These captions annoy and scare me…(EoE)

[ThroneofDravaris]

Well, I guess this will be my first post here. Joined a long time ago, and forgot about it…

Anyway, in the live action section of the End of Evangelion, the first scene in the movie theater displays the caption “Does it feel good?”

Does anyone know what the dramatic intent behind these lines are? I’ve been wondering this for a while, because it’s the only scene in the movie that stills scares the hell out of me….

So far all I’ve thought of was it was his was of asking the audience “Do you like the twisted direction I took this after you all complained so much?” Although I get the feeling it was supposed to link to what was going on within the film at that time rather than a random stab at the audience…

Thoughts?

[K2Grey]

This scene is right after Third Impact, right? Perhaps Rei is asking Shinji whether he likes what he's done.

[Phaze]

Either Shinji questioning himself or, as said, Shinji being questioned by Rei.

[Reichu]

Well, Instrumentality is like a giant orgy, so the question clearly implies, "So, was that good for you? :cigarette puff:" Kekekekeke...

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

In a way, this is a question being asked after Shinji's suicide. Does the result of his suicide statisfy him? Philosophically, this might be a question posed by any victim of suicide, to themselves, just before their life slips away, or possibly just after. The answer Shinji comes to, is that; no, it doesn't feel good and that suicide wasn't the answer or the escape he was looking for. Unlike any other suicide victim though, Shinji is given a choice to turn back at the thirteenth hour, and he takes it and goes on living.

I suppose that's the whole point of Evangelion. Suicide isn't an answer, it's just running away and it won't make you happy. You have to face life, no matter how hard it may be to do so. Leastways, thems my thoughts.

[Carl Horn]

In a way, this is a question being asked after Shinji's suicide. Does the result of his suicide statisfy him? Philosophically, this might be a question posed by any victim of suicide, to themselves, just before their life slips away, or possibly just after. The answer Shinji comes to, is that; no, it doesn't feel good and that suicide wasn't the answer or the escape he was looking for. Unlike any other suicide victim though, Shinji is given a choice to turn back at the thirteenth hour, and he takes it and goes on living.

I suppose that's the whole point of Evangelion. Suicide isn't an answer, it's just running away and it won't make you happy. You have to face life, no matter how hard it may be to do so. Leastways, thems my thoughts.

Nobody can really say what happens to you after death, so it seems difficult to establish what, if anything, will come for the individual after suicide. It is not likely to bring happiness to your family, friends, and admirers, however—not that Shinji necessarily has a tall stack of those.

I would take the view that Anno at least intends a double meaning; that the question is meant to apply to the audience, even if also spoken to a character, or by one character to another. THE END actually considerably amplified an aspect of #26 that some fans objected to—not only reminding you that this is a fiction, but turning the camera on the observer.

—C.

[Reichu]

When did Shinji commit suicide? He was induced into Tangifying within his plug, but is that QUITE the same thing? :P

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

When did Shinji commit suicide? He was induced into Tangifying within his plug, but is that QUITE the same thing? :P

It's all an intricate tapestry. Shinji's depression and suicide is in a sense the whole point of the series.

He did "kill" himself, but had a chance to come back. Maybe everyone else going splat as a result is meant to symbolise all the people you hurt by killing yourself?

[rip3mwk]

... :? ... He didn't commit suicide even in the figurative speech, did he? I saw this movie two dozen times and I honestly believe that everything taken literally says otherwise.

[Reichu]

Shinji isn't capable of committing suicide -- this is an integral part of his character. However, he's hardly opposed to his own death, even if he's too cowardly to bring it about himself.

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

He didn't kill himself in the slitting wrists, sleeping tablest sense of the word. But in the TV ending he did try to completely isolate himself from the world and everyone around him, and in End Of Evangelion he released destrado and despair enough to tangify everyone during his attempt to simply cease being. It might be a stretch to say he committed suicide, but I would definitely say you can call his actions in End of Evangelion #26' Shinji's biggest suicide attempt (That would make three?)

Shinji:Nobody understands me.
Rei: You didn't understand anything.
Shinji: I thought it was supposed to be a world without unpleasantness... without uncertainty
Rei: Because you thought that everyone else was like you.
Shinji: Betrayed! You've betrayed my feelings!!
Rei: You've misunderstood from the start. You simply assumed without asking.
Shinji: Nobody wants me. So, everybody just die.
Rei: Then, what are those hands for?
Shinji:Nobody cares whether I exist or not... Nothing will change. So, everybody just die.
Rei: Then, what is that heart for?
Shinji: It'd be better if I wasn't here either. So I should just die, too.
Rei: Then, why are you here?
(Shinji as a child, crying with a large travel bag next to him)
Shinji: Is it okay for me to be here?
(Screen text: "Silence" - Fades out)
Shinji (screaming): NOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Setting down the emphasised parts:

Nobody understands me.
Nobody wants me. So, everybody just die.
Nobody cares whether I exist or not... Nothing will change.
It'd be better if I wasn't here either. So I should just die, too.

It reads exactly like the words of someone who is suicidal. Depressed, hopeless and bitter at the world, about to end it all. It's more or less "Nobody loves me, everyone hates me. I hate living in this world. I'm ending it." It's worth noting some of Shinji's words in the TV Ending as well, from the green phone: "See, Everybody hates me".

Evangelion, as I see it, is largely an argument against suicide. In End Of Evangelion what we have is someone who trys to, or does, kill themself but realises this was an empty escape or false happiness and turns back.

[Mr. Tines]

There's no doubt that Shinji feels suicidal - he just can't screw up the courage to go through with it in any active sense - he can't jump in ep#4; he only washes his head at us in 25'; he can only wait for the JSSDF later in 25'. His words:

So I should just die, too.

would express the desire, but not imply a carry through. Exactly as Anno put it:

A cowardly young man who feels that his father has abandoned him, and so he has convinced himself that he is a completely unnecessary person, so much so that he cannot even commit suicide.

My emphasis in each case.

[Reichu]

Just a note, OMFG: It's destrUdo. You know, like "self-DESTRUctive impulse" (= mnemonic). I have no idea how the corruption "destrado" came about. It would be spelled DESUTORADO- in Japanese if the "u" in "destrudo" was a schwa (like in "destruction"), but it's not: In NGE, it's pronounced DESUTORUDO-. So why someone would transliterate this as "destrado" is perplexing, to say the least.

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

My keyboard dyslexia is worsening. But I do keep running into destrado's all over the place online. Also, destrudo seems to me to be a german word. Then again don't we discuss angst a lot.

Ontopic, it's true that Shinji cannot go through with his own suicide on the previous two occassions, and the third time he simlpy waits for the execution squad to arrive. I suppose that his world destroying destra...destru... angst might be considered another suicide attempt which he again pulls out of.

However, unlike the previous occassions, Shinji does not simply lose the courage to kill himself, but instead gains the courage not to do so. He was well into the process of his own demise before turning back this time.

I'm inclined to think of Shinji's actions in #26' as, if not representing actual suicide, as representing someone going right to the very brink of death and then pulling back at the last moment. Like someone staunching their wound just before losing consciousness. So the captions might be thought of as some of the doubts going through the mind of a dying person as they ask themselves "Is this really worth it?". "Does it feel good?".