Gendo with his old glasses. He's still young, but he's already taken to his customary pose.
IKARI:“I have already proposed it to Chairman Kiel.”
eldomtom2: Note that Gendo is explicit here - Instrumentality was his idea, and not one that SEELE was previously pursuing. This contradicts what later episodes state (or at least heavily imply).
Dr. Nick: How to square these contradictions, knowing that Seele's end goal of eternal existence in near-godhood is a thing the cult has dreamt of for centuries? If I were to fanwank it, I take it means Gendo designed the practical roadmap of executing their religious woo, of course in line with his own secret goal of getting back together with Yui.
UrsusArctos: That seems likely. Seele had their end goal from the beginning, 2I, fortifying Tokyo-3 and creating Eva-00 was just the start; the Human Instrumentality Project could only be achieved with a clear plan, a timeline, the groundwork for an organization to execute the use of the Evas and the extermination of the Angels. Yui's death probably caused Gendo to propose the HIP ahead of schedule in the hope of reuniting with her. EGF users ought to recognize this image as my most-used avatar - something about Gendo's loss has stuck with me over the ages.
