>>2068833Definitely. The first thing that came to Anno's mind for a "hopeful ending" was Shinji saving Rei. Tsurumaki crapped all over that.
>>2068807True, it seems other people resisted the change as well. But Anno tends to get all the blame while Tsurumaki seems to have influenced or damaged things way more and gets away with it. From the way Tsurumaki talks about Rei 3 he seems to think she's a completely different character, too. Which equals Rei Q happening.
Shinji and Rei are so ingrained in Anno he says he forgets they BOTH exist, but I don't see it as a negative. He says things about Rei come to him naturally, while he has problems getting ideas for Asuka.
>Anno: With Rei, for some reason, I just feel "it happened like that" naturally. I never remember why it happened that way. Regarding Rei’s dinner party for Shinji and Gendo, that was originally a plot I had thought of using for episode 4 of the TV series. I remembered it and thought I would include it this time. I have a memory of it being, at that time, something like Shinji’s birthday party. I think I replaced that with the dinner party this time. So, the episode where Rei prepares a meal was already in the first draft of the script. The dialogue where Rei says, "…it’s a secret. I’ll tell you when I get a little better [at it]" was included in the second draft, dated September 9th, 2006. That’s the second time that Rei smiles at Shinji. The Rei of "Break" was established from this point on. Since I hit upon that dialogue, I feel like Rei spontaneously became a character whose emotions leak a little bit into her outward appearance. As far as Rei is concerned, unconscious. I don’t control anything. With "poka-poka", as well, I felt like she said it of her own volition before I was even aware of it.>It’s also the same with Shinji. In my mind he is so much a matter of course that, despite him being the protagonist, I often forget that he exists. 