ALTERNATE EVANGELION:
The lost scenario.
One of the most mysterious and interesting aspects of the production of the End of Evangelion film centers around the live-action segment that appears towards the end of the movie. In the final version of the film, what we see are beautifully shot and composed images of daily Tokyo life. Swings, stray cats, commuters, trains, sky scrapers. A day in the life.
However, this is not what was originally intended.
This was first pointed out by Olivier Haque of the Japan.Anime.Evangelion newsgroup. He described what was claimed to be the original transcript of this live-action segment as written by director Hideaki Anno. When this was reported to the Evangelion ML that Bochan_bird and I are members of, it caused quite a fury. After digging a bit through the plethora of Japanese Evangelion websites, he found the source of this information in the form of a website.
After reading through it, he concluded that it was too detailed and well-constructed to be a prank or a piece of fan-fiction. Coupled with the Evangelion theatrical trailer, which used scenes filmed for this version of the live-action segment, we both strongly believe that this is authentic and indeed was what Anno originally envisioned.
What follows is Bochan_bird's English translation of the live-action transcript that is hosted on the Japanese website.
Episode 26' "Sincerely Yours"
New script draft (6th revision, for in-house consideration)
Live-action film part
In the EoE screenplay draft, this live-action (reality) film part follows the flashed images and jumbled women's voices ("I hate you," etc.) at about the same place as the live-action part in the second half of the finished EoE film. The EoE theatrical trailer shows excerpts (images/dialog) taken from this originally planned reality film.
(Note: The question marks (? ? ?) also appear in the screenplay draft.)
===================================
The film changes to a world that is not "cel animation".
* This is the start of the "reality film" part. (Everyday life is portrayed in as raw a manner as possible like a documentary film.)
Here, "reality" itself is shot on film, making it a "reality film".
Asuka waking up. (24 years old)
6-mat (9' x 12') one-room apartment. (extremely "lived-in" feel)
TV sounds can be heard from the lower apartment.
A naked man lies sleeping next to her on the bed.
Asuka raises her upper body and stares blankly. (camera = bird's eye view)
Asuka:
"A dream?"
[Eye-catch] B? type only. English title: "I need you."
• 6-mat one-room apartment.
Clothing and a bra lie scattered on the messy floor where they were cast off last night.
Asuka sits up.
Naked man sleeping next to her. (face not shown)
Asuka:
"Idiot Touji?"
Touji sleeps sprawling on the bed. (about 24 years old)
Asuka:
"I see. I drank on the way home from work and ended up sleeping with this jerk again." (not sure, but Kobe dialect)
Asuka:
"Lately when we see each other that's all we do..."
Asuka:
"Men...You let them do it with you once and from then on that's all there is.
I wonder if they think about anything else..."
Asuka:
"Well, I guess if you do it once, then it's no different from a hundred times."
Asuka makes an unpleasant face. (The inside of her mouth feels disgusting.)
She grabs her panties and a shirt (men's) off the floor, puts them on, and gets out of the bed.
• Bathroom sink
Asuka gargling/rinsing out her mouth.
Asuka:
"*gag* Yeeeck! There's still some left in my mouth."
Asuka:
"That idiot, always dodging the issue like that and refusing to commit.
Even though we both know it's just convenient excuses to make do for the moment."
Asuka:
"But things proceed and before you know it we're living together. How did -that- happen?"
• Kotatsu (note: small square table with a heater and a quilt)
Misato waking up.
Same type of 6-mat one-room apartment.
(but appearing even older and more "lived-in")
Misato:
"A dream?"
Misato:
"A bad dream. I wonder if I'm balancing my stress..."
Misato:
"Things could never work out with that man now...absolutely impossible."
Misato:
"Well, I guess it's no use complaining about reality in your dreams."
A man and woman arguing loudly (lover's quarrel) can be heard from the lower apartment.
The man (Touji) speaks Osaka dialect and the woman (Asuka) speaks Kobe dialect.
Misato makes a disgusted face.
Misato (lethargically):
"And now of course the live-in couple is just going to start the peacemaking ritual again..."
The sounds of the quarrel cease abruptly.
Misato:
"See, they're getting ready."
The phone rings.
Misato slithers out from the kotatsu and picks up the phone in an annoyed manner.
(Shall we compose this scene as a ??nakanuki?? shot?)
Misato (lethargically):
"Oh, Ritsuko."
Misato:
"The upcoming vacation? Sure, no problem. Okay, okay."
Ritsuko:
"Really? But didn't you already have plans?
Misato:
"Canceled without a doubt. There's no way I'd visit back home now.
They'd arrange some marriage meeting and I'd be done for."
Loud "female moans" are heard from the lower apartment.
Ritsuko:
"What was that? Are you watching porno flicks at your age?
Misato:
"Not a chance. It's the neighbors -- the neighbors.
Like cats in heat, they never seem to tire of it.
Night after night -- it's like they don't have anything else to do; not another care in the world.
Ritsuko:
"Oh, how lively. Sounds like fun."
Misato:
"You're just saying that because you don't have to live with it."
Ritsuko:
"But didn't you say that your neighbor had just gotten a new boyriend?"
Misato:
"That's right, and they're already living together. And they're so young."
Ritsuko:
"It's their youth that lets them do it."
Misato:
"Men just want a mother figure who'll spoil them,
and women become intoxicated with the comfort that situation provides.
It's just two lonely people making a couple. It doesn't look like it'll last long.
They'll probably hit the breakup battle stage soon."
Ritsuko:
"Inference based on personal experience, huh?"
Misato:
"Common sense. Why do you think mothers don't let their children go?
Because mothers need their children. Without a child a mother cannot exist.
This is the same thing -- it's so stupid.
• New Tokyo 2 - panorama view (mat and CG composition)
If possible, a light dusting of snow? ? ?
Tiled roofs. Telephone poles. A pile of garbage bags (unburnable garbage) printed with the New Tokyo 2 City logo.
A steel tower for high-voltage lines in the middle of the town. A railroad crossing. A mass of bicycles parked in front of a station. A row of pay phones.
Misato and Asuka run into each other unexpectedly somewhere in the apartment complex and exchange greetings and small talk.
The two are polite toward each other, and the conversation is superficial and light. (Misato holding a garbage bag?)
? ? ? etc. Images of daily life. (play BGM /M? 15?)
The camera follows the back of a woman riding a bicycle, ringing the bell.
*rattle* Close-up of leg setting bicycle kickstand.
*click* Close up of hand removing bicycle lock key.
The bicycle nameplate shows Asuka's address and full name.
Bicycle parking lot. Asuka's back as she walks quickly toward the station. (Attach the camera to your hand.)
Asuka:
"Aah -- that neighbor lady. Wasting my time with pointless talk!"
Asuka:
"Shit! Now I'll never make that :31 express. Jeez she pisses me off!"
Sound of a linear rail train passing over the viaduct.
• Workplace
Coffee room. Numerous coffee-makers around the room hum noisily.
Two girls in work uniforms stand in the room, methodically changing the pots/filters.
Rei (without looking at Asuka):
"Why don't you just break up? It's a lot easier that way."
Asuka (without looking at Rei):
"Yeah, I guess so." (trying to speak standard Japanese at the company)
Rei:
"Of course, that's just cheap methodology."
Rei:
"If you leave things vague and just try to put on a good face, you'll only get hurt."
Rei:
"There's nothing worse than an obsessed/brooding man."
Rei:
"There's no telling what he'll do.
Rei:
"Just like a spoiled brat."
Asuka:
"Senpai, did something happen?"
? ? ?
The dialog drama continues thereafter with the location changing here and there. Only the dialog links the time-line. Elevator, escalator, lunch, on the roof, a nearby convenience store, a box lunch shop, etc.
Rei:
"So what's the problem? You get romance and at the same time your sexual appetites are satisfied."
Asuka:
"But it doesn't feel like that. The seductive inner feelings are only at the start,
and now it's just like a condom that's been all used and stretched out.
Even when we're together it's like we're immersed in daily routine, just floating along aimlessly.
Asuka:
"Aaargh! -- It's not romatic in the least!"
Rei:
"You don't really know if it's love until after you hang up the phone."
Asuka:
"Huh? Really?"
Rei:
"When you're doing it, it seems like the purpose is just to overlap your bodies, and there's no warm, fuzzy feeling.
You're just ravenous toward each other.
Asuka:
"Whenever we put a little distance between us, I get confused and wonder whether I even really like him."
Asuka:
"It's the same old pattern every time where I think that maybe I'm just forcing myself to believe that I like him."
Asuka:
"It won't last for long. I have a pretty short stance."
Rei:
"You're pretty cold-hearted, but you just become attached pretty easily, don't you -- like keeping a dog."
Rei:
"And you're the type that recklessly and willfully causes men to misunderstand."
Asuka:
"He's quick to say he's stupid as an evasion tactic."
Rei:
"That's because he thinks that if the word "stupid" comes from his own mouth he'll be forgiven."
Asuka:
"He does it because he thinks he can always get my sympathy."
Rei:
"That's because he's afraid if he doesn't have excuses ready.
Because afterwards he'll only end up hurting himself."
Asuka:
"He's a nuisance, seriously -- always ringing my cellphone at work."
Asuka:
"But then, when he doesn't call I get really irritated and upset..."
Rei (rather coldly):
"That's just selfishness on your part, isn't it?"
Everyday scenes. A cluster of hi-rise buildings against a mountain-ridge line.
(CG composition / can we just casually slip this in somewhere?)
Asuka walking through the city. (waiting for a signal to change?)
The camera continues to follow her back. (like a bird's-eye view)
Shinji's voice (abruptly):
"Asuka"
Asuka turns to face the camera.
Instantly the camera hides behind a telephone pole with a low angle. (as if it was suddenly afraid)
Crane close-up shot of Asuka turning and continuing to walk as if nothing had happened.
The camera follows her again. (from the perspective of an invisible Shinji)
Shinji's voice (abruptly again):
"I'm not here."
The film frame feed stops suddenly. (creaking sound of motor slippage)
Then Shinji's voice is heard over the forcibly stopped scene.
Shinji's voice:
"This isn't reality. It's a world without me."
Shinji's voice:
"Even if I'm not here, the world doesn't change."
Shinji's voice:
"Only the relationships with me have disappeared."
Shinji's voice:
"That's right, I'm not here."
Rei's voice (left):
"You were taking revenge on reality with convenient dreams."
Shinji's voice:
"Is that bad/wrong?"
Rei's voice (right):
"You were fleeing into dreams, and glossing over the truth."
Shinji's voice:
"Is it wrong to dream!?"
Rei's voice:
"That is not a dream. It is just an illusion. A compensation for reality."
The film rips suddenly. (special effects)
Cel animation screen appears suddenly
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