ONIAgent150 wrote: Also, I think this theory of Rei II being stuck inside the EVA is a fascinating one.
From the trailer, the idea that Rei II doesn't get saved and the next clone gets decanted seems plausible enough, but if you ask me, it would be a total copout.
The CR confirmed that the main purpose of the 2.X finale was to make things different/send them off the rails and that "What if Rei lives"/"rescue from the Underworld" was really the decision that was taken here, not other possible ideas that could have resulted in what we saw like, say, "Let's have something TI-ish surprisingly early" or "Let's end the movie with a cliffhander where Shinji does something stupid".
If they had just killed her when it was due, then, okay, we were expecting that, but having her survive just to technically kill her off right afterwards? Doesn't that feel, dunno, cheap? Like backpedalling, "§no we wanna follow our old establishes plotline where Rei kicks it after all, sorry we were trolling you for cheap "Ah" and "ohs"?" pleaso no.
If you make a change, stick to it and follow the consequences.
Also, it is only really "fascinating" when you consider Rei a humanoid plot device because, "Ooooh, Soul mechanics! Cloning!"
But from a storytelling perspective, these are the handwavings you use as tools to get to "the fun part", the meat of the characters - Even when Rei was killed off in the original, it was setup as a tragedy and there was a notion of her personal character arc comming to "full circle", even when her death was fully intended to be sudden.
If she's stuck in EVA 01, she won't
do anyrthing anymore besides cryptic talk , you'd see nothing more of the very dynamic evolution of her personality, her increasingly independent actions and how she feels about her situation as an artificial being which has been at the heart of the movies so far.
Frankly, it would be throwing away a perfectly good character with tons of potential. The handvave is there in order to tell the character stories (which are metaphors for real life things, anyway) not the other way around. If Rei II ceases to be portayable as an analogon to a real life socially akward girl, there's no point in having her at all.
That said, Rei II being killed and subsequently replaced
halfway into Q or dying
at the climax of "Final" (the latter being, realistically speaking, way more likely than any happy end) with proper completion of her character arc beforehand is a very different story and definitely likely.
But her surviving has to make an impact on the story first, else, there's no point.
I don't want Sadamoto's Harpy scene (Asuka survives but its all the same wether she's there or not) all over again.
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