This and Higher Learning are the only Eva fics with a Peggy Sue element I can stand. In Higher Learning, it's the angle of approach — who goes back: Not a member of the main cast, but a descendant. In Once More..., it's recognition — this is still Shinji, this is still Asuka. Shinji's "backbone" is not so much "Took A Level In Badass" as it is Lets Get Dangerous born of the desperate need not to see the hell he's gone through happen again. And Rei— there are very few fics that creditably get her past her canon status. This is one of them.
Eddie Current's review
This and Higher Learning are the only Eva fics with a Peggy Sue element I can stand. In Higher Learning, it's the angle of approach — who goes back: Not a member of the main cast, but a descendant. In Once More..., it's recognition — this is still Shinji, this is still Asuka. Shinji's "backbone" is not so much "Took A Level In Badass" as it is Lets Get Dangerous born of the desperate need not to see the hell he's gone through happen again. And Rei— there are very few fics that creditably get her past her canon status. This is one of them.