Rebuild of Evangelion

[shinta|hikari]

Gendo also wanted goo. He thought he could be together with Yui that way.

[Buffalobiian]

Apparently SEELE wanted humans to evolve, become goo, and take the place of Angels next to God or something, while Gendo wanted to become goo and kill god.. and be with Yui. I don't understand how their plans actually reflected their desires to be honest, or why killing God was a prerequisite.

As for the time loops, none of that seems to make sense for me. I don't know who is resetting the time loop, and if so (or if it's just a world remake instead of reset), why some things would carry forward (like Kaoru's coffins, or his knowledge that this is a loop).

N3I also makes no sense because Shinji's awakening got stopped by a spear from space and no one else in the vicinity turned red from this.. so what's this shit about him being the cause for N3I, but then saying that Kaji stopped N3I..

Too much shit is happening that can't be explained in a step by step basis from the given information. It's harder than it needs to be.

edit: I did think Eva 13 having funnels was hilarious.

[MFauli]

Yes, the coffins! Why would they be there?! Or ... wait, it'd make sense if the cycle of repetition is a literal time-space manipulation that the moon simply is too far outside of. Maybe that's the reason? So it's not a simple time jump, it's an all out "Redo of Healder"-change of earth.

Talking about goals more:

So Seele and Gendo needed several "impacts" to bring about instrumentalization. If an angel had ever reached Lilith who lies at the bottom the geofront, that would have caused ... a different kind of "impact"? But then what is the differentiator in all those "impacts"? And why did they keep fighting angels instead of just telling Shinji "yo, my dude, pls go insane and execute the next impage!". Surely, there would have been ways of psychological manipulation.

On another matter: What was Seele actually doing? And why'd they need Nerv? Going by End of Evangelion, they were pretty capable at creating giant fighting machinese themselves.

[Ryllharu]

Re: Mari
But what did she do different to survive this time, then? Or rather, does she have memory from all the past attempts? That would be an explanation: She kept trying, failed n-times, but this time she made it out alive and continued on. That's also why she's so relaxed about fighting, because she's experienced death too many times to care.

No, Mari actually likes fighting in Evas. She's conceptually meant to be in as opposition to Asuka and Rei as possible, including with she has big boobs (I'm quite serious, and so was Anno and his character designer), while Rei and Asuka are relatively small chested.

She's into fighting because all the other three Eva pilots don't like it. She's flippant, proud of herself, cavalier, and perky in personality because Rei is full of self-doubt, Asuka has stunningly low self-esteem underneath, and Shinji hates himself.

We're not meant to know her background or motivations. Those are kept secret on purpose.

Talking about goals more:

So Seele and Gendo needed several "impacts" to bring about instrumentalization. If an angel had ever reached Lilith who lies at the bottom the geofront, that would have caused ... a different kind of "impact"? But then what is the differentiator in all those "impacts"? And why did they keep fighting angels instead of just telling Shinji "yo, my dude, pls go insane and execute the next impage!". Surely, there would have been ways of psychological manipulation.

On another matter: What was Seele actually doing? And why'd they need Nerv? Going by End of Evangelion, they were pretty capable at creating giant fighting machinese themselves.

Angels goal is to wipe the interloping existence (all of Lillith's offspring) off the face of Earth. All life on Earth. Only Angels and Adam will remain if they ever achieved their goal. Angels touching or destroying Lillith will do that...or so we are told. So we don't actually know for sure if Angels are ever natural.

But it is revealed in most of the continuities that SEELE has artificially triggered Angels so that they can kill them and use them for fodder to achieve Impacts. Every Impact was caused by SEELE in order to become gods themselves.

They need NERV because NERV is the public front "defending" humanity from the Angels while SEELE controls NERV, the military, and the UN from the shadows. But NERV's true goal is to accomplish Instrumentality for SEELE.

SEELE either figures out Gendo is betraying them or they don't.

[MFauli]

But how do Seele/Nerv trigger those specific impacts they did? Angels reaching Lilith would cause the ultimate impact. But all the other impacts are caused with EVA 01's involvement.Oh wait ... wasn't EVA 01 Adam? If so, he'd be special for sure.

So ... basically, by causing impacts with EVA 01/Adam/infused with Yui, Nerv can execute "controlled" impacts that they use for their plans, whereas an impact with Lilith's contact would cause a mega impact that has the angels win.

Now what I wonder next: How does Seele know about the whole "if we do that, then we can reshape the world/go on living as souls"? Was all that written on the scroll from the dead sea? And Seele took it all seriously, because ...?

[Ryllharu]

Unit-01 is Yui more directly and more completely, and was made differently from any of the the others.

The others, to the best of my understanding, are combinations of either a Seed of Life with a Contact Experiment (process based on the ritual Yui underwent) or eventually directly incorporating Adam or the Adams (Units 09 through 12 and Unit 13), manifested into a physical form and then shackled down with the armor and the plug trunk.

SEELE is very likely a cult. Its senior members abandoning their bodies at some point with the intent to be placed into the Evangelion(s) they intend to complete the plan with and become gods. The junior members are Misato's father, Yui, Fuyutsuki, etc. The loyalists within NERV (minus Fuyutsuki who is loyal to Gendo's rebellious plan). Dr. Akagi in the original version, whoever is running their high school (remember that nearly every student in their class is qualified to pilot an Eva to some degree).

[MFauli]

Oh man, I read some wiki articles now. Everything makes sense when you deep dive into it, but it still is so much that you need to connect - but that's exactly what makes Evangelion so much fun to talk about

EVA 01 being made from Lilith really explains why it's a special unit, though. What's kinda crass, though, is that the article I just read implies that Yui is in permanent control of EVA 01, as in: She's there. Shinji controls the EVA 01 regularily, but when he's in trouble, Yui takes over, goes "berserk" and saves him. I wonder how this feels and looks from Yui's own point of view. Is it a more distant "her soul is in there, but she cannot directly control the EVA" or she consciously moving the EVA 01? The latter would mean that ... Shinji's mom is a giant monster, lol. It also makes me question the relationship Gendo had with her. You'd think if Yui was concsious inside the EVA 01, then Gendou would be able to interact with her somehow. Hm.

[Y]

Yui probably isn't in Unit 01 in Rebuild, and Unit 01 is definitely not a copy of Lilith.

[KrayZ33]

Oh man... I finally came around and saw it and I feel like a chapter of my life closed.
I mean, this show was in my mind for more than 20 years now.. and now it's "done". That makes it sad for me.

I kinda understood where everything was going and what the characters meant in the end this time around - except for maybe Rei, not quite sure what she "meant" and I still have trouble with Kaworu.

I guess they are Gendo and Yui? Or... like a part of their personality of them?

Still sad that my favorite ship (Asuka+Shinji) didn't end up being together though but it makes sense. But sad nonetheless

I'm, overall, not satisfied with the end however. I think it cheated itself out of the situation. It's a good story if you see this as a work to process your depression and tell it through a sci-fi show like this, I guess... but the "mystery" around it was kinda lost over the course of the last 2 movies... I think too many things were left unanswered or were simply never really fleshed out enough.