Shinji Ikari
Director Hideaki Anno conceived Shinji as a representation of himself, reflecting his four-year depression after the airing of his previous work, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.[6] According to Max Covill, Noriko Takaya, the protagonist from Anno's directorial debut and one of Gainax's previous works, Gunbuster, would have her moments of self-doubt and anxiety influence those of Shinji.After the Angel attack, Shinji starts to live with Misato Katsuragi, a Nerv officer and his new guardian,[45][46] and attends school in Tokyo-3; after his arrival, he gradually changes[47][48] and meets and befriends Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida.[50] After Ramiel's defeat, a nuclear-powered machine intended to fight the Angels called Jet Alone runs amok, and he and Misato stop it;[51] during this time, Shinji gradually changes his attitude, trying to be more open and spontaneous.[59] After talking with most of the Evangelion cast and seeing a version of himself in a world where he leads a normal life, Shinji becomes aware of his potential and realizes the importance of his thoughts.After seeing the mutilated corpse of Asuka's Unit-02, Shinji's intense emotions summon a spear called the Lance of Longinus to Earth,[62][63] and the Eva becomes a tree of life.[70] In the third film, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), set fourteen years later, Shinji awakens to a world completely changed by the Third Impact, and Misato and the others treat him with hostility.[84][85] He is also a protagonist in Shinji Ikari Raising Project and Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days, where he is portrayed as happier and more stable than his anime counterpart.[92] In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project, he is presented as a childhood friend of Asuka and a distant cousin of Rei Ayanami.[97] In addition to video games based on the original animated series, Shinji appears in media outside the Evangelion franchise, such as Monster Strike,[98] Tales of Zestiria,[99] Puzzle & Dragons,[100] The Battle Cats,[101] and a crossover episode of Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion, in which he is voiced by Ogata and pilots a 500 Type Eva transformable train.[132][133] Despite this, assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki noted that Shinji acts in opposition to the conventional impression of him: "He is not cowardly and indecisive; he is obstinate and doesn't pay any mind to other people.[143] Writer and animation critic Patrick Drazen similarly compared the dilemma faced by Shinji in the twenty-fourth episode against the Angel Tabris to Hamlet, the protagonist of Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name.[144] For the Japanese sociologist Tsutomu Hashimoto, Shinji could be seen as an heir of the Japanese society of the seventies and eighties, engaged in the search for freedom from social constraints and the figures of authoritarian family fathers; the sociologist cited the musician Yutaka Ozaki as a symbol of this search for freedom since he tried to escape from the impositions of the school system and he eventually "returned" to the mother figure.[145] Hashimoto compared Shinji's final choice, in which he rejects the Instrumentality Project desired by the authoritarian father Gendo, to the concept of liberalism, which prescribes respect for any individual identity.[151] Hiroki Azuma, a Japanese philosopher and cultural critic, speaking of his motto, "I mustn't run away", described Evangelion as a story that depicts "anxiety without a cause", linking this feeling to the repercussions after the Aum Shinrikyō attack.[153] Psychiatrist Kōji Mizobe indicated him as a dependent boy unable to communicate[154] but also argued that the fundamental characteristic of Shinji is sociability, describing him as a "sympathetic person" who accepts and imitates others.[25] Critics analyzed the conflictual relationship between him and his father, comparing him with the protagonists of the works by director Yoshiyuki Tomino, especially Amuro Ray, the main character in Mobile Suit Gundam.[163][164] Artist Takashi Murakami interpreted Shinji's interior drama as "the endpoint of the postwar lineage of otaku favorites", such as Godzilla, the series of the Ultra franchise, Space Battleship Yamato or Gundam, in which hero-figures increasingly question and agonize over their missions to defend Earth and humanity.[167] Bartoli wrote that the last scene of the anime, in which the boy's glass prison shatters, ending his psychoanalytic session, may allude to the shinjinrui (新人類, lit.Fontana also saw in Shinji's character "an exhortation" by Anno to otaku, Japanese society, and young people "to break the crystal cage in which they locked themselves up, looking confidently at their neighbor".[172] Walter Veit of Psychology Today linked his passive attitude in the first episodes to Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist concept of bad faith and Albert Camus's "philosophical suicide".[173] Gualtiero Cannarsi, editor of the Italian adaptation of the series, noticed that Shinji struggles to make friends and has a cold, reserved attitude in the third episode, "A Transfer".[174] Shinji's relationship with Misato Katsuragi follows Schopenhauer's concept; Cannarsi also noticed that in the fourth episode, "Hedgehog's Dilemma", the characters get closer without hurting each other.Still, staff chose an alternative translation for the installment's title since they wanted to portray Shinji as a hedgehog,[176][177] an animal with smaller, blunter spines than a porcupine, suggesting more delicacy for the character.[188] Yūichirō Oguro, the editor of supplemental materials included in the Japanese edition of the series, interpreted Neon Genesis Evangelion's plot as an Oedipal story.[151] Shinji's Oedipus complex then resolves in the final episode, which ends with the captions "To my father, thank you" and "To my mother, goodbye", indicating his entry into adulthood.[275] With Shinji Ikari, according to Comic Book Resources, Neon Genesis Evangelion had a significant influence on Japanese animation, showing a more realistic, insecure, and fragile protagonist than other past mecha series.[278] His Japanese voice actress Ogata likened Makoto Naegi from the Danganronpa franchise, which she played, to Shinji because they are both ordinary boys "put in terrible situations".In the fourth episode of the dorama Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu, a character named Shinji after him appears.[287] The British group Fightstar included a track named "Shinji Ikari" on the deluxe-edition bonus disc of their album, One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours.
Neon Genesis EvangelionGainaxMegumi OgataRyūnosuke KamikiSpike SpencerADV FilmsCasey MongilloNetflixGendo IkariYui IkariRei AyanamiMisato KatsuragiJapaneseHepburnposter boyprotagonistanime seriesAngelsvideo gamesRebuild of EvangelionYoshiyuki SadamotoHideaki Annostreams of consciousnesspsychoanalyticalFreudianpsychosexual developmentaction figuresrobot-animeAoki UruYasuhiro TakedaNoriko TakayaGunbusterAsuka Langley SoryuRyū MurakamiTōji SuzuharaKensuke AidaShinji HiguchiJapanese Imperial Navyunconsciousoral stageKazuya TsurumakiThe End of EvangelionKaworu Nagisa2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamiGendo RokubungiKyoto UniversityHakoneRyoji Kajitree of lifeHikari HorakiAntarcticaMari Illustrious MakinamiHedgehog's DilemmaGulf WarMonster StrikeTales of ZestiriaPuzzle & DragonsThe Battle CatsShinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalionplayable characterSuper Robot WarsLynn MinmayKoji KabutoMazinger Zmecha genreOedipusHamletDaniel Paul SchrebermessianicJesus ChristGod-manPatrick DrazenShakespearetragedy of the same nameYutaka OzakiTokyo subway sarin attackAum ShinrikyōGreat Hanshin earthquakeJapanese asset price bubblecompulsiveHiroki Azumaninth episodeidentityalter egoYoshiyuki TominoAmuro RayMobile Suit GundamTakashi MurakamiGodzillaSpace Battleship YamatoToshio Okadaanxietysocial phobiaborderline personality disorderPsychology TodayJean-Paul Sartreexistentialistbad faithAlbert CamusA TransferArthur SchopenhauerParerga and Paralipomenaporcupine's dilemmaporcupinehedgehogSusan J. NapierAnime News Networksymbioticrite of passageOedipus complexYūichirō OguroambivalenceSplitting of the Breaststream of consciousnessAnimageGrand Prix pollTV AsahiNewtypeTHEM Anime ReviewsJapanatorComic Book ResourcesSapporoJapan Racing AssociationLake ShinjicassetteGuilty Crown