Floating Bubbles

when people say “asuka abused shinji”, i almost want to ask: what exactly are you referring to when you use a loaded term for a traumatized 13 year old girl in reference to her incredibly complex dynamic with a boy who would later go on and attempt to kill her twice? the fact that asuka is seemingly louder, more abrasive, and more unapologetically bitter than the seemingly meek, soft-willed shinji? is that abuse? the fact that asuka calls shinji stupid? is that abuse?

the fact that asuka doesn’t screen her righteous anger through a filter of kindness when she calls shinji out for his shit? is that abuse? or is it asuka, physically pushing shinji away from her after he invades her space and demands that she be nice to him? is that abuse? 

when shinji sexually assaulted asuka at her lowest point? did asuka abuse shinji? when shinji tried to kill asuka for not shutting up as she yells at him for objectifying her? when shinji tried to kill asuka again, after figuring out that he’ll be stuck with her for an indefinite period of time? did asuka abuse shinji with her response - a gentle stroke of the cheek, that frankly, shinji did not deserve?

the best thing about evangelion is that every single character is initially introduced as having a “superficial self” up until the point where that shatters, and it is revealed to the audience that their ‘true self’ is in fact the exact opposite of their superficial self. shinji ikari, for all his pain and suffering and trauma, is introduced as the meek nonviolent boy inclined to retreat from any and all contact. up until anno rips the rug from underneath us – shinji ikari, quickly jumping on the chance to hurt asuka when it finally dawns on him that she’ll never be who he wants her to be. asuka? asuka is introduced as the violent and self-absorbed girl – a stark contrast to shinji – until that, too, crumbles. cue the last scene in end of evangelion: shinji’s trying to kill asuka –shinji’s literally the manifestation of every stereotype normally attributed to asuka, here – and what does asuka do? she responds with clemency and mercy and grace. she caresses his face. the real shinji (all bite, no bark) vs the real asuka (all bark, no bite).

and then – just like that – the story of evangelion ends.

So I’m sure most NGE fans browsing the tags here already know about the Shinji=Eve theory that was written by sass-master-stevens and further analyzed by kawosheen not too long ago.  That Shinji is or has become a FAR like Kaworu and Rei in Rebuild, explaining the weird circumstances of him being an impact trigger, awakening evas, spouting glowy red eyes and of course being the “Eve” to Kaworu’s “Adam” and so on.  This post will be a meta essay pertaining to this theory.

 And even though the text below was originally a reply to sass-master-steven’s and kawosheen’s findings (which you can read here and here if you haven’t already,) this summary was originally written ass a reply to their posts.  But because nobody really reads the reblogs anyway, I thought it would be better to copy+paste my reply and then some into the main tags to generate some good old-fashioned discussion.

Because sass-master-stevens and kawosheen have already done an amazing job at pointing out all of the biblical, symbolical and mythological imagery supporting this theory, this analysis is going to more into the ‘factual” side of things, such as small details or lines have gone unnoticed in Rebuilds (despite bearing fridge-horror levels of extreme importance.)  There is so much that has been speculated and mentioned on various sites and eva-related discussions that I might even write a series of posts pertaining this, since this is a theory has rapidly gained ground and popularity on /cm/ and now tumblr.

Because I can say without a doubt there’s definitely something weird going on with Shinji.

(More below the cut, because it’s one mountain of an analysis.)

Because there’s definitely something weird going on with Shinji.

…WOW. THAT’S SERIOUSLY AWESOME. Whenever I see his films now I’m just gonna be looking for Unit 01, haha.