First, the odd Star Trek joke was jarring for its inclusion in the story. The PHASER thing was acceptable, but giving speaking roles to characters named 'Spock', 'Worf', and 'Yar' broke my suspension of disbelief for this genre of fic.
Second, I must commend Wreckage for its development of Shinji as a more outgoing person. It's done very naturally and feels logical considering the circumstances of the story. Because his introduction to NERV and Eva is far less traumatic in this AU than in canon, and because he forgets to pack his SDAT player when he leaves for Tokyo-3, Shinji has less of a need and less of an ability to isolate himself from the outside world. That in turn means he interacts with more people and comes out of his shell just a little bit. It's a handily done example of character development, especially when most Eva AUs seem to just handwave Shinji into becoming a generic badass with a spine. Here, Shinji fucking EARNS his friends and the respect of his coworkers.
Caellach Tiger Eye said it all...
...but I'll add two notes.
First, the odd Star Trek joke was jarring for its inclusion in the story. The PHASER thing was acceptable, but giving speaking roles to characters named 'Spock', 'Worf', and 'Yar' broke my suspension of disbelief for this genre of fic.
Second, I must commend Wreckage for its development of Shinji as a more outgoing person. It's done very naturally and feels logical considering the circumstances of the story. Because his introduction to NERV and Eva is far less traumatic in this AU than in canon, and because he forgets to pack his SDAT player when he leaves for Tokyo-3, Shinji has less of a need and less of an ability to isolate himself from the outside world. That in turn means he interacts with more people and comes out of his shell just a little bit. It's a handily done example of character development, especially when most Eva AUs seem to just handwave Shinji into becoming a generic badass with a spine. Here, Shinji fucking EARNS his friends and the respect of his coworkers.