SHINJI:“I've been studying since I was five,
and this is all I can do,
so I don't really have any talent.”
Mr. Tines: When Shinji is doing something that is entirely outside their duties as pilots, Asuka is able to recognise an accomplishment, because it's one that's not threatening to her status. Shinji's response then undercuts what he has been doing -- and any prestige it might have earned him.
UrsusArctos: Despite Shinji's fundamentally self-deprecating response, Asuka doesn't seem to be put off until she hears why he persevered in the first place. And it turns out that his musical accomplishment is quite significant. He's playing Bach's Suite No. 1 Prelude in G major, BWV 1007, an extremely challenging piece. If he'd been in a different world, I'd say he had a very promising career as a cellist ahead of him!
