The penultimate post. I hope this has been entertaining so far. Now onto the scene I keep hearing about, but had never expierienced before today. The Neon Genesis Evangelion Alternate Reality Sequence. Most sci-fi shows do something like this every now and again, so I suppose it was Evangelions time! :E
We begin with another of Shinji's "night terror" awakenings(1). This one is extreamly similar to his awakening in EoE, in the sea of LCL. There Shinji had also made the realisation that the world he's created wasn't what he thought it would be. This awakening shot is used all over the place in Eva I suppose. Sort of a "did that just happen" moment as well.
We start off with shots of Shinji's room in this world.(2) It's interesting how everything in this scene is so much more colorful and vibrant than the regular Tokyo-3. This whole place is permeated with a happier aura it seems. Or was Tokyo-3 simply beset with a miasma?
Also note that Shinji has a poster of a bikini girl on his dresser! This place is different indeed. The first hint I think, that the Shinji here is not the one we have so far known.
This Shinji is also a lazier one than we have known as well(3). I also doubt that the regular Shinji would have been quite so nonchalant about Asuka stomping into his room first thing in the morning.
Asuka seem however, to be as abrasive as usual at least(4).
Ummm?(5) Eh?(6) What!?(7) Ohhhhh...(8)
Well what did she expect to get from barging into someones room first thing in the morning? Also, look! There's PenPen!(8)
What are you doing here!?!(1) And Yui as well! Yui comes across as a much less patient person than her more familiar persona. A bit of a nagger too. I'm affronted! I guess this is what having children does to people, though she didn't seem too bad when Shinji was small. Too much exposure to Asuka?
And as for you!(2) Gendou is here! I don't think this is the same individual though. And I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he's not wearing his glasses either. This paper seems to be hinting at the transformation of the antarctic base to a tourist attraction. A very alternate universe indeed.
I also find it noteworthy that we do not see Gendou or Yui's faces here. Does this have some significant meaning? Shinji never knew what his mother looked like after all, and Gendou's face was never anything but cold and stern.
How cheerful. It would seem that Shinji lives in the same Tokyo-3 apartment block here too(3), and other people do as well! This world is considerably more cheerful than the bleak regular one.
Note also! There are no cicadas! Significant, no?
Yes, Asuka is still herself. Abusive as ever(4). And Shinji seems as usual, all too submissive to her whims.
She's still interested in him here though(5), and he's still as oblivious as ever. Interesting that Shinji even says something like this. This is certainly a different boy.
He's not the only one who's different. Rei is not the girl we knew either(6). The use of Asuka's country music theme here only emphasises how different she is.
Shinji's desk here I'm presuming, and Asuka's handwriting(1). I wonder what the scribbled out text is though? If I had to guess, I'd say it might be a list of girls names perhaps? Asuka will brook no rivals!
Shinji?! Giving insights on others(2)?! Truely this is another world.
Kensuke gets a fairly long shot here,(3) accommpanied by his wearied comment. I wonder about his role here. Again the insightful observer? I'm developing a new perspective on what Kensuke represents, but that's for another time..
Shinji! Lecherous as the rest(4)!? I suppose a happy upbringing has a least allowed him to be a regular teenager.
Misato sensei? How corny is this(5). Still I suppose she need to be put somewhere, though how a secondary school teacher gets away with dressing like she does is beyond me. Is this Misato searching for a more captive man as well!? :E
Rei is introduced, and again we can see that she's not the Rei we're used to(6). Much more Asuka-ish. Here we laspe back into the storyboard art. Money dried up this soon?
It would seem that Asuka's animosity for Rei spans the entire multiverse(1)! Asuka/Rei shippers take careful note!
Misato is a least, flippant as ever(2). Does this class actually get anything done between oogling her, and laughing at her, likely risque, wise cracks!
Amid the following laughter, this idilic world fades away as Shinji realises what might have been.(3) I think this alternate universe is just that. A utopia that might have been, a shard of the multiverse so to speak. I don't think this is a conjuring of the minds in complementation. Rather it is a place apart and those we see there are not the unhappy souls of the fortress city Tokyo-3. At least, I think they aren't.
The realisation of the possibility of such a happy life has reached Shinji(4). (Is he reading the class roster here?) He has seen what might be, and realised what might yet be(5). The Tokyo-3 here look like a minature on a table. Can't read too much into that though.
Anyway, I think Shinji has gained a source of hope from the alternate reality. Hope that he can escape from the hell of piloting and Tokyo-3(6) and yet continue to be someone who is somebody. There is a Shinji out there who is happy, who can like himself. This is an important realisation for him.
Just to let you know, I have watched the final scene. It's quite a show, and I'll be posting all my thoughts on it soon. 'Till then, enjoy the screenies!
Originally posted on: 24-May-2005, 01:08 GMT
) rather than picking parasites out of each others' pelts.
