Why does rei never done properly by any commentator? Why does no one ever acknowledge or talk about WHO SHE IS A CLONE OF and WHO that matters to? It’s not just that she’s a girl , she is a clone of shinjis mother with none of the original personality and yet she get treated like a child. Infantilization of his wife as the ideal wife/tool by Gendo Ikari and I’m not sure if shinji was in love with rei or not but her love for him as a clone of his mom intensifies the disconnect

Been thinking about making an Abyss tabletop game and I might use your primer here as a minimum "required reading" of sorts for those of my players whose stomachs are too weak or sensibilities too prickly to engage with the source material.

11:45 - You forgot Hikari....

what is there to defend??? she is perfect and beautiful....

But you must know that German pronunciation of the country is exactly that, otherwise it must be spelled “Neiger”

I like Rei because she’s the most tolerable character. Rei is my favorite character because she is a dumb robot clone and I mean that in a good way. I watched Evangelion because I was told it was some super deep and meaningful series. Turns out it wasn’t all thst deep and I found myself incresingly annoyed by Shinji and Asuka. I like Rei because she doesn’t have any thoughts on her mind, at least not any deep ones. I hate how Shinji constantly intrudes on her life like “I can fix her”. Boy you can’t fix yourself. Rei doesn’t need fixing, cause she ain’t ever complaining. This girl had zero thoughts on her mind and I find that weirdly admirable amongs the whiny emotional trainwreck that consists of the rest of the cast.

I use to hate her sm until how I could relate to her being hyper sexual and being bpd sm cuz I was never give attention to my own family

I’ve never seen that (admittedly clever) euphemism in the thumbnail before, so I was wracking my brain trying to remember what PDF the video could be talking about.

NO

Kaworu is uhh gay I guess shinji is bi

Erm, Eva 01 in rebuilds is Adam based, not lillith

girl with daddy issues = best sex ever but not so good for marriage 😅

Riko the abyss maidin

asuka was defo the more badass character, bold, firey, and brave. defo like every character in the series tho, she was broken and she did suck in her own way too

I like how they handled him and shinji in the Manga more

Noticed something as I listened to your commentary on moe culture: do you think maybe your criticism (or the one you are quoting) is merely a vilification of the male paternal instinct? Crafted by academics of a certain bent who need to cast all masculinity as toxic? Noted because the criticism is rooted in control and power dynamics, rather than acknowledging the utility of the drive to protect cute, innocent and most likely weaker creatures. Food for thought.

Much as a certain expression is inappropriate here: there's another story in the mind of the reader/viewer, so fanon is as real as canon. That said, in my view, original Kaworu *is not human*. Rei has gained a degree of humanity, but she's of the Lilith variety, and incomplete at that, with seemingly some residual sentiment from her physical progenitor. Kaworu however is Adam, a singular being of a kind that can, seemingly, only ever have one. The very concepts of love, hate and distrust would have no natural meaning to him. Indeed we might argue that when humans love, we lower our barriers to another. So to be without such barriers, is not the same as love. It's something altogether alien to us (which is why Kaworu is so uncomfortable unless we interpret him as being in love with Shinji)... though our concept of love would be even more alien to him. It's just not a thing. He acts without such barriers - at least as far as we see. He might be able to erect them when threatened. A being such as him would be unlikely to need to keep his guard up at all times. Also worth noting that this is obviously very uncomfortable territory. To humans, invading someone else's barriers without approval is not exactly acceptable... which is why Arael, Armisael and Tabris are vastly worse than Bardiel or Leliel were, and we'd all choose Zeruel any day over any of them.

Considering children are sent to pilot giant mech into battle against entities called Angels, Misato’s inappropriate behavior with Shinji is the least of this world’s problem.

Kaworu is gay, Shinji is closeted/repressed bisexual. It's canon, next question

26:03 I’ve never heard someone pronounce the word “peculiarity” that way before. I’m seeing so many words mispronounced in evangelion KZbinr videos lately. Is our education system ok?

Oh cool thanks for explaining, I totally get it now. ...Not

Electra syndrome

Good lord, did you break your spine bending over backwards trying to give a character depth that was only added as a F you to all the weebs crying for fan-service?

They should have made her a ten thousand year old dragon. I have it on good authority that would Make It OK. 😂

I found her flat and boring

And I thought the deep oceans were mysterious for their death

I never cared too much for Rei, but I liked her better than Asuka. Mari was the best option for Shinji IMO, but I also think Misato was the best girl.

“I wonder if Freddy Fazbear identifies as a plush, or a bear, because if I was him I would kill myself” this is peak cinema 😭😩🙏

Thinking about it each of the characters represents a different unhealthy way of dealing with adversity: Shinji whines and runs away, Rei is stoic to the point that her needs will never be met because those around her don’t know she has them, Asuka acts belligerent, Gendo withdraws into his job, Misato drinks. Of those Rei is probably the most relatable, particularly to those in a culture like Japan that value stoicism. And Rei may simply be the most popular because she’s the least annoying. Character-wise while Rei looks 14 she was grown in a vat from a combination of Lilith’s cells and Shinji’s mother’s cells, and we see other clones later on with the implication that Gendo was prepared to treat Rei as a disposable tool that could simply be replaced by another clone if she died. Her monologue kind of hints at her true nature. She thinks of the mountains as transient, something a young human would not, because Lilith has been alive long enough to see mountains rise and get worn away. Water is comforting, perhaps a memory of being in the vat before she was removed and forced to start training and fighting, or perhaps a hint at the ultimate goal of instrumentality. The sun, the light of God, because she’s part angel.

If anything, I’m just glad I lived to see this movie especially with the pandemic.

Great Analysis, in short, Misato is so hurt and closed that she can only connect with people through physical interaction, i don't mean sex only, she gives a lots of abuse in the series, like pushing, punching, slaping, and so on... I think she really learn to love the weakness and fragility of Shinji and want to protect him. But has no idea how to do that...

When i first watch Eva, i was about the same age as the characters, and i ve always being kinda of weirdo since childhood, im no social guy, always reading books, drawing and stuff... And always dismissing bullying and traps from older guys... Rei was kinda of a mirror personality for what a guy wants, i think... First she is mature, She is brave, selfless, she is responsible, reliable, independent, she is very feminine in a sense she take absolutely care of her body and her inner matters. I really like that episode where Shinji enters her apartment and see her nude leaving the shower. That scenes (of course was kinda of sex exploit) show that she is like a soldier, she does everything by the book. She is like those amazing person that have an Aura of misticism, that kinda of person that a look, a smile or a gesture can make your day have somekind of uplifting... That was what i thought of Rei Ayanami when i was a Teen, then afters i didnt think of her much in adult life, i sure desconect with her character... But she is very dear for anyone who connect with her in a health way... Thanks for the video!

You have the diddy voice

Rei as a sex symbol for shinji was just his misplaced and adolescent eros. She was reconstituted from his mother, he actually longed forher companionship he just didnt quite understand it, or why. The part of the fandom who sees her as a sex symbol missed something about her character and im not sure what. Maybe personal issues with their own mothers?

I realize through this video that I kin rei I thought I felt that way about almost all of the characters, if not all of the characters and even this anime I really enjoyed your video essay. It was 21 minutes, which is really short for a lot of video essays because you were so good at summarizing explaining your thoughts so much and so much thorough. It just was really enjoyable. I haven’t seen any of your content, but if it’s anything like this, I’m gonna eat it all up

Since when did best clone girl need defending ?

i think its creepy that she loved his mother so she ended up with her son, its extremely weird and gross causing my dislike for her that and the fact that she did cross a lot of boundaries and seemed to make shinji uncomfortable with her constantly invading his space, smelling him, pressing up against him....

"her visual design came before her character was written" "she was included to draw more intrigue for the series, not because they narratively needed a new character" THATS BAD!!! thats literally terrible writing help... consoom waifu hhhrrkkkk "he was scared mari's inclusion would diminish asuka's role" it did. the saddest thing is, mari really could have been an impactful character. the main thing OG didn't have was a gentle, loving, non-traumatized guide. misato was close but she wasn't a good communicator. she could hav been a healing presence that helped smooth the connections between shinji and asuka especially. but instead shes just kind of... there. shes a catgirl waifu for shinji to win as a prize. lol

I don't think the Japanese people view pedophilia the same way Americans do

I appreciated the effort but don't understand why sadists go for Rei.

Beautiful.

19:46 as a binary star player, i just had horrible, disturbing flashbacks

"No wonder Japanese don't F..." you don't say? :D You've discovered something important.

Yes, Misato was moving like a diddler. I hated that so much.

the whole question makes me laugh. she's a 2 dimensional character serving as both comic relief and sexual fantasy to the target audience. and you guys made a 22 min video analyzing it like shes a real person. interesting.

Kiruko and Maru’s relationship was my favorite part about the season. Maru loves Kiruko because they are Kiruko. He’s not trying to fit them into any specific role, he just lets Kiruko be Kiruko and he loves them for that

I just like her as an autistic person cuz I also have issues with tone regulation and understanding others

dont sexualize minors challenge (impossible)

So basically Lain was a warning of a world subservient to the internet... and the warning was ignored...

... nice