[EVA] 1.01 - Misato is OK!

[Carl Gustav Horn]

>>
>> Shinji seems much more headed toward the EoE Shinji somehow.  He  
>> is already
>> rejecting Misato's friendship more than the TV series,& although some
>> instances he has more attitude, his sleeping out rough in an alley  
>> is more
>> in keeping with the depressed state he's in/can get in in EoE.

That was a rather startling thing for Shinji to do, acting like a  
straight-up derelict, whereas in the original series it's suggested  
he passed the night on trains and in the movie theater, which are at  
least indoors (Shinji's puzzled and angry expression when he watches  
the couple in the theater was one of the first things that made me  
realize Eva was going to be different. I also couldn't help but be  
reminded of how Haruko and Naota are sleeping rough near the end of  
FLCL, but together). And there's a tremendous difference in mood  
between Shinji being caught after having been invited to take shelter  
with a new friend (as in the TV show), and his sudden cry in the  
movie that he wanted to go back, after literally coming to the end of  
the road (it's almost an AKIRA-like scene that stretches out before  
him).

By seeming to reduce their influence, the movie made me realize how  
important Toji and Kensuke are to Shinji. Although Misato takes on  
the job of trying to psychologically reconcile Shinji to his work at  
NERV, it's actually Toji and Kensuke who might have the better chance  
to do so. Most boys at 14, it's fair to say, would rather have two  
good friends and not get along with their teacher, than get along  
with their teacher but have no good friends. Misato is going to be  
Shinji's superior whether he likes it or not, but having relatively  
"normal" boys his own age accept him, and even admire him, for being  
an Eva pilot--that's perhaps better for his emotional health.

And a very different thing, I would say, from taking him down to show  
him Terminal Dogma as a motivation. Misato, after all, has spent  
years working for GEHIRN and later NERV; she's spent half her life  
knowing about the Angels. Realistically (that terrible word ^_^) how  
is Shinji supposed to necessarily absorb the full significance of  
what Misato is telling him and showing him on such short notice?  
Isn't it just one more bit of weirdness they pile onto him? It so  
happens that for certain reasons unknown to him, Shinji turns out to  
be good at piloting the Eva, but that is not a substitute for the  
fact he's a complete outsider to the organization he's working for,  
and its goals. Combine this with the stress and fear of his new  
situation, and it's hard to blame him for trying to withdraw.

Whereas Asuka and Rei are like those kids at the Olympics who've ben  
trained since they were little (which isn't necessarily healthy  
either), Shinji's like one of those child soldiers in the Third  
World, who gets yanked out of his village and is suddenly handed an  
AK-47.  It might be different if he were simultaneously working  
alongside other "draftees," but that's not the case either. There's a  
difference between being given information, and psychologically  
integrating it; that's why people take time to deal with stressful  
revelations.

--C.