who needs enemies with friends like these?
Rei doesn’t know emotion, so there’s no difference between what she says and feels; there’s nothing ulterior about her. At first glance, then, you may theorize: this is where her very great beauty comes from, from her surface, without depth, but with the absence of its necessity – someone truly mystical.
No. Rei’s beauty comes from the truth that she has feelings. When she cried, it meant the waters of the pool were coming out at last. The struggle to draw feelings forth, the reconciliation between your surface and your depth – that, I believe, is when we truly become alive, truly become human beings. And when I found the warmth beneath the coldness in Rei’s words, I synchronized with her for the first time. And it felt so good and I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my own heart.
What I learned from meeting a girl who didn’t know (1996, Megumi Hayashibara; translation by William Flanagan and David Ury)
it’s mindblowing how the phrase “the beginning and the end are one and the same” is so deeply entrenched in evangelion’s main narrative. forget about rebuild’s loops (for now), because it’s ridiculously important in the original series, too
take episode 1 for example. the establishing shots of the military attacking sachiel? repeats itself in end of evangelion. misato marching shinji down nerv’s corridors? repeats itself in end of evangelion. emotionally charged peptalks between misato and shinji? repeats itself in end of evangelion. unit-01′s hand moving on its own for shinji’s sake? repeats itself in end of evangelion. even our very first shot of ritsuko, which has her emerging from an LCL pool in episode 1, laterally echoes the very last shot her falling into the LCL tank upon being shot in end of evangelion.
the beginning and the end are one and the same.
ever wonder why asuka’s debut episode takes place in the ocean? because asuka emerges from the ocean, kicking and screaming, in end of evangelion. and to top it all off, rei’s bookend appearances in episode 1 and end of evangelion respectively recapitulate the overarching concept of alpha and omega so perfectly.
The mountains, the heavy mountains. What changes over time. The sky, the blue sky. What eyes can’t see. What eyes can see. The Sun, a unique object. Water, what is comforting. Commander Ikari. Flowers, so many of the same kind, and so many unnecessary. The sky, the red, red sky. The color red. I hate the color red. The water flowing. Blood, the smell of blood. A woman who never bleeds. Man who is made from red soil. Man made from man and woman. The city; a human creation. Eva; a human creation. What is a human? God’s creation? Is man manmade? The things I possess are life and soul. I am a vessel for a soul. Entry plug; the throne for a soul. Who is this? This is me. Who am I? What am I? What am I? What am I? What am I? I am myself. This object is me. This is the me that is seen, yet I feel as though I am not myself. Strange. I feel as though my body is melting. I can’t see myself. My shape is fading. I feel the presence of someone who is not me. Is someone there, beyond this?
rei’s poem / episode 14
i’m just saying, if the bulk of your evangelion viewing/fandom experience puts kaworu, shinji, and kawoshin at the very Center of Importance, and in the process you neglect the other thirteen characters – especially the women – or put them on a semi-relevant backburner where all their nuance is lost or glossed over unless their narrative somehow implicates kaworu or shinji, no offense but what the fuck are you doing.
like i don’t know when the fandom will sit down and question why kawoshin has become instantly synonymous to evangelion, or why “OK BUT when’s the white haired boy gonna show up??” is the textbook viewing experience for most new fans, or why f/f gay subtext (ritsuko/maya, asuka/mari) is only mentioned in passing, or why 80% of the meta devotes itself to relatively minute dialogue between kaworu and shinji to the blissful oversight of everything else, etc. call it what you want but a boys fest is a boys fest, especially when one half of it is an interesting – but ultimately ancillary – dude love interest with 17 minutes of screentime in a 26ep series + feature film, pitted against 13 other characters (more than half of which are girls/women) with fully realized, multiform development arcs that are blatantly mischaracterized or oversimplified.
birthday gift to @qmisato; both for the character and the lovely person! :) figured we all needed more slice-of-life feels on WILLE (hot chocolate with blankets and ‘apparently-shinji-isn’t-dead’ reports and all).
Ritsuko/Maya is canon in the Rebuilds.
No, seriously. Maya’s unrequited crush on Ritsuko in Neon Genesis Evangelion isn’t up for debate, but what many people miss is that Anno’s secretly upgraded their relationship in Rebuild. (This isn’t the first time a canon gay NGE relationship has seen a level-up in the movies. See: Kawoshin.) The clues are buried throughout, and Anno’s left us to unearth them.
There’s this super interesting article that provides very compelling explanations for some of the visual/thematic clues present (shortchanging Ritsuko’s black and white cat trinkets for two black ones, by way of example) that clarify a secret canon relationship between the two.
If you can’t get Google Translate to work its magic on the article, a sufficient English translation is available under the cut:
DECEMBER 8TH 2015 - KATSURAGI MISATO’S BIRTHDAY
“Playing her was difficult. She hides her heart. I’d get overemotional during scenes where Misato’s feelings would explode, scenes where she’d pour her heart out. My hands would shake, and it took all my might to keep the script I was holding from rustling or making noise. She’s strong, brave; a woman. I’ve focused exclusively on Misato for so long – I wanted to know her, to understand her – I concentrated my all on her.” – Kotono Mitsuishi
