Theory and Analysis:Final Scene in End of Evangelion
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"Making something... Nurturing something is really great. You can see and learn so many things from the process." |
The final scene of End of Evangelion is, to this day, still hotly debated. It is a culmination of story's themes and narrative in just a few, earth-shattering minutes. This article, however, will deal with the more objective aspects of this scene that can easily go unnoticed even to the most observant of viewers, thanks to its cryptic and deliberately ambiguous construction. There are, however, several details present in this scene that can help elucidate Shinji's state of mind. This article is under construction.
Passage of Time
Alternate Endings
End of Evangelion has two discarded endings, Last A and Last B. While Last B was far more bleak than the the ending present in the final movie, Last A is still somewhat similar to the one in EoE, with the most noticeable difference being Asuka's final line being altered.
Last A
You already know the beginning of this one (a beach, petrified headless Evas, etc).
Then, we see the graves Shinji made (it's stated by Anno it was _he_ who made them). The names of all main Eva characters are written on them, except for "Ayanami Rei".
We then see Asuka's grave.
And Asuka's foot kicking it to the ground. ^^;
(you can still see these graves in the actual ending... no names, but there is Misato's pendant nailed on one of them, and an other has been kicked down ^^ )
We then see Shinji and Asuka on the beach... and you know that scene, too (but this draft demonstrates that Shinji and Asuka didn't just wake up there after Third Impact... they've been living here for some times... meaning they _could_ be the two only humans willing to return, after all... ^^; )
When Shinji starts crying, Asuka was supposed to say something like "Idiot (baka). No way I'll let you kill me" ("idiot" was removed in the storyboards... and the whole line was modified, eventually).
Then, the ending music (so, there was one... ^^ ) was supposed to begin, and the staff credits were to appear (Anno suggests a horizontal scrolling, like in GunBuster, I guess).
We were to see Eva-01 lying on the Moon, and woman's hair showing from its broken mask (but her face remains unseen).
Behind Eva-01, you could see Earth, entirely red.
And the Black Moon, destroyed.
The camera goes to the sun, then to the stars.
Credits end.
"Shûgeki" ("the end").
Unlike Last B, Last A does not clash with the ending as present on EoE at all, except for Asuka's final line - changed when Anno asked for Yuko Miyamura's suggestion, as he was still unsatisfied with this line, which sounds excessively playful with the "baka". However, the graves are still around. As such, adding to the evidence present above, it is also possible to extrapolate the meaning for these elements in the scene from Last A that are still present:
- Lilith "dies", Shinji re-materializes in the Sea of LCL, he swims/walks to the beach, and spends some time there, enough time to gather some wood and erect these graves.
- Last A happens, or at least in part. Asuka herself returns from Instrumentality, she goes to the beach (instead of just materializing by his side), and finds the markers Shinji set in her and the other character's memory. Immediately she assumes Shinji thinks she's dead, so she kicks the marker with her name to signify she's alive, as well as her will to live.
She finds Shinji asleep on the ground. Instead of waking him up, kicking him or yelling at him, she decides to sit and sleep by his side.
- The actual ending scene happens: Shinji wakes up, gets a brief glimpse at Quantum Rei, and is surprised to find Asuka by his side. He chokes her, she caresses him, he stops.
- There are also unconfirmed claims that the EoE poster is canon, which would seem to indicate that Shinji at the very least got off Asuka, got up, and Asuka sat up, Asuka sat, and both of them spent some time looking at the horizon and Lilith's head.
This has some implications as it contradicts other theories that Asuka merely materialized out of nowhere because Shinji willed it or because Rei somehow "gave" her to him as companionship, instead, she returned out of her own free will, which reinforcesYui's earlier statement about how anyone can come back, as long as they have the will to do so and to imagine themselves back in their original forms. However, the fact that Asuka imagines herself with her arm bandaged seems to indicate she is not completely healed yet, much like Shinji's fraught mental state does. Nonetheless, the fact that she has chosen to lay by Shinji's side at her own initiative and chosen to react to him with open affection, instead of aggression and hostility like she has done many times before, symbolizes, at least, the beginning of her growth. Likewise, Shinji being taken aback by this sign of acceptance, which mirrors Yui's own caress a few minutes earlier in the movie as he leaving Instrumentality, also shows how overwhelmed he is to be accepted, and might be ashamed of the way he has treated Asuka. Nonetheless, the movie leaves open where they will go from there, if they can grow and learn to love themselves or not, but it leaves the possibility open.
Notes and References
This article was mostly built out of the following forum threads, please refer to them:
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/2270/Passage-of-Time-EoE-Final-Scene/
https://forum.evageeks.org/thread/18923/Did-Last-A-actually-happen/
This article bears the unpleasant designation of "Stub." This is a Bad Thing. Provide a great service to NGE fan-geeks everywhere by making it awesomer!
