>>4077717I agree with
>>4077740 here. Rei yearns for Shinji in particular, and this isn't part of her Lilith-nature, but a feeling she acquired as Rei, as a result of their relationship to Gendou and because of Shinji's kindness & concern for her (however meagre it is). She doesn't lust for Shinji in episode 5 since she barely knows him, but by episode 23 they have a quiet bond, stronger on her part than his.
Honestly it was realizing that Shinji never really makes any attempts to get closer to Rei after episode 6 that finally made me understand in what sense Shinji is an emotional coward. That makes more far more sense than how Asukafags seem to expect him to woo a girl who violently hates him.
>>4077710I eventually came to this conclusion too. She's a brief apparition of divine purity; it would be the highest bliss to be her lover, but it's nearly inconceivable & blasphemous to imagine it.
