Cut to title sequence and three minor characters talking
about the fallout from the end of the angels and the Evangelion program. There
are a few things to note about this scene; first it adds a bit more depth to
the people who are not movers and shakers, but essentially grunts doing some of
the dirty work. They just want to live and do their jobs, nothing more, but as
they find out later it is very much who you work for that determines what you
will be forced to do. It also foreshadows Maya’s love for Ritsuko, unrequited
like so much in the series. Finally it hints at the instrumentality project, which is explained more fully in the next scene.
We then cut
to Misato staring out at a purple sea, contemplating the end of human’s
evolutions, and the Instrumentality project, realizing that the Evas are the
ones that will cause the end of the world. She mentions how that all of making
are “separate entities” foreshadowing Instrumentality when every human becomes
one. The tools that humanity had created, and what caused the near extinction
of the species are what will cause it to evolve into a new form. The scene also
shows her depression over losing Kaji and how he actually knew what was going
on unlike just about everyone else in the series.
The next
scene is one of many mysterious scenes involving the organization SEELE and
Gendo, both master planners though Gendo has direct control over the Evas
resulting in his plans coming to fruition while SEELE’s flounder in the water.
There is much discussion of evolution and god and death, but in the end the
only notable aspect of their rantings is that they effectively refer to the
Evas as God, as well as the pinnacle of what mankind has created. In the end
the Evangelions have become even more powerful than the nuclear weapons they
represent in modern society.
Nuclear
weapons can be considered the pinnacle of weapon technology, but the Evas are
something very different, they are the pinnacle of science and evolution,
transcending the boundaries of humanity and nature to become something beyond
both, and they can bring about the end of the world even more so than a nuclear
war would. Despite the apocalyptic intentions of both groups Gendo says that
“Death creates nothing” because he is still mourning for his wife after all
these years. The relationships between Gendo and his wife, as well as Rei, will
be examined later because they both drive the series so much, especially the
conclusion of this film.
The counsel
ends by telling Gendo “you deserve death” which seems like a petty insult but
given their plans they actually intend to ascend him essentially, so though he
deserves nothing more than nothingness he will get the same as everyone else,
though what exactly that is may be unassailable. He responds by saying that we
exist because we “have the will to live” a call-back to what Misato said about
the final angel, and him “giving up” the will to live, because we as humans
have a determined survival instinct, against all odds. He then references Yui,
though indirectly, because everything he does is because of his love for her.
The next shot
is Rei just waking up, and as she is partially a clone of Yui the parallel is
obvious. The shots of the moon seek to represent her as a moon goddess, as she
has the soul of the second angel, or the first female human/angel, Lilith.
Again gods are brought up, though not in any traditional Christian sense,
despite the imagery present throughout the series and the motto of NERV. The
gods that humanity has created can be destroyed, though not by humans, but by
the things that have evolved beyond them, the Evas. Only Gods can kill Gods
essentially.
The final
shot in the scene is of Gendo’s destroyed glasses from the first episode,
crushed by Rei finally. This shows that she is not simply a puppet, but has
developed into a human personality. This only happens once she has lost all of
her clones and is the only one left, but it was not a direct physical
confrontation that caused her to betray Gendo, but her realization that he is
cruel to Shinji, and in fact to just about everyone, betraying Ritsuko and her mother,
as well as manipulating the counsel he was supposedly working for and lying to everyone including her. In the end it all comes back to Yui and
her initial sacrifice, but that will be detailed later.
Again we
see Shinji at essentially the lowest he has been, lying in darkness staring
blankly at a wall unable to listen to the music that had been comforting him
for the rest of the series, as his player has run out of battery. Shinji at
this point has lost his mother figure, lost all confidence in his father, lost
his friends almost killing one, lost his purpose in life and finally lost
Asuka, instead being left with a broken doll. The one person who he could
relate to, who was in a very similar situation, had broken down and given up
essentially on life, and with what Misato had said to him he is confused about
his feeling for Asuka, considering giving up on her as she has.
Misato has gone off on her own to investigate what is really
going on with the Evas and the second impact, but the entire complex has come
under attack. She reveals she expected something like it to happen and prepares
a firearm for battle. When she does this she kicks over a can of beer, her alcoholism a
constant problem for her only exacerbated by the loss of Kaji who had been her sole
confidence. It is likely she drove Shinji further away with here drinking as
well, increasing their separation. Further scenes expanding upon the invasion
are next, showing that first SEELE is attempting to infiltrate the computer
system, requiring them to recruit Ritsuko back after she was put in prison for
destroying all the Rei clones.
The scene
begins with Ritsuko in complete darkness, in complete despair. Gendo requests
Ritsuko and she comes along, knowing that her love of him is self-destroying and
that he doesn’t want her at all, he was merely using her. She still denies this
fact consciously but her overt act of violence against Rei was a demonstration
of her subconscious telling her what she will never have, repeating the same
mistakes as her mother. Gendo has always manipulated the women in his life,
aside from Yui and by extension Rei whom he actually cared for, even displaying
open affection for them, something he did with no one else including his son.
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