Back in the game, sorry it took so long. Lots going on. I needed a breather.

I feel I should make clear that when it comes to mysticism, I still consider myself an amateur. I have just read a lot of books by people that are experts.

If there's one moment that makes me think the Kabbalistic symbolism in Eva was deliberate, it's the Mass-Produced Evas generating the Sefirot in EoE. Because part of the goal in Kabbalah is to study and understand the Sefirot, which represent the mind of God, in order to become spiritually fulfilled and on more equal footing with the creator, and in some versions directly becoming one with it. Demonstrating their power and mastery and taking a direct role in Creation is what SEELE is doing, and they pick just the right symbol for it. While we're on symbols, the very first shot in the theme song is the Monad symbol, showing all things growing from an indivisible source.

That being said, I think a lot of the mystic ideas in Evangelion weren't intentional mystic references per se, I think Anno just sort of intuitively found his way to similar viewpoints, though he was definitely boosted along the way by lots of old books. At the very least, he covers similar ideas to writers like Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, but in a much less esoteric way. Though the idea that these ideas reoccur everywhere is kind of the point of mysticism's use of comparative mythology and Jung's collective unconscious. Note that at the same time Evangelion was coming out Serial Experiments Lain was being made, and Grant Morrison was writing Flex Mentallo. Both of them deal with similar ideas to Eva, but both were made independently of it. The writers just seemed to sense ideas that the world needed in that moment and all sought to share them in their own way.

So, here's a point of view I have encountered several times and find helpful. There are essentially two modes of thought at war within human culture- though the structure of Yin and Yang shows that this duality is somewhat illusory and the two sides need each other. It is a spectrum of behavior, but it's easy to look at it in terms of binaries. One side is left-brain, Apollonian logic, Yang, masculinity, science, aggressiveness, materialism, and civilization. It assesses the world by slicing it up into manageable chunks, views time as linear, and is represented by the Sun. The modern world is badly lopsided in this direction. The other side is right-brain, Dionysian madness, Yin, femininity, emotion, intuition, magic, art, and passivity. It approaches the world as an interconnected whole, views time as simultaneous, and is represented by the Moon, though Laozi strongly associated it with water. And what two symbols is Rei strongly associated with? The Moon, and water. Was that deliberate, or a happy accident? Who knows? But Rei and Asuka pretty neatly fit into opposite poses of this duality, and they both need some qualities of the other- Asuka needs Rei's patience and compassion, Rei needs Asuka's confidence.

Another important idea I keep running into is the shamanic initiation, a.k.a. vision quest or rite of passage. It is a moment where the magician has an intense and often terrifying out-of-body spiritual experience, usually under the direction of an initiator or "master" (a more experienced magician or a spiritual guide), and, if they succeed, returns with some heightened knowledge or sense of purpose. Initiation isn't a one-time thing- it should be repeated throughout life to spur on constant growth and learning. Note that this reflects the Hero's Journey- traveling into the unreal world and returning transformed- as well as the process of writing/reading itself. Campbell crafted the Journey based on the same comparative mythology mysticism thrives on, and called artists "magical helpers". And I think Eva basically is a shamanic initiation for the people who watch it and and find themselves within it. It certainly was for me.

So I think all art is kind of mystic, but the ones that really stand out are the ones that contain these sorts of ideas. There actually is a whole branch of non-mystic fiction where the technology is the point- hard sci-fi. By contrast, I think Eva's therapy scenes are certainly shamanic initiations, whether or not Anno called them that- intuitive, emotional, non-linear. And it does them so well that I call similar scenes in other favorite works of mine "Eva moments". The characters confront the darkest corners of the human psyche and return with knowledge- with the exception of Asuka in episode 22, whose too-brutal initiation damages her. Rei serves as a spiritual guide for Shinji- she talks to him the most during these sequences, and is the most common other passenger on the glowing orange train.

I think storytelling is like cooking- each element adds something. Change one ingredient and it's a different meal. If the sci-fi and fantasy elements weren't essential to the story being told, the writer wouldn't make a sci-fi fantasy story. Those kinds of symbols are just the languge of the unconscious, the unreal world. Neo's journey of self-discovery is a mystic one- the journy every initiate undergoes. The kung-fu serves one purpose as a power fantasy for the audience, but a second connected purpose of representing Neo's newfound power and mental fortitude due to the journey he is on. It can be both at once. I also can't dismiss a character as nothing but a vehicle for the protagonist's journey any more than I could dismiss the people around me as vehicles for my journey. Everyone is the hero of their own story. And what makes it Rei's moment is her dialogue. She doesn't say "Your heart is impure." She says "I am not your doll." It's the apotheosis of her arc and a call-back to her elevator conversation with Asuka- more evidence it's the same Rei. And to me it's kind of important that Gendo is her nemesis and not Shinji's. One of Shinji's biggest problems is his victim mentality/martyr complex. He needs his dad to both love him and be an enemy, and he can't fully process that he could leave at any time, or that other people suffer too. Contrast with manga Shinji, who recognizes pretty quickly that Rei "has even less than he does."

With regards to Rei and Shinji's relationship: They're polite and stilted people. But to be fair, they do also have bizarre, graphic, on-screen psychic sex.

With regards to the hero thing, I feel like we're going in circles, and I have long since changed the wording in my original post. All I ever wanted to communicate is that I feel she has deeply admirable heroic qualities that often go unappreciated. Besides, Eva is pretty morally grey- even SEELE are just old men as scared of connection as everyone else. At best, there are moments of heroism or villainy, but nobody is all one thing all the time. As for why I say Shinji and Asuka are the villains of EoE: Shinji, I feel, should be obvious. He sexually assaults Asuka, refuses to help out until her and pretty much all of Nerv are dead, attacks Asuka when she rejects him, and nihilistically decides to destroy the world and himself. He turns it around by the end, but still. As for Asuka, I always saw her as an antagonist in the vein of Draco Malfoy, but for outright villainy it comes down to the kitchen scene- an intense moment in which both characters are deeply sympathetic, yet utterly detestable. She has every reason to be mad at Shinji, but this is still an emotionally unstable, suicidal boy, who currently holds the fate of the world in his hands, begging for her help. And her anger is so important to her that she can't even humor him, dooming pretty much everyone. To me the point is to watch the characters undone by their failings.

Which leads to my final point: I would really like to hear more about why you like Asuka. She's the character I have the hardest tme connecting to and sympathizing with. Not helping is the fact that most of the self-proclaimed "Asuka fans" I have seen or interacted with have been assholes. I think a similar problem hits both her and Rei wherein people judge them entirely by first impression. For Rei this means either being dismissed or fetishized as an emotionless doll. For Asuka this means being used as a justification for bullying, despite the fact that no-one hates her behavior more than her. I would love to hear a more thoughtful take on her.