Neon Genesis Evangelion
Around the age of three, Shinji lost his mother to the Unit-01 Contact Experiment. As he witnessed this event, he was subjected to considerable trauma that had lingering effects upon him.
First appearing in Episode 1, Shinji Ikari, aged 14, is summoned to Tokyo-3 by his father, Gendo Ikari to pilot Evangelion Unit-01. After initially refusing, Gendo calls for the heavily injured, stretcher bound backup pilot, Rei Ayanami. Suddenly, an earthquake knocks Rei out of her stretcher and Shinji rushes to her aid. After lifting her off the ground, Shinji looks to his hand which had been covered with Rei's blood. Realizing he both literally and metaphorically has her blood on his hands, he reluctantly agrees to become the pilot of the Evangelion.
Shinji enters the Evangelion and is lifted to the surface where he comes face to face with the angel, Sachiel. At first, Shinji is able to take a few steps, but he very quickly trips. The Evangelion is picked up by the angel and takes mutiple direct blows to the head before Shinji passes out, waking up in the NERV infermary some time later with no recollection of the events which took place. It is later revealed that after passing out, Unit-01 went Berserk, acting without the pilots control, and defeated the angel. After Shinji recovers from his first fight, Misato Katsuragi takes to live with her rather than letting him live on his own.
Several weeks later, Shinji begins to attend school, where he meets Tōji, Kensuke, and Hikari. When it is discovered that Shinji is the pilot of Eva Unit-01, Tōji beats him up, in retaliation for his little sister being injured in the Angel battle. Shortly thereafter, Shamshel attacks, and Shinji pilots Unit-01 once again. However, before defeating the Angel, Shinji's battle puts two of his classmates in serious danger. Because of this, Shinji spends several days wandering the town, until he sees Kensuke and spends the night with him. The next day, agents from NERV come and take Shinji back to NERV HQ. After being reprimanded by Misato, Shinji overcomes his own weakness, stays with NERV, and goes back to live with Misato.
Later, at NERV HQ, Shinji sees Rei happily chatting with Gendo, who has burns on his hands. After asking Ritsuko about them, she describes an incident where Gendo put his hands on scalding metal to save Rei, to which Shinji is skeptical. Shinji begins to eye Rei, though he brushes it off as curiosity about why she is always alone. Soon thereafter, Ritsuko has Shinji return Rei's ID card to her; Shinji accidentally walks in on Rei as she is getting dressed, and clumsily knocks her to the floor, touching her naked body. A bit shook up, Shinji follows Rei to NERV, returns her ID card, and asks her about his father; when he tells her that he has no faith in Gendo, she slaps him.
With Rei still unable to enter battle, Ramiel approaches, and Gendo sorties Unit-01 with Shinji as the pilot. Shinji is immediately hit by one of Ramiel's attacks and is forced into retreat by Misato. As Shinji wakes up and begins to recover from his injuries, he helps defeat Ramiel with a positron beam. During the battle, Shinji's first shot fails to destroy Ramiel. When Ramiel fights back, Rei, in Unit-00, steps between them, taking heavy damage. Shinji then destroys Ramiel with another blast. Shinji quickly escapes Unit-01, and opens Unit-00's hatch, burning his hands as Gendo did in the past, to see Rei. He expresses a deep sadness for her but tells her to smile nonetheless.
We soon learn that Shinji is embarrassed by Misato and her unhealthy lifestyle. After she visits his school, however, a new robotic unit called Jet Alone appears in a demonstration but goes out of control. Shinji must use Unit-01 to get Misato into Jet Alone so she can shut down its reactor. Then, after Tōji and Kensuke point out that Misato's personality is only shown to Shinji because she considers him family, he happily accepts her.
In Episode 08, Asuka makes her series debut and immediately regards Shinji as "dull". Despite this, Asuka displays an interest in Shinji (after learning of his innate ability to synch with Unit-01); as Gaghiel attacks, she seizes her chance to impress Shinji, and tells him to get into the cockpit of Evangelion Unit-02 with her. Eventually, as the two cooperate, they can open Gaghiel's mouth underwater, and the armada of Navy ships present are able to destroy it.
As the Angel Israfel arrives, Shinji and Asuka are both deployed in their Evas to destroy it. After Asuka hits it and divides it in two, it revives as two separate Angels, which defeat both Evas; Shinji and Asuka proceed to argue about whose fault it was. Kaji and Misato devise a plan to take down the Angel after it heals and returns in a few days time; however, the plan requires the cooperation of both Evangelion units. Shinji and Asuka, during their next several days living together, undergo numerous tests and training exercises to synchronize themselves to better attack Israfel. When the battle day comes, the two defeat Israfel seamlessly through a synchronized dance routine.
Shinji and Asuka hang out at a pool after their friends go on a field trip, where Shinji is having trouble with schoolwork. Showing off a bit, Asuka solves his problem with relative ease, then compares his topic of thermal expansion to that of her breasts, much to Shinji's embarrassment. Meanwhile, Sandalphon has been active in a nearby volcano, and Asuka takes the call. Trying to show off to Shinji, she takes a dive into the volcano, where she loses her Eva's knife, but eventually encounters the Angel. Shinji throws his knife to Asuka, and after a short struggle, Asuka defeats Sandalphon. A few days later, the power to NERV HQ goes out, and Shinji, Asuka, and Rei must make their way to NERV together in order to defeat the Angel Matarael. Though they come into conflict many times, they are all able to deploy their Evas and defeat Matarael before it can attack NERV HQ.
In Episode 12, it is discovered that Shinji is rapidly increasing his synch rate with his Eva, much to Asuka's dismay. As Sahaquiel approaches in the fashion of a meteor destined for NERV HQ, Misato hatches a plan in which Shinji, Asuka, and Rei must all cooperate to stop the Angel by catching it with their A.T. Fields at maximum. As it nears the ground, Shinji is the first to get under it. He struggles to last long enough for Rei to expose the core for Asuka to destroy, killing Sahaquiel. Later, Shinji does a test in Evangelion Unit-00, but when the nerve connections go bad, the Eva goes Berserk just as it had previously, though Shinji escapes virtually unharmed.
Shinji is next seen visiting his mother's grave with Gendo, who reveals that there is nobody there, nor does he have any pictures of Yui. Though Shinji attempts to make a connection with Gendo, the latter dismisses him completely. Shinji returns home and begins playing the cello, with which Asuka notes he has great talent. He says he started playing at age five, and still plays now and again because, "No one told [him] to stop." She then says she's bored and wants to practice kissing and though Shinji is nervous, they share a kiss, though Asuka is upset by his lack of emotion.
During Episode 16, Shinji's synch test gives the highest results among his, Rei's and Asuka's, an event that inspires confidence in him. Due to this and the arrival of the unusual 12th Angel, Shinji ventures to face it alone, resulting in Unit-01 being captured in the Angel's shadow, trapping him in a Sea of Dirac. As the Eva's life support starts to turn off, Shinji begins to lose hope, and the Angel tries to communicate with him, talking about the psychology and understanding of others, and revives the memories of his abandonment, alongside his imperfections. However, once the life support cuts out entirely, Unit-01 goes Berserk, and frees itself from the Angel's grasp, killing it in a shower of blood.
Soon after, Unit-04 vanishes, and Unit-03 is transferred to Japan. Shinji and Asuka are left at the care of Kaji while Misato goes to supervise the test activation of Unit-03. During the night, Shinji asks Kaji about Gendo, thinking he has started to understand his father, to which Kaji replies he just believes he understands.
Following the failed activation test of Unit-03, and its abandonment and re-classification as the 13th Angel, Shinji is sortied to defeat it alongside Rei and Asuka. Even after Rei and Asuka are dispatched by the unit, Shinji still shows reluctance to fight it, claiming that he'd rather die than kill the pilot inside. Seeing this, Gendo cuts the synchronization between Shinji and Unit-01, giving control of the Eva to the Dummy Plug that proceeds to slaughter the Angel. When Shinji finds out that the pilot was Tōji, he refuses to abandon the Eva, claiming he will destroy half of NERV HQ in pure revenge against his father. With Shinji unable to reason, Gendo orders the technicians to raise the LCL pressure to force him out of his rampage. As a result, Shinji is taken to Gendo, and abandons NERV and his duties as an Eva pilot, right as the 14th Angel starts its assault, destroying the Geofront defense and defeating Unit-02 and Unit-00 without difficulties. As Shinji hides in a nearby shelter, he sees the disembodied head of Unit-02 crash against the building, then hurries outside, only to witness the devastation caused by the Angel. He encounters Kaji watering his garden, and he explains to Shinji that while that is all he can do, Shinji can do much more, and convinces him to pilot Unit-01 once more. Shinji engages the Angel as it is about to destroy Central Dogma, and guides it outside before the Eva runs out of energy.
Zeruel mercilessly proceeds to try and destroy Unit-01 core. However, the Eva reactivates and goes Berserk, easily overpowering the Angel, and proceeding to devour its S² Engine into itself. After the incident, Shinji was absorbed inside the Eva's core, which caused him to go through a series of mental journeys that guided him to realize he pilots the Eva to receive the kindness of others, and remembers that he saw Unit-01 years before his arrival at Tokyo-3. On the outside, Misato and Ritsuko try to salvage Shinji's soul back to his body, but the experiment goes awry, and Shinji initially decides not to come back. However, after recognizing the scent of the Eva as his mother's, Shinji finally comes back through the core of the Eva.
In Episode 23, when Armisael attacks and Asuka is too mentally fragile to control her Eva, Shinji is launched to attack it. As he touches it, however, it fuses with his hands, and forces him to see hundreds of Rei faces telling him, "it hurts." Through this, the real Rei discovers that her desire is to be with Shinji, and contains the Angel and self-destructs, killing both Armisael and herself. Shinji is devastated, though he soon arrives at the hospital to see Rei, alive. Shortly after, Ritsuko shows Misato and Shinji the Eva graveyard, as well as the many clones of Rei.
After being too scared to go home, Shinji finds himself at the edge of a crater at the beginning of Episode 24, where he meets Kaworu Nagisa, sitting amongst the wreckage from the battle with Armisael. Since Shinji is desperate for any sort of affection, they quickly connect. After Shinji returns to NERV, he, Kaworu, and Rei undergo synch tests, after which Shinji is greeted by Kaworu while loitering at NERV's HQ, seemingly reluctant to return home. Kaworu accompanies Shinji to a NERV public bathing room and, at one point, Kaworu places his hand on Shinji's, who doesn't react. Kaworu also declares that Shinji deserves to be treated well, and that he likes him. When their bath is done, Shinji tells Kaworu that he needs to go to bed, to which Kaworu is confused and asks if they will go together. Shinji is quick to decline the offer, though he does spend the night at Kaworu's apartment, sleeping on the floor beside his bed, as he is afraid to go home.
The next day, Kaworu is identified as the 17th Angel as he descends into Terminal Dogma. Shinji is placed into Unit-01 and pursues Kaworu, who manipulates Unit-02 to slow down Shinji. After Kaworu activates the door and enters, he appears to reach an understanding that the giant crucified there is not in fact Adam, but rather Lilith, and after Shinji defeats Unit-02, he allows Shinji to grasp him in Unit-01's hand. Shinji is hurt that Kaworu betrayed him, "just like his father did," and lied to him about his identity after befriending him. However, Kaworu tells Shinji that his life is complete and had more meaning after meeting him, and requests to be killed, claiming that the only freedom there is, is to choose how one dies. Following a prolonged period of silence, Shinji grants his request.
Episodes 25 and 26 have Shinji feeling lost and hopeless after killing Kaworu, who he saw as human, as Shinji again feels alone and that nobody cares about him. Tormented by guilt, he falls into despair and begs for others to help him. Much of the TV ending is devoted to Shinji being taught by the other characters about the ability of individuals to make their own destiny by reshaping their viewpoint. At the end of their discourse, Shinji comes to terms with his self-loathing and how much it distorts his perception of reality. Finally, he learns that he has value as an individual, and accepts his own will to live. In Episode 26', Shinji chooses to reject Instrumentality for individual existence, even though it will mean running the risk of experiencing more pain. Shinji eventually learns that he needs other people to exist in order to experience happiness; and realizes that he wants real feelings of his own even if it means once again exposing himself to betrayal and pain. Despite their differences, both endings suggest that buried deep within Shinji, is the capacity for redemption and change.
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