Thread by @GhostlyOcam

[THE MYTHICIZATION OF RYOJI KAJI IN THE REBUILD OF EVANGELION TETRALOGY, or "Fucking hell, You made Kubrick and Tarkovski easier to comprehend than this, Anno"]

This is it, this will be my biggest #Evangelion thread ever. I don't think I can surpass myself anymore at this point.

At first, his reintroduction is what he expected. He's still the same ol' Kaji who seems to have stuff going on in the background, but still the same old Ultimate Guy we know from NGE.

It's predictable, but also comforting to know he hasn't changed.

Yet.
#Evangelion

And this is where his story diverges from NGE, and became the groundwork for everything that came after; him inviting the kids to visit the marine life preservation facility which, from what I can tell, would then become the hope known as Wille.
#Evangelion

Here, we learned that Kaji was a man who admired the very concept of "Life", to the point that even he could take the lesser-beloved aspects (as seen in the screenshots below) as something positive, as long as it's a part of the natural life cycle.
#Evangelion

And this is where we first heard Kaji's theme. It plays as he told Shinji the story of Second Impact; the death of blue Earth and its many inhabitants.

As if the solemn, melancholic tune represents his lamentation of the lives that were lost in the tragedy.
#Evangelion

Not only he admired it, he nurtured and advocated on living life to the fullest to the people he cared for, and is perhaps the overall most "healthy" character in Rebuild, physically and mentally as of that point (he *did* smoke, so do I, but let's leave it at that).
#Evangelion

We're also greeted by another variation of Kaji's theme.

It's still as solemn as ever but, instead of melancholic, there's a playful, lively melody accompanying the main motif, which I leave you to interpret along with this particular shot. It ain't hard.
#Evangelion

Despite his absence throughout the entire 3.0 and the majority of 3.0+1.0, which the reason was later revealed to be his death, ironic for someone who admires Life and strives to live to the fullest every day, isn't it?

Well, not exactly.
#Evangelion

As presented in an earlier tweet, Kaji also found the eventual demise of life comforting, as that's a proof, a trace, a legacy that someone or something was alive once.

Wille, Village-3, and his ideals the Third Impact survivors inherited are his legacy.
#Evangelion

Interestingly, neither Kaji's whereabouts nor his demise were revealed yet.

However, a familiar tune was heard, which is none other than his solemn and melancholic theme; now played by an orchestra, announcing the "return" of his presence one way or another.
#Evangelion

The same time we finally learned of his passing, so did another part of his legacy; a new Ryoji Kaji. Literally.

Born from and named by a mother who left him to nurture one of his father's legacies (Wille), and let the other one (Village-3) to raise him.
#Evangelion

This is where we heard the grandest rendition of Kaji's theme, a beautiful marriage of choir and orchestra played as Shinji reminisces his late "mentor" and realized the magnitude of his legacy.
#Evangelion

Pay attention to the lyrics and tell me if this isn't the very essence of Rebuild's Kaji Ryoji being poured into one song.

His presence has been with us in the whole 3+1's runtime at that point, we didn't realize it at first, but now we have.
#Evangelion

The revelation was so big, it made the next one (Wille's Noah's Ark Chamber left by Kaji) feel so "small".

The film realized it too, and decided to accompany the scene with a comparatively simpler Kaji's theme arrange, a coda to Kaji's musical presence.
#Evangelion

(Let me take a break first. Probably hard to imagine it, but writing this thread is actually very emotionally taxing lol)

We don't know the details of Kaji's death.

All we know is that he stopped the Third Impact and, judging by the remains of his aircraft, his body may just straight up disintegrates.

But want to know what else disintegrates? Dandelion flower.
#Evangelion

A dandelion can easily get blown by the wind, disintegrates, spreads, lands wherever it wants, and grows into new flowers, new life.

At this point, I hope you may have realized the reason why the capsules are designed like this. Reminds you of something, isn't it?
#Evangelion

Life is insistent, especially plants.

They can grow and form a pocket of other lives anywhere, even in a mostly dead world, even when there's only a pinch of soil or a crack in the concrete.

Like with the plants at NERV HQ ruins, Village-3 is exactly that.
#Evangelion

Much like how everything "grows" from Kaji; the dandelion who spreads.

Without Wille, there would never be Village-3, without Village-3, Sokkuri-san would never find herself, and without her, Shinji may never regain his will to live and find the drive to fight.
#Evangelion

And even if the plan to stop Instrumentality failed and all lives on Earth perished, the dandelion-shaped life capsules would travel across the galaxy, find a place to land, and grow new lives.

Kaji's insistence that life has to go on is as insistent as Life itself.
#Evangelion

Now, the Kaji-Katsuragi bloodline has become the symbol of Life.

The one who spreads the seed, the soil which sustains and nurtures the seed, and the new life that was born from the seed. The cycle of life.

"The seeds of love will soon to glow for all eternity."
#Evangelion

In the end, it's not about how he died. It's about how he lived, and what legacy does he left.

For in-universe characters, it's his dreams and ideals that endlessly flow inside everyone.

What he did in life, echoes for eternity.
#Evangelion

And for us the audience, it's the impeccable use of the music theme that reminds us of his legacy.

The final song of the score album is an unused suite that ends with a grand reprise of Kaji's theme.

It doesn't get more life affirming than this.
open.spotify.com/track/1eT5bYn4…

EX:While I'm aware of Kaji's theme being a repurposed song from KareKano (so did numerous songs in Rebuild based on Sagisu's various works), I completely forgot to point that out lol.

This wonderful reply might recontextualize your views about the theme:

I'm glad this thread went BIG, finishing it is alone is already a MASSIVE task for me.

So I appreciate with the replies being highly participative, you helped filling in the blanks and correcting my misses. It shows me that you care and honestly, that's just lovely. 🤗

And I'm very sorry that I can't reply every single one of you (there's SO many), but seeing you all inspired and teared up after reading this gives me nothing but joy.

So for everyone, thank you very much and, of course:

Gonna go break character, but dear KareKano fans: I've watched KareKano and know Kaji's theme is based on Ichigo Ichie (I GENUINELY FORGOT TO WRITE IT LOL) and if that's not convincing enough, I'm actively hoping for it to get a Shingekijoban treatment LOL

I absolutely can't believe that Eva fans, who are mostly the confrontative ones, are the more reasonable crowd in this case and then there's KareKano fans who with all of their mights are dragging me to the court.