Lennik wrote: And that's great for discourse, but they're still subjective, and there's always a pretty presumptuous assertion about what Anno supposedly believes and why that's definitely the answer.
Oh look, nuance. Water in the desert! This is especially true since this is a work of art where a lot was left ambiguous on purpose
Shinji Ikari Expy wrote:kuribo-04#909529 wrote:The franchise is about Shinji embracing his responsibilities to others and not running away, something symoblized by piloting.
No, it's actually the very opposite. (There's even one interview where he says something like "why do ppl think the message is you can't run away? Why would everything the protagonist thinks be right?")
The idea that he "cant run away" - ie that he is a helpless playball of the world around him is the main belief holding him back. He comes in in episode 1 already thinking that, that's not something he needs to learn.
Both endings spent a lot of time unpacking this (especially the underrated masterpiece that is EoTV) but both explicitlyhave a line like "No, you actually can leave" or "It was actually good that I left". But of course leaving has consequences too & he might decide that he wants those even less than the price of staying... which is a choice, an internal locus of control, very different from the super ego dominated "Well, I
have to" which he then gets all passive aggressive about.
All the pilots have all their self-esteem and self-image tied up with their job of piloting (which could be a standing for anything you feel is "the one thing you can do"... for Anno it's prolly making anime, for many people it could be a hobby or nerdy interest where you move with a confidence you otherwise don't have. ) and that is 100% a bad thing. The EVAs are objects of obsession, something that's eaten their egos and souls. And it's not much different for the staff that's looking to harness.
It's not as simple as "just don't do it" (you do need a job - and even a hobby becomes something your ego is invested in & you feel pressure over when you start liking & cherishing it; In-universe, the angels do need defeating) but piloting is a much more ambiguous symbol and I don't think there's any point anywhere in the anime or the movies where anyone does it purely out of 'responsibility'. Touji maybe, since he did it to get Sakura in a better hospital.
This is why being told that he's no needed as a pilot anymore is actually a
painful thing for Shinji in Q, you'd think he'd be relieved since he hates it so much, but it was the one reason people needed him & were glad of his presence... or s he thinks. Actually he's had a life outside it all the time, the ep 26 sequence is just a lampshade. Other skills, connections that maybe started with his coming to Tokyo 3 but expanded beyond the professional.
This is why having a life somehow based on his non-EVA related skills would actually be the best case for him (which makes it sound 'too easy' so it wont happen YET...)
He had a moment of actually letting go of that super-ego-dominated "have to" mentality, of confidence & accomplishment, but if he kept that up there would be no more story so they had to yank that away from him. Or rather challenge him even more now that he's "stronger".
Though "yanking it away" makes it sound too capricious/arbitrary -
The whole reason he didn't do that before & just did what people told him and what he feels he "has to" is that he was afraid of something like this: That he would fuck up and everybody hates you.
Admitting you want things makes you vulnerable. Giving it your all exposes you to the possibility that "your all" miht still not be enough (this is a fear I can really relate to), so if you overcome that fear and still lose/fuck up that's uniquely painful... and in Q it's happened on an incomprehensibly large scale.
I'm curious as to what Anno's answer to that might turn out to be.