topic fun fact:

Did everyone else already know that the background structures in this scene are Unit 13's fingerprints? I didn't realize it until I read it on Twitter this month!

[dzzthink]

This might shed some more light on the purpose of Asuka being a clone, and whether the clones are even important in the story/themes. It would be great if this was somehow referenced in the earlier films. I wondered why there were girl giggling noises when Asuka was infected in the angel.

[FelipeFritschF]

Great thread!

[riffraff11235]

Did everyone else already know that the background structures in this scene are Unit 13's fingerprints?

Hearing the crystal cracking sound effect at the beginning of the scene, I assumed it was just the entry plug buckling as Unit 13 gripped it. That's really cool!

[nerv bae]

The number 555 is also interesting considering the Code 777/999 for the beast modes in Q and Shin. I would not be surprised if that were intentional.

Right? To complete the odd number sequences, I wonder if 111 and 333 are hidden somewhere in the films (besides the titles of Jo and Q, of course).

lol anno you madman:



(Spotted this while looking for something else; I know it's unrelated but it still made me laugh.)

[nerv bae]

Adding a fifth relevant topic, Original Asuka, to my list above:

1) Will Asuka's Angel Contamination Play A Role In 3.0 + 1.0?
2) about the pilots being mentally/psychologically enginnered
3) Thrice Upon Time questions regarding Asuka and Ending.
4) Asuka's rejection letter
5) Original Asuka

In topic #5, several posters anticipate my thesis that the two surviving Shikinamis on the instrumentality picture wall are Original Asuka and our Asuka.

[DantesInferno]

The number 555 is also interesting considering the Code 777/999 for the beast modes in Q and Shin. I would not be surprised if that were intentional.

Don't forget the very first of such Eva-02 "cheat code" that appears on screen: The Beast (i.e., 666).

I mentioned it in another thread, but there was a Japanese fan theory video about Mary that speculated the other surviving clone of Asuka had been selected as the test pilot of Eva-04, and (together with Mary's own, adult original) doomed with it.

To me, it makes more sense that the "Shikinami Original" is not one of the clones, and since it precedes them all, were it to be assigned a number at all, only "1" would make any sense (and not some number near the mid range).

Perhaps the Shikinami original was lost in a freak experiment not unlike the one that disappeared Yui, only with the Eva-13 this time (or rather, its predecessor, the salvaged "central Adams"). The fact that the Shikinami series resembles its original better than the Ayanami series might be a hint that it is a later clone that uses more advanced technology (this might explain why it doesn't need periodic readjustment to prevent it from tanging).

At the very least, it is not clear how Nerv would "engineer" the personality of the Shikinami original (as with the clones, both Shikinami and Ayanami), unless of course it was all prepared from before her conception.

[2Lacissal2]

The number 555 is also interesting considering the Code 777/999 for the beast modes in Q and Shin. I would not be surprised if that were intentional.

Don't forget the very first of such Eva-02 "cheat code" that appears on screen: The Beast (i.e., 666).

the Triple digits is most likely, like a lot of stuff, another classic sci-fi reference, specifically to Galaxy Express 999 (pronounced 'Three-Nine'). I can't remember examples off the top of my head, but I'm certain there are plenty of other examples in anime and other Japanese media of 'Three-(number)'. I can't remember if Galaxy Express coined this form or just popularized, with early scifi/tokusatsu examples existing.

[Archer]

The Asuka clones probably resemble the original more because they’re just normal, bog-standard clones rather than a chimera of human and Lilith DNA.

I’d argue that it’s somewhat debatable to what degree the Rei’s are even “clones” of Yui. How much of their DNA is Yui’s, and how much Lilith’s? Certainly every subsequent Rei is a clone of the first, but without more knowledge of what the original cloning process actually entailed (specifically, how much of Yui’s DNA actually made it into them), there’s a case to be made that the Rei’s are more like Yui’s daughters than her clones.