Neon Genesis Evangelion/WMG: Difference between revisions

Well, besides the fact that if a god was created on the first try and then used against the Angels the plot would end up as either a boring [[God Mode Sue]] or a [[Space Runaway Ideon]] ripoff if the Angels are at least a challenge with truly Lovecraftian superpowers, we might as well assume that the Angels are going to fuck up Instrumentality so badly it instead prevents Instrumentality and leads to the Angels becoming Kaworu-esque humans. Seele, being the douchebags that they are, instead inverted the whole fact and said that "the Angels are going to annihilate us and the only pathway for humanity's survival is for us to strike first". It can be asked, why go to such lengths? There are like a hundred ways for the destruction of humanity, right? Answer: Human Nature. Sure, Seele might be [[Omnicidal Maniac]] [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzsche Wannabes]], but when there's an Omnicidal Maniac there's going to be a bunch of heroes going to stop him in their will to survive. And no matter how convincing an Omnicidal Maniac's [[Hannibal Lecture]] may be, the majority will always be in the support of the heroes who "save the day". Asteroid Impact? No problem, we'll just blow it up. [[The Virus]]? We'll cure it. Nuclear bombs? [[Zombie Apocalypse]]? [[Nanomachines]]? [[Wave Motion Gun|Wave Motion Guns]]? Ordinary waking up [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] from the Great Beyond? [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|No problem with the power of the Human FIST!!!!]] And a bit of [[For Science!|Science]]. Basically, Seele's plot involved turning the Human Fist against those innocent Cthulhus out there whose only wish is to [[Become a Real Boy]] but cannot speak and thus are automatically [[Acceptable Targets]] by the [[Chewbacca Defense]], said punching out Cthulhu is merely a distraction designed to further Seele's real goal, which is actually backstabbing humanity to death in the form of a Yog-Sothoth who will eat humanity's souls once and for all. Which is fitting of an [[Evil Plan]]. Of course, that didn't prevent Instrumentality from still being fucked-up, since there is another backstabber by the name of Gendo Ikari. You may also ask, didn't Kaworu said something about him annihilating all of humanity? Yes he did, but since this is Kaworu he might as well be speaking parables, and his destroy all humans assumption is simply a metaphor for Shinji's solipsism and impending willingness to commit suicide. Also, since Kaworu is an agent of Seele rather than an actual Angel, he might be as well an actual Adam who simply made the decision of backstabbing Seele, like Gendo.

An alternate take of the above: Shinji is too late arriving at Tokyo-3. In the opening of the first episode, the shockwave that rocks the city is not from explosives, but from Sachiel (who is actually the only Adam-based life that exists in the ''real'' world) making psychic contact with and activating Lilith, thus initiating Third Impact. Vaguely supported by the appearance of soul-collecting Rei. Humanity doesn't realize this, and their combined delusion of continuing their lives forces Instrumentality to create an illusory world for all the souls within it. Only objects with a psychic presence (''id est'', an AT Field and therefore a soul) are given a non-illusory or functional form within this Intrumentality; thus, in this world human weapons are utterly ineffective against the Angels, whilst the Evas, which have souls, easily dispatch them. Shinji slowly goes mad as he realizes that he can [[The Matrix|See the Code]], so to speak; in-series "Instrumentality" occurs when he becomes "the One," takes control of Instrumentality through Rei and Unit 01, and breaks down the illusion for everyone. Both EOTV and EOE are valid endings, with the two conflicting desires in Shinji -- to live in the real world he doesn't know, potentially ruined beyond recognition, or to continue life as the god of his own illusory world -- causing him to split into two distinct personalities. The personality split may occur ''after'' his reappearance on "real" Earth, with Rei appearing once more to collect the unwilling portion and close the metaphorical book.

With the Angels done and the Evangelions now redundant, NERV was disbanded. The interactions in episode 25 allowed Shinji, Rei, Asuka and Misato to better understand each other and come to terms with their quirks -- most notably Shinji, who realized that being an Eva pilot is not the only possible future for him. This probably involved some memory wipes to remove the horrid memories that resulted in them growing so messed up in the first place. As for the movie? [[Fanon Discontinuity|Naaaah, no thank you, not today!]] Also, some people come back to life.

* If the movies are a [[Peggy Sue]] -- that is, if one of the characters has arrived back at the beginning of the story with foreknowledge of the original series -- the obvious candidate is ''Misato''. She acts differently from her original self, being somewhat more mature and treating Shinji as less of a child (though that could be because most of the "domestic" scenes were cut, leaving only her [[Badass]] commanding officer moments.) Most importantly, she knows about Lilith, and shows her to Shinji around 18 episodes ahead of schedule -- the one major plot departure in the first movie from the series. This goes a long way to help motivate Shinji fight Ramiel...

== During his brief period as "God" in ''EoE'', Shinji created a large or infinite number of [[Alternate Universe|Alternate Universes]]. ==

This is the central premise of a certain popular [[Doujinshi]], and accounts for Evangelion's numerous [[Elseworld|Elseworlds]] such as ''Angelic Days,'' the ''Shinji Ikari Raising Project,'' the manga, and the ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]]'' and ''[[Super Robot Wars MX]]'' games. These alternate continuities are almost universally [[Lighter and Softer]], or at least cast Shinji in a better light: this is a result of Shinji's desire to avoid this whole mess or make himself feel better.

* It also accounts for several apparently mutually exclusive WMG theories involving Instrumentality, and may mean that Shinji is yet another face of Haruhi Suzumiya -- or, perhaps more likely, if you follow the first theory on the ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' page, Kyon.

(What? I actually find it more plausible than "''Rebuild'' is a sequel". ''Rebuild'' is supposed to be a retelling of the story "more accessible to non-fans" -- i.e. an [[Adaptation Distillation]] -- and so far, it succeeds at being exactly that.)

First of all, consider: Misato is, on one level, participating in the Angels' extermination in order to avenge her father's death, but she told Shinji that is also, essentially, using them to '''take revenge on him''' and purging herself of his ghost, so to speak. Misato's tense, love/hate relationship with her father is directly paralleled with Shinji and Gendo -- and, as it goes, Shinji is also using the Angels to sublimate the rage towards his father ("Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! My enemy!!!"). And, as it goes, both of Shinji's "enemies" end up literally fusing when Gendo does that creepy thing with Adam's embryo. Considering this aspect alone, it would have made complete sense within NGE's framework for Misato's father to have done something squicky with Adam, producing the fusion of Angel and Lilin that is Kaworu. And so Misato's "vendetta/revenge" would have come to a rather logical and ironic conclusion...

... But not in the way you were expecting. It's not in the generation shown on the show, for it is noted that the AntiSpirals did this before, and there were other people trapped forever, you see -- Shinji is actually trapped in the Alternate Universes, things started out Normal, how the kid always wanted to live, not having to risk his life for others, but then, because it is apparent that true [[Lotus Eater Machine|Lotus Eater Machines]] have conflict to give just the right amount of meaning to their victims' lives, the events of ''NGE'' occur.

* They are both [[Deconstruction|Deconstructions]] of things that are culturally similar; Giant robots are to Japan what superheroes are to America.

* Dorthy = Rei ("disguised" as Asuka - TOW describes the traditionally [[Action Girl|Action Girlish]] Dorthy as "boring" and only a love interest because "she's there")

Oh, wait -- that was true.

True -- in at least one [[Alternate Continuity]] now being published in Japan.

From a biological standpoint, female -- having an XX chromosome -- is the default sex. This is why asexual animals like worker ants and bees are considered female despite having no need for procreation. All animals are built on a female template, with males (XY) being a necessary deviation from that to facillitate reproduction (and males still have vestigal female traits, such as nipples). Thus it stands to reason that the Angels, being an asexual species, are all female as they have no need for males -- including Adam, despite having a male name. Kaworu is biologically male, his body (I say "his" because that's what's used in the text) apparently being a clone of some unnamed Japanese man in the same way Rei is a clone of Yui Ikari, but his "soul"/psychic imprint/whatever is Adam's, and Adam is female. Thus it's possible that while Kaworu has the physical traits of a male human, "he" views himself as female.

*** The Angels did not evolve ''from'' humans, they evolved in a similar manner to humans (that is, being the top of the evolutionary chain and started from Adam, they are beings comparable to humans who are the top of the evolutionary chain and started from Lilith). This phenomenon is also known in science as "Convergent evolution" (Which means, creatures from different habitats can evolve similarly to resemble each other). This means they're not necessarily mammals-- in fact, they're more likely to be a completely different taxonomical kingdom, maybe even a completely different ''domain'' (I mean, really, let's take that [[Eldritch Abomination]] that can change its appearance into a kaleidoscope of geometrical shapes and can shoot massive energy beams from its core and classify it as a reptile. Or the [[Eldritch Abomination]] which has a shadowlike antimatter body and casts a 3D shadow in the air and classify it as a mammal. Sure). Since the determination of sex varies by species and isn't even always genetic, there is no way of determining their sex. At most we can say they're homozygous from the fact that Adam most likely reproduced asexually, but there is no way to determine whether that makes them "male" or "female" (or both? None?).

* Can't even say if the Angels are homozygous. What if, for example, Adam used parthenogenesis? Or if the Spear of Longinus contains a plethora of genetic information and can double as an impregnation device? Far too many unknowns. Also, as far as classification goes, the Seeds (and the Evas by extension) obviously can't fit into any Terran slots, since they're from another planet, and quite possibly bioengineered god-versions of the FAR themselves. About all we can say is that Seeds/Evas and Angels (intrinsically) are highly convergent with hominids -- or more like the other way around, by design. Don't forget: 99.89%!

* ...[[The Slayers/WMG|* cough* ]]...

* This is most definitely Sadamoto's take on it - in his version of the Beginning to the End, Gendou [[Hannibal Lecture|Hannibal Lectures]] Shinji about this: Yui was his light, his only reason for living. As soon as Shinji was born he got all the love/attention. If Shinji is Oedipus, then manga!Gendou is definitely Laertes.

* The Ikaris can also represent patriarchal rule. Gendo is the archetypal Patriarch. Yui and Shinji are the underlying weaknesses of this Patriarch's seemingly absolute totalitarian rule, with Yui being the dependence onto the opposite sex to maintain the basis for the Patriarch's power and Shinji as the agitating instability and [[Oedipus Complex|Oedipal rage]] that is waiting to collapse the entire power structure anytime (Gendo has Yui as his messiah and only reason to live which is why he does all this screwing-with-the-order-of-creation in the first place, and in ''End of Evangelion'' he even admits that he's afraid of his own son, making his true self behind his magnificent facade something very ''pathetic''). Not to mention that in many real life ancient empires that seem to be strictly Patriarchal from the outside, women usually assumed the role of [[The Man Behind the Man]]. <br /><br />Rei is the idealized woman, the Galatea that patriarchal regimes constructed: [[Extreme Doormat|silent, obedient, willing to do whatever the Patriarch says even at her own expense, and]] [[Moe Moe|exotically cute]] (see also: the [[wikipedia:Stereotypes of East Asians in the Western world#.22China doll.22 stereotype|"China doll"]] stereotype). Hideaki Anno tried to portray Rei as a unnatural mass-production clone straight out of the [[Uncanny Valley]] to parody objectification, but it fails in this area, since she ends up as the object of industrial-scale mass [[Perverse Sexual Lust]] of the otakus everywhere. And even then, what we see as this perfect Galatea is actually ''imperfect'', Rei herself gets [[Character Development]] where she grows from an [[Extreme Doormat]] into something capable of one's own volition, which (as EOE has shown) frightens Patriarch!Gendo indeed.....

* This is barely even a guess. The series is positively awash with feminist themes, and [[Hideaki Anno]] is a friend of another feminist filmmaker, [[Hayao Miyazaki]]. NGE is also one of the most influential works in the ''Superflat'' genre, which openly mocks otaku sexism (along with other aspects of Japanese modern culture), particularly about the popularity of the ''[[Moe]]'' genre (which is associated with objectification) among otakus and misogynists alike. <br /><br />During the time NGE was made, Japan in particular is still obsessed with the ''[[Yamato Nadeshiko]]'' ideal, which produces conflicts with women's liberation. NGE shows this to a degree with the Rei and Asuka contrast (with Asuka being the extreme foreign element). Nowadays, one of the consequences of growing gender equality in Japan is, instead of mutual respect it happened to be growing misunderstanding. Young women are revolting against the traditional role of obedient housewife. Just like how Rei gets [[Character Development]] from an [[Extreme Doormat]] into someone capable of free will. Startled men are retreating into solitary ways. Just like how Gendo fell from a relatively normal and sociable person into someone very callous and antisocial. Of course, this conflict contributes to growing [[Hikikomori|hikikomorism]] and the decline of marriages/birth rate/population, making gender issues even more relevant to Japanese society-at-large. <br /><br />Also, one of the most major interpretations of [[A Date with Rosie Palms|that]] [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma|scene]] in End of Evangelion is being Anno's way of [[Flipping the Bird]] to both the antisocials and the merchandising that serves them. Someone needs to write an essay on this, like, now.

* This theory also provides the simplest explanation of Shinji's mindscrew sequence inside the Sea of Dirac -- he's given up and taken the train instead.

* Kaworu, a [[Sociopath|sociopathic]] genius (who resembles [[A Clockwork Orange (film)|Alex]] in that he loves classical music, especially Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, while committing acts of ultraviolence), was institutionalised when he killed a kitten in a crowded street. He 'befriends' the vulnerable Shinji for his own amusement, taking Misato hostage with Shinji at his side. Emotionally torn, Shinji attacks Kaworu who goads Shinji into killing him.

Now, assuming this is intentional and not just me reading WAY too deeply into Anno or whoever's ship-otaku-ness, this could be a hint that Rebuild Asuka and Mari are based on the same "template" as Rei--in other words that they are ALSO clones of Yui. Rei was presumably considered a failure due to lack of aggressiveness. So they modified the genetic template to compensate, and came up with Asuka. Except they overcompensated, and ended up with an egotistical borderline psychopath. Mari is the third attempt, and most successful so far--fairly normal when she needs to be, but goes just as batshit (if not more so) as Asuka in combat.

"Seeds and Evas have no physical gender" is more like viewers' default assumption, with "they are physically female" being a rather idiosyncratic and statistically unpopular, however notorious, viewpoint. That said, there is no official word on the matter, so interpretation doesn't have to be rigidly enforced in either direction (female or sexless -- although given the intense "mother" themes and female symbology, male is probably out). Perhaps this goes without saying, though.

* Of course the A.T. Field doesn't account for [[EVER Ything]], but it does account for a lot. The A.T. Field fundamentally isn't even a forcefield -- it's a projection of a being's soul, and the emanating, polygonal forcefield, while being the thing usually referred to as "A.T. Field", is but one manifestation the ATF can take. For unresolved reasons, the ATF is much more powerful in Angels, Evas, etc., than in "normal" lifeforms, to the point that it can essentially manipulate physical reality. That A.T. Fields have multiple uses is firmly established within both the show itself and supplemental materials and certainly is no invention of a deluded fandom.

It makes no sense for creatures so large like the angels to become the dominant species -- the earth doesn't have enough resources to support creatures that large and they don't look like anything seen on Earth. However, they are a similar size to the Evas, and many are similarly styled and shaped.

* This idea is [[Older Than Radio]], and Schopenhauer called it the "Hedgehog's Dilemma". Schopenhauer's parable describes a number of hedgehogs who need to huddle together for warmth and who struggle to find the optimal distance where they may feel sufficiently warm without hurting one another. The hedgehogs have to sacrifice warmth for comfort. Remember, the hedgehog's quills evolved as a form of protection against predators. Why do we have this AT Field? It protects us, particularly from [[Cosmic Horror|Cosmic Horrors]] (aka Angels), and also serves as a filter to block unnecessary chaos, however, as a consequence, as a barrier, it has to separate humanity.

* Remember the part where Rei takes the form of people's desires? There is a clue that Instrumentality was intended to make all humans [[Voluntary Shapeshifter|Voluntary Shapeshifters]].

== EVAs are a [[Deconstruction]] of [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]]. ==

The idea is that Satan is always vying for the throne of God, and as such, [[A God Am I|attempts to make himself a god]]. Humanity are pawns in this cosmic game, and the Angels are the attempt at stopping SEELE (Satan's) attack. SEELE attempts to obtain unholy power through screwing with the order of creation, triggering the Apocalypse (Second Impact) and Tribulation (the following years.) This brings the wrath of god in the form of the Angels to earth--they didn't bother us until we forced second impact. Not in line with biblical chronology, after this Jesus (Yui) is [[And I Must Scream|crucified to the Evangelion]] for the sins of man, collectively represented by Shinji Ikari, who's being continually tempted to succumb to [[Despair Event Horizon]] and join SEELE in destroying the world. She returns on Judgment Day (As incarnated in ''EoE''), helps with how Shinji questions whether it is really worth it to kill off human life just to be a god, gives him hope in humanity thus allowing him to reject Instrumentality, and in the end spends the rest of eternity in space as an individual symbol to humanity's existence. Granted, this is more of a heavy borrowing of concepts from christianity than an allegorical fulfillment of them; the series is not allegorical event-wise, but in a general, thematic sense: Those who attempt to become God both destroy the world and [[Lonely At the Top|lose anyway]]. None of the correlations I've mentioned likely hold, but the theme seems reasonable. It's the old tale of [[Hubris]], with religious overlays.

Also, the theme seems to be more or less a dystopian staple: true Utopia is earned organically, not imposed synthetically. Though Shinji's fantasy-world is great, it cannot be had in reality, and thus he rejects it. Like many Utopias' failures, the cause of failure is the imperfection of humans and how they cannot tolerate boredom; before evolution such as Instrumentality would bring can take place, we must actually change by ourselves to the point where it is natural to reach that state. Shinji's realization that human's can't truly co-exist in harmony for real--and thus, a free, intelligent and interesting life must include the painful chaos of individuality--is the reason that Lilith/Rei dies and Instrumentality goes kablooie. For other examples of collectivistic transhumanist utopias which get deconstructed because human nature isn't ready for it, see "The Matrix", "Brave New World", and "The Giver." If we were able to live in peace, [[Bread and Circuses]] forever, there would be no more plot, our souls suffer death-by-boredom (which we may not notice superficially) and it would not be much different from an [[And I Must Scream]] state (hence why in dystopian literature fandom, the fates of the people living in "Brave New World" are compared with of all things those that live in the absolute [[Despair Event Horizon]] of all Dystopias, "[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]"). The idea that we can't cheat our way to peace is actually one that would be very important to remember in real life.

We all know the princess and dragon stories, where the [[Damsel in Distress]] was kidnapped by the [[Big Bad]] using [[The Dragon]], and the [[Knight in Shining Armor]] try to rescue the beautiful princess from [[The Empire]]. This is also known as a manifestation of [[The Dulcinea Effect]]. Let's see, how do we deconstruct the whole premise? When you look at the whole setting, it seems that the Angels are trying to rescue Lilith from the civilization that is Humanity, but their instincts made them lose to Humanity's super science. Add fairy tale tropes, and you get the whole premise! The Angels are actually [[Knight in Shining Armor|Knights In Shining Armor]] who are trying to rescue the hapless, imprisoned princess Lilith from [[The Empire]] that is Humanity, but their Don Quixote attitudes made them lose to Humanity's superior wizardry. Evangelions are obviously, [[The Dragon]]. The Instrumentality? It's maybe because Lilith is actually someone who resembles [[Magic Knight Rayearth|The Pillar Of Cephiro]]. The reason why angels look like ''them [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]'' is either because the angels possess magic of their own, which makes this somewhat an [[Elves vs. Dwarves]] conflict (as evidenced by the S2 Engine), or because Humanity was so angsty and grimdark, they reject all forms of idealistic premises and caricature them as ugly. Or because it's a [[Take That]] and Deconstruction.

And [[Butt Monkey|Minoru]] is Shinji. Hey, there are more than enough WMG's linking ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' and ''Evangelion'', especially via Instrumentality. Why not go one step further? Tsundere Kagami makes a good Asuka, Tsukasa has the short hair ([[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|almost the same color]]) and slightly pushover personality. The fact that Kagami and Tsukasa are twins and Asuka hates Rei makes things deliciously [[Ironic Hell|ironic]] (although [[Annoying Younger Sibling|Tsukasa]] occasionally provokes the same reaction in Kagami). Miyuki is frequently judged by Konata to be the penultimate in [[Moe]]...a perfect definition of an Angel if there ever was one. And [[Otaku]] Konata seems to be adored by most of her peers, as opposed to most stereotypes of otakus. She's also athletic and a [[Genius Ditz]] when need be--hence a higher being in the eyes of most otakus.

Basically, there's no good reason to build a city over top of something that is ''sure'' to be attacked, no matter how much of a 'fortress' said city is. Building said city into a massive underground cavern is also a bad idea in Japan; an area well-known for seismic activity. However, there can be an explanation for this: While power calculations done by fans have shown that a megaton-yield thermonuclear device could feasibly kill an angel, you wouldn't want to detonate one of those over a city, especially a city where "cave in" is a legitimate threat. The construction of Tokyo 3 in that specific location may be a deliberate ploy by SEELE to prevent the use of the only non-eva weapon theoretically capable of harming an angel. (Okay, there was that one plan involving 992 N-2 devices but, given the N-2 mine's calculated yield, that would hardly equal a 20mt nuke. To put that in perspective, 25mt weapons were commonly deployed by the US Air Force during the Cold War and Tsar Bomba, the largest thermonuclear device ever created, had a whopping 50mt yield -- at half-power.) This forces humanity to rely on the Eva units, which is exactly what SEELE wants.

* It can also be said that the AT Fields are the manifestation of the Dark Side of the Force. Think about it. While Jedi try to keep using the Force for peaceful purposes and the Light side of the Force is based on calm, meditation and universal harmony, on the other hand the Dark Side is based on passion, hatred and powerful emotions, those things that determine the strength and isolation of AT Fields, which in turn are of course simply a metaphor for the individual personality. <br /><br />To understand the effect of the Dark Side on AT Fields, we must fundamentally know the Dark Side causality: Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Suffering leads to the dark side. (It also helps to know the [[DC Universe|Anti-Life Equation]]: loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding x guilt x shame x failure x judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side) Now what powers AT Fields? What are the dominant emotions that control the world of Evangelion? What are the major factor in our personality and [[Character Development]]? Fear. Intense, raw or negative emotions. Suffering, which influences behaviour. Self, the dark side. <br /><br />Such powerful emotions are how the AT Field manifests itself onto the world, why Shinji is nearly omnipotent in his AT Field abilities, etc. It is also accepted that one has to be fearful and/or mentally deranged enough to manifest powerful emotions and AT Fields if he or she is to become an Evangelion pilot. One of the more obvious of these is the hedgehog's dilemma, the fear of becoming mutual enemies with oneself and others. The stronger the fear is, the stronger one wants to protect and isolate oneself from the rest of humanity, and thus the person is more and more seduced by the Dark Side to acquire more energy for his AT Field. For example, the stronger Shinji's wrath is, the more he manifests the Dark Side energy, which he uses to convert into AT Field energy. What if Shinji did not fear or is a normal person? Besides suffering from lack of character development, he is ignored by mother and gets defeated by the Angels. It was his dark side which allowed him to become an [[Eldritch Abomination]] altogether in End Of Evangelion. Not to mention AT is known as "Absolute Terror", which the Dark Side is supposed to bring upon the world when it manifests. <br /><br />But why do our personalities have to be an extension of the Dark Side, rather than the Light Side? Even though The Light Side is as effective in manipulating the universe as the Dark Side could, the reason why the Light Side is not effective for powering AT Fields is because the Light Side is based on living in harmony with the universe, which of course results in the AT Field being neutralized rather than strengthened. This also meann that the Light Side is the Anti-AT Field used to bring about Instrumentality, or should we say Nirvana. <br /><br />Heck, Psychoanalytical, Jungian or even Hindu and Buddhist metaphors can even be shoved into this: The Force represents the collective unconscious of Brahman, the Light Side represents the path to Nirvana, the AT Field represents the Ego or Individual, while the Dark Side of the Force represents the Id, the personal subconscious desires on which the Ego draws power.<br /><br />This is just an elaboration, but I can see that both the philosophy of the Jedi and the psychology of Evangelion would make an interesting model of metaphysics.

Described in detail [[http://forum.evageeks.org/viewtopic.php?t=1653 here]. Obviously, like with all theories, it has problems, but why not?

The AT Field is the barrier that all living, feeling things have, their emotional personal space if you will. As referenced on the [[Mind Rape]] page, the Angels' external fields could be interpreted as a sign that they are the most lonely, frightened beings in the universe. They came to reconnect with their progenitors, who had been separated from them for billions of years, only to find that not only did their sibling actively not want them there, but that said sibling was willing to violate the Angels' boundaries, destroying them, in order to keep their way of life from being changed. Eventually, the Angels used [[Mind Rape|such]] [[Combat Pragmatist|tactics]] to fight back on the terms that their opponent set, Sahaquiel paving the way for later Angels. {{spoiler|Kaworu}} tried a different tactic: Love, embracing Lilim. It didn't work. The last we see of Lilim? {{spoiler|Lilith/Adam/Rei remove the Lilim's ability to separate themselves from other beings, leaving only the two most emotionally stunted, separatist humans ''on the planet'', who (in at least Shinji's case) couldn't even form a meaningful connection when their parent(s)/sibling/emotional lover [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] them to be unable to ''not'' form whatever connection was available}}.

Footnote 1: I'm not saying that {{spoiler|[[Humans Are Bastards]]}} any more than the series already does (which is to say, not entirely but certainly more than a little, and everybody else is just as screwed up), but if you look at it this way, it really does reinforce every aspect of the main point that the series made. Footnote 2: Yes, I know I'm implying a weird {{spoiler|pluralization}}. It's ''[[From a Certain Point of View|technically]]'' correct (whether or not that is [[Futurama|the best kind of correct]]), but I preferred that over spoiler marking nearly every noun in the guess.

Humanity returned to form from the Tang and rebuilt its society...however, their capacity for arrogance, pride, [[Humans Are Bastards|bastardry]] and schadenfreude remained, creating Madoka's cruel world where {{spoiler|idealism and belief in man's better nature ''only'' ever comes at a horrible cost}}.

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