>>3090891Thanks for your input, anon.
On the subject of EoE,
>>3090890I think Anno was definitely trying to go for a hopeful ending in a bittersweet way, taking inspiration from Devilman, as in if even people like Shinji and Asuka can leave the psuedo-fantasy of instrumentality and choose to live with others in reality, then you can too.
(I recall this message is more emphasized in the original draft ending where Shinji is by himself holding a hand, yet he explicitly says he "will continue living, even if he doesn't see them again.")
But as you say, even Eva's own staff don't interpret it in that way, and most people who saw the movie and even Eva fans to this day do not perceive any hope from that ending.
I wonder if Anno thinks he may have failed in conveying that message since few people seemed to get it.
I believe in a recent interview he even sulked about how he couldn't change otaku (with Eva). I wonder if it's because they simply wouldn't listen, or they didn't understand what they were being told in the first place.
Bringing this back to Rebuild, perhaps Anno just gave up on giving any sort of message at all since people wouldn't listen to it anyway.
The movies are being made with the mainstream audience in mind, not just Eva fans/otaku, but kids, families, and couples, go to see them in droves as well.