[EVA] 1.01 - Misato is OK!

[RJN]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Gustav Horn" <once at ix.netcom.com>
To: "The english-language evangelion mailing list." 
<evangelion at yuki.onegeek.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 10:03 PM
Subject: Re: [EVA] 1.01 - Misato is OK!


>>>
>>> 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).

@This Shinji is more eaten-up with bitterness than the TV or manga Shinji 
(the latter being least depressed/depressive).  Some of the new animation is 
close-up of his expression, like he's eaten something foul, whenever Misato 
mentions his father, or his father speaks to him.  IMO Shinji thinks his 
father left him because Gendou had no use for him as a child. Gendou calls 
him "the spare" in front of him.
In his wandering, had TV Shinji not come across Kensuke, he would probably 
have turned back though.
>
> 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.

@No "3 stooges" yet.  Or visit to Misato's apartment to see Shinji. It 
occurs to me that when Kaworu comes, Shinji is going to be SO desperate for 
a buddy, he'll...befriend Kaworu more intensely than in the TV series - 
which is why the other boys have been kept out of the story more.

>
> 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?

@Interesting replacement scene where Misato tore a strip off Shinji for 
attacking & not retreating as ordered.  Shinji stepped back, then sideways, 
then walked past Misato. After he'd gone Misato slapped her own face 
realising she'd gone too far.  I think her decision to take Shinji to 
Terminal Dogma was to try & make up somehow by showing trust in him, & she 
felt sorry.

>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.

@Shinji might be a quick learner for drill. Perhaps the Japanese emphasis of 
learning by rote helps.  Or he could be one of those kids who in the real 
world is "gifted" & good at things like video games & music etc.

>
> 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.
>
@ Or "Cowboy" in "Full Metal Jacket".
Shinji himself is not fighting yet, he's doing what he's told with no 
reasoning behind the result.  The Gatling gunsmoke scene shows he was 
mentally detatched from the combat scnario in what is called "red mist". 
That's the trouble with virtual solo combat training run by scientists only 
after data results. :)
RJN