Introjection: Shinji’s Relentless Rise to Heroism

Introjection.

Evangelion’s 19^th Episode. We’re about to dive deep into its 24 singular minutes, but first I feel the need to preface the meaning of that word. Introjection is often confused with interjection, the act of involving oneself in a situation, and while Shinji certainly does that, the act itself is not the focus: the cause is. Introjection, like splitting, is another psychological term referring to a person’s unconscious adoption and assimilation of perspectives. Whereas splitting is the distinction of ideas into basic moral cases, introjection is the cementing of the mind’s preferences in a particular direction. This most often occurs in children regarding the adoption of a parent’s perspective. Most notably, these early-adopted and taken for granted notions always come under stress during adolescence, where the subject either embraces and strengthens their position, or abandons it for a new perspective. Choosing the latter requires a restructuring of one’s moral or philosophical foundation.

And that’s exactly what we see here.

Intro

Many consider Episode 19 the second of three conclusions to Evangelion’s narrative. Where Episode 16 outlined the discovery of a solution to Shinji’s self-isolating struggles, Episode 19 illustrates the decision to embark on the implementation of that solution. The first is the internal revelation; the second is the external manifestation.

Which, as usual, is easier said than done.

Episode 19: Introjection

Right off the bat, there’s a lot to unload. Unit-01 is now in Central Dogma, no longer in Matsushiro where we last saw it, and Shinji bares a face of contempt and rage. Unlike the placid surrender following his psychic break in Episode 2, here there’s no weakened submission, him instead aggressively reacting to his surroundings.

Shinji, opting to lock himself within the Eva, denies all extraction attempts and threatens NERV personnel in retaliation for their violation with the Dummy Plug. Now, brash as this all seems, let’s step back and review everyone’s side.

Firstly, Unit-01 is back in headquarters on battery power, so there’s been a time jump, and Misato’s absence implies she’s either still at the Matsushiro site, or now in the hospital. So Shinji knows he isn’t threatening her life, just the faculty’s, and especially Gendo’s. Secondly, all attempts at extracting the entry plug fail, and while that seems like a significant design flaw, let’s recall that there’s never been a successful plug emission for Unit-01. What’s more, we’ll learn later this episode Unit-01 can and does refuse future uses of the Dummy Plug, indicating it was also opposed to and violated by the instrument. So while it’s likely Shinji is keeping himself locked in, I wouldn’t discount the possibility that the Eva itself is keeping him inside, both of their wishes aligned here.

On the other hand, and in defense of NERV, it is their objective to protect Central Dogma and the world by terminating the Angels with the Evangelions. It’s not just a matter of duty but global life and death, so while Shinji might be willing to sacrifice himself in the name of dying a pacifist, he’s not within his rights to force that fate onto the rest of the world.

It also doesn’t escape me that Gendo, while probably only ensuring the safety of Earth—like that’s anything small—did also save Shinji’s life, his son’s life. And it is the duty of the father to protect the child, so while the means might’ve been horrendous and vile, this is another example of Gendo saving Shinji, this time from himself.

On the other other hand, the violent massacre that was Unit-03 and Bardiel’s demise was excessive to say the least, and Gendo’s lacking urgency to disable the Dummy Plug following the victory speaks to his sadistic nature and obsession with Unit-01’s capabilities. Shinji’s accusation of vicarious murder isn’t unsubstantiated, and the moral high ground is nowhere to be seen in this mire, if it exists at all.

Our first title, A Man’s Battle, shows quickly, only 50 seconds after the end of the intro, heightening our sense of urgency as we dive into the episode.

Gendo orders over-pressurization of the LCL Fluid, causing Shinji to black out, finally allowing for forceful extraction.

The blood-soaked surroundings we cut to place us immediately back at Bardiel’s corpse, a much more gruesome visage than Shamshel or Ramiel’s graves. In particular, we see Unit-03’s right hand, another reminder as to the misuse of power that occurred here, before Misato and Ristuko are framed before Bardiel’s severed head. What’s left of it, anyway, the twisted cables up top in the shape of brain matter, like the artificial minds within the Magi.

As the two discuss Shinji’s condition, we’re given a blink and you miss it shot of the extraction team hauling his body from Unit-01, an uncanny resemblance to Toji’s removal. Misato’s dialogue blends into Asuka’s, which segways us to the hospital where we see her and Rei are alive, albeit sporting some scars. The girls are, as usual, distant, on either end of frame and at different heights, but the cross-shots as they talk anchor them closer together, a visual indication the two are bonding over their shared concern for Shinji.

The close up of Shinji matches the shot we soon see of Suzuhara, as he wonders if he’s in the same hospital as his sister. It’s another comparison between the two boys, Toji now experiencing his own unfamiliar ceiling, but remaining relaxed before he and the camera blur into a vision sequence aboard an all too familiar train. The droning alarms this time precede the red flashes, no longer from windows but a pair of circles passing from left to right. Immediately they make me think of the setting sun and scarlet irises of the possessed Evas, although I can’t say the connection is intended. The movement indicates we’re traveling to the left, in western culture traditionally perceived as regression, which, in Evangelion, is never a good sign.

Bizarrely, though, Toji reacts with indifference as he sees Rei and Shinji in the next car talking, Rei without the use of her mouth. This little detail could be one of many cost-cutting features we’ll see progressively more of in the coming episodes, or a sign of nonverbal, even telepathic communication between all three pilots.

That preface given, this is one of the more confusing and inexplicable scenes in the entirety of the show. I mean, let’s break down what we’re technically seeing. Is this a personal vision of Toji’s, or a shared dream between he, Rei, and Shinji? If it is a shared dream, why are only these three pilots present? Theories abound, some leading stating that only Children influenced by the Angels can access this train, given its first appearance with Shinji inside Leliel. Rei is intertwined with Lilith, and it’s possible Bardiel, during its possession, afflicted Toji in a way that granted him access to this mutual extraplanar train. Another possibility is that Rei herself is instigating this communion, using her personal relationships with the boys to convene them here. Of course, she doesn’t acknowledge Toji, her comments addressed strictly to Shinji, so that seems less likely. Rei also occupies the same shadowed seat Leliel’s avatar did in Episode 16, so some speculate this isn’t the Rei we know, but rather a residual of Leliel or Bardiel’s consciousness, or, more likely, a manifestation of Rei II, the version of Rei’s soul that exists within Unit-00, and so this is more the spirit of Rei and her Evangelion prodding Shinji for answers.

You keeping up?

The actual conversation Rei and Shinji have is an extension of Shinji and Leliel’s argument in Episode 16, so the train car makes sense as an anchor point for us viewers. Shinji is once again having his split thinking assaulted, Rei asking him if he ever tried to understand Gendo instead of focusing on Gendo understanding him. Shinji laments he was feeling closer to Gendo following their Episode 15 discussion at the graveyard, but now has his confidence betrayed. Rei pushes the point, inferring that Shinji didn’t try hard enough to understand Gendo, and is now using this division to further separate himself from his father, an excuse to abandon the prospect of hard emotional work. Shinji argues the validity of escapism, and while he may be right about its use in moderation, he’s struggling here with using it as a crutch. He’s once again unwilling to take responsibility for his reality, regressing to his standpoint in Act II where he feigned powerlessness.

Toji awakes to the face of his sweetheart, Hikari, and is told he’s been out for three days. The apparent parallels to the Gospels are coincidental, Toji rising like Christ three days later and first encountering a loving woman. Hikari wasn’t allowed to bring food in, the very token of their affection barred from his resurrection, and as Toji turns away, breaking their connection, you can sense his pain as he asks Hikari to lie to his sister about his condition.

Here, only the right half of his body remaining, Toji’s final words are a falsehood as he vanishes from Evangelion’s narrative.

And thus we return to Shinji Ikari.

As he faces his father in chains, right fist clenched, Shinji articulates a position completely contrary to what he’s held up to this point. From Episode 1, Shinji did everything he could to gain Gendo’s acceptance: he arrived in Tokyo-3, as asked; piloted the Eva, for his own reasons, but as demanded; he destroyed Sachiel and all proceeding Angels, Sahaquiel of which earned his father’s respect; and he forced himself out of his comfort zone to connect with Gendo on an emotional level. It’s only here and now, finally pushed beyond any rational limit, that Shinji realizes he’d rather go back to an unremarkable existence than continue following his father. He’s willing to trash the past three years of his life and effort for the unknown unbeing.

Gendo calls him out on this, asking if he’s running away again, which, as always, could be his Machiavellian way of trying to convince Shinji to stay, or could be an honest if misguided fatherly attempt to convince his son to face reality and own up to his weakness.

Shinji doesn’t relent.

As he walks away from us, Gendo’s voice over adapts plans for his son’s absence. Before Shinji can even get home, his father is already replacing him. In the apartment, we cut to him already packed, his boxes stacked on the rug which commentors pointed out bears an uncanny resemblance to an AT field. His phone begins ringing, only the second time throughout the series it’s done that, and over the course of four shots it goes unanswered, Shinji reluctantly picking up to hear Aida urging him to stay. The very boy who consoled him during his first escape is calling him now just as Toji had, reminding Shinji he can’t go back to a normal life. It’s not in the cards for him. Even this phone call, cut short by NERV at Toji’s mention, is a sign of Shinji’s otherness, the alienness surrounding him.

At the same station he nearly left on last time, Shinji and Misato have a final goodbye, their positions switched to indicate the opposite nature of their stances compared to back then. They’re separated by the station barriers, the escape route, and the NERV transport, a symbol of the job they once shared now keeping them apart. In their exchange, the camera keeps its distance, Shinji and Misato never sharing the same side of frame unless at a distance. Even the boarding stalls isolate both characters in their own space, the method of Shini’s escape once again between them. It’s all the same visual boundaries we’ve seen in play before, the audience only allowed to get close when Shinji states he’ll never pilot again, and Misato realizing the boy she’s watched over all this time is finally adult enough to chart his own life.

It’s a tender scene between the two, both finally transparent with their feelings, what with Misato admitting she used Shinji to vicariously enact vengeance on the Angels for her own sake. In that sense, you have to wonder how similar she is to Gendo, which again highlights the expectations of the parents with the child, which we examined earlier in Episode 12. Now, however, it’s both the father and mother figure leveling their expectations on Shinji, and he’s finally done with shouldering them.

On the platform, cicadas are drowned out by alarms as an Angel approaches, and with the camera at the same angle as at the phone booth, it’s difficult not to draw comparisons between the Shinji we see now and the one we first met: a sign that what’s about to follow is a retelling of Shinji’s journey up to this point, played out in familiar spaces with an all-new person.

While rethinking his life choices, I bet Shinji is regretting not buying new luggage, like the Unit-01 waist bag from FX Creations. After all, the breathable mesh and wide strap make it comfortable for long-distance travel, and the classy designs across the exterior would serve as a reminder of everything he learned during his time at NERV.

FX Creations is releasing their new collection of Evangelion-themed bags and clothing for fans to grab, and they were kind enough to offer me an exclusive sneak peek; which, I gotta say, really impressed me.

Most merchandise collaborations end up disappointing with vaguely recognizable color palates and a single logo in a corner, but FX did it right. Partnered with Studio Khara to deliver an official collaboration, FX managed to load in tons of detail and fun designs without cluttering the surface. I especially love the Emergency Tiles, Third Impact Warning, and interior collab patch. The quality material protects your stuff better than an AT Field, and it’s got more packing space than an entry plug. Seriously, I managed to fit my Rubik’s cubes, Denji and Pochita, an acclaimed novel, an assortment of fast-food snack packets, and the CVN-65 Enterprise aircraft carrier all without issue. It sports two bottle holders, and you can keep it snug on your hips if you want to be practical, like me, or sling it over your shoulder if you want to look a little cooler, also like me.

Pick it and other items up now, using the links below, and don’t forget discount code TIMBERWOLF to get %5 off your order. These guys are seriously amazing, and their products are too, so be sure to support them and the channel by grabbing yourself something cool;

…Like our second title, Introjection, which we get as the 14^th Angel, Zeruel, makes its appearance.

A terrifying combination of the strongest Angels we’ve seen up to this point, Zeruel’s cross shaped explosions remind us of Sachiel, but the flying and breaching capability are that of Ramiel. Pair this with a vaguely humanoid design bereft of extended limbs, like a floating cadaver, and a face emblazoned with an expression of agony, and I think it’s clear why this representation of Irresponsibility still gives some of us nightmares.

To counter the Angel’s overbearing power, NERV deploys Asuka within the Geofront—our first battle so close to Lilith and NERV headquarters. Rei, meanwhile, enters Unit-01, and while we know from Episode 14 she can interface with the Eva, Yui has other ideas.

Episode 14 was also our first glimpse of the Spear of Longinus, the iconic weapon used to keep Lilith from leaving, and the source of inspiration for FX Creations’ genuine leather wallet. The full-size case is embossed with the instantly recognizable Spear, comes fit for duty with multiple slots and pouches for cards and cash, and sports the NERV logo within, complete with the mantra: “God’s in His Heaven; All’s right with the world,” which, fun fact, is a quote from the poem Pippa Passes. Altogether, the wallet won’t fail to keep your cards safe from tragedy and Angel alike.

Unlike Shinji, who failed merging with Unit-00 way back then; and now we see Rei, refused by Unit-01, bathed in red as she clutches at her mouth and nose. Scent being a prevalent sense within the entry plug, I wonder if she’s now smelling blood like Shinji had. Forced instead to pilot a suboptimal Unit-00, Rei dismisses the very real possibility of her death, knowing, like we don’t, that a clone of hers could easily take her place. Which is an extremely mature but nonetheless dour prospect for a fourteen-year-old.

As Zeruel breaches the Geofront, Asuka’s attacks grow manic, the camera lowering along with the Angel and steadily pushing into her, cutting between the head-on perspective of the threat and the intimate close-ups of her despair. In her last battle, Baridel took her out in a single shot; before that, she was powerless against Leliel; and before that, she was completely uninvolved against Ireul. Since delivering the fatal blow to Sahaquiel, Asuka has only been sidelined or useless, this now her fourth confrontation in a row in which she’s proved incapable of performing the very act she prides herself on. When Zeruel suddenly disarms her—literally—she doesn’t just fail in her mission of protecting headquarters, which the two are visually fighting over, but fails to prove herself a necessary component to those around her.

In a desperate last-ditch effort, Asuka charges Zeruel, and while I’m known to prefer the VSI dub, I gotta admit, the ADV got it right as she screams schweinhund. That is, of course, moments before two half-second shots display her instant decapitation, a literal loss of mind.

Zeruel’s arms going straight for Asuka’s neck kind of reminds me of FX’s custom Unit-02 scarf. Honestly, the black, red, and gold on white color scheme is fantastic, and it’s so soft, smooth, and stretchy, you can easily wrap it tight to prevent the cold from getting in. My favorite thing, though, is how light it is, making it easy to wear year-round, especially during Japan’s eternal summers. Complete with the NERV logo, it really makes me want more Unit-02 merchandise. But until then, we’ll just have to see what else lands.

In the shelter, Shinji recounts a previously unheard line from Asuka about the uselessness of pilots knowing evacuation routes, a notion that furthers him from his previous identity as a pilot. In Episode 3, Kensuke and Toji were similarly sheltered when Aida insists hunkering down there is no guarantee of safety.

Unit-02’s head crashes in.

Aida was right.

In the same episode, Shinji nearly crushed Aida and Toji when Shamshel threw him mountainside, and the horror of hurting them morphed into a beacon of resolve as they boarded the Eva to support him. Here, as stated by the storyboard notes, a family is crushed to death. Yesterday’s nightmare is today’s reality as the color drain indicates a drawback from emotion: emptiness, rudely interrupted by a flood of red, now without an optimistic out.

As Zeruel passes Asuka, Unit-01 refuses the Dummy Plug and shuts itself down in defiance of Gendo and his ambitions. As Ikari delegates to Fuyutski, his darkened eyes mirror Unit-01’s, this private contest represented between them before the Eva’s face leads us into the next cut with Unit-02’s head, the victims of its entrance now clearly visible. Shinji, mid-flight, freezes before Asuka’s decimated Eva, his concern of her evident before he realizes he’s wandered right back into Kaji’s garden.

When Kaji asks what he’s doing here, Shinji admits to no longer piloting the Eva, but unlike the declaration made to Gendo and Misato, here Shinji turns away, unable to look Kaji in the eyes, his faith in his decision waning. It’s important to remember as this conversation continues, Kaji is Shinji’s adult foil, a man Shinji could easily become if he makes the right choices. Which might explain Ryoji’s disappointment in hearing Shinji quit, a factoid the triple agent should already know, although hearing it aloud might be the confirmation he was dreading.

The interjected shots throughout their conversation highlight every detail, starting with the melons of Kaji’s garden, tended to even in this dark moment. Shinji wonders astounded at that, but Kaji’s matter of fact response both reminds us of the peace he’s achieved through bonding with nature, and the honorable mindset to live every minute of life for itself, not to cower in fear when death inevitably comes.

The mention of death brings another destructive blast from Zeruel, targeted right at NERV headquarters, one step closer to the Angel in Terminal Dogma, which Kaji finally explains would trigger the Third Impact. That’s right: 19 episodes into the series, we’re finally told why the Angels are attacking, what their contact with Adam could produce, why the Evangelions were created to combat them: because the only thing capable of destroying an Angel is another Angel.

To emphasize that point, Rei emerges, clutching an N2 mine, and rushes the Angel to personally deliver an atomic blast. Gendo’s anxious call tells us this isn’t an ordered strike, its Ayanami’s own insane last resort, a self-sacrificial blow meant to evaporate herself along with the threat. She inverts her AT Field to erode the Angel’s and contain the blast, self-reflecting the nuke’s power against herself and Zeruel…and she fails.

In one motion, Zeruel severs Unit-00 through the eye, which we’ve seen represented by Rei’s left eye, the traditional symbol of the moon. By contrast, when Asuka was decapitated, the camera zoomed in to her right eye, the symbol of the sun. Zeruel doesn’t just eliminate the Evas, it does so by cutting right to what makes each of the girls distinct, to their souls.

Shinji is left shocked, his right hand unclenched and unmoving beside Kaji. When Ryoji urges Shinji to make a choice he won’t regret, he’s faced away. Whereas before their direction indicated a misalignment of emotionality, here Kaji’s indirection denotes a suggestion instead of an expectation. His urgence isn’t to control Shinji, but to free him. And the cut from Kaji facing left to Shinji facing right shows how even this indirect suggestion connects with him, and the boy who would be a man finally lifts his head to face his responsibility, the red fading as he rises above his pain.

As the Angel gains entrance to Central Dogma, Shinji arrives, and comparisons to Episode 1 are unavoidable. Shinji, once refusing to pilot, now demands to, even calling Gendo “father,” recognizing him not as his commander, but as his parent, his family, a personal emotional appeal. Gendo, once impersonally ordering Shinji to pilot, doesn’t keep him from doing so, but now seeks to understand why, to know the reason his prodigal son has returned, if his faith in his child can be properly restored. But we don’t see Gendo as he asks this: we only hear the father’s voice speaking down from on high as Shinji faces the source of his pain and power.

And he unrelentingly clenches his fist.

Reiterating not just his confidence but his agency, Shinji posits his identity as his right: he deserves to pilot Unit-01 because he is Unit-01’s pilot: it’s his duty, his responsibility, and, he’s saying, his purpose. The screens that once divided his value now multiply his power, amplify his position, his father now forced to see all of him, to witness him. Many interpret this scene as Anno intended, an Oedipus Complex played out in real time as Shinji overcomes his father to take control of the mother, Unit-01; herself framed before him as he announces his purpose in piloting, Gendo cut out of frame as Shinji pleads with him.

And we’re left wondering if the plea is heard as the Angel bursts through the screen so many of its brothers were killed on. Misato, caught directly in Zeruel’s glare, grips her father’s cross pendant, about to perish the way he did, until not her parent but her child comes crashing in. Unit-01 literally comes between the two, filling the negative space, striking Zeruel with the right hand before losing the left. Gendo is unaffectedly bathed in the aftermath as he focuses entirely on his family. Shinji compensates with cleverness by launching up the catapult, both removing the Angel from headquarters and grinding its face against the shaft while doing so.

I’m sorry. This is the definition of awesome, and if you think otherwise, you’re wrong.

Shinji embraces his viciousness for the first time since Act I, going from boy to man to monster to defeat the beast before him, stretching the Angel’s neck to the breaking point.

Until his power runs out.

Zeruel, previously only willing to incapacitate the Evas, retaliates against its near death by going for the kill. The straight repeated jabs are meant to evoke sexual assault imagery, symbolic of Unit-01 not just on the verge of death but violation. Isolated, desperate, trapped, and powerless, Shinji struggles, having successfully pled with the father only to plead with the mother to move, to attack, to save.

Throughout the series, we’ve seen Shinji fighting for his father’s approval and losing, only gaining victory when his initiative shifted to defending his city, his friends, or his family. The offensive is the duty of the father, the defensive of the mother, and once the protection of the family is at stake, Yui’s soul alights. This is also paired with Shinji shifting from imperative statements to a declarative one; “Please move,” becomes “I can’t take this anymore and I don’t want this.” Shinji needs to protect his family, and Yui needs to protect Shinji, and as she awakens, familiar blue soul shimmering to consciousness, he can feel her. The warped close up is no longer a sign of losing control but gaining it. Not an image or communion with her as before, but a merging, an alignment so intimate he feels it in his core as the LCL Fluid fades from orange to purple. Red has meant pain; green, connection; white means truth; and here, we understand purple: it’s power.

Power in agency. Power in selfhood. Power in responsibility.

Impaling the Angel with its own horn, Unit-01 then flings the Angel back, a direct response to how it was flung in Episode 2. Merging with the Angel’s flesh, the Eva regenerates it’s left arm, which makes sense, given the name Zeruel translates to “Arm of God,” now serving the ascendant being that Shinji and Yui have become instead of the will of Adam.

Still, it’s the right hand that lunges forward to offensively utilize the AT Field to shred the Angel. It’s quick, but going frame by frame, you’ll notice the blurring effect associated with an AT Field activation and see Zeruel’s Field shattered along with its flesh as the Eva’s new power lashes out. With Sachiel, she needed to manually tear the Field apart; here, she sunders it with a single flick of the wrist, blood splattering against the wrong side of the shield as the enemy topples.

With our first long shot revealing the entirety of Unit-01, a number of details stand out. Firstly, lead animator Mitsuo Iso with the crawling shot purposely made the Eva’s proportions more human, which, along with the exposed skin, is evocative of a behind-the-scenes armor doffing from real-world kaiju actors. Director Anno said on record that when watching kaiju series like Ultraman at a young age, he was as fearful for the elaborate costumes of the actors as he was for the wellbeing of the characters they portrayed, afraid that in the tumble of battle a shielded plate or mask might break off. Along with his propensity to see the untarnished become imperfect, the decision to keep a full arm of the Eva exposed doesn’t just convey the unnerving humanness of the being underneath, but plays on audience’s preconceived fears of seeing something we know we shouldn’t, the horror of witnessing wrongness amplified by imagery we’re not used to seeing and feel like we shouldn’t. Combine that with a crawling motion equal parts infantile, bestial, and hungry, and the sight is one uniquely terrifying to behold.

Zeruel, now on the backfoot, attempts a final eye blast, only to have its optics melted inside its own skull as Unit-01 begins ingesting its flesh. Pay close attention to those three shots, though: the careful, inquisitive lift of her arm and the squinting of the eyes inform us this isn’t a ravenous, crazed decision: Yui is calculated, deliberately choosing to feast as the shot of the all-too-human teeth let us know what we’re about to see will involve its mouth. As computed as consuming the S2 Drive is, however, she does then needlessly eat Zeruel’s face as a final relentless show of dominance. It’s Angel on Angel cannibalism, reminiscent of ancient tales like Kronos consuming his children, as much an adoption of the enemy’s essence as it is a prevention of their resurrection.

As the restraints further break off, and as Ritsuko will soon remind us, the importance of an S2 Drive can’t be overstated. A Super Solenoid Engine, or S2 Drive, is a perpetual energy organ in an Angel’s core, the mechanism that grants them unlimited energy. It’s the device Doctor Katsuragi and Gehirn went to Antarctica for, and the tampering of which caused the Second Impact. Evangelions, which don’t have a Drive, require external power, as we’ve seen throughout the series. Assimilating an S2 Drive, as Unit-01 just did, grants unlimited power, and combined with Shinji’s fully integrated consciousness, she’s now arguably the strongest being on planet Earth.

A goddess, if you will.

And with Gendo smiling down from his office, I can’t help but wonder if he was anticipating this. The reflection in his glasses silhouettes Unit-01 in stark white, a callback to its previous rampaging victory where it stood above the viscera of Leliel. And as we gaze with him upon the mutant half-human form of his family, his declaration of a new beginning becomes the harbinger of conclusion.

Many viewers consider Episode 19 the second and proper conclusion of the series. While it leaves plot threads dangling, Shinji’s emotional journey is complete: he’s returned to the place he began, his conviction a turnaround from his initial stance as he insists on embracing the responsibility he first shirked. Asuka falls, incapable of untangling herself from the expectations of others, while Rei breaks free of her limited potential, growing enough conscience to do the right thing even against orders. And Shinji goes even further, defeating the father who confined him while embracing the necessary, relentless viciousness of masculinity and protectiveness of femininity to become a balanced person, an able-minded pilot, a savior, a hero.

But the show isn’t content to simply give us our conclusion. This is Evangelion, after all, where even victory needs to be analyzed. Winning has a price, and the human experience is in no way a linear one. In deconstructing himself to his base person, Shinji has rediscovered his potential. Now, he’s required to build upon that new foundation.

But first he has to escape the basement. And that’s a video for another day.

Outro

Thank you all so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed and learned something new, and if you did, let me know. Thank you again to FX Creations for supporting this video, it really means the world, and if you’d like to grab any of the items you saw today, or any of their Evangelion items, be sure to use the links below and use code TIMBERWOLF to get %5 off your order. Additionally, if you use code TIMBERWOLF when ordering the waist bag in the next seven days, FX will send you a scarf and Unit-01 keychain for free! So don’t miss out on that.

I intended to wrap up Act IV today, but Episode 19 proved to be way denser than I anticipated, so we’ll have to cover Episode 20 by itself next time. Which is probably for the best, all things considered. It does mean, however, that unlike my initial plans, I will not have this retrospective complete before the North American release of the End of Evangelion this weekend. It’ll be my first time seeing the film, and I’m super stoked to see it on the big screen.

And finally, we just hit ten thousand subscribers, for which I need to thank you all. The support and encouragement up to this point has been nothing short of phenomenal, and I wouldn’t be here without each and every one of you. So thank you so much for making this dream of mine a reality, and being so welcoming. I can’t wait to see where we go next.

Until then, I’ve been Jir0, y’all have been amazing, and I’ll see you all on the bright side.

God Bless.