"Schmuck" <Schmuck65@att.net> wrote in message
news:acIX9.125460$hK4.10082549@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> Also, is it a big argument in this newsgroup whether Nakao's
> soul is in Unit 00 or not?  I can understand how it works out,
> what with the Eva attacking Gendo and Rei, but it still seems
> unlikely.

My standard reply to Naoko/Eva-00 theories.

I personally think that the 'Naoko in Eva-00' theory is one of the most
unsupported in all of Eva fandom.

Spoilers for the series ahead.

First lets clear up the "Eva-00 attacking people" episodes. A lot of people
put forward Gendou or Rei as possible targets for Eva-00. If you watch the
episodes closely though it is clear that Ritsuko is the intended target.

The first incident happened in Episode 05. From that episode:

------------------------------
Misato:
Well, what was the cause of the accident of the last experiment?

Ritsuko:
It's unidentified even now. But the primary cause is estimated to be a
mental instability of the pilot.

Misato:
A mental instability? That Rei?

Ritsuko:
Yes. She was disturbed much more than we could expect.

Misato:
What was happening?

Ritsuko:
I don't know. But she might have ...

Misato:
Do you have any idea?

Ritsuko:
No, that can't be.
------------------------------

Here it is clear that Ritsuko has and idea about what caused it. People
assume that Eva-00 was attacking either Rei or Gendou because they were
standing closest. But Ritsuko was also there too, in fact she was running
the experiment.

Ok now the next time Eva-00 goes nuts is with Shinji in it in Episode 14,
I'll look into this sequence a little deeper later, for now I am just
interested in the following passage:

------------------------------
Misato:
Is it that it tried to kill Rei? That Unit Zero tried?

---------

Misato:
This incident has something to do with that incident of going wild? That
incident of Rei?

Ritsuko:
Nothing I can say now. One thing I can say now is, after returning the
personal data of Rei to Unit Zero, another synchronization test between Rei
and Unit Zero is necessary.

Misato:
As the planning manager, I request you to do it immediately, before it
troubles our job.

Ritsuko:
I know. Sansa Katsuragi.

Ritsuko:
The target that Unit Zero tried to attack must have been I. No doubt.
------------------------------

Ritsuko says "machigai naku" which means "without a doubt". Ritsuko thinks
that Misato is wrong, that Eva-00 wasn't attacking Rei, it was attacking
her. Linking this with what she said in Episode 05 it is clear that Ritsuko
knows why Eva-00 is attacking her. Ritsuko probably knows more about the
Eva's than anyone else alive, she would certainly know whose souls were
inside of them. She knew that Eva-00 was after her.

So we have two incidents of Eva-00 going crazy. One with Rei inside, where
Ritsuko thought she knew what was wrong, and the second with Shinji inside,
where, upon hearing Misato speculate that it was after Rei, Ritsuko
disagrees thinking that it must have been after her. Ritsuko states that she
is the target "without a doubt", you don't get much clearer than that.

Now an important thing to consider when thinking about whose soul is in
Eva-00 is the nature of the synchronisation process between pilot and Eva.
It is the A-10 nerve link that is responsibly for the connection between the
pilot and the Eva (so says Sadamoto in an interview in the first collected
Manga, and so is described in the EoE Theatrical Program). The A-10 nerve is
what the Eva's connections are built around.

So keeping that in mind, lets look at the pilot candidates. All of the
children in Shinji's class are potential Eva pilots (so described by Ritsuko
in episode 17), the EoE theatrical program also states this fact, and goes
further to say that what is common between these children is that they have
all "lost" their mothers.

We have a class of motherless children who are potential pilots for the
Evas. Now we also have two pilots whose mother's souls are in their Evas
(Shinji and Yui in Eva-01 and Asuka and Kyouko in Eva-02). Add this to the
fact that the A-10 nerve, a critical component of the synchronisation
process is described in the Death and Rebirth Deluxe Theatrical Program as
playing, "an important role in affection between parent and child" I think
it is clear that the basis of the Eva/pilot connection is a mother/child
relationship.

This is all just ground work that goes to show why Naoko isn't a possible
candidate for the soul of Eva-00.

So lets go back to episode 14.

------------------------------
First Compatibility Experiment
Subject: Rei Ayanami

Ritsuko: The sync-ratio is almost the same, as with Unit Zero.

Maya: Unit Zero and Unit One's personal data patterns, are almost identical.

Ritsuko: That's what makes this sync experiment possible.

Maya: Error margin is 0.03. Harmonics are normal.

Ritsuko: No detectable problems found for compatibility between Rei and Unit
One.

Ritsuko: Ok, the test is over, Rei. You can get out now.

Rei: Yes.
------------------------------

Here Ritsuko states that the reason the experiment is possible, the reason
that Rei can pilot Eva-01, is that Eva-01 and Eva-00's personal data
patterns are almost identical. That means that being in Eva-01 is almost
identical to the being in Eva-00, so much so that both Rei _and_ Shinji can
pilot it. I think that Rei can pilot Eva-01, can synch with Yui, because Rei
is effectively Yui's child, Rei is a clone of Yui and thus there is a link
there.

There is a link between Rei and Yui, and thus between Eva-01 and Eva-00.
Note that Asuka and Eva-02 are not involved in these compatibility tests.
Keep in mind throughout this explanation the need for a mother/child link
established above. In my opinion the only reason Rei can pilot Eva-01 and
Shinji can pilot Eva-00, is because the souls of Eva-00 and Eva-01 are
similar, and are similar specifically in a mother/child way.

Now lets move only Shinji's test.

------------------------------
Ritsuko:
A-10 Nerve connection started.

Announce:
Harmonics Level plus 20.

Shinji:
WOW, what's this? Something is entering directly into my head, what?
Ayanami? Ayanami Rei? It's Rei, this feeling is Rei's. Ayanami? Aren't you?

Misato:
What's the matter?

Announce:
Pilot's nerve-plus in irregular.

Maya:
Psychological pollution is taking place.

Ritsuko:
Unbelievable! This plug depth does not trigger that.

Maya:
No, Not from the plug. The invasion from Eva.
------------------------------

Ok so three points from this scene.

(1) Note that this sequence starts when the A-10 Nerve connection is made.

(2) Maya says that the contact is coming from the Eva, not the plug. So what
Shinji is seeing, what is entering his head is coming from the Eva itself.
In my opinion this contact is coming from the soul of Eva-00.

(3) Shinji first recognises this presence as Rei. Then realises that there
is something strange about her, that it isn't really Rei, it is a strange
smiling childish Rei that isn't the Rei he knows.

My interpretation of this scene is as follow: We have Shinji being
"contacted" by the Eva's soul, and Shinji "recognising" this contact as
coming from something Rei-like.

Just a few things to consider.

1. The Eva's work on a mother/child link.
2. Rei and Shinji are compatible in each other's Evas because those Evas
have similar personality patterns.
3. Ritsuko states that Eva-00 attacked her "without a doubt".
4. Shinji sees something "Rei-like" coming from Eva-00 itself.

So whose soul is in Eva-00? Well it would have to be someone similar to Yui,
and capable of forming a mother/child link with Shinji. It would also have
to have a grudge against Ritsuko.

In my opinion Naoko doesn't even come into the picture. She had nothing to
do with the Evas, she wasn't an Eva scientist, she was there to work on the
Magi. She was a computer scientist, not involved directly in Project E like
Yui or Kyouko. She certainly doesn't fit the role of a "mother" to either
Shinji or Rei. As far as I can see, the only think she has going for her as
a possible candidate is that she is dead and a woman.

--
Michael Wignall
"Tomorrow's just an excuse away..."