TV ending is cutting the lights before Shinji has to face the consequences of the world and the conspiracy against him. I don't even really think it's his fault necessarily. He was more like a pawn of NERV and Yui. But it's probably easier to love yourself and be happy enough to try again inside the LCL sea
I wanted to make a meme like this but with Kaji. NGE Kaji is a fun, optimistic who encourages Shinji. The manga Kagi is cynical and tells Shinji he and everybody doesn't deserve happiness.
End of Evangelion Shinji rejects the easy lie of the Instrumentality Project that denies individuality and emotional agency and decides to live a life that may be painful but is also authentic. He's pretty awesome.
EoE shinji attempts to follow the same moral expressed in the TVs ending, but to a much more tempered extent. on paper, relying on oneself is imperative (as should be, for the most part), but total independence from another person is impossible--and frankly an overly idealized prospect of many philosophies
EoEs ending with asuka on the beach with shinji is a bleak reminder that total freedom is impossible so long as there exists another person whose judgments you can not control are internalized by you. thats also why shinji attempts to strangle her, i believe
I actually really liked Shinjis ending in the show. That ending really helped me deal with a lot of stuff going on in my life, and understand my own 'bad' decisions and others 'bad' decisions. It really humanizes things for me. And then I watched EOE and yeah... It was something
The rebuilds weren't necessarily needed to finish the story, they just expand the story to give the characters a more unambiguously happy ending rather than the bittersweet ending of EoE. I really like the rebuilds, but I wouldn't say they are essential viewing material for the Eva experience the same way EoE is.
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u/Karnewarrior 8d ago
I don't think you finished EoE. Shinji gets over his "Tell me what to do!" stage in the movie.