30th Anniversary short written by Anno at celebration event in Japan

[Joseki]

It's not a good ending unless Asuka murders Shinji.

Your therapist (if you don't have one, maybe check) should hear an argument in favor of this.

[DTGee]

I'm confused about the interpretation of the 30th anniversary short, lol, is the short telling us that Asuka chose not to be with Shinji because she rejected instrumentality and wants to be in a world where she is a hero/protects the people around her, or does she reject instrumentality because she wants to end up in a world with the potential to experience a relationship with Shinji rather than it being handed to her, I can't tell what the interpretation should be.

People are interpreting both ways, so you can choose whatever you want it to be, but the correct answer is she rejected the fake world to build a relationship with Shinji in the real world.

Also, this isn't instrumentality. It's a 4th-wall-breaking alternate reality.

[lmm34789]

After thinking about it more and trying to maintain the idea of Shinji and Asuka as the new Adam and Eve, I don’t think Anno is saying that Asuka is rejecting Shinji; rather, she is rejecting a simplified version of their relationship. In the original Eva, Misato and Kaji are meant to represent more mature versions of Shinji and Asuka—adults who are able to overcome the hedgehog’s dilemma. However, in the original Eva, Misato and Kaji have a complicated relationship marked by heartbreak and instability. I think Anno is suggesting that Asuka doesn’t want a simplified relationship with Shinji, but rather a complicated, multilayered one that includes both pain and love—the core idea of EoE.

[lmm34789]

I'm confused about the interpretation of the 30th anniversary short, lol, is the short telling us that Asuka chose not to be with Shinji because she rejected instrumentality and wants to be in a world where she is a hero/protects the people around her, or does she reject instrumentality because she wants to end up in a world with the potential to experience a relationship with Shinji rather than it being handed to her, I can't tell what the interpretation should be.

People are interpreting both ways, so you can choose whatever you want it to be, but the correct answer is she rejected the fake world to build a relationship with Shinji in the real world.

Also, this isn't instrumentality. It's a 4th-wall-breaking alternate reality.

Yes, I think that’s the key. After thinking about it more, in EoE Shinji wasn’t rejecting happiness; he was rejecting the idea of a forced, uncomplicated happiness. He embraces the complexity of our world, where there is the potential for both pain and love. Asuka does the same: she rejects the idea of an uncomplicated relationship with Shinji in favor of a fractious relationship that includes both pain and love.

[Szmitten]

As the dude that translated this stuff line by line, I cna't believe people are able to extrapolate as much 1) shipping, 2) serious lore discussion as they have out of it.

[Mr. Tines]

people are able to extrapolate as much ... as they have out of it.

Like the rest of Evangelion, it holds a mirror up to the viewer. Thus the contradictory conclusions that have been drawn from it.

[Weird_ocean]

I really don't take this short as part of the canon, or as some sort of confirmation of Asuka's feelings toward Shinji, whether they be feelings of affection or rejection. Like, she's breaking the fourth wall, talking about the 30+ event, talking about the Rebuild Shikinami and Kaworu stories like she knows what happened there, and jumping from one ridiculous scenario to the next—as if a giant Asuka EVA could actually happen in one of the alternate universes.

This is not a serious plot. Taking anything that happened in this short at face value is too much. And although in the beginning I tried to see it as part of a narrative of the original, the more I think about it, the more I think it is completely futile, and it should just be treated as bonus DVD content or something. Rebuild already took meta way too far. This one drops a meta nuke and destroys any hope of the collective EVA narrative ever being coherent.

[Szmitten]

Eva fans learning what a manzai skit is.

Soryu is the straight man (tsukommi), Shikinami is the dumb one (boke). See also at the start with every sentence ending with "ne?" Shikinami is being stupid by misunderstanding and summoning the wrong worlds repeatedly. Even when Soryu wants to sing she grabs the mic. You get a straight moment (the station and rejection and self-realisation) and a "fuck yeah she's Soryu" at the end, but it's structured as a manzai skit,just in a meta-animated form.

e; and Shikinami's dumb bow tie.

[BernardoCairo]

There is no “canon” in Evangelion. It is a franchise with two separate continuities and three different endings, one of which leans heavily into meta commentary and self referential elements.
So what would even qualify as "canon"? Only the material Hideaki Anno personally worked on? If that is the standard, then this short counts as well. He wrote it himself. It is a story he chose to tell using these characters.
Make of that what you will. As I said before, the Japanese do not care about "canon".

[kuribo-04]

The only canon Eva story is "After the end"

[Asunji_Yuko]

I feel like the "she totally wants this but later/in reality" reduces the supposed message to a platitude without really looking into its meaning, especially since the reasoning was never about "effort" or "earning things".

She smiles and says "Thank you" because the scenario helps her get over pain of feeling like she was rejected or losing out; (like Shinji's rebuild confession, in a way) Considering what it would be like if she could have it (not Shinji in particular but also male attention, children, a "peaceful" life; Shinji is very generic & interchangeable there) allows her to realize it wouldn't actually be what she wants/ make her happy. When she feels like she could have it, she decides it doesn't suit her, & accepts that about herself.

The housewife fantasy isn't framed as different from the fantasy of power, being the main character, being sexy, mother's approval etc.

Three things I'll point out.

1. She never claims to dislike the housewife fantasy itself or Shinji himself the same way she dislikes the other alternatives; rather, she dislikes using whatever power Shikinami uses (I assume instrumentality) as a crutch to escape her reality. She views the fantasy as a "kind, gentle world" that she doesn't belong to, rather than the harsh and brutal one that she does belong to. She never says being a mother and having a family is not for her, whereas she really does not hesitate explicitly disliking all the other options. So it is in fact framed differently. In this short, that harsh, brutal reality would be her returning to Shinji on the beach in "One More Final - I Need You." We know this because it's the ending she references at the beginning plus how "Komm Süsser Tod" is played. Nothing else it could be, really.

2. Asuka Sohryu has always gotten a ton of male attention but never gave a crap about it unless it was from Kaji or Shinji. Shinji isn't really interchangeable with another in that aspect, since Kaji is unobtainable. It's not that she doesn't want Shinji, it's that she prefers the real Shinji who did disgusting things to her and strangled her, because anything positive they develop will be authentic and built by them together rather than a wish fulfillment. Essentially the same general idea for why she prefers the real world to an idealized fake one that's kinder.

3. Whether she actually becomes a mother and has a family, it would not be anything like the one she's shown, and she would be a career woman rather than a housewife given that she very much identifies as a warrior and a protector. I'm....not really sure what purpose piloting her Unit 02 would serve in her real ending, given that it's been destroyed, but being a mother and a career woman aren't mutually exclusive and she never says it is in her view.

[Asunji_Yuko]

I think she pretty explicitly states that she's not interested in whatever Rebuild has to offer, including the world without EVA.

Isn't a world without Eva basically what the og anime timeline is now too after the End of Evangelion when all the Evas were destroyed and Unit-01 was sent off into space? Or are the Evas still not gone for some reason?

Not really, because the effects of the Evangelions are everywhere. It seemed more like 3+1 was "what if the Evas and everything bad that came with them were all gone."

[kuribo-04]

She never says being a mother and having a family is not for her,

It's an established character trait she doesn't want kids (episode 22).

[Asunji_Yuko]

.

[Asunji_Yuko]

She never says being a mother and having a family is not for her,

It's an established character trait she doesn't want kids (episode 22).

People change their mind about that all the time particularly if they have that view at age 14. It's also in the context of her despising her menstrual cramps so it's more about hating the reality of being a woman.

[marchon]

She never says being a mother and having a family is not for her,

It's an established character trait she doesn't want kids (episode 22).

The only mothers she has known before then is the shell of her biological mom who killed herself and a doll in her place, and her step-mom who presumably is the one who was having sex with her dad while mom was in the hospital. Of course she wouldn't want to be a mom if that's her idea of what moms are like.

[Asunji_Yuko]

It's an established character trait she doesn't want kids (episode 22).

The only mothers she has known before then is the shell of her biological mom who killed herself and a doll in her place, and her step-mom who presumably is the one who was having sex with her dad while mom was in the hospital. Of course she wouldn't want to be a mom if that's her idea of what moms are like.

The fact that Asuka manages to be civil to the woman who contributed to her mother's suicide (I think Kyoko hanged herself when she found out about her husband's affair) is amazing and commendable.

[Axx°N N.]

It's an established character trait she doesn't want kids (episode 22).

People change their mind about that all the time particularly if they have that view at age 14. It's also in the context of her despising her menstrual cramps so it's more about hating the reality of being a woman.

That's true, but there's plenty of people who in fact never have children who held that desire when young. In a similar vein, Asuka having a traumatizing relationship with her mother doesn't thus mean recovery has to and can only be becoming a mother.

Anyway ... the only thing I really enjoy about the short is the acknowledgement that Shikinami is a shallow clone of a better character.

[Weird_ocean]

There is no “canon” in Evangelion. It is a franchise with two separate continuities and three different endings, one of which leans heavily into meta commentary and self referential elements.
So what would even qualify as "canon"? Only the material Hideaki Anno personally worked on? If that is the standard, then this short counts as well. He wrote it himself. It is a story he chose to tell using these characters.
Make of that what you will. As I said before, the Japanese do not care about "canon".

I agree with you overall, the only problem is Anno himself. and how he tried to tie it all into a looping narrative, trying to set all EVA continues into a consecutive narrative. Obviously, he did it to expand the franchise to further series and films by other creators. But I can't blame the people for trying to connect it all into a single story, as Anno himself sorta doing it.

Although now I don't buy it, because at this point we have more questions than answers. So, I don't really care anymore.

[Ranlux]

As the dude that translated this stuff line by line, I cna't believe people are able to extrapolate as much 1) shipping, 2) serious lore discussion as they have out of it.

were you the one who provided the subs for the [BestGirl] release on the cat website?
I pointed out a mistranslation of yours in the comment section there. Should be 「新人に頼りたくない」instead of 「シンジに頼りたくない」. Release dude made a new .ass file with the correction