Im way late to this but I dont care lol

If you know Neon Genesis Evangelion and haven’t heard already, there was a new short film about Asuka released recently in addition to a new series being announced. I haven’t seen all the short film myself but ive seen clips I wanted to write about. A bit of spoilers for the short film later but not anything crazy.

We know Neon Genesis is interested in how people respond when our social lives start to seem overbearing. But I think this new short film really highlights a neglected theme of Neon Genesis, which is the fear of not knowing the future.

Its all over the series in terms of fear of relationships. Will this person reject or disappoint me? Am I human enough, talented enough, ect for them? If not well ill just self-isolate and put up a front so someone I would’ve really like to connect with doesn’t hurt me. Hedgehogs’ dilemma.

We all went “yeah I get that” but didn’t in reality. Why didn’t we get it? Because the theme was so much broader than just being scared of a future with someone. Its about being scared of the future in general, which is the neglected part we still fail at.

This theme has always been in the show. Buts its illustrated much more powerfully in our reaction to it as an audience. Look at how people reacted to all the different endings. “What happens to Shinji and Asuka after the beach?” “What happens with Shinji and Mari, whats everyone else doing?” “Whys everyone clapping? Is this really the end?”

These endings frustrated so many people, including me. They wouldn’t accept them. Why? Because they were ambiguous, and we couldn’t stand that. Because we are SO afraid of the future. This is the neglected part, it’s a beautifully and masterfully done meta commentary. People dunked on these characters all day for being afraid of not knowing how their future with the people around them will turn out and coping poorly. But we got so uncomfortable not knowing the ending of fictional people. This is what we didn’t get, and it was proven true.

SPOILERS BELOW

And the movie addresses this in the funniest way by providing a new angle for one of the many controversial endings, but at the same time adds another dozen layers of ambiguity! Still, subtly and masterfully, the movie and Anno also interweave a response. They anticipate our apprehensiveness, fear, and outrage and have Asuka respond.

She looks at the easy way out of not having to deal with a scary future of relationships and people, and rejects it for the real deal. She says “I don’t know how it’ll actually turn out, but I want to try anyways.”

Well, what the hell does that mean?

You’ll see this very often nowadays, and especially online, but many people now go “I’ve given up on love.” “I’ve given up on having friends.” “I’ve given up on a normal life.” If you’ve thought those things yourself, how many times have you thought “it would be nice to meet someone who just got me. Someone I didn’t have to work so hard for just for them to understand me.” Hmm, a chance for people to just suddenly understand you, without the struggle or hurt. I don’t mean to be smug, but that sounds like instrumentality.

So how do you return from your instrumentality and keep on going? How do you keep hoping for a future with people when you’ve been put down so many times? How do you keep pursuing a dream with no path in sight? How do you hope for happiness when so much has been going wrong for so long?

“I don’t know how it’ll actually turn out, but I want to try anyways.”

For Asuka, she realizes she has to try for a future with people, even while being scared it might not go the way she wants. For us, its telling us to realize we have to accept the future is uncertain and might not go how we want. But we still have to deal with that, or else. Or else what?

You don’t know how the future will turn out. Maybe love wont happen. Maybe it’ll end. Maybe it wont happen again. But there are also a million ways to die. Every time you go outside, there are a million things that could happen to you. Some are pretty likely to happen too. So, do you bank on dying and live your life in a plastic bubble, no contact, no outside, no risk?

Of course not, you go outside and take the risks and live your life. The “or else” is, we won’t actually live our life.

In the end, anything may or may not happen, and there’s no way of telling what will or won’t. So why bank on failing? It makes no sense unless you don’t want to get hurt.

You must not listen to the fear of things not going right, or else you will give up and not live your life. It might or might not work out, but you should try anyways. Because the “or else” is no way to live. The “or else” is

“Disgusting.”