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Neon Genesis Evangelion |OT| You Must (Not) Run Away

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Dreavus

Member
It's possible your perception of him might change. If you view him as a child rather than the peer you would in high school you may become more empathetic to his problems.

No guarantee of course, just saying.

I'm sure you know this, but the director was rather depressed when making the show and EoE.

http://s31.postimg.org/sxe0cagrf/shh.png[IMG]

heh.

I'm more sympathetic to Shinji's character. It's easy to picture the introverted, wimpish kid at school and then subtract any kind of familial love and add in an impossibly large burden. Anyone would be fucked up.[/QUOTE]

Sorry for digging back a few days for these posts. I was thinking about this [B]a lot[/B] when starting my re-watch tonight.

Shinji always gets so much shit that it's a meme of it's own at this point, but I just watched the first two episodes, and his situation is actually absolutely fucked. Gets contacted by his father who abandoned him for who knows how long. They tell him he needs to "pilot" this thing that he has zero training for to fight an extremely dangerous hostile alien. He doesn't even know how to walk in it let alone have any chance of "fighting". They barely tell him what's going on as the thing boots up and syncs, or what he should even expect before throwing him into enemy contact. Then he has the equivalent of his arm ripped off and his skull pierced clean through, all of which he feels as if it's happening to his own body but OOPS they forgot to mention that little fact until it's actually happening to him in the field. Also, [I]he is just a kid[/I].

They literally throw him in and activate the Eva hoping to god that it will go berserk and kill the angel for them. They knew he was going to get stomped. If Shinji survived it was just a bonus as far as NERV was concerned.

Realistically speaking he has every right to be "whiny" and resistant and completely terrified. Who in their right mind would take all of that shit "in stride" and just roll with it? "Ha ha, no biggie Dad! Whatever you say!"
 
Sorry for digging back a few days for these posts. I was thinking about this a lot when starting my re-watch tonight.

Shinji always gets so much shit that it's a meme of it's own at this point, but I just watched the first two episodes, and his situation is actually absolutely fucked. Gets contacted by his father who abandoned him for who knows how long. They tell him he needs to "pilot" this thing that he has zero training for to fight an extremely dangerous hostile alien. He doesn't even know how to walk in it let alone have any chance of "fighting". They barely tell him what's going on as the thing boots up and syncs, or what he should even expect before throwing him into enemy contact. Then he has the equivalent of his arm ripped off and his skull pierced clean through, all of which he feels as if it's happening to his own body but OOPS they forgot to mention that little fact until it's actually happening to him in the field. Also, he is just a kid.

They literally throw him in and activate the Eva hoping to god that it will go berserk and kill the angel for them. They knew he was going to get stomped. If Shinji survived it was just a bonus as far as NERV was concerned.

Realistically speaking he has every right to be "whiny" and resistant and completely terrified. Who in their right mind would take all of that shit "in stride" and just roll with it? "Ha ha, no biggie Dad! Whatever you say!"

Yeah when I first watched the series he was a hard character to watch but for me it was easy to sympathize with him. I'd argue he's pretty brave in the series in that he continues to pilot the EVA for so long.
 
I always had a problem with how Asuke treated Shinji. She made that friendship so difficult. She just kept lashing out at the guy cause she couldn't process her own problems. She always just talked down to people and seemed to hold grudges. I mean Rei is what Rei is, but at some point even she confronted her problems. Asuka had a similar problem that Shinji did and just kept running away from hers. They both had feelings for Shinji but Rei just seemed to work through them in a fashion that wasn't detrimental towards their actual relationship.

I blind bought it cause of word of mouth.

Shinji made it difficult as well.

Asuka lashes out to Shinij because Shinji reminds her of the part of her that she hates the most but can't accept: the part that needs love and acceptance from others. To put it simply she hates Shinji because she hates herself.

Shinji has a similar problem: he never even loved himself. He finds his self-worth in others, doing things only because it allows others to find some use in him, wanting to do such things because it gives him the feeling of acceptance. The reality is his seeking of others is simply a selfish way to find self-worth rather than reciprocating genuine care and taking the active role. The active role is never taken though, because of the possibility of it bringing pain.

Shinji and Asuka are two sides of the same coin and its why towards the end Shinji seeks Asuka rather than Misato or Rei. Their growth is a fundamental point in the story. Its why their relationship and progress is signified towards the end and why the series ends with their reunion after Instrumentality.
 
Shinji made it difficult as well.

Asuka lashes out to Shinij because Shinji reminds her of the part of her that she hates the most but can't accept: the part that needs love and acceptance from others. To put it simply she hates Shinji because she hates herself.

Shinji has a similar problem: he never even loved himself. He finds his self-worth in others, doing things only because it allows others to find some use in him, wanting to do such things because it gives him the feeling of acceptance. The reality is his seeking of others is simply a selfish way to find self-worth rather than reciprocating genuine care and taking the active role. The active role is never taken though, because of the possibility of it bringing pain.

Shinji and Asuka are two sides of the same coin and its why towards the end Shinji seeks Asuka rather than Misato or Rei. Their growth is a fundamental point in the story. Its why their relationship and progress is signified towards the end and why the series ends with their reunion after Instrumentality.
I'm not even going to disagree with this cause it's true. That and Shinji knows the truth about Rei and both are dead in the end any way. Bad thing is even after that there isn't that much respect between the two of them. Shinji tries to strangle her and she just calls him pathetic. It's just one of those pairings that I have trouble accepting cause there isn't much good that I can remember appearing on screen. These two are worse than Kamille and Fa, whom argue a lot but at the end of the day you know they both love each other. Besides Misato and Shinji is just all kinds of wrong.
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Shinji has a similar problem: he never even loved himself. He finds his self-worth in others, doing things only because it allows others to find some use in him, wanting to do such things because it gives him the feeling of acceptance. The reality is his seeking of others is simply a selfish way to find self-worth rather than reciprocating genuine care and taking the active role. The active role is never taken though, because of the possibility of it bringing pain.
And this why I really liked the ending of Evangelion 2.22, because it firmly shows that just for once, he is actually willing to 'walk the walk' out of his own genuine care for another person rather than do it for more approval points
 
And this why I really liked the ending of Evangelion 2.22, because it firmly shows that just for once, he is actually willing to 'walk the walk' out of his own genuine care for another person rather than do it for more approval points
Didn't he do it for Rei too?
 

Fj0823

Member
And this why I really liked the ending of Evangelion 2.22, because it firmly shows that just for once, he is actually willing to 'walk the walk' out of his own genuine care for another person rather than do it for more approval points

And then he pays a giant price for it...dude can't catch a break...

Also Am I the Only one who unironically likes Mari? She's just another soldier at this point, but man I enjoy her assholish attitude.
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Didn't he do it for Rei too?
Exactly, who in turn, also grew to genuinely care for Shinji's well-being and not do it a way that involves pressure to 'get in the fucking robot' like everyone else.
Shit, it's been a while since I've seen the film but she was also actively making an effort to reconcile the relationship of both Shinji and Gendo wasn't she?

Meanwhile, Asuka pretty much gets hung out left to dry in terms of personal progression within the film
And then he pays a giant price for it...dude can't catch a break...

Also Am I the Only one who unironically likes Mari? She's just another soldier at this point, but man I enjoy her assholish attitude.
Still curious who the hell she is though. The manga may have offered a significant clue through a special chapter they put out last year that she's
some time travelling being that was close friends with Yui Ikari
but could be just them pulling something outta their ass
 

muteki

Member
And then he pays a giant price for it...dude can't catch a break...

Also Am I the Only one who unironically likes Mari? She's just another soldier at this point, but man I enjoy her assholish attitude.

She is straightforward on the surface, which I can appreciate. I get the impression that she is supposed to have a slew of issues of her own, but for whatever reason not really explored in either movie she has been in, from what I remember.

I can hate on 3.33 a lot but in reality I am reserving judgement to see what/if a fourth movie would bring. It could all be worth it, or not. Assuming it ever comes out. If it doesn't, then I can say with no regrets it is shit.

I don't really mind the changes she brought to 2.22.
 

munchie64

Member
Mari's banter with Asuka in 3.33 is fun as hell. As long as we get more of that, I'll like her just fine, but I wouldn't mind some depth either,
 

daveo42

Banned
Exactly, who in turn, also grew to genuinely care for Shinji's well-being and not do it a way that involves pressure to 'get in the fucking robot' like everyone else.
Shit, it's been a while since I've seen the film but she was also actively making an effort to reconcile the relationship of both Shinji and Gendo wasn't she?

Meanwhile, Asuka pretty much gets hung out left to dry in terms of personal progression within the film

Still curious who the hell she is though. The manga may have offered a significant clue through a special chapter they put out last year that she's
some time travelling being that was close friends with Yui Ikari
but could be just them pulling something outta their ass

I agree. The ending of 2.22 was about damn perfect for Shinji up until the after-credits scene. And yes, Rei was trying to fix the relationship between Gendo and Shinji for both their sakes, though I wonder how much of that was Yui and how much of that was Rei.

As for Mari...I think they are either playing on that, or that
Mari is the first person to carry the curse of Eva also seen in Shinji and Asuka in 3.33. Supposedly that's Mari on the right side of the photo.

tumblr_inline_n1hascTc3c1ql4e2i.png
 
Exactly, who in turn, also grew to genuinely care for Shinji's well-being and not do it a way that involves pressure to 'get in the fucking robot' like everyone else.
Shit, it's been a while since I've seen the film but she was also actively making an effort to reconcile the relationship of both Shinji and Gendo wasn't she?
Rei was trying to cook them dinner if I remember corrrectly. Rei. Trying to cook. Other people. Actual fucking food. And that's the person that's supposedly just a robot. Rei just wanted to see them happy. Asuka didn't do anything to help another person and she's supposed to be the better character. Yeah. Ok. Fine. Only person Asuka was nice to was Yukari and that's because she just never wanted anything from her.
I agree. The ending of 2.22 was about damn perfect for Shinji up until the after-credits scene. And yes, Rei was trying to fix the relationship between Gendo and Shinji for both their sakes, though I wonder how much of that was Yui and how much of that was Rei.

As for Mari...I think they are either playing on that, or that
Mari is the first person to carry the curse of Eva also seen in Shinji and Asuka in 3.33. Supposedly that's Mari on the right side of the photo.

tumblr_inline_n1hascTc3c1ql4e2i.png
How much of Yui is actually in Rei though? One thing I always enjoyed was how Shinji thought Rei would make a good mother. She is a bit maternal in some ways to Shinji since he always seems to go to her for some sort of guidance or comfort.
 

jstripes

Banned
Still curious who the hell she is though. The manga may have offered a significant clue through a special chapter they put out last year that she's
some time travelling being that was close friends with Yui Ikari
but could be just them pulling something outta their ass

Who knows who she really is, but she was intentionally put in there as a cynical representation of pandering to otaku.

How much of Yui is actually in Rei though? One thing I always enjoyed was how Shinji thought Rei would make a good mother. She is a bit maternal in some ways to Shinji since he always seems to go to her for some sort of guidance or comfort.

The DNA? 100%

The "soul"? It varies from clone to clone.
 
Who knows who she really is, but she was intentionally put in there as a cynical representation of pandering to otaku.



The DNA? 100%

The "soul"? It varies from clone to clone.
Doesn't she also have Angel DNA as well? How did Gendo get enough DNA from Yui to clone her if she was wiped off the face of the earth in an EVA accident? And isn't her soul in Unit 1 as well?
 
Where did you guys first discover EVA?

For me, it was on Adult swim.

I watched the whole series on Crunchyroll back in 2012. I had just moved to the west coast and felt like a fish out of water. The series affected me even as an adult. I just rewatched the TV series and it definitely holds up for me. It's neat to pick up on the little things like Shinji saying Rei would make a good mother as someone mentioned. I'm gonna rewatch the movies once the next one comes out. Has there been any talk of a release date?
 

jstripes

Banned
Doesn't she also have Angel DNA as well? How did Gendo get enough DNA from Yui to clone her if she was wiped off the face of the earth in an EVA accident? And isn't her soul in Unit 1 as well?

Well, maybe not 100%, but she is absolutely a clone. :p

Knowing Gendo, he probably had her DNA stashed away somewhere early on.
 
Well, maybe not 100%, but she is absolutely a clone. :p

Knowing Gendo, he probably had her DNA stashed away somewhere early on.
"I need your blood and tissue samples."
"Why Gendo?"
"Reasons...."
If he didn't do a bunch of crazy shit to reunite with her I'd swear the son of a bitch killed her himself. I'm still trying to figure out how that bastard gets women. Dude had Yui, Ritsuko's mom and Ritsuko. What da fuq!!!!
 

Guess Who

Banned
Well, maybe not 100%, but she is absolutely a clone. :p

Knowing Gendo, he probably had her DNA stashed away somewhere early on.

More like "knowing Yui, as she is the true mastermind of the whole series, she probably had her DNA stashed away somewhere..."
 
The facial hair and specs, man. Actually Yui says at one point he's a very sweet man, just doesn't show it to others.
Motherfucker didn't even show it to his own son. Rei saw it I know that much cause for the most part that was the only person she was actually nice to with the exception of Shinji, but damn he hid it too well. Dude had too much Jovian Swag.
More like "knowing Yui, as she is the true mastermind of the whole series, she probably had her DNA stashed away somewhere..."
So vaporizing herself and getting a her son jammed into her robotic womb on a daily basis for mind rape was all according to Keikaku?
 

daveo42

Banned
Doesn't she also have Angel DNA as well? How did Gendo get enough DNA from Yui to clone her if she was wiped off the face of the earth in an EVA accident? And isn't her soul in Unit 1 as well?

I did a bit of diving into the wikia, and came back with this. Supposedly she only has the form of Yui with parts of her and Lilith's souls attached to a body of LCL after trying to salvage Yui's soul from EVA-01. That process, however failed, leaving Gendo with Rei instead of Yui.

So vaporizing herself and getting a her son jammed into her robotic womb on a daily basis for mind rape was all according to Keikaku?

Eva's fucking weird man...I mean the whole EVA thing was supposedly going to be a spaceship to another world.
 

Guess Who

Banned
So vaporizing herself and getting a her son jammed into her robotic womb on a daily basis for mind rape was all according to Keikaku?

she ascends to godhood and floats through space as a testament to mankind's existence, so who is the real winner here

anyway, the real way rei was created was from a failed attempt to extract yui from unit-01
 

munchie64

Member
Where did you guys first discover EVA?

For me, it was on Adult swim.
I should answer this.

I was 14 years old (coincidence, I know) and was really interested into getting seriously into anime (other than the big stuff like Dragon Ball and Yu Gi Oh or whatever). Looking up popular and recommended shows, I decided to choose one serious show and one comedy.

The comedy was Azumanga Daioh, which I still love to this day and the drama was... Evangelion! I have no idea why I chose that. The name was cool I guess, and I knew mechas were a big part of anime so I suppose I wanted a taste.

I marathon the whole show in 3 days, watch EoE the next, rewatch 5 or 6 favourite episodes the day after. Needless to say I was hooked. I related to all the teen characters in some way and loved how fucked up it was.
 
I'm not even going to disagree with this cause it's true. That and Shinji knows the truth about Rei and both are dead in the end any way. Bad thing is even after that there isn't that much respect between the two of them. Shinji tries to strangle her and she just calls him pathetic. It's just one of those pairings that I have trouble accepting cause there isn't much good that I can remember appearing on screen. These two are worse than Kamille and Fa, whom argue a lot but at the end of the day you know they both love each other. Besides Misato and Shinji is just all kinds of wrong.

You're ignoring perhaps the most iconic Eva scene:

tumblr_mg8n3j9WW61qd7h1xo1_500.gif


Instrumentality allowed Asuka and Shinji to completely expose themselves to each other. So much of the final episode is dedicated to them and its because of the message that wants to be portrayed as well as building the final scene.

The scene has been interpreted in many ways. My interpretation is Shinji not being able to differentiate fantasy (instrumentality) and reality. He has fantasies of asserting himself, especially to Asuka as she often (rightly so) talks about his cowardice and this is shown when he strangles her in fantasy and there's no response. Perhaps Shinji wanted to confirm he was in reality and not a fantasy and the way the scene plays confirms the difference between one's reality and fantasy.

Asuka responds, not with violence, but by caressing his face. She has finally accepted her "flaws" and through such an understanding is able to understand/show care towards Shinji. Asuka showing such care, awakens Shinji from his confusion and he starts crying when he realises what he has caused and what he was just about to do. Asuka's response is "How disgusting". Again something that is very open ended. Is she referring to Shinji's actions and what he had to do just to come to terms with himself or is she referring to herself, and how she now feels affection towards Shinji, or is she referring to how they have both exposed their deepest secrets to each other? The conclusion is still the same either way though.

And this why I really liked the ending of Evangelion 2.22, because it firmly shows that just for once, he is actually willing to 'walk the walk' out of his own genuine care for another person rather than do it for more approval points

Rebuild lacks many of things that made the original.
 
You're ignoring perhaps the most iconic Eva scene:

tumblr_mg8n3j9WW61qd7h1xo1_500.gif


Instrumentality allowed Asuka and Shinji to completely expose themselves to each other. So much of the final episode is dedicated to them and its because of the message that wants to be portrayed as well as building the final scene.

The scene has been interpreted in many ways. My interpretation is Shinji not being able to differentiate fantasy (instrumentality) and reality. He has fantasies of asserting himself, especially to Asuka as she often (rightly so) talks about his cowardice and this is shown when he strangles her in fantasy and there's no response. Perhaps Shinji wanted to confirm he was in reality and not a fantasy and the way the scene plays confirms the difference between one's reality and fantasy.

Asuka responds, not with violence, but by caressing his face. She has finally accepted her "flaws" and through such an understanding is able to understand/show care towards Shinji. Asuka showing such care, awakens Shinji from his confusion and he starts crying when he realises what he has caused and what he was just about to do. Asuka's response is "How disgusting". Again something that is very open ended. Is she referring to Shinji's actions and what he had to do just to come to terms with himself or is she referring to herself, and how she now feels affection towards Shinji, or is she referring to how they have both exposed their deepest secrets to each other? The conclusion is still the same either way though.
Well that's a really good interpretation of the ending. I just never tried to make sense of that chaos so that's my problem. So pretty much these two emotionally wrecked people had to nuke the world and then remake it out of nothingness, which is inhabited by...cockroaches I'm assuming and a gigantic Rei husk in order to be able to finally feel something for each other?
 
Motherfucker didn't even show it to his own son. Rei saw it I know that much cause for the most part that was the only person she was actually nice to with the exception of Shinji, but damn he hid it too well. Dude had too much Jovian Swag.

I've seen theories tossed around that the reason Gendo was such a cold bastard to his own son was because he is afraid he'd hurt Shinji more by being close to him. It's been too long since I've actually watched through the entire franchise, so I'm not sure if I agree with it. I assume Rei sees more in Gendo because of her connection with Yui.
 
I've seen theories tossed around that the reason Gendo was such a cold bastard to his own son was because he is afraid he'd hurt Shinji more by being close to him. It's been too long since I've actually watched through the entire franchise, so I'm not sure if I agree with it. I assume Rei sees more in Gendo because of her connection with Yui.
I thought Rei saw more in Gendo cause Rei has pretty much been around the guy since inception and is her main human connection, and that Gendo has actually saved her life showing her how much he cares about her. Gendo knows Rei could easily be replaced, yet he displays concern when she's in danger. Gendo just fucked Shinji up good. I think their longest conversation was when they were at Yui's grave site.
Doesn't he basically say this in EoE?
Wait he does? I haven't been on that rollercoaster for a long long time.
 
Back in like 98/99 I made a crazy popular (at the time) AMV for Evangelion using Pink Floyd's Mother. Won some awards at anime conventions for it too. Wanted to share it with everyone here:

https://youtu.be/w2RuSgObZB0

(I am Mike Corbitt in the credits, not the person who uploaded the video to youtube)
 

Guess Who

Banned
Wait he does? I haven't been on that rollercoaster for a long long time.

When Instrumentality's happening Gendo's visited by Yui, the Reis, and Kaworu, and he tells them about how he regrets not being closer to Shinji because Gendo didn't think he (as in, himself) deserved love and he was afraid of being hurt.

And then Unit-01 eats his head.
 
When Instrumentality's happening Gendo's visited by Yui, the Reis, and Kaworu, and he tells them about how he regrets not being closer to Shinji because Gendo didn't think he (as in, himself) deserved love and he was afraid of being hurt.

And then Unit-01 eats his head.
Well Gendo wasn't exactly wrong considering how he treated people. I always though Unit 1 eating his head was a hallucination.
 
Doesn't he basically say this in EoE?

I thought Rei saw more in Gendo cause Rei has pretty much been around the guy since inception and is her main human connection, and that Gendo has actually saved her life showing her how much he cares about her. Gendo knows Rei could easily be replaced, yet he displays concern when she's in danger. Gendo just fucked Shinji up good. I think their longest conversation was when they were at Yui's grave site.

Dunno. Like I said it's been quite a while since I've watched through the entire franchise. I probably should do so someday to refresh myself and maybe see if a different perspective is formed since I'm a different person than I was then.
 
Dunno. Like I said it's been quite a while since I've watched through the entire franchise. I probably should do so someday to refresh myself and maybe see if a different perspective is formed since I'm a different person than I was then.
Yeah I need to do this as well, by myself, not with my GF.
Never forget the true best Eva:

ntoWmC2.gif
Wouldn't it just go berserk and eat the other horses?
 

Eusis

Member
Where did you guys first discover EVA?

For me, it was on Adult swim.
GameFan in 1996 that I got for the Super Mario 64 moves. Two page spread raving that it was the best anime ever and it stuck out to me how it praised the fact it had its last real battle in the third to last episode and broke tradition with the last two episodes.

That's... One way to look at it, I guess.
 

J-Roderton

Member
So unit 1 biting Gendos head off really happened? Thought it was a vision or something.

Where did you guys first discover EVA?

For me, it was on Adult swim.

Probably middle school. Had no idea what it was. Just referred to it as the robot anime with the red-headed chick on it.

Recently saw the 3.33 DVD case at Walmart, mentioned I'd like to watch it, girlfriend bought it for me as a gift a week later.

After finding out I should watch the series and stuff before diving into 3.33 I ended up Netflixing the rebuild DVDs and then knocked out the series and EoE.

Now it's probably one of my favorite shows I've ever watched. Can't believe it took me so long.
 

//ARCANUM

Member
Also, has anyone else brought up the theory that the Rebuild movies aren't remakes but a sequel series? If not, the gist of it (which is what I believe) is that the history of Evangelion is repeating itself again and again with outcomes changing and there are people behind the scenes (like Gendo), trying to control things and get the outcome they want. The anime was a cycle. The manga was a cycle. The rebuild movies are a cycle. Hell you could even look at the anime ending vs the End of Eva movie as a cycle.
 
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