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[[File:NGE_smaller.jpg|frame|Clockwise from center: [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/Characters#Shinji_Ikari|Shinji Ikari]], [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/Characters#Rei_Ayanami|Rei Ayanami]], [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/Characters#Asuka_Langley_Soryu/Shikinami|Asuka Langley Soryu]], [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/Characters#Gendō_Ikari|Gendō Ikari]], [[Neon_Genesis_Evangelion/Characters#Misato_Katsuragi|Misato Katsuragi]], [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/Characters#Doctor_Ritsuko_Akagi|Ritsuko Akagi]]. <br>
Background: Evagelion Unit 1. <br>
Not pictured: [[Dysfunction Junction|Sanity]], [[Angst]].]]
{{quote|''"This is a giant robot saga the same way ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' was a cop show."''
|'''Comic Buyer's Guide'''}}
''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' (''Shin Seiki Evangelion'' "New Age/Era Evangelion", often mistranslated as "New Century Evangelion") is a 26-episode science fiction/action/drama [[Anime]] series which aired on Japanese television in 1995-96. In 1997, production company [[Gainax]] followed the series with the film ''Death
In the year 2000, a global cataclysm known as Second Impact changed the entire world. The event annihilated Antarctica (which caused global flooding), shifted the planet's axis (which caused global climate change), led to half Earth's human population dying, and resulted in geopolitical unrest. Fifteen years later, fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari finds himself summoned to the fortress city of Tokyo-3 by his estranged father
[[Netflix]] released the series for their platform on June 21, 2019, with a different translation and re-recorded English dub.
Fun fact: [[The Other Wiki]] loves this series, and has even more information than us about its characters. There are articles on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinji_Ikari Shinji], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rei_Ayanami Rei], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asuka_Langley_Soryu Asuka], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misato_Katsuragi Misato], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendo_Ikari Gendo Ikari], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaworu_Nagisa Kaworu]. These character pages meet their strict standards to be classified as a "good article". There's also an article on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_Neon_Genesis_Evangelion Angels in the series], and a page on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelion_(mecha) Evangelions]. This really makes you wonder, exactly what would happen ''if'' The Other Wiki got into troping?
As a final note before getting into the tropes: ''Evangelion'' defined the career of Hideaki Anno, whose personal battles with depression at the time of its creation directly inspired many of the show's themes. Anno has since come to fully own it, even as it's been spun off into numerous extra adaptations which either play on the themes of the anime or ignore them to varying degrees (see the following section):
'''Other Adaptations'''
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The most prominent ''Evangelion'' adaptations released between its airing and today are:
* The manga version, written and drawn by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, which tells the same story as the anime (albeit with a number of changes)
* ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'', a retelling<ref>
* ''Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel'' (also known as ''Iron Maiden''), a [[Visual Novel]] in the style of an episode. This adaptation featured [[Canon Foreigner]] Mana Kirishima, who went on to reappear some years later in ''Shinji Ikari Raising Project''.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion:
* ''[[Shinji Ikari Raising Project]]'', another [[High School AU]] manga
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse|Neon Genesis Evangelion Campus Apocalypse]]'' (
* ''[[Petit Eva: Evangelion@School]]: Evangelion@School'', a [[Super-Deformed]] comedic [[Parody]] which has most of the principal cast (including Unit 01 and three Reis at once) in silly hijinks around the high school. Can be found [http://www.evangelion.co.jp/petit_eva/ here].
* ''Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA'', a [[Light Novel]] series set in 2018 in an alternate continuity where Third Impact never happened. It's been described as if Anno made ''Evangelion'' like a ''[[Gundam]]'' show. It contains (among other things)
* ''[[RE-TAKE]]'', one of the most notable [[Doujin]] manga in the
* ''[[Adeptus Evangelion]]'', a fanmade [[Tabletop Game]] that uses the rules of ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' game ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' as a template and features an [[Alternate Universe]] as a setting.
Compare: ''[[Argento Soma]]'', ''[[Bokurano]]'', ''[[Brain Powerd]]'', ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'', ''[[Fafner in the Azure|Fafner in
Contrast: ''[[FLCL]]'', ''[[GaoGaiGar|Gao Gai Gar]]'', ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]''
For similar anime in general, compare: ''[[Boogiepop Phantom]]'', ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'', ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''
For similar settings and stories outside of Anime, see: ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]'' and ''[[Sin and Punishment]]''.
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{{tropenamer}}
* [[Eva Fins]]: All of the Evangelions aside from Unit 00's original armor {{spoiler|and the mass-produced units in ''The End of Evangelion''}} have the signature shoulder fins.
* [[Instrumentality]]: [[Renamed Tropes|We now call this trope]]
* [[Mind Rape]]: Arael's invasive mental contact with {{spoiler|Asuka}}, described as such during the scene.
* [[Rei Ayanami Expy]]: Rei ended up as something of a [[Fountain of Expies]].
* [[Unfamiliar Ceiling]]: The Japanese title of the second episode. Ironically, Shinji ends up in the NERV medical ward so often, it eventually becomes a ''familiar'' ceiling.
* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: Literally "Absolute territory", but has since taken a life of its own.
{{tropelist}}
== Characters ==
''See the [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/Characters|Character Sheet]] for more spoilerific details, particularly with the main characters.''
* [[Action Girl]]: Asuka, Misato, Rei
* [[Alas, Poor Villain]]: {{spoiler|Ritsuko and Gendo's deaths}} in ''The End of Evangelion'' may be interpreted as such. And Shinji feels this way for Kaworu in-universe.
* [[Big Bad]]: SEELE. All the catastrophic events that take place in the series are all by products of their plan to bring about Human Instrumentality.
* [[Child Soldiers]]: The pilots, who are even ''called'' [[Gratuitous English|"Children" both individually and collectively]].
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* [[Cosmopolitan Council]]: The members of SEELE.
* [[Cyber Cyclops]]: Unit 00.
* [[Double Standard]]: [[Your Mileage May Vary|Some people]] consider Shinji and Asuka to both be [[The Scrappy|annoying characters]] due to the former [[Emo Teen|not being assertive enough]]and the latter being [[Jerkass|too brash]]. When you look at their [[Freudian Excuse|backstories]], it becomes clear that they were both essentially exposed to the same things as kids, but they dealt with them in two entirely different ways. Thus, Shinji becomes extremely quiet, self-deprecating and more passionate while Asuka hid it by becoming [[Inferiority Superiority Complex|loud, prideful and aggressive]]. Both of them do this because they don't want to be hurt. Were their personalities swapped, there would likely be less complaining due to gender role stereotypes.
** There's also all the flak Shinji gets for being "whiny" ([[Americans Hate Tingle|especially in the West]]), when throughout the course of the show, it's probably ''Asuka'' who spends the most time angsting (not that she doesn't have cause to), particularly when you consider she's a) not quite as major a character as Shinji, and b) only arrived on the show several episodes in anyway.<ref>Well, this does exclude the final two episodes, but by that point, ''everyone'' was evidently suffering from some existential angst ([[Apocalypse How|end of the world]] and all); Episode 25 makes this fairly clear. It's just that Shinji happens to be our main protagonist, so we get his point of view for the most part.</ref>
** Maya spends most of ''The End of Evangelion'' vomiting under a desk and refusing to fight, but she's not called whiny or wimpy like Shinji.
*** That's likely because Maya is rear-echelon noncombat support while Shinji is supposed to be a frontline combatant. Of course, this overlooks that Shinji was ''conscripted'' for that role...
* [[Dysfunction Junction]]: One of ''the'' defining examples of this trope in anime. The psychological issues of virtually every single member of the main cast could fill a sizable portion of the DSM-IV.
* [[Everyone Went to School Together]]:
** There are a lot of trios in ''Evangelion''. One of these trios is Ritsuko, Misato
*** And don't forget Kensuke, Toji
*** Subverted in the case of the Children: Shinji, Asuka
* [[Guilt Complex]]:
** Shinji, in spades. It's his fault Touji's sister got hurt because he should've been more careful when fighting the Angel that almost killed him in a giant mecha he'd never been given so much as two minutes' worth of instruction on how to operate. It's his fault Asuka hates him because he can't do anything right in her eyes because her expectations are not only entirely unreasonable, but rapidly change without notice. It's his fault {{spoiler|he had to kill Kaworu}} because he could've chosen to [[Take a Third Option]] despite Kaworu's determined attempts not to allow for any. It's his fault {{spoiler|Asuka died because he couldn't get his Eva out of its restraints in order to save her}}...
*** This behavior is so ingrained in him that some fans think it was a minor breakthrough for him when he was angry at ''his father'' during the Unit 03 incident. But then he goes back to kicking himself in the head again.
** Misato also blames herself often for things she had no control over.
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Touji and Kensuke, eventually extended to Shinji {{spoiler|until Unit 03 Incident
* [[Hot-Blooded]]: Deconstructed in more ways than one. First, Asuka, who at first seems to be the typical [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Ace Pilot]]. {{spoiler|It becomes apparent, however, that her sense of self worth is possibly even worse than ''Shinji's'', and that her brash attitude covers up the fact that she requires the praise of others for validation
* [[Hot Scientist]]: Several.
* [[Humongous Mecha]]:
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** The Evas are a subversion.
* [[Mama Bear]]:
** All the
** Misato definitely deserves a mention for her very protective attitude towards Shinji and even the other pilots, whenever their safety was an issue. She even goes as far as to {{spoiler|slap Ritsuko}} when she felt Shinji's life was being threatened.
** And if you wanted to be creepy, {{spoiler|Rei to Shinji
* [[Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy]]: Gender role subversion runs rampant in ''Evangelion'', especially with Shinji and Asuka. Played for drama in that Shinji wants Asuka to be more feminine, and Asuka wants Shinji to be more masculine, but they just end up clashing against each other due to wanting the other to change first and neither knowing how to effectively express their feelings.
* [[The Masochism Tango]]:
** Shinji and Asuka's "relationship".
** This can be the case with Touji and Hikari in the background, but it never gets developed {{spoiler|because of the Unit 03 incident}}. Amusingly enough, Asuka is quick to put two and two together in this case.
* [[The Men in Black]]: NERV's Intelligence Division [[Mook]]s.
* [[Running on All Fours]]:
* [[Sempai-Kohai]]:
** Ritsuko and Maya
** Surprisingly absent from Shinji's school, where all pupils seem to be the same age and in the same grade. This is a deliberate subversion, as {{spoiler|all of the students in Shinji's class are potential
* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]: Kaji may actually be the most damaged of
* [[Solar and Lunar]]: Rei is [http://wiki.evageeks.org/Theory_and_Analysis:Rei_and_the_Moon frequently associated with the moon], initially as a visual motif, but later it turns out to be foreshadowing. Asuka is occasionally visually paired with the sun, but this doesn't have much plot significance except to [[Tsundere|contrast her]] with [[Emotionless Girl|Rei]].
* [[Sunglasses at Night]]: With the exception of flashbacks, Gendo is never seen without his [[Scary Shiny Glasses|scary shades]], even when NERV suffers a station-wide blackout in Episode 11.
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* [[Weakness Turns Her On]]: Arguably one of the causes of Asuka's attraction to Shinji.
* [[With Friends Like These...]]:
** Despite being friends since college, Ritsuko keeps Misato in the dark about all of NERV's most important secrets until near the end of the series. She also gets into frequent (and sometimes physically violent) arguments with Misato about how to handle situations which could endanger the pilots, and while she never misses an opportunity to poke fun at Misato, her jibes become very cruel after things really blow up between Misato, Shinji
*** Misato and Ritsuko have been friends since well before either one was employed at NERV, so that relationship was at least genuine in the past. In the present-day, that's certainly less doubtful.
** Asuka probably deserves mention as well, though in her case, the trope is [[Deconstructed]] since her hostile behavior ends up driving most potential friends away.
* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]:
** Gendo, arguably in the anime and definitely in the manga.
** Shinji also fits this trope in ''The End of Evangelion'' {{spoiler|and then subverts it by rejecting instrumentality}}.
* [[The World Mocks Your Loss]]: Rei embodies this trope for Shinji {{spoiler|due to her kind of being a clone of his mother}}... [[Kudzu Plot|sort of]].
* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]:
** Rei Ayanami is basically a walking satire of [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]. Not a subversion, but
** Subverted with {{spoiler|1=Yui, whom Shinji remembered as this (especially in the manga) but who was actually the architect of Project E (and is implied to wear the pants in her marriage, or at the very least be the source of stability in Gendo's life). She somehow becomes quite a bit of a powerless [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] in some [[Alternate Continuity|
* [[Yandere]]: The Akagis. Like mother, like daughter.
== Narrative ==
* [[
* [[Adam and or Eve]]:
** The names humanity gave to the Seeds of Life: Adam and Lilith, Lilith being Eve's predecessor as the first woman.
** For more fun: the short-hand term for Evangelion is "EVA", very close to Eve. The parallel is easier to see when you consider {{spoiler|Evangelions are made from Adam's flesh, as Eve was made from Adam's rib}}.
* [[After-School Cleaning Duty]]: Shown in one scene where Shinji and Rei stay behind to clean the school, and Shinji causes Rei to blush by remarking on how she has very [[Hilarious in Hindsight|motherly mannerisms]].
* [[Alien Geometries]]: Leliel. That cool marble looking thing that can disappear and reappear at random? ''That's its shadow'', its four-dimensional [[wikipedia:Dirac sea|shadow made of anti-matter]].
* [[All According to Plan]]: Used by Gendo and SEELE to indicate that current events have not upset "the plan". Considering that they ultimately have different motives, by the end of the series, it becomes clear that this is just lampshading that with a few exceptions, most of the individual fights against Angels have little bearing on the larger plot.
* [[Ambiguous Situation]]: Numerous instances, most notably Gendo's silent line and the final scene of ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Apocalypse Day Planner]]
* [[Apocalypse Wow]]: The brief scenes of Second Impact in the series, and Third Impact in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Appendage Assimilation]]: Unit 01 tears off one of Zeruel's "arms", and reshapes it to replace the arm that was torn off earlier in the battle.
* [[Arc Symbol]]: SEELE's logo, and possibly NERV's as well. The former is {{spoiler|Lilith's face}}, and has a similar portayal to [[Big Brother Is Watching You]], which is {{spoiler|what the corportation really is}}. The latter looks like a nod to [[The World Tree]] and the tree that bore the fruit of knowledge in the Bible, which takes a new meaning {{spoiler|during the final moments of ''[[The End of Evangelion]]''}}.
* [[Arc Words]]:
** "I mustn't run away."
** "Hedgehog's Dilemma".
** "Unfamiliar ceiling".
** "I'm home." "Welcome home."
* [[Ascended Fridge Horror]]: ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' takes the idea of a child as the pilot of a [[Humongous Mecha]] and strips it down to spotlight the fact that these shows are basically about [[Child Soldiers]]. [[Mind Screw|We think]].
* [[Assimilation Plot]]: ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' was the former [[Trope Namer]], but {{spoiler|Instrumentality}} was needed for at least two other works that use the dictionary definition of the word and have nothing to do with assimilation plots.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]:
** This applies to pretty much every bit of technology NERV owns.
** In universe: the Jet Alone, a gigantic nuclear-powered mecha that lacks the Eva's [[Beehive Barrier|AT field]], making it pointless for Angel defense.
* [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot]]:
** Mostly averted: the MAGI computers never turn evil, but {{spoiler|the most human of them betrays Ritsuko at the worst possible moment}}.
** Subverted with [[Shadow Archetype|the EVAs]] {{spoiler|when you find out they aren't actually robots}}.
* [[Baka]]: Part of Asuka's catchphrase. According to her, Shinji, Kensuke and Toji are also the "stupid trio": this is rendered as "the Three Stooges" in the dub.
* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: According to the Dead Sea Scrolls. There is, however, an interesting interplay between destiny and [[Gambit Pileup|human will]].
* [[Berserk Button]]: Actually fairly consistent in the original series and across multiple [[Alternate Continuity|continuities]], including ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', and even extending into fanfiction often - to the point that this has [[Berserk Button/Anime and Manga/Neon Genesis Evangelion| its own page]]. Which is to say: there is one surefire way to get Shinji ''pissed as hell'', to get him mad enough to turn into a raging demon who will wreck anything and everything in his way. That way? Attempt to harm Rei Ayanami. Go on. Try it.
* [[BFG]]: Any EVA gun, but especially the Positron Rifle, which is the size of a train and utilizes the entire power output of an industrialized country.
* [[Big No]]: Asuka, {{spoiler|at the end of her [[Mind Rape]]}}.
** Shinji, at the end of episode 18 when he realises who the pilot of Unit 3 is.
* [[Big "Shut Up!"]]: In a funny scene in Episode 16.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Episode 24. The Angels are gone and mankind is safe... {{spoiler|but Tokyo-3 has been ruined; Kaji is dead; Toji is a cripple; Kensuke, Hikari, and their families have moved away, taking Pen-Pen with them; Asuka is catatonic; Ritsuko is in prison; Misato is a nervous wreck; Rei is [[We Have Reserves|"the third one"]]; and Shinji is utterly broken psychologically after having to kill the only person who has offered him unconditional love in the course of the whole series}}. And hey, don't worry! [[It Gets Worse]]!
* [[Black Box]]: The Angels are described this way by the scientists "not in the know": they also complain about how dangerous using the S2 organ is, since they know nothing about it.
* [[Blame Game]]: When the Jet Alone goes rogue, the various officials related to the project are preemptively doing this by trying to avoid the direct responsibility of giving the self-destruct code.
* [[Blue with Shock]]: Several instances.
* [[Body Horror]]:
** Arguably evoked by {{spoiler|Bardiel and Armisael's infectious attacks, and by Gendo having the embryonic Adam grafted to his hand}}.
** Also, arguably the situation for {{spoiler|the human souls attached to the
** The fate of {{spoiler|Unit 02}}.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Every last character you found the faintest bit sympathetic, in ''The End of Evangelion'', and several other instances that begin much earlier. Shinji and Asuka (''especially'' Shinji) embody this trope.
* [[Bright Is Not Good]]: The last two episodes are a complete psychological breakdown (
* [[Broken Bird]]: ''All'' the female characters, by the time it's all said and done. Of course, more than one were very broken already...
* [[Bug Buzz]]: Cicada chirps frequently accompany outdoor scenes. The reason given for this is that Japan has been in a perpetual summer since Second Impact, and since the ecosystem is returning to its former state, cicadas are coming back to Tokyo-3. They're also used to dramatic effect in
* [[Bury Your Gays]]: Of course, ''all'' the relationships end badly, so Shinji and Kaworu's relationship is not unique here. It ''is'' unique in that {{spoiler|Shinji has to kill him
* [[Butt Monkey
{{quote|'''Fuyutsuki''': [[Tempting Fate|Regardless of the cause, it would be disastrous if an Angel were to attack right now.]]
'''Voice over speaker''': Radar has detected an unidentified object.
** However, later on when [[It Gets Worse]], this [[Designated Monkey|stops being funny.]] <ref>This happens right about the same time everyone starts having their [[Trauma Conga Line|respective mental breakdowns]],</ref>
* [[Cataclysm Backstory]]: The Second Impact.
* [[Charge Into Combat Cut]]: This happens with the first Angel in Episode 1. We only find out how the first battle went through flashbacks in Episode 2.
* [[Chekhov's Classroom]]: Early on in the episode "Magma Diver", Shinji is doing homework on thermal expansion. That episode's Angel, Sandalphon, which is able to somehow withstand the heat and pressure of swimming in magma, is defeated by pumping its body full of coolant.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Rei says she was born to be an
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: In the manga, Toji's sister is his motivation for {{spoiler|getting in Unit-03
* [[Clip Show]]:
** About half of
** Episodes 25 and 26 of the original TV-broadcast re-uses old footage all over the place.
** The ''Death'' sequence of ''Death
* [[The Comically Serious]]: Some of the bumbling, useless UN officers.
* [[Cooldown Hug
* [[Creepy Cool Crosses]]: The Angels' energy blasts, and {{spoiler|the shot of Misato's pendant in the final sequence of ''The End of Evangelion''}}, among many others.
* [[Creepy Doll]]: Asuka's mother
* [[Cross-Popping Veins]]: Asuka, continuously; also Misato, whenever she finds Kaji flirting with and/or groping another woman.
* [[Cryptic Conversation]]: Gendo and Fuyutski's interactions are made almost entirely of this trope. Any scene involving SEELE also qualifies.
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]:
** Happens every time the
** In ''The End of Evangelion'', Asuka's fight against the JSSDF and the MP EVAs... at first.
* [[Darkest Hour]]: Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in ''The End of Evangelion''.
** One might argue that they already go here in the battle between EVA-01 and EVA-03. And again in EVA-01 vs. the last Angel.
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* [[Description Cut]]/[[Ironic Echo Cut]]: Episode 11 sets up long chains of both. After all, the whole point of the episode is how the characters, while isolated by a power outage, still manage to think the same. The ''Death'' segment of ''Death & Rebirth'' is practically nothing but these.
* [[Determinator]]: [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] by Asuka, since playing it straight leads to her breakdown when she is no longer able to keep up.
* [[Dive Kick]]:
* The seventh Angel, Israfel, needs to be killed by destroying its two cores. This requires a synchronized blow that comes in the form of Shinji and Asuka double dive kick after a synchronized sequence. The Angel was destroyed, but they didn't stick the landing.
* [[Downer Ending]]:
** Episode 26, depending on interpretation, especially seeing as, whatever the hell happened, at least Shinji ends it finally happy. Played ''very'' straight by ''The End of Evangelion'' though
** An even darker ending was in planning for ''The End of Evangelion'' at some point. It starts with {{spoiler|Shinji lying on the beach while holding hands with someone. He notices that he will probably never see his friends again, but that he also will keep on living anyways. He then squeezes the hand he is holding and sees a short flash of Rei. It is then revealed that nobody is lying next to him, and the hand he is holding belongs to that arm Rei lost earlier in the film}}.
* [[Do You Want to Copulate?]]: Rei has no visible reaction whatsoever to {{spoiler|Shinji seeing her naked, then falling on her and accidentally groping her}}. In the manga, she actually looks surprised, but doesn't say anything.
* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: {{spoiler|Ritsuko Akagi}} in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]]: First subverted when Shinji tries to kiss Asuka in her sleep, but ultimately decides against it. Then in ''The End of Evangelion'', Shinji {{spoiler|''[[A Date with Rosie Palms|pleases himself over a scantily clad and]]'' comatose Asuka}}.
* [[Dying for Symbolism]]: Really, all of these are up to anybody's guess, but in ''The End of Evangelion'', {{spoiler|Kaworu's death possibly represents the death of Shinji's sanity, Asuka's death could mean the death of Shinji's hope, Misato's death could represent the death of Shinji's love (Gendou might count), and the god-like Rei's death at the end could mean the death of Shinji's fear and return to peace. This movie is virtually the definition of [[Mind Screw]], so you may have a different interpretation}}.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Strongly evoked by the Angels and even more by {{spoiler|Adam and Lilith}}.
* [[Empathic Weapon]]: Due to synchronization, the pain an
* [[Empty Piles of Clothing]]: After a certain event, the only thing left of people are their clothes and pools of orange fluid.
* [[Epiphanic Prison]]: ''The End of Evangelion'' thrust Shinji into one. His solution? ''{{spoiler|Destroy the world
* [[Exploding Calendar]]: The
* [[Eye Scream]]: A few times.
** Sachiel pierces Unit 01's right eye ''all the way to the other side of the skull''.
**
** Also from ''The End of Evangelion'': {{spoiler|the scene where the MP
* [[Eyes Do Not Belong There]]:
** In the manga, as a result of {{spoiler|swallowing Adam, Gendo has a large eyeball in the middle of his left palm
** In ''The End of Evangelion'', Rei/Lilith manifests a huge eye in her forehead that the {{spoiler|Unit 01/Tree of Life}} is absorbed into.
* [[Famous Last Words]]:
**
**
**
* [[Fearful Symmetry]]: The Angel Israfel
* [[Fighter Launching Sequence]]: With mecha instead of fighters.
* [[First Church of Mecha]]:
* [[Five Rounds Rapid]]: Conventional military efforts tend to do precisely jack against the Angels, with one notable exception when the UN Pacific Fleet defeats Gaghiel by getting two battleships inside it and firing their cannons by remote, then self-destructing the ships and killing it. They did have Unit 02's help though.
* [[Flash Back]]: Especially in Episode 21.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Oh boy, where to begin? Every single main character is mentally unstable to some degree as are most of the secondary characters. Given the crap they have been going through for the last 15 years, everyone has very good reasons for it.
* [[Furo Scene]]: Numerous instances, but most memorably Asuka's in
* [[Future Spandex]]: Female plugsuits. Remember, [[Clothes Make the Superman|Clothes Make]] '''[[Memetic Sex God|Teh Rei]]'''.
* [[Gainax Ending]]: What ''[[The Prisoner]]'' was for the UK, ''Evangelion'' was for Japan. After 24 episodes of mecha action and conspiracy plotting, the show ends with {{spoiler|a look into Shinji's psyche, where he ultimately finds peace of mind
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: As the series goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult to know who knows what, who has what interests, and who's leading the game. [[It Got Worse|It gets worse]] in ''The End
* [[Gambit Roulette]]: Arguably. {{spoiler|Yui could have arranged her own "accidental" death in order to save humanity from being lost forever to Instrumentality. She would've been counting on Gendo's undying love for her to have him rescue her soul to inhabit Unit 01 where she could build up Shinji's confidence and ensure he was at the center of Instrumentality so that he could resist it and convince Lilith/Rei to let anyone come back who had the strength of will to rebuild their own AT Field
* [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]]: Misato does this to Shinji in ''The End of Evangelion''. Kaji does this to Misato in
* [[Giant Eye of Doom]]:
** Shinji comes face to face with his EVA in Episode 2. Here's looking at you, kid.
** In a way, Matarel because it has camouflage that looks like eyes, and its actual working eye cries tears of ''acid''.
** Sahaquiel definitely qualifies as a metroplex-sized eye with wings that bombs the planet from space, leaving giant craters that get ever closer to Tokyo-3. It's taken to an even greater extreme in ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
** The explosion of {{spoiler|Third Impact}} in ''The End of Evangelion'' is shaped like an enormous eye that literally brings widespread death and destruction in its wake... though it could be an artsy [[Shout-Out]] to Anno's previous anime ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]''.
* [[Good Morning, Crono]]: Spoofed in the final episode, when Shinji is shown what his life ''could have'' been like: a clichéd shounen series.
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: All that is shown of {{spoiler|Kaworu's}} death in the anime is {{spoiler|the silhouette of his head falling into the LCL lake}}. The manga represents his death as {{spoiler|Shinji strangling him in a field similar to where they first met}}.
* [[Goth Spirals]]: The Lance of Longinus and Lance form of Unit 01 qualify.
* [[Government Conspiracy]]: The coverup regarding Second Impact.
* [[Grasp the Sun]]: {{spoiler|Asuka}} plays this straight in the ''The End of Evangelion''. ''Painfully'' straight.
* [[Grilling the Newbie]]: Shortly after [[Extreme Doormat|Shinji]] arrived in his class, there were [[Open Secret|already rumors he was the
* [[Heart Drive]]: The Angel's cores. And the major weak point. ''And'' a source of
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Shinji and Asuka are the king and queen of this trope towards the end of the series, though it's debatable who's the king and who's the queen.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Multiple, and subverted in some cases.
* [[He's Back]]: Played straight with Shinji; subverted with Asuka, who {{spoiler|comes out of her coma, but simply dies fighting 5 minutes later}}.
* [[Hidden Eyes]]: Shinji and Asuka on various occasions; Shinji's uncle, aunt
* [[High School AU]]: During episode 26, which takes place in Shinji's mind with the [[Gainax Ending]] in full effect, Shinji sees a high school AU as a possibility for his life. {{spoiler|It is this event that made Shinji start to realise he loved himself. During the sequence, Asuka is his best friend who wakes him up for school, and the normally [[Emotionless Girl]] Rei became a [[Genki Girl]].}}
* [[High-Pressure Blood]]: The Angels, and Unit 01 in the first episode, spray enormous fountains of blood that can literally paint the town red. {{spoiler|The Rei/Lilith hybrid actually paints a stripe of blood on ''the moon'' when she dies}}. Justified, perhaps, when you consider how much blood there is in something taller than office buildings and what's needed to move it around, and when you consider how much pressure is required to pump blood in an organism that size.
* [[Hint Dropping]]: Asuka does this towards Shinji a couple of times. Since Shinji is too socially inept and unsure of himself to pick up on these attempts, this also fuels much of Asuka's anger towards him. Ironically, her anger towards him is also a big part of what keeps Shinji from realizing how she feels.
* [[Hit Me Dammit]]: Toji tells Shinji to hit him back as a "macho" way of apologizing. The manga adaptation subverts the trope, with Shinji deciding it'd be more interesting to have Toji owe him one instead. In ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', he actually hits Toji right away.
* [[Hive Mind]]: This would be part and parcel of {{spoiler|Instrumentality as envisioned by SEELE
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: The only reason Unit 01 wakes up when it runs out of power during the Zeruel battle is because Zeruel's merciless—and ''rhythmic''—beating of Unit 01's core simulated a heartbeat in the entry plug.
* [[Hope Spot]]: Most notably {{spoiler|Asuka's very brief recovery}} in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday]]: The events of ''The End of Evangelion'', according to [[Word of God]], occur ON NEW YEAR'S EVE. {{spoiler|That's right, we never see Christmas as this is Japan, and everyone gets Tanged to death just before 2016 comes
* [[Hot for Teacher]]:
** In the [[Alternate Universe]].
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* [[Immune to Bullets]]: The Angels.
* [[Incest Is Relative]]/{{spoiler|[[Interspecies Romance]]}}: Shinji's attraction to Rei, and vice versa. They can even date or ''marry'' in some of the wacky schoolday video games and the mangas based on them.
* [[Instant Expert]]: ''Triply'' subverted in the first two episodes. At first, everyone's really excited because it looks like Shinji just might save the day
* [[Internal Monologue]]: Lots of it, most notably in episodes 14, 16, 20
* [[It Sucks to Be the Chosen One]]: Hoo boy. Just take a look at
* [[It Got Worse]]: [[Serial Escalation|Boy howdy]], does it ''ever''.
* [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]]: The reason the earlier episodes are easier to follow.
* [[Kavorka Man]]: Gendo, hence the ''ReDeath'' meme "IT'S GENDO!". Shinji has quite the kavorka too, as he is fourteen, lacks self-confidence and social skills to a spectacular extent, isn't particularly handsome and still has at least Rei, Asuka
* [[Killed Off for Real]]: {{spoiler|Kaji; Rei I and II; Naoko; Misato's father}}. Also, {{spoiler|Toji}} in the manga.
* [[Kill'Em All]]: {{spoiler|The movie looks like it, though it depends on your interpretation whether what happened to them actually counts as death
* [[Last Episode Theme Reprise]]: Episode 26 features "THE HEADY FEELING OF FREEDOM" and "Good, or Don't Be.", both of which are instrumental versions of the opening.
* [[Latex Space Suit]]: The plugsuits for both sexes have a button that once pressed automatically makes the suit shrink to conform to the pilot's body. However, it is shown in
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: And comes with [[Mind Rape]], in the case of Arael.
* [[Literal Metaphor]]: Kaworu's [[Leitmotif]]. Notice that he's entering Heaven's Door as the choir sings "Und der Cherub steht vor Gott". Also, "Einen Freund geprüft im Tod" could describe his relationship to Shinji, [[Ho Yay|other interpretations]] notwithstanding.
* [[Living Relic]]: Revealed near the end of ''The End of Evangelion'' to be {{spoiler|the ultimate fate of Unit 01, and by association Yui Ikari
* [[Living Shadow]]: Leliel, the 12th Angel.
* [[Locked in a Room]]: Kaji and Misato in an elevator during the attack by the
* [[Lotus Eater Machine]]: At some level, the
* [[Lovecraftian Superpower]]: The
* [[Lovecraft Lite]]: Despite the [[Cosmic Horror Story]] atmosphere,
* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: {{spoiler|Or rather, Mother. Unit 01 is in reality Shinji's long lost mother inside a [[Giant Robot]]. Unit 02 actually holds whatever is left of Asuka's mother
* [[Madness Mantra]]: A favorite of the series. To wit:
** Shinji: "I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away..." (
** Asuka: "I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die... [skip a few] I DON'T WANNA DIIIIIIIIIIIE!!"
** Shinji: "I can't take it anymore... I can't take it anymore... I can't take it anymore... I can't take it anymore... Ican'ttakeitanymore... icanttakeitanymore..."
** Asuka: "I'll kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you..."
* [[Marilyn Maneuver]]: Asuka's introduction.
* [[Marshmallow Hell]]: Misato accidentally does this to Shinji when they, along with Asuka, Toji, Kensuke and Kaji, are stuck in a too-small elevator.
* [[May–December Romance]]: At the very least, toyed with.
* [[A Mech by Any Other Name]]: So they're called "Evangelions" either because they spread some sort of gospel, or because it sounds cool. It's probably the latter.
* [[Million-to-One Chance]]: Ritsuko likes to predict that there's a 0.000000001% chance of Misato's plan succeeding, with lower probabilities as the series progress. There's also a subversion since {{spoiler|the chances were actually 100% each time, as the happenings ride on a pretty accurate prophecy-based schedule}}.
* [[Mind Screwdriver]]: Yes, this is what ''The End of Evangelion'' was meant to be, YMMV on how well it succeeds.
* [[More Than Mind Control]]: Manga Gendo {{spoiler|uses Shinji's insecurities and loneliness to try to convince him he's every bit as evil, desperate and vengeful as he is}}.
* [[Murder-Suicide]]: Attempted by Asuka's mother, except the "Asuka" that was murdered was the rag doll that Kyoko thought to be Asuka. It's not clear whether Asuka's more angry that her mother committed suicide or that she didn't get to die along with her.
* [[
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Shinji's reaction to {{spoiler|his [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]] moment}}.
* [[Myth Arc]]: The Angel war, NERV, the EVAs and the tangled web of secrets surrounding all three.
* [[Never My Fault]]: Shinji is a universal target for people unfairly shifting blame.
* [[Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book]]: Shown in ''The End of Evangelion'' and the Director's Cut version of
* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]: The instances of Unit 01 going [[Berserk Button|berserk]], and the activation of the Dummy Plug. Honorable mention, however, is the end of Episode 19, where we bear witness to a horribly vicious one.
* [[Non-Indicative First Episode]]: Anno reportedly complained about the first episode being "a failure" and out of tune with the rest. It was supposed to create an atmosphere of total despair.
* [[No Periods, Period]]:
** Averted for Asuka in both the anime and the manga
** Implied to be the case with Rei by a cryptic piece of her dialogue in
* [[No Sense of Personal Space]]: Asuka, to both Kaji (mostly) and Shinji (when she's not shunning him). Also, Kaworu in the manga, which is one of the reasons Shinji doesn't like him. This actually leads to a [[Crowning Moment of Funny|rather funny scene]] where Kaworu barges into Shinji's shower stall looking for soap, then wonders why Shinji's freaking out.
* [[Nostalgia Heaven]]: The end of the last episode, if you get past the [[Mind Screw]] location.
* [[Nuclear Weapons Taboo]]: Assuming that N2 mines really are "non-nuclear".
* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: During the Jet Alone incident, Misato has to deal with a five-person chain of command to force a deactivation command on the mech, who ultimately agree to grant her clearance... effective upon the arrival of the paperwork. Note that this is during an imminent ''nuclear disaster
* [[Omniscient Morality License]]:
** In the original ending, {{spoiler|Gendo Ikari}} may have this at a metaphorical level, if we accept the interpretation that [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|he represents God and more generally, the father archetype]].
** ''[[The End of Evangelion]]'' suggests this for {{spoiler|Yui Ikari}} and Shinji's other two [[Spirit Advisor]]s, {{spoiler|Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa}}.
* [[One-Woman Wail]]: The track "INTROJECTION" from the album ''Neon Genesis Evangelion III''.
* [[Only Point Two Percent Different]]: The Angels {{spoiler|because of panspermia
* [[Out-of-Clothes Experience]]: Especially Shinji and Rei, but it happens once or twice to Asuka too. And to manga Yui. Also, to {{spoiler|humankind}} in ''[[The End of Evangelion]]''.
* [[Over the Shoulder Murder Shot]]: {{spoiler|
* [[Panty Shot]]: Played straight in
* [[Pillar of Light]]: Lots of 'em, and cross-shaped, at that.
* [[Possession Implies Mastery]]: Significantly averted: Unit 01 keeps going out of control and doing things that Ritsuko and her staff can hardly believe. This is presumably because {{spoiler|NERV didn't so much "invent" the
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: The English dub of the series uses moderate swearing throughout, but does not drop the F-bomb until the movie, at which point it does so in suitably memorable fashion... twice.
* [[Quit Your Whining]]: Misato attempts this with Shinji. {{spoiler|It fails
* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: And the heavens rage back, apparently.
* [[Raging Stiffie]]: Shinji in the [[Alternate Universe]].
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* [[Rescue Introduction]]: Shinji meets Misato when she rescues him during the First Angel's attack.
* [[The Reveal]]: Quite a few later on, but like everything at that point in the show, there are times when it can get a little hard to figure what exactly is being revealed.
* [[Riding Into the Sunset]]: Occurs in a very odd and somewhat disturbing fashion in ''
* [[Room Full of Crazy]]: Post-its all over the guts of the Magi; quantum physics graffiti in the room where Rei was born; random religious symbols and artifacts strewn about the place; graphs from a particle accelerator... heck, we're talking about a ''[[Elaborate Underground Base|massive underground complex]]'' full of crazy here.
* [[Sacred First Kiss]]: Subverted. Shinji and Asuka kiss, but it's painfully unromantic, it doesn't lead anywhere, and she never does stop bullying him, although she does later on {{spoiler|seem to be pissed off that he wasn't more enthusiastic about it}}. A different subversion happens in the manga
* [[Sanity Slippage]]:
**
** Shinji goes through a gradual one over the latter half of the series, and finally cracks in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: Gendo. Period.
* [[Screamer Trailer]]: The show and, by extension, its [[Hideaki Anno|director]] are very fond of this effect.
* [[Sexy Discretion Shot]]:
** At one point, Misato and Kaji are in bed together, nude. The "camera" turns away, and stays focused, unmoving, on a nearby table while you hear the two of them going at it.
** ''The End of Evangelion'' features a couple. The {{spoiler|"Shinji wanking"}} sequence is an Unsexy Discretion Shot
* [[Shape Shifter]]: Several Angels.
* [[Shoo Out the Clowns]]: When Pen-Pen leaves, you know things are going downhill.
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* [[Sinister Geometry]]: Ramiel.
* [[Sixth Ranger]]: Subverted twice.
* [[Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke]]: N2 Mines. Although they are devastatingly effective against unshielded targets ({{spoiler|the Geofront in ''The End of Evangelion''}}), their effectiveness against the Angels ranges from significant ({{spoiler|Israfel takes six days to recover from one}}) to minimal ({{spoiler|Sachiel is damaged but heals ''very'' quickly}}) to useless ({{spoiler|Sahaquiel and Zeruel are completely unfazed}}).
** They are also used against Asuka in ''The End of Evangelion'', one of which hits EVA-02 in the head, and another that is stopped with a punch. In the manga, these are, however, left out during Asuka's seemingly final battle.
** [[Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke]], you say? They're powerful enough to make it necessary to re-draw the map of the city and the area nearby... on three separate occasions, no less. They may prove ineffective against Angels, but they're not completely ineffective.
* [[Smash Cut]]: Often, usually skipping from [[Curb Stomp Battle|an
* [[Smoking Hot Sex]]: In
* [[Solemn Ending Theme]]: Several different versions of "Fly Me to the Moon".
* [[Spirit Advisor]]: {{spoiler|Yui Ikari}} to Shinji and
* [[Suggestive Collision]]: Shinji falls with Rei, causing him to land on top of her, with one hand on her breast. Being an [[Emotionless Girl]], she doesn't react in any way.
* [[Surreal Horror]]: The series periodically slips into this, particularly during encounters with the Angels and ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: "Non"-nuclear mines.
* {{spoiler|[[Takes One to Kill One]]}}: The
* [[Tanks for Nothing]]: In both the opening episode and the movies, tanks will fire massive barrages at the Angels, and do no damage at all.
* [[Techno Babble]]: Reams of it.
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* [[Teen Genius]]: Asuka [[Unreliable Narrator|claims]] to have a college degree, but it's never addressed.
* [[Tell Me About My Father]]:
** Shinji asks both Rei and Kaji about Gendo at different points. {{spoiler|Neither of them offer up much info
** He also asks about his mother at one point... to Gendo, of course, so it had much the same result.
* [[Tempting Fate]]: In
* [[Ten-Minute Retirement]]: Shinji does this frequently: when he runs away in
* [[Through His Stomach]]: Hikari's method for getting close to Toji.
* [[Through the Eyes of Madness]]: It's debatable whether the final two anime episodes really happened or were all taking place in Shinji and the other protagonist's heads.
* [[Throw the Dog a Bone]]: Shinji's only moments of 'happiness' are so far and few they deserve their own drinking game. Let's see: when Gendo or Misato actually praise him overtly (drink the whole bottle!); when Rei reacts somewhat warmly to his presence; when he can hang around with Toji and Kensuke; [[Freud Was Right|when he thinks he's fusing with his mom]]; when Kaworu stands close to him looking handsome and saying ambiguous things. That's all. [[Yank the Dog's Chain|Every form of comfort has gotten out of his reach]] by the time ''The End of Evangelion'' happens. But congratulations, Shinji and {{spoiler|all the children of the world}}!
* [[Toilet Humor]]: In the first ''Petit EVA'' short, Unit 01 trades lunches with Shinji... but its lunch is nothing but batteries. Unit 01 expects Shinji to eat, so he does. The last scene shows Shinji coming out of a bathroom stall holding his butt and groaning.
* [[Tomato in the Mirror]]: {{spoiler|Humanity, being the ultimate result of the terraforming process started by Lilith, is the 18th Angel, and every single living thing on Earth is just protoplasmic ooze held bodily together by energy fields which are the physical manifestation of the ego. Conversely, Angels are just humans without egos
* [[Transformation Trauma]]:
** Especially in ''The End of Evangelion'' where {{spoiler|Rei merges with Lilith and embryonic Adam and becomes a giant... something... and subsequently ushers in the infamous "Everyone hugs and turns into Tang" sequence
** On the other hand, the trauma is noticeably absent in the case of {{spoiler|Gendo merging his hand with Adam}}. Heck, he's so stone-faced about it that in the manga, he even {{spoiler|''eats Adam''}} in a very insane and Squick-inducing scene.
* [[Trauma Conga Line]]: ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Trauma Swing]]: During {{spoiler|Asuka}}'s [[Mind Rape]] and during a flashback to Shinji's childhood in ''The End of Evangelion''. However, unlike other examples of this trope, neither one actually sits ''on'' a swing.
* [[Trickster]]s: The Evangelions, Rei, {{spoiler|Lilith}} and the Angels (with special mentions to {{spoiler|Kaworu}} in all versions, Adam
* [[Tsundere]]: Asuka is a glorious Type A; Misato has a few tsundere characteristics too. Some fans view manga Shinji as a tsundere character, mainly in his sarcastic treatment of {{spoiler|Asuka and Kaworu}}. In ''Shinji Ikari Instrumentality Project'', Yui is a Type B with [[Domestic Abuse|violent approaches]] and [[Hilarity Ensues]], whereas Rei tends to be a Type B who gives the cold shoulder to Shinji whenever she can't deal with her feelings towards him.
* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: Despite the series being set 20 years after its production, technology seems to have developed fairly little, the only obvious exception being the ubiquitous use of laptops in classrooms. Justified, given the tremendous effort needed to rebuild the world after the Second Impact.
* [[Two-Keyed Lock]]: In
* [[Two-Teacher School]]
* [[The Un-Reveal]]: So many examples, but two very noteworthy [and memetic] examples are {{spoiler|who killed Ryouji Kaji}} and [[Memetic Mutation|"Ritsuko Akagi, the truth is..."]]
**
** The manga had this to offer out for the latter
* [[Unwanted Harem]]: Shinji is [[Kavorka Man|quite pimpin']], for a skinny teen with a crippling social phobia.
* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: SEELE's ultimate plot.
* [[Vibroweapon]]: The Progressive Knives.
* [[Wall Slump]]: {{spoiler|Misato}}'s death in ''The End of Evangelion'', where she leans against the wall to hide her mortal injuries after being shot from Shinji, then collapses against it when he leaves.
* [[The Watson]]: Sometimes Maya, sometimes Misato, sometimes Shinji. Actually, so few characters know what's ''really'' going on that they ''all'' have their Watson moments.
* [[We Have Been Researching Phlebotinum for Years]]: Shinji, a slightly
* [[We Have Reserves]]: {{spoiler|The Reiquarium}}. Also, {{spoiler|all of Shinji's classmates are potential
* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Shinji is a textbook case. Asuka is arguably a closet "well done daughter girl
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: Shinji angsts about this after the double whammy of {{spoiler|learning Rei's secret and being ordered to terminate Kaworu}}. There's also the little thing about {{spoiler|the Angels' nature}}.
* [["What the Hell?" Dad]]: You'll be saying this to Gendo quite a bit. Shinji does in the manga, but not in the anime. Asuka actually inverts this in ''The End Of Evangelion'' when she realizes her mom's soul is in Unit-2. She sees it as her mom protecting her in battle.
* [[White Mask of Doom]]: Several of the Angels have what look like white masks with little more than eyeholes.
* [[Working with the Ex]]: This applies to Kaji and Misato, who was none-too-pleased when she found out that Kaji would be staying with NERV after delivering Asuka and Unit 02, and lashed out at him at nearly every chance she got afterwards. The bickering led Ritsuko to comment that they sounded like an old married couple.
* [[Yank the Dog's Chain]]: Shinji, over and over and over...
== Themes ==
* [[108]]: The Marduk Institute, ostensibly an advisory group put together to select EVA pilots, is actually just a group of 108 dummy companies owned by NERV and SEELE.
* [[Adult Fear]]: While the plot focuses mainly on adolescent characters, the themes of self-loathing, social phobia
* [[Adults Are Useless]]: [[Zig Zagged Trope]]. Adults can't pilot the EVAs, but they made, maintain, prepair and otherwise function as integral team members around the titular constructs. Played more strangely by the quasi-military setting, as the adult characters can go from a supervisory body to the pilots, to genuine help, to active hinderences and back, some times within the same episode.
* [[The Anti-Nihilist]]: Played in a straight but horrifyingly cynical way.
* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]:
** A central theme of the series is that characters can't admit their deeper feelings for one another, and/or can't find the right way to comfort those they care about. So many examples, it's almost easier to list the aversions, and even the aversions tend to have a tragic cast to them.
** Asuka is a simultaneous example and subversion; she has no problem letting everyone know the "depths" of her feelings for Kaji, but this becomes a way of deflecting attention from her developing feelings for Shinji.
** Another exception: {{spoiler|Kaworu, the final angel}}, is the only character in the whole series (and possibly the only person in-universe since the death of Yui) who expresses love to Shinji in so many words. Though it is made clear to be extremely significant, this profession of love {{spoiler|isn't necessarily genuine, and can be easily interpreted as a mind game Kaworu is playing on Shinji}}.
** Misato finally comes to terms with just how deeply she cares for Kaji... {{spoiler|after he's dead}}.
** Even {{spoiler|Gendo}} admits to his {{spoiler|fear of bonding with his son}} once {{spoiler|his vague apocalyptic plan has failed, and he realizes he's going to be killed}}.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: In the anime, Shinji is constantly saying "I mustn't run away!"; also Asuka's repeated refrain of "What are you, ''[[Baka|stupid?]]''". Let's also not forget all the times when Gendo tells Fuyutsuki to "handle the rest of this" "Scenario" and variants of "So",
* [[Contemplate Our Navels]]
* [[Cosmic Horror Story]]: [[Mind Screw|Whatever]] the apocalypse-inducing [[Eldritch Abomination|Angels]] are, coupled with all the [[Psychological Horror]] and the pessimistic atmosphere in general, provides a sense of this, but is also coupled with contemplations on existentialism.
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* [[Family-Unfriendly Violence]]: So much, it is rumoured the series generated a reinforcement of censorship laws in Japan.
* [[Fatal Flaw]]: Most of the characters have at least one.
* [[Foot Focus]]: Many characters do go barefoot when they are out of their plugsuits, this being Japan, where it is a polite custom not to wear shoes in someone else's house, {{spoiler|
* [[Four Is Death]]: Unit 04 explodes on its activation test. Unit 03, the actual fourth Evangelion, is {{spoiler|infected by an Angel and eventually killed in a brutal manner by a dummy plug-controlled Unit 01}}. The pilot was, naturally, the Fourth Child, who just became the fourth person his girlfriend makes lunches for.
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: Opponents NERV/SEELE and the Angels share a common goal: {{spoiler|to defeat the opponent and initiate Third Impact for their own ends
* [[Humans Are Flawed]]/[[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]/[[Humans Are Special]]: NERV and SEELE's motivation is that humanity, as it exists, can't be happy. Kaworu
* [[Irony]]:
** The show was meant as a deconstruction of [[Merchandise-Driven]] [[Giant Robot]] series. It has become the most heavily marketed, publicized, referenced, and rereleased animated production ''ever''.
** Rei, who throughout the series is tormented by the knowledge that she is replaceable and struggles to establish an identity of her own, has become one of the most [[Expy|Expied]] anime characters in history, and most of her "clones" lack the [[Hidden Depths]] of her character.
** ''Euangelion'' means ''good news'' in Greek. Considering how it "ends
* [[Lonely Together]]: Basically subverted. The conditions are there, but the characters are ultimately too screwed up to really help each other, as demonstrated by scenes like Misato's failed attempt to console Shinji after {{spoiler|Rei's death}}. Asuka in particular is very bitter that Shinji only wants to be with her because he doesn't have anyone else.
* [[Love Dodecahedron]]: Played for angst rather than laughs. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111105163921/http://img2.me/7sYfO.png Here's] a schematic diagram.
* [[Love Makes You Evil]]: And that man's said evil—or at least, morally ambiguous [[Batman Gambit]]—makes the whole world suffer.
* [[Messianic Archetype]]: Yui Ikari, the self-sacrificial Rei Ayanami
* [[Mix and Match]]: [[Humongous Mecha]] + dark psychological drama.
* [[Number of the Beast]]:
** The firewall Ritsuko uses to protect NERV's MAGI from hacking in ''The End of Evangelion'' is numbered 666.
** In ''Rebirth of Evangelion'', Misato is seen in (or in the bay next to) parking bay 667, which the English voice actors joked was the Neighbour of the Beast.
* [[Oedipus Complex]]: The relationship of the Ikari family, and whenever a character's parent comes up.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: ''Evangelion'' deals with its consequences.
* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: A major theme of the series.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Asuka and Rei, who've taken up where Kei and Yuri left off and ran with it. 3-4 paired figure sets a year for more than a decade. Also notice that their hair and eye colors are
* [[Sex Is Violence]]: Loosely implied throughout the series, then made [[Squick]]-inducingly obvious during ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Tragedy]]: The [[Fatal Flaw|fatal flaws]] of the characters should tell you something.
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== Meta ==
* [[The Abridged Series]]:
** ''[[Evangelion Abridged]]''.
** There's also another few, most notable out of them being Reborn Zombie's ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUn1O-1dcyc Evangelion Abridged]'' and The Puerto Rican Pizza Dude's ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo4dX233zFI A Parody of Evangelion]'', although the majority of the latter seems to have been banned by Bandai Channel. The former is still active, the latter seems to have gone dormant.
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The manga, to a degree. Some fans consider some changes in the [[Manga]] adaptation an improvement upon the original [[Anime]]. More attention is devoted to character relationships, several filler plots (including some of the less consequential Angels) are cut altogether, and a very controversial scene ({{spoiler|[[A Date with Rosie Palms|you know the one]]}}) is changed to be more acceptable and arguably more appropriate. On the other hand, Asuka's screentime (so to speak) is cut down some since it was in many of those filler plots, although the core parts of her story are preserved, and others are added, expanded
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: The manga details more of the odd relationship between Shinji and Rei (and Rei's character in general), gives Kaji a tragic backstory, and makes Kaworu much more prominent.
* [[Adult Swim]]: Aired on the network during the mid-2000's, bringing about a [[Newbie Boom]].
* [[All There in the Manual]]: There are a few guidebooks that attempt to elucidate the series. Given that it's intentionally left up to the reader, they are less than helpful. There's also a [[PlayStation 2]] game (''Neon Genesis Evangelion 2'') that contains a large amount of backstory for the series, including on the "[[Precursors|First Ancestral Race]]". The in-game info is based on interviews with [[Hideaki Anno]]; however, since it's never been confirmed, the canonicity is technically up for debate. It's worth noting that the voice actress for Ritsuko, Yuriko Yamaguchi, practically spells out Gendo's silent line from ''The End of Evangelion'' in her essay in the film's theatrical pamphlet, but non-Japanese fans are still scratching their heads nearly fifteen years after its release since [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfr9uBXMKTM the essay] was [[No Export for You|never made available to them]]. The manga version of events further complicates the mystery by offering a different version of events leading up to the line (which is actually "heard" in the manga), and some fans believe that the manga line could also apply to the original version events despite obvious differences in characterization and the line's incompatibility with Yamaguchi's essay.
* [[Alternate Continuity]]: Especially noticeable in the video games and mangas ''Girlfriend of Steel 2'' and ''Shinji Ikari Raising Project'' as well as in the new manga ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion Gakuen Datenroku]]'' (''Evangelion Academy'') and the Hobby Japan-exclusive "sequel" ''Evangelion ANIMA''.
* [[Alternate Universe]]: In the [[Omake]] at the end of ''The End of Evangelion'', and during the Third Impact sequence in
* [[Anime Theme Song]]: "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" is definitive of the franchise.
* [[Artistic License: Biology]]:
** A fairly mild form of it: it ''is'' SF biology, after all. Though it might be argued it's meant as ''meta''biology and actual science has very little to do with the show.
** It's also not what a Hayflick limit is. The Hayflick limit is the number of times a (non-stem) cell can divide. Why is there a limit? Because cells that don't have it are cancerous.
* [[Artistic License Physics]]:
** That's not what a Dirac sea is... at all. The show also fails quantum physics forever by throwing it around as a metaphor combined with [[Rule of Cool]].
** An in-universe example for whoever came up with the "Second Impact" cover story. Regardless of speed, a meteor as small as they described would airburst from friction, not capable of surviving our atmosphere long enough to hit the ground. Also, regardless of speed or angle, it would take a ''gigantic'' (dozens or hundreds of kilometers) stellar body to knock the Earth's axis off enough to cause the changes in seasons shown (for that matter, how would Adam's self-destruct be forceful enough to cause that?). Not to mention that an impact that destructive would hurl a shitload of ejecta into the atmosphere, causing a global nuclear winter that would lead to far more negative long-term effects than shown in the show (maybe Adam's explosion was focused up and out, not down?).
*** Adam was in the process of terraforming the Earth to support Angelic life as opposed to Lilim life. That's what caused the climate changes, not his subsequent explosion when they did whatever it was they did to regress him into embryonic form. That Earth is still habitable at all is only because they shut him down before he could finish. That it was caused by the explosion itself is just part of the cover story.
* [[Author Appeal]]: The Judeo-Christian overtones, giant Adams, etc. probably also count as [[Author Appeal]], when you compare ''
* [[Author Tract]]: Having been inspired by Anno's own battle with depression, the series contains numerous in-depth discussions of the human condition and concludes with a lengthy expose on the thought process that leads Shinji to overcome his own depression, go on living and reject the {{spoiler|[[Assimilation Plot]]}} he finds himself a part of.
* [[Barbie Doll Anatomy]]: Played straight, averted
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: Many. For example, the Japanese title for the last episode is "The Beast
** In particular, the legendary [[Lyrical Dissonance]] of "Komm, süßer Tod" is completely lost on ''The End of Evangelion'''s original audience, as the song wasn't even subtitled for the film's Japanese release.
* [[Bishonen Line]]: {{spoiler|Kaworu
* [[Book Ends]]:
** The bookend Reis, one in the first episode and the other in ''The End of Evangelion''.
** Another easily-overlooked example, probably [[Fridge Brilliance]]: Shinji's first line inside Unit 01 is "Kimochi warui" (something akin to "I feel disgusted/unwell
** Episodes 1 and 24 have an interesting case of bookends. In
** The boat {{spoiler|Ritsuko}} is riding during her first appearance is visible in the foreground during {{spoiler|her death scene}}.
* [[Bragging Theme Tune]]: Played straight
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Both the original ending and ''Evangelion: Death & Rebirth'' include visual references to a theater stage. ''The End of Evangelion'' takes it even further. A young Shinji is shown building a sand castle of the GeoFront... and then the camera backs up and shows that he's under stage lighting. Later on, there is a live-action sequence, which includes equivalents of several of the characters. The latter is even described as being a "dream" and "not Shinji's reality
* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: As the series progresses to its final episodes, all attempts at making jokes are dropped.
* [[Covers Always Lie]]: A mild example at the back cover of ''The End Of Evangelion'''s DVD
* [[Cut Short]]: Not the series
* [[Deconstructor Fleet]]: The series took a lot of the [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|nagging questions]] about [[Humongous Mecha]] series and anime in general - [[Competence Zone|"Why are all the central protagonists the same age?"]] [[Empathic Weapon|"Why would a vehicle care about its pilot's mental state?"]] [[Plot Tailored to the Party|"Why are the mecha's abilities so closely matched to their enemies?"]] [[Hard Work Hardly Works|"How did the main character suddenly become the best fighter with zero experience?"]], etc. - and returned pretty much the most depressing, terrifying answers possible. Not the first mecha work to really go into serious personal themes (that's a case of [[Common Knowledge]] spread by misguided fans) but certainly one of the most effective examples in the genre.
* [[Depending on the Artist]]: The show's artwork and animation quality varied a good bit from episode to episode. For example,
** For some reason, whether Misato has lipstick on or not rotates, sometimes several times in the same scene.
* [[Deranged Animation]]: Numerous examples, but especially episodes 25 and 26 and ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]: The double-bladed swords used by the M-P-Es suddenly turning into copies of the Lance of Longinus.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: English dub-only example: in Episode 21, when Gendo is leading Fuyutsuki down into the Geo-Front, he refers to Fuyutsuki as "Montresor" in reference to [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s story "The Cask of Amontillado". In Poe's story, it was ''Fortunato'' who was led down into the catacombs.
** The entire work as a whole though averts this trope most particularly. A lot of the science end of things are skewed and fantastic, but still fundamentally based fairly religiously in reality. This has the added effect of making a lot of the neurological disturbances the pilots go through all the more horrifying for anyone with a running knowledge of human physiology.
*** Furthermore, for as much scrutiny as the use of religious symbols in the show has come under, there's no denying that Anno did his homework, as the series manages to work in numerous allusions not only to mainstream Judaism and Christianity, but Kabbalah, Gnosticism and even more obscure Jewish and Christian apocrypha that many Jews and Christians themselves would not likely be familiar with (e.g. the Chamber of Gaf). It is the application, not the authenticity, of the symbolism that generates controversy.
**** This is debatable, however. A lot of the "symbolic" elements really weren't thought out, and are there for the sake of being there [[Word of God|according to Anno himself]]. Indeed, it's best not to think too hard of it and instead follow the main message that stems from the (dysfunctional) relationships of the main cast.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The less said about the points related to [[Freud Was Right]], the better.
* [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]]:
** Shinji is essentially a [[Gender Flip]] of [[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water|Nadia]] (see [http://wiki.evageeks.org/Image:Sadamoto_nadia-shinji.jpg here] for notes from [[Word of God|Sadamoto himself]]). He was described by Sadamoto as looking like "a boyish young girl" (more evidence [http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd325/Synapsidia/EVA/048272545b0140dfe444054e96364e821.jpg here]), and was made as such to distinguish him from the mecha heroes at that time. Shinji's feminine facial features are brought up by Misato in the first episode, and during the eighth and ninth episodes, he's made to look like a girl from nothing more than [http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd325/Synapsidia/EVA/FemmeShin1.jpg a wardrobe change].
** One of the official games that had its scripts designed from interviews with Anno also had Fuyutsuki say that Shinji looked just like Yui and then [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r26VFYHj1dY&feature=related crossdress Shinji] for the role all while saying how beautiful "she" looks; Fuyutsuki's actions soon become overtly sexual.
** Shinji and Kaworu also make rather pretty girls with little more than a hair and eyelash change (and breasts); in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N_18EljyPk
* [[Easter Egg]]:
** [[Spike Spencer]] (Shinji's English dub actor)'s famous rant about the original ending from Shinji's POV, which includes gems such as "W-what's an
** ''The End of Evangelion'' has an awesome one. Early in the movie, when Misato checks the computers, the screen with orange text has her saying "So that's what happened during Second Impact
* [[Expy]]:
**
** Additionally, the later Gainax productions ''[[FLCL]]'' and ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' seem to exist to represent how Shinji would have turned out if he was raised more successfully. Gainax staff have said that while creating the male protagonists for their recent major productions, they asked themselves how Shinji would have turned out if he had been brought up in different circumstances.
** The
* [[Fan Disservice]]: Many instances, with Shinji {{spoiler|masturbating over a comatose Asuka}} and the more bizarre aspects of {{spoiler|the Rei/Lilith hybrid}} in ''The End of Evangelion'' being two of the most extreme, as well as the {{spoiler|"naked Yui tempting Shinji" sequence}} in the manga.
* [[Fandom Gank]]:
* [[Fan Fiction]]: Attempts to [[Fix Fic|fix the story]] through ''massive'' fan rewrites, or crossovers with everything from ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' to the [[H.P. Lovecraft|Cthulhu Mythos]] to ''[[Star Trek]]'' have become so prevalent that they now
* [[Fan Service]]: Every character below the age of 31. The anime actually lampshaded this in each of the "next episode" previews, as Misato always promised "more fanservice!". Ironically, episodes that Misato promised would have fanservice, always seemed to have ''less'' than episodes where no such promise was made in the previews.
* [[Filk Song]]: Everything by Fight Star. Also "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0j5XWnb8aE A Thousand Angels]" and "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I9XkHgveyg With Me Now]" by Rachel Macwhirter.
* [[Foreign Language Theme]]: "Fly Me to the Moon", used in the ending credits, is only avaliable in English.
* [[Gag Dub]]: ''[[Evangelion: ReDeath]]'', which is notable not only for becoming one of the first highly popular and [[Memetic Mutation|meme-spawning]] [[Gag Dub]]s in Western fandom, but for doing so years before the genesis of [[YouTube]] and the [[Abridged Series]] phenomenon.
* [[Gainaxing]]: Especially Misato.
* [[Gender Flip]]: Several fans have theorized that the three leads are examples; noting [http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/may_chan/TG%20Images/Evangelion/Evangelion_TG_Would_be_Better.jpg how few would speak ill of] a sad little [[Moe]] Shinji, [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Jerkass]] Asuka
* [[Genre Busting]]: It's simultaneously a [[Giant Robot]], [[Real Robot]] and mecha [[Deconstruction]], a sci-fi thriller, a psychological drama
* [[Genre Relaunch]]: ''Evangelion'' was the work which arguably saved the anime industry, which was in dire straits because of a couple of high profile box office failures, most prominently ''[[Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise]]''. Don't forget that ''Honneamise'' was also a Gainax production...
* [[Genre Shift]]: Not much for actual changes in the manga's content, more due to its infamous [[Schedule Slip|schedule slips]] the series moved from a shonen magazine (Shonen Ace) to a seinen magazine (Young Ace).
* [[Geodesic Cast]]:
** The casting for the show pretty much revolves around the [[Power Trio]], with a few characters even being part of more then one. In fact, the only two characters that ''don't'' fit into a trio are Pen-Pen, that Jet Alone guy
** A meta example also appears in the American dub of the series, the voice actors for the [[Bridge Bunnies]] and the voice actors for the pilots all got married after the production for the series was done. [[Tiffany Grant]] (Asuka) married Matt Greenfield (Hyuga), [[Amanda Winn-Lee|Amanda Winn]] (Rei) married Jason C Lee (Aoba), and [[Spike Spencer]] (Shinji) married Kendra Benham (Maya).
* [[Gratuitous
* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: The title itself is gratuitous Greek which would translate into English as "New Beginning Gospel" or "Gospel of the New Genesis" which may be more appropriate {{spoiler|considering the way Shinji and Asuka are left at the end of ''The End of Evangelion''}}...
* [[Gratuitous German]]: ''Gehirn'' = brain, ''Nerv'' = nerve, ''Seele'' = soul. Also, Asuka's dub dialogue features the occasional German word or phrase, and she has an entire conversation in German on the phone in one episode.
* [[Heavy Mithril]]: Kinda. British rock band Fightstar are fans of the series and titled several songs from it. Their song "Lost Like Tears In Rain" even ends with the line "It's Neon Genesis".
* [[If You Can Read This...]]: The show's scripts are periodically used as dummy texts.
** On the other hand, in one episode, freeze-framing the show during a particular scene will reveal a shockingly detailed account (written in [[Surprisingly Good English]], no less) of the official cover story for Third Impact.
* [[Inverted Portrait]]: A black body can be seen, reflected upside-down in water, spinning against the dark blue background of the [[Closing Credits]].
* [[Kudzu Plot]]: Invoked by, and at the same time resulting in the [[Mind Screw]].
* [[Leave the Camera Running]]: Appears frequently in the later episodes since the studio was getting increasingly short on money and time. This resulted in lots of still images, many scenes showing the characters from a great distance, and liberal use of [[Stock Footage]]; notable examples include the infamous "elevator scene" and the lead-up to {{spoiler|Kaworu}}'s death. On the other hand, if the creators were trying to save money for where it would matter most, it worked; there are several scenes that are gorgeously animated and absolutely stunning.
* [[Lonely Piano Piece]]:
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l12TvP5nMVg "Rei I"].
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
* [[Lost in Translation]]: As a result of the varying translators and distributors, some nuances of the screenplay, particularly several instances of [[Arc Words]] and phrases, are lost or at least obscured by the English translations, especially in the dub. This is acknowledged in the DVD commentary of ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: "Komm, süsser Tod", legendarily so (it's right at the top of that trope's page).
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Quite a few:
** "Shinji" ironically evokes the words for "truth" or "to believe" and can also mean "divine child
** "Rei" can mean, among other things, "zero
** "Yui" puns on the word "yui" meaning "the only one
** "Gendo" is "limit" or "boundary
** "Ikari" uses the character for "anchor" (part of the nautical theme), but with a different character would be "wrath" or "anger
** "Nagisa" contains the characters for "{{spoiler|messenger}}" and, with different kanji, can mean "shore
** The Japanese word given to the Angels, "shito
** The Angels' appearances and attacks are based on their names: for example, Sandalphon, the angel of embryos, starts off as an embryo in a volcano; Arael is the angel of birds; Israfel, who's beaten with music, is the angel of music; {{spoiler|Kaworu
** "Evangelion" comes from "eüangélion", the Anglicanized version of the Greek word meaning "gospel" or "good news", which has led the series' title to sometimes be interpreted as "New Century Gospel" or "New Beginning Gospel".
** "Seele" is German for "soul"; "Nerv" for, well, "nerve"; and "Gehirn" for "brain".
* [[Medium Blending]]: The real-life photographs scattered throughout the series, particularly in the last two episodes, and an entire live-action sequence in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Toji's just been nearly mortally wounded and is scarred for life? Cue cheery rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon".
* [[Our Angels Are Different]]: And how! Ironically, these are a lot closer to the actual, very trippy angel descriptions in [[The Bible]], such as "beryl-coloured wheel within a wheel, each rim covered with eyes" and the like. {{spoiler|Of course, they're not ''really'' angels
* [[Post Modernism]]: Oodles of it, especially in [[The Movie]]. The show is so postmodern the leaders of the [[wikipedia:Superflat|superflat]] movement claim it as one of its precursors. Now that's some homage...
* [[POV Sequel]]: ''The End of Evangelion'' is generally considered to show the the series' ending in a relatively objective light, whereas the last two episodes of the series show Shinji's personal experience.
* [[Product Placement]]: Asuka plays a Sega Saturn in
* [[Psycho Strings]]: Unit 00's [[Leitmotif]] and its derivative
* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: The series uses various pieces of classical music for half or more of its soundtrack. The frequency of classical music appearing goes up as things [[It Got Worse|get worse]]. Also when they started to run out of money.
* [[Real Song Theme Tune]]: "Fly Me to the Moon", the song used for the end credits. This contrasts "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" — the prime example of an [[Anime Theme Song]] — composed specifically for the show.
* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]: Released around the same time as ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' and ''[[Dragonball Z]]'''s dubs to start the North American [[Anime]] craze of the mid-late 90's.
* [[Rewatch Bonus]]: This series has a very dense plot. If you only watched it once, you probably missed something. Watch it again, and you'll notice a lot of foreshadowing.
* [[Rousseau Was Right]]: Hidden so carefully under a thick veil of cynicism that you'd be forgiven for missing it entirely. But at the end of the day, all of the characters — {{spoiler|even Gendo and SEELE}} — want nothing more than to be loved and accepted, and their actions, however twisted, all stem from their fear and misunderstanding of themselves and others. See the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] entry below for more details.
* [[Same Content, Different Rating]]: The ''Evangelion'' manga moving from ''Shonen Ace'' to ''Young Ace'', thus cementing its [[Seinen]] demography since 2009. The actual reason for moving was Sadamoto's infamous [[Schedule Slip|slips]] and the fact that ''Young Ace''{{'}}s editorial puts less pressure on their mangaka because the magazine is less mainstream than ''Shonen Ace'', but still is just as popular. With that said, the actual contents in the series did not change at all to justify its newfound mature demography. If it wasn't for Sadamoto's tight schedule ''Kadokawa Shoten'' surely would have transfered ''Evangelion'' to just another [[Shōnen manga|Shonen]] magazine.
* [[Scenery Gorn]]: ''The End of Evangelion'' is unprecedentedly, ''lovingly'' meticulous in its depictions of violence and destruction on a massive scale.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: Especially notable whenever Shinji runs away.
Line 526 ⟶ 546:
* [[Shout-Out]]: [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/Shout Out|See here]].
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]:
** Far on the cynical side, though arguably not as it has often been represented. ''Evangelion'' characters do long for love and harmony... they're just existentially ''completely'' out of their reach, especially since all the characters are struggling with crippling mental illnesses and PTSD. Oh, feel the tragedy.
** Among the fundamental themes of the series -- yes, even ''The End of Evangelion'' -- are that everyone just wants to be loved and accepted, that no matter how bad things get, happiness is always attainable as long as we are alive, and that the hope that people might someday learn to understand each other is in and of itself a reason to go on living and have faith in the human race. While the tone is undeniably grim, and these conclusions are brought about through an exceptionally cynical (or, some might say, brutally honest) line of reasoning, the fact remains that the series is [[Rousseau Was Right|a LOT more idealistic than it's given credit for]].
* [[Soaperizing]]: ...to the point where the last
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: ''Evangelion'' '''loves''' this trope. Examples include:
** At the beginning of {{spoiler|Asuka}}'s [[Mind Rape]], the freaking ''Hallelujah Chorus'' starts playing while we see them go through a traumatic [[Freak-Out]].
** The battle with the Seventeenth Angel in Episode 24, accompanied by a rousing rendition of Beethoven's "[[Ode to Joy]]".
*** To be fair, this is a case of [[Literal Metaphor]].
** The ending credits of ''Death & Rebirth'', a visage of an apocalyptic landscape with an overwhelming sense of foreboding, set to Pachelbel's "Canon in D".
** The brutal fight with the Mass Production
** And of course, Instrumentality itself, {{spoiler|mind-melting psychological trauma of epic proportions}}, accompanied by "Komm, süsser Tod", an original composition featuring upbeat, jazzy soft rock with [[Lyrical Dissonance|lyrics about suicide]].
** This series exemplifies this trope so much that examples alone could fill an entire page.
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]:
** Somewhat justified with Ka(w)oru. The Japanese spelling would correctly be transcribed Kaworu, but the "w
*** The synch tests a few minutes into
** Asuka's last name as well. Is it Soryu, or perhaps Souryu or Sohryu?
* [[Spoiler Opening]]: Played straight and subverted. The opening is loaded with information from all over the series, including prominent shots of all major characters and
* [[Squat's in a Name]]: The angels' names and some terminology may be biblical, but the series itself has nothing to do with Christianity.
* [[Stealth Pun]]: When Sachiel shanks Unit-01 through the eye in the second episode, it went berserk and jumped several city blocks at the Angel. Well, what do you expect from a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater?
* [[Stock Footage]]:
** Note how much time the characters spend on elevators and escalators in most episodes; also,
** The same clip of Shinji eating breakfast is reused several times, as is a clip of Misato drinking beer.
** And one scene of a forest being destroyed was actually recycled from ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
** The clip of Shinji waking up with a start in the hospital is used numerous times.
* [[Super Robot Wars]]:
** Has appeared in ''[[Super Robot Wars 4|''F'', ''FF'']], ''[[Super Robot Wars
** Best known for Shinji getting [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Bright]] [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|Slapped]].
* [[Surprisingly Good English]]:
** The American pilots who fly Unit 03 to Japan and NERV employees heard during its activation test speak perfect, unaccented English accompanied by Japanese subtitles. This is because Gainax actually had an American in-house translator
** Several vocal pieces in ''The End of Evangelion'' soundtrack, namely "Thanatos ~ If I Can't Be Yours", "Escape to the Beginning", "Komm, Susser Tod"
** Averted, however, in the case of German. Asuka, who is German by birth, sounds even to a native English speaker distinctly ''not'' German when speaking in that language. This in itself is a bit of a meta-inversion of [[Surprisingly Good English|the trope in question]]: native English speakers tend to be, for obvious historical reasons, much more familiar with German phonetics than native Japanese speakers, making it more obvious to English viewers when a speaker is failing to approximate fluent German speech, whether or not the English viewer could
* [[Suspiciously Apropos Music
{{quote|'''Woman''': If you are accompanied by small children, please keep them close.}}
* [[Team Shot]]: Occurs on the ''very'' image used to represent the work here on [[All The Tropes]]. Just scroll up to see the main cast!
* [[Theme Music Power-Up]]: Whenever "The Beast II" plays, something's going to die.
* [[Theme Naming]]:
** More stylistic naming instead of thematic, but characters all have their last names in kanji and their first in katakana.
** The characters' last names are those of Japanese ships that were sunk during [[World War II]]. Asuka's second name "Langley" complements this scheme too: ''Langley'' was an American ship sunk in World War II.
:Maya Ibuki is both an example of the theme and an exception: while the HIJMS ''Maya'' was sunk at Leyte Gulf, the ''Ibuki'' would have led the
** Imperial Japanese Navy's "next generation" cruiser class, but the keel was never laid and the class was canceled.
The few important human characters that don't fall into this category are named after ship parts, and Nagisa (shore) is close as well.
** Hikari and her two sisters Kodama and Nozomi are named after Shinkansen lines.
* [[There Are No Therapists]]: The world would fare better with them. Using [[The Other Wiki]] as source, one could easily diagnose:
** Shinji with [[wikipedia:Avoidant personality disorder#Symptoms|avoidant personality disorder]].
* [[This Loser Is You]]:
** Shinji gets this treatment a few times. It's been theorized that Shinji, and even the whole show, were meant as [[Take That]]s against otakus. What makes it funnier is that Shinji might be an [[Author Avatar]] of Anno himself, so he'd be including himself as a target with that giant middle finger.
*** Funnier, or possibly sadder, since Anno genuinely doesn't have a very high opinion of himself.
** Kensuke also falls under this, to an extent. He's essentially a pathetic otaku who wants nothing more than to [[Promoted Fanboy|pilot an eva]], which he never does.
* [[Title Scream]]: The eyecatches originally had this during the show's development. These versions can be heard on the ''[[No Export for You|S2 Works]]'' CD soundtrack set, where they are marked "F-0" and "F-1
* [[Training Montage]]: Shinji and Asuka training for the second battle with the Seventh Angel.
* [[Trope Overdosed]]: Need we say more?
* [[Troperiffic]]: Deconstructing them, playing them straight, codifying them, and subverting them among other things. Just look at the length of these pages.
* [[Unbuilt Trope]]: Many examples (leading to its [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]] status among some modern viewers)
** The most obvious is Rei, who would appear to be a brilliant [[Deconstruction]] of the [[Emotionless Girl]] archetype if not for the fact that she more or less created it.
** Many tropes that ''Evangelion'' deconstructs have actually been deconstructed in older [[Super Robot Genre]] shows, notably the ones that come from the 1970's; in fact, the stream of [[Lighter and Softer]] shows that defines the [[Super Robot Genre]] as a whole isn't so apparent in the 1970's era of Super Robots.
* [[Unfamiliar Ceiling]]: Played with. Shinji is peeved because the NERV sickbay's ceiling is becoming too familiar to him.
* [[United Nations Is a Super Power]]: It having undergone heavy reforms following the Second Impact and the Valentine Treaty of February 2001. To illustrate, ''all'' of the world's national militaries are explicitly under direct control of the
* [[Unrobotic Reveal]]: Twice, first with the Evas and then with the dummy plugs.
* [[Video Phone]]: A variation is used, featuring full sized holograms when SEELE is talking to Gendou.
* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: The series makes substantially more sense if you're familiar with the theory behind Lacanian psychoanalysis<ref>
* [[Vocal Evolution]]: The voice actors' performances become more nuanced and multidimensional as the series does. This is more obvious in the English version, but it is true for the Japanese original as well.
* [[The Walrus Was Paul]]: A possible interpretation.
* [[Weirdness Magnet]]: Primarily Shinji, as the plot mainly revolves around the [[Mind Screw]] that happens to him (and let's face it, how often do ''you'' accidentally fall on a naked blue-haired {{spoiler|clone of your dead mother}}?); Misato, due to her wacky angel-beating schemes and [[Hilarity Ensues|zany alcohol problem]]; Gendo has psychosis-induced plot-distorting abilities and lacks a sense of ridicule, especially in the manga and (on 'shrooms!) in ''Shinji Ikari Instrumentality Project''; the rest of the cast, to various degrees.
* [[Wham! Episode]]:
** Episodes 18 to 24, each to varying degrees.
** To a lesser degree, Episode 14. Even though half of it is a clip show and nothing particularly dramatic happens, it's the point at which the show begins to switch tracks from a by-the-numbers mecha show to a bizarre [[Mind Screw]] with existentialist undertones. Notably, this is the first episode with a mind trip sequence, as well as hints about the connection between the pilots and their EVAs and the first appearance of the [[Plot Coupon|Lance of Longinus]].
* [[Word Salad Title]]: It literally translates as "New Start Gospel Selection".
* [[Writer on Board]]: ''The End of Evangelion'' apparently subverts this
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Misato and Kaji (dark purple and sorta greenish respectively)
* [[Your Size May Vary]]: The
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{{quote|''Congratulations!''}}
{{reflist}}
{{Wizard top 50 anime}}
{{Neon Genesis Evangelion}}
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[[Category:Shonen Demographic]]
[[Category:Viz Media]]
[[Category:The Epic]]
[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Studio Jungle Gym]]
[[Category:Anime of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Anime]]
Line 614 ⟶ 638:
[[Category:Manga]]
[[Category:Anime Spot]]
[[Category:Mecha Anime]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Anime and Manga]]
[[Category:Trope Overdosed]]
[[Category:Toonami]]
[[Category:Light Novels]]
[[Category:Studio Cockpit]]
[[Category:Studio Cosmos]]
Line 625 ⟶ 649:
[[Category:Gainax]]
[[Category:Essential Anime]]
[[Category:Memetic Works]]
[[Category:Netflix]]
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