Episode 26'
| Episode Information | |||||||
| Episode #26' | |||||||
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| Written By | Hideaki Anno | ||||||
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| Directed By | Hideaki Anno | ||||||
| First Aired | 7-19-1997 | ||||||
| Video Release Date | 9-24-2002 | ||||||
| Angel Appearances | Lilith, Adam | ||||||
| Eva Sorties | N/A | ||||||
| Episode chronology | |||||||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||||||
| "Episode 25'" | "(End)" | ||||||
Synopsis
Some rough notes:
- Third Impact set in motion (Pointless Religious Symbolism, Spear, XBOX HUEG explosion, Big Black Ball, etc.)
- Shinji: ARGH GODDAMIT WHY ME
- Rei: Screw you, Commander, I'll be taking your arm and that giant marshmallow woman over there now.
- Giant Naked Rei, deformed harpies, Giant Naked Kaworu, Tree of Life, Shinji likes boobies, sploosh
- Pre-3rd Impact Pre-Instrumentality: Sand box, Mama, boobies, college sexathon, boobies ("Hay, Shinji, I don't care if you use me as a Side Dish! But damn it, I wanna be the Main Course instead!" "ZOMGWTF?"), I want you Asuka, fuck off Shinji (Pathetic Shinji doesn't help me so why should I help him? Grr!), GYARRRRGH
- "EVERYBODY DIE INCLUDING ME"; "lol okay"; mass Tangification (Gendou inducted by Divinity Trinity), little red dots (souls), Harpies do disturbing things to said little red dots, Path to God, Doors of Guf (lol Vagina-Palms! ^_^)
- Pre-Instrumentality is short and weird
- LCL Sea; "this sucks after all"
- Yui-sama does cool stuff (destroys Black Moon, petrifies MP Eva Series and Lilith); GNR goes kapoot (But Rei 3 as Lilith is still around); preachy words (Everybody can return if they want, Hoo-ray!)
- "Sayonara, kaasan..." Reality or not? ...After Entry Plug's Ejected.
- Final Scene Grave markers & Misato's cross, Shinji gone batshit crazy from isolation, Rei 3 goes "'sup?", DIE ASUKA DIE, caress, shikushiku ("ZOMG Mother! And ZOMG Asuka's KIND to me!"), Kimochi Warui (due to Shinji=Pathetic with crying, NOT due to SFAiBL), FIN
- GODDAMNIT ANNO YOU SUCK (Seriously, why end it with Shinji going nuts? >_< What about his Instrumentality sucks and I can love myself Epiphany (lol Simpsons Movie) at the end of 26???)
Alternate Endings:
"Last A"
It starts the same as the actual ending, on a beach with petrified MP Evas. We then see the gravemarkers with the major characters names written on them; there isn't one for Rei. We then see Asuka's, then her foot kicking it down. The scene continues as in the finalised movie. When Shinji begins to cry, Asuka says "Idiot. No way I'll let you kill me!" The music would begin and the credits would roll horizontally a la Gunbuster and Death. We were to see Eva-01 lying on the Moon, and woman's hair flowing from its broken mask, her face remaining unseen. Behind Eva-01, you could see the red Earth and the Black Moon destroyed. We pass the sun, then go towards the stars. Credits end.
"Last B"
Begins like Last A, but Asuka never shows up. Shinji is lying on the beach holding onto someones white arm. He says "I'll never see them again. It's better to think of it this way. I'm still alive, so I'll keep on living." He squeezes the hand harder and then sees Rei (like in the episode and Last A). We eventually see that there is nobody lying near Shinji, just a white arm without the rest of the body. We then see the full moon, followed by the ending credits as in Last A.
Notes
- For an explanation of Rei 3's various appearances in Episode 26', please see this page: Bookend Rei 3
- The song that plays during the Sandbox Scene is "Close Hands, Open Hands", a song Japanese children learn in Kindergarten.(http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=858&c=85)
Analysis
- Misato giving Shinji her cross pendent, which was a gift from her father, could be seen as symbolizing "carrying the burden" of one Impact survivor (Misato survived the Second) to another (Shinji survives the Third). It also appears to be Shinji's link to reality, as its shown throughout Episode 26' during Pre-Instrumentality, and once Shinji returns to the real world in the final two scenes (Shinji is wearing the cross when saying goodbye to his mother and the during the final scene, the cross is nailed onto a piece of wood as a grave-marker).
- Despite what Yuko Miyamura says in an interview about "Kimochi Warui", the final line in EoE, Asuka apparently doesn't care that Shinji masturbated by her bedside as the Personal Hell train car scene reveals.
- It can be assumed that Shinji had been alone for a while before Asuka's return in the Final Scene:
- He's had time to erect gravemarkers.
- Misato's cross, which is nailed to one, distinctly shows rust.
- Shinji's face is clearly disturbed, contrasting with how he looked in the previous scene.
- He is surprised not only by the appearance of Rei, but by that of Asuka too.
- According to the scrapped Last A scenario, Asuka is the one who kicked down her gravemarker. She also probably returned just that day/night.
Quotes
- Yui and Rei (Before Shinji turns into L.C.L): "This Rei is from your soul. She's the embodiment of your wish." "What do you wish for?"
- Misato: "I failed to be Shinji's mother after all."
- (Asuka and Shinji during Pre-Instrumentality with Misato occasionally interjecting):
Asuka: "Do you want to kiss?"
Misato: "Absolutely not."
Asuka: "Or are you scared?"
Misato: "It's not for kids."
Asuka: "Then, here I go."
Asuka: "You don't understand anything! Don't get come near me!"
Shinji: "I do understand."
Asuka: "You don't understand, stupid! (Asuka kicks Shinji instead of kissing him.) Do you think you understand me?! Do you think you can save me?! That's nothing but your conceited ego! You will never understand!"
Shinji: "How can I understand? Asuka doesn't tell me anything. You don't tell me anything. You don't say anything. It's impossible to understand!"
- Asuka (to Shinji in Pre-Instrumentality): "If all of you can't be mine, I don't want anything."
- Shinji (to Asuka in Pre-Instrumentality): "I want to help you. I want to be with you forever."
- (Asuka rejects Shinji in Pre-Instrumentality): Shinji: (After Asuka pushes him onto the ground) "Help me. Someone, please...please, help me. Help me. Help me. Help me! (Shinji pushes the table over.) Don't leave me alone! (Shinji picks up a chair and throws it.) Don't abandon me! (Asuka looks frightened for one shot.) Don't kill me!" Asuka: (Coldly staring at Shinji) "No." (Shinji strangles Asuka.)
- Shinji: "Is it okay for me to be here?"
- Keel: "The beginning and ending share the same moment. Good. Everything's going well."
- Gendo: "So, this is my retribution? I'm sorry, Shinji."
- Shinji and Rei: "Where's my dream?" "The continuation of reality." "Then, where's my reality?" "At the end of your dream."
- Yui: "It will be alright. All lifeforms have the power to restore themselves...and the wish to live. If you decide to live, anywhere can be heaven...because you're alive. There will be chances to be happy everywhere. As long as the Sun, Moon and Earth exist...it will be alright."
- Shinji (his final lines): "I still don't know where to find happiness. But I'll continue to think about whether it's good to be here...whether it was good to have been born. But in the end, it's just realizing the obvious over and over again. Because I am myself."
- Asuka (The final line, spoken in "the coldest voice possible"): "...I feel sick."
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!
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| Movies | Death | Rebirth |
| Rebuild of Evangelion | Evangelion 1.0 | Evangelion 2.0 | Evangelion 3.0 | (-46h) | (-120min) | Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 |
