I started thinking, what would I do if I was 14 and thought "So... I... I did this..."

–First off, please give us your honest impression of "Q."

OGATA
I'm sure everyone in the audience is wondering, "What?" just like Urashima Tarou [Note: a famous tale of someone misplaced in time]. Though, honestly, we're all sort of in the same position too (laughs).

-I bet that you were surprised when you read the script, right?

OGATA
At the beginning of the year [Note: 2012], I got a call from Miss Megumi for the first time in a while, she invited me to an intense party at Kichijouji. It was pretty late when I got there, and Mr. Anno was there with some of the cast. When I walked in, Mr. Anno was just starting up with Ms. Kotono about, "This time, Misato's ended up in this position/Misato's role is this one," or something like that. Time has passed for the other characters, only [you] Ogata (Shinji) is still a middle-schooler/high schooler [means teenager] in both mind and body. And some new, younger characters are being introduced, so some new seiyuu in their 20s-30s are taking part of this/participating.

–Then, what was it like recording for Shinji waking up from his sleep?

OGATA
We had most of the visuals for the Part A (from Shinji waking up to he leaving Wunder) during recording. So I had a really clear idea of what was going on, down to how the other characters were looking at Shinji. At the beginning, I was actually surprised at their fearful expressions. In the script, it was noted that the were treating him “coldly” [give him a cold or silent treatment] but, in that scene looking up from Shinji's point of view, and all these people were looking down at him… In particular the new characters that we weren't really familiar with yet, who have no real direct connection with him, so it's natural that they are unwilling to forgive him/“unforgiving” of him. Therefore, that coldness was delivered directly to me and the actors' performances really drove it home. So, I spent all of the "Part A" recording troubled by how horrifying that was, filled with feelings of anxiety and doubts.

[Missing chunks]

––From the mid-point on, you mostly have scenes with Kaworu.

OGATA
Yeah. Things were still good in the first half. He was still searching for the answer to, "Why did that have to happen?" and Shinji was growing stronger in his own way, and we also got a glimpse of his confusion over the things he didn't understand. And when Ayanami came to get him and they went out in Wunder together, that was by his own will… But, the hardest thing for him, was when Kaworu took him and showed him, "The truth [he] wanted to see." Like stepping along a place that looks like a tall staircase, and then the clouds suddenly part and he can see the scene: the results of Third Impact… And then being told, "Everything happened because of you"… When I watched video we were going to record to at home, the scene was blank, but Mr. Anno described the scene at the studio. I heard his explanation, but… We were recording around March and images of last year's disaster were all over TV and when I imagined, "What if this was all my (Shinji's) fault?" I just… It made me go "Woahhhhhh"….

––That must have been tough.

OGATA
When he saw me all shocked over that, the always calm Ishida Akira suddenly got up and said stuff like, "O-Oga-chan, w-would you like me to make you some coffee? Do you like it with milk or sugar?" or "Would you like me to rub your shoulders? Ask me for anything today!" (lol) We've worked together for such a long time, but he's the last person I'd expect that kind of reaction from! Well, that's what I like about him though (lol). I just responded, "N-No… I'm alright, but thanks," I must have looked really freaked out. "Y-You didn't do it, it wasn't you. It was Shinji," he said (lol). "You were thinking the same thing…" "Y-Yeah…" and we both hung our heads in shame (lol). He's such a kind person. Like, I started thinking, what would I do if I was 14 and thought "I did this"… I just kept those feelings in mind and it was no longer acting, I just performed in the shock of that thought. Of course I felt guilt, but, especially when you feel that way, you want to seek salvation from somewhere… especially as a child. "But, there was no other way, right? I didn't think it'd end up like this." "If even one person was saved, isn't that alright?" he thinks, and that's how he bears it. But, that one person [he thought he saved] turned out to be someone different entirely. He didn't save her… Just talking about it now makes me feel a bit exhausted. If I, an adult, feel like I couldn't bear it, how would I feel if I was told that [it was my fault] when I was only 14? That thought really stuck with me. And ultimately… Doesn't even the person who guided him have to die? As usual.


––Kaworu's final scene was one of the climaxes of this installment, wasn't it?

OGATA
During prescore, the image wasn't too clear in the animatic, but during recording touchups, they had the keyframes in. The film wasn't finished, but I could see all the fine details. I thought it was just too much, it really hit me hard. How am I supposed to recover from that? I just can't see it. Sorry…

––No it's fine. I really get what Shinji was feeling.

OGATA
Personally, I was pretty shocked when I performed that scene, so it might sound kind of traumatic when combined with the finished visuals, but the performance got OK'd and I trust the director. I guess it's good as long as it evokes feelings in the audience.

––This is another question about recording, but it's been a while since you last performed with Kaworu, hasn't it?

OGATA
It really has. Their relationship starts out this time as, "the person who said something to Shinji when he was down in the dumps." I'm just going off my memory regarding the TV series, but I think it's a bit different from how it was originally. I feel like he was a lot clingier from the start before. He had no one to rely on around him and there Kaworu appears. It's like, "Oh, you're being nice to me, what a relief, I'm saved." But, this time, Shinji, having gotten through the events of 2.0, meets him on a more level playing field, relatively speaking… "I don't really know why, but he's giving me nothing but good will," something like that. I think it is really quite different in the end. I feel like, this time, it's more than his attraction to Kaworu or what he learns from him -- they're depicted more as friends gradually closing the distance between each other. He meets a strange boy when he's feeling down, they play piano together, and little by little the distance closes between them. And in that [context/relationship] he's told, "You did this," and it shocks him terribly, but when he talks to Kaworu after that, he tells him, "If we pilot Unit 13 together and take out the spears, we can undo everything," and he's all like, "Yeah, lets do it!" It's a much more active act. Even if you slip into depression, it won't be like that forever, you can find hope in your connections to other people. So, because Rebuild's Shinji is a bit stronger, his relationship with Kaworu is a bit different.