>>281532143
You don't get it. Mari IS LITERALLY EVA. That's it. She IS the series. She makes the series, she is the point of the series.

Literally look at it with Anno lens: Mari didn't necessarily save Shinji, yes, but Mari represents him "moving on" and "becoming an adult".
It happens to all of us. It doesn't have to be a woman. There is always that one event, a "Mari" in our lives, sudden, unexpected, falls in our laps, that makes us realize it is time to be an adult and move on from our lives, face reality head on. Its just that in Anno's case it was her wife
Mari brought him back to reality. Shinji was losing himself and it was Mari that gave his life back its color.
Literally one of the best scenes in Evangelion and its a fitting end to the Rebuids.
Only EoE is better.
That's all there it to it.
Honestly, I will never understand the hate people give for this movie.
I mean, its a movie. Of course there would be loose ends. Like Mari's characterization, for example, which is a shame but it can't be helped and can be expounded on more if Anno would go back to Eva.