Shinji Character Analysis (2.0/3.0)

[Bagheera]

-Get your ass raped by space angel
-Call for Baka Shinji to save you when you fear for your life
-Yui, Shinji's mother and protector, saves your life so that you can save Shinji
-Hate Shinji still

Typical Asuka. Why am I not surprised in the least?

Shinji is useless fuck, Asuka is mad, people call her a bitch. Why am I not surprised?

Really now, it's perfectly rational to hate the guy who ended human civilization. Cut Team K some slack.

[CJD]

I thought everyone hated Shinji because they believe he knowingly sacrificed the entire world to save Rei? Outside of any explanation from these translated synopses, that's what I'm getting from it.

That's why everyone hates him, yes (though whether they believed he knowingly caused it or they don't care that he had no clue we don't know yet). But who knows with Asuka, she's the wild card. That's why I'm curious whether she really, truly "hates" him or whether it's just Asuka being Asuka or Asuka being mad (which is noticeably different, and much harsher, than Asuka being Asuka, but I'd still not qualify it as "hate").

And I was referring to the 6 minute preview. If you haven't seen it subbed yet

SPOILER: Show

it's the part of the movie where they Rescue Shinji from space. Mari can't fight and Asuka's getting her ass kicked by the Angel, and very likely going to die if it continues, and she yells "Do something, Baka Shinji!" and all of a sudden a whole breaks in a cube, a laser beam shoots out and cuts the angel to pieces, shatters the core, and causes it to explode. The scene then pans to Asuka being stunned, eyes wide, and immediately back to the hole in the box and we see a giant (relative to human size) eye is open. The eye then closes.

Basically either Yui or Shinji unconsciously just saved Asuka's life and then she proceeds to be mad at him, "hate" him if Ornette is correct.

Like I said, typical Asuka, not surprised in the least.

Shinji is useless fuck, Asuka is mad, people call her a bitch. Why am I not surprised?

Really now, it's perfectly rational to hate the guy who ended human civilization. Cut Team K some slack.

Shinji is a lot of things but useless he is not, even you have to admit that. And yea, I'm not blaming her, just laughing at her consistency. Really, if she was any different I'd like her less. No I wouldn't.

Edit: Unless you mean Shinji is useless in this movie, in which case yea seems to be the case.

[KingXanaduu]

He's going to have to think about what he really wants now. His current "wants" have been getting the people he (apparently) cares about killed. Is that how he wants to live? And does he really care about those people as individuals, or are they just cushions for his own infantile mental issues?

How he answers that question and acts upon it in Rebuild 4.0 will determine the ending.

From what I could gather from our limited information, considering the extent of the damage he did to the world for "his reasons", any "wants" pertaining to him no longer exist. It's only about everyone else now, his needs, whatever they are, are irrelevant.

[StratoSakuya...AF]

He's going to have to think about what he really wants now. His current "wants" have been getting the people he (apparently) cares about killed. Is that how he wants to live? And does he really care about those people as individuals, or are they just cushions for his own infantile mental issues?

How he answers that question and acts upon it in Rebuild 4.0 will determine the ending.

He does care, but someone who encourages you to choose what you want, only to threaten you with excessive force later? I mean, seriously...

Knowing how things are going, it smells like Shinji is indeed getting a reset button in 4.0 However, if he does, we need to find at which "save point" he's going back. Will he go back to the beginning? Or the part where he's about to fight Bardiel, or just before leaving NERV? Those things will determine what happens. If it does go back to square one, then we may either see him running away as soon as he arrives, as soon as he sees Rei, or perhaps, because Rei was the "save point" she won't appear anymore and Shinji will have to run away on his own or decline.

It all depends on how he plays out.

[Grub]

He does care, but someone who encourages you to choose what you want, only to threaten you with excessive force later? I mean, seriously...

Knowing how things are going, it smells like Shinji is indeed getting a reset button in 4.0 However, if he does, we need to find at which "save point" he's going back. Will he go back to the beginning? Or the part where he's about to fight Bardiel, or just before leaving NERV? Those things will determine what happens. If it does go back to square one, then we may either see him running away as soon as he arrives, as soon as he sees Rei, or perhaps, because Rei was the "save point" she won't appear anymore and Shinji will have to run away on his own or decline.

It all depends on how he plays out.

Well, if the "repeat sign" of Rebuild 4.0 is any indication, we might just be getting a re-do of the entire thing throughout the movie. The past 3 movies will have existed to show the "wrong" universe, so he goes back in time to fix everything, or something like that. It'd be an interesting climax to the quadrilogy if done right. There's a very certain point about things going the "Wrong Direction" with that tape player he has.

Remember when Asuka was contemplating being a good person, and Rei was about to have her dinner with Shinji and Gendou, and it was all about to fix itself, and then everything went wrong? Probably not a terrible place to (re)-start. Shinji just has to know how to help everyone.

A universe where Misato puts a bomb collar on Shinji certainly isn't a good universe to live in.

[KingXanaduu]

At this point in the movie, I'm surprised Shinji just hasn't just given up and ended himself at this point. He's the living definition of the Kobayashi Maru in that nothing, and I mean nothing ever will come good out of his mere existence. Why does he even bother? This entire world clearly doesn't want him anymore, which is downright heart-breaking. :(

[KnightmareX13]

Wasnt Misato imploring Shinji to "do it for yourself", "Do it because you want it" in 2.0 when he was trying to save Rei. Did she not realize the implications of what was happening or something

14 years have past since then, opinions and ideals can change and in light of what happened after that incident it is not entirely inconceivable for Misato to regret encouraging him and even hate him for what he brought about.

[Grub]

At this point in the movie, I'm surprised Shinji just hasn't just given up and ended himself at this point. He's the living definition of the Kobayashi Maru in that nothing, and I mean nothing ever will come good out of his mere existence. Why does he even bother? This entire world clearly doesn't want him anymore, which is downright heart-breaking. :(

That's why I'm pretty sure he's going to die in the next one. He's going to find the right way to fix the world, but it'll involve him biting it as the final step.

[Jayfive]

My first reaction to hearing Everybody Hates Shinji is 'well, what the feck was he supposed to do?' He had to destroy the zeruel/Rei hybrid, was he just supposed to tear it apart and kill Rei? He didnt know she was literally replaceable. I am struggling to understand what other options he had.

And as for Misato encouraging him in 2.0 and then in 3.0 giving him a suspended death sentence :S

[StratoSakuya...AF]

That's why everyone hates him, yes (though whether they believed he knowingly caused it or they don't care that he had no clue we don't know yet). But who knows with Asuka, she's the wild card. That's why I'm curious whether she really, truly "hates" him or whether it's just Asuka being Asuka or Asuka being mad (which is noticeably different, and much harsher, than Asuka being Asuka, but I'd still not qualify it as "hate").

And I was referring to the 6 minute preview. If you haven't seen it subbed yet

SPOILER: Show

it's the part of the movie where they Rescue Shinji from space. Mari can't fight and Asuka's getting her ass kicked by the Angel, and very likely going to die if it continues, and she yells "Do something, Baka Shinji!" and all of a sudden a whole breaks in a cube, a laser beam shoots out and cuts the angel to pieces, shatters the core, and causes it to explode. The scene then pans to Asuka being stunned, eyes wide, and immediately back to the hole in the box and we see a giant (relative to human size) eye is open. The eye then closes.

Basically either Yui or Shinji unconsciously just saved Asuka's life and then she proceeds to be mad at him, "hate" him if Ornette is correct.

Like I said, typical Asuka, not surprised in the least.


Shinji is a lot of things but useless he is not, even you have to admit that. And yea, I'm not blaming her, just laughing at her consistency. Really, if she was any different I'd like her less. No I wouldn't.

Edit: Unless you mean Shinji is useless in this movie, in which case yea seems to be the case.

Shinji and useless don't go together in the same sentence. Shinji and HAPLESS is a whole 'nother story.

[CJD]

That's why I'm pretty sure he's going to die in the next one. He's going to find the right way to fix the world, but it'll involve him biting it as the final step.

I don't know, I'm starting to feel like Anno learned his lesson. He wanted EoE to break people out of their otaku habits, he wanted it to get people to realize its' better to go out and take risks than hide all the time. Instead it did the opposite. I'd almost say we can expect a "good," or rather as "good" as Eva can get, ending.

Of course the theory still stands that he's only doing this to shatter it further in 4.0.

Edit:

@Strato: Yea I'd accept that.

[KingXanaduu]

I don't know, I'm starting to feel like Anno learned his lesson. He wanted EoE to break people out of their otaku habits, he wanted it to get people to realize its' better to go out and take risks than hide all the time. Instead it did the opposite. I'd almost say we can expect a "good," or rather as "good" as Eva can get, ending.

Of course the theory still stands that he's only doing this to shatter it further in 4.0.

Sorry, contrary to a lot of fans, but I actually LIKE Shinji, and I'm not looking forward to hating him or any of the other characters in the conceivable future. Just because Anno apparently wants to put the characters down the pit beyond redemption doesn't mean we have to enjoy it. I like, no, LOVE these characters, and I wouldn't wish this fate on them for the world.

[Grub]

I don't know, I'm starting to feel like Anno learned his lesson. He wanted EoE to break people out of their otaku habits, he wanted it to get people to realize its' better to go out and take risks than hide all the time. Instead it did the opposite. I'd almost say we can expect a "good," or rather as "good" as Eva can get, ending.

I think that is actually a really good ending for Eva. Shinji goes back in time, mans up, and fixes the world at the cost of his own life. But everything's okay.

Yeah, basically re-take, but I ain' got no problem with that as long as Anno does it in his own ridiculous way.

[Chuckman]

I need to see the entirety of the third and fourth films, but I think I can do an analysis of how Eva breaks or inverts the Hero's Journey while Rebuild follows it more closely.

It sounds like 3.0 ends with The Belly of the Whale.

Kaworu fulfills the role of The Goddess. If the reading suggested here, that Shinji's attempt to rescue Rei did not merely threaten to end the world, but actually ended human civilization, then Rei is The Woman as Temptress.

I think that is actually a really good ending for Eva. Shinji goes back in time, mans up, and fixes the world at the cost of his own life. But everything's okay.

Yeah, basically re-take, but I ain' got no problem with that as long as Anno does it in his own ridiculous way.

That sounds like a pretty shit ending to me, given that it's easy, almost natural, to read it as "you're a fuckup and the world would be better off without you", since Shinji is an audience surrogate. Unless, in the process, he grants himself a second chance as well.

That would actually be a cathartic ending, as going through with that, especially if the next "trip" included no foreknowledge on his part and he would be rolling the dice on whether he gets it right next time, is the ultimate risk and works both as a metaphor for death itself and going outside and making friends, you shut in otaku people.

[esselfortium]

My first reaction to hearing Everybody Hates Shinji is 'well, what the feck was he supposed to do?' He had to destroy the zeruel/Rei hybrid, was he just supposed to tear it apart and kill Rei? He didnt know she was literally replaceable. I am struggling to understand what other options he had.

He knew she was the only other active pilot since Asuka was obviously in no position to fight, and it was his choice to abandon her, leaving her to fight angels completely on her own when he left Nerv. That was the key option there.

[bobbyfischer's ghost]

My first reaction to hearing Everybody Hates Shinji is 'well, what the feck was he supposed to do?' He had to destroy the zeruel/Rei hybrid, was he just supposed to tear it apart and kill Rei? He didnt know she was literally replaceable. I am struggling to understand what other options he had.

Hatred doesn't have to be rational.I feel for Shinji but the others are well within they're right to hate him with everything that's happened.
Especially with Rei having near infinite 1up's.

[CJD]

Sorry, contrary to a lot of fans, but I actually LIKE Shinji, and I'm not lookign forward to hating him or any of the other characters in the conceivable future. Just because Anno apparently wants to put the characters down the pit beyond redemption doesn't mean we have to enjoy it. I like, no LOVE these characters, and I wouldn't wish this fate on them for the world.

Sorry? I like him too. Did you not see me defending Shinji for like 2-3 pages straight earlier? But let's take a step back and look at something:

2.0 ended on a high note. It was an unquestionably happy ending, even with the tint of 3I on the horizon. The law of having an interesting narrative means that wasn't going continue. You can't make two more movies where everything's going great. Well, you can, but they'd be borin.

Now we have 3.0 and it's ending on a "low" note (I'll elaborate on "low" later). With one movie left the obvious direction is up. Could Anno take us down? Yea, totally, it's fucking Anno. The guy gave us EoTV and EoE, speculating is almost entirely pointless. But the up angle is far more open at this point, and like I said, I'm feeling like Anno is going to try the opposite of EoE since EoE didn't work. Say what you want about Rebuild but it sure as hell ain't no descent arc. So far Rebuild has been "Anno when he's not clinically depressed." and it looks like 3.0 will stay that way.

Now why do I say "low" and not low?

-Shini's alive
-Asuka's alive
-Rei's sort of alive, who knows at this point
-Kaworu's dead which means that unfortunate, but inevitable, event is out of the way

They're alive, they're together, and they're alone in what appears to be a pretty desolate environment. Hell, the entire 4.0 movie could just be them walking around destroyed Japan The Road style. Think of the character development. Think of the dialogue. Think of the possibilities (because the odds of us getting that are slim to none, but damn that'd be awesome.)

Is 3.0 going to suck for Shinji? Yes. But for every descent there is an ascent, and we now have one full movie left to ascend.

I need to see the entirety of the third and fourth films, but I think I can do an analysis of how Eva breaks or inverts the Hero's Journey while Rebuild follows it more closely.

It sounds like 3.0 ends with The Belly of the Whale.

Kaworu fulfills the role of The Goddess. If the reading suggested here, that Shinji's attempt to rescue Rei did not merely threaten to end the world, but actually ended human civilization, then Rei is The Woman as Temptress.

Fuck me, I didn't even think of that. I need to think about this.

[Xard]

He knew she was the only other active pilot since Asuka was obviously in no position to fight, and it was his choice to abandon her, leaving her to fight angels completely on her own when he left Nerv. That was the key option there.

But he came back, just like in NGE. This isn't relevant at all. What is relevant is that Angel ate Eva and how Shinji reacted to this.


Basically the choice was between just terminating the Angel or going all crazy and trying to save her. Shinji chose the latter course.

But really, his defection - exactly same as in tv series - didn't determine anything on its own. Whether Zeruel chomped Rei (Rebuild) or not (NGE) was not in his control.

Sure, had he stayed fight would've gone down very differently. But same holds for NGE too in that respect.

[Kodaemon]

Note the question marks, WILLE don't even seem to be sure he's actually Shinji.

EDIT: Also, I wonder what BM-03 means. BM - possibly Black Moon?...

[StratoSakuya...AF]

I need to see the entirety of the third and fourth films, but I think I can do an analysis of how Eva breaks or inverts the Hero's Journey while Rebuild follows it more closely.

It sounds like 3.0 ends with The Belly of the Whale.

Kaworu fulfills the role of The Goddess. If the reading suggested here, that Shinji's attempt to rescue Rei did not merely threaten to end the world, but actually ended human civilization, then Rei is The Woman as Temptress.



That sounds like a pretty shit ending to me, given that it's easy, almost natural, to read it as "you're a fuckup and the world would be better off without you", since Shinji is an audience surrogate. Unless, in the process, he grants himself a second chance as well.

That would actually be a cathartic ending, as going through with that, especially if the next "trip" included no foreknowledge on his part and he would be rolling the dice on whether he gets it right next time, is the ultimate risk and works both as a metaphor for death itself and going outside and making friends, you shut in otaku people.

I feel Shinji will survive in the end and get a better life. If he does kill himself off however, I expect him to do it not because the world would be better without him, but because they need him and a suicidal tactic is the only answer left, so Shinji runs towards the danger, smiling, and knowing that as long as everybody lives, his sacrifice will be worth it.

I don't consider his sacrifice sad, Lelouch sacrificed himself, it wasn't bad. Similarly, he'd finally have the possibility to reunite with those he loved that died in the past. That's a nice ending.