Neon Genesis Evangelion Review

The journal of Dr. Seth Michael "Victor von" Vandenburg, November 2012, Thanksgiving: It's been three quarters of a year ago since I have joined the Mecha Mental Hospital. It was a decent job, helping patients through their problems, listening to their stories… Thus far, I've only had seven patients that recovered with flying colors, probably because they just needed someone to talk to. These problems were never serious, so it was an easy job. At least, I used to think that.

I used to think that, until I had my eighth patient. This patient's name was Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Looking at the patient's record, this wasn't the first time it went to doctors for help. Yet the results were too diverse to even get a clear answer and the methods were sometimes… unsettling, as if detail and analysis were, for lack of a better term, foreign. It also came to my attention that some of these doctors would attempt to use forms of therapy that would rob the patient of its will, its original being, tearing apart every single thing both wrong AND right with the patient, just to cater to their visions. A "Correction of Character" if you will. Fortunately, the patient resisted every attempt at being controlled. It looked like I was going to have another recovered patient, only this patient was in need of recovery.

If only I knew the true challenge beforehand.

Anyway, after the two of us got acquainted, I had the patient lie down and asked if it could indulge in telling me what happened in great detail. The patient complied and began with a story…

The story began in a world, more specifically a city, called Tokyo-3, most likely the patient's form of Wonderland, in the year of 2015. In the sunken depths of a flooded city's remains swims a monster the likes of which Lovecraft would respect as a good attempt at creating cosmic horrors, and on land, on narrow roads, are several tanks ready to fire. It's a state of high alert, and the streets are deserted except for a car driving to pick up someone. That someone being a 14-year old boy named Shinji Ikari.

Shinji Ikari, all the while, was at a phone booth attempting to get a hold onto someone, but unfortunately the lines were busy. Dissatisfied with the recording, he thinks about finding a shelter before he sees a girl in the distance, who somehow vanishes when he looks back at the distance again. His thoughts are then interrupted as the wind begins to roar and jets are flying back as the monster from earlier stomps into the city.

Meanwhile, in an apparently top secret base, we get a glimpse at two old men who aren't surprised nor tense at the fact that this monster is stomping in; a monster known as an Angel…

The military jets do all they can to attack the angel, from firing missiles to even firing gattlings at it, yet nothing seems to work thus far. Shinji, bearing witness to this futile battle, finally meets with his pick-up and they fortunately manage to escape before they could get crushed. The UN forces in the base demand that their forces keep on the attack, yet they still meet with no success even after direct hits. One of the old men believes this to be because the "Angel" possesses an "AT Field" which renders conventional weapons useless. It almost makes one wonder why conventional weapons were used in the first place. Most likely to stall for time, much to the UN's chagrin. However, the UN generals give the OK to use an N2 (non-nuclear by my guess) mine as a last ditch attempt. At first, it seems to go without a hitch… until it turns out the Angel has survived and regenerated. Disgruntled, the UN reluctantly hands control of the operation over to the old men, with the one in glasses proudly claiming that it was NERV's duty to destroy the Angels.

All the while, Shinji and his driver, Misato Katsuragi, make it to NERV after several problems with her car and some childish shenanigans they had together. It's here we then found out that Shinji's father works at NERV and his position is most important for the future of humanity at that.

Hmph, after what I've heard…

Said father, after command of the operation is given to him, gives the order to activate "Unit 01." Yet while the other old man says that they don't have a pilot, the father says that one is already being delivered… Shinji Ikari. The boy he apparently abandoned and called back just because he had a use for him. Misato then mentions that Shinji's relationship with his father sounds just like her.

I would be more sympathetic if not for what else is revealed.

After the two go through the Geofront, an underground base also housing NERV, Shinji and Misato end up getting lost and it has to take Chairperson of E Project, Technical Division 1, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi to get them back on track. She introduces herself to Shinji, referring to him as "the Third Child," and Misato actually has the gall to say that he's just like his father, the gruff and unfriendly part.

It honestly surprised me to hear that she ACTUALLY said that, out loud mind you, when she already said earlier that his problems with his father are similar to her. That's not only hypocritical, but it's also uncalled for and insulting to the child in question. I'd have expected Shinji to take a little more offense to that.

Anyway, with the Angel getting closer, NERV mobilizes into Level 1 battlestations as Shinji, Ritsuko, and Misato make way for their destination, which is non-lit for some reason. But then, when the lights come on, Shinji is both shocked and startled by the face of a giant, purple, single-horned humanoid robot: the Evangelion. But that is not the worst of sights… No, the worst sight was above the robot…

Shinji's father, who he hasn't seen in three years. Gendo Rokubungi Ikari.

The reunion was not good. Gendo gives the order to move out, and Misato is shocked to learn that he's referring to Unit 01 and that a spare pilot has arrived: Shinji Ikari. Shinji, who was told absolutely nothing about being a pilot and taking part of a war that he never heard of in the first place, asks why his father brought him here, whereas Gendo easily replies that it was simply because he had a use for the boy, not given any explanation as to why he was specifically needed to pilot this specific unit, without any given information beforehand. Even as Shinji gives rational points as to why he says he can't, Gendo only says that he'll be instructed. That's all. No words of encouragement to even convince him to pilot. Even when Shinji still says he can't, Gendo coldly tells Shinji to either do it if he wants or to leave. Not even Misato, the person who at least tried to give a good first impression, gives him encouragement or words of persuasion and instead tells him to confront his father and confront himself.

Words that hold no meaning coming from a hypocrite. But I'll get to that later.

The Angel continues to attack the base and Gendo gives the other old man, Kozo Fuyutsuki, the order to get Rei "since the spare is unusable." Rei, being pulled to the deck on a stretcher, breaks Shinji out of his thoughts and he's shocked to not only find that she looks like the girl from earlier, she's in critical condition and was going to pilot it instead of him. The Angel's attack causes debris to fall into the Geofront, and the resulting impacts cause some of the lights to fall, about to crush Shinji. But then the Evangelion's arm activates itself and manages to shield Shinji from harm. In the midst of the surprises, Shinji goes to check up on Rei and ascertains that if she were to pilot in her condition, she would die. So, with a mantra of "I musn't run away," he says that he'll pilot it.

Shinji is placed in the plug, a pseudo cockpit for the Evangelion, and preparations are made to activate Unit 01. Once filled with a breathable liquid called LCL, Shinji ends up getting some in his mouth and makes a few disgusted mutters and Misato tells him to not complain and that he's a boy. Again, very unnecessary comments from the hypocrite without any real meaning. More preparations are made to the activation; Shinji manages to land a synchronization ratio of 41.3%. Then the launch sequence finally begins as Gendo comments that there would be no future if they don't defeat the Angels… though that smirk of his is not so trusting…

And thus, the Eva, with Shinji as pilot, is launched into the city above, face to face with the angel. The crew at NERV looks on as Misato pleads for Shinji not to get killed.

…And not even an apology for sending him up there with the chance that he could get killed in the first place.

That was just the first chapter. The rest entailed Shinji's difficulties with the Evangelion, his relationships with those around him, the idiocy of the adults, and the growing details of everyone's lunacy, hypocrisy, and utter lack of social understanding along with the refusal to even show just an ounce of unconditional kindness. I'm surprised that the patient even described such a careless world in great detail. Not only that, but even avatars he referred to as if they were actual people he was having trouble with. Well, considering the similarity to the rabbit hole, I suppose I can tell who these avatars represent. Some of these avatars though, I have lengthy opinions on them.

For an obvious start, there is Shinji Ikari, who I can safely assume is the patient's avatar in this apocalyptic wasteland of a Wonderland. Shinji Ikari is a boy with problems; problems that not a single person ever bothered to look into nor attempted to intervene in when he needed it most. He's looking for attention, help, companionship, any sort of genuine kindness and affection; all of which that he so desperately needs and would heal if given these. Shinji has the potential to succeed, to be someone grand, and I would like to actually see him prevail; I like this avatar.

However, other doctors have claimed the avatar called Shinji to be a whiny brat who constantly runs away from responsibilities and doesn't contribute a single thing to the story. They've complained that Shinji was selfish, spineless, cowardly, nothing compared to the likes of Amuro Ray, Koji Kabuto, or Simon the Digger. There were even complaints about how he didn't like what he did despite the fact he was piloting a giant robot against alien invaders with the likes of hot women around him. Those are just complaints made without looking into details about why Shinji is claimed to appear to them as such, along with using outdated male objectification as an excuse, in my opinion.

Then there's the patient's ultimate mental block, his final obstacle in his path to freedom, represented by Shinji's own father, Gendo Ikari. Gendo is an… unpleasant man. Despite his apparent ranking as Commander of NERV, he is not concerned with humanity's survival; he's more concerned with his own plans and will use anyone and anything as his own tools to further his own goals, including his lover, his son, his doll, even his own organization. What's more is that somehow he always has a plan every step of the way, which leads to many people calling him a "Magnificent Bastard."

However the other doctors have praised this obstacle, as if they actually wanted him to win. Didn't they realize that Shinji's become who he is because of his father's negligence? Why would they wish to encourage such horrible behavior? And for that matter, wouldn't that destroy the whole purpose of helping the patient recover? It sounds to me that this would be more detrimental than it would beneficial.

The avatar called Rei Ayanami is… an enigma. I'm not entirely sure what she represents in the patient's mind. But what I can guess is that she's supposed to be an obstacle that the patient, Shinji in this case, has to bring over to his side; to help her realize that she was a pawn in Gendo's game the entire time and to rebel. It saddens me that she met a rather… explosive end. However, even so, I still wonder how she was even justified in slapping Shinji when she clearly didn't consider why Shinji would feel distrust for his father in the first place; sure, he saved her life once and he "raised" her, but that only proves that she's the result of a man who would abandon his own child in favor of a doll he made in the image of his late wife. Plus, the question of "do you have faith in your father's work" is rather irrelevant compared to Shinji's own question of "aren't you worried."

In short, Rei's own existence is the unfortunate result of Gendo's own hypocrisy. How tragic…

Misato Katsuragi is an unfortunate avatar. She represents all of the patient's negative attributes, yet she attempts to cover them up with a good-natured and welcoming disguise. She seems welcoming at first, but the longer and longer Shinji stayed with her, the more and more her own problems arise and we see her for what she truly is: a traumatized little girl who had pretended to grow up and experienced the world of adults, yet has learned nothing about what an adult is supposed to do. Just like Gendo, Misato's own negligence and her inability to help herself makes her a hypocritical and shallow shell of a human who constantly runs away from herself.

Now, Asuka Langley Soryu… Let me be honest; I loathed this avatar. I hated her with every fiber of my being. Her sheer arrogance, her mind-numbing pride, her sickening conceit, her ache-worthy lack of concern for humanity; these are all the ingredients for a child that was not only spoiled rotten but she expects everything to be handed to her on a silver platter! Whenever she doesn't get her way, she always has an irrational complaint and would often whine at the nearest person. Whenever something is her own fault in the first place, she would blame her co-workers for what happened, never taking responsibility for herself. She may be more hot-blooded than Shinji and her personality may be to other's liking, but that does not excuse her acts nor does it excuse her behavior.

While I have heard her story from the patient and how her past was similar to Shinji's, she was at least given proper training, was also given an advanced education and even managed to graduate college at a young age; logically that should at least make her more aware of reality, how the world doesn't revolve around her, and at least to behave and act like an adult. Unlike Shinji, she doesn't have the excuse to whine or to complain. It's already too late for her to be a teenager. Yet for all her claims that she is an adult because of these, along with being the better EVA pilot, she has proven over and over again that she is just a teenager with an over-inflated superiority complex and is completely incompetent when it comes to piloting.

I only found it the most tragic that she was the avatar thinking it was fighting against the obstacles, yet it was just a puppet. Due to her past, Asuka has a hatred for dolls, which also leads to her own hatred for Rei Ayanami, and a desire to not be anyone's doll like the one her mother hung herself with. What's sadly ironic is that despite all her claims to free will, she is no more than a doll for NERV, the willing fighter, the one who questions nothing about what NERV does and believes that what NERV wants is what she wants. She does not realize that her own childhood was taken away from her, robbed, never to be given back. Destined to be played with until her usefulness is used up.

Then there's Ritsuko Akagi in this circle of hypocrites. She represents being knowingly used and going along with it. At first, we're led to believe that she and Misato were friends since college and are still friends since then. However, come the dark side of the story, it's revealed that Ritsuko is attracted to Gendo, and her own humanity is debatable as she doesn't seem to care about the well-being of the pilots, only their capabilities. This is proven when she shows Shinji that Rei was a clone of his own mother just to throw a wrench into her lover's plans out of jealousy and spite. She has also said that she would never be like her mother, but that's where her own hypocrisy comes in.

Ritsuko's mother, Naoko Akagi, also had a thing for Gendo and was utterly jealous of Yui for taking him away. Once Yui was absorbed by Unit 01, Naoko gleefully took on the advantage and was Gendo's lover for a while, at least until she strangled the first Rei to death and committed suicide just to avoid trouble. Thus, Ritsuko would end up taking her mother's place as Gendo's bedwarmer and would suffer the same fate of jealousy.

The only adult that I found without any hypocrisy was Kaji Ryoji. Kaji at least genuinely cared for Asuka and Shinji; in fact, Kaji never lectured Shinji on what he should do nor did Kaji guilt trip Shinji back into piloting. No, what Kaji did was give Shinji some friendly advice and showed him that there were still things to protect by using his watermelon garden as an example. Kaji was the perfect sort of father figure Shinji needed; Kaji was a man who could give Shinji some genuine kindness and care! The sad problem with Kaji was that he played triple-agent and died as a result of revealing information to his old lover, Misato… Sad how the one avatar the patient needed was destroyed…

And then there's Hikari, Kensuke, Toji, the bridge bunnies Shigeru, Makoto, and Maya, and Kozo Fuyutsuki. What was their biggest contribution to the story? Unfortunately nothing. Their only purpose was to serve in the background and only provide some needed dialogue when the story deemed it necessary. Kozo seems to be the only person who has regrets with working with NERV yet he still does nothing and doesn't even consider the thought of attempting to redeem himself for his mistakes. But to their credit, only one of them was clueless about who to blame. Honestly, Hikari blamed Shinji for Asuka running out upon witnessing how better Rei was at syncing with Shinji, when clearly Misato was the one at fault for setting Rei there in the first place and actually saying, out loud again mind you, that she'll reconfigure the strategy for Rei instead of Asuka when she clearly knows how Asuka feels about being the best. It was obvious Misato was to blame, and Hikari, the class representative, blamed Shinji, the one NOT at fault, for making Asuka cry? No wonder she was hardly contributed to the story.

*Ahem* As for Pen-Pen… he's a warm-water penguin. What's to say about that?

And then there's Kaworu Nagisa, or rather Tabris the 17th Angel; the only one to treat Shinji with kindness that was genuine and never had anything truly bad to say about him. He was even the only person to ever say to Shinji that he liked, nay, loved him. That was the greatest thing for Shinji to hear, to know that he was loved without any condition behind it… But it didn't last: Kaworu was still an Angel and he still went to Lilith, and had to die by the EVA's hands, piloted by Shinji… Perhaps that was the straw that broke the proverbial back. Poor, poor Shinji…

Aside from the rather disturbing lack of a good secondary cast with Shinji being the only one likeable, the detail was incredible. It was almost as if I was about to image every single thing in the story happening inside my mind and I could only marvel at its beauty and shudder at its horrors. The Evangelions, the Angels, the settings… despite being a world that no one would want to live in, it was outwardly attractive. At least, until it reached the ending, where it descended far from the original context and became more of the patient self-lecturing himself to reach a conclusion made through emotional satisfaction, not logic. Perhaps it was a result of mishandled upbringing, but I can't be sure.

However, the biggest problem that I see in the patient's story is that the secondary cast is filled mostly with hypocrites. I know I've said that multiple times already, but how is it that the previous doctors have not noticed this? And for that matter, why did they not notice that these adults were the ones causing problems for the next generation? Why did they blame all of these problems on Shinji, the victim? With all the problems everyone else has, I just don't understand how Shinji's the one being blamed.

Misato says that Shinji has to confront his father and himself? She's an alcoholic, she never cleans up after herself, she rigs it so Shinji gets most of the chores (which Shinji is apparently okay with despite the fact that it isn't fair), is conflicted between hating and loving her ex-lover, is still conflicted between hating and loving her father even after supposedly "recovering" from being silent due to trauma, has a bratty girl move in with her and Shinji that ends up stealing Shinji's room, and there are even moments when she's being too harsh on him (like when he disobeyed her orders to run and instead killed the angel so he could save the lives of two other students). She is negligent to the needs of her wards, she uses them as tools for her own personal vendetta against the Angels, she runs away from herself the whole time, and she never realizes that people can't rely on themselves until they're taught how; something that, ironically, she never learned even after being taught. Even when she realized that she ran away from herself when it came to trying to sever herself from her father, she never realizes that she's still being negligent to her wards and she never moves on. In the end, she focuses on her problems and hers alone, never considering the problems of others.

Asuka calls Shinji stupid for being uncomfortable with piloting an EVA other than his own? She was the one who constantly stated, out loud, very loud, that no one touches her Unit 02 except for her; even getting personal when referring to it as her own, as if it was a possession of hers. It's understandable with Shinji because he doesn't want anyone to pilot Unit 01 in his place so they don't get hurt; Asuka, on the other hand, doesn't want anyone piloting Unit 02 just because she believes it's hers, like it's her own toy. She even refers to Unit 02 as such! Funny how she hates dolls and the very concept of them, yet she's completely fine with "possessions" that she claims only she can use. Add that to the fact that she complains and whines about every single thing that NERV requires, is completely obnoxious to her fellow pilots, shifts the blame to others for her own faults, refuses to act like the adult she claims to be, calling out on a pilot who she claims to be getting pampered when she expects to be pampered herself, and other very clear flaws and you get plenty of reasons as to why I don't like this avatar. Plus there's the kissing scene, which she just goads him into just to pass the time, nearly suffocates him, and takes it back by rushing into the bathroom and rinsing her mouth out. Boy, way to make his ego worse… especially when she blames the kiss on him when it was her idea. It was even her own fault for goading Shinji into attacking the shadow angel out of sheer jealousy in the next part of the story which resulted in further mental troubles for Shinji.

It's still shocking to me that they treat that last one as if it was Shinji's fault. Clearly Asuka was the one who goaded him. Shouldn't she have been lectured for taking advantage of his new self-esteem? The blame is severely misplaced in this story.

And then there's Gendo. While in reality he's a coward who ran away from his responsibilities as a father and abandons his own son, his last remaining link to his wife, in favor of delusions of wanting his wife by his side again to the point of making a clone of her with angel DNA and uses a woman who was jealous of said wife for satisfaction and uses her daughter for the same once the mother is offed, he covers this up by acting like a strict and orderly man leading an organization made for the sole purpose of saving the world. He may act the Magnificent Bastard, but he's no more than a lying weasel who has a way with words so that nobody can argue with him nor comprehend his true nature, thereby only making his emotionally disabled son even more confused when he either gives rare moments of complimenting him or just plain doesn't care nor acknowledge that Shinji's his own flesh and blood. What I truly find sad about the two is the graveyard scene, where they visit Yui's grave; Gendo says that he has no pictures of Yui and that's only kept her close to his heart, yet I find out that he's been keeping photos of her to himself, deliberately lying to Shinji. Having such a lying wretch to be an obstacle must be hard for the patient's psyche.

Yet just after the halfway point of the story, it appears that Shinji Ikari's own psyche begins to suffer as well. That was not a good sign for the patient. And by this point, the other doctors' complaints about him were increasing. To me, it was the influence of everyone else's ignorance beginning to take over. All of his years of being left alone, all of his years of just existing without real companionship, surrounded by self-serving hypocrites and immense liars, all this combined with piloting a cybernetic monstrosity against an unknown alien threat that can mess with his mind even more; they were finally catching up to him and bring him to the brink of self-destruction. The more and more this damage increased, the more and more I began to feel sorry for Shinji, especially for the patient, and the angrier I got for the doctors who took this far too lightly. How were ANY of his problems his fault? Why did the others NOT take responsibility for their own detrimental actions or even their lack of good action? Why do the others blame each other? Why wasn't there an intervention when it was needed?? Was there not a single soul other than Shinji that was at least passionate about people, not willing to use them for their own ends??

Oh wait… there was one character that I left out… The one person portrayed as the most saintly person on this world. The one responsible for all this madness in the patient's mindscape…

Shinji's mother. Gendo's wife. The one who influenced almost everything in NERV…

Yui Ikari.

…I can't even put her into words properly. But here's the short version of what I thought of her:

She had ends. Those ends were the salvation of mankind. However…

She was willing to use her son for those ends. She was willing to subjugate her son to the horrors of war and the ensuing stress and trauma of fighting against extraterrestrial abominations. She was willing to keep him from growing up all so she can use him to further her own plans. To do all this, she willingly entered Unit 01 and became its inherent soul. She knew Shinji was going to pilot it since he was three years old…

She did all this… for the sake of humanity's salvation…

Yui Ikari was a delusional fool. An arrogant and self-serving madwoman who would rather focus on changing the world rather than being with her son. She was perhaps the biggest hypocrite and liar to ever exist in this world called Tokyo-3.

In short, the worst being in the patient's mind, and she was supposed to have been dead before the story started.

If I were to sum up this rather confusing tale that I was given, it would be that the first half was all well and good, but then it suffered from dark extremes in the latter half. It also suffered from a completely hypocritical secondary cast placed on high horses, portrayed as if they're the ones that Shinji Ikari, the one in the right most of the time, should listen to. It was honestly grating just listening to these self-proclaimed adults lecture the one person who actually faces his own fears about running away when they're the ones who have been running away since day 1. They didn't even know what they were talking about; they had no right to imply that they were the ones with moral standing; they knew nothing. They were blasted fools who do nothing in the face of true danger and left the fighting to a child who was not prepared, not informed, not willing, not even encouraged, to protect their cowardly souls without any benefits for himself. And the biggest irony: they are nothing without Shinji. Thus, it is unnecessary to make it seem like Shinji is the one who should learn amidst all of the fools that surround him. Not only that, but the endings prove that not all is well for the patient.

Yet, even with the odd ending, at least it ended confusingly happily. Perhaps there was a chance for the patient after all. So, after we had a comforting talk and I reassured the patient that he has worth for himself and that the doctors he had before were mostly making complete exaggerations towards his world and his avatars, he gave me a smile, thanked me for my kindness and willingness to listen to him, and went on his way. Hopefully the next time we meet, the patient will have a much happier story to tell me.

Which is ironic since part of his story involved an alternate reality where those around Shinji weren't self-serving hypocrites and the Angels never happened. Although Rei probably shouldn't have been able to exist, but then again, it was still a reality that would've been possible if the adults weren't so foolish.

Now, with my report coming to a close, I suppose I should get ready for another upcoming patient. The patient's name is… Hmmm… This seems awfully similar to the patient I just had…

RahXephon?