Parallel in relationships?

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Parallel in relationships?

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Postby DevRei17 » Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:46 pm

While doing some research on EVA today, I came across something that caught my eye. There's a article that states that Shinji/Rei/Asuka's relationship parallels Misato/Kaji/Ritsuko's relationship. As far I can remember, they say something like:

Misato=Asuka (“Cheerful on the surface, upset at home, away from others... Both women deal with the traumatic experinces of losing a loved one and how both use a fake exterior in front of others to hide there pain.”)

Ritsuko=Rei (“Both characters are essentially pawns in someone elses game (namely Gendo.) It mentions that if you think about it, is Misato and Ritsuko's supposed “friendship” any different from Rei and Asuka's relationship?”)

Kaji=Shinji (It also mentions that some wonder: “How do Shinji and Kaji relate at all? Well to make a reference to the movie Fight Club, just imagine Shinji as Edward Norton's character and Kaji as Brad Pitt's character.”)

It then went on to say the three people in the two relationships don't mixed well or something like that.

Can someone help try to make sense of this? Thanks.





(P.S.- In the Japanese dub of Fight Club, Koichi Yamadera (a.k.a. Kaji) voices Brad Pitt's character. I doubt my little nerdy tidbit helps...)
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Postby AuraTwilight » Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:16 am

Misato and Ritsuko get along way too well to be Asuka and Rei counterparts, and Ritsuko doesn't have motherly bonds with Kaji.
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Postby DevRei17 » Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:59 am

AuraTwilight wrote:Misato and Ritsuko get along way too well to be Asuka and Rei counterparts, and Ritsuko doesn't have motherly bonds with Kaji.

Good points. Hence some of my confusion with the article.
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Postby Sachi » Mon Jan 04, 2010 1:01 am

DevRei17 wrote:Good points. Hence some of my confusion with the article.

Exactly what article is this? Can you link us? It sounds really whack to me.
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Postby Sailor Star Dust » Mon Jan 04, 2010 1:16 am

The only parallels that instantly come to mind are Kaji/Misato with Shinji/Asuka, and Gendo/Shinji with Yui/Rei.

There are more of course, this being Eva, but I've never heard the theory you mentioned.
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Postby Killericon » Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:14 am

Now that I think about it, most of the Characters in Evangelion can be put into groups of three. Gendo/Yui/Fuyutski, Rei/Shinji/Asuka, Misato/Kaji/Ritsuko, Aoba/Hyuga/Ibuki, and Touji/Aida/Hikari. Anyone think there's something to that? Anyone think that the Male/Male/Female groups reflect the others(Not that the Gendo/Yui/Fuyutski group reflects the Touji/Aida/Hikari one, I don't think), and same with the Male/Female/Female groups?

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Postby DevRei17 » Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:37 am

Killericon wrote:Now that I think about it, most of the Characters in Evangelion can be put into groups of three. Gendo/Yui/Fuyutski, Rei/Shinji/Asuka, Misato/Kaji/Ritsuko, Aoba/Hyuga/Ibuki, and Touji/Aida/Hikari. Anyone think there's something to that? Anyone think that the Male/Male/Female groups reflect the others(Not that the Gendo/Yui/Fuyutski group reflects the Touji/Aida/Hikari one, I don't think), and same with the Male/Female/Female groups?

Good point indeed.
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Postby VoidEater » Mon Jan 04, 2010 5:31 pm

There are several "triads". They are dramatically more varied and interesting than duos.

I don't buy the "parallels" of those two triads listed.
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Postby child of Lilith » Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:50 pm

I don’t see this idea working. Of the three, the only one that kind of fits is Asuka/Misato. The other two just seem way off base.

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Postby Eva Yojimbo » Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:32 pm

@OP: Yeah, I think that's a bit of a tenuous connection. There are definitely character parallels in the series, but I don't think that's really one of them. One of the more obvious ones is the parallel between Asuka and Ritsuko; both fall for an older man who's already or was involved with another woman and both are ultimately rejected. There's another parallel between Misato and Shinji; both lost their parents who sacrificed themselves for/to the Eva project and if the Kaworu = Dr. Kat theory is correct then Rei and Kaworu are linked to them in the same manner.


Killericon wrote:Now that I think about it, most of the Characters in Evangelion can be put into groups of three. Gendo/Yui/Fuyutski, Rei/Shinji/Asuka, Misato/Kaji/Ritsuko, Aoba/Hyuga/Ibuki, and Touji/Aida/Hikari. Anyone think there's something to that? Anyone think that the Male/Male/Female groups reflect the others(Not that the Gendo/Yui/Fuyutski group reflects the Touji/Aida/Hikari one, I don't think), and same with the Male/Female/Female groups?
I noted this a long time ago. The symbolic significance can be seen in NGE's overall theme of duality with something/someone being caught in the middle. You can even extend the trio to the Evas' colors (Red+Blue = Purple). One key triad you missed is Rei/Yui/Lilith as the Triple Goddess archetype.
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Re: Parallel in relationships?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:15 am

DevRei17 wrote:While doing some research on EVA today, I came across something that caught my eye. There's a article that states that Shinji/Rei/Asuka's relationship parallels Misato/Kaji/Ritsuko's relationship. As far I can remember, they say something like:

Misato=Asuka (“Cheerful on the surface, upset at home, away from others... Both women deal with the traumatic experinces of losing a loved one and how both use a fake exterior in front of others to hide there pain.”)

Ritsuko=Rei (“Both characters are essentially pawns in someone elses game (namely Gendo.) It mentions that if you think about it, is Misato and Ritsuko's supposed “friendship” any different from Rei and Asuka's relationship?”)

Kaji=Shinji (It also mentions that some wonder: “How do Shinji and Kaji relate at all? Well to make a reference to the movie Fight Club, just imagine Shinji as Edward Norton's character and Kaji as Brad Pitt's character.”)

It then went on to say the three people in the two relationships don't mixed well or something like that.

Can someone help try to make sense of this? Thanks.


There are parallels in the relationships. Even though the relationships between Asuka/Misato and Rei/Ritsuko differ in many ways, they are also similar in roughly the same amount ways as they are different. The differences, I think, come in maturity between the two characters. Misato and Ritsuko get along dispite ther differences and even develop a friendship because they're adult enough to but those differences behind them. Every so often, they still come out, ("I don't need to take that from someone who fills her loneliness with cats!"), but they always find the maturity in conduct to put those quirks aside.

As for Shinki=Kaji, there's something a little more going on there. You also need to throw Gendo into the mix. (I mean, he is Shinji's father after all.) So it's more Shinji=Kaji/Gendo.

Let me explain. What Kaji and Gendo represent to Shinji (the characters in Shinji Ikari's mind, as it were) are the two different potentials Shinji could become in his later adult life. The choices me makes throughout the series could either lead him down a path and he could end up like his father, or those choices could lead him down a different path, making him out to be more like Kaji.

As you can see throughout the series, potentials for both characteristics reveal themselves. Shinji was faced with living alone with his teacher and then living alone at Nerv during his destructive Eva pilot days (Toji's sister), a path that would lead to Gendo-like adulthood (neither Shinji or Gendo were liked at the beginning of the series).

But then some other things come into play that probably wasn't a part of Gendo's plan. Shinji starts to live with Misato, who attempts to help Shinji find friends. (The cell phone Misato gave him was only used for friendship calls. All calls to his father were through pay phones.) Asuka lives with both of them later on, and the classmates start to befriend. This causes Shinji to become a more likable character with his friends towards the end of the series. (Likewise, everyone likes Kaji.)

So, with all of the situations at play, one is left to conclude for himself if Shinji becomes more like his father, more like Kaji, or what kinda of hibryd between the two he might be.

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Postby Lucretius » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:24 pm

I think Kaji is the cynical bastard Shinji will probably grow up to be if he survives adolescence. (Maybe more so in the manga than in the anime). As for Misato and Asuka, well, the unused live action sequence makes the parallel pretty clear.

He shuddered a bit, remembering the somewhat creepy level of detail Kaji had gone into, while rubbing a watermelon in a disturbingly sexual way.

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Postby Sailor Star Dust » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:36 pm

Agreed in terms of manga moreso than anime, but Shinji is still his own person.
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Postby AuraTwilight » Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:14 pm

I think Gendo is the cynical bastard Shinji will probably grow up to be if he survives adolescence.


Fixed that for you.
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Postby Sailor Star Dust » Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:09 pm

To clarify my earlier point (was in a rush when typing that up), I could see Shinji being influenced by Kaji or Gendo in terms of how to act in situations, but I don't think Shinji would be some outright carbon-copy or hybrid of either. He's still going to have his own defects and quirks, but how well he can get past any problems depends on his own decisions, not just who influences him.
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Postby BattleMonkey » Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:04 pm

AuraTwilight wrote:
I think Gendo is the cynical bastard Shinji will probably grow up to be if he survives adolescence.


Fixed that for you.


Shinji is not gonna end up like Gendo, the man was just an outright bastard. If anything he would be of uncaring aloof individual who just lets the world go by him. To turn into Gendo would be an even huger change of personality that just seems far fetched.

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Postby Sachi » Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:06 pm

BattleMonkey wrote:Shinji is not gonna end up like Gendo, the man was just an outright bastard. If anything he would be of uncaring aloof individual who just lets the world go by him. To turn into Gendo would be an even huger change of personality that just seems far fetched.

In EoE, Gendo is shown to be very much like Shinji. Gendo is simply an older, more experienced Shinji that never truly got over his problems.
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Postby BattleMonkey » Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:19 pm

Sachi wrote:
BattleMonkey wrote:Shinji is not gonna end up like Gendo, the man was just an outright bastard. If anything he would be of uncaring aloof individual who just lets the world go by him. To turn into Gendo would be an even huger change of personality that just seems far fetched.

In EoE, Gendo is shown to be very much like Shinji. Gendo is simply an older, more experienced Shinji that never truly got over his problems.


Similar situation, but not similar character. Asuka is very similar to Shinji in many respects and even the tv ending puts many parallels between them, though they are also very different characters.

For Shinji to become a Gendo would require a major shift in personality, a major hardening of persona, an almost cold blooded demeanor. A manipulative controlling schemer? Murderer....

Going through 3I and with what Shinji accepts through it, it just seems extremely unlikely for him to turn out like Gendo. I don't think he would become a Kaji either, but something similar in some respects perhaps.

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Postby Sachi » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:01 am

Episode 26' wrote:Gendo: When Shinji is near me all I ever do is cause him pain. It was better to do nothing at all.

Yui: Were you afraid of Shinji?

Gendo: I didn't believe that anyone could love me. I don't deserve to be loved.

Kaworu: So you were running away. You rejected the others around you so that you would never be hurt.

Yui: You were terrified by the invisible bonds that people form.

Rei III: You were afraid and so you closed your heart.

Gendo: And so this is my retribution.

The entire time Gendo was just as afraid as Shinji was about other people with his own Hedgehog's Dilemma. However, Gendo's years of experience had lead him to his best attempt at solving this dilemma; this was by being the man he is in the show: a distant, lonely man without any friends. By not getting close to anybody, he no longer was hurt. With Yui I suppose it's a case like this: Gendo found somebody that he could get close to that didn't hurt him, and she loved him back; when she died, this devastated Gendo, so he put all his resources into finding a way to get her back. By distancing himself from others he was able to treat them the way he did in order to get what he really wanted.

Shinji himself is going through an adolescent transition in which he wants to be liked by others but he doesn't want to be hurt. One would expect him to find a balance, but in cases like this there really is no true balance. If things continued how they were for Shinji, it's likely he would take the same lonely path that Gendo took, just without the obsessive search for his lost beloved (unless Shinji gets himself into a situation like that).
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Postby Sailor Star Dust » Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:45 am

Re-Take has something like that for what it's worth. :tongue:

Silliness aside, are there any character parallels not as discussed or as touched upon? Rei and Kaworu don't seem to be talked about too much except for the whole Lilith and Adam deal. Misato and Shinji have somewhat similiar daddy and abandoment issuses. Though what about, say, Ritsuko & Misato or Gendo & Kaji? (Just as examples, but still.) How do they compare?
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