"This is quite possibly one of the most arguable statements in anime history! Those who saw the End of Evangelion probably had to watch it over again just to figure out what the hell happened in the end! Did the Third Impact occur, or was it a failure? What happened to the souls of Misato and Rei? Did Asuka die? Did mankind evolve? What about Pen Pen!! I will answer all of those questions here, including the last one!"
"Let me first begin with dropping some knowledge on people who know little about the creator's status while he was creating the movie. At that time, he was going through rough, emotional problems, and that's what helped him make Evangelion such a good show (And what helped make Rei my favorite character). The creator of Evangelion was tired of anime where people would be able to figure out the ending within the first ten minutes of the show. So, he made the ending of Evangelion somewhat a mystery, a confusing mystery. After I saw the End of Evangelion, I spent litrally months trying to figure out what happened. Being a catholic, I had access to Bibles and my cousin's friend's father's video store to borrow the Evangelon videos to figure out what happened. And after watching each episode 5 times each, watched the End of Evangelion 25 times, and sang along to "Thesis of a Cruel Angel" in both Japanese and English a few time (Trust me, it helps), i've finally come up witha few conclusions!"
"Well, first, let's go over the wrong conclusions. Sometimes I can't believe some people accept the ending of Asuka and Shinji falling to the ground together at the end. Seems logical, but isn't! Hell, that's not even Asuka! (I'll explain later) Remember, the ending was supposed to be dumbfounding, and it kept me in the dark for some time too. And after seeing websites that said, "Don't watch the End of Evangelion because of the end", I began to figure the ending everyone was forced to accept wasn't real. It was there, but wasn't. Thus, begins the research for the true ending of Evangelion!"
"Let's now go over the Impact. Did it happen? - Quick Note: Rei II and Rei III are two different people. And they have two different souls that were both derived from Lilith. However, why would Rei III turn on Gendo? The answer is simple, the soul of Rei II somehow "posessed" Rei III, and made her turn on Gendo. How else would have Rei III learned about Shinji's compassion. - Maybe the Third Impact happened, maybe it didn't. All we saw in the end were Shinji going through many realities while the Impact was "going on". In the end we see a possibly "unreal" ending between Shinji and Asuka. Let's move on to one of the most important parts of the End of Evangelion - the souls of Rei, Misato, and Asuka."
"Where do I begin. Well, we all remember Rei dying (I cried) after she self-destructed to save Shinji. And remember when Misato died in the End of Evangelion. But what happened before she died? A ghostly Rei (the soul of Rei II) came in, and saved Misato's soul. Now, remember when Asuka woke up from her coma. I've studied comas and how people wake up from them, and when Asuka woke up from her's she was angry. That's not logical. A person is usually either stunned or baffled when they awaken from a coma. Yet, Asuka needed to go face the enemy Eva. And remember Asuka's eye color was no longer blue, it was brown, just like the deceased Misato's! There is no doubt in my mind that Rei and Misato somehow "posessed" Asuka, and made her get into her Eva, and fight! Now that we have covered that, we can move on even more . . . "
"Now, let's keep in mind the theme/point of Evangelion. All animes have point or answer our question. The one Evangelion asks is, "What is the meaning of life, and what do we do to earn hapiness in our lives". And there was only one way to answer that, we must answer - "Thesis of a Cruel Angel"! You have now deemed me crazy, I know. But look below. There is a table. On the left, are the lyrics to the song, Thesis of a Cruel Angel, on the right, are the meanings. You can go ahead and skip this section, but you are going to miss out on a lot of answers that can help us figure out the End of Evangelion:"
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Like an angel that has no sense of mercy, Rise, young boy to the heavens like a legend! |
This really means that Shinji should rise to the top and find what he has wanted the most. This has a number of meanings such as "Dont run away", "Complete your soul", and "Become the best". The "Don't Run away" and "Complete your soul" parts make the most sense. |
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Cold winds, as blue as the sea. Tear open the door to your heart, I see . . . But unknowing you seem, just staring at me . . . Stand there smiling serenely. |
This describes the passion and compassion of Shinji. However, where it says "Tear open the door to your heart", it's really saying release your heart and soul to the one you love and understand, so the souls can become "one". |
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Desperate for something to touch . . . |
This line has its own meaning. "Touch" isn't what they are trying to say. "Touch" in here means "escape". Shinji wanted to escape the life he had for something that would comfort him. "Desperate for something to touch" means he's desperate for another person's soul. |
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A moment of kindness like that in a dream . . . Your innocent eyes, have yet no idea Of the path your destiny will follow But someday you'll become aware of everything you've got behind you. Your wings are for seeking out a new future that only you can search for. |
Those lines talk about destiny. Our destiny is our soul's destiny. "Kindness" and "innocence" are what a good soul is all about. The "destiny" and "new future" Shinji searches for is a future that he chooses. Remember, he's the one that went up to the giant Rei III and cut it with the Lance of Longilus. This is actaully a good time to keep in mind Rei's (Rei II's) signature line, "Does my soul want to be one with Ikari's?" |
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The cruel angel's thesis bleeds through a portal like your pulsing blood If you should betray the chapel of your memories. Cruel angel's thesis enters through the window of your soul. So, boy, stand tall and embrace the fire of the legend. Embracing the universe like a blazing star! |
It's hard to say at first what this means, since we don't exaclty know what "cruel angel's thesis" exactly is. But, it's most likely a good thing. Now, these lines make it sound like a bad thing. However, Shinji had many bad memories, but that doens't mean he will have a bad future. "Embrace the fire of the legend" means embrace the future. "Embracing the universe like a blazing star" probably means to "Emrace the souls of another". |
"Now you're probably wondering, "WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS ALL MEAN??!!!" I'll tell you what it means. After watching the End of Evangelion a few more times and reading all the lines and definitions again and again, I realized that Shinji Ikari most likely did not cause the Third Impact. Remember when screamed, "No!" because she thought Shinji was going to cause the Third Impact? Well did she say anything after? Nope, another mystery. I don't think Shinji caused the Third Impact, I don't think it even crossed his mind. When Shinji said, "There is only one thing to do" did you for one minute think he was going to cause the Impact himself? I did, but we should know better. Reread the last 10 lines of "Cruel Angel's Thesis and their meanings, and then you'll see that it was up to Shinji to choose the future. After all, Shinji was the one who realized that you can't feel pain or pleasure in the evolved form."
"Now, there are two more things i'd like to explain. First, Asuka did die in the End of Evangelion. After Eva-02 got stabbed in the eye with the copy of the Lance of Longilus, Asuka's eye was knocked out. (Very bloody, if you saw the movie) But notice Eva-02 didn't explode? Where did it go? Let's take this step by step. What do you need to do to use your Eva? You need to synch with it. Very good. Then what do you need to do? Now that your synched with it, you become "one" with it, and can fight. Yes, we are now making progress. Now for the million dollar question, what happens if you're synched with an Eva, and die while you are synched? The same exact thing that happened to Yui Ikari, your soul goes into the core of the Eva!!! My point is that Asuka is now happy, because she is now with her mother again within Eva-02's core."
"Now for my last point before we create conclusions. What happened to Rei's soul? Well, it didn't go to heaven, hell, or purgatory. (Unless the Earth is purgatory. If you don't know what purgatory is, it's the place a soul goes after it dies and remains there before it is accepted into heaven or hell) So our Rei remained on Earth, but why? Now that Rei can show feelings, I presume she now knows what happiness is. So, she remains on Earth, gets revenge for Shinji by making Rei III turn on Gendo, grabs Misato's soul before she dies, helps "wake up" Asuka from her coma to fight, and then can sit down in Earth (which is now a barren wasteland) and relax. So basically what i'm saying is that she didn't leave Earth because she knew what happiness was, was finally able to show compassion by making sure the Third Impact didn't work, and then wanted to find true happiness by waiting for "her and Shinji's souls to become one". Great! Now let's make up some conclusions!"
"One last note before we create conclusions: Many people have said that last image we see of Asuka and Shinji at the End of Evangelion is Shinji creating "another reality where the souls of Asuka, Rei, and Misato are together". This can't be true for a number of reasons for one reason: Shinji wouldn't know pleasure! See, if he was creating another reailty, that meant the Third Impact happened, and everyone evolved. And Shinji can't create another reality like that (so that he could be with a Asuka/Rei/Misato) because if he had evolved, he doesn't know what pleasure and happiness are anymore. And i've already given enough reasons why the Third Impact never happened, so ha!"
"There! Let's create the three best conclusions we can create:"
Conclusion #1 "I'm dead wrong") "The Third Impact happened, everyone evolved. There is no more pain or pleasure. Asuka is long dead. Rei's soul is stuck with her. The whole point of Evangelion is dead. And lastly, all of my theories are wrong and i'm a complete failure. Eee-eeeh! No way! I've created enough theories to say that this is not what happened! Let's move on to a REAL ending!"
Conclusion #2 "Let's all be happy in our new found barren wasteland") "After Shinji cut the throat of the Giant Rei III, the Third Impact never happened. The Giant Rei, however, caused the Earth to become a barren wasteland. (It still looks livaable . . . sorta) Shinji falls to the ground while Eva-01 floats off into space. Asuka's body falls out of her Eva. Since Asuka is within the core of Eva-02 with her mother and is happy. Asuka's body is dead, but Misato and Rei's souls are in it, making use of it. (Must be crowded in there) Shinji is left in the remains of Tokyo-3 with Rei and Misato in Asuka's body. A nice ending, a little weird, but nice."
Conclusion #3 "We've all been slaughtered") "After Shinji cut the throat of the Giant Rei III, the Third Impact never happened. The Giant Rei, however, caused the Earth to become a barren wasteland and everyone on Earth dies. We all now live on a dead Earth. Shinji's soul falls to the ground first and then Asuka's. Asuka's soul is STILL one with Misato. Shinji can go on, while Asuka/Misato can find Asuka's mother within Eva-02 and Misato can find the person she tried to avenge after the Second Impact happened, her father. And Asuka/Misato can find the one they both wanted to be with, who is Kaji. (I'd bet they'd be REALLY happy) And to conclude a happy ending Shinji goes on, and can meet his mother's soul. And who knows, maybe he can find Rei Ayanami out there and they will be "one". An ending like that just makes a tear run down your cheek . . . sniff . . . "
"It took me 8-9 months to come up with these many paragraphs of reasons, and then create endings. (Trust me, these conclusions are only simplified versions of when I first though of them. The full versions show what I think happened to everyone, EVERYONE, I even gave them life stories in the full conclusions, so I only simplified them here) So, thank you for reading my self-proclaimed very good editorial. Now, I wonder what really happened at the end of Big O and at the end of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, oh man, here I go again . . . "
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"You can accept my End of Evangelion conclusions and my editorial, or you can't. But let's get one thing straight. Rei Ayanami is finally able to show feelings for the first time, she is able to feel sad and happy, she decided not to go into the afterlife, and decides to wait on Earth for Shinji first. she remains on Earth, gets revenge for Shinji by making Rei III turn on Gendo, grabs Misato's soul before she dies, helps "wake up" Asuka from her coma to fight, and then can sit down in Earth (which is now a barren wasteland) and relax. So what's my point? It's no secret that we should now deem the great Rei Ayanami the actual heroine of the End of Evangelion. Thank's Rei! Give her a round of applause!"
