The End of Evangelion (1997)
"The world wants to renew itself. There's a smell of death in the air. Nothing can be born without first dying." - Hermann Hesse, from Demian
So this is it, then. This is the end.
I have felt anticipation as equally as dread when concerning The End of Evangelion. This film is perhaps the most polarizing aspect of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise and reading thoughts of other viewers on it, one finds far too many harsh words for its creator Hideaki Anno. I was certain End was going to spoil the emotional cathartic effect NGE had on me with its essential message of eudaimonia. And so, as I sat in front of my screen with the disc in hand, I felt reticence. What would happen if I hated this movie?
Thankfully, I didn't have to consider that option. I loved The End of Evangelion.
To say that Anno "hates" his fans is a crime of the herd against the creator. To insinuate that End's ending somehow negates the beauty of NGE's original ending rather than accept the two as complimentary halves is also quite baffling to me. But this is all due to time and perception on my part. I'm certain if I had watched this film ten years previously, I would have hated it. I would have hated Shinji. But I know myself better now. I am more myself now than I have ever been. And so I can pick apart at the strings of recognition in Anno's work that I find within me in the same way as the MP EVAs eviscerate Asuka's EVA unit 02 like scavenging vultures.
What is immediately accessible is the sheer entertainment found in watching The End of Evangelion. There are many striking scenes within this film with incredible framing and you would hardly believe that the animation is soon to be twenty years old. Asuka's fight against the MP EVAs stands out as the reigning example, as she succumbs to blood-lust even in her last few moments, chanting, "I'll kill you!" I am often one to say that action bores me, but End has revealed to me the truth: if you can film it well, anything can excite. Part of the excitement could also be due to how much I have grown to love Asuka's character over the course of NGE, and to see her go down is as excruciating as Kaworu's last moments. Even the assault that the JSSDF leads on NERV is memorable in its brutality and disregard for human life - "Nothing personal."
There are certain scenes that are meant to shock, to incite that feeling of vulgarity, but I found that those instances endeared me more to this film. At one point, I wrote down, "Disembodied eyes, dangling viscera, and weird sexual imagery. Yay!" This is a point of contention for many, and I understand why. Shock often polarizes audiences, but I feel as though the provocation in Anno's film was authentic. There's a reason why we're so incredibly fearful of sexuality, deep down in that old Freudian sense.
By The End of Evangelion, humanity has eradicated the Angels and are left with only one being barring them from the coalescence of all consciousness: mankind itself. For all that NERV and SEELE have done for the sake of humanity, they're still all too human to the core and are competitive in doing away with individuality. SEELE seeks to have some control in instrumentality by exploiting Shinji's weakened control over his ego (and, through him, to use EVA unit 01). SEELE has even gone far enough to create the Mass-Produced EVAs, meant to kill EVA unit 02 and its pilot, as well as commence instrumentality through releasing an anti-AT field around EVA unit 01. Gendo, Shinji's father, merely wants to be reunited with his deceased wife Yui through instrumentality. He seems to believe that the only way to do this is by consuming the fetal Adam (a progenitor of Angels) and reuniting it with Rei's body, which contains Lilith's soul (the progenitor of humanity), creating a god-like creature that will merge all of humanity into one being. It's all very Gnostic.
Meanwhile, Shinji is despondent. He's still recovering from having killed Kaworu and then has to see the corpse of EVA unit 02, knowing full well what must have happened to Asuka. The only parental being in his life, Misato, is killed by the JSSDF. Not only that, he gets to see Rei's faces all over the MP EVAs, laughing mockingly at him, as they stab themselves and release strange sounds of pleasure.
Indeed.
If the original last few episodes of NGE represented Shinji looking away from all that had occurred (avoidance), End exemplifies that which Shinji can't look away from. There has always been a very present duality between Shinji and Asuka, which continues in End: Asuka clings to life, trying to kill the MP EVAs to the last second as Shinji has given up entirely on life by the beginning. This leads one to question whether End's Shinji will accept or reject instrumentality, though that was always quite abstract in the original ending. End spells things out a bit more.
End (and NGE in general) shares many similarities with Hermann Hesse's Demian. Emil Sinclair sees the world as being divided in two halves, which causes him all the grief in his life: the "good" world and the "bad" world. He sees himself constantly slipping into the bad world as he loses grasp of all that is good. For Sinclair, all that is good is contained within his parents: "It was wonderful that peace and orderliness, quiet and a good conscience, forgiveness and love, ruled in this one realm . . ." For Shinji, the world is separated into pain and joy, as he feels he has ultimately fallen entirely into pain. But he too sees the few glimmers of hope in his mother. Asuka is the same, that they're both constantly seeking safety in the form of their mothers. And while Yui and Kyoko don't exist anymore, their spirits do. Thus why it has always been so difficult for Shinji and Asuka to extricate themselves from the definition of an EVA pilot. To be a pilot is to have a mother. And to have a mother is to have a safety net.
This is an act of deifying the past, as the few memories that Shinji and Asuka have of their mothers have been changed by their perceptions to suit their needs. It's when the truth is unveiled and the fantasy ripped apart that all goes downhill (Asuka with Arael). I don't blame Shinji and Asuka for participating in this, though. It's a very human desire to go in search of a parental form for comfort. They represent the order of the world, that everything can be simple and safe again. But you can't exist in that world forever. Eventually you have to take responsibility for your existence.
This is the crux in SEELE's plan. They want all of humanity to become one self, but if all is one, then one is nothing. It's an all-or-nothing philosophy and nature abhors a vacuum. This is another case of man trying to exert dominance over nature, that SEELE can commence the Third Impact and instrumentality and guide it at that. The result of this, that everyone is capable of coming out of instrumentality through choice, undermines everything SEELE worked for - that they cannot control nature. SEELE has tried this before, in attempting to control Kaworu's actions, the Angel of free will. But you can't control "free will" when it is a force of nature.
All that Shinji sees within Lilith/Rei is an illusion. The Kaworu that speaks to him is an illusion. But do these illusions exist to propel him further into himself? For its deeper within his psyche that Shinji sees the real Rei and Kaworu - as he created them through his perceptions and connection to both. These versions, the "real" versions to Shinji, will now exist forever in his memory.
This is the same treatment that Gendo has applied to Yui, or rather, what Yui has forced upon Gendo. To make her eternal through the EVA unit 01. Man has made EVA and EVA is the stand-in for god, as it can exist forever. But this is merely man trying to prove he exists through invention, it's man trying to out-do the very nature that spawned him to prove that he to has power over time. It's no different from Misato trying to prove her existence through sex. These are all coping mechanisms to make us feel safe from the thought of death. Of non-existence. And, it's a coping mechanism for pain.
One of the strongest themes in NGE is the burden of existence. How we can hurt others in such complacent ways. By noticing, by not noticing. By reacting, by not reacting. Everyone seeks to avoid pain. Instrumentality, by nature, is the plan of universal avoidance. Without individuality, you don't have to feel pain anymore. But without pain and fear, one renounces desire, joy, pleasure. This is absolutely in line with Frederich Nietzsche's idea of "eternal recurrence." Nietzsche espoused that everything that has ever occurred in our lives will reoccur - we will live our existence a hundred times over. All the pain in life that you have ever experienced will be experienced a hundred times over. But so will you feel the joy. The eternal conundrum in this matter is if you could learn to accept life, with all the pain and joy that you have felt, and love it, then you are a stronger human being than you once were.
For Shinji, connections and life are continual pain. But he has to accept this as a part of life. One of the most important phrases in End is, "I'm not you." Shinji says this when Misato attempts to make him act. Rei says this as well when Gendo tries to use her to start instrumentality (which she rejects and does it on her own). This is a pure statement of individuality, acknowledging what one would do in the situation as differing from another. This is paired later with Shinji's declaration of, "I am myself," as he comes out of instrumentality. One would believe that he has taken responsibility for his human existence, of his free will, to accept all that is "moral" and "amoral" about existence. This has always been the message of NGE, but never is it as clear as in End: that human experience, even with pain, is unique and incredible. That we should cherish individuality and the varied perceptions our minds cook up.
As Shinji comes out of instrumentality, he sees Asuka next to him on the beach. He attempts to strangle her. But she caresses his face and he gives up, sobbing. This is a very strange action on Shinji's part that has been discussed by many. Considering how NGE explored the many different ways in which humans create and destroy, as well as the exploration of different types of touch, this seemed to showcase the most primal actions of mankind in the form of touch. Shinji is trying to kill Asuka (destruction) and Asuka's touch insinuates compassion (creation). It's similar to the difference between Misato and Kaworu's touch, with Shinji. Though both are trying to comfort, one hurts, even though she doesn't mean it to, while the other heals.
This ties into Nietzsche's love of fate once again, as that terrible, destructive impulse will always exist in Shinji (and mankind). We have to come to peace with it, accept it as part of ourselves, and take responsibility for our free will by acknowledging it while not acting out on it. Another interpretation of this action may be due to the fact that Shinji, upon seeing Asuka alive, figured it was better to put her out of her misery. But, perhaps realizing that her being there meant it was a conscious decision on her part to exist, made him stop (there's also an element of forgiveness to her touch). If one is to think of it in Biblical terms, Shinji and Asuka are perhaps representatives of Adam and Eve in this new world.
Human existence is symbiotically painful and wonderful. We must learn to love our incredible existence as an extension of nature's incredible power. The mind itself is a fascinating being, and how we perceive ourselves without ever truly seeing ourselves. If we can learn to love all that encompasses human existence, the horror and the wonder, perhaps we will be the better for it. It's a difficult road, though.
It's with love that I close out on NGE, as if I had any issues with the original show, End is powerful enough to negate those flaws. I can't wait to see what Anno has in store for the future (except, silly me, the future is now).
