Kamoc wrote:episode 18: thirteenth angel = bardiel. fight; bardiel destroys eva 02 and infects eva 00's arm, forcing her to cut it off. bardiel is only stopped by the dummy plug activation of unit 01. the stupidest death scene occurs, as unit 01 breaks unit 02's (bardiel's) neck, and proceeds to rip it apart.
-...Bardiel was Unit
03 !!
BTW, for what it's worth, Petro, I agree with you. I like the series ending better as well. While I do not have any evidence to back it up, I sometimes find myself thinking that the theory about EoE stating that Anno made it as a big "FUCK YOU!!" to everyone that didn't understand the series ending sounds about right.
It's bizarre to me how radically different the series' ending and EoE are. To me, the series ending makes perfect sense; EoE just feels... well, like my mind is being anally raped.
Still, even given all of that, I like EoE. It's so complex and just begs to be dissected. I even have an idea for a short film which, when I think about it, was probably inspired by EoE.
Of course, there is also the theory that EoE and eps 25-26 are two sides of the same coin; EoE is what was happening in the physical world while the series ending was all in Shinji's mind.
Then there's the theory stating that EoE is the originally planned ending and the series ending was a result of funds running low.
Then there's the Elvis theory that states Anno is still working on the "true" ending and all else is just a red herring... (Ok, I made that one up.)
Bah. I continue my search for an interview where Anno gives details on all of this. Although, he may not have ever explained it, prefering that people draw their own conclusions and not have their hands held by explaining everything.
That's what I'd do, anyway.