User talk:ObsessiveMathsFreak/Shinji Ikari ReEdit

Shinji Ikari
碇 シンジ
Rank / Title	Third Children (Rebuild): Third Boy
Affiliation(s)	Nerv
National Heritage	Japanese
Relations	Yui Ikari (mother), Gendo Ikari (father), Rei Ayanami (clone of mother)
Age	14
Birthday	06/06/2001
Seiyū	Megumi Ogata
Voice Actor	(English): Spike Spencer (Italian): Daniele Raffaeli (Brazilian): Fábio Lucindo (French): Donald Reignoux (Spanish): Victor Ugarte (German): Hannes Maurer

Shinji Ikari is the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, is the main protagonist of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Much of the story of Evangelion centres around Shinji's personal struggles, with piloting Eva, and with his relationships with others.

Character Summary

Early Years

Shinji as an Infant

Shinji is the only child of his father Gendo Ikari, and mother Yui. He was born in 2001, in the year after after Second Impact. His name was chosen by Gendo. At the age of 3, he witnessed his mother's "death" in her Contact Experiment with Eva-01. A year or so later, while still very young, he was abandoned by his father Gendo, and sent away to live with a Teacher("Sensei").

Arrival in Tokyo-3

In 2015, Shinji is summoned to Tokyo-3 by his father Gendo, now the Commander of Nerv. On the way, Shinji encounters the 3rd Angel Sachiel and is rescued by Misato Katsuragi, who then brings him down into Geofront and Nerv Headquarters, and then to Eva-01's hanger to meet his father. There Shinji is asked to pilot Unit-01 and fight the Angel. Shinji initially refuses; but after an injured Rei is brought in as a substitute, and after Eva-01 rescues him from falling debris, Shinji resolves Not to run away, and agrees to pilot the Evangelion.

Shinji's fight against the Angel goes badly until Eva-01 sustains critical damage, and afterwards goes berserk. In its berserk state, Unit-01 defeats Sachiel. Shinji suffers temporary amnesia, waking up later in Hospital, where later has silent encounters with both Rei, and his father. He only recalls the battle later in a flashback.

Arrival in Tokyo-3

After this first battle, Shinji is taken in by Misato, who becomes his guardian. The two live together in Misato's apartment. Shinji becomes the designated pilot of Eva-01. He undergoes training for this role, under Ritsuko and Misato, but is under-enthused.

Shinji is assigned to school in Class 2A, alongside Rei, and with Kensuke, Hikari and Toji as classmates. Toji, whose sister was injured during the Sachiel fight, gives Shinji a beating in school, blaming the Eva pilot for his sister's condition.

Three weeks after the first attack, the fourth Angel, Shamshel, attacks Tokyo-3. Shinji sorties in Eva-01, but the battle goes poorly for Nerv when Shinji loses his nerve to fight and is tossed into a mountainside by Shamshel, almost killing Toji and Kensuke who have snuck out to watch the battle. To save their lives, Misato orders Shinji to let the pair into Eva-01's entry plug. Once aboard, Toji and Kensuke witness Shinji's struggles and suffering as he disobeys Misato's order to retreat, and fights and defeats Shamshel. Toji is overcome by guilt.

Hedgehog's Dilemma; Shinji runs away from home

Hedgehog's Dilemma

Following the battle, Shinji is ubraided by Misato for ignoring her orders. Though he agrees to continues piloting, he takes time off school, and after five days runs away from home, leaving behind a letter for Misato along with his Nerv security card.

Shinji spends a whole day riding around the Tokyo-3 loop line train, listening to his SDAT. At night he sleeps in a theatre, and the next day, takes a bus to the country, and wanders the mountains overlooking the city, eventually coming to cliff-edge at a famous suicide site.

As night falls, Shinji continues his wanderings and bumps into Kensuke who is out camping by himself. The two spend the night inside Kensuke's tent, but in the morning Nerv security agents arrive to take Shinji into custody. He is brought before Misato; but while he agree to pilot Eva-01 to please others, Misato rejects this attitude and tells him to leave.

Shinji's is taken to a train station to be shipped out of Tokyo-3. There he meets Toji and Kensuke, who have heard he was to leave. As an act of contrition, Toji begs Shinji to strike him, as payback for Shinji's earlier beating. The trio briefly bond.

The train arrives at the station, but upon recalling Misato's words of support, Shinji does not board. As the train pulls away, Shinji sees Misato, who has rushed to the station. They reconcile at the station.

Shinji and Rei

Shinji is taken by Misato and Ritsuko to observe the disposal of Shamshel's remains. There he observes the burns on Gendo's hands, and learns of Gendo's rescue of Rei during the Eva-00 activation experiment. Later Shinji is stunned when he observes Gendo and Rei talking cordially together.

While having dinner with Misato and Ritsuko in Misato's apartment, Shinji is asked by Ritsuko to deliver a security card to Rei. Shinji goes to Rei's dilapidated apartment complex, and enters her even more dishevelled room. There he discovers his father's glasses, and as he tries them on, a naked Rei silently emerges from her bathroom, leading to a very awkward situation.

And embarrassed Shinji follows an unphased Rei to work and is eventually able to deliver her security card. On the long escalator down, Shinji tries to talk to Rei about piloting Eva-00. But when the conversation turns to Gendo, and Shinji's disapproval of him, Rei silent rounds on Shinji and slaps him in the face.

Following Rei's successful reactivation of Eva-00, the fifth angel Ramiel appears and approaches Tokyo-3. Shinji sorties, but Eva-01 is immediately blasted by Ramiel's powerful energy beam and barely escapes destruction. Shinji is hospitalised for several hours. He is woken by Rei who informs him that they are both to participate in Operation Yashima. Shinji is reluctant, but when Rei declares that she can take his place, he changes his mind. Just before the operation begins, the pair talk again about Rei's reasons for piloting.

During Operation Yashima, Shinji uses the JSSDF's re-purposed Automated Positron Rifle and all the electrical power in Japan to defeat the angel. After Eva-01's first shot misses, Shinji is defended from Ramiel's counterattack by Rei in Eva-00. Shinji's second shot destroys the angel, but Eva-00 is badly melted. Shinji rushes to rescue Rei, in a parallel to Gendo's earlier rescue. On finding her safe, Shinji is tearfully overwhelmed; Rei is confused, but on Shinji's suggestion she -- reminded of Gendo -- breaks into a deep smile.

Shinji and Asuka

Shinji continues to live with Misato and pilot Eva-01, becoming more comfortable with his life in Tokyo-3, though is still ignorent of many of its mysteries. He is eventually informed by Ritsuko of the true details of Second Impact, and that the official story is a cover-up. When Shiro Tokita's J.A. unit is sabotaged and threatens to destroy a populated area, Shinji pilots Eva-01 to assist Misato in her attempts to board and disable J.A. before it explodes.

Shinji is taken by Misato to meet the Pacific Fleet as it escorts Evanagelion Unit 02 (and Adam) to Tokyo-3. There he encounters Eva-02's pilot, Asuka, who is less than impressed with Eva-01's pilot. He also meets Kaji for the first time. When the sixth angel Gaghiel attacks the fleet, Shinji and Asuka both board Eva-02 to battle it, but end up falling into sea where the Eva's B-Type equipment makes combat impossible. Following Misato's plan to sink two battleships right down the angel's maw, Shinji and Asuka are able to focus their thoughts enough to get Eva-02 to force open Ramiel's mouth leading to its destruction. The pair break their own Synchronisation records in the process.

On arrival in Tokyo-3, Asuka is assigned to school in Class-2A with Shinji and the rest. When the seventh angel Israfel attacks, Eva-01 and Eva-02 are dispatched to defeat it before it makes landfall. However, when Israfel splits into two parts, Shinji and Asuka are humiliatingly defeated, and the angel is temporarily halted by the [[UN] with an N² bomb.

Based on a plan of Kaji's, Misato decides to have Asuka live with herself and Shinji so that the two can learn to work with the perfect unison required in order to defeat the Angel. The arrangement starts off poorly, with Shinji and Asuka resenting their living arrangements and matching dance outfits. However, when Misato threatens to replace Asuka with Rei, Asuka resolves to work harder at her unison with Shinji, and their performance imporves. On the night before the battle, Asuka sleepwalks onto Shinji's futon; he attempts to kiss her, but stops but after she calls in her sleep for her mother, after which Shinji realise Asuka is just a child too. The next day, their unison perfected, Shinji and Asuka sortie in Eva-01 and Eva-02, and successfuly defeat Israfel with a simultaneous attack on both of its cores. The plan is a complete success, apart from the Evas ending up in a heap and the pilots bickering over whose fault it was.

Shinji in Tokyo-3

During the summer, Shinji, Asuka and Rei are required to miss the school trip on account of their piloting duties. During Nerv's operation to attempt to capture the eighth angel Sandalphon, Shinji's serves as backup while Asuka descends into a magma pit. The operation fails, though the angel is later destroyed. Asuka and Eva-02 are almost lost, but Shinji leaps into the magma in Eva-01 to save them both. Afterwards, Misato takes the pair to a nearby hot-spring.

Just before the blackout at Nerv, Shinji tries to call Gendo to inform him of an upcoming Parent-Teacher meeting in school. Gendo dismisses this, telling Shinji that all such responsibilites have been delegated to Misato, and not to bother him with such matters again. During the blackout, Shinji, Asuka and Rei have to manually infiltrate Nerv HQ, discovering along the way that the ninth angel Matarael is attacking the base. Once inside, Shinji learns that his father has been working to manually prepare the Eva's for launch, in the belief that the pilot's would arrive. All three Evangelions sortie under emergency power, and work together to defeat the angel.

Shinji and Asuka continue to live with Misato. Shinji's synchronisation with Eva-01 continues to imporve much to Asuka's annoyance. When Kensuke notices that Misato has been promoted to Major, the children throw a party for her at the apartment, though Shinji is a little unused to being around so many people. He asks Misato why she joined Nerv; she claims to have forgotten, but later reveals that she joined Nerv to both avenge her father, and in part to break free of his spell.

While Commander Gendo is absent from Nerv, Tokyo-3 is attacked from orbit by the 10th angel Sahaquiel, which jams all communications and threatens to destroy Tokyo-3 by falling on it like a giant bomb. Misato orders the city evactuated, and all three Evangelions again sortie in order to catch the Angel as it falls. With a burst of speed, Eva-01 catches the angel first and holds it in place until Eva-00 and Eva-02 arrive to dispatch it. After the battle, Gendo personally praises Shinji by name for his actions. Later while out eating Ramen, Shinji reveals to Misato that he pilots Eva to hear such words from his father.

Shinji takes part in the autopilot tests with the simulation bodies, along with Asuka and Rei in the Pribnow Box. During the tests, the 11th angel Ireul infiltrates the Pribnow Box and attacks. Shinji and the other pilots are evacuated, as Nerv deals with the angel without using the Evangelions.

Shinji later takes part in an interchangeability test, and he tries to pilot Eva-00 for the first time. During the test Shinji feels the presence of something trying to dive into his mind, after which Unit-00 again goes berserk, trying to attack the control room. Shinji wakes later in hospital, apparently remembering nothing of the incident.

Profile and Relationships with Other Characters

See Shinji (Profile)

Shinji is a complicated, damaged, but compassionate individual. The death of his mother, and especially his abandonment by his father have left Shinji with difficulties in his relationship with others, and with himself.

Relationships

With his Father

See Gendo and Shinji (Relationship)

Gendo and Shinji have one of the most complicated, and central relationships in all of Evangelion. The relationship is ostensibly one of mutual distance, but underlying feelings -- positive and negative -- remain.

With Misato

See Misato and Shinji (Relationship)

Misato is Shinji's guardian during his time in Tokyo-3, and also his commanding officer. Her status as adoptive parent is always in conflict with other aspects of their relationship.

With Asuka

See Asuka and Shinji (Relationship)

Asuka is one of Shinji's love interests, but the pair tend to have a very complicated personal and professional relationship.

With Rei

See Rei and Shinji (Relationship)

With Kaji

See Kaji and Shinji (Relationship)

With Kaworu

See Kaworu and Shinji (Relationship)

Toji, Kensuke and Hikari

See Shinji and Toji (Relationship)

See Kensuke and Shinji (Relationship)

See Hikari and Shinji (Relationship)

Shinji in Other Media

See Shinji Ikari (Rebuild Character)

See Shinji Ikari (Manga Character)

In other Eva-based Manga

The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga portrays Shinji as acting more like his manga counterpart since he's more confident about himself. Shinji here also is something of a pervert, which goes along with Shinji's personality in the possible world sequence of Episode 26 as well as Girlfriend of Steel 2 video game Shinji.

In the Girlfriend of Steel 2 manga, however, Shinji acts like his anime self, to the point where he doesn't have the perverted side of his personality that the Girlfriend of Steel 2 video game Shinji has. He also still acts shy and introverted around others, although he's friendly.

Trivia and Notes

• "I mustn't run away" ("Nigecha dameda!" in Japanese) becomes a trademark line delivered by Shinji starting in Episode 1. According to Hideaki Anno, this was the phrase that came to him that inspired him to keep working on and finish Evangelion.

• XTC is the name found on the back of Shinji's shirt in Episode 22, which refers to a band in the real world by the same name. This New Wave band covers many of the themes that are associated in Evangelion. See example, Making Plans for Nigel.

Sadamoto showing how to draw Shinji.

• According to an interview with Yoshiyuki Sadamoto featured in volume 2 of the manga, Shinji’s design is a male version of Sadamoto’s design for Nadia, the title character from Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, which Hideaki Anno also directed.

• In Episode 16, it's revealed that Shinji doesn't know how to swim.

• Shinji's birthday is the same day as his seiyu Megumi Ogata. This is a trait that can be found in several of the Evangelion characters, Rei Ayanami being an exception.

• The two songs usually played on Shinji's SDAT are: Track 25 for "You are the only one" and Track 26 for "Blue Legend", respectively. The songs are from "Lilia from Ys", an image album for the "Ys" RPG series. The Vocalist is Kotono Mitsuishi, Misato's seiyu. However, Episode 02 has two Eva BGM pieces playing, while Episode 23 has a different vocal song for Track 25 instead.

Theories in Brief

Theory and Analysis:Shinji and Asuka's Relationship

References

Characters

Main characters: Shinji Ikari | Rei Ayanami | Asuka Langley Soryu

Nerv staff: Misato Katsuragi | Gendo Ikari | Ritsuko Akagi | Kozo Fuyutsuki | Ryoji Kaji | Maya Ibuki | Makoto Hyuga | Shigeru Aoba

Classmates: Toji Suzuhara | Kensuke Aida | Hikari Horaki

Other characters: Kaworu Nagisa | Yui Ikari | Naoko Akagi | Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | Dr. Katsuragi | Mr. Langley | Keel Lorenz | Pen Pen

Rebuild of Evangelion: Asuka Shikinami Langley | Mari Makinami Illustrious | Sakura Suzuhara | Ryoji Kaji (Jr)

Miscellaneous: Minor Characters | Minor Characters (Rebuild) | Extracanonical Characters

Theory and Analysis: Name Origins (Warships) | Designs | Relationships | Profiles

Resources: 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji