What makes Evangelion so great?

[Deep Blue]

I seriously don't get the 'shinji is a pussy' """argument""". I must have missed the rule that says all protagonists must be manly and iron-willed.

For a 14 year old kid with parental issues and severe social anxiety, going through all the shit that happens to him in the series, I'd say he's faring pretty damn well.

 

My troll theory is that since one of the messages of Evangelion is to "tell otakus to open up to the world" (to simplify), people hate Shinji because they see themselves in him

Yeah but of course, I'm sure you went to see countless of ill friends and while their were in the hospital bed you fapped, or you run away every-time you had the chance screwing everyone else you "cared" about, or you strangled your friends just for funsies, yes yes a very normal boy

[Funyarinpa]

I think Shinji is a well written character

[fun2novel]

I think so too. He is more realistic than most characters in anime. Let's not kid ourselves we would do the same if we were in the same situation as him.

[Kosakyun]

I have the same opinion of him. It's not that he's a sissy or wimp. It's just that he acts in the most realistic way out of all the characters. Shinji is the very embodiment of the human race being scared of what it doesn't know. Though of course, if there's no alternative, you'll have to accept that responsibility shoved in your face.

[RinXD]

 

^ this makes it so great

[Getsuya]

Wasn't Shinji just designed to lampshade the stereotypical mecha hero of the time? Until Evangelion I think most 'super robot' (as opposed to stuff like Gundam) anime leads were ultra-super-humanly heroic guys who smiled bravely in the face of danger and had the purest of pure hearts full of love for justice and peace. Then you get Shinji who couldn't give less of a crap about world peace or other people and doesn't have a heroic bone in his body. Even when he does the right thing it's usually for a selfish reason, and he seldom takes initiative, always relying on others to clue him in on what he should be doing. So yeah I agree with those who say Shinji is well-written. He was meant to be a stark contrast to every mecha hero before him, and it really did effectively satirize the genre.

 

... all of which doesn't change the fact that he's a whiny, selfish, annoying little coward.

 

who, as the reboot movies reveal, is totally the villain of the series

[Rinima]

Everything

 

(apart from the last two episodes, but lets pretend they don't exist)

[Stray Cat]

Whelp, now we know:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FckkZihQUaU

[Kosakyun]

Shinji's papa was bald.

It's 10/10 material.

[FidgetQueen]

[darknessintheway]

You could say Shinji is close to a normal modern day teenager, relying on other's decisions most of the time. The only bit I don't get is that he is toooooo much of a coward. Even normal humans have a bit of "heroism" in them.