Take Care of Yourself

The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World

This final episodes feels as if it’s a reach out to those who are lonely, telling them they must be the ones to change.

When Shinji lost his body, he was greeted with the idea of becoming one with Misato, or becoming one with Asuka, or becoming one with Rei. Was he one with his mother’s soul at that time? Or with the Eva 01’s soul? Did Shinji have a moment where he experienced what would be instrumentality, what was to come to pass, to experience what his parents hoped to do to the world?

All souls together. Is that the end result? Is this the true Third Impact? What was Second Impact? Why would Gendo and Yui want everything to come together? How could the know something like this could be possible? How could they make it happen? How did it happen?

In the end, Shinji finds any reality can exist for him. He only need be the one in control. He need only to be the one to make the decision, to shape his life, his future, his existence.

At least, that’s what I think I got out of the final episode.

It feels like an episode to tell lonely, depressed people, “You are in power. You have control over your own life.” In the context of Neon Genesis Evangelion, I don’t know. Has humanity ended? Are all souls one? Were Misato and Ritsuko killed by Gendo in the prior episode? Does Shinji still exist? Does life continue for the world without him, or has everyone become a single entity?

What is instrumentality? Are all souls united as one? Can people construct their own realities? Is Shinji able to construct any reality? Did he construct his reality where Asuka was a childhood friend? Shinji thanks his father, and gives a final farewell to his mother. He will not live in a reality where is parents are together, as a family with him. This is not his reality. So, what is his reality? What becomes of everyone? Shinji’s final words. Do they mean he chooses to construct the reality he lived? And continue life in the world devastated by Second Impact?

It felt to me as if the scenes with Shinji as “one” with his Eva were a preliminary showing of the ending, the instrumentality. Shinji’s body was gone. He was just his soul. And he was asked if it wanted to be one with Misato, with Asuka, with Rei. I don’t recall if this is where he’s first presented with the idea of there being many Shinji, a Shinji for each view someone had of him.

Still, it feels incomplete. What becomes of Asuka after all this? Is Rei finally able to die, or will she discover a purpose to live in Shinji?

This must be why I was told to buy the End of Evangelion movie to watch after these final two episodes.

I wonder if the series really just comes down to this:

Fan of Eva:

“Whoa, this is the MOST PHILOSOPHICAL SERIES EVER!”

Series Producer:

“Actually, those are just plot holes.”

Fan of Eva:

“…? Say what?!”

Series Producer:

“Really, the show is about fighting depression, that’s all.”

Fan of Eva:

“O RLY?”

Series Producer:

“YA RLY!”

Fan of EVA:

“NO WAI!!”

But really, we don’t get to see what becomes of Asuka?

Right, the movie. Here’s hoping.

I don’t think I have a problem with the final two episodes so much as I’ve been left confused on things (but Wikipedia should help with that), and things felt left incomplete for the characters due to the Instrumentality occurring. But maybe I’d better watch the movie before reading that page, just in case there are spoilers. When I consider that STEELE and Nerv were aiming for Instrumentality all along, it’s easier to accept that this is the outcome. Ever since the first episode, ever since before the first episode, this has been the goal of Gendo Ikari.

I wonder how the movie will be.