Writing for Shinji and Asuka's Relationship

[Ray]

another one my 'To Read' list I suppose.

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
I don't know if you should read it bro, it's pretty messed up.

[KingXanaduu]

You have to find a balance for her so she's not a complete bitch. She's supposed to be Shinji's "ambassador" to this new world that he's inadvertently created, and she's not gonna sugar-coat it for him. She's going to remind him about what he's done, and she's not going to pull any punches with him, cause he needs to realize it and face it.

Think of Asuka kind of like a "gym coach", which is probably the best analogy I can think of for her. She's going to PUSH Shinji hard and keep pushing him, cause he has a lot to answer for what he's done. And she's going to push him, HARD, if he actually wants to be a part of Wille, not only because he actually owes it to all of them, but because she wants to make him PREPARED to help. If he wants to actually help, he has to PROVE that he wants to help in her eyes. He can either endure her insults, her harsh realism, her anger and hatred and still stand up and want to help....or he can rot in his cell for all she cares.

Now, this is not to mean that she doesn't give a damn about him, far from it. She does care somewhat, but his kind of behavior and mentality of a life from before will only get him killed, so she has to condition him if he wants to survive. So, it's ultimately HIS choice if he wants to help or not, she's just trying to prepare him and help him face the world to survive, regardless of how harsh it is. 14 years have hardened them. Now, she must do the same to him if he wants to survive and actually help in this new world...

[Kendrix]

This is my interpretation, but I don't see anything "teacher/mentor like" about her at all, nor does she have his benefit or his "dealing with stuff" in mind, not for his sake.

That's halfway imaginable with Misato if they were put in a situation that would bring out the long-buried sentimentality in her/if she couldn't avoid dealing with him, but Asuka...?
It's a spite thing. "You are going to live in this sucky world you made just like me."
Not trageted planned revenge, though, he's an annoyance, not a nemesis. See the exasperated sigh when she remembers that she needs to bring him back.
She's not the mentor, she's the one who gives the exams, so to speak. The one person that would be the hardest to convince. Even if you argue that she still has some attachment, she surely has no respect, deservedly or otherwise, and he might want to earn it back.
Bashing someone mercilessly in this sort of 'you suck speech' is the very opposite of 'constructive criticism'. The latter involves considering wether the person will be receptive.


As long as you avoid cheap sympathy grabs like sadistic snickering or anything else over the top or too far in the stupid ball territory, it's hardly possible. She could summon up enough contempt to kick him even when he was in one of the sorriest states imaginary, and wouldn't even hear him out to find out what he was even trying to do. See also the first confrontation - She cracks the glass and just walzes out right away.

A major point about Q Asuka is that her mind is very, very firmly made-up over many years, and that's hard to surmount.
Also, keep in mind just how shortly they knew each other before the impact. He's primarily Impact-Boy to her, and then, somewhere in the back there's this little memo that they used to live together for a while.

Just have her (gradually, not all at once) relent once the situation somehow improves. Grudging cooperation that sets in at some point and then gradually morphs into vitriolic, but genuine teamwork where a measure of trust is regained.

If you ARE going for a good end, that is.

Asuka's degree of likeability/sympathetic-ness needn't coincide/fit with her treatment of Shinji.
She should be "not completely unlikable" enough if you elaborate on plant implications of the horrible post-apocalyptic world that made her this way and show her to be a valiant determined WILLE member out to save the world. If she continues to be a 'guide' to ReiQ, that's a further way to score brownie points, although again, don't make her too 'soft' too fast.

At first her interactions/reaction would be of the mildly annoyed 'meh, whatever' sort. Just givng her straight answers would do.

[ElMariachi]

^
She didn't bashed him mercilessly, she manhandled him yes, was rude yes, but didn't bashed him. If pushing him with her foot and briefly pulling his hair is merciless bashing, then her kick in 2.0 was a physical assault with intention to kill!

Also, she just got out barely alive of a grueling fight and ran across the desert to find him apparently pouting inside his entry plug, you just can't expect her to take it calmly and do "constructive criticism" right away, no she'll vent off her frustration and bring him to safety once she takes a few seconds to cool down, leaving the life lessons for when they aren't at risk of death in the middle of the desert or if neo-NERV's killer bot find them, which is exactly what she did in the movie!

---
Anyway, I'll post what we discussed in PM about Asuka :

As we discussed earlier, she'll be probably the toughest character to get right, if I can give you an advice, it's while you can make her as mean as you want (barring outright physical assault, even at the end of Q that was more manhandling than a beating, she certainly hurt him more with her megaton kick in 2.0 when he saw her naked), but to show that deep down she doesn't hate him and don't want to really hurt him, but more to make him get a handle of himself, make it so she never crosses the line between mean comment and outright cruelty.

For example, if she makes a comment of how he always ends up screwing up when he tries to do something, don't make her bring up his failure to save Rei in 2.0, because that would be really assholish. Or if she crosses the line, make someone else call her on it. (Mari is the most likely candidate)

[SEELE]

[...] Asuka's degree of likeability/sympathetic-ness needn't coincide/fit with her treatment of Shinji.
She should be "not completely unlikable" enough if you elaborate on plant implications of the horrible post-apocalyptic world that made her this way and show her to be a valiant determined WILLE member out to save the world. If she continues to be a 'guide' to ReiQ, that's a further way to score brownie points, although again, don't make her too 'soft' too fast.

At first her interactions/reaction would be of the mildly annoyed 'meh, whatever' sort. Just givng her straight answers would do.

My opinion.

But in NGE her likeability was coincide by the treatment of Shinji. We should keep that in mind. Her whole "character" is based on the likes of Shinji (in NGE) while in RoE she is a little bit more independed. People got this kind of mindset after EoE, so dont judge them. She was ment to "fall". The truth is that her way of treating Q!Rei is far more mature back in the other movies and tv-show. So she dont have to be all mean, only treating Shinji how he used to be. Let me explain this: 1.11 was kinda setup-buildup-payoff thing to bring back the "tv-show" universe, while 2.22 kinda goes through E8-EoE. You could say that Q!Asuka is more relate to EoE!Asuka without the whole Instrumentality and the knowledge of Shinji's mindset and affection for him. That is a better way to describe her or write about her. (Like in EoE) - she knows what he did and that he caused (also in RoE) 3rd Impact. She is not going to simply forgive him, but deep down there is the soft and vurnable Asuka. But Q destroyed every possible direction for LAS, while the whole Rei thingy is a bit more (upbeat?) optimistic. So if somebody want to write/know about Asuka how she is in Q/EoE the only thing you should have in mind is: how intense was the Bardiel/Instrumentality incident? how much of this is Shinjis fault in her eyes?

She didn't bashed him mercilessly, she manhandled him yes, was rude yes, but didn't bashed him. If pushing him with her foot and briefly pulling his hair is merciless bashing, then her kick in 2.0 was a physical assault with intention to kill!

The only way to excuse it (which is totally unnecessery) is by revealing what happend during rescure of Shinji and Asukas arival. If she has to walk a long distance ... yeah maybe ... but everything besides that ... is more of a clearification of their "relationship" or more of a still existing friendship (which is my pov).

takes a few seconds to cool down, leaving the life lessons for when they aren't at risk of death in the middle of the desert or if neo-NERV's killer bot find them

Speculation. There is no indication of a threat. This could also be also a order from Misato.

but to show that deep down she doesn't hate him and don't want to really hurt him, but more to make him get a handle of himself, make it so she never crosses the line between mean comment and outright cruelty

This is one of the interpretations that is like Rei's lines at the elevator: "I want to feel the same warmth like Ikari-kun".
You can see it the way you want it. 14 years have passed. I didn't remember even some of the good character traits of my ex-girlfriend (i live with my current gf for about 3 years together). The point is: like i ... he lives in the current situation. Not when he was "14" and lived with her under the same roof. Which is also an indication for the "bond". The trope Betty and Veronica describe the terms best: Asuka is a little bit more close to the protagonist because of several reason. Rei is a little bit more focus of his affection. In terms of the implication (what you wanna see) you could state out that Asuka is Betty, but you could also say that she Veronica. You see what i mean?

The rebuild take a focus on Shinji & Rei (for the likes of the greater (bigger) audicence). This dont mean they are (even more) well suited for each other or so but rather the fact that this is far more mainstream. "Hey lets take focus on Rei because she is most liked by the audience" "Yeah hell yeah ... because she is most liked in the votings as most favorite character of the show" (which is in my opinion total bullshit because if you like her (except maybe 2.22) you have to like EoE!Ritsuko - because in the end she betrays Gendo for the likes of Shinjil - Rei is a plot device deal with it)

The childs are all in some way likable and woombies ... but thats it.

In the end NGE+EoE accomplished something that feelt genuine about the characters and made us think about a good salution. While RoE is simply more fan-service, more mindfuck, more Rei, more Silblings-love, more cooking, more fan-service ... did i mentioned fan service? The point is NGE is unmatched ... and 4.0 wont change the fact. The only thing we could hope for is a closure to everything (which is in my opinion -> ) or a Manga-ending.

But everything that goes futher is shipping guys ... keep that in mind.

[ElMariachi]

The only way to excuse it (which is totally unnecessery) is by revealing what happend during rescure of Shinji and Asukas arival. If she has to walk a long distance ... yeah maybe ... but everything besides that ... is more of a clearification of their "relationship" or more of a still existing friendship (which is my pov).

You can't take that scene as a base for what their relationship is, the circumstances are exceptional, heck all the time they interacted were under exceptional circumstances : the interrogation room was their fist meeting in 14 years where she had years of pent-up frustration to vent-off, the next one was in the middle of the fight against each other, and the last one she just got out of a fight for the sake of the world where she had to sacrifice her beloved EVA-02, all because he refused to listen to her (at least that's how she sees it)
The only way to properly address how she really feels toward him will be to wait a moment where they are safe and calm and have time to interact, well when Shinji get out of his BSOD of course.

Speculation. There is no indication of a threat. This could also be also a order from Misato.

The landscape is turned to core as for as the horizon, they only have two bags worth of emergency supplies and they are at the foot of neo-NERV's HQ, logic simply dictates to leave any conversation for later and instead get the hell out of here ASAP.

This is one of the interpretations that is like Rei's lines at the elevator: "I want to feel the same warmth like Ikari-kun".
You can see it the way you want it. 14 years have passed. I didn't remember even some of the good character traits of my ex-girlfriend (i live with my current gf for about 3 years together). The point is: like i ... he lives in the current situation. Not when he was "14" and lived with her under the same roof. Which is also an indication for the "bond". The trope Betty and Veronica describe the terms best: Asuka is a little bit more close to the protagonist because of several reason. Rei is a little bit more focus of his affection. In terms of the implication (what you wanna see) you could state out that Asuka is Betty, but you could also say that she Veronica. You see what i mean?

No, could you explain it more?
Also Rei being closer or farther to his affection is a moot point now : she's dead, and the Rei traveling with them is a completely different person. So whatever Shinji felt for her, it's time to move on and continue forward.

[Kendrix]

She didn't bashed him mercilessly, she manhandled him yes, was rude yes, but didn't bashed him.

I was really more referring to her verbal 'bashing', but really, the best you can say is that she didn't leave injuries. It's mostly the situation/context of utter defeat in which she does this (in contrast to a comedic one) that makes the scene what it is.

That she could conceivably treat him even worse/dislike him even more doesn't mean she likes him. It just means that she isn't a completely delusional psycho sadist/ has standards. WILLE are still the closest we have to good guys.

But in NGE her likeability was coincide by the treatment of Shinji.

Was it? She was generally pretty much nasty to him, and while everyne's reaction is individual, most ppl generally discribe that they like her either because she's cool and at first seems to have a more straightforward, "Why don't you just X" attitude, or disliked her at first and then had a chance of heart after hearing the backstory/ events that made her this way.

Shinji basically just enters into it when he fails to behave like they would like their self-insert to act, ie, "solve all of the sad, lonely girls problems", conveniently forgetting that he didn't see the contents of her head.



As for Rei, she's dead. At most, she's a factor in the sense that Shinji would still be grieving for her (and Kaworu), but then again, half the people he knew died. Unless you want to have Kaji and the school kids turn out alive.
It's thinkable that the first two show up in some metaphysical mindfuck in a final-impact related way, but that would basically amount to a farewell scene.
He and ReiQ have some things to talk out, mostly him noticing that she's not a vegetable and some sort of, "I didn't meant to hurt your feelings" at best, but given her limited understanding of things and Shinji's wish to honor Rei II's memory, it's unlikely that they'll have a particularly similar relationship. He could remain distant from her and decide not to meddle with her independent path through life, or get to know her.

Come to think of it, the Sensei guy that raised him is most certainly also dead. Let that sink in.

[SEELE]

Was it? She was generally pretty much nasty to him, and while everyne's reaction is individual, most ppl generally discribe that they like her either because she's cool and at first seems to have a more straightforward, "Why don't you just X" attitude, or disliked her at first and then had a chance of heart after hearing the backstory/ events that made her this way.

Shinji basically just enters into it when he fails to behave like they would like their self-insert to act, ie, "solve all of the sad, lonely girls problems", conveniently forgetting that he didn't see the contents of her head.

As for Rei, she's dead. At most, she's a factor in the sense that Shinji would still be grieving for her (and Kaworu), but then again, half the people he knew died. Unless you want to have Kaji and the school kids turn out alive.
It's thinkable that the first two show up in some metaphysical mindfuck in a final-impact related way, but that would basically amount to a farewell scene.
He and ReiQ have some things to talk out, mostly him noticing that she's not a vegetable and some sort of, "I didn't meant to hurt your feelings" at best, but given her limited understanding of things and Shinji's wish to honor Rei II's memory, it's unlikely that they'll have a particularly similar relationship. He could remain distant from her and decide not to meddle with her independent path through life, or get to know her.

Come to think of it, the Sensei guy that raised him is most certainly also dead. Let that sink in.

You don't got my point. People dislike Asuka very much. And that is what we see in the "most favorite NGE Character"-voting. Rei is the very contrast to Asuka and ppl tend to dont like Asuka very much on her own. She was a potential love interest like Rei and they gettin deconstructed under Anno's circumstances. But you dont got my point: I didn't like Asuka back in the day. And i didn't like her when i watched (i was maybe 8-9) the tv-show on cartoon network (i told the story how i get to NGE). Asuka was more of a brat than anyone else. But as i started to grow up i and later watch the show again, i realized: "Ohhh fuck she actually a pretty vurnable girl". And infact Asuka was disliked for the way she treated Shinji. She pathed the way for much of the Tsundere's out there ...

To the second part: You argued with several things which is in my opinion "shipping at the purest". But pls keep in mind that we want to improve Asuka (writing). My 2 main question i take to the addition (about the similiarties of Q!Asuka and EoE!Asuka) of what you were writing actually supported your pov ... so let it rest here with Rei. If Anno has intend to make R/S he wouldn't bring up Yui "Ayanami".

No, could you explain it more?
Also Rei being closer or farther to his affection is a moot point now : she's dead, and the Rei traveling with them is a completely different person. So whatever Shinji felt for her, it's time to move on and continue forward.

EDIT:
I get it. To some degree Rei was meant to be the Betty in NGE. Asuka was this exotic Veronica. But the audience around the world. (esp. North America and Europe)
Thought about Asuka as the Betty as this girl which have a closer bond with the protagonist and Rei as the exotic Veronica. My point was that the roles for Asuka and Rei simply could have been switched. They both got the same issue like Shinji. At the elevator in 2.22 it showed us that they are both pretty much the same - when they was in the tv-show polar opposites. But only you live with a foreign girl under the same roof with your surrogate mother you actually dont feel love for her. Deal with it. This is not how loves work: esp. if you take into account about Shinjis case.

The landscape is turned to core as for as the horizon, they only have two bags worth of emergency supplies and they are at the foot of neo-NERV's HQ, logic simply dictates to leave any conversation for later and instead get the hell out of here ASAP.

You know that im actually not refering to the journey itself?

neo-NERV's killer bot find them,

Speculation. There is no implication for this. There is only the line from Asuka: "The L barrier is to thick. They won't find us here"
In my opinion nothing "extreme" life threatning. Like i said could be orders from Misato.

->. At this point shipping is over. Lets get back to topic:

So if somebody want to write/know about Asuka how she is in Q/EoE the only thing you should have in mind is: how intense was the Bardiel/Instrumentality incident? how much of this is Shinjis fault in her eyes?

Lets discuss this.

[Mike Mars]

Lets discuss this.

Personally, I always thought that the Bardiel incident was the very root of her anger and frustration with Shinji in 3.33. I honestly don't even think that she's all that mad at him for starting Third Impact either. Don't get me wrong, she's certainly not happy about it, but I think that she understands that Shinji didn't mean nor want for it to happen. However, she does understand the dangers of him piloting an Evangelion. Even at the end of 3.33, when she comes face to face with Shinji, she shows no real anger at him for nearly destroying the world again. Instead she just asks "Why didn't you save me?" in reference to the Bardiel incident (I could be paraphrasing that line. It's been a while since I've seen 3.33).

Going back to 2.22, I want to mention that it becomes a plot point that Asuka and Rei start fighting over Shinji's attention. This isn't coming from a shippy perspective, this is a thing that actually happens. Now fast forwarding to the end when Rei gets gobbled up by the Angel, Shinji lets loose and awakens Unit 01 to save Rei.

He was willing to go above and beyond to save Rei, but not to save Asuka. In a way, it subtly mirrors the scene when Gendo sends Unit 01 up to save Unit 00 from the sixteenth Angel and Asuka asks "Why does she get to be saved? Is she more important than me?".

To make it brief, Shinji saved Rei, but didn't save Asuka, and she strongly holds it against him.

[Stillborn]

But Asuka actually got better end of the deal. She lost her eye but Rei is pretty much in fate worse than death thanks to Shinji's attempts to save her. Asuka still holding it against Shinji for not saving her while saving Rei, at this point would be pretty much shonen manga jealousy, which is not the cause since Asuka is a soldier now and is focused on her duties. And even if she does finds time and interest in searching for some romantical attachment it would not even get close to Shinji who after 14 years is just a useless, incompetent brat, unworthy of her and who she additionaly have to babysit, much to her chagrin.

[Kendrix]

Yeah, the jealousy thing is just silly beyond words.

You're not doing her character any favors by portraying her like that.

[SEELE]

To make it brief, Shinji saved Rei, but didn't save Asuka, and she strongly holds it against him.

IMHO: This is the reason why they shouldn't conclude 4.0 with Asuka and Shinji. I think NGE made it pretty clear that way: She doesn't want to be safed. Or want pity by her doormat. When people writing about Asuka in general they tend to forget the fact that Asuka dont want to rely on Shinji. Even if you look at Shikinami which is pretty much not interested in see Shinji that happy or interfiering with Rei's cooking. I would prefer if Shinji, Asuka and Rei got the most seperate ways. Everyone got his life, his job and his family. If you munch Shinji and one of the girls together ... things get messy. That is the reason why Asuka, Rei and Shinji have a strong 3-man-band "bond" in the end of my story. Shinji eventually married Mayumi Yamagishi. Asuka got back to Germany. Rei travels around the world with Ritsuko, Maya and some OC. My point is ... Anno isn't a fan of the typical "happy dappy everything is alright"-kinda story. And we should respect that. Yeah, he (Anno) has a got point of view for dealing with feminism - and i like the way Asuka as a strong female lead just like Misato but thats it. The whole love triangle is sooooooo boring and sooo stale. Pls just stop with it.

If people wants to pair up Shinji and some of the main-cast girls keep that in mind (esp. for Asuka): Try to empathize with the character which is expotential more difficult if its Asuka or straigtout boring with Rei and try to overcome their issues. Kendrix made a pretty good medicore list about things that are done in ship-fic. And for me Asuka in my story stays the same till a breaking point where she realize that she is worth living and overcome the griefing of Shinji or the crush for Kaji. At this very point she also vanished for a good amount of time. The problem is that Asuka is attached to Shinji and defined by his "non" existing actions. She is only there for the sake of (esp. NGE) being a female "counterpart". That is why she had 20min overall screentime in 2.22 and 3.33.

And even if she does finds time and interest in searching for some romantical attachment it would not even get close to Shinji who after 14 years is just a useless, incompetent brat, unworthy of her and who she additionaly have to babysit, much to her chagrin.

So true. That is the way if you want to write about post3.33 fic.

You're not doing her character any favors by portraying her like that.

Yeah. But its her character trait. Just like the Akagi's. If the writer wants to benefit her jealousy - fine but do it a proper and nice way. For my story Ritsuko sees how much Asuka wants affection of Shinji and after she betrays Gendo (around E11-13 of my story) she decide to reveal the cruel things about Rei to Asuka. She is shocked that Rei is more of a clone thingy and a doll, while at the meantime Mana arrives (which exploits Shinji). He got into the focus of her and Asuka sees her chances. He dont reject her but rather arent able to connect to her. In the end Mana is away and Shinji still isn't able to connect to Asuka ... he goes back to Rei and Asuka is deep shattered that Rei is favored. She makes a line like: "Just die third Child". At the time Shinji comes to a new state of mind and Rei is being "strange". And this leads to a attempt suicide without the knowledge Misato and Asuka. At a rainy afternoon (just before the E16/RoE bardiel) Asuka comes back home and found the hanged Shinji which triggers something similiar like the actual mindfuck. But my point is ... (the rebuild showed us the best way) if you pair up one of them you have to overcome major trust issues, major intimate issues and have to deal with identity crisis. And things gotta get messy and cruel. In terms of "scenario of Gendo/SEELE" Re-Take made a good point. If somebody is spared a fate like NGE!Asuka than on the other side she will sacrifice herself.

So about the actual topic:

If somebody wants to write about Shinji in RoE ... then he is more of a "i try again and again type". He would certainly not give up the relationship. He is more clingy but his affection towards him (by Asuka most of all) is a real "puppy" love (by this i not mean this teeny love). He is a "housebroken" male with some good character traits and the bed-scene is one of the intimate scene throughout the whole franchise.
If somebody wants to write about Shinji in NGE ... well he is much more complex. But he would never thought of leaving somebody because of his/or her flaws. He would try to endure pain and suffering (esp. after EoE). And its very important to address his deep caring about his fellow pilots.

[Ray]

I'm not planning on having any romance or Shipping in my fic. Considering I myself have little to no talent in writing such things. But in addition there's a deeper issue.

Basically, at the start of my Fic Shinji wants nothing to do with Wille, Misato, Asuka, Rei Q. He's pretty much a selfish, unlikable, violence prone, borderline nihilist, jerk, not unlike his father when he met Yui.

So when he meets Asuka again, he'd be anything but a "housebroken male", he'd be bitter at her, and respond to her with just as much poison and hate as she supposedly has towards him. They all abandoned him when he needed them the most, so why not return the favor?

I'm planning on having them reconcile to a certain degree yes, but given the age difference, and bitterness and unwillingness to forgive on both sides. . .shipping seems unlikely. Maybe I'll change my mind the more I get into it but for now. Naaaaah.

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
Sound good bro, best of luck Hope you do something amazing or at the very least, new. I personally like Jerkass Shinji.

[Kendrix]

Personally, I don't get the appeal of Jerkass!Shinji. At all.

For reasons similar to not getting BadassHero!Shinji, you're just turning him into batman or Kratos instead or superman or Naruto. It remains wish fulfillment. Don't you wish you could get away with saying all the assholish stuff you want and venting all that angers you without regard for consequences? Yeah.

At least BadassHero!Shinji is good for warm fuzzy feelings. You could argue that it's just a catharsis of another feeling, but that he still cared about winning back Misato's respect/lamented that her work went to waste after she nearly blew him to pink dust is pretty much the only beautiful thing in that ugly, ugly movie. Aside from stuff Kaworu does.
And it also tells us something pretty essential about the character, something similar to what his EoE counterpart's words upon going back to earth tell us.
Eva is "a story where the protagonist witnesses the horrors before his own eyes and still finds the will to go on", after all. Either of these components is equally indespensable.
That he couldn't ignore being told that he's needed if he wanted to, mostly communicationally intended rebellions aside, be it out of noble sentiments or being a sucker for the vague hope of validation, is pretty much the fundamental principle of "Shinji Ikari." You might as well have an uber meek subservient Asuka or a superficial materialistic Rei.

It just seems sad that ppl would prefer a competent villain to a flawed hero.

You wanna show Wille what you think of them? Don't pick someone as your self-insert who just isn't suitable. This is not to say Shinji never gets accusing, he does, all the time, in a "You're putting me in an unfair situation!" kind of way, but there's a long way between that and revenge fantasy material.

[Bagheera]

Would you mind getting off the self-insert kick? It's an annoying accusation, and it's often inaccurate. There are many reasons to favor any given interpretation of the characters, and assuming that any interpretation you dislike is automatically a self-insert is dismissive and insulting.

Which is not to say that I think jerkass!Shinji is an any way a good idea, because I think it's terrible. But even so.

[Stillborn]

I think it's a good idea. Otherwise, it's like you allow to for everyone else to turn bitter and jerk but Shinji wouldn't... Because that would make him Batman?

He is his father's son. If not manipulator than at least jerkass by nature when the camels back finally brake for him and all the acumulated venom, kept buried under passivness, clingyness and fear of being hated, finally starts seeping out into his behaviour.

Batman? I don't think so. More like "It's your problem, not mine. Now exuse me, I have a boring, mundane work to do."

[Ray]

@Kendrix

In my humble defense. . .I've been PM ING other users discuss ing this for a while. I didn't mean to offend you.

I never once thought about it as a Self Insert thing. Again, I've seen some things on the Web discuss how Shinji would have turned into his father if he hadn't been an Eva pilot. So I decided to run with the Idea.

The point of the fic im writing is to bring him back from being "Gendo-lite" to being the Shinji we know and love again. My hearts in the right place.

Maybe not so much", venom" at Asuka. But after all hes been though after 3.0, his avoidant personality has turned into a pathological inability to trust people. He'd be bitter, and he'd act hateful towards others and those he once cared for. A barrier he puts up because he doesn't want to be hurt anymore. Deep down he would WANT to reconcile with Asuka and earn some forgiveness for what he did, but after all hes been through , he honestly doesn't believe he can.

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
Broham, you don't have to justify yourself, it's your imagination, do with it what you will.