Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Neon Genesis: Evangelion is a mid 1990s Japanese Anime created by Hideaki Anno that later spawned a franchise of Manga and Movies.
Summary
In 2015, 15 years after the second impact that melted Antarctica which flooded most of the world, 14-year old Shinji Ikari is tasked by NERV to pilot an Evangelion robot to fight the angels who are said to bring the third impact which will destroy humanity. Shinji refuses, but capitulates after seeing NERV will put an injured pilot named Rei Ayanami there instead. Shinji then lives with a NERV Captain named Misato Katsuragi because his father Commander Gendo Ikari doesn't see him as the child he wanted with his late wife Yui. Over the while, Shinji gets a roommate from Germany who's around his age, being Asuka Langley Soryu who is also an Evangelion pilot, but the two hate each other, with Asuka dubbing Shinji "Idiot Shinji."
In the final episodes, we learn more backstory on Asuka who like Shinji, lost her mother at a young age, and had no one to talk to. However, she copes by acting 'mature' which leads to her asking for sex with an older man, and yelling at people who she dubs 'immature' like Shinji. Since she starts struggling in fights with Angels, she loses to will to do so, and ends up in a coma that she won't wake up from until 'The End of Evangelion' which she dies in.
In the final two episodes, Shinji goes through flashbacks on all what has happened, including his father Gendo congratulating him for defeating an angel in an episode which had a major impact on him. Shinji learns to accept who he is, and forms a world in his head that's worth fighting for.
In 'The End of Evangelion,' Shinji is back to being very depressed, and doesn't fight until after his guardian Misato and fighting partner Asuka are dead. Afterwards, he fails to stop the third impact, but due to being merged in his Evangelion, he's the last man on a apocalyptic Earth, because that's what he wanted according to Rei Ayanami who merged with Adam directly causing the third impact to occur. Shinji then has all of Earth's souls released, and is on the beach with a now alive Asuka, who he strangles, but stops after she touches his face, ending the story.
Portrayal of Christianity
Several references to Christianity are made across the show, although it’s done because of how uncommon the religion is in Japan. The first angel is called “Adam” who was the first man on Earth. When certain angels are defeated, a Cross blasts into the sky. Also, SEELE’s logo is the serpent that deceived Eve and an apple which many Christians interpreted as the forbidden fruit.
Other
One of the show’s characters (Misato Katsuragi) becomes the protagonist’s (Shinji Ikari) guardian after he becomes one of the Evangelion pilots at the age of 14. Misato works for NERV who operates the Evangelion and serves as a Captain who later gets promoted to a Major. In her private life, Misato is an alcoholic who dresses inappropriately given she’s living with a 14 year old boy. Later in the 1997 movie 'The End of Evangelion,' she kisses him on the lips, saying “That’s how grown-ups kiss. We’ll do the rest later.” right before she dies.
Also in 'The End of Evangelion,' when Shinji is trying to wake Asuka up, he accidently exposes her breasts, which leads to him masturbating to her, which some viewers described as shameless fanservice.
Rebuild of Evangelion
From 2007-2021, Anno made four Evangelion movies set in a different timeline given what happens in the story, and Asuka is now named Asuka Langley Shikinami. The first film ‘Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone’ (2007) can just be summed up as the first six episodes of the show with a much bigger budget along with Kaworu Nagisa being introduced earlier.
The second film ‘Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance’ (2009) is when things start to drive away from the show. A new character named Mari Makinami is introduced, Asuka is already a captain, and after Rei sees Shinji get a sense of confidence after his father congratulated him for his help defeating an angel, she wants the two to reconcile which both agree to. However, Gendo has to see to Eva unit 3’s test, but Asuka says she’ll pilot it for Shinji and Gendo to eat dinner which fans say was incredibly out of character for her. Unfortunately, an angel possesses Asuka, and Eva unit 3 goes on a rampage that cancels the dinner meetup between Gendo and Shinji. Shinji gets into his Eva, and after refusing to fight so he won’t hurt Asuka, Gendo uses the spare dummy plug so he can do the job himself, which results in Asuka getting seriously injured. In a rage, Shinji attacks NERV, then an angel shows up, and absorbs Rei. Shinji tries to save Rei, but with the power of Lilith, it prematurely causes the Third Impact, wiping out everything.
The third film ‘Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo’ (2012) takes place 14 years after the last one, and now everyone except Kaworu Nagisa and Sakura Suzuhara hate Shinji, and Misato who leads an anti-NERV organization called WILLE threatens to kill him if he pilots an Eva ever again. Asuka goes from hating Shinji to wanting him dead after he caused the third impact, and she tells him she didn’t age a day for 14 years due to the curse of the Eva. Misato tells Shinji that Rei Ayanami is gone, and will never return, while telling Shinji to no longer do anything. Then, Eva unit 0 shows up, and speaks in Rei’s voice telling Shinji to come with her, to Misato’s protest, but Shinji gladly follows Rei. Misato reluctantly pushes the button to activate Shinji’s collar to kill him, but he’s out of range. Rei takes Shinji to NERV HQ which is deserted, and he meets Kaworu who like in the show, is the only character who is kind to Shinji, and sees his father again who tells him he’ll pilot Eva unit 13 with Kaworu before walking away. Shinji and Kaworu bond by playing the piano, which causes Shinji to feel at peace. However, Kaworu shows Shinji the remains of Tokyo-3, telling Shinji he is the cause. Eventually, Gendo’s second in command Kozo Fuyutsuki tells Shinji what happened to his mother Yui, which was an accident of her getting permanently stuck in Eva unit 1, and that Rei Ayanami was a clone of Yui, and that Misato was right in a way, because the Rei Shinji knew since he got the job as an Eva pilot is like Yui, stuck inside Eva unit 1. After Kaworu removes Shinji’s collar, and puts it in himself, Shinji and Kaworu get their task, which is removing the two spears inside Lilith which is said will undo the Third Impact. Shinji and Kaworu are attacked by Asuka and Mari, but thanks to Mari being lazy and later busy dealing with Rei who also joined in the mission, and Asuka running out of power, Shinji removes the two spears, and it causes the Fourth Impact, to Gendo’s pleasure of getting to reunite with his wife, and to everyone’s anger. The collar activates killing Kaworu, and Mari saves Shinji, then the original three pilots are in a wasteland, now lead by Asuka, they walk away, and find help.
The fourth film ‘Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time’ (2021) wouldn’t come out for nine years due to Anno identifying more with Gendo than Shinji, along with being busy developing three reboot films called ‘Shin Godzilla’ (2016), ‘Shin Ultraman’ (2022), and ‘Shin Kamen Rider’ (2023) which along with this film was apart of a marketing campaign called the ‘Shin Japan Heroes Universe.’
