>>4213558I agree completely that Soryu is a better character than Shikinami. Shikinami is very much a flanderized version of Soryu because of the limited amount of screen time she has in comparison, but there's still Soryu DNA in there. The animation quality of the Rebuilds is pretty great overall, granted I only watched the improved versions (1.11, 2.22, 3.33) aside from Thrice where the improved version just recently released. CGI got a bit weird in Thrice, mostly due to being able to see the choppy framerate once things really got going.
>>4213706I assume it was to try and link it all together in Thrice where Gendo specifically says that the Shikinami type pilots were designed to be sacrificed with Unit 13. Ultimately it didn't have much impact on the narrative or Shikinami's character at all, you could remove that plotline entirely and just have her be sacrificed because of the angel inside her and it would be functionally the same.
>>4213713Asuka very much got the short end of the stick in the Rebuilds. She gets some cool action scenes with her introduction in 2.22 and the final battles of 3.33 and Thrice but is almost always immediately destroyed by the end of them. In 2.22 she has her mental breakdown because she couldn't beat Sahaquiel alone and is then "killed" halfway through the film after the Unit 03 incident. In 3.33 she doesn't really get involved in the action until the final set piece with Unit 13, where she fails to make any sort of real impact against it and eventually has to eject from Unit 02 entirely (she also runs out of power during this scene, which is a plot point that's only brough up here and in the fight between Unit 01 and Zeruel). In Thrice she gets some decent character moments like when she covers her choker after Shinji vomits but doesn't say anything about it, and the force-feeding scene is great imo. Shikinami does great in the final fight, only for Unit 13 to wake up and one shot her. Great outfits though, still love her!
