Episode 25

Episode Information
Episode #25
Title 1: 終わる世界 Owaru Sekai The World Ending Title 2: Do you love me?
Written By	Hideaki Anno
Directed By	Kazuya Tsurumaki
First Aired	3-20-1996
Video Release Date	8-12-1998 (Japan-Video/LD), 6-26-2001 (US-DVD)
Angel Appearances	None
Eva Sorties	None
Episode chronology
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"Episode 24"	"Episode 26"

Overview

Instrumentality has begun, and now its inner process, the joining of all souls into one, will be depicted. The episode is primarily driven by dialogue, the background usually complete darkness. White text often appears on a black screen, an omniscient voice questioning the characters.

Synopsis

Shinji Ikari is feeling guilty over Kaworu Nagisa’s death, even as he tries to say that there was no choice but to kill the Angel. Shinji begs for others to help him. He is asked what he is afraid of, and it’s being hated by father. But he is still unsure where to go, and wonders if he must pilot, after being forced to kill someone he loved. The on-screen text asks him why he pilots. Shinji replies that it’s for the good of mankind, and because the others treat him well.

Asuka Langley Soryu appears before Shinji, and says that he’s lying: he only does this for himself. Shinji wants people to need him, and waits them to give him false happiness. But, says Rei Ayanami as she appears to Asuka, it is the same for Asuka too. Asuka shown inside Eva-02 in a fetal position that mimics the Eva’s, inside of a lake. Asuka laments that she is no one now, unneeded because she can’t pilot. Rei is heard telling Asuka that she’s seeking her value in others, and Asuka screams at her to shut up. Rei continues, saying Asuka is afraid of being alone, because she disappears along with the people around her.

Rei’s case begins. The three incarnations of Rei discuss their nature. Rei 3 can’t understand how all three of them can be Rei Ayanami. The reply is that they are because others say they are. Rei 1 claims that they are all false creations, that the real self lies somewhere dark, beyond them. Rei 2 and 3 know that their Rei identity is shaped by the people they interact with, and that they fear becoming nothing. They once wanted to disappear, but would not because he (Gendo Ikari) needed them. But now it will happen anyway, and they are afraid. Gendo is shown standing before Rei, telling her to go with him, that this is the day for which she was created.

The act of Instrumentality is explained further. Shinji feels his consciousness spreading out to cover existence, and it feels good. The on-screen text calls it a return to nothingness. Gendo is shown and says that it is in fact a return to the mother which they all lost, a return that will create peace. Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi face each other in the void. Ritsuko explains further, the fundamental emptiness of humanity. Misato is angry with her, suggesting that they didn’t have a right to initiate this. But, Ritsuko answers, Misato has been wishing for it.

Misato’s case begins. Shinji is there at first, saying that he must connect with the minds of others to find who he is. What does Misato want? The young Misato wants to be a good girl, because her father is absent, and her mother always cries when he is, and she must not bother her mother, and maybe her father won’t hate her if she’s good. But the adult Misato is sick of that. She wants to be dirty, disgraced. Ritsuko asked if that’s why she slept with “that man” (Ryoji Kaji). Misato protests, no, it was because she loved him, he was kind to her.

A scene, presumably from Misato’s college days, has Misato and Kaji having sex offscreen, while Shinji stands there and watches. Misato is mortified at the thought of Shinji seeing this side of herself, though her own voice says that she was happy to show this side to Kaji, to Shinji, maybe to her father. She sought peace, warmth, her father in Kaji’s arms, didn’t she? Misato denies it, but then acknowledges that she saw her father in Kaji, and that is why she fled from him. That, and how much joy it brought her. Kaji tells Misato that if she hates herself, that’s no reason to injure herself.

Misato disdains his words: men always tell her to be good to herself, then just run off. Like her father. Misato is the harsh reality, she hates herself. Other characters appear, call her vulgar and disgusting. But Hyuga congratulates her on her promotion. Misato is performing a role, but her real self is crying. Misato says she is happy, but she is wrong. She is using sex and relationships to try to ease her loneliness. She can’t stand being alone.

Asuka’s case begins. She wanted to live by herself, away from her parents, so that she would no longer cry. But she cries anyway, and can’t understand why. Her stepmother didn’t like her, finding Asuka oddly mature and rejecting. Kyoko’s relationship with Asuka post-Contact experiment is recapped. Asuka said she wasn’t Kyoko’s doll, and would live on her own. But then, Kyoko was hanging from the ceiling, looking happy. Asuka hated how she looked. Asuka didn’t want to die, to disappear, but nobody stays with her or protects her: she hates everyone.

Spotlights appear on both sides of Asuka, revealing Shinji and Misato. The three characters ask not to be forsaken, abandoned, killed. The background becomes an auditorium. Though there is a Shinji on the stage, there is also a Shinji sitting facing it, and another Misato beside him. The Shinji facing the stage is confused: he doesn’t know what this is. The other characters say it seems to be the Human Instrumentality Project, but cannot tell for certain. The only truth that can be known is what a person feels for themselves; memory becomes the truth.

Shinji is told that this is all a result of his wishes, a world of annihilation, where no one was saved. Aghast, Shinji protests that actually no one saved him. But the others still insist that he did wish for this: a closed world, to protect his weak heart and few pleasures, and this was the closest thing to it.

Notes

• Several "glimpses of reality" the audience is shown in this episode include Asuka at the bottom of a lake, Ritsuko's body floating in a pool of LCL, and Misato having been shot. All of these scenes are also shown in The End of Evangelion.
• Many scenes from the series are also recycled with different dialogue.

Episodes & Films
Television Series	Episode 01 | Episode 02 | Episode 03 | Episode 04 | Episode 05 | Episode 06 Episode 07 | Episode 08 | Episode 09 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 Episode 14 | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Episode 17 | Episode 18 | Episode 19 | Episode 20 Episode 21 | Episode 22 | Episode 23 | Episode 24 | Episode 25 | Episode 26
Movies	Death | Rebirth The End of Evangelion: Episode 25' | Episode 26'
Rebuild of Evangelion	Evangelion 1.0 | Evangelion 2.0 | Evangelion 3.0 | (-46h) | (-120min) | Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0