Relating to the Characters

[Hellfire]

I want to say I relate to Misato's trying to reach out to the other characters and general good-natured attitude (and on occasion I like toknock back a few, or a few too many)

I kinda have Shinji's "hedgehog's dilemma" too, particularly at the times in my life when a member of the opposite sex has expressed a liking for me. Although more with people I've never met before; I have a good group of friends I can open up and talk to. And it's easy to open up to people online, because I don't have to see/hear reactions to my words, or even speak them. And there's also Shinji's desire to be praised or needed.

I also relate to Hyuga in being a nerd, and being unconfident in expressing my feelings for someone I like. Or, when I actually make an attempt to express it, I say something awkward and am met with silence, like the person chose to ignore what I said (which in most cases is probably for the best.) So, mostly those three. Although I feel more empathetic towards Misato and Shinji (probably because Hyuga is not a main character.) Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[Zaiku]

I relate most to an off-screen character: Maya's lesbian lover. Come on, you know she exists.

Wait, there is someone OTHER than Ritsuko? News to me O_O

[GAP]

This may be a long post but please bear with me on this:

I found that I see a lot of myself in these characters but the ones I found that I relate to the most is Shinji, Rei, and Gendo. The first I will start with is Shinji, if I were just any other fanboy who watched EVA I would say that Shinji is a wimp, coward and a loder but when it comes down to it, Shinji is me or more like there is part of me that is Shinji. I for one thing am somewhat afraid of interacting with others yet at the same time I want to interact with them which is why I try to find ways to please people so that they won't be mad at me. It seems like no matter what I seem to do, I cannot do anything "right" and everything I do is "wrong" (this is seen even more in my brother than me) even when I try my best, it just never seems to be enough and I don't seem to special compared to most people.

Although I don't hate my father at all and my father does nothing to put me down, I do find myself feeling a little resentment towards him whenever I try to do something "right" but it ends up "wrong", I ended up berated for it. As I try to do the "right" thing, I always seem to lose control and end up doing the "wrong" that usually gets someone angry. I guess due to the fact that do not have any friends outside the internet, that I don't know how to speak with real people properly or communicate my feelings to them although that is not entirely true as I do make small talk with my parents, family and siblings but rarely I engage them in a conversation. I am also afraid to hurt other peoples feelings and egos because I don't want to get "hurt" myself and even if doesn't come from the same person I "hurt", I will inevitably get "hurt" even I will "hurt" others even if it is unintentionally.


That brings me to Rei, the silent "heroine" of Eva and the object of obsession for Gendo. Rei is a silent, submissive girl who is always reading a book and does whatever she is told to do but very rarely I see her speak for herself. Like a river that has ebbs and flows, there are days where I feel very happy I am alive and there are days that I wonder why I even got up but even when I am happy or sad, the nagging question in my mind is why do I exist? I know I "exist" for a reason and for the people I care for but I just cannot pin point what it is.

To me, it feels as though that I just take up space and I am nothing more than an empty shell without anything I value. I ask myself, who am I without technology, titles, religion, politics or anything I hold value? I guess I am nothing at all because I have this need to validate my existence and be more than just a piece of meat with a mouth. I really don't why Rei is so popular with otaku and fans but I do know that is just an emotionless puppet who really wants to die but can't because Gendo needs her to live to bring back Yui.

Bringing to the last major character I relate to the most is Gendo. I may not be a father but I am rather distant to those who care about me and make them wonder if I really do care for them. I have no real desire to interact with others or even go on any dates but I mainly focus on my own goals and desires to care what other people think. I say I love my family but it doesn't seem like I do anything to show it and I always seem to "hurt" by own selfishness, I just don't know how to interact with others. Like Gendo, I have a "Rei" which is in this case my own world and everything that encompasses it. This "Rei" is object of all my feelings and desires and it is merely a "tool" to solve my own problems.

Forgive me if I am typing coherently or I am not being consistent with I posted but this how I feel. While I see myself in a lot of this characters, Shinji, Rei and Gendo are the ones who I relate to the most and who I see myself in. I applaud Anno for creating complex, endearing characters who not only human in every way but are real people and just stereotypes that I see in every mecha show.

[Xeroko]

Asuka+Shinji+Kaji=Xero

[LeoXiao]

Forgive me if I am typing coherently or I am not being consistent with I posted but this how I feel. While I see myself in a lot of this characters, Shinji, Rei and Gendo are the ones who I relate to the most and who I see myself in.

Your post was well-written; it makes sense to me. Keep in mind however that these characters can often be shaped by the viewer to become something that they relate to, that's why they're good characters that everybody likes.

I'm not sure what the point of that second sentence was.

[Eternally Lost Zeppo]

I guess I relate to Shinji most, as I have definite self-esteem issues and I have the Hedgehog's Dilemma problem, especially when it comes to women.
Though in terms of personality, I seem to resemble the manga version of Shinji more than the anime version.

[Reichu]

(sigh) Another Shinji here. His character captures many of the plethora of feelings associated with social anxiety, depression, and 'search for self' remarkably well. My circumstances may be totally different, but the emotional 'substance' is pretty much the same.

As for the others... hmm, I'd have to think about it. But I don't think I identify with Asuka. Somebody, please euthanize me if that ever happens.

[Annihilationscape]

There isnt' any one character I can fully relate to. I relate to different people in the series more at different times.

If I had to pick one overall character I most identify with, though, it'd be Kaji. Generally, I try to keep it chill and do the right thing.

[Gamer_2k4]

Not a single fucking one, thank God.

This.

[Sailor Star Dust]

I'm sure I've mentioned this in here before but...

I can act like Asuka when I'm pissed off, feel like Rei when just really...yeah, emotionally dead I guess? But usually I can relate to Shinji with his social anxiety and depression and such.

[AnnieZ]

When i reach 30 years old i'll be exactly like Misato. An apartment looking like a garbage dump, frigde full of instantenous food, single, lazy @ mornings and i doubt that i wil have a sort of pinguin living in my frigde but i'll have a lot of cats (this sounds more like ritsuko). <_<;


Like Misato i sociable and afraid of guys...

[Crazy Packers Fan]

I think there's a little Shinji Ikari in all of us, but especially in me. I'm socially inept and suffer from depression. I've even gone through feeling too depressed to commit suicide. I know it's easy to hate Shinji but I think that anyone who's been depressed at any time can find a way to relate to him.

[Evangelion217]

I connected to all of them on an emotional level, that is damn near impossible to do for me, in almost any other anime that I've seen. But the characters that I related to the most, were Asuka and Shinji. And my personal favorite is Rei. :)

[Gendo'sPapa]

I relate to Bill, the foreign exchange technician who got there through a technical screw up, doesn't know what the hell he's doing and can't speak the language.

I think I'm responsible for the latch that allows Maya to force eject the entry plug. I couldn't read the chicken scratch on it so the system never works.

[Great Genius Shinji-Sama]

Im a little bit of everyone, almost. I'm like Shinji in that Im quiet and introverted a good part of the time, and that sometimes I question my worth, like when I do something stupid; partly due to my religion and stuff - I'm like Misato that I do like to reach out to people, nowadays Im not as reserved as I used to be; I'm kind like Asuka that in video games and stuff at least- I can get pretty competitive, and Im sorta like Kensuke that Im somewhat of a computer geek.

[Lucretius]

I'd say Shinji. But also Asuka, sadly.

[CorporalChaos]

I relate most to an off-screen character: Maya's lesbian lover. Come on, you know she exists.

Come now, Maya's lesbian lover appears every now and then in the show. Don't we see a lot of her hands in the show?

*the hand that falls across the keyboard in EoE is Maya's lesbian lover*

[HENRCAST]

Well, Asuka is easily my favorite character and the one I care the most about, but she has absolutely nothing to do with me. So, I really don't know.

[Dramamine]

I'm the mountain that got laser'd by Ramiel.

[zarwin]

I relate to Bill, the foreign exchange technician who got there through a technical screw up, doesn't know what the hell he's doing and can't speak the language.

I think I'm responsible for the latch that allows Maya to force eject the entry plug. I couldn't read the chicken scratch on it so the system never works.

First off, LOL.



Back to the topic at hand. I definitely see a lot of the early Asuka in me, which doesn't bode well for my future, I'm rude, overbearing, and feel a need to show my superiority whenever possible. But only to my friends, the average person I talk to wouldn't ever think of me like that.