Shinji 2.0

So we watched Rebuild the last few days, the first two. We were going to watch it over the weekend, with it supposedly being doomsday and all, but it didn't happen. Ah well. There will be spoilers ahead.

Anyways, I've seen Rebuild before, and the original Evangelion a few times a long while ago, and I've read some crazy fanfics based on it(Shinji and Warhammer 40k, NGE: Nobody Dies, and probably a few others that I've forgotten), so I'm rather well-versed in Eva.

I love how Rebuild is simultaneously a sequel and a reboot. If you're not paying a whole lot of attention, it's a reboot, but if you look closely at it, it's a sequel.

We were watching the dub, and while most of the voices were good(And a lot of them the same as from the original NGE), Rei's voice bothered me. I know she's not as emotionless as people tend to make her out to be, but the voice they chose for her doesn't seem monotone enough to me. Pretty much everybody else's voice fit, though. Kensuke(I keep wanting to say Kunikida, but that's a different show completely...)'s might be a bit high, but other than that, it fit.

Mari seems like a bit of an asspull(Maybe a Mary Sue, the definition is difficult to work with). Seemingly the first time she pilots an Eva, no SR problems, excessively happy, kills an Angel right off, no problem. She blows up her Eva, but whatever. Then she disappears for a while, drops in on the roof of Shinji's school, disappears again, steals Unit 02(I think it was 02), goes BEAST MODO, and rips and tears her way through AT fields, pulls Shinji out of his Heroic BSOD, then disappears again after Unit 02 shuts down. Maybe she'll be more involved in Rebuilds 3 and 4, but for now she's just a sign that something crazy is about to happen and the writers need someone saved.

And then there's the Asuka and Rei thing. They make their competition for Shinji much more pronounced in Rebuild, with Rei attempting to cook for Shinji, then Asuka playing catchup. Be interesting to see what they do on this front, with how squished in everything is for the movie format. Also, whether Israfel makes a return. They've already done Sahaquiel, but Rebuild has also changed the numbering(Sahaquiel used to be the 10th Angel, but is now the 8th), so they might have rearranged them a bit. Israfel pushed along Asuka and Shinji, I think, be interesting to see how they'd handle it with Rei's more active pursuance of Shinji.

SPEAKING OF REI. They make it more obvious that she's related to the Ikaris in Rebuild, if you're paying attention. First time Shinji's in the hospital, I think, they've got Rei talking to herself, saying her name over and over again. Goes something like "Rei. Rei. Rei. Rei. Ikari. No... Ayanami." I missed this the first time I watched Rebuild. I won't get into /how/ she's related, for Flannel's sake, and in hopes that they'll go into it more in the other Rebuild movies.

Anyways. That's the majority of my thoughts, I think -- wait a second. Shinji. Mentioned him in the title and almost nowhere else? That's not right.

Shinji mans up in Rebuild. Takes him a while, but the last few scenes in Rebuild 2... He is a challenger to Ramiel's holding of the "shit fucker upper" title. Hope he doesn't chicken out in 3/4 again.

I /think/ that's everything now. We'll see.