Is evangelion's plot has the same situation of growth novel?

[LJS]

I think the evangelion's speciality is in growth of Shinji.

Not like other animation's pilot, this animation's pilot has each psychology disorder.
They are pushed to be a pilot of evangelion.

But, with fighting enemies ( for them) , they grew, know person's preciousness.
(Even communicate with the evangelion)
In the end of evangelion, Shinji choosed to live with each other, not like to hide.

Have you ever heard about, growth novel?
This kind of novel's main character has the deficiency.
But Some kind of experience they grow up, or be a suitable person to society.

How about a novel using the rite of passage.
In greek, this word is the mixture of 'death' and 'enter'
This symbolic mixture inspired me, because there are human's extinction in EOE.
This death experience of Shinji makes him new person.
So, the third impact is the rite of passage to Shinji.

I'm interested in this topic,
So I have a plan to use this topic for my thesis.
If you have any idea about this topic, freely disscus or add my opinion.
Thank you.

[SoryuUberAlles]

Do you mean a 'bildungsroman'? People have talked about EVA this way before but usually as a 'deconstruction' of one and one that seems important to Gainax. Like so.

The closest point is probably Evangelion's predecessor Gunbuster which is a more coventional 'mecha' setting recast for what they called a 'Prince of Tennis' like drama (a sports anime!). It's the closest thing to Evangelion as a pretty straight bildungsroman as you get.

[Director Black]

In it's own twisted way, I would classify Eva as a coming-of-age story. The three Eva Pilots, particularly Asuka and Shinji, start off as extremely flawed teenagers who don't know anything about where life is taking them. However, we see those two grow in both character, personality and socially. It comes together in the end of EoE where we see that for the first time in their lives, the two will possibly learn to live together after their shitty lives.