ritsumaya

For a variety of reasons. Once again, let’s take a look at both the canonical and the thematic reasons for Kaworu dying.

Canonical. One thing that you have to recall is that Kaworu’s life doesn’t actually revolve around Shinji. And people who love other people can be suicidal. [nervous laughter] Indeed, Kaworu has had issues over the course of the past fifteen years (much like Shinji); unfortunately, Kaworu keeps all issues and problems inside instead of showing them to … anyone.

Did you know that in the original draft of episode twenty-four, Kaworu wore long sleeves? At one point, a sleeve came up, and Shinji was able to see scars on the inside of Kaworu’s wrist. Kaworu said nothing and Shinji said nothing. Yet the point was there: Kaworu had far, far more going on inside than Shinji realised. Because, y’know, Hedgehog’s Dilemma and all of that.

Shinji saw exactly what he wanted to see: the perfect love interest to swoop him and validate him. Shinji neglected the child, just as broken and wounded as he was, who kept a kind, docile smile because that’s the only way they knew how to cope.

What an incredible question! The easiest way to answer will be to hit that scene directly and take a look. Besides, it’s an excuse for me to rewatch End of Evangelion: What’s not to love?

So, first question: Was Yui waiting specifically for Asuka to die, or was she waiting for a catalyst to get Shinji to move?

So, first question: Was Yui waiting specifically for Asuka to die, or was she waiting for a catalyst to get Shinji to move?

Let’s set up the scene. Misato pushes Shinji into the elevator and collapses to the ground, bleeding from a gunwound, dying. In the meantime Asuka faces the Mass Production EVA over the course of her five minutes. When Shinji arrives at the cage, however, he discovers that Unit-01 is covered in bakelite.

Despairing and taking the first opportunity possible as an excuse not to take any action whatsoever, Shinji curls up to await death.

The Mass Production EVA slaughter Asuka.

Here’s an important part: Shinji and Yui are keeping tabs on what’s happening outside, even if Shinji doesn’t recognise the implications. Maya (Lieutenant Ibuki) is giving them updates on the situation. It’s not that Yui has some sort of “sixth sense” about Asuka’s death. She’s listening.

Maya can’t quite complete hir statements. But for Shinji, it’s enough; the Second Children is dead, and the Third Children responds not with grief but with a rationalisation (Shinji’s too far gone for anything and at this point I don’t blame him—there’s legitimately nothing he can do, unless the EVA were to move on her own):

So Asuka’s death isn’t the catalyst for Shinji to act. In fact, it was the epiphany that Asuka’s still alive that finally prompted Shinji to yelp her name and “awaken” from his nadir in the earlier scene in Misato’s car. His motivation is to ensure she doesn’t die. And so, when she does, Shinji slips back into the realms of apathy and depression.

At that exact moment of Asuka’s death, Yui takes advantage of the S2 engine she consumed from Zeruel’s core. Since she doesn’t have to rely on the umbilical cord or on the “five minute rule” any longer, she’s … well, free to do whatever she wants. In other words she’s no longer bound by the presence of a pilot (the existence of “mother” depends upon the existence of “child”) but can move freely.

Ikari Yui: now with unlimited energy!

Yui could have done that at any point. The sudden violent upheaval of the bakelite more or less confirms that she wasn’t “trying” and then barely broke through at that point. And importantly, Asuka’s death had the opposite effectof catalysing Shinji.

Forcibly taking Shinji into herself (uh, not like that, although symbolically, between the death of the father and the, a-hem, everything else, Evangeliondoes point out the representative fantastic ‘dream-world’ of Freud only to smack it on the rear and throw it out with the garbage once Shinji rejects it, but anyway), Yui rises to resonate with the Mass Production EVA and take the Seed of Life into herself to become an actualised god. Phew.

I’m not certain what conclusion we could draw other than the fact that she was waiting for Asuka to die.

The second part of that question, then, is why would Yui do so? Answer: for the benefit of humanity.

I’m going to go ahead and disclaimer this section by stating that as much as I agree with her view that “anywhere can be paradise”, I disagree with her utilitarianism.

Now, Yui to some extent appears (I say appears because it’s difficult to analyse a character whose appearances are mostly marked through the filtrated realties of others) to embrace utilitarianism, a philosophy in which happiness is maximised. In other words, it’s perfectly moral and just to allow the suffering of one or a minority in exchange for the happiness and peace of the majority. To use a rephrased quote by one of my least favourites authors of all time, a utilitarian would kill a billion in order to bring about the conditions that would cause the rise of a billion and one.

And Yui, the daughter of a prominent member of SEELE, believed that Instrumentality and immortality would be the saviours of humanity. Hence, the suffering of a few individuals (Asuka, Shinji, and so on) means nothing, because Instrumentality would help all of humanity.

Why was Yui waiting for Asuka to die? The Mass Production EVA were needed to jump-start Instrumentality. If Shinji were to end up out there in Unit-01, he could have successfully assisted Asuka in repelling them, which would have stopped Instrumentality in its tracks (in NGE2, that’s one of the requirements for the best ending, in fact).

But was Yui really waiting for Asuka to ‘die’? Not quite. First of all Yui knew—if not knew, then she definitely was hedging her life and humanity on an educated guess—that Asuka would appear in Instrumentality nonetheless. In Yui’s mind, she was causing Asuka temporary pain in exchange for infinite pleasure.

Indeed, even if Instrumentality were rejected, Asuka would still pop back on shore a changed person. Which is what happens. As Yui points out …

… which in turn is a direct restatement of her earlier philosophy. After Gendo expresses his doubt and concern for his son (a lot can change in fourteen years),

Yui gently quiets him.

I suspect that it might actually be the same quote, but someone who knows Japanese will have to help me on that count. It’s a step-by-step restatement, in any case.

Why is Yui trying to become immortal then? Because whereas this version of existence depends upon certain external conditions being met …

… this version of existence does not. It’s a direct parallel—or anti-parallel, of sorts.

For Shinji, just the promise of existence in his life is enough. The Sun, the Moon, and the Earth. For Yui, a monument to humanity must exist somewhere, lest the universe forget of our hopes, our fears, our accomplishments, our failures, our love.

-

By the way, I’m not defending her actions, but explaining her actions from her perspective. As much as I respect and admire Yui for being one of the most incredible characters on Evangelion, I would never, ever, ever let her around the kids.

(If you ask me personally, as in, if you ask tumblr user GC fiendswithbenefits, I agree with Shinji. Let the universe swallow us whole and paint us small and insignificant against the abyss of the stars. Because wenot the centre of the universe and so we must help one another and find compassion for ourselves and our fellow living beings, because the cold universe will not. I’m not being cynical here, by the way. I’m quite a fan of the universe, cold and apathetic as it may be.)

This one is about AT fields, what they’re probably made of, and why things like a Prog Knife or the Positron Laser Cannon can penetrate it.

After checking my idea with fiendswithbenefits to make sure I wasn’t making some kind of ridiculous claim (because I’m not a physicist), I am now able to present you with: The Making of the AT Field.

As most of you probably know, the AT Field is a near invincible barrier wielded by Angels and Evangelions, although less extensively by the latter. Explosives and N2 mines are practically useless against the field, requiring an Evangelion Prog knife to penetrate it. Up until now, most of you probably didn’t think such a thing was possible with modern technology. Although we lack the ability to form an AT field at this time, we can investigate what it’s composed of and why it works as it does.

During research for a previous post on pocket dimensions, a unique particle known as a positron was frequently mentioned. Described as the antimatter form of an electron, a positron is a positively charged particle, which upon contact with electrons, destroys both itself and the electron. With this in mind, all materials that are relevant to this contain electrons, including missiles, bullets, N2 mines/bombs, and Evangelion fists. So, when these things collide with the AT field, their electrons are destroyed and they fall apart at an atomic level. The AT field doesn’t suffer this effect due to the fact that the Angel’s S2 engines most likely produce a constant supply of positrons, rendering these weapons useless due to the small number of positrons they destroy.

The Evangelion Prog Knife is a different story, capable of cleaving away layers of positrons with each slash. This is most likely due to the blade being heavily charged with electrons, giving it the “vibrating” effect noted by Kensuke in the early episodes. This is due to the fast movement of the excited electrons, resulting in the very material of the blade appearing as if it’s moving. This also applies to the bayonet on Mari’s rifle used against Zeruel, and the bolts that particular weapon fires. The Progressive effect doesn’t apply to Evangelion standard rifles, miniguns, or various other pointy tools seen in the series and films. The positron rifle was able to penetrate Ramiel’s field due to it’s blast being made of positrons as well, allowing it to slip through the AT field and anhiallate a chunk of it’s S2 engine.

The Evangelion AT field is the perfect counter to those used by the Angels, due to them being made of the same substance. Imagine two small soap bubbles combining into one larger bubble, although not a perfect example, it provides a similar image to how Evangelions are able to penetrate most Angelic AT fields. It’s interesting that this method was not attempted on Zeruel, as at no point in the fight did Mari attempt to activate Unit 02’s field. Whether or not it would have been successful due to the sheer number of positrons in it’s field remains a mystery.

In the real world, positrons are made by beta decay in laboratory experiments but are usually destroyed almost immediately by surrounding electrons. Experiments with them have been conducted in the Large Hadron Collider, and due to the ways we have discovered in producing positrons, it gives us insight on the type of reactions occurring in S2 engines. The laser weapons are likely projected beams of positrons, explaining how they can rip through things such as the Geofront Pyramid with relative ease.

Mm, you know, I honestly hadn’t quite considered that before. It’s true that Toji appears more down to Earth and ready to accept reality as is.

Yet Toji, too, is a product of the constraints placed upon him in the Hedgehog’s Dilemma society, regarding the manner in which he filters reality through “violence” and his seemingly intrinsic masculinity. On the former he not only hits Shinji to work out his emotions but also has Shinji hit him back in order to establish a line of communication between them, and so on: Since he cannot interact with another human being on an emotionally open level, he does so via the proxy of “masculine” contact (e.g. violence). Indeed, by placing full responsibility of his sister’s hospitalisation on Shinji, Toji narrows a grey worldview (what about the angel? What about NERV having forced Shinji to pilot? Could Toji have acted more responsibly during the attack and thereby prevented his sister from being wounded? and so on) into an extremely black-and-white portrait that transfers the full weight of responsibility to Shinji. Unfairly to Shinji. Narrowing one’s perception of reality? Hm.

His blatant refusal to consider anything feminine (a trait carried over for comedic purposes to the Rebuilds) is linked to his filtration of reality. In this case he has squeezed himself into the box of masculine-approved activities and feelings, perceiving his world as split into a non-existent duality.

Moreover Toji suffers from the Hedgehog’s Dilemma as well. Not only does he hide the truth of his pilothood from Kensuke and Shinji (the former of which is wholly apathetic, the latter of which does not know and cannot ask Toji why he’s been so downcast recently, because that would open a mode of communication unacceptable to a reality filtered through “masculinity”), but he and Hikari likewise dance through their communication with one another. Hikari communicates through her filtration of reality. Toji, through his. As a result their “relationship” is one of gently dancing around each other instead of truly expressing their feelings.

The sequence of Hikari humming happily as she prepares lunch, firm in her belief that she has at last made a break-through in her relation with Toji, while Toji is nearly dying in the EVA, is horrifying.

Hedgehog’s Dilemma indeed.

Yet Toji also takes part in one of the most bizarre sequences in all of Evangelion. While in the hospital, Toji has a moment of pre-Instrumentality, where he momentarily exists in the boundaries of Shinji’s Hell Train. The sequence itself is brief: Toji recognise Shinji and wonders what they’re doing here. But given what we know of Instrumentality—specifically, what Instrumentality represents (gaining empathy first for yourself and then for everyone)—that short clip supports that Toji has begun to resolve the Hedgehog’s Dilemma and cease to filter his reality.

Canonically, he and Kensuke aren’t seen again. Toji’s hospitalised and eventually moves away. Kensuke also moves away. Hikari sticks around enough to provide an escape for Asuka, but after Asuka flees the Horaki household, they, too, move away (taking Pen2 with them). At least they’re around in Instrumentality.

Oh my. That question’s a bit of a doozy, and I’m glad that someone has asked this. A bit of analysis and personal rambling under the cut, with warnings for #misogyny, #objectification, and the like. I will not include any images, because I have no interest in spreading nsfw stuff on my blog, but there will be some in-depth discussion.

Oh my. That question’s a bit of a doozy, and I’m glad that someone has asked this. A bit of analysis and personal rambling under the cut, with warnings for #misogyny, #objectification, and the like. I will not include any images, because I have no interest in spreading nsfw stuff on my blog, but there will be some in-depth discussion.

Ah, but of course! I wouldn’t assume that you meant it in a bad way; after all, it doesn’t seem like a bit of a far-fetched headcanon, doesn’t it? Especially considering that the character we see in the show appears to be … anything but.

(Hm, I’ve been talking much more about Kaji than I previously have. Now my whole quirk about referring to everyone by first name save for Kaji and Fuyutsuki is bothering me. Oh well.)

But, like most of my headcanons (save for the ones that are simply wish fulfilment), it does have some basis in canon. To begin, I’m going to assume that you’ve read That Really Important Kaji Analysis by fujiij. If not, now’s the perfect chance to do so.

(In other words, please read it, because I’m going to be referencing it extensively.)

I really love any headcanon/inference that Kaji falls somewhere between ace, to gray-ace, to demisexual, and I’d like to add in a few observations, since I have the convenience of visual guides laying around.

Now, we’re operating under the backdrop of understanding that in true Geminial fashion, Kaji has an urge to disguise his true intent by forging scenario-specific personalities depending on who he’s talking to and/or what he wants to hide. I only bring that up, because each of these scenes aren’t 100% conclusive when taken separately. But if you’re already mindful of Kaji’s aforementioned duplicity, things start to make a lot of sense.

Ok. I would say that all in all, Kaji has four “sex scenes” — in Episode 15, Episode 20, Episode 22, and End of Evangelion, respectively. Yes, no one is having sex in Episode 15 and 22, but I consider them “spiritually” thematic, because they are evidential when contrasted with a complementary sex scene (Episode 15 -> Episode 25; and Episode 22 —> Episode 25’). However, I won’t get into the specifics of Episode 15 here, since it diverges somewhat from the topic.

Let’s start with Episode 20, because it provides the most clues, for the most obvious reasons. We know Kaji and Misato just had sex — there’s a used condom wrapper that can be seen in the corner of the screen, plus this half a second cut from EOE more or less provides visual confirmation. The sex scene in Episode 20 is supposed to cement a basis that Misato is truly a Sexual Being® and Kaji is truly… well, Less So®. Which challenges their respective “NERV” personas: wherein Misato sheds (in her mind) her less-than-admirable habits to become a No-Nonsense Tactical Major, and Kaji does the opposite — shedding his more passive, nurturing temperaments to become a textbook image of Unhampered Masculinity and Promiscuity.  

Anyway. Belying his words, we know Kaji didn’t come meet Misato for sex, because he brings the pill. The data pill. He brought it with him ahead of time, and if the line “I can’t tell you in a place like this” is any judge, he probably knew ahead of time that he would be observed by NERV or SEELE or both (which means the enigmatic “They” very much watched Misato and Kaji have sex at the motel; which should come as no shock considering what SEELE did to Ritsuko in Episode 23).

If you turn the volume up to the highest dial and listen to this scene (which I don’t recommend under any circumstances, unless you live alone and have a high tolerance for second-hand embarrassment) it becomes apparent that this is, thematically, for Misato and only Misato. Kaji’s voice is never heard in his sex scenes. The sounds of pleasure are Misato’s… and afterwards?

This cut is a visual precursor (technically, call-back) to this cut:

Not just visual, too:

  KAJI (EPISODE 20): Well, I’m honored.

  KAJI (EPISODE 22): Well, I’m honored.

Most people chalk up Kaji’s blasé, “I don’t want to be here; I want to go home and watch Netflix” post-coital-tristesse to the fact that he was dismayed at the prospects of dying tomorrow morning. Yet, that conclusion is flimsy at best, because it says nothing of the auditory and visual ties to Kaji and Asuka’s scene, wherein Kaji’s measure of libido amounts to zero. Notice also, that in Episode 20, Kaji goes on to elaborate that he is honored “to be used by a lady.” Like GC said, Kaji is highly cognizant of the fact that Misato is highly sexual; and unlike with Asuka, he is (obviously) much more amiable to play his role as a sexual partner.

We are treated to another Kaji/Misato sex scene in End of Evangelion. This time, it’s 2008, and they’re college aged. Like Episode 20 and 22, the auditory and visual clues are telling.

It’s no coincidence we’re focusing in on an electric fan, here — just as coffee functions as a symbolic window to Kaji’s “sincere” side, so too do fans. Remember, he dies in front of a giant one. And again, if one were to listen to this scene at max volume, it is clear that Kaji’s tone is hardly what you would call eager, passionate, or enthusiastic. Against all expectations culled from his machismo-fueled persona, Kaji is marked by remarkably low functioning desire, with Misato heartily beckoning him to the call.

Ever since I wrote up that piece on the Hedgehog’s Dilemma and the Cruel Angel’s Thesis of Evangelion—well, actually, ever since I started writing analysis of Evangelion, if we’re going to be perfectly honest about these things—I’ve been dreading the day that someone would ask me this particular question.

So kudos to you for asking it, and anti-kudos to me I suppose for answering it.

Answer below the cut. If you prefer happy kawo/shins, I advise you to turn back immediately.

Oh boy! This is one of those big questions about End of Evangelion, isn’t it? To be honest, I’m still mulling over the exact purpose of the live action sequences, so I might change this later, but I can take a stab at it!

What’s the purpose of the “real life” sections? Like most things in Evangelion, we need to look at it through both an internal (e.g. why is it literally happening in the story) and an external (e.g. why did Anno and the Project EVA crew put it into the story) lens.

About three-quarters of the way through End of Evangelion, the film breaks one of those Great Big Rules About Animation. Of course, End of Evangelionin general breaks far too many Great Big Rules About Literature And Film than I would care to list. But this one’s pretty damn major: End of Evangelionincludes a live-action sequence. And not merely a live-action sequence, but one that actively calls out the viewers of Evangelion directly to their faces.

Yeah, you know that one shot that pans through the whole bluish cinema centre? That was taken at a showing of Evangelion: Death and Rebirth.

This shot! See the guy in the front who has brought his entire armada of plushies for company? It’s an Evangelion showing.

And, of course, there’s the entire “Anno flashes a bunch of mail from his fans, including death threats” aspect of it. It’s that moment wherein Anno reaches his hands through the screen and presents the viewer with reality, no matter how much we might tried to silence him.

So imagine that you’re a self-proclaimed otaku in 1997. Imagine that you’ve spent so much money purchasing merchandise and sending Evangelion to popularity, fame, and success. Imagine that you’ve come to depend onEvangelion as an escape from the shitty reality of your life. And then, as you’re sitting in a film theatre, you’re suddenly confronted with reality.

What the hell, you’re thinking. I came here to get away from reality, not see it on screen. Eh, they did in episode twenty-six. It’s that same deep, pretentious stuff.

Then out of nowhere you’re confronted with a pan of people just like you, which may even include you. You’re reminded of who you are and what you are. You’re reminded that you exist; that you’re real; and that you’re only here to escape life because you hate yourself.

So from an external perspective, it’s the entire theme about the perception of reality. Stop filtering reality, says Evangelion, and accept your life so that you can improve yourself. You won’t find happiness in manga and otaku culture, says Evangelion, but as long as you chose to reject escapism and go out and grab life, you have a chance to be happy. That’s the thematic “purpose” of the real-life scenes.

Internally, the “real world” is presented as an alternate timeline of sorts. Although the original version included a far longer real-life sequence that included real-life actors, actresses, and actrettes portraying the Evangelioncharacters (not unlike that voice-actor-made Fullmetal Alchemist film), where they would have shown the power of circumstance (in this other timeline, for example, Asuka somehow ended up dating Toji of all people, because love is ultimately circumstance and anywhere can be paradise as long as you’re alive [side-eyes Rebuild of Evangelion’s depiction of Shinji and Kaworu as soulmates]), the finished product gets through the same via the dialogue in as a compact amount of space as possible.

It’s more or less like Kaworu and Rei pulling a Ghost of Christmases Past, Present, and Future. But not to guilt trip Shinji. Rather, the two guide Shinji towards understanding that one must reject death and must reject escapism, that one must live life, that one must see reality as it is. And in the context, Shinji’s realisation about reality happens in the literal reality—that switch from the escapism animation to the true reality—to drive home the point. We switch back because Evangelion is an animated feature, but its thematic purpose as a set piece is complete.

Does that make sense?

As for the end of the television series, I would agree to some extent.Evangelion isn’t over until End of Evangelion as far as I’m concerned; neither one works without the other. After all, End of Evangelion is the original conceived ending which the project was unable to accomplish due to budgetary constraints and other executive meddling. However, I’m ultimately glad that things worked out the way they did, since if the members of Project EVA had had a full budget, we might never have gotten episodes twenty-five and twenty-six.

Which are also instrumental (heheh) to Evangelion.

Episodes twenty-five and twenty-six and End of Evangelion have an incredible synergy; the oft-repeated generalisation that “the film depicts the ‘outside’ whilst the anime depicts the ‘inside’” is rather true. I can tell you, personally, that Evangelion likely wouldn’t have left such a major impact (heheh) on me if either the film or the last two episodes didn’t exist.

So, do I think that the last two episodes didn’t, mm, wrap up the plot? They didn’t, no. But not in the way that you think I mean it.

Evangelion, ultimately, isn’t about the science fiction or the political intrigue or anything of that sort. It’s a mental, emotional, and psychological scrap of humanity laid out bare for us to examine before being tossed whole into a labyrinth of chainsaws and glued together with fire and giant robot battles. The “point” of the anime is the psychological stuff, in other words.

The intrigue about the First Ancestral Race, the stuff about whether NERV or SEELE conquered the world in the end, the “religious metaphor” stuff that seems to be everyone in the west’s reason for thinking that Evangelion is deep (the Judeo-christian religious aesthetic is just that and nothing more: an aesthetic for the anime’s art to take after, as well as for some basic symbolism and foreshadowing in the New Theatricals, wherein the religious symbolism has been taken slightly more seriously, but anyway) … none of that matters. At all. One iota. Whatsoever.

It’s all about the emotions.

So yes, the anime absolutely wrapped up the developmental arcs of the characters. However, I’m talking about the intrapersonal arcs here: the arcs that deal with one individual and one individual only, the instrumentality of their soul.

But the plot isn’t done yet.

End of Evangelion is absolutely and completely necessary because the brilliance of that film climaxes not with episode 25’ but with the completion of the interpersonal—between people—and overall thematic arcs.

The film excellently closes Shinji and Asuka’s arc; Shinji and Rei’s arc; Shinji and Misato’s arc; Rei and Gendo’s arc; Ritsuko and Gendo’s arc; Asuka and Kaji’s arc; Rei and Kaworu’s arc; and more. And, of course, the film also rounds out the other thematic messages of Evangelion, including rejection from the mother and a filtration of reality in terms of how one views others, which the anime ending either neglected or only touched upon briefly.

In short, the ending to the original anime concerns itself with filtration of reality of oneself, of accepting oneself, and of loving oneself. The film, End of Evangelion, concerns itself with the filtration of the rest of reality and of other people, including the resolution of the Hedgehog’s Dilemma.

So when people say, “the film depicts the ‘outside’ whilst the anime depicts the ‘inside’,” they’re much more right than they think.

You know, you should never, ever be worried about asking the same question more than once. After all, if something like that happens, I’ll simply point you in the right direction. Or I’ll have slightly altered/deepened my understanding of the topic. It happens all of the time, y’know!

(That said, I truly do need to go back and fix up my analysis masterpost, don’t I? I’ve probably accumulated something like double the analyses by now. Oops!)

EVA manga spoilers ahoy!

Oh, thank you so much! Hm, let’s see. First of all I need to warn you that I don’t know Japanese and that everything I’m going to tell you here, I’ve read in other places and heard from other people. But I have done my research on the topic as well. Still, if I’m wrong in any form or fashion, please correct me!

All I know is that the day 4.0 drops, this is going to be me:

Answer under the cut.

Hm. Well, we definitely know that Kaworu was a part of Instrumentality from End of Evangelion, and we also know that Shinji didn’t get to see Kaworu talking to him during the entire Instrumentality sequence in episode twenty-six (yes, I know, Instrumentality spans both episodes, but here I’m referring to the part where you get to see all of the characters stand around offering Shinji advice, as the “Ikari Shinji” in everyone else’s heads is presumably doing for them, in a manner of speaking).

We don’t see Kaworu doing that and so we don’t see Kaworu in the entire “omedetou” sequence either. So, why?

3.33 Kaworu really makes me want to bite through my space bar and ascend to the next direction of pure, unadulterated anger. Certainly, characterisation in the Rebuild of Evangelion series in general was almost certainly intended to piss off fans (or rather, to pander to certain demographics to showcase how incorrect those demographics’ views of “what Evangelion should be” are, but that’s another post for another time and is more speculation of Studio Khara’s motives than actual analysis/etc.), but 3.33 Kaworu/Qworu strikes me as a particularly obvious example.

Brief discussion of anime Kaworu, Q Kaworu, and the disparities therein below the cut.

I have to admit that I’ve been dreading answering this question ever since it popped into my inbox, but I’m glad that you asked. The immediate reaction is to say, “Of course they’ll come back! Of course! We need a happy ending!”

But the true answer? No. Not at all.

Explanation under the cut.

Kaworu/Adam, the mother of the angels, and Rei/Lilith, the mother of the lilim, both necessarily represent mother figures in the course of Evangelion. And we can even broaden that out to be parental figures, figures which die and which must be given up.

After all, the thesis of Evangelion is the rejection of the mother and the escape from the filtered-reality womb of the EVA. One has to reject the mother, has to drift away from the mother, has to become one’s own person.

It’s why Gendo get tossed into the metaphorical dumpster:

He refused to let go of Yui, that perfect love interest, always framed in a delicate light (haha not really, but you can read my Yui analysis for that), and clearly representative of the mother. Gendo was willing to throw his own child under the bus, was willing to throw all of humanity and the angels under the bus, was willing to throw his life and happiness under the bus, all for Yui’s sake. Which isn’t how to live life. Don’t waste it on searching for what you perceive to be perfect paradise, because it doesn’t exist.

It’s the same thing with Rei and with Kaworu. Rei is linked to Yui by image and by mother-like significant to Shinji; ze dies because of the mother thing. After all, Rei, too, is akin to that perfect person by the end of the story, likewise offering all of humanity zir unconditional love, and keeping all of humanity in zir womb (the Black Moon; when the Black Moon is destroyed, it bleeds over Rei in a manner very reminiscent of a bloody birth). The perfect fantasy of Rei and Instrumentality must fall for humanity to be born in the true reality.

Kaworu is “the same as [Rei]”, the mother of the angels, and that perfect love interest who provides Shinji with unconditional love, a love which necessarily can’t exist. Shinji has to reject Kaworu, too, because such unconditional love can’t exist. (Which is not to say that Shinji has to reject a “boy” in favour of being HeteroStraight, given that Shinji rejects Rei too, and considering the Kaji thing: Shinji’s absolutely bi. The ace space antichrist’s unconditional love, however, can’t exist in reality.)

Bringing them back would break the thesis of rejecting the escapist paradise/death in favour of reality. Y’know?

Besides, on a practical level, Rei and Kaworu’s bodies weren’t “tanged” (turned into the orange LCL-ish stuff), so the chemical makeup of their bodies doesn’t exist within the LCL. And beyond that, Rei and Kaworu also sacrificed themselves to ensure that a war between the lilim and the angels would never again occur. If they were to return, they’d run the risk of Impacts and all of that nonsense happening all over again.

The short answer? No, they’re not coming out.

On the flipside, they could likely come back as merely regular lilim with all of the problems associated with regular lilim, and I enjoy seeing fanworks that handle this issue well (no more unconditional love and perfect love interest, ho!). But there’s little evidence of that within the actual text, because thematics.

and why this one gif is sad as hell

Notice what’s in the water shadow’s? That’s the swing from the infamous sandbox scene in EoE

Thank you so much! I’m glad that you’re enjoying my analyses. Ahh hm, well, I did write an entire analysis breaking down the main theses of Evangelion, but to recap:

We (humanity) filter reality in order to pick out whatever we want to see of our lives and of other people.

This makes us unwilling to see one another as they truly are and unwilling to allow others to see our true selves.

This isolates us and causes us to become depressed, seek validation from any source, and lash out at others, starting up a vicious cycle of false confidence followed by destruction, which can eventually lead to us hurting each other and ourselves to a point of death.

In order to break out of this cycle, you have to accept reality for what it is. You have to reject the mother (reject the safety of escapism and the womb of unconditional love and safety).

You have to learn to love yourself. And then you have to live life, understanding that you’ll be seeking happiness forever and that you’ll continue to hurt one another.

But if you love yourself and if you understand that the journey (life) is more important than the destination (happiness, which isn’t guaranteed), then you will most likely learn to love others and one day attain True Happiness in the Real World instead of false validation and isolated escapism.

Don’t die. Live. And love yourself. The true you, not any kind of false you, but the you that you are. And then make yourself better, loving yourself.

That’s it. That's Evangelion. The other things that you mentioned (Kaworu and Shinji’s relationships, the conflict between the angels and the lilim, etc.) are all parts that somehow figure into the larger thesis of rejecting escapsim/suicide and loving yourself.

And the New Theatricals don’t actually answer, ahem, much of anything. Actually, the themes of Evangelion kind of left the building as of the Rebuilds. That might change come 4.44, so I’m going to reserve judgment until then.

She literally has just as much hurt and depression and anxiety in her life, she saw her mother die too, she had her father abandon her too, and she didn’t even get invited back by him to pilot a robot, like with Shinji and Gendo.

(I’m not including your name because I’d rather not draw unnecessary attention to you.)

People do not love Asuka. Perhaps you survive in a small microcosm of tumblr wherein everyone loves and fiercely defends female characters, but from what I’ve seen in my forays throughout the greater Evangelion fandom, people usually respond to Asuka in two different ways.

They sexualise the everloving fuck out of her (which is probably where you’re getting the “everyone loves her!” bit. No, they don’t love her. They think she’s hot, the way that most men treat female characters, which is a far cry from defending Asuka and actually understanding her).

They call her a b*tch

In the most popular works/depictions of Asuka, she’s reduced to a generic tsundere waifu who longs for Shinji’s dickari (I’m looking at you, ReTake, but also at the general trend). In other depictions, she’s typically villainised, particularly in kawo/shin works and doujin, if she’s present or relevant at all.

I agree that Shinji needs defending, but holy hell, I’ve seen people make Shinji out to be some kind of defenceless angel. Just like Asuka, he’s done some shit. Both he and Asuka are in the position of the abuser and in the position of the abused, as most people in reality are. Simplifying Shinji into a truly wide-eyed innocent naive kid who has never done anything and simplifying Asuka into a not-really-abrasive kid who doesn’t have severe issues in of herself is fucking bullshit (thanks, Rebuild of Evangelion).

I’ve seen so much defence of Shinji. I’ve seen people defending Shinji for choking Asuka (because she was being a b*tch to him! It’s not as if she was, you know, rightfully calling him out on his bullshit behaviour) and defending Shinji for sexualising Rei, Asuka, and Misato and being angry at them that they’re “keeping things ambiguous behind smiles”(because he’s “just a normal kid” or, worse yet, because he’s “gay and boo hoo my gay angel couldn’t possibly do anything”). And so on and so forth.

What happens with Shinji is that people tend to defend him for the misogynistic shit and then trash him for the depression/mental illness shit. Well, guess what? Asuka is also depressed and suffers from mental illness. But just like how tumblr is quick to defend depression and anxiety whilst being extremely ableist to the “Bad Cr*zies”, people defend Shinji for his quiet depression and avoidant personaity disorder and anxiety issues even as they laugh at and bash Asuka for being unable to handle Arael or desiring recognition or having a breakdown about not being number one or wanting Kaji’s attention or, you know, all of her histrionic personality disorder.

Fuckin’ hell, even in the 90s, before the internet was really a thing, there was a website called the “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Shinji Ikari” or something like that where the entire fucking website was run by Evangelion fans who would write novels defending Shinji without ever once considering Asuka. One of the most common defences of Shinji was that it didn’t matter what he did to Asuka because Asuka had been a b*tch to him. Did you know that at one showing of End of Evangelion people started clapping - fucking clapping - when Shinji choked Asuka? Hmm? I wonder why.

I understand if you dislike Asuka because she has legitimately done Some Stuff. But in the same vein you should dislike Shinji. After all, the Evangelion characters weren’t designed to be likeable. What grinds me down is that if Asuka were male, then you know for a fact that “he” would be a fan favourite and everyone would defend “him” for being a douchebag because “no his mother is dead and he’s just poor and misunderstood!”

But they don’t. They either destroy her by turning her into a sextoy or they call her out on being abusive even whilst they turn around and praise Shinji to hell and back. Maybe you haven’t seen the Asuka hate, but I have, first-hand, and it is horrendous.

I’m glad that you’ve been sheltered from the Asuka hate, but no, Asuka (and Rei, and Misato) need so much more defence. Does Shinji need defence? Sure. But I haven’t actually seen someone unironically call Shinji whiny or a crybaby or any of that shit in years. You know what I have seen, even on fucking tumblr dot com?

Why the fuck do you think that Asuka literally says

when she’s running back to inform her mother that she’s been selected to be a pilot (oh, yeah, because at such a young age she was already fucking terrified about failure and having to provide with her family while Shinji was off having a normal life, which he describes as content, with his teacher) only to discover her mother's freshly dead body awaiting her at home?

Asuka then essentially had to forge out on her own because her father barely took care of her beyond the superficial and Asuka clearly never forgave him for abandoning herself and her mother. By contrast Shinji “witnessed” his mother’s death but not in the bloody, traumatic, “have fun cleaning up your mother’s dead body” kind of way and seems to barely remember the death, whereas Asuka recalls the funeral sharply enough that she had to repress the memories deep down and still they emerge to cut into her. Shinji spent the next decade living a peaceful life as Asuka battled to be the best of the best to become a pilot, because that’s all she’s ever been of worth to anyone.

Asuka’s perfectly right in her complaint that Shinji and Rei simply got in because Gendo wanted them to. By contrast, Asuka earned her way in over her entire life, struggling and forcing herself to succeed, and placing her entire worth on being number fucking one. Do you know the stress that that places on people?