I find it intensely amusing that the main bit in the canon universe, aside from the fact that it's comparing the ND! versions to their counterparts, is Kyoko's growing character arc.
And Gregg's done something very subtle here, that I only noticed on a re-read.
Everyone hates Kyoko for the most part, or did, due to how she treated Asuka.
However, of late, she's been slowly, slowly recovering. Bit by bit. To the point that her most recent screwup is not directly her fault. She told Canon!Asuka she was proud of her in much the same way one tells a little kid that gives you a collection of squiggles that they call a doggy that it's a very nice doggy. She did it because it was obvious that telling her otherwise would've been too cruel. Of course, when she noticed ND!Asuka right there...she realized exactly how she'd screwed up as well.
Now, all of this would be in the area of "deserved retribution" for, like, three more seasons worth by some people's estimates, except Gregg is pointing out some interesting things. Kyoko's hatedom is the result of a very personal empathizing with Asuka. Kyoko is awful, but she's awful in the sense that normal people are.
By contrast, we have Canon!Gendo, who's a real nasty piece of work. He gets some mild sympathy, but as Yui points out, he's hiding behind her instructions. In the end, he doesn't take responsibility for his own actions. It's Yui's fault for abandoning him in the Contact Experiment. Yui's fault for not staying with him. Yui's fault for leaving a potential way to be with her again via Instrumentality. Yui's fault that the only way to keep Naoko happy was to seduce her and then discard her when she wasn't useful anymore.
Kyoko has grown enough to recognize not only her own faults, but those of her alternate(which are, really, her own faults merely taken to their worst logical conclusion), and takes at least guilty responsibility for them. Canon!Gendo excuses his actions as being according to Yui's wishes and excuses her objections by blaming her for forcing him into his situation, despite the fact that he's proven to be just as good as she is, and arguably had Canon!Kyoko on tap if he'd halted the contact experiments. And then there's all the other actions he's taken since.
By pointing out a real bastard, Gregg's managed to make Kyoko less horrible.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
And Gregg's done something very subtle here, that I only noticed on a re-read.
Everyone hates Kyoko for the most part, or did, due to how she treated Asuka.
However, of late, she's been slowly, slowly recovering. Bit by bit. To the point that her most recent screwup is not directly her fault. She told Canon!Asuka she was proud of her in much the same way one tells a little kid that gives you a collection of squiggles that they call a doggy that it's a very nice doggy. She did it because it was obvious that telling her otherwise would've been too cruel. Of course, when she noticed ND!Asuka right there...she realized exactly how she'd screwed up as well.
Now, all of this would be in the area of "deserved retribution" for, like, three more seasons worth by some people's estimates, except Gregg is pointing out some interesting things. Kyoko's hatedom is the result of a very personal empathizing with Asuka. Kyoko is awful, but she's awful in the sense that normal people are.
By contrast, we have Canon!Gendo, who's a real nasty piece of work. He gets some mild sympathy, but as Yui points out, he's hiding behind her instructions. In the end, he doesn't take responsibility for his own actions. It's Yui's fault for abandoning him in the Contact Experiment. Yui's fault for not staying with him. Yui's fault for leaving a potential way to be with her again via Instrumentality. Yui's fault that the only way to keep Naoko happy was to seduce her and then discard her when she wasn't useful anymore.
Kyoko has grown enough to recognize not only her own faults, but those of her alternate(which are, really, her own faults merely taken to their worst logical conclusion), and takes at least guilty responsibility for them. Canon!Gendo excuses his actions as being according to Yui's wishes and excuses her objections by blaming her for forcing him into his situation, despite the fact that he's proven to be just as good as she is, and arguably had Canon!Kyoko on tap if he'd halted the contact experiments. And then there's all the other actions he's taken since.
By pointing out a real bastard, Gregg's managed to make Kyoko less horrible.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."