[rebuild eva vague spoilers]

neat thing that was pointed out when we were watching 2.0, which I didn't notice before because I'm basic

Mari

the external force

whose role in the series is to come from outside of Eva to extract Shinji from Eva and let him move on with his life

the obvious indication of this is how the instant Mari enters the plot, the series starts violently derailing off the TV story

but also

the moment Mari crashes into Shinji on the roof

his walkman stops going back and forth between tracks 25 and 26

and starts playing track 27

Anno confirmed genius