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Shinji Ikari is one of the main protagonist of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is an mentally-ill teen who is ask to pilot Evangelion Unit-01 and help defend the world from the alien threat known as angels. He is the abandoned son of Gendo Ikari, the leading commander of NERV. Both have a very strain relationship due to Gendo leaving his son at such a young age leading Shinji to resent his father. Despite his hate towards his father, they are similar beings with extreme cynical views on the world and have immense self-loathing due to the tragedy in their lives.
Shinji is friendly but very introverted as he wants to be left alone and struggles on understanding the horrible reality he lives in. Despite his friendliness, his introverted personality actually hides a more insecure and vulnerable boy with selfish desires. Throughout the series, Shinji struggles with having a normal life as a student and being an Eva pilot, which the experience deeply effects him psychologically.
In both English and Japanese dub of the original anime, he is voiced by Spike Spencer and Megumi Ogata. In the Netflix dub, it's Casey Mongillo.
What Makes Him a Base Breaking Character?[]
What Do People Like About Him?[]
- Shinji is a deeply tragic figure, who lost his mother when he was a kid and at the same moment was abandoned by his father. This event deeply affected Shinji psychologically, which allowed him to develop deep insecurities and became an introverted child. When he was selected to become an Eva pilot with the series progressing, Shinji's mentality begins to worsen and develop a sense of self-loathing and nihilism.
- He is so tragic that many people deeply despise Gendo for abandoning his son and refusing to rekindle whats left of their relationship.
- Many find Shinji's personality and introverted behavior relatable including the problems he faces in life.
- His relationship with the main cast is considered to be interesting since it display much of his characterization.
- Shinji's complex relationship with Asuka, Rei, and Kaworu is well-liked by many to the point of people creating many pairings and ships for Shinji between those characters.
- Even when Shinji becomes much worse in the End of Evangelion movie, he is still sympathized with by many due to his life falling apart and refuses to continue being a pilot because the amount of suffering that he believed has caused.
What Do People Hate About Him?[]
- Despite his tragedy with his mental state becoming progressively worse, many of his detractors view him as cry baby, who is always complaining about how bad his life is. It also doesn't help when those same detractors don't find him that competent of a character.
- Many of his detractors deeply despise Shinji after the events of the End of Evangelion movie, where he masturbated to Asuka's body when she was still in a coma, which counts as sexual assault. It also doesn't help when he refuses to go back to piloting his Eva to help Asuka defeat the mass produce Evangelions. She was ruthlessly killed because Shinji did not want to help due to not seeing the point of living anymore.
- He even refuses to save everyone in NERV headquarters from an army sent by SEELE.
- Afterwards, he damns humanity to be annihilated due to his own personal rage and suffering, which is considered to make him more detestable with some audience members finding him less sympathetic than he was intended to be, even if he redeems himself.
- Some detractors feel that Shinji is filled with plot armor 24/7 throughout the original anime timeline (which includes Death & Rebirth and The End of Evangelion) even after dooming humanity for personal reasons.
External Links[]
- Shinji Ikari on the Heroes Wiki
- Shinji Ikari on the Evangelion Wiki
- Shinji Ikari on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Shinji Ikari on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki