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That aside, the topic I'll be discussing is the last scene in the 1997 film "Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion," where the three main characters in the anime meet on the beach after Shinji ultimately rejects the HIP(Human Instrumentality Project). The topics I'll be discussing are why Shinji strangles Asuka, how & why Asuka reacts that way, and why the ending is "happy." This is my personal interpretation of the EoE. I'm aware that there are many videos, forum posts, etc. already online but many are still very confused about the ending because I'll admit that the ending is extremely convoluted thus, I'll try to explain it in the most painless way possible. This will take a while, bare with me.
[PART I]
The first thing I'll be discussing is why Shinji strangles Asuka. Just to refresh your memory of the most relevant events prior to him choking her: at the start of the film the infamous scene where Shinji chokes his chicken infront of comatose Asuka occurs, Asuka has an epiphany of some sort, everyone starts getting seduced by naked Rei, and Shinji rejects naked Rei. Here's the more important sequence: Shinji and Asuka then find themselves on the beach, Shinji sees Rei floating above the pool of LCL, Shinji straddles Asuka and chokes her, Asuka then motherly caresses his face, Shinji stops choking Asuka and then begins crying, and Asuka looks down at him and says, "Kimochi Wariu." Two things must be clarified before we move on: Asuka IS NOT DEAD as many believe so and "Kimochi Wariu" loosely translates to "I feel sick," NOT "disgusting." These two ideas are very important as we continue.
The reason Shinji strangles Asuka was so that he could confirm that his decision was right to reject HIP and his decision was his alone. The reason he rejected HIP in the first place was because he wanted to be alone and because he wanted to be acknowledged/accepted by those around him. There's a lot of psychological ideas that helped me understand it, but I won't go in to too much depth. The first idea being in order to confirm individuality (or existence in general) there needs to be another form of consciousness, other than your own, that can acknowledge you. Think of it this way, you can never really tell if you're stupid unless there's someone who says you're stupid. This is why Asuka is important. Shinji needs to confirm that he has definitely prevented Human Instrumentality and that he can be exposed to the feelings and emotions of another being. Emotions and actions are all part of acknowledgement such as love, hate, and rejection. Shinji strangles Asuka because he wants to check if she'll respond to him, in which she gives him a soft caress over his cheek almost as if she's saying, "I know you're there, I understand." In which he breaks down after fully realizing what horrible things he's done to her.
People also speculate that he strangled her because shes preventing him from being alone. If he was to accept HIP, he would be one with everyone and always be in the presence of another inside LCL thus, Shinji proceedes to strangle Asuka with the intention of killing her and being alone.
[PART II]
Asuka's last line was a mistranslation and affected almost the entire message of the the whole TV series and film in a detrimental way. In the film the translation is that of "disgusting," in a more negative connotation, whereas she really says, "I feel sick," in the most literal sense. She literally feels sick, she's in pain. Pain from all of the sh*t she went through in the film(The most badass scene in the entire film). She's sick in the physical sense and on an interpersonal sense as well. She's also essentially sick of Shinji in the sense that Shinji is so much like her, meaning that she's sick of Shinji because he resembles a part of herself she hates.
The relationship between Shinji and Asuka is that of love and hate in the most literal way possible. Shinji and Asuka are unable to acknowledge each other in a loving relationship, so they instead do so in a hateful, demeaning, and borderline masochistic relationship.
Asuka has this sexual tension with Shinji where she's attracted to him, clearly shown by when she tries to kiss him and seduce him. However, the reason she was upset was because of Shinji's muted reactions. Shinji didn't give her what she wanted, which was sex. Shinji is also attracted to her, but before he can open up to sexual interaction, he needs to first establish acceptance between the two of them. This is also where the acknowledgement ideas and the hedgehog dilemma come into play. Using these ideas, after Asuka lovingly caresses him, he cries, and she's unhappy with LITERALLY EVERYTHING AROUND HER.
[PART III]
Yes, yes, yes. I did say End of Eva had a happy ending along with a very hopeful message too. The message Eva is trying to get across is that of acceptance. Only when you accept and love yourself can you love and accept others.
The last episode in the TV series takes place in Shinji's head, parallel to whats happening when he's in that LCL form, right before he rejects it. In that it talks about certain dilemmas Shinji has with himself and with those around him where he finally accepts his flaws and those around him, leading to the anticlimactic "Congratulations" ending. Not only Shinji, but every character is forced to come to terms with their flaws and wrong doings in the End of Eva and move on. A good example of this would be what Ritsuko does. After coming to terms with the fact that she's a terrible person(for many reasons including that she killed a 14 y/o girl, is a sex slave to Gendou, etc.) she begs for Misato to end her life, almost like penance for what she's done. Without context, it sounds like an extremely brutal thing, but Ritsuko essentially comes to terms with who she is with all of her boy troubles, mommy troubles, the fact that shes a murdurer and accepts her fate as SHE sees fit.
[CONCLUSION]
The main points being that Shinji strangle Asuka so that he can confirm his own existence, Asuka says "I feel disgusting," because she's in pain and because of Baka Shinji, and the ending is happy because it ends with the message of self acceptance and coming to terms with one's flaws in order to improve upon oneself.
P.S. Please excuse any grammatical inconsistencies. I really hope this helped anyone who was confused by the End of Eva. If you guys enjoyed this I'll definitely cover anymore Eva questions you guys have. Thanks for reading!
