You know, come to think of it, I wonder... The popular theory seems to 
be that Naoko Akagi's soul is in Unit 00 but I still doubt that, solely 
due to the part in Ep 14 when Shinji's mind becomes contaminated with 
Rei's mental imprint.  While the behaviour of Unit 00, in harming Rei 
(first by ejecting the plug, then by bashing at the window), looking to 
harm Ritsuko and/or Gendo, certainly seems to suggest Naoko, it could 
also be just the Eva rebelling against it's creators ("It may hate us," 
Ritsuko says).  The big thing for me, again, is that Shinji gets the 
impression of Rei in the plug, not of images of a young Ritsuko or of 
Gendo or something.

Rei has many times tried to sacrifice herself... Kensuke says she 
doesn't value her own life, and Rei III says she longs for despair. 
 Ritsuko too attributes the first berserk incident to "mental 
instability in the pilot", and right before the second one Shinji sees 
the impressions of Rei, before it bashes at the window in front of Rei. 
 So I'm guessing it's Rei's "soul" in Unit 00.  (Hey, she has no mother, 
so who else would be in it?)

Of course, I tend to also consider it among the "plot threads 
forgotten/abandoned after a few episodes."

Anybody agree?  Or anybody want to flame me?

Richard

ec8or wrote:

>This is my first post here so im sorry if im posting stuff thats
>already been talked about, i just wathed death : rebirth and end of
>evangelion yesterday and have some thoughts i want to share:
>
>I was reading the FAQ at http://faq.pen3.cjb.net/ and saw that the
>answer the whos soul is in Unit 00 is unknown. Isn't it possible that
>the soul is the one of Naoko Akagi? Whenever Unit 00 go berserk it is
>targeting Rei or Commander Ikari which would suggest that.
>
>Since Unit 01 and unit 02 has their respective pilots mothers souls in
>them i think we can assume that this was the plan for all EVA:s. It is
>also known that all students in Shinjis class at school are potential
>EVA pilots. I think that all the students mothers have worked inside
>NERV and this is the reason NERV has access to their souls and all the
>children has been put in the same class. Makes sense if you take into
>account that they are some of the few remaining people in Tokyo-3
>which could have to do with their parents beeing NERV employees?
>  
>