And so I hated Shinji throughout my adolescence not knowing that he was a reflection. Rather than recognize it as a reflection, we hate that person. But was this because in his character, I recognized the familiar? There’s a line by Jean-Paul Sartre, “Hell is other people.” Many take this to be a rather misanthropic observation, but it was actually about the fact that living means we constantly see that which we hate about ourselves in other people. I spent a good deal of my life hating Shinji. One wonders if this is a metaphor for life, as by living we kill other things usually unconsciously. This is a common theme in the show, as well as in the opening song, “Cruel Angel Thesis” – it’s cruel, but it’s necessary. And yet, they insist that he do it anyway. Everyone in NERV acknowledges that Shinji is clearly incompetent as a pilot – the “third child” as they call him. He defeats two Angels by way of mental breakdown – the first with a panic attack that the EVA unit responds to and the second by way of flight or fight response. Shinji’s inexperience in battle shows: he trips while attempting to walk in the 01 unit. The very thought of meeting with his father horrifies him. He’s incapable of telling people “No” even while running away. When faced with the opportunity to jump into a giant robot and attempt to kill these giant abominations, he refuses continually. Much has been said of Shinji, mostly of the negative variety.
But what are the costs of sending out fourteen year old kids to destroy walking abominations? How humane is it to send out children who will only be killed in order to save the world? And what exactly are these Angels, what are the EVA even? Those things are not man-made. However, NGE is less involved in this story and much more interested in Gendo’s son, Shinji Ikari. They have created giant robots known as EVAs to rid the world of these angels. To combat them, there exists NERV and it’s head, Gendo Ikari. The basic plot is obvious – it’s 2015, and the world is a post-apocalyptic mess in which giant monsters referred to as “Angels” wreak havoc. It’s hard for me to say that which has not been said about this show. It took a long time before I realized that I could appreciate NGE on its own terms. While there are many similarities between the shows, there are probably even more dissimilarities, starting with the protagonist as Ayato has a backbone.
You will find many people who will refer to RahXephon as being a rip-off of NGE. There was a period of time as well where I felt as though I had to defend my love for RahXephon.
I had no idea what “avoidant personality disorder” was or even social anxiety. I didn’t know enough about myself back then.
#Neon genesis evangelion episode 4 su5 series#
Despite my supposed affinity for all things gruesome, even then at the tender age of 16, I decided that this show probably wasn’t for me!īut why was I so dogmatic in my dislike for a series I had never really seen? Was it simply to be contentious? A dramatic need to despise that which others adored? Truth be told, I think I wouldn’t have been able to watch this series at a younger age. This episode contained a slumber party, followed by a beheading. Since most of the copies of NGE were always rented out, I grabbed the only one left and watched one episode. It occurred at my local video rental store, an impulse much like my purchase of the DVD set last week. How I have evaded you for the past thirteen-some-odd years, insisting I didn’t care for the main character or the plot when I hadn’t even seen an episode of it! This is a lie, actually. A show about good old-fashioned family values.Īh, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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