Shinji Ikari

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Character
Name: Shinji Ikari
Occupation: Pilot of Evangelion Unit 01
Relationships: Gendo Ikari (father)
Yui Ikari (mother)
Misato Katsuragi (guardian)
Rei Ayanami (friend)
Asuka Langley Soryu (friend, love interest)
Kaworu Nagisa (friend, love interest)
Fandom: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Other:
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Shinji Ikari is the protagonist of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Canon

At the age of 14, Shinji is summoned by his estranged father and asked to serve as a mecha pilot to defend Earth from attacks by alien monsters called "angels."

Fandom

Fan Reactions

Shinji's canon characterization is a deliberate contrast to that of the typical courageous, hot-blooded shounen anime hero; he struggles with severe depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation, and his experiences as a mecha pilot are portrayed as traumatic rather than as wish fulfillment for young viewers. Many fans reacted negatively to this unexpected characterization, viewing him as childish or whiny; they express particular frustration with the way Shinji seems to deliberately reject those who reach out to him and then lament his own isolation, as well as the fact that his self-loathing sometimes leads him to mistreat others, such as masturbating over Asuka while she was comatose. However, other viewers have criticized negative views of Shinji as Hero Bashing, arguing that his portrayal is a realistic depiction of a young teen affected by traumas like parental abandonment and being forced to serve as a child soldier.

Shipping

Nearly all the most popular pairings in the NGE fandom are between Shinji and another character.

Asuka and Rei are Shinji's peers in age, and he interacts with both regularly throughout canon. Asuka and Shinji are canonically depicted as having a tumultuous love-hate relationship, but one that explicitly includes some degree of mutual attraction. Shinji's canonical relationship with Rei is close but somewhat more ambiguous, and late in canon she's ultimately revealed to be a clone of his mother; however, by the time this information became clear many viewers had already come to ship them. Asuka and Rei have sharply contrasting personalities, with Asuka being loud, arrogant and abrasive where Rei is quiet, distant, apathetic and expresses little open emotion. This led to a major Ship War within Eva fandom lasting decades. In recent years, Reishin's popularity has declined somewhat compared to Asushin and Kawoshin.

Kaworu appears in only one episode of the original series, but his flirtatious behavior toward Shinji and Shinji's clear attraction to him are unusually explicit by the standards of a mainstream shounen anime in the late 90's. For many young viewers at the time of the show's original airing, Kaworu was one of the first canonical same-sex love interests they had encountered. Kaworu is by far the most popular male love interest for Shinji, and he regularly appears in merchandise and supplementary materials as if he's a character nearly as prominent as Rei and Asuka. Kawoshin has considerable popularity among Yaoi fans who are otherwise disengaged from Eva fandom.

Misato is much older than Shinji and canonically serves as his guardian and something of a surrogate parental figure. However, she often behaves flirtatiously toward him, and near the end of the show kisses him passionately in a desperate attempt to motivate him for the final battle. Misato is a popular character, and Misashin is often shipped by M/F fans who find her relative maturity a refreshing contrast to Asuka's arrogance and Rei's distant apathy.

Less common alternatives include Mari and Hikari. The Rebuild films are sometimes interpreted to suggest that Shinji ended up with Mari, but Mari never achieved the same degree of popularity within fandom as Asuka, Rei, Kaworu or Misato, and Marishin appears most often in fanworks as a way to subvert expectations by avoiding the more popular and expected Shinji ships.

Many officially licensed Evangelion artwork, merch, spin-offs and videogames present many possible romantic options[1] for Shinji for the player to choose or simply feature him paired with another character, such the Girlfriend of Steel 2 visual novel, or the Angelic Days romantic comedy manga which features an Asushin ending. There is also a large amount of fan material dedicated to each ship.

Memes

Fanworks

Fanfic

Fanart

  • an image of Shinji Ikari surrounded by Rei, Asuka, Kaworu, and Toji. Rei and Asuka are pulling on one arm, while Kaworu holds him by the other and Toji clings to his leg. Asuka is saying "Let go of my Shinji!" while Rei says "Shinji-kun, I...", Kaworu says "I love you," and Toji says "Noooo! Don't leave me Shinji!" Shinji has a word balloon with an ellipsis in it, and is thinking "Why me!?"

    We Love you Shinji by Mimuru-Chan (2004)

  • an image of Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa walking through a park in casual clothing.

    Kaoru and Shinji by SaiTeyaa (2005)

  • an image of Shinji Ikari in his plugsuit from the waist up.

    シンジ (Shinji) by 中村キュー (2008)

  • an image of Shinji Ikari in profile against a red background with writing behind him.

    逃げちゃダメだ (I Mustn't Run Away) by 3 4 7 (2020)

Meta

Other

Resources

References

  1. ^ Videogames have even created no less than five original characters as possible romantic interests for Shinji: Mayumi for 2nd Impression, Mana for Girlfriend of Steel 1, and Satsuki, Aoi and Kaede for Shinji Ikari Raising Project. Except for Mayumi, all of these are also featured in the manga adaptation of SIRP. The latter three are also adults.
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