>>4082841OK, why did Shinji tried to strangle Asuka?
I think he was still angry at Asuka. In the kitchen scene his eyes are covered with hair as to show he doesn't know what's he doing. The first frame shows them very close to each other but the next frame shows their hands far away from each other to show that they are going to do completely opposite things with them. On the beach his eyes are covered by hair again but when Asuka caresses him, his eyes are wide open. But this I think this doesn't make sense because he wanted to see her and all other people too. And if we dig deeper, in "because I know my feeling were real" scene Asuka shows 'i love you' in gesture language.
So another theory is that Shinji was checking if Asuka was real. Rust on Misato's cross indicates that some time passed before Asuka showed up and he was alone there for a long time. And notice how white that beach is. It looks like the white space in ep26 freedom scene where other characters tell him 'without existence of others, you can't know your own shape'. So he strangles Asuka to get some reaction from her, expecting rejection but got acceptance. But I think Shinji is just too stupid to do things this way.
What do you think?