[EVA] Plot Structure

[Captain Jack]

Ayanami^Rei wrote:

> >## I for one am never a mecha show. I think the discussions in
> Japan are
> >## also concentrated in the characters. Perhaps in US things are
> different?

What I've noticed is those who watch Eva and dislike are people who
don't see the psychology stuff.

> >## The problem with Ep.24/25 is. While Ep.24 exposes all the
> problems and
> >## internal conflicts of Asuka, Rei and Misato, this is not
> resolution.
> >## No resolution is shown for them. We are just told that they are
> >## "resolved" by HCP. I don't want "big explosions", but I would
> like
> >## to see the resolution, not only from the internal world of
> Shinji,
> >## but from the external world as well. I don't expect all
> mysteries solved,
> >## but at least there should be a resolution on the external as
> well as
> >## the internal. The balance is too tilted to one side in the final
> episode.

You are right here.  I do think resolution for Shinji was shown.  Anno
probably ran out of time to do the other characters.

> >## As for the alternate world, it is fun, but everybody with a
> clear mind
> >## would know that that scenario would simply be impossible in the
> original
> >## EVA world. So how could Shinji accept that as one of the
> possibilities
> >## in him? Unless he accepted the notion that there are multiple
> universes
> >## for all kinds of possibilities one could imagine.

It is possible to imagine any number of possibilities that time
allows.  In the HCP, time wouldn't matter so he could have chosen from
an infinate number of "realities."  As impossible as the scenario was,
it could still become "reality" to Shinji if he so chose.  As for why,
it fit everything Shinji wanted, a happy family, friends, and
situations in which he could feel satisfied with himself.

> >## Such "alternatives" exist all the time in the anime/manga
> fandom. From
> >## this perspective I treat that alternative world as a metaphor
> for the
> >## anime fans, the prime target of the Evangelion show.

Good point.

> I think the biggest problem people have with eps 24, 25 and 26, and
> the
> reason so many complained about the conclusion to begin with, is
> that there
> is a monumental narrative gap between what we see at the end of ep
> 24 and
> the beginning of the resolutions of internal conflicts in ep 25.
> Even
> though the plot gap was not huge in itself, the actual psychological
> and
> emotional status at which everyone finds themselves at the end of 24
> is not
> far enough down the line to lead to the kind of introspection one
> finds in
> 25 and 26.  It just feels like we are missing something....

That's true.  The shift in pace and focus is very dramatic and without
much movement into the ending episodes.

Captain Jack