It's a squad of child soldiers whose lifes are treated as entirely expandable, i'm fairly certain all of them are full of whatever substances are required to keep them halfway functional. If Anno would state that Rei is on flunitrazepam all the time, that Shinji regularly gets ketamine injections so that he doesn't kill himself, that Asuka's breakfast consists of 80mg of amphetamine and that nobody at NERV bats an eye to Mari self-medicating with weed, coke and Southern Comfort, i wouldn't be surprised at all. It would fit with their behavior and it's not far-fetched that you can't stand life sober when you're constantly forced to get in a giant robot, risk your life and harm your friends in a possibly futile attempt to prevent giant monsters from turning all life on earth into red goop.
It's a squad of child soldiers whose lifes are treated as entirely expandable, i'm fairly certain all of them are full of whatever substances are required to keep them halfway functional. If Anno would state that Rei is on flunitrazepam all the time, that Shinji regularly gets ketamine injections so that he doesn't kill himself, that Asuka's breakfast consists of 80mg of amphetamine and that nobody at NERV bats an eye to Mari self-medicating with weed, coke and Southern Comfort, i wouldn't be surprised at all. It would fit with their behavior and it's not far-fetched that you can't stand life sober when you're constantly forced to get in a giant robot, risk your life and harm your friends in a possibly futile attempt to prevent giant monsters from turning all life on earth into red goop.