When discussing anime there are few that are agreed on as the best. As someone who recently got into anime, in the past two years, Neon Genesis Evangelion has changed my perception of anime as a genre as it manages to disguise itself as a mecha anime at first glance while being so much more. Mecha anime consists of anime that primarily focuses on the use of robots, similar to Transformers another example of a mecha anime is Gundam. Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most important anime for a multitude of reasons. Its recurring use of existentialism gives an accurate depiction of the state of nature. By portraying and discussing themes like individuality, consciousness, and freedom, the series pushes people to view anime as a serious intellectual, philosophical, and socially valuable medium.
Individuality is a very important theme in Evangelion which is portrayed through all three of the main characters. Each character makes various decisions based on their own will, or so it seems. Shinji, the main character, does what he is told instead of making his own decisions throughout the whole series. Ritsuko, the head scientist at Nerv where Shinji works, states “he goes along with what others say obediently ...... It's how to get on in his life, isn't it?” (Anno, NGE, ep 3). This is not because he prefers the other character’s decisions over his own but because he wants to please them. After an accident that causes his mother’s death, Shinji is abandoned by Gendo, his father. This gives Shinji many issues depicted throughout the series, like his depression and anxiety, and he struggles to make decisions for himself. Shinji’s indecisiveness only worsens throughout the series and will either lead to the success or failure of the human instrumentality project which aims to emancipate all the human beings from their material bodies and to merge them with each other for Gendo’s own selfish reasons. Hideaki Anno’s choice of making Shinji align with Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and Thomas Hobbes’ viewpoint on the state of nature is important to the theme of individuality because the two contradict and push Shinji into finding himself and finally being able to come to his senses. Freud’s theory on psychoanalytic, specifically the ego, states the ego "has a still harder time of it; it has to serve three harsh masters, and it has to do its best to reconcile the claims and demands of all three." (Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis). This is the part of Shinji that wants to please people. In reality, he wants to appear selfless in order to gain praise from others. According to Freud, the id is the part of your personality that controls your instinctive and primitive behaviors and is present from birth, the ego is the part of your personality that controls your response to reality, and the superego provides guidelines for making decisions. Shinji represents the ego because he wants to balance Asuka who represents the id and Rei who represents the superego. These are the two who push Shinji to find himself as he seeks a way to balance out the demands of both Asuka and Rei. Asuka acts true to herself compared to Shinji and Rei she is independent and arrogant, while Rei only does what she is told which earns her a nickname from Asuka being “puppet girl”. Throughout the series, Shinji attempts to balance the demands of both Rei and Asuka while trying to portray himself as selfless even though he has selfish intentions. Eventually, Shinji realizes that he can’t do this anymore and it’s detrimental to himself and pushes him to become his own individual supporting this plot point of existentialism.
Shinji’s true nature is aligned with Thomas Hobbes’ belief that people are naturally selfish and without laws there would be “a war as is of every man against every man.” (Hobbes, Leviathan, pg 77). Hobbes outright stated people “first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men’s persons, wives, children, and cattle;” (Hobbes, Leviathan 77). Shinji is willing to do the will of his father and possibly end the world to receive praise and to receive the feeling of being wanted. The reason behind Shinji being “selfless” is selfish all along; he’s making others happy so he can reciprocate those same feelings. In fact, Gendo is the same as Shinji because he is secretly carrying out the will of Seele which is the instrumentality project, his reason for doing this is not because he agrees with the project but because he has the possibility of reuniting with his dead wife, Shinji’s mother Yui, through the succession of the project.
Without Hideaki Anno’s decision to make Shinji contradict himself through the use of Sigmund Freud’s theory on psychoanalytic and Thomas Hobbes’ viewpoint on the state of nature, and basing the other two main characters off of the other two aspects of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory the id and superego Shinji being able to make his own decisions, existentialism, would not occur throughout Shinji and he would not be able to become his own individual. This is one of the reasons Evangelion was able to push people’s view on anime as a serious intellectual, philosophical, and socially valuable medium. Anno’s choice makes viewers rethink Shinji’s decisions throughout the whole series and whether or not he made a decision on his own will or the will of others. Furthermore, Anno’s decision made it so that it took multiple viewings of the series to fully understand the series as a whole. This is one of the aspects of the series that made viewers realize that this was a serious intellectual, philosophical, and socially valuable medium compared to any other anime they had seen at the time, it pushed people to think about the state of nature and how people really act when there is little to no consequences.
Consciousness, more specifically self-consciousness, is another important theme of Evangelion as each character has their own moment of self-consciousness whether it be a positive one or a negative one. Self-consciousness is the understanding of one’s self and one can affect the environment. Shinji and Rei’s experiences with self-consciousness are positive experiences that help to push Shinji into making the right choice in the end, his own choice. Shinji’s experiences with self-consciousness occur throughout episodes twenty-five and twenty-six of the show. Throughout these last two episodes, Shinji performs psychoanalysis on himself and starts to make his own decision on whether he should or should not go through with human instrumentality. Psychoanalysis is ones self-investigation on the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind for the purpose of treating mental disorders, Shinji takes his own course of action and decides to overcome his mental disorders which tie back into the theme of individuality. In episode twenty-six Shinji states, “‘I hate myself. But, I might be able to love myself. I might be allowed to stay here. Yes. I am nothing but I. I am I. I wish to be I. I wish to stay here as do I. I can stay here as do I!’” (Anno, NGE, ep 26). Shinji is able to dissect the reason behind his mental health issues and is able to make the decision of not going through with the human instrumentality project. Rei also does something similar, throughout the whole series Rei represents the superego and in episodes twenty-five and twenty-six she has a similar experience to Shinji’s psychoanalysis. In this sequence, Rei speaks to another version of herself where she states, “‘No, I'm glad. I am the thing that wishes to die. All I need is a dispair. I want to be a nothingness.’” (Anno, NGE, ep 25). Rei finally breaks away from being the superego and the “puppet girl” and finally rejects what she is being told to do. This is further shown in The End of Evangelion when Rei rejects the version of human instrumentality that Gendo wants and instead wants to hear what Shinji wants, she is being considerate to his opinion. They both become aware of themselves and the effect they have on the environment, that environment being Earth as a whole, and whether or not all human beings’ material forms will be erased and merged into one being.
While Shinji and Rei’s experiences with self-consciousness are positive experiences the same cannot be said for Asuka. Asuka represents the id, she is independent and arrogant, which are both narcissistic traits, also NPD is not diagnosed until the full formation of the personality which is at eighteen. During the events of episode twenty-two Asuka, being arrogant and not wanting to show weakness, ignores an order to retreat and proceeds to fight Areal, the fifteenth angel, who has the ability to penetrate the human mind. Asuka’s experience with psychoanalysis is an unwanted one, did not want to get over her past and go over the reason she is unwilling to open up to people. During Asuka’s psychoanalysis, she relives seeing her mom, Kyoko, in a mental institution after a contact experiment with Evangelion Unit 02. This experiment is similar to the experiment Yui , Shinji’s mother, went through except rather than Kyoko completely disappearing into the Unit only her mind disappears. This is the root of Asuka’s mental issues and she does not want to acknowledge it, Asuka states “‘No ! Don't make me remember such a thing ! I wanted to forget, so don't dig my memory ! I don't want such a terrible memory. Stop ! Stop !’” (Anno, NGE, ep 22). Asuka rejects self-consciousness and rejects to overcome her past fears and traumas which is the opposite of the theoretical outcome of psychoanalysis.
Hideaki Anno’s choice to make Asuka reject psychoanalysis while Shinji and Rei accept it is important to the theme of self-consciousness because it shows the point of view of one who struggles to cope with their past struggles and traumas. Each character ends up making their own choice, existentialism, on whether or not to go through with psychoanalysis. Asuka’s choice to not go through with it is because of her connection to the id, she does not want to be perceived as weak by anyone. This is why she completely gives up after Rei saves her from Areal, Asuka thinks that it would have been better if she had died rather than letting Rei save her as she not only hates Rei but wants to be completely self-dependant after her mother’s suicide. This then pushes the events of episode twenty-four in which Asuka is found, after being missing, in a bathtub sitting in liquid which makes it look like she made a suicide attempt. This is not exactly what is going on as Asuka no longer has the will to live yet she does not have the will to take her own life. Asuka’s acceptance of death is the consequence of her ignoring her past traumas and not trying to set aside her id tendencies of arrogance and stubbornness. Through her choice of keeping to herself gives an accurate depiction of the state of nature as Asuka continues to choose the option that will benefit herself rather than the whole team.
Hideaki Anno’s choice to make Asuka reject psychoanalysis while Shinji and Rei accept it is important to the theme of self-consciousness because it shows the perspective of someone who struggles to cope with their mental issues and past trauma. Not just in anime but media as a whole tends to leave out those with mental issues as a whole, or those characters tend to get pushed into the background, though in recent times this issue is slowly being solved. Hideaki Anno deals with depression himself and is actually one of the main reasons Evangelion features so many psychological references and goes as far as to say that he is “a broken man who could do nothing for four years. A man who ran away for four years, one who was simply not dead.” (Anno, NGE Vol. 1(the manga) 1995). Anno himself was like Asuka in the way that he had given up on life and had done nothing in the past four years and he was simply not dead. Unlike Asuka Anno was able to speak on how he felt which resonated with viewers and even made the viewers conscious of their own feelings. For example, Gene Park who is a reporter for the Washington Post watched Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1997 and states that “[i]n 1997, when I first saw the show, there was no national conversation about depression.” (Park, How ‘Evangelion’ opened my eyes to my depression). Park grew up in a time where depression and the importance of mental health were not emphasized as it is today, which is why I had many concerns when Park states that “the show lurched and quivered toward its infamously unhinged end, laying bare the tragedy of untreated mental illness. For me, though, it was nearly too late. A year after I saw the show, on the eve of the first day of 1999, I would make my first attempt to take my own life. I was immediately hospitalized and kept in a psychiatric ward against my will for weeks.” (Park, How ‘Evangelion’ opened my eyes to my depression). Mental health was untalked about in the 1990s and for it to be directly mentioned in an anime was not exactly a common thing for the time. The only other show at the time that did this was Serial Experiments Lain, a show I am planning to watch for the comparison to Evangelion which it was influenced by, which was released in 1998 three years after Evangelion. Hideaki Anno’s choice of directly covering mental health and the possible effects of leaving them untreated pushed people to directly address these issues and is another deciding factor in how Neon Genesis Evangelion pushed people to view anime as a serious intellectual, philosophical, and socially valuable medium.
Freedom is yet another important theme of Evangelion as it relates to every character and ties into the other themes referenced those being consciousness and individuality. Episodes twenty-five and twenty-six are filled with representations of freedom and the freedom of choice, existentialism. Throughout these two episodes, Shinji finally has the freedom to make his own decisions and to express how he truly feels. Shinji gets his own world where he gets to decide his own fate and he gets to include whatever he wants to. But with complete freedom, complete nothing, he realizes “[t]his is the world with nothing, the space with nothing, the world with nothing. The world with nothing but me. I am getting less understanding of myself. I feel as if I am going to disappear. My existence is fading away.” (Anno, NGE, ep 26). Shinji gets that freedom he wants but comes to realize that he no longer wants such freedom; he believed that with complete freedom and no one there to affect him he would finally be able to understand himself. But with no one else there he can not understand himself and how he fits into society, Misato , Shinji’s guardian, states that “[b]ecause you have no existence but of yourself, You can't figure out your own shape.” (Anno, NGE, ep 26). In a world with nothing but yourself you cannot understand yourself because there is one large aspect missing: self-consciousness. Without knowing how you affect the environments and others around you cannot truly know and understand yourself. There should be some limit to freedom. Many of the characters give Shinji this example during his psychoanalysis. Gendo states: “I give you an unfreedom.” Then Asuka: “Now that you have top and bottom.” And Rei: “Now that you lost one degree of freedom. Misato, too, says: “Now that you have to stand on the bottom.” Finally, Ryouji: “But you obtain a confort” (Anno, NGE, ep 26). With restrictions and limited freedom, one can define themselves but with complete, perfect freedom, one can be anything, and that’s where you start to lose yourself. Shinji realizes that the world he desires, one with complete and perfect freedom, does not actually help him in his goal of finding himself and being able to understand himself. Which is how Evangelion’s theme of freedom connects back to its themes of individuality and consciousness.
Hideaki Anno’s choice of pushing people to believe in complete freedom is important to the overarching theme of freedom. Such a choice makes the viewer rethink how their life would be with no restrictions. Without restrictions, there would be endless possibilities, but with endless possibilities where would anyone start? How would anyone know where to begin? Such questions are discussed in the following sequence:
Narrator: Yes, this is what it is. However, this world has nothing in it.
Shinji: Unless I do something?
Narrator: Right, unless you do or think of something.
Shinji: But I don’t know what to do or think! (Anno, NGE, ep 26).
Shinji has no idea where to start and is completely lost, what Anno is trying to say is that without boundaries you are also nothing. Reddit user JackRaney perfectly sums up Shinji’s realization into the statement “absolute freedom is as undesirable as absolute constriction. We need restrictions placed on us so we can actually do anything.” (JackRaney, Reddit.com/r/evangelion). With too many restrictions we will not be able to do anything, while with too much freedom we won’t see the need to do anything. This restriction sets a sense of responsibility upon us to portray ourselves in a certain manner. Without that restriction, there would be no care for how we are perceived by others. This also ties into self-consciousness as if you chose not to care it will have an effect on others in your environment. Hideaki Anno’s choice of pushing people to believe in complete freedom further pushed people to rethink if their life would actually benefit from a world without restrictions or would it be just as bad as complete constriction which helped to push people to view anime as a serious intellectual, philosophical, and socially valuable medium.
Neon Genesis Evangelion overall is very convoluted but once dissected it reveals a very complex story about a boy who struggles to care for himself. Through this complex story, we explore and challenge themes of individuality, consciousness, and freedom which was a factor in people viewing deciding to view anime as a serious intellectual, philosophical, and socially valuable medium. The series’ use of existentialism manages to portray the reality of the state of nature and how self-centered one can really be. The psychological concepts and enlightenment ideas portrayed through the character’s actions show the true intelligence of Hideaki Anno and the mental health aspects of the series show the personalness of this project. Often times the true meaning of Neon Genesis Evangelion is lost in the last two episodes as there is so much going on, but the overall point of the series is self-care and it really emphasizes the importance of the theme of consciousness.
This series offered me a great first experience with anime and is the reason I hold, not just anime but any, series to as high of a standard. I truly do enjoy this series as a whole as complicated as it may seem, I would recommend this series to anyone willing to watch it at least twice to get a clear understanding of the events as all I explained here was only a few specific parts of the series not what is literally happening. I would also recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the anime film or manga Akira as you can draw a lot of parallels in the more straightforward aspects of the endings. Neon Genesis Evangelion is available on Netflix, while the newer rebuild series, which is a completely different timeline, is available on Amazon Prime including the recently finally released Thrice upon a Time which is where Hideaki Anno officially ends the series.
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