Depressed and confused about EoE/wtf happened to Asuka?

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Depressed and confused about EoE/wtf happened to Asuka?

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Postby icarus_icarus » Sun Sep 21, 2014 3:44 am

Okay, so I just finished EoE. I am so fucking depressed. Does anyone have any kind words to lift my spirits? Also, why was Shinji choking Asuka at the end of the movie? To make sure it is reality, or what? Why is this series so depressingly beautiful? Why can't Asuka and Shinji just be together? Why did Shinji masterbate to Asuka instead of just telling her how he felt earlier and shit? Come on damn it! So frustrated and sad right now. Someone please explain stuff to me!

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Postby Monk Ed » Sun Sep 21, 2014 3:59 am

Oh boy. Where to begin? That's what like this whole forum is for.

Anyone who pops in here and starts explaining things to you like it's the definitive answer will be lying. What we have are competing hypotheses. Ultimately you just pick the one that makes the most sense to you or feels right to you. We all do it. This goes for everything from why Shinji choked Asuka on the beach to why toenail clippings don't turn into LCL.

If you want your spirits lifted, there are hopeful interpretations of the ending. One of these is that humanity will return, just as Rei and Kaworu promised Shinji during the ending. Lots of fanfics have been made exploring what a post-Third Impact world might be like. Our very own Bagheera's work-in-progress "Ghosts of Evangelion" is one such take, and likewise explores your other questions as well.

In my case, I didn't have the reaction you had. I understand that your reaction is pretty common, but it's always made me go "Wuh?". But my experience -- like everyone's, I guess -- was unique. Whenever I saw a character die with a ghostly Rei standing over them, I knew, somewhere in my heart, that everything would be okay, because I intuited that Rei (who doesn't trust Rei?) was doing something that would make it all turn out all right in the end, like collecting people's souls. When it turned out that that's what she was doing, and then she promised that all life would return and such... Well, I just didn't see any reason to be depressed, such that it didn't even enter my mind, and was surprised to learn that it's such a common reaction.

Actually, my reaction at the end of EoE was to jump up and keep repeating, "THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" and become a life-long fan of the whole thing.
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Postby Mr. Tines » Sun Sep 21, 2014 4:16 am

Shinji is Anno's self-insert; and EoE was put together when he was in the depths of a relapse into depression, as well as being a "so ronery" otaku -- it's really his art therapy, hence quite how raw and unsentimental it is.

Some related threads
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/2270/Passage-of-Time-EoE-Final-Scene/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/13181/End-of-Evangelion-ending/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/8283/EoE-last-scene/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/3858/Why-did-Asuka-reincarnate-on-that-beach/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/3323/Asuka-on-the-beach-tangent-split/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/8496/Finished-watching-TV-Series-and-The-End-of-EvaQUESTIONS/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/7776/Question-About-Asuka-at-the-End-of-EoE/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/1457/The-Ending-of-the-End-of-Evangelion/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/1558/AT-the-end-of-EoE/
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/459/Shinji-Asuka-and-Life-after-End-of-Evangelion-and-quot/

There are probably more of the "WTF did I just watch?" type threads, but this was just the first anthology list I could find.
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Postby Nuclear Lunchbox » Sun Sep 21, 2014 4:36 am

There's also the wiki, which can be helpful on this matter.

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Postby Mr. Tines » Sun Sep 21, 2014 4:40 am

^
Though that does provide the strictly factual, it's a least common denominator consensus when it comes to interpretations. Previous discussions have the full spectrum of views.
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Postby pwhodges » Sun Sep 21, 2014 4:41 am

You will also soon find yourself up against the other big question in this area: are the TV and film endings the same? In particular, in the TV ending did Shinji finally accept or reject instrumentality? Does instrumentality represent a good result or a bad one? Key word for that discussion is "concurrency".
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Postby Nuclear Lunchbox » Sun Sep 21, 2014 4:41 am

^^ Yup. While I don't know what's going on in Icarus's head, I found having all the facts laid in front of me was very useful when I was confronting all the opinions that we come up with here.

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Re: Depressed and confused about EoE/wtf happened to Asuka?

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Postby Mr. Tines » Sun Sep 21, 2014 1:51 pm

  • Does anyone have any kind words to lift my spirits?

    We know that feel, bro. We all went there one time.

  • Also, why was Shinji choking Asuka at the end of the movie? To make sure it is reality, or what?

    That was what the spin-off card set said; it's likely that he'd been on the beach for some weeks by himself (the phase of the moon suggests 2 weeks plus some number of months) -- his bugged-out expression suggests that his grip on reality was tenuous at best.
    Of course it could just be that he was tired of seeing phantoms (like the Rei that appeared as he sat up), or that he was just carrying on from where he'd left off in the kitchen scene, or that he remembered Asuka's previous parting line "But, if I have to be with you, I'd rather die!".

  • Why is this series so depressingly beautiful?

    Anno poured his soul into it.

  • Why can't Asuka and Shinji just be together?

    Because that strand of the story was awkwardly retconned in after the fact.

  • Why did Shinji masterbate to Asuka instead of just telling her how he felt earlier and shit?

    Because he's a shy lad, and she's way out of his league. And he's possibly a somnophile, given the events when Asuka stumbled into his bed during the sync training.
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Postby ThanatosII » Sun Sep 21, 2014 10:57 pm

I strongly suggest re-watching EoE. Whenever I feel down, EoE perks me up. Why? Yui-sama gives inspiring words; words that often go unnoticed and thus leads some viewers to believe EoE is dark-dark and gloomy of utter despair.
Now pay attention. Let Yui-sama lift the very whims of your soul and suppress those depressing thoughts you have about the end.

Yui: "Don't worry. All living things have the ability to return to their original form... and the heart to go on living.
Anywhere can be heaven as long as you have the will to live. After all, you're alive... and you can find the chance to achieve happiness anywhere. As long as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth exist, everything will be all right."


There you go. Asuka came back because she wanted to. Shinji came back because he wanted to. They're alive. They have a chance to make their own paradise. Everyone else has a chance to come back too.

EoE isn't so gloomy. Let Yui-sama caress your cheek as you turn over a new leaf in your life...
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Postby Monk Ed » Thu Sep 25, 2014 9:42 pm

Massive amount of content removed to form its own thread.
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