Yeah they leave his past a mystery but based off what he says, his reputation and just the way he looks in his past scenes, he came off to me as a very damaged person. Like I imagine the love he felt for Yui must've been like nothing he's ever experienced before and for it to effect him so dramatically probably means his life was very very shitty before hand. The reason I used the word tragic is because when I think/imagine what his life might've been like I get the feeling that it could be a tragedy play like Oedipus rex or something. But yeah I don't expect this opinion to really be the norm so I get what you are saying lol.

By "favorites" I meant that the very first time I saw this show my feelings of sympathy or sadness didn't gravitate towards one specific character. I kinda just felt really sad for everyone. I was sad and confused at the same time so it was hard for me not to feel sad for everyone. That was my experience anyways and it hasn't really changed much since.

zlink64 wrote:Yeah they leave his past a mystery but based off what he says, his reputation and just the way he looks in his past scenes, he came off to me as a very damaged person. Like I imagine the love he felt for Yui must've been like nothing he's ever experienced before and for it to effect him so dramatically probably means his life was very very shitty before hand. The reason I used the word tragic is because when I think/imagine what his life might've been like I get the feeling that it could be a tragedy play like Oedipus rex or something. But yeah I don't expect this opinion to really be the norm so I get what you are saying lol.

Seconded. Although other characters are more deserving, Gendo is the one that receives the most sympathy from me, for precisely these reasons. The remorse he reveals before his reunion (so to speak) with Yui, the clinging possessiveness he occasionally reveals towards Rei, and the desperation evinced when she finally decides to go her own way, depriving him of his dead wife's eternal company...here is someone who wants to be loved, yet treats others like dirt in his attempt to obtain what he evidently believes is the only possible source of that love. That is why Mr. Ikari receives my pity.

I don't really feel sorry for any of the characters from NGE, Shinji and Asuka had their inner realisation at the end, Rei is no longer a doll. Misato, Ritsuko and Gendo had a closure. The journey may have been "harsh" for all of them but seeing the bigger picture I don't feel sorry for any of them.

With Final still not out I feel sorry for Shinji as things stand after Q, he clearly acted well on a moral level or it was at least comprehensible and relatable but he was manipulated since well before day one, but I'm sure I won't feel for him after seeing the ending.

I'd say that would be Shinji.
That dude has been through so much shit, and it's always at the hands of people around him, including those closest to him.
I just finished watching Evangelion 3.33 last night, and I'm still a little mad at the characters in it for giving him such a hard time, including Misato and Asuka. (Sorta makes me want to rough them up a little, although Gendo's more deserving of it.) Don't Know what will happen to him in the final film, but I have a feeling that it won't end so well for him, and I blame the other characters for that misfortune.

Definitely Asuka. She's the only reason why I love Evangelion as much as I do. I once knew a girl who acted just like her, and it was perhaps the happiest memories of my life.

Snow wrote:Well, you could argue that she had the toughest past of the pilots, but Shinji comes very close. I know very little on Suzuhara, and Rei has no past at all. But her attitude on the field makes her seem much more stable, although we know this is probably false. I feel that a lot of people warmed up more towards her when she got disabled near the end of the show. But you still see the difference between Shinji and Asuka. Shinji doesn't really fight the reality, while Asuka does everything in her ability to hide and get rid of her past, although she can't.

I wish she would've been able to hide and get rid of her past so she won't keep being depressed and angry. But she just says, "I wanted to forget these things" and she's still hasn't overcome it.

Hiding your past prevents you accepting it, and often leads to further problems later in life.

Redgirl01 wrote:I wish she would've been able to hide and get rid of her past so she won't keep being depressed and angry. But she just says, "I wanted to forget these things" and she's still hasn't overcome it.

Depends on if you mean the original series, or EoE. I think EoE left that completely open to the audience, not giving any conclusions.

Snow wrote:Depends on if you mean the original series, or EoE. I think EoE left that completely open to the audience, not giving any conclusions.

Well, I mean Asuka in general, in my opinion, she never got to hide and get rid of her past. Since she was probably 'reborn' in EOE, she probably has no memories of her former life and we don't get to really see how Asuka acts afterwards unfortunately.

So... what do you mean by EOE left it open? Is it because she came back from Instrumentality and we don't get to see how she interacts with Shinji afterwards?

Redgirl01 wrote:Well, I mean Asuka in general, in my opinion, she never got to hide and get rid of her past. Since she was probably 'reborn' in EOE, she probably has no memories of her former life and we don't get to really see how Asuka acts afterwards unfortunately.

So... what do you mean by EOE left it open? Is it because she came back from Instrumentality and we don't get to see how she interacts with Shinji afterwards?

I do not thing she was reborn, nor that she lost her memories, as Shinji clearly seems to remember Asuka well. Why would she have lost her memory suddenly?

Snow wrote:I do not thing she was reborn, nor that she lost her memories, as Shinji clearly seems to remember Asuka well. Why would she have lost her memory suddenly?

Because she probably died in that fight with the MPE's so since she's reincarnated, she probably doesn't remember anything about her former life. I heard that if you are reincarnated, you have no memories of your former life.

Redgirl01 wrote:I heard that if you are reincarnated, you have no memories of your former life.

That sort of natural recycling reincarnation involves attaching a used soul to a baby growing in the womb. This one rather implies reversing the Tangification process using your pre-existing self-image

Rei:
Anyone can return to human form as long as they can imagine themselves in their own heart.

Then there's the current run of weird reincarnation modes as part of the isekai fad, which are variations on "memory intact, possibly a different seeming body", but that's somewhat off to one side.

Redgirl01 wrote:Because she probably died in that fight with the MPE's so since she's reincarnated, she probably doesn't remember anything about her former life. I heard that if you are reincarnated, you have no memories of your former life.

She likely went through instrumentality and got the same treatment as Shinji, quite much requiring her to remember. Other thing being, she reacts with the famous closing words of the film to Shinji, giving to me a quite obvious indication she is aware of who he is.

Redgirl01 wrote:Because she probably died in that fight with the MPE's so since she's reincarnated, she probably doesn't remember anything about her former life. I heard that if you are reincarnated, you have no memories of your former life.

No one in the show is reincarnated at any point. Instead they are reduced to LCL and then re-embodied at some later point. We already know how this works, because we've seen it in action: it happened to Shinji in the fight against Zeruel, and when he came back at the end of episode 20 he remembered everything about his life with no difficulty. There is no reason to believe things would be different for him or Asuka when they re-embody at the end of EoE.

If their memories had been lost at that final point, the whole show could have been considered pointless - "no one learns anything, tough shit". This is why some people think exactly that about the ending of the manga (but that's another discussion).

pwhodges wrote:If their memories had been lost at that final point, the whole show could have been considered pointless - "no one learns anything, tough shit". This is why some people think exactly that about the ending of the manga (but that's another discussion).

This is why I wish some one would create a manga short with them all remembering in there dreams or having visions of the past and Shinji and Asuka realizing why they had deja vu when the held each others hands on the train because then it would feel that something has been learnt and mistakes won't be made again. Plus the end of the manga because it does that feel like its the start of another story but we never get to see it in full.

silvermoonlight wrote:This is why I wish some one would create a manga short with them all remembering in there dreams or having visions of the past and Shinji and Asuka realizing why they had deja vu when the held each others hands on the train because then it would feel that something has been learnt and mistakes won't be made again. Plus the end of the manga because it does that feel like its the start of another story but we never get to see it in full.

Yeah, I think that would be a great idea.
In EOE, it seems apparent that they remembered what had happened before. And there's been so many fanfictions that takes place after EOE, and with so many possibilities.
So I agree that the creators should make some manga short or an ova of the series.
As for Rebuild, we'll see how it would turn out, but hopefully it will end on a positive note.

silvermoonlight wrote:This is why I wish some one would create a manga short with them all remembering in there dreams or having visions of the past and Shinji and Asuka realizing why they had deja vu when the held each others hands on the train because then it would feel that something has been learnt and mistakes won't be made again.

That's what I'd like to see in Shin Eva (obviously changing the train scene with other scenes from the rebuild continuity).

Joseki wrote:That's what I'd like to see in Shin Eva (obviously changing the train scene with other scenes from the rebuild continuity).

That makes me wonder how the final film will end. Hopefully, it'll be on a good note, and the characters will be able to get their act together.

It's a hard one to pick, but it comes down to the three Eva pilots. I would say Rei, but her becoming independent at the End of Evangelion shies me away from that.

Asuka's past is one that always breaks my heart.

But it all comes down to Shinji. His father is a cold-hearted person, his mother "left" him for reasons he doesn't know until it's too late, and he's forced to go on defending the world and be an unknowing ploy in Instrumentality by a secret government. But he chooses to go along with it because he doesn't know what else to do. He's spent his entire 14 years digging down for others for the sake of his own happiness when he still can't find it. He even acknowledges that while his mother says "Anywhere can be paradise as long as you have the will to live," he knows it'll take a long time to undo the damage that his life brought him.