How Evangelion SHOULD'VE ended

[Kurairush]

After watching Evangelion with another person a few months back and after seeing the ending to the N64 game on Youtube (Couldn't get past the Jet Alone mssion. Curse you emulator and keyboard!), I've thought up a different ending, mostly inspired by the N64 game.
(Spoilered anyways.)

SPOILER: Show

The first half up until Asuka's struggle against the Mass-Produced EVAs.
Upon hearing Asuka's voice and fueled by Misato and Kaworu's deaths, Shinji gets up and goes into EVA Unit 01.
Before the "replica" Lance of Longinus could even be stuck into EVA Unit 02's head, Shinji grabs it and moves it away from Asuka. He gains control over it and EVA 01 goes into Berserk mode. With his mother's spirit by his side, Shinji brutally murders all of the Mass-Produced EVAs.

After that, he goes down into the area where Lilith is. Before Gendo can even begin his attempt to fuse with Rei, the Berserk EVA 01 kills Gendo. Since Rei can't be talked out of it, Shinji says farewell and kills Rei. Memories of her flow through his mind during this. Ritsuko and everyone else survives (except for Misato.) Third Impact averted.
Final scenes include Misato's funeral and Shinji visiting Yui's grave (and possibly Gendo's grave?)

+No psychobabble (The other person who viewed it with me thought it was too much.)
+Shinji mans up
+The world is saved
+Asuka lives
-Misato is forever dead

Feel free to disassemble and analyze it, I wrote this up a bit fast without sifting through the Evageeks wiki and stuff.

[Melchior]

While I agree in some regard - as I've always wanted Shinji to save Asuka, I realize that it is not in his nature to step up to this task. Doing something like this with his own will, not to mention killing Rei and Gendo considering how anti-death he is... Just doesn't seem like the right outcome.

That being said, if the rebuild series decided to do something like this, I'd be more in favor of it. However, the rebuild series gives me more of a ReiXShinji feel (even if that was stomped on in 3.33) and saving Asuka doesn't really fit in anymore. Asuka seems much more self-reliant in the rebuild series, especially when you couple her with Mari... I don't think Shinji will be as useful in this instance either.

In terms of the psychobabble... well, as difficult as it can be to understand, depending on your background, it's a necessary portion. Realizing all the things he does through this portion of the movie is what ties up then ending. The ultimate decision he makes is a direct result of this.

All in all, we're talking about the whims of a 14 year old... one without backbone, and durected by external influences. It was unfortunate that Misato couldn't convince him to approach Eva-01 with a little more ambition (to save Asuka), but, such is the nature of the character.

[Kurairush]

I remember watching GRArkada's review of the series and hearing him say that "Shinji starts out like a JRPG protagonist." But the difference is that Shinji never really "improves" or "changes". He remains a wimp forever and never tries to "man up". Now I could see him having trouble killing Rei, but saving Asuka has some sort of plausibilty. The Lance of Longinus replica is the only issue, since it actually broke through EVA Unit 2's AT field.

One advantage of the dub was the F-bomb added to Misato (failed) motivation talk with Shinji. If I was in that situation, I'd get in EVA Unit 01.

[Shinoyami65]

Well, my first objection would be that Shinji couldn't get into Eva-01 to save Asuka because it was covered in Bakelite. Unless you can give Yui a legitimate reason to break out in time to save Asuka then Shinji can't do squat.

Secondly, I doubt Shinji would have much of a chance against the MP Evas, seeing as there are nine of them, and only one of Eva-01, and all of them are armed with Spear replicas and the S^2 Engine which makes them nigh indestructible. As a side note, Asuka's battle appears to be occurring simultaneously with Ritsuko confronting Gendo in Terminal Dogma- so unless Shinji develops superspeed there's no way for him to get down there in time to save Ritsuko.

I also doubt that Shinji would be able to kill Rei- she appears to have developed AT Field powers on the same level of Kaworu (proven in Episode 24 when she breifly generates an ATF of the same magnitude as Kaworu's, and later in EoE when she levitates up to Lilith), and unlike Kaworu she may not be willing to just sit in Eva-01's palm as Shinji crushes her to death. Not to mention that it would take some time for Shinji to reach Terminal Dogma, as mentioned before, so Rei has plenty of time to get Gendo's Adam embryo and fuse with Lilith before Shinji arrives.

It is also important that Yui doesn't seem to object to starting Third Impact- she doesn't even try to fight the MP Evas once Shinji finally manages to get into Eva-01- and there is some implication that starting it may have been her intention all along (such as Yui's conversation with Fuyutsuki in the flashback towards the end of EoE). So unless she suddenly decided not to start Third Impact and tried to help Shinji then Eva-01 wouldn't go Beserk and start fighting the MP Evas, and Shinji probably wouldn't be able to defeat them on his own.

Shinji probably wouldn't "man up" even if he actually managed to save the day in the manner you describe, because he'd have been forced to kill Rei, which would probably bring back all his painful memories of Kaworu's death and leave him in a comatose state like he was at the beginning of EoE.

Also, you didn't factor in the JSSDF (the soldiers who were attacking Nerv throughout EoE). If Third Impact never starts, they'll probably keep on attacking Nerv, and it is made abundantly clear in EoE that Nerv would probably lose such a battle.

[Kurairush]

Yeah, that's what I wasn't so sure about. With the AT fields and all that stuff.
I guess it's near-impossible to have a good ending without Third Impact occuring.
Basically my idea is similar to the [Url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xxsnMkr1rk]N64 ending[/url], but without Third Impact happening.

The original psychedelic Third Impact + Shinji's time in psychological wonderland ending wins again.

[Melchior]

Secondly, I doubt Shinji would have much of a chance against the MP Evas, seeing as there are nine of them, and only one of Eva-01, and all of them are armed with Spear replicas and the S^2 Engine which makes them nigh indestructible. As a side note, Asuka's battle appears to be occurring simultaneously with Ritsuko confronting Gendo in Terminal Dogma- so unless Shinji develops superspeed there's no way for him to get down there in time to save Ritsuko.

Perhaps...
Butttt, Asuka did a good number on them by herself. While she did get nailed with the spear, she also ran out of internal power. Now, you could argue that it's irrelevant, but, if she didn't have to worry about internal power, she could have spent more time clobberin' and perhaps beat them into a Eva Slushy.
If Shinji could had arrived at a decent time, the two of them could have done a number on them... but, I really believe Shinji could have taken them out alone. When you factor in the power of the Eva, the unpredictable nature of Yui, and the connection between Shinji and Yui, I think it would certainly be possible.
My only concern is how much they need to be beaten before reactivation isn't possible... or, at least non-threatening. Something about a wingless, legless, and armless Eva doesn't seem terrifying at all.

[NemZ]

Clearly someone has been watching too much mecha anime and doesn't understand a tragedy when he sees it. I'm somewhat infamous around here for my bitching about Shinji's complete lack of effort in EoE, but that doesn't in any way mean that I think he should actually 'win'.

You probably think Breaking Bad is going to end well for Mr. White too, don't you?

[Shinoyami65]

If Shinji could had arrived at a decent time, the two of them could have done a number on them... but, I really believe Shinji could have taken them out alone. When you factor in the power of the Eva, the unpredictable nature of Yui, and the connection between Shinji and Yui, I think it would certainly be possible.

If Yui actually agrees to join in with the fight at all, as I stated later in my post. To poor, mind-wrecked Shinji, fighting those nine monstrosities may be too much without his mommy.

[Melchior]

Clearly someone has been watching too much mecha anime and doesn't understand a tragedy when he sees it. I'm somewhat infamous around here for my bitching about Shinji's complete lack of effort in EoE, but that doesn't in any way mean that I think he should actually 'win'.

You probably think Breaking Bad is going to end well for Mr. White too, don't you?

He deserves to lose for his lack of effort!
All I'm saying is there is a chance... if he actually made some sort of contribution other than allowing himself to be dragged accross Nerv HQ by Misato.

[Kurairush]

Actually the only mecha anime I watched before Evangelion was Big O (which had an odd ending too.)
Considering some of the points, Shinji and Asuka combined might have a chance of taking on the MP-EVAs.
But in considering a difference in the N64 ending was that EVA Unit-01 was "powered up" in the battle against the MP-EVAs, something that didn't happen until Asuka's demise.

The ending that exists now is sort of happy, since everyone can come back if they wish. But an epic final battle would've been more straight-forward and interesting than "Oh, let's put in the psychological stuff that we used in the EoTV, but change it a little." But End of Evangelion was meant to be an alternate ending. S
So why not end with a bang?

[Melchior]

If Yui actually agrees to join in with the fight at all, as I stated later in my post. To poor, mind-wrecked Shinji, fighting those nine monstrosities may be too much without his mommy.

I think this reasoning applies to EVERY fight Shinji finds himself in... and actually, mama does most of the work in general. He basically sits on her lap while she does all the work, assuming the entry plug is a metaphoric lap.

[Mr. Tines]

Related threads

http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/13238/Hated-Eoes-ending-post-your-own-ending-here
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/6238/Could-Shinji-have-prevented-Asukas-death/

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Well, my first objection would be that Shinji couldn't get into Eva-01 to save Asuka because it was covered in Bakelite. Unless you can give Yui a legitimate reason to break out in time to save Asuka then Shinji can't do squat.

You have just brought up one of the simplest, but completely unanswered, continuity questions in EoE: How does Shinji get in and out of Eva-01's Entry plug?

[MandarinOrange]

The ending that exists now is sort of happy, since everyone can come back if they wish. But an epic final battle would've been more straight-forward and interesting than "Oh, let's put in the psychological stuff that we used in the EoTV, but change it a little." But End of Evangelion was meant to be an alternate ending. S
So why not end with a bang?

It did end with a Bang. GNR exploded...

An "epic final battle" would not be more interesting then what EoE gave us. It'd be cliche, and one of the things I like about Eva is how it dismantles various cliches seen in anime. The psychological ending we got was much more interesting then just watching a bunch of Evas kill each other, and then watch Shinji go completely out of character and kill Gendo and Rei.

[Chuckman]

Sometimes I wish they'd gone with the disembodied arm ending.

[SimplyMason0]

I liked the ending EoE had. It made it ambiguous on whether or not Asuka hated him or will accept him. However, what I didn't like was making Shinji insane from isolation after getting his spirits up. I just felt it was too unnecessary and its like Anno is putting more hate to Shinji and himself rather than the ending that feels more satisfying. There is also the aftermath with the world that is left unexplained. I really did thought that the world was destroyed and technology is crap cause people are escaping to anime and video games. That wasn't the message cause if you look really closely the 3rd time viewing it the city is fine and the scene with Rei, Kaworu and Shinji implies it will be fine. Also bring up Toji on Shinji's list to hate himself when talking to Misato, I felt that was the more poorly written arc of the story.

So really I guess remove some of the more bleak implications at the end scene. Not because its happy but because it doesn't feel like a needless kick on Shinji.

[Mr. Tines]

if you look really closely the 3rd time viewing it the city is fine

The city, the trees and what look like rice paddies are all there quite happily while GNR starts to fall apart. However, there are other problems looming on the horizon.

[Squigsquasher]

Well, considering by this point Shinji is utterly broken (It's a bit unfair to accuse him of "not making any effort" when his will to live is completely spent and the only thing stopping him from going totally insane is that any spark of life inside him has died), all the people he knows and loves are dead, Unit 01is covered in bakelite (and last time I checked, Shinji cannot Falcon Punch through several layers of rock hard, scalding hot plastic) and even if by some miracle he managed to get Unit 01 out in time and stopped the replica Lance from skewering Unit 02, he would probably just be torn apart alongside Asuka, I highly doubt that a happy ending is really possible.

[kuribo-04]

Kurairush, I think you are kind of missing the point of Eva's ending. Have you read through some Anno interviews? It is like it is intentionally. And wow, Shinji killing Rei? That is actually worse than killing Kaworu. How do you want him to cope with that?

[Kurairush]

I've just been thinking about Evangelion more differently after rewatching it with another person.
It's like with Death Note. At first, I really went ballistic over it and enjoyed it, but after rewatching it with another person, the curtain was lifted and I saw what was wrong with that show.

While most of Evangelion's "psychobabble" made sense to me, it didn't to the other person.
This idea went off End of Evangelion being an "alternate ending", as opposed to the "somewhat different from EoTV, but still psychological" ending we got.

Heck, Evangelion was already different enough, considering the characters themselves being entirely new to the anime industry, along other things that made Evangelion unique. I don't really think a final battle of EVAs would take too much away, even if it is a cliche to have that sort of ending.