Awesome / The Second Try

• During the fight against the 13th Angel, Shinji disobeys Gendo's orders and charges into battle to rescue Toji. Gendo responds like he originally did and has the Dummy Plug activated... for a few seconds before EVA-01 rejects it, allowing Shinji to carry on as he expected. This shocks Gendo so much he briefly loses his composure.
  Shinji: Thank you, mother!
• During the Battle of Tokyo-3, Toji arrives to fight the JSSDF and the MP-Evas... Piloting the Jet Alone!!
• Also during said battle, Asuka destroying EVA-09, mainly because it prompts a MASSIVE Villainous Breakdown from SEELE. After watching Keel Lorenz and his cohorts spend the entire series as an untouchable, unflappable cabal for whom everything goes All According to Plan, it is overwhelmingly cathartic to see that air of cold, calculative stoicism shattered as they descend into panicked and futile bickering that even the Time Lords would deride as childish. The fact that the shock of their plans’ ruination proves fatal for Keel himself and none of the others even realize this is just the icing on the cake.
  The discussion heated more and more, chatter overlapping, everyone long having lost track of who said what behind their anonymous holograms. In the ensuing chaos, however, no one noticed that the monolith with the inscription "SEELE-01" remained silent.
• Kaji blackmails the Prime Minister with a computer worm that'll release all the facts about SEELE and Second Impact.
  • Then he returns to Tokyo-3 with several JSSDF squads sent to stop the attack on NERV. Just in Time to save Rei from being gunned down. By shooting the soldier threatening her. From a moving VTOL. Even if he only gets him in the shoulder with his third round, it's still impressive marksmanship.
  • According to the last chapter, he conveniently "forgot" to stop the worm.
• The mere fact that Shinji and Asuka not only survived, but thrived and raised a family in the Post-Impact world for so long.
• Kaworu pulling off a Timey-Wimey Ball Xanatos Gambit to not only allow Shinji to be happy but to save every single surviving human on earth.
• When Gendo decided to interrogate Shinji and Asuka about Aki, it did not go very well for him, but it was an awesome moment for both. Enraged, Asuka pounced on him and nearly strangled him, whereas Shinji destroyed him with a single line:
  "Do you really think she would come back to you because of that?"
• Rei promising to protect Aki from the soldiers that came to kill her.
  Rei: I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO HARM HER!
  • From the same scene, one of the soldiers shot his own commanding officer rather than let him kill a little girl in cold blood. Got him killed, but a good way to go.

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