Dec 13, 2025
The memory of the widespread hatred for Shinji Ikari contains a profound truth, we only condemned in him what we had already hated, and suppressed, within ourselves.
The initial revulsion directed at him was not born of his failings, but of a shared, unacknowledged vulnerability. We condemned his self-doubt and his impulse to retreat—traits we diligently suppress beneath the rigid armor of our adult façades. His palpable, agonizing reluctance became a despised mirror, reflecting the deep, uncomfortable truth that our own hard-won competence is often just a thin shield over an enduring, childlike fear of engagement. Thus, the initial hatred was merely the pain of seeing
...
our unresolved inner conflict given agonizingly raw expression.
The contempt aimed at Shinji was never about his inability to pilot the Evangelion, it was about the way his existential refusal illuminated our own forced consent to duty. We resented his passive recoil because we had already signed the contract of necessity, which denied us the option of turning away, choosing to wear the armor of adulthood even if it hollowed us out.
To finally reach the point of saying, "He is just like me," is not to excuse his behavior, but to perform an act of self-compassion. It is the realization that the severe contempt we felt for Shinji was, in truth, a perfect measure of how deeply we had internalized the contempt for the 'unwilling child' still residing, fearful and silent, within ourselves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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