Characters' lack of aging

[Flyvapnet]

[Forgive me if these questions have been asked and answered long since. I tried the search function, but couldn't make any headway with it.]

Why don't the characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion age? When someone remarks, for example, that Shikinami Asuka Langley is 14 years of age I think "Wasn't that a long time ago?" Gainax Co. Ltd. and/or Anno Hideaki obviously decided the characters in NGE will never age; and I wonder why that decision was reached.

Is it purely an artistic decision? I was thinking (just as an example) of the lead female character in another Gainax production, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: Ritona Yoko ages during the course of that series. I find the aging of characters to be an attractive scenario, as opposed to the eternal-children phenomenon.

That the mecha technology presented in NGE supposedly requires 14-year-olds makes it seem much like present-day women's artistic gymnastics, insofar as aging beyond 14 years is taboo. I for one would quite enjoy seeing the surviving NGE characters age and (perhaps) move on to greater levels of responsibility - should they live that long.

Your views on why NGE characters don't age would be appreciated. If this discussion took place elsewhere, please direct me to the appropriate forum or thread. Thank you.



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[BeoX2]

[Forgive me if these questions have been asked and answered long since. I tried the search function, but couldn't make any headway with it.]

Why don't the characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion age? When someone remarks, for example, that Shikinami Asuka Langley is 14 years of age I think "Wasn't that a long time ago?" Gainax Co. Ltd. and/or Anno Hideaki obviously decided the characters in NGE will never age; and I wonder why that decision was reached.

Is it purely an artistic decision? I was thinking (just as an example) of the lead female character in another Gainax production, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: Ritona Yoko ages during the course of that series. I find the aging of characters to be an attractive scenario, as opposed to the eternal-children phenomenon.

That the mecha technology presented in NGE supposedly requires 14-year-olds makes it seem much like present-day women's artistic gymnastics, insofar as aging beyond 14 years is taboo. I for one would quite enjoy seeing the surviving NGE characters age and (perhaps) move on to greater levels of responsibility - should they live that long.

Your views on why NGE characters don't age would be appreciated. If this discussion took place elsewhere, please direct me to the appropriate forum or thread. Thank you.



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I don't mean to come off as rude, but what the hell are you talking about? A) Asuka is only named Shikinami in Rebuild or Evangelion, which, until proved otherwise, is an entirely separate canon from Neon Genesis Evangleion. And B) I see no reason why any of these characters would have to age in the small time frame that either of the series takes place in, which, in NGE is most likely under a year, maybe even half a year. And in Rebuild, it could only have been a few weeks.

Please elaborate on what you mean, as I'm confused here.

[The Abhorrent]

Why don't the characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion age?

The series takes place over several months. Starting early to mid 2015, with the final episodes & EoE occuring right around the new year (2016). No more than that. The characters do age, just not a significant amount. In the case of TTGL, there is a seven year time-skip (and an epilogue), and the characters are definitely going to age by a significant amount during that time.

As a final note, the series ends when it does for maximum impact and provocativeness. There is no conclusive ending, no epilogue. The viewer is left to interpret it as they see fit.

If this is what you're looking for, you're not getting it.
....Probably (pending the events of the last two Rebuild films).


Fun fact -- Asuka, according to the supplmentary materials, is actually 13 for most of the series. Her birthday is listed as Dec. 4, 2001. There appears to be some discrepancies over the matter, though it simply could be rounding off because the other pilots are 14 and she's not too far off that mark herself.

Thinking about it, with the end of the series coinciding with the new year.... did the 15th angel arrive on her 14th birthday? Okay, that would be a little too convinient (if perfectly dramatic). But the timeline would place episode 22 pretty close to that her birthday. In which case, no wonder she wasn't in the mood for celebrating.

[Ramiel]

Having the characters age up noticeably would mean the series would have to span longer and that just wouldn't have as much impact as it does the way it is. Plus, we do get to see quite a lot of characters when they're years younger, if you count background and flashbacks.

Also, the original script had a plan for a birthday party for Shinji, didn't it? It's not like they're deliberately avoiding the topic of aging.

[Flyvapnet]

Chotto matte, BeoX2! I come in peace! Your points are well taken, but how about easing up a bit on the delivery?

Thank you, The Abhorrent and Ramiel, for understanding the thrust of my questions. I now have the information I was seeking, thanks to your replies.



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[Mr. Tines]

This thread is one of the ones trying to unsnarl the contradictory age and date information from series and secondary sources for the 2015-6 span that is the non-flashback "now" -- http://forum.evageeks.org/viewtopic.php?t=2166

About all that's definite is that we start sometime in the middle of '15 and end sometime probably early-ish in '16; a span of 6-9 months.

There are a lot of things one might expect and we don't see -- like it would be more likely than not that we would see Shinji having one of those adolescent growth spurts that would noticeably change his height relative to Misato's (shorter to at least as tall, especially knowing how his father is the tallest guy in the series), and give him one of those bouts of clumsiness from not having recalibrated how long his limbs are today.

The character who most obviously ages and matures is Gendo, from grown-up Shinji (and cradle-snatcher*) at the turn of the century to the evil ambassador we all know and, uh, love.

* in 1999 he would be 32, she would be 22 and his half-age plus seven cut-off would be 23

[Flyvapnet]

Thank you, Mr. Tines! I shall follow the link you provided and see what happens when I come out on the other side.

Maybe, one of these days, Gainax and Anno will see merit in taking fuller advantage of NGE's obvious staying-power popularity by taking us further along the characters' road of life. Then again, maybe they won't. Corporations can suffer from target fixation, just as military pilots sometimes do.



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[Sachi]

Maybe, one of these days, Gainax and Anno will see merit in taking fuller advantage of NGE's obvious staying-power popularity by taking us further along the characters' road of life.

Or, you know, because half the characters are dead. Although, don't give anybody the idea because it might actually happen, knowing how much of a cash cow Gainax is.

[Flyvapnet]

I was concerned about that continuity of mortality too, Sachi, but a smart guy like Anno can surely come up with a scenario in which the supposedly-dead characters turn out not be "dead" after all. (I know that's a cliché, but in this case I'm all for it.) *runs away and hides*



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[esselfortium]

Any official continuation of NGE's events would ruin whatever's left of the show's and EoE's artistic integrity at this point.

[Allemann]

Sequels are sometimes good.

[slothen]

Any official continuation of NGE's events would ruin whatever's left of the show's and EoE's artistic integrity at this point.

this a million times.

[Flyvapnet]

I agree with you, Allemann - although U.S. visual-media corporations have certainly gone to the "prequel"/sequel well much too often in recent years, due to corporate timidity and lack of talent. Perhaps the same is true in Japan, but I really don't know.

Anyway, I was thinking more of an artistically-sound and logical continuation; and since, as Sachi pointed out, half the characters are already dead there would be plenty of room for (shall we say) a new future to be presented. Or, as esselfortium and slothen contend, it could turn out to be a load of old cods.



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[child of Lilith]

Any official continuation of NGE's events would ruin whatever's left of the show's and EoE's artistic integrity at this point.

^THIS!

[Sun Stealer]

Everyone tries to get a definite timeline of evangelion, but it seems like they somehow squeezed 1-2 years into the span of several months.

There are a lot of things one might expect and we don't see -- like it would be more likely than not that we would see Shinji having one of those adolescent growth spurts that would noticeably change his height relative to Misato's (shorter to at least as tall, especially knowing how his father is the tallest guy in the series), and give him one of those bouts of clumsiness from not having recalibrated how long his limbs are today.

That would have made an excellent episode.

[Lucretius]

Everyone tries to get a definite timeline of evangelion, but it seems like they somehow squeezed 1-2 years into the span of several months.

This.

[Killer Bee]

Everyone tries to get a definite timeline of evangelion, but it seems like they somehow squeezed 1-2 years into the span of several months.

I've never looked at it that way before. It seems that, since so much happens during the course of the series, people have the tendency to assume that the events must take place over a couple years or so, when in reality they only take place over a few months. Honestly(I can't remember exactly), I may have thought this myself before discovering EGF.

I think a confusing factor might also be the speedy arrival of each Angel. When Sachiel shows up, we're told it's the first one to arrive in 15 years. And then Shamshel pops up, and Ramiel, and Gaghiel, etc. And I think the layman would just assume that there have been many weeks, maybe even months between each Angel attack, and not mere days.

EDIT: By "they" you mean Anno, right?

[Sachi]

And I think the layman would just assume that there have been many weeks, maybe even months between each Angel attack, and not mere days.

When Shamshel shows up, somebody (I think Fuyutsuki) comments on how with Sachiel we got a fifteen year gap, but with Shamshel we got a two week gap (something like that, but I'm fairly positive it was two weeks). Later in the series, they comment on how terrifyingly close the Bardiel and Zeruel attacks were; it was probably within days. And with the episode 24' transition to EoE, I'm inclined to think the latter was the following day of the prior.

[UrsusArctos]

Assuming that Shinji had been incarcerated the day after the Bardiel attack (Toji woke up three days later) and Zeruel appeared the same day, that gives scarcely 24 hours between both of them. I don't recall if anyone commented on how soon the two of them turned up, but I get the impression that Nerv was caught on the wrong foot when Zer turned up. Arael conveniently takes more than a month to turn up after Zer, leaving plenty of time to repair the damage.

Beats me why Shinji and the other characters haven't had their pubescent growth spurts yet. They're horrendously short- in Shinji's case, not only is Gendo a 6-footer, Yui was 5'6" (Not small at all!). He should have been at least Misato's height by this point, if not taller. A clumsy, taller Shinji would certainly fit in with some of the action arc episodes.

[CorporalChaos]

Probably part of the reason the Children are kept short throughout the series is stylistic. The shock of kids piloting giant biomechanical humanoids taken straight out of Lovecraft is rather lessened when your kids start suddenly looking like adults.

Also, the show's timeline is a mess. I doubt even GAINAX/Khara have an exact timeline to use as a reference.