The Second Try: Difference between revisions

The realm of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|EvaEvangelion]]'' fics has numerous Post-Third Impact and [[Peggy Sue]] stories of varying quality. [http://jimmywolk.studenten-froendenberg.de/eng/nge.php?2nd '''''The Second Try]''''' has ''both'' plotlines, but yayou know what? It ''works''. The story has Asuka and Shinji change vastly from how they were in the series, but in small ways, so that Shinji is still Shinji and not [[Chuck Norris]] or [[The Chessmaster]], and Asuka is still Asuka and not [[Ah! My Goddess|Belldandy]] or [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Ty Lee]], and the reasons for these changes are organic and make sense in context for the characters.

''The Second Try'' can be read [http://jimmywolk.studenten-froendenberg.de/eng/nge.php?2nd here]. The Authorauthor has since begun a sequel [http://jimmywolk.studenten-froendenberg.de/eng/aki.php?browse.0.0 webmanga] called ''[[Aki-chan's Life|Aki Chans Life]]''. It picks up right where the story leaves off. {{spoiler|(Or rather, a week or two before the story actually ends.)}} Another fic of his, ''[[The Ikaris]]'', now has his own page.

* {{spoiler|[[Absurdly Youthful Mother|Absurdly Youthful Parents]]: It's not really clear how old Asuka and Shinji were when she gave birth to Aki. They had lost track of time since the Third- impact and only really started counting again after her birth. However, Shinji speculates that a year-and-a-half to two years passed before that, which would have put their age somewhere around 15 to 16.}}

* [[The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best In People]]: Both Shinji and Asuka become much more confident and capable people after SecondThird Impact.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Once again, Shinji. More so than in the original timeline, as he's no longer plagued by crippling insecurities. Exemplified in his rematch with the 13ththirteenth angel. {{spoiler|He keeps calm during the fight, retains control of his EVA when Gendo tries to activate the Dummy Plug, and after Rei safely extracts the Entry plug from Unit 03, proceeds to use his prog knife to (literally) ''tear it apart'' before destroying it by repeatedly stabbing the core.}}

* {{spoiler|[[Big Good]]: Kaoru of all people. What pushes him into this territory is that not only did he make so that Third Impact was advertedaverted, he made it so that Aki could grow up normally with her parents. He's still a bit of a dick but saving all 3three billion people on earth allows you to be.}}

* [[Cassandra Truth]]: {{spoiler|When Gendo confronts Shinji about his conversation with Asuka during the attack by the 15thFifteenth Angel, Shinji tells him ''exactly'' what's going on. Gendo promptly dismisses his son's warnings as the ravings of a mad child...which is ''then'' revealed to have been a ploy by Gendo. He believed what he heard, all right, and it sent him into deep despair over never seeing Yui again.}}

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Asuka was one in the original series (part of her animosity towards Rei was due to her misconception of Shinji liked Rei instead of her). Her jealousy had mellowed down due to she feeling more confident about herself and their relationship; however, she was completely hotilehostile towards Kaworu and she warned him she wanted him nowhere near from her husband.

* [[Cuteness Overload]]: ''[[Emotionless Girl|Rei]]'', of all people, is hit by this. {{spoiler|Meeting and being befriended by Aki is what finally convinces her to ditch Gendo's plan}}. Although, in the following webcomicweb comic, {{spoiler|Aki}} causes this in pretty much everyone.

** Better yet, in the same chapter she {{spoiler|gets the drop on him after he takes control of EVA-02 and uses it to tear apart NERV to get to LilthLilith. Unbeknownst to him, she hid herself inside Unit-02, and overrides his control right as Shinji makes his appearance in EVA-01. Kaworu is so surprised at this that he ''actually drops his usual smile for a look of pure shock''}}.

* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]]: After the defeat of the SeventeethSeventeenth Angel, Shinji visits a sleeping Asuka in the hospital, and unlike [[Squick|what he did in the original timeline]], he kisses her. Asuka wakes up during the kiss and jokingly tells maybe he should have tried that the last time instead.

* [[Everything's Better with Monkeys]]: No. [[Subverted Trope|No, they are not.]]

* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: A minor onone at the end of chapter 6, the author makes it seem like Asuka has died {{spoiler|from the strain of childbirth}}...about 4 years before she and Shinji get thrown back in time. She, of course, turns out to be fine a paragraph later.

*** {{spoiler|These are then averted (subverted?) when it turns out that Aki had been sent into the past as well, appearing a few days after Kaoru's death. [[Tears of Joy|Tears]] are shed as she's reunited with her parents, Aki has been given a chance to live a normal life, and they all finally earn their happy ending.}}

** Note that had this occurred before the Third Impact, she ''would'' have slapped him. She was probably afraid to (given what happened during instrumentalityInstrumentality, and the fact he's the ''only'' other person left on earth).

* [[Gilligan Cut]]: From "I'm sure, as long as we ( {{spoiler|Aki}} and Asuka) have each other, there's nothing that could hurt us." to "Ah! {{spoiler|Aki}}, you're hurting {{spoiler|Mama}}!"

* {{spoiler|[[Hollywood Genetics]]: Lampshaded by the author in the notes for chapter 6. He say's that it's "almost blasphemy that he didn't make Aki a chibi-Asuka".}}

* {{spoiler|[[Kid From the Future]]: Aki get'sgets sent back in time about a day before SEELE launches their attack on NERV. Of course, her parents were already aware of her existence, having been sent back in time themselves.}}

* {{spoiler|[[Law of Inverse Fertility]]: Played both straight and averted. Asuka didn't want to have a baby, even to the point where she was ''starving herself'' in a misguided attempt to induce a miscarriage (which, Shinji later noted, put ''her'' in more danger than the baby). However, once she sees the first ultrasound that changes. The aversion comes with Aki being born alive and healthy.}}

** {{spoiler|[[Surprise Pregnancy]]: Asuka had also tried to keep her pregnancy a secret from Shinji. He only found out by chance when he was picking up their trash after a rat had ripped open a bag and discovered the positive test. Needless to say, he was not happy.}}

** {{spoiler|[[But We Used a Condom]]: They're not really sure how it happened, as Asuka had been on The Pill when she got pregnant. Asuka claims that the drugs were expired while Shinji suspects that she forgot to be constantconsistent in taking it. Of course, it's also possible they fell into that small percentile where it doesn't work, something Shinji [[Lampshadeslampshade]]s with a weary "we've beaten worse odds before".}}

** This actually mirrors their scene during instrumentalityInstrumentality (you know, '''that''' scene), [[Hourglass Plot|with their positions swapped.]] However, this time it ends with a [[Heartwarming Moments|CMOH]].

* [[Like an Old Married Couple]]: -''Hilariously-'' inverted. After {{spoiler|being revealed the secret, Misato mutters}} Shinji and Asuka used to bicker [[Like an Old Married Couple]] before, but now they ARE''are'' one, they act like newfound lovebirds. Shinji and Asuka explain that is -''partially-'' because they are hormone-driven teenagers again... without [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] separating them.

* [[Older Than They Look]] / [[Wise Beyond Their Years]]: Shinji and Asuka, after they return to the past, are mentally in their early 20's20s. However, they have the emotional maturity of a person at least 10 years older than that.

** The only reason they manage to keep the facade up is because no one would suspect that they were actually a couple, much less the other absurdities of their story.

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Asuka and SinjiShinji were like this in the original series, but their relationship becomes a more mellow version of this trope in the post-Third-Impact chapters.

* [[Saying Too Much]]: An interesting version. {{spoiler|In Chapter 5, after the battle with the 14thfourteenth angel, Misato finds (a little too late) an "Anonymous" note from Shinji, meant to warn her about EVA 03 being possessed by the 13ththirteenth angel... That he had ''written out by hand''. She, of course, recognizes his handwriting, and a quick peek at his schoolwork confirms that he wrote it. She then remembers his and Asuka's odd behavior, and realizes that Asuka may know something about the letter. When she confronts Asuka, who is extremely distraught at the time (for ''Veryvery'' good reasons), Asuka breaks down and lets the facadefaçade drop. They later divulge their secret to her.}}

* [[Talking to the Dead]]: SinjiShinji and Asuka do this in After-TI chapters. Although instead of a grave, they go to the LCL sea.

* [[WAFF]]: Ironically, a lot of [[After the End]] chapters can get like this, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's the opposite, it's a good thing. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|A very, VERY''very'' good thing.]]

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