“Only Gendo and Fuyutsuki seem to remain on the same ground, and yet Fuyutsuki really seems to have no respect for Gendo at all. That’s not a big change—he has never seemed to respect Gendo, really—but it makes it doubly weird that theirs is the only truly solid relationship here.”
I think a central pessimism in this show is that actually knowing and connecting with other people leads to disappointment. Thinking about End of Evangelion in particular here, but the actual close relationships in this show involve some level of antipathy. The optimism, I think, comes in where accepting this as the cost of being with others is worth it.
the Misato / Kaji relationship seems like it fits here… it seems like on Misato's side, she does not idealize Kaji and needs to be sure he doesn't idealize her. (Kaji is harder to read for me.)
I think the other thing about Gendo and Fuyutsuki is that they're themselves in an invisible trio with Yui, and since they both know the other person is the only person who really understands how important Yui is, they tolerate each other. Everybody else who could understand is dead. So even if they don't even really respect or like each other, they're stuck with each other.
“Only Gendo and Fuyutsuki seem to remain on the same ground, and yet Fuyutsuki really seems to have no respect for Gendo at all. That’s not a big change—he has never seemed to respect Gendo, really—but it makes it doubly weird that theirs is the only truly solid relationship here.”
I think a central pessimism in this show is that actually knowing and connecting with other people leads to disappointment. Thinking about End of Evangelion in particular here, but the actual close relationships in this show involve some level of antipathy. The optimism, I think, comes in where accepting this as the cost of being with others is worth it.
the Misato / Kaji relationship seems like it fits here… it seems like on Misato's side, she does not idealize Kaji and needs to be sure he doesn't idealize her. (Kaji is harder to read for me.)
I think the other thing about Gendo and Fuyutsuki is that they're themselves in an invisible trio with Yui, and since they both know the other person is the only person who really understands how important Yui is, they tolerate each other. Everybody else who could understand is dead. So even if they don't even really respect or like each other, they're stuck with each other.