[EVA] EoTV vs EoE (again?)

[Peter Svensson]

> I never thought there was any compelling reason to read anything insidious 
> into the former. 

When the nature of individuality and the barriers between individuals is the main topic of discussion, the fact that everyone smiles the same smile and uses the exact same words doesn't ring any bells? You don't think that there's anything at all strange about the fact that no one has any variety in how they address Shinji? That no one demonstrates personality? 

The TV ending being a response to the various cults active in Japan at the time is, to me a crucial key to the puzzle. EoTV is an allusion for Shinji being indoctrinated into a cult. He has his personality broken down with promises and parables, and ends it deliriously happy as part of a collective whole. He was told that he's still an individual, though in truth he's become the same as everybody else.

Just because it looks happy on the surface, doesn't mean that's what it's meant to be. EVA is meant to be taken at more than just face value, you of all people should be aware of this. 

> They'd all been in Instrumentality, so they were all effectively dead. Am I 
> missing something?

We're operating on different wavelengths here, due to the different EVA debate cultures we come from. I'm running off the assumption that Shinji only enters Instrumentality AFTER the auditorium collapses. Previous to that, he was in a limbo state where his AT field was eroded but hadn't yet completely failed. He still retained personality and individuality. And while the movie introduces the idea that the dead can reform, there's no claim in the TV ending that Instrumentality is reversible. 

> It's a bit arguable that Shinji himself is the one speaking. Is "And to all 
> the Children, Congratulations!" something Shinji would really say?

Once he's lose his identity, yes. Hence the argument.

> Why the switch to telop at all?

To emphasize his lack of humanity. While I suspect that Lilith is the telop at first, it becomes the voice of the Instrumentality. Omniscient narration that has no face. That Gendo is able to react to it and talk back to the telop is where I get the (non-supported) theory that this is Gendo's take on Instrumentality.
 
> If they'd truly lost their identities, they wouldn't be there at all.

How do we know? Instrumentality is the erosion of the barriers between individuals in an attempt to fill the void in humanity's souls with each other. Once there's no difference between you and me and he and she, there's no more pain. But the raw material we were made of persists. The final scene

Peter Svensson

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