MIA in 3.0

[Lonecow12]

Yeah I didn't really get that Asuka was talking about Shinji. Asuka, for all her venom, is the only person who treats Shinji like a normal human being (or at least how she has always treated him). Everyone else treats him like gum on the bottom of their shoe, ESPECIALLY Misato... so far.

I think we are supposed to think Kaji is dead, because he died in the original series. I think Khara is toying with our preconceived knowledge again, like with Asuka in 03.

Kaji's death is so impactful in the original that I think our minds just default to "Well Kaji is dead at this point." If we haven't seen the TV show first I don't think most of us would even assume he was dead, since they talked about him as if he were alive.

[ElMariachi]

Yeah I didn't really get that Asuka was talking about Shinji. Asuka, for all her venom, is the only person who treats Shinji like a normal human being (or at least how she has always treated him). Everyone else treats him like gum on the bottom of their shoe, ESPECIALLY Misato... so far.

But still, the part of her dialog just before her line to Misato was extremely dickish : Shinji asks about Rei, and she respond "dunno, we don't have time for that kind of shit here", although she knows that they didn't found her, and instead of saying it keep in the dark the guy who had gone through Hell(he got fucking flawed alive for Christ's sake!) and sacrificed 14 years of his life(and from WILLE's point of view the rest of the world, although we viewers know that he never wanted this and didn't knew what was happening), and who on top of that saved her life last time they met!
That's why I can't understand her scene in the interrogation room : she cares for him, her calling for him in space, Mari's teasing and the fact that even after he launched 4I she still didn't abandoned him to die in the red desert proves it, but during her outburst in the interrogation she was doing her best to hurt him : first making him see that she's angry and bitter with the punch, not telling him why exactly she's angry and bitter, essentially telling him to go to hell when he asked about her eye and why her body is still the same and dismissing his concerns about Rei like they were nothing of importance... even Misato with her coldness and "you will do nothing" line wasn't that dickish!

[Na7e]

But still, the part of her dialog just before her line to Misato was extremely dickish : Shinji asks about Rei, and she respond "dunno, we don't have time for that kind of shit here", although she knows that they didn't found her, and instead of saying it keep in the dark the guy who had gone through Hell(he got fucking flawed alive for Christ's sake!) and sacrificed 14 years of his life(and from WILLE's point of view the rest of the world, although we viewers know that he never wanted this and didn't knew what was happening), and who on top of that saved her life last time they met!

Those 14 years of his life taken away weren't his sacrifice, they were his punishment. That aside it would be nice if someone could get a screen cap when were treated to seeing Kaji's watermelon patch. From what I remember it was basically completely trashed, with the spigot all messed up, and the soil barren.

[ElMariachi]

Those 14 years of his life taken away weren't his sacrifice, they were his punishment.

I think his punishment is more the mistrust/fear/hate/scorn everyone feels toward him and the knowledge that he accidentally obliterated the biosphere(or at least the fact that everyone he cared about thinks that, we still don't have any details of what really happened that turned the world the way it is in 3.0) than the fact he spent 14 years in suspended animation.

[pwhodges]

first making him see that she's angry and bitter with the punch, not telling him why exactly she's angry and bitter,

Although the surrounding sense of hurt is quite different because of the circumstances, I tend to see the punch as alluding to the scenes of Kamina punching Simon and Simon in turn punching Rossiu.

[Jurrasic]

Although the surrounding sense of hurt is quite different because of the circumstances, I tend to see the punch as alluding to the scenes of Kamina punching Simon and Simon in turn punching Rossiu.

Nah, those punches were to jerk Simon and Rossiu respectively out of their own self-pitying shells, and get them to see themselves for what they CAN be, not what they fear they are.

Asuka was just pissed off and lashing out at the person she blames the last 14 years of stress and bloodshed and whatever else for. (and imo, showing her own lack of maturing in those 14 years in doing so.)

[Lonecow12]

But still, the part of her dialog just before her line to Misato was extremely dickish : Shinji asks about Rei, and she respond "dunno, we don't have time for that kind of shit here", although she knows that they didn't found her, and instead of saying it keep in the dark the guy who had gone through Hell(he got fucking flawed alive for Christ's sake!) and sacrificed 14 years of his life(and from WILLE's point of view the rest of the world, although we viewers know that he never wanted this and didn't knew what was happening), and who on top of that saved her life last time they met!
That's why I can't understand her scene in the interrogation room : she cares for him, her calling for him in space, Mari's teasing and the fact that even after he launched 4I she still didn't abandoned him to die in the red desert proves it, but during her outburst in the interrogation she was doing her best to hurt him : first making him see that she's angry and bitter with the punch, not telling him why exactly she's angry and bitter, essentially telling him to go to hell when he asked about her eye and why her body is still the same and dismissing his concerns about Rei like they were nothing of importance... even Misato with her coldness and "you will do nothing" line wasn't that dickish!

You do realize this is Asuka we are talking about? Maybe I'm just an Asuka apologist (probably) but she (and Mari from what we know of her) are the only ones in the 14 year time skip that come off as genuine, because they both say what is on their mind.

Sakura seems nice, but she clenches her fists when Shinji talks. Same with everyone on the bridge. Asuka is at least up front with her feelings, as she always has been, and she says why she is upset. At least he knows. That is better then everyone just secretly hating on him behind his back.

And to Shinji's credit, knowing how Asuka is, he imediatly brushes off the fact she broke the glass and gave her little spill and asks how she could possibly be 28.

[Shinoyami65]

Sakura seems nice, but she clenches her fists when Shinji talks. Same with everyone on the bridge. Asuka is at least up front with her feelings, as she always has been, and she says why she is upset. At least he knows. That is better then everyone just secretly hating on him behind his back.

True. Sakura seems nice but she seems conflicted about Shinji. The "Give us a break" line seems to suggest that she is frustrated about the suffering caused by 3I, although I do also think she wants to treat Shinji like a person, possibly due to his connection with Toji.

Getting back to the topic, I wonder what happened to the rest of the anonymous Nerv bridge bunny crew? Misato seems to have had them replaced with the Wille bridge bunnies, so maybe they were all killed in 3I?

[ElMariachi]

You do realize this is Asuka we are talking about? Maybe I'm just an Asuka apologist (probably) but she (and Mari from what we know of her) are the only ones in the 14 year time skip that come off as genuine, because they both say what is on their mind.

Sakura seems nice, but she clenches her fists when Shinji talks. Same with everyone on the bridge. Asuka is at least up front with her feelings, as she always has been, and she says why she is upset. At least he knows. That is better then everyone just secretly hating on him behind his back.

Well, seeing how the entire bridge crew is glaring murder at him, I think he understood very quickly that they hate him. Why he didn't understood is why everyone hate him or at best mistrust him(Misato, Ritsuko, Sakura and Asuka)... something he will learn latter when Kaworu explains to him what happened to the world.
Asuka "at least" don't bother with the passive-aggressiveness and goes straight to the aggressiveness, that an improvement I guess!

As for Sakura, yes she's conflicted, everyone in the Wunder is conflicted about Shinji, especially because probably no one expected him to return and thought he was long since dead/permanently absorbed inside EVA-01, so that came as a shock when the entry plug magically reconstituted him!
My personal theory about her more friendly attitude is that when she was still in the hospital, Toji told her what kind of person Shinji was, that he was thrown without previous warning or training in that giant robot and is doing his best with his limited abilities to fight against the Angels, and that overall he's a nice guy and really regrets that he had accidentally hurt her. And maybe after N3I when everyone was blaming Shinji for what he did, Toji actually took his defense, saying that if he was in his place and that instead of Rei it was Sakura, he too would have done anything to save her(which would be really fitting, since in a sense Rei is Shinji's half-sister!)
Anyway, Sakura thanks him for being Toji's friend, so Shinji must have leave a very strong impression on Toji, and it's probably why Sakura is willing to give Shinji a chance and not immediately treat him like a war criminal. But of course that don't prevent her from being conflicted : after all in mankind's eyes, Shinji is the responsible of the hellhole they all live into since the 14 past years! And at least she keep her outbursts for herself and when Shinji don't see her, that make her immediately more mature than Asuka!