Was the spec ops commander in EoE aware of SEELE's plan?

[Cypher]

He doesn't look to worried and the communications officer behind him is smiling as Unit 01 and the MP eva's are beginning to generate the anti-at field.



So was the commander of the invading special forces unit aware of SEELE's plan and sympathised with them?

[Shin-seiki]

I think you're reading too much into that; I would expect that that he was told that NERV was trying to instigate 3I (probably just told him "It's like 2I, only worse"), and that they (the army) need to prevent that by any means necessary, and he realizes here that the mission (the "prevent" part) has failed.

Also: ASPECT RATIO!

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Shin-seiki's explanation is probably the best one at explaining both the army's orders and motivation. In fact, the very same story was spun to the Prime Minister earlier in #25'. And to be honest, we still don't know how large an element of truth there was to the charge that Gendou wanted to initiate Third Impact.

I always too the commanders look and words as the resigned look of a professional facing death(The Captain in Xenogears anyone?). If Anno wanted to be more cliched, I suppose he could have had him take a puff of a cigar or something.

I only spotted the second soldiers grin recently and I honestly have no idea what he's so happy about. Maybe he just likes the pretty light show. We're open to suggestions.

[AuraTwilight]

Of course they weren't. The Spec Ops were killing NERV because they were told that they planned to kill humanity. SEELE is...uh...planning to do WORSE.

As for the smiling fucker, maybe he doesn't understand what's going on and thinks the Evas are exploding.

[bladerj]

its not a smiley, its just a monalisa effect.

[MatrixRefugee]

I always thought it was a nervous smile: these guys might be hardened soldiers, but they've probably never seen anything like the stuff that's going down in front of them...

[Merridian]

Maybe he just likes the pretty light show.

This is basically what I thought. I wouldn't blame him; that had to be the most awesome part of the whole friggin series.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Everybody else fielded the original question nicely, so I don't have much to add there.

Though I somehow missed that officer's smile til now, my guess is it was a nervous smile/in awe of what was happening.

[AVman9]

I think the smiling guy is having a cliche "so this is end, huh?" type moments and he's looking back on the good times in his life.

Maybe?

[Azathoth]

I think the smiling guy is having a cliche "so this is end, huh?" type moments and he's looking back on the good times in his life.

Maybe?

Be nice to see someone who has a good attitude about Third Impact, but I doubt it. Remember, at this point basically nobody outside SEELE, Gendou, Fuyutsuki and the Bunnies had any real idea what was going on above the Geofront. When the Series cause the GIGANTIC FUCKING JAPAN-DESTROYING EXPLOSION a few minutes later, the UN commander states the obvious, that they've failed. Well, presumably he had enough smarts to realize that gigantic Japan-destroying explosions equaled a Fission Mailed. But at that time, I don't think he had any idea what was going on. Nor did anyone.

(Incidentally, it seems rather odd that by End of Evangelion, all pretense that the Second Impact was caused by a meteor is completely discarded. Suddenly, everyone seems to know that Second Impact is a human-caused, repeatable phenomenon, and that NERV has a definite plan for repeating it. You have to wonder what the Prime Minister figured was going on when he was told that NERV were planning to cause another Second Impact: what, did they build an orbital meteorite gun or something?)

[master_lloyd]

Fixed?

SPOILER: Show

[URL=http://img684.imageshack.us/i/eva1.jpg/][/URL]
Apologies for MS paint shop.

[Joseph the PRPD]

Yes, it's very fitting in an amusing way.

[Ironfoot]

Definitely not, though once the commander saw the Unit-01/Harpy clusterfuck, he knew it was over.

[trident]

Incidentally, it seems rather odd that by End of Evangelion, all pretense that the Second Impact was caused by a meteor is completely discarded.

Governments of stronger countries by that time are more or less aware that meteor is a lie. JSSDF officers receive some knowledge together with orders.

[Sun Stealer]

Smile guy probably thought the MP Eva's were performing their finishing move or something.