Toji's Squandered Potential

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Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby ShonHam » Thu Feb 21, 2019 6:50 am

Does anyone else hold the idea that Toji was incredibly wasted as a character? Of course the build-up of him becoming a key player in the latter half of the show was intentional as a means of subverting expectations, and I liked that don't get me wrong, but I always personally felt that his presence could of been an interesting inclusion to the final episodes - at least in a "what-if" sense. Then again I'm a big sucker for the "Tough guy with a kind heart and sister-to-protect" trope (Joey Wheeler/Jonouchi, Ginshi Shirazu etc).

Do you think that Anno & co. could have implemented him into the show's key themes had he been present for the finale? Or would he have worked to the show's detriment?
Last edited by ShonHam on Sat Feb 23, 2019 6:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby Merridian » Fri Feb 22, 2019 2:42 am

Hidaeki Anno was the Rian Johnson of Evangelion.

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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby pwhodges » Fri Feb 22, 2019 5:26 am

View Original PostShonHam wrote:Do you think that Anno & co. could have implemented him into the show's key themes had he been alive?

He didn't die. So as he was still available, presumably Anno decided he had no further need of him.
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby ShonHam » Sat Feb 23, 2019 6:33 am

Oops, that's my bad. I was that caught up in my writing that I actually regarded him as dead lol (Gonna edit that real quick)
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby pwhodges » Sat Feb 23, 2019 12:58 pm

He dies in the manga, and to be fair, it is said that he only didn't die in the series because the TV station wouldn't allow it. IOW, Anno had planned for him to be dead, and so didn't feel any need for him even when he survived.

OTOH, the recent hint that he may be alive to appear in the last of the film series suggests that he may yet have something useful to do!
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby DarkBluePhoenix » Sat Feb 23, 2019 10:15 pm

Like pulling Shinji from the depths of his despair? Because that would be something to pull him out of it considering he got Toji's shirt while being held at NERV.
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby ShonHam » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:13 am

I did think I remembered him dying in some interpretation! Maybe it's about time I re-read the manga.

I feel like when Shinji and co. were at their lowest, Toji could have acted as the emotional anchor in a sense. His inherent disconnect from the deeper goings-on at NERV and the complications with SEELE would probably have allowed for him to have been one of the few that could keep their shit together long enough to do some good.
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby ruboline » Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:42 am

I think that the ''teleology'' of Touji and Kensuke and, really, all the other characters that Shinji holds dear was to, in effect, make Shinji ''bare''. To take everything from him, to wax and wane in his life. I do think that what the mange does with Touji had a greater impact on the story as a whole - him dying made 'episode 19' more dire. It is when he is stuck in this nothingness that he, qua his experiences and greater understanding of the world and himself, chooses to have a relationship to the world from HIMSELF, instead of the completeness of Instrumentality. His relationship with Touji helped with that.

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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby Blockio » Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:56 pm

I very much agree that Touji (alongside Kensuke and Hikari, for that matter) were loads of wasted potential. Also, on an off note, his death in the manga felt way too shoehorned in and wasn't really given the impact on the characters it honestly deserved
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby Bhorium » Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:49 pm

It really is rather strange. Anno said that he originally had plans about killing Toji, but could not go through with it, due to him promising as a part of the sponsorship deal with King Records that he would not kill any child characters.

But in the manga, the moment where Toji is killed off feels rather artificial and like being different for the sake of being divergent. Like "Ooh, look! We're are the Darker and Edgier™ story, we can get away with stuff like this!" (And then, judging from that one character that kind of looks like him in the ending chapter, resurrects him by "erasing" his death, rendering the whole point moot.)
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Re: Toji's Squandered Potential

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Postby Blockio » Thu Mar 28, 2019 1:17 pm

View Original PostBhorium wrote:(And then, judging from that one character that kind of looks like him in the ending chapter, resurrects him by "erasing" his death, rendering the whole point moot.)

To be fair, that ending kinda rendered the whole story, and even the whole message moot. "You wanna be happy in life? Fuck you! You will have to die and get reborn to achieve that goal!"
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