[EVA] [SPOILER] Question about Misato and Shinji

[david mankins]

   From: "Brian Haynes" <deus777 at hotmail.com>
   Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 11:18:24 -0600
   
   >I have to confess that I was deliberately vague because my own memory
   >of that conversation is pretty dim.
   >
   >However, in both those conversations, Shinji has retreated into his
   >shell while a crisis have broken out.  While both those conversations
   >go on, Asuka is in serious danger.  Both those conversations are used
   >to pull Shinji from his shell and get him back into action.
   >
   >In some sense, both Kaji and Misato are doing, in Kaji's words, ``the
   >only thing I can do right now.  It's not particularly helpful, I
   >admit.  But you, Shinji, have something *you* and only you can do...''
   
   Ah, yes, now I remember.  Yes, I think that the link was probably 
   intentional.  It also helps to show how similar Misato and Kaji actually 
   are.

Oh, and while we're at it, these two scenes may also be linked
metaphorically by Kaji's taped final request to Misato: ``Oh, I have
some melons.  Could you take care of them for me?  Shinji knows where
they are....'' and her line: ``Did I do okay, Kaji-kun?''



That scene in the melon patch always reminds me of stories about Zen
or Taoist masters with their focus on finding enlightenment through
the awareness of everyday life:

	Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
	During enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
	After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

If Kaji doesn't water his melons, they will die.  There's nothing the
melons can do to save themselves.  If Shinji doesn't act, people will
die --- there's nothing they can do to save themselves from the
onslaught of the angels. 

In the hours and minutes before that kiss, Misato has done a *great*
deal (though none of it has succeeded in drawing Shinji out of his
shell).  In that moment, there's little more she can do, and she knows
it.  What she does do is make Shinji think about the future and about
living in it.