Sailor Star Dust: Contrary to Episode 14 with Ritsuko, I'd say it's apparent that Gendo himself was the Eva's target in this episode.
thewayneiac: Rei 1 would certainly have motivation to go after Gendo if she knows he's the one who imprisoned her in Unit-00.
JC Denton: Eh? Yeah... no.
There's only one Rei soul (remember ep 23?), and it passes on from one Rei to the next (again, 23), so what you're suggesting doesn't make the slightest sense.
thewayneiac: They explicitly show us in Ep. 14 that Rei 1 is Unit-00's soul. Soul division is an established fact in Evangelion (remember Kyoko). Part of Rei 1's soul was placed into Unit-00, the rest went to Rei 2. The two were reunited in Rei 3 after Unt-00 self destructed. In Ep. 23, Rei 2 briefly mistakes Armisael for "the me in Eva".
JC Denton: Well I'll especially pay attention to this on my upcoming 10th Eva run-through, but I never needed d&d concepts like soul splitting to understand what happens in Eva, thank you very much.
Can't see where Kyoko would come in in this theory, either; Eva-02, and what else...?
thewayneiac: Only the maternal aspects of Kyoko's soul went into Unit-02; the rest stayed with Kyoko. This explains why she doesn't recognize Asuka and why she didn't turn into LCL: she didn't lose her entire soul.
UrsusArctos: If it helps, you're (JC Denton) hardly the only one to have trouble accepting the idea. Nevertheless, it's the only thing that works- and unless I'm mistaken, it's more or less confirmed somewhere (See link in previous comment)... (bad memory on my end)
Sailor Star Dust: Not sure why the CI didn't mention this, but the insane part of Kyoko went inside Eva-02 after she died. There's the two-times "Please die with me!" screaming admist the "You must live/Don't die/Don't kill her." lines in M25'.
