Why I dislike Shinji Ikari

 

Why I dislike Shinji Ikari

I make it no secret that I am not the world's biggest Neon Genesis Evangelion fan. I don't think it's a terrible show, I think the show is overall "okay" but it seems in recent times, the show has gotten so much love to the point where it has even garnered critical immunity, and one aspect of the show that has gotten quite a lot of critical immunity is the character of Shinji Ikari. A couple of years ago, the character was often derided for being too "whiny" and others would also try to defend him and it sparked a flame war that went on for many years but now, it seems the former has mostly died off or at least are too scared to actually admit it without being attacked by legions of fanboys. What is the point of all this rambling? I want to go into specific detail as to why I think Shinji is not as interesting of a character as Evangelion fans like to think he is. I also want to credit a person named Archaeon for making me create this write up. His review on MAL managed perfectly encapsulates why I never liked Shinji even back when I was a teenager when I first watched the series. Now, let's get started.  

The biggest reason why I dislike Shinji is simple really, he doesn't have an actual motivation as to why he does what he does. He has nothing that drives him as a character. To put it very bluntly, all the guy wants is wants pity. Throughout the whole show, and I really do mean throughout the whole show, Shinji spends his entire character wanting sympathy from other people. He makes and the show will it ever so tell you that he pilots the Evangelion only because people actually acknowledge him. This wouldn't be so bad but the big issue is that Shinji never actually tries to make his life better for himself. It's not so much that he is "whiny" it's that he never really tries at all. A traditional hero in a story would have a character flaw but would have to deal with and also and this is very important, overcome his flaw and try to rise above that. If I wrote Evangelion, I could've written Shinji in one of two ways. One way is that he knows that piloting the Evangelion is the only thing people actually like him for so he tries to play that to his advantage and try to live off the fame he got for being an Eva pilot, then he realizes that the fame isn't what he really wants and then Karou shows up does what he does(I will explain this later) and then Shinji decides to bring the fight to the Angels and kill them once and for all because his hatred for the Angels is the only thing that drives him now. Another way is to have Shinji be extremely suicidal and have his attempts at piloting the Eva be constant suicide missions and every time he would fight he would always come out alive, thanks to his dead mom and Gendo's neglect, Shinji has some strong abandonment issues but then he slowly starts to build a bond with characters like Misato, Asuka and Rei, and then realizes he has something to live for. What do both of these scenarios have in common? They be more typical of a traditional story, yes, but at the same time, it would make Shinji more interesting to me because at least he would have flaws and try to overcome them. What makes fiction interesting is conflict and the issue with Shinji is that he doesn't try to actually try to fight the conflict that he has with himself. A part of me just wonders why he doesn't just commit suicide if he refuses to fight back and refuses to find self worth for himself to this degree. I don't get how he is relatable either, sure he connects to people who also extremely depressed and live crappy lives but at the same time, the guy can pilot a huge robot and can kill aliens. This isn't exactly relatable to me. The final nail in the coffin for Shinji's character is his relationship with Karou. Here's the thing with this, Kaoru only ever got to Shinji because he played with his emotions and gave him the very thing Shinji wanted throughout the whole series, you guessed it: pity. It's not so much this I have a problem with, it's Shinji's reaction to the whole ordeal. The guy acted like Karou actually did care for him and gets depressed yet again when all the latter really did was use him for his nefarious endgame. I try not to let a character be exactly like me, but I feel Shinji should've been really pissed and had enough of being used by other people and just wanted to kill the Angels to get it over with. If they went with this route, this could've given Shinji some degree of character since he is displaying character traits that isn't whining and saying, "I do and I don't" constantly. The thing Eva was written by a depressed person and it shows in a number of ways. For one, it's a story about humanity fighting against all odds yet the number one group that is the most capable has no one in the team who practices mental health to have them be in good psychological state.  

I will compare Shinji Ikari to two characters I think are more interesting. First is Tatshiro Sato from Welcome to the NHK. The latter is also a depressed nerd like Shinji but unlike Shinji he actually does try to want to make life better for himself despite not always succeeding, the difference here is that he Sato does try, where Shinji kills aliens and then spends multiple episodes wanting pity from people afterwards.

Another character comparison and this is going to be a weird one, but Naruto Uzumaki...from Part 1. Naruto actually started off his series not too different from Shinji and I used to dislike the former as a character but there is more layers to him than I thought. Naruto also never had much in the way of parental figures growing up but the biggest difference here is that Naruto never lets that get to him. Naruto actually TRIES to want make life better for himself. He spent his whole life being neglected by everyone in his village for holding a monster inside of his body, a monster who killed thousands of people many years back in his village, but the thing is, Naruto actually tries to stand out by acting like a goofball idiot. He wants people to respect him and look up to him and if he did what he was told, it would only have people ignore him and make life more depressing for himself. Naruto acts like a knucklehead because he knows it have people notice him more if he didn't act like one. What is the biggest difference here? Naruto doesn't spend Part 1 wanting to have pity from other people, he a motivation and drive to want to do what he does. That is what makes an interesting character, not them being exactly like me and having a similar life but how they choose to deal with problems.

Now I will address one more point before I close this write up, and it is the, "Get in the Robot Shinji" scene. Eva fans often say people hate him because of this scene. But here is my issue with it, for a character they try to establish as being "unlikable", I argue they don't go far enough with it. It's basically Shinji doing what he always does, piloting the robot so he can get sympathy from other people. Why not have Shinji refuse the pilot the robot so much to the point where the Angel causes extreme collateral damage? Have Rei actually pilot her Eva and then get beaten by it nearly to death? This could've at least taken Shinji's unlikablity to interesting places since it establishes that he hates his father so much that he would rather watch humanity burn then save it. Compare this another show Ashita no Joe, where Joe refuses to become a boxer at multiple points so much so that he lands himself in Juvie and gets into all kinds bad situations, they actually take his unlikablity to places and it pays off later where Joe realizes that boxing is what gives his life meaning and gives the motivation to not be delinquent.

In Conclusion, I dislike Shinji, not because he is "whiny" it's because he just wants pity and nothing else. Nothing that makes me want to admire him or find anything interesting to stand out. His refusal to fight his inner demons is what makes him so dull to me.