Neon Genesis Evangeleon - Help with End of Evangeleon! (1 Viewer)

[Todd McF]

Spoiler based Questions Warning!!!!










I've got some difficulty with the last few moments of this film - I was wondering if anyone could help out...

I *think* I understand why he tries to strangle Asuka - because of the total rejection in the "kitchen" sequence, he attempts to continue the choking. I guess the bandages are explained the spear attack, but why do the bandages so closely resemble the Rei bandages from the series? When he is crying over her, is he doing "the act" that he did in the hospital - and that's why she says "How disgusting?". Are they the new Adam and Eve, and thats what she is disgusted about? Did the EVA protect here from becoming primordial soup and thats why she is there? Is here "tender hand touch" mean that she is finally reaching out to someone else or admitting she loves Shinji despite herself?

As you can see, I've got some questions!

 

[Morgan Jolley]

My understanding of the ending was that it's one of two things:

1) Shinji and Asuka (who are actually deeply in love, even though they don't act like it) are the new Adam and Eve to start a new world after it has been destroyed.

2) Shinji is now a sort of God, in that he gets to decide what happens to the planet now. Rather than just decide, he wants some time to think, so he's left with Asuka to do just that for as long as he wants.

And I thought the last line by Asuka at the very end was that she was sick, a small suggestion that she is pregnant.

 

[Calvin_Su]

He strangles her to see if she is real.
Shinji and Asuka aren't quite the new Adam and Eve, because they may not be the only humans left. Yui kept saying that anyone who died during 3rd impact could come back if they wished to.
www.evaotaku.com has all the answers. it is THE best site for accurate Eva info.

 

[Eric_E]

I agree with part of Morgan's response, though not necessarily the last. Honestly though, and I'm sure you've heard this before, part of the beauty of Evangelion is that it can mean whatever you want it to mean. There are no answers set in stone and as far as I know Anno has never just spelled everything out for everybody.
A really good perspective on Evangelion is Ikari Gendo's Ultimate EVA FAQs, although I'm not sure the site is working at the moment.
Regarding Asuka's bandages resembling Rei's, I think it's just another example of Shinji's desperate need to be loved by ANYONE. I think he did feel love for Rei, but he didn't seem to lust after her the same way he did with Asuka. With the bandages, Shinji could just be projecting the idea of Rei/Yui onto Asuka.
In any case, it's obviously open to interpretation, and things only get more confusing when you consider the movies against the series' episodes 25 and 26.
BTW, do you have the EoE DVD? Does your copy work? I just bought mine yesterday, thinking that maybe all the bad discs had cleared out by now. Haven't watched it yet to make sure it works, though.
Cheers,
Eric

 

[Bryant Trew]

I don't understand why so many people are confused by End of Evangelion. Quite simply, if you look at jkn;j [[jjf kfdd jh[[g jppetd... .... .... .. .....
Get it now?

 

[Morgan Jolley]

In any case, it's obviously open to interpretation, and things only get more confusing when you consider the movies against the series' episodes 25 and 26

Actually, episodes 25 and 26 were originally written as the movies (the scripts used for the second movie was the original script for the last two episodes) but they had to change it because of monetary problems. The only real difference between the last two episodes and the movies is that the ending of the show has Shinji accepting everything as it is and choosing to live in a perfect world (where people are not separated by walls in their minds) but in the movies he decides to take some time to think about it.

 

[Todd McF]

I just finished reading that screenplay. It helped quite a bit, thanks for all the posts guys.

I own and just finished the series and I rented the films. I must say I'm still not quite satisfied with EVA as a whole because of the ending - but I will say its a masterpiece. I guess I wanted a happier or more solidified ending. I'm content that at least Asuka and Shinji still exist and maybe others as well. I wouldnt say I'm happy though.

I'll sit back for a few months then watch the whole thing again. Now I'm hesitating to pull the trigger on Gasaraki - primarily because of the price tag. If I love eva, will I like it?

 

[Eric_E]

Morgan:

You're right about the whole Rei/Yui connection - I tried to relate something about that in my first post, but I didn't state it clearly enough.

Re: The EoE/Ep. 25/26 connection, I just meant that it can get confusing when you consider the "alternate" scenarios of Shinji's choice, especially if you're not really familiar with how it all fits together.

Todd:

I went back and watched EoE again last night, and thought about your question about the bandages. I'm sure there is more meaning to it than just the obvious, but if you watch, the Lance of Longinus does hit Asuka right in the eye - at one point she's actually holding her hand over her left eye inside EVA-02.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I found the original series ending to be quite happy compared to the movie ending. Shinji decides to exist in a world where people are all interconnected, which removes the need for sadness, fear, and every other negative emotion.

The movie ending just kinda leaves it open. He has to sit back and think about everything that has gone on in his life and let that influence him.

 

[Eric_E]

Morgan:

I agree that the series' ending is much happier than the ending of the movie. It's interesting that in the movie Shinji actually rejects the "interconnected" world in favor of a world where pain and suffering still exist.

In any case, I think it was pretty obvious that Anno and crew had to do SOMETHING to make the ending more satisfying - and by that I don't mean necessarily happier or appropriate, but an ending with some closure. I realize that in the end the show is about human frailty and our need for other people, and not about "giant robots" and big visceral thrills, but the lack of any real answers in the TV show really did need to be addressed. How much the ending of the series was affected by budget constraints, I don't know, but surely everyone expected something a little less abstract.

Speaking of those budget restraints - one thing that always gets me is when people point to scenes like Rei and Asuka in the elevator, or Kaworu in the hand of EVA-01, and say "They ran out of money so they just put big pauses in." These people totally miss the point, and if they can't feel the tension and relate to the emotion in those scenes, then I guess maybe they're just not capable of appreciating the series on that level.

*steps down off of soapbox*

Eric

 

[Calvin_Su]

BTW, Misato did NOT kill Kaji, just in case you interpreted it that way. The director himself stated that Kaji's killer was some random guy(who we never see) at NERVE's intelligence division.

Many people, for some reason, think that Misato did it, and I don't understand why.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

He tries strangling her to see if 'pain and despair' have, indeed, entered the world again. Then, when she finally accepts him for who and what he is, the tender caress, he breaks down and starts crying, and Asuka's never really liked that aspect of him, so she mentions that it makes her feel sick.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

He tries strangling her to see if 'pain and despair' have, indeed, entered the world again. Then, when she finally accepts him for who and what he is, the tender caress, he breaks down and starts crying, and Asuka's never really liked that aspect of him, so she mentions that it makes her feel sick

Where'd you get that? It sounds good, and most likely true.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

Ok.

Shinji:
But that's just pretending - a self-intoxicating belief... like a prayer.
It can't possibly last forever.
Sooner or later I'll be betrayed... And they'll leave me.
Still... I want to meet them again, because I believe my feelings at that time were real.

Shinji still isn't convinced, but he's willing to suffer, because at least, well, it's something. There's always the possibility, but I don't think he wants to come out and say that. But it's real, it's him, it belongs only to him, and that's enough for him. And, for the first time, he asserts himself, his needs, his wants; he is willing to consign an entire race to being cast out of paradise to satisfy himself. Good for him.


And I've heard Askua's final line translated as 'how disgusting' as well as 'this feeling sucks.'

 

[Morgan Jolley]

BTW, why is Shinji in charge of all this? Is it circumstance that he was in Unit-01, was it by accident (Rei chose him instead of Gendo, which is what Gendo's plan had), or is it because of something else? I was always under the impression that it was a combination of things.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

Just one of those things, I think. I think it was a combination of the fact that Shinji was in Eva 01, and the fact that they all thought he'd pick instrumentality in a heartbeat.

Here's another interpretation of the ending that I thought up this morning.

Shinji chooses pain, and wakes up in the world again. He's cold, he's miserable, and he's filled with doubt; he just consigned the human race to pain and misery, but hey, it seemed like a good idea when Ayamani was straddling him.

He rolls over, sees Asuka, who he loves, and is either a) pissed at what he did, as part of it was his desire to be with her, or b) wants to save her from the world, so he tries to kill her.

She does the caress thing, and he realizes he can't; again, he's failed, he sucks, boo hoo hoo.

She delivers her line, proving that although she's finally realized that she can love somebody else too, not to mention having come to grips with the death of her mother, and redeemed herself after failing in battle, by absolutely crushing the production-series Evas, well, she's still Asuka.

You know, I honestly can't decided if Anno is a genius mastermind, or a rambling basket case. Probably both, plus very very lucky.