Sharp-kun: I've always liked the way that Gendo looks down on Shinji during their meeting.
Reichu: Setting the scene up that way helps reinforce the dynamics of their relationship. Like I said in the OP, basically.
Shin-seiki: (200~202) Sheesh, could the Oedipal symbolism here be any more blatant? The sequence starts with Shinji's dismayed reaction to hearing that voice again (200), then the shot pans up a certain enormous phallic symbol (201) and comes to rest on the stern visage of the hated father-figure (202). If anyone has a practical, as opposed to merely symbolic, purpose to propose for Shogouki's horn, I'd love to hear it…
Sharp-kun: Impaling?
HeWhoPostsStuff: To look cool, of course. How're we supposed to explain half the wacky doodads that hang off of pretty much ANY anime mecha?
Additional Commentary
Reichu: Actually, the theory you hear now and again about her horn being an antenna seems to be correct. I'll elaborate in episode #16 when the evidence occurs.
FYI, the horn and “frill” of EVA-01 are vaguely evocative of ceratopsian dinosaurs such as the ever-popular Triceratops. Dinosaurs are a pretty big thing over in Japan, so I doubt the resemblance is completely accidental.
Hexon.Arq: Add “variation of a kabuto helmet” and I think you've got the complete description. At least, that was my initial impression.
Reichu: To backtrack a little: Personally, I'm hesitant about associating phallic symbolism with something that is made out, throughout the course of the series, to be a feminine entity. The horn in this shot is quite effective compositionally, if nothing else.
Shin-seiki: I dunno, it seems to me that Freud's ideas are referenced quite a bit in NGE; do you really find it radical to suggest that Anno would resort to a little Freudian symbolism at the moment of Shinji and Gendo's first face-to-face confrontation in the show? And I know perfectly well that the Evas are “feminine beings”, but, to be honest, I've always thought that Shogouki looks like a guy. :P
Hexon.Arq: Don't forget about that enormous bulge she has downstairs, eh? And yes, the phallic symbolism was something even I caught the first time. It's classic in its utter appropriateness.
Reichu: As far as I'm concerned, the crotch plate (first visible in Scene 07) is just another “wacky doodad”, part of the overall “body armor”/“mecha” design and not to be read into too heavily. Although some of the artists depicting the Evas have exaggerated it to grotesque lengths (pun intended), perhaps it's worth noting that Yamashita maintains the feature in this rather interesting illustration (“based on my own personal interpretation”, he notes), wherein the Evas are portrayed as being unambiguously female.
And as for the Evas “looking like guys”… As I said to a doubting person at Otakononce, “With the right genetics, a chick can look like anything.” That NGE contains female humanoid entities (the Evas, Lilith, and, ahem, someone else …) that do not conform to the common standards for “femininity” — in having breasts and volumptuous curves, and such — is, if nothing else, refreshing. Go Nagai's “boob missile” mecha they ain't.
