I never watched End of Evangelion.
For one thing, I thought it was ridiculous that an anime that was
originally written as a deconstruction of the commercialized mecha
genre had itself been so commercialized. I also thought the original
series was a complete work in itself that didn't gain much from an
addendum. And finally, I thought that the last two episodes were
artful and evocative.
In fact, Evangelion
doesn't really get rolling, thematically, until about episode 21 of
26. Everything up until that is just groundwork: World-building,
character exposition, and countless, but uniformly brief, clues to
the reality behind the main plot, all expertly worked in between the
orgy of action and suspense that occupies the lion's share of each
episode's runtime. It works so well because it doesn't reveal the
answer to the puzzle, but it does give you all the pieces.
Rather than broader speculation, I'm
going to do something slightly more succinct and possibly more
interesting, and instead submit my personal interpretation of the
story and its meaning.
Theology
The
constant use of Christian symbolism
within Evangelion
is immediately obvious, at
least
in its stylistic choices. The
main enemies are called “Angels” (使徒、“Apostles”),
they're named after various minor characters from the Bible, and the
opening theme is called 「残酷な天使のテーゼー」、“Thesis
of a Cruel Angel.” The alien who spawned them is called Adam; his
rival, who created we humans, is called Lilith. Adam is kept docile
in NERV headquarters by being pinned to a giant cross, his stem cells
being harvested in the form of weeping blood; the Spear of Longinus,
an extragalactic superweapon, has been plunged into his flank.
Lilith didn't arrive on the scene until well after Adam had set up
shop, the so-called “First Impact,” populating the planet with
fifteen children. But where had opted to create a handful of beings
possessing immense physical and spiritual power, Lilith envisioned a
planet overflowing with much smaller, more pathetic creatures who
instead drew strength from their social bonds and the ingenuity she
would bestow upon them. Unfortunately, no two objects can occupy the
same space at the same time, either physically or metaphysically;
“Seeds of Life” simply weren't built for cohabitation. The
ideological divide ended with the vanquished Adam imprisoned
underneath the Antarctic ice, where he remained until we ignorantly
dug him up.
This
directly caused the Second Impact, which wiped out most life on
Earth. It also reawakened Adam's subjugated children, who then
endeavoured to reunite with their progenitor. This is why they target
NERV headquarters, where Adam's comatose body is being held (though
for some reason the government knowingly exposes residents to
collateral damage rather than evacuating them). Should they ever be
successful, this will signal the catastrophic Third Impact.
As they discover, however, the Angels are invulnerable to all
conventional weapons, owing to their unusually resilient “AT
Fields.” Thus they scramble to produce something capable of
penetrating this seemingly invincible barrier, ultimately discovering
that it can be punctured by an equally strong AT Field. Since the
Angels were created by Adam, only creatures of equal calibre are
capable of generating a sufficiently strong AT Field, and thus they
begin to construct the Evas. Owing to their pedigree, the Evas are
possessed of seemingly godlike power themselves.
Now look what we've got. Adam and
Lilith created Angels and humans, and then humans created the
humanoid Evas. Adam's Angels are a diverse bunch, no doubt about
that, but Lilith essentially modeled humans after her own form, or
should I say, “made them in her own image.” In other words, God
is just a man, and in a way, Man is a god unto himself.
God created us, and we've learned to
create Gods. Even supposing that there is a God in our real world,
and He created us, our imperfect ability to comprehend Him means that
we are, in fact, creating Him
in our own minds when we attempt to comprehend Him. You might liken
it to Plato's World of Forms, in which there is another dimension
full of the indisputably perfect versions of every single thing, and
each instance of these things in our world is an earnest but flawed
imitation. Constructing an understanding of God in our minds, based
on the actual God, is like trying to construct a real-world chair
based on Form of Chair. It goes against actual Christian doctrine,
which contends that there is a single, knowable God, but it lends a
whole new perspective to the words of Voltaire, “If God did not
exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.”
Identity
The Evas possess minds and wills of their own, and their pilots are
required to use a combination of domination and coercion in order to
use them effectively. Each is imbued with the soul of the pilot's
mother, keeps him or her alive within a womb of breathable fluid (in
fact Adam's blood), and are only capable of operating for five
minutes at a time unless directly connected to a massive power
generator. They're capable of rapid regeneration, are equipped with
intimidating (yet stylish) armour, and, when restrictive measures
fail, they seem to turn almost feral, with Unit-01 immediately
devouring the heart of its fallen foe. Oh yeah, and all pilots are
only 14 years old.
What
I found most interesting, though, was the existence of an AT Field.
Described as the barrier that separates sentient life forms from each
other, all metahumans possess one – it's just that only Angels and
Evas are capable of physically manifesting theirs'. And really, we
are all insulated within our own little AT Fields – we can
converse, project, and empathize, but we can never directly
know one another's thoughts. Our AT Fields protect us, but also
partition us. No matter how close we grow with someone, we will
always be isolated. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be
the source of a lot of loneliness and misery.
Which is intriguing, in light of the
fact that the ultimate goal of the Third Impact is to achieve human
instrumentality. This is a science fiction concept – emphasis on
the “fiction” – wherein all human beings join a gestalt of all
the knowledge, experience, and emotion possessed by all members
together. We now think and act as one. Since differing opinions and
values are essentially the source of all human conflict, war ends,
social problems cease to exist, everyone shares. But you know what's
funny? It's this supposed Utopia that the main characters are
actually fighting against.
In fact, many lay down their lives to prevent it, because they would
literally rather die than lose their individuality.
Self-worth
The main cast have psychological issues out the ass. Misato-san is
the picture of a prim and professional young military woman, but her
personal life is a train wreck. Ikari is so obsessed with his dead
wife he risks literally destroying civilization in order to
reincarnate her. It's common knowledge that Tomino was in the depths
of his depression at the time he created this series, which is why
the setting is so bleak, the plot is so despairing, and so many major
characters die, often pointlessly. It also informed the insecurities
and personal struggles of each of the principal characters, and
considering all of this the denouement is surprisingly hopeful.
Episode
21 is dedicated entirely to Asuka and her problems. She's been
quietly dealing with them the whole time, but this is where she
finally snaps, breaking under the weight of her foe's postmodern
existentialist psychological assault. Asuka is always trying to
validate herself. She brags about her sync ratio, and makes
exaggerated claims of her own skill. She's quick to point out that
her Eva is the first one specifically built for combat. She bullies
and manipulates Shinji while denying her burgeoning romantic feelings
for him. And her precocious sexuality (I mean the Kaji thing) is more
of a cry for help than anything – above all, Asuka just wants to be
acknowledged. Her problem is that her entire sense of self-worth is
invested in other
people's assessment of her. The Angel exploits this vulnerability,
forever ruining her confidence as an Eva pilot.
Despite
any objections Kant might make, Rei is perfectly satisfied to be used
as a means to an end, without any regard for her own welfare. She has
no body shame, because she barely inhabits herself in the first
place. She follows any order she's given, undertaking the most
dangerous sorties without a second thought. She immediately agrees to
act as a meat shield while her partner lines up a difficult shot;
when he gives voice to the danger, she assures him, “You won't die.
I'll protect you,” silently acknowledging that she
very well might. Later she openly says that it makes no difference if
she dies, because she can be replaced. It later transpires that NERV
has a whole vat full of clones – soulless dolls – into which her
consciousness can be placed should her current body meet with
destruction, and, in fact, she's already died and been transposed
several times in the past. But she seems to believe it on a deeper
level as well, thinking of herself as no more than a mere tool,
valuable only insofar as she is useful to NERV. Without any will or
compulsion, who even knows what she'd be doing if they hadn't picked
her up.
Finally,
this same problem carries over to Shinji as well. Emotionally
crippled by patriarchal rejection, he does whatever he's told,
apologizes even when he's in the right, and agrees to join the NERV
defence only because nobody else can do it. Even the usually loving
and supportive Misato can't conceal her disgust at this, telling him
that he'll only be a liability with that attitude. He feels shy and
hesitant with Rei, meek and dwarfed by Asuka. His most significant
win comes when he defeats the Holy Ghost to Adam's God – Misato
explains that only those with a will to live deserve to. In the final
two episodes, as one battle rages around his ears and another between
them, all his deepest fears and insecurities are laid out once and
for all. And what's the final verdict? The series ends with the
afternoon sun of all things. He's surrounded by people who love and
respect him. He's been convinced – or rather, has convinced himself
– that things will get better, and that his life is
valuable. You have to have respect for Tomino for the courage that
must have taken.
All
three of them are the playthings of their own inferiority complexes,
as they're driven to do reckless, stupid, and self-destructive things
due to their skewed misunderstandings of their own worth. This is the
message that I personally get out of Evangelion:
Accept your own value, acknowledge your own right to exist, act of
your own will, and keep living.
