There’s a lot of subtleties in 3.0, one of them being how Anno uses spacials and dialogue to show how the main cast has undergone an implicit generational shift. Misato takes on a role that was originally Gendo’s (emphasized further with her visual upgrade, unfeeling shades and all), and Ritsuko takes on a role that was originally Fuyutsuki’s – others have already pointed out that this “evolution” was quietly alluded to during 2.0. (And by extension, Gendo and Fuyutsuki has taken on SEELE’s role upon SEELE’s demise, Asuka has taken on Misato’s role, Mari has taken on Kaji’s role, so on and so forth.)

It’s hard to say what this means for 3.0+1.0 – especially in reference to Misato and Shinji’s now-broken dynamic – but it’s definitely worth noting (and speculating) on.

REBUILD OF EVANGELION

Fourteen years have passed since then.

December 8, 1986; Misato Katsuragi's 28th Birthday

You’ll discover the importance of going forward once you’ve taken that first step.

I was watching the reboot of Space Battleship Yamato (noted 70s sci-fi anime) and noticed that Q!Misato is very much a direct homage to Captain Juzo Okita. Impressive, but not at all surprising – particularly since Yamato was Anno’s favorite anime growing up.

All the more reason to change the situation and quash all anxieties of the future.

ｈｅｒｅ  ｃｏｍｅｓ  ｔｈｅ  ｂｉｇｇｅｓｔ  ｔｈｒｅａｔ.

What’s most interesting about the latest Groundwork release are the corrections made to the initial Misato drafts, largely because Misato Katsuragi is the only character in Q whose precise emotional state is deliberately obscured.

The first draft is very “Pre-Timeskip Misato”, in that it’s fully demonstrative of the extent of Misato’s emotions. But the alterations (adding wrinkles around the eye, clenching the mouth, tightening the brow) really do well in communicating that Misato has now learned to bottle much of her discomforts and fears. A word to describe the first draft would be “anger”, but finding words to describe the finalized expression is a more variegated task — yes, there’s anger, but there’s also fear, exhaustion, tenacity, and maybe a little bit of regret.

Without having the full scope of what she’s gone through during the 14 year timeskip, this change is perhaps the most mystifying and disorienting in terms of character development, which is in part why the conclusion of Misato Katsuragi’s Rebuild arc firmly remains one of my most anticipated moments in Evangelion: 3.0+1.0.