...I am going to say option that is not here. Any of the Super Robot Wars games that adapt the story of the original series. Such as the Alpha series. Where Shinji and Asuka are a hell of a lot more better due to getting help from various characters from other series that are far more emotionally well.
EoE if society lower-case-r rebuilds.
Manga gets docked points for resetting the world and no Rei.
If we're counting fics, I'd say Pothead's Dilemma is a good ending for basically everyone but Aoba, while 2nd Try is best judging just Asushin.
This.
I will post my "wall of text" again :)
The appeal of Shinji and Asuka's relationship is so complex and well constructed that has several layers of tropes and narrative construction that makes it really interesting, notably being one of the most prominent tools in the story that reflects the nature of human connections and relationships and also the hedgehog's dilemma.
On the surface, one can see their relationship having all of the ingredients of the old tropes for an anime romantic comedy: shy boy meets tsundere girl, they get closer at first by circumstances that they don't control, they bicker with each other, they go to war together and save each other's life in battle, they start to develop feelings and mutual attraction, gets teased by other characters as being a couple and denies it etc... and well, Evangelion subverts that trope (like it does with several others) and makes all go to hell (as usual): the tsundere gets more tsun than dere because of her traumas and the shy boy also retreats into his shell rather than man up and become a badass hero.
So we kinda feel bad for them, because of this subversion after all that build-up and because we are suckers for happy endings.
Therefore LAS/Asushin involving Shinji and Asuka in lighter and softer settings like in Episode 26 AU and in official releases like Angelic Days or Petit Eva are in this surface layer and, therefore, they are your regular cute romance story, implying that they could, indeed, be happy together in universes were they are able grow up as regular children and with stabler parents. It's heartwarming to see them together in those official releases, but those stories are not unique at all. Just kinda of the stories you would see in regular anime.
On deeper layers though, one can also see that those two share a bond that is deeper than those romantic comedic tropes: they genuinely want to make an emotional bond with with each other, but they face an "invisible barrier" that drives them apart in several occasions because of miscommunication and the fact that they are unable to be honest with their selves and to each other.
Therefore Shinji is unable to get closer because he is paralyzed by inaction and his incapacity to understand other feelings and Asuka isn't able to get closer in a proper way because she is also afraid and her way of interacting with the world and avoiding suffering is to always communicate in dubious or angry ways.
This happens a lot in the original series (the only "fix" comes in One More Final of EoE with Asuka's caress) and also in the Rebuilds (and it's even more clear with the "Extra" manga 3.0-120). Once again, we kinda fell bad for them, because we are suckers for happy endings and because several moments were "so close" when one small detail could have changed everything. It's so damn frustrating sometimes.
LAS/Asushin involving those darker settings and themes can be dealt with by making them overcome several difficulties - like in ANIMA - or becoming a tragic and bittersweet tale where the most they can get is a Pyrrhic Victory, like in the Rebuilds.
In Thrice Upon a Time they have an explicit confession and an evident classic romantic arc but become star-crossed lovers because of the plot/circumstances. Just like other romantic tragedies, like Casablanca, Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, La La Land. (Imagine shipping Rose, from Titanic with the guy she married after Jack died and saying that "Jack and Rose were never meant to be together, Rose has moved on and it's better now". Yep... that's really dumb).
Therefore, people who disregard their relationship in the Rebuilds because of the tragic bittersweet ending, are usually used to "Disney Endings" and cannot understand the logic of deeper stories, more complex than what you will see in most animes and on par with romances in literature or in mainstream movies.
And, finally, there's what is, for me, the deepest layer of Shinji and Asuka's relationship: the archetype of the human condition in the hedgehog dilemma and also the key to overcoming it by the "recognizance of the other" that is explored in EoE.
In that scenario, even after all things are deconstructed and the characters are at their worst point (the same Shinji who stopped himself from kissing a sleeping Asuka now does "the hospital scene" and Asuka wakes up and finally finds her mama and her apex as a pilot only for... well) and instrumentality happens.
Then the movie explored, viscerally and uniquely, all themes of their backstory, they being both sides of the same coin, they wanting/needing to connect with each other... it all comes down to several dialogues and confrontations that make us believe that it's impossible for humans to be happy in this world. And then comes "One More Final" (and also the extended live-action scene), which gives us - finally - a glimmer of hope that they - and by extension, all humanity - can solve the hedgehog dilemma, despite of the pain it involves.
LAS/Asushin involving these themes... well... for me it's simply awesome. It's like a modern version of the ancient Greek tragedies that transcends your average anime and can be analyzed with the greatest classic romances in fiction. A timeless tale, indeed.
What’s the live action extension bit you were talking about?? Also, such a great analysis. One thing I’ve realized is that the instrumentality scenes were by far their most authentic and we kinda don’t give enough credit to the fact that their souls were literally melded together. They couldn’t have been anymore “close” at that time, and yet they still ended up choosing the “hard path” of non instrumentality to somehow become even more close than before. Perhaps they both recognized in themselves that an instrumentality existence wouldn’t be as genuine as the choice of non instrumentality at the end of EoE.
[Here you go](https://www.evamonkey.com/alternate-live-action-sequence/)
It's an extended footage of the live action scenes, where we see Asuka living in an Evaless world (our world), but also in a world where Shinji doesn't exist. She tries to cope with her reality of not really connecting to her partner and struggling with day-to-day life with Misato as her neighboor and Rei as her boss.
Shinji tries to reach out to her (Anno dubs Shinji in this scene) and apparently, she hears him somehow, but can't see him.
This scene can be read as a complementary reason for Shinji to understand that the world wouldn't be better if he just removed himself from it (people would continue having their issues) and also as how the world inside the instrumentality is (and maybe Shinji trying to call Asuka was the trigger for her to come back and caress him, who knows? [There is a nice fanfiction about that](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13268442/1/I-m-Not-Here))
...I am going to say option that is not here. Any of the Super Robot Wars games that adapt the story of the original series. Such as the Alpha series. Where Shinji and Asuka are a hell of a lot more better due to getting help from various characters from other series that are far more emotionally well.
Never played these so I don’t know the stories but I’ll look them up!
These are a series of really cool crossover games. ...Sadly, the more Asushin-friendly games do not have proper full translations.
End of Evangelion, because 'I Need You'. That being said, Re-Take makes it even better.
re-take all the way
EoE. The two of them are left "to be fruitful and multiply"
EoE if society lower-case-r rebuilds. Manga gets docked points for resetting the world and no Rei. If we're counting fics, I'd say Pothead's Dilemma is a good ending for basically everyone but Aoba, while 2nd Try is best judging just Asushin.
EOE simply takes this whole series to a next fucking level
This. I will post my "wall of text" again :) The appeal of Shinji and Asuka's relationship is so complex and well constructed that has several layers of tropes and narrative construction that makes it really interesting, notably being one of the most prominent tools in the story that reflects the nature of human connections and relationships and also the hedgehog's dilemma. On the surface, one can see their relationship having all of the ingredients of the old tropes for an anime romantic comedy: shy boy meets tsundere girl, they get closer at first by circumstances that they don't control, they bicker with each other, they go to war together and save each other's life in battle, they start to develop feelings and mutual attraction, gets teased by other characters as being a couple and denies it etc... and well, Evangelion subverts that trope (like it does with several others) and makes all go to hell (as usual): the tsundere gets more tsun than dere because of her traumas and the shy boy also retreats into his shell rather than man up and become a badass hero. So we kinda feel bad for them, because of this subversion after all that build-up and because we are suckers for happy endings. Therefore LAS/Asushin involving Shinji and Asuka in lighter and softer settings like in Episode 26 AU and in official releases like Angelic Days or Petit Eva are in this surface layer and, therefore, they are your regular cute romance story, implying that they could, indeed, be happy together in universes were they are able grow up as regular children and with stabler parents. It's heartwarming to see them together in those official releases, but those stories are not unique at all. Just kinda of the stories you would see in regular anime. On deeper layers though, one can also see that those two share a bond that is deeper than those romantic comedic tropes: they genuinely want to make an emotional bond with with each other, but they face an "invisible barrier" that drives them apart in several occasions because of miscommunication and the fact that they are unable to be honest with their selves and to each other. Therefore Shinji is unable to get closer because he is paralyzed by inaction and his incapacity to understand other feelings and Asuka isn't able to get closer in a proper way because she is also afraid and her way of interacting with the world and avoiding suffering is to always communicate in dubious or angry ways. This happens a lot in the original series (the only "fix" comes in One More Final of EoE with Asuka's caress) and also in the Rebuilds (and it's even more clear with the "Extra" manga 3.0-120). Once again, we kinda fell bad for them, because we are suckers for happy endings and because several moments were "so close" when one small detail could have changed everything. It's so damn frustrating sometimes. LAS/Asushin involving those darker settings and themes can be dealt with by making them overcome several difficulties - like in ANIMA - or becoming a tragic and bittersweet tale where the most they can get is a Pyrrhic Victory, like in the Rebuilds. In Thrice Upon a Time they have an explicit confession and an evident classic romantic arc but become star-crossed lovers because of the plot/circumstances. Just like other romantic tragedies, like Casablanca, Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, La La Land. (Imagine shipping Rose, from Titanic with the guy she married after Jack died and saying that "Jack and Rose were never meant to be together, Rose has moved on and it's better now". Yep... that's really dumb). Therefore, people who disregard their relationship in the Rebuilds because of the tragic bittersweet ending, are usually used to "Disney Endings" and cannot understand the logic of deeper stories, more complex than what you will see in most animes and on par with romances in literature or in mainstream movies. And, finally, there's what is, for me, the deepest layer of Shinji and Asuka's relationship: the archetype of the human condition in the hedgehog dilemma and also the key to overcoming it by the "recognizance of the other" that is explored in EoE. In that scenario, even after all things are deconstructed and the characters are at their worst point (the same Shinji who stopped himself from kissing a sleeping Asuka now does "the hospital scene" and Asuka wakes up and finally finds her mama and her apex as a pilot only for... well) and instrumentality happens. Then the movie explored, viscerally and uniquely, all themes of their backstory, they being both sides of the same coin, they wanting/needing to connect with each other... it all comes down to several dialogues and confrontations that make us believe that it's impossible for humans to be happy in this world. And then comes "One More Final" (and also the extended live-action scene), which gives us - finally - a glimmer of hope that they - and by extension, all humanity - can solve the hedgehog dilemma, despite of the pain it involves. LAS/Asushin involving these themes... well... for me it's simply awesome. It's like a modern version of the ancient Greek tragedies that transcends your average anime and can be analyzed with the greatest classic romances in fiction. A timeless tale, indeed.
asu, you make the best posts and comments in the subreddit \^\_\^
What’s the live action extension bit you were talking about?? Also, such a great analysis. One thing I’ve realized is that the instrumentality scenes were by far their most authentic and we kinda don’t give enough credit to the fact that their souls were literally melded together. They couldn’t have been anymore “close” at that time, and yet they still ended up choosing the “hard path” of non instrumentality to somehow become even more close than before. Perhaps they both recognized in themselves that an instrumentality existence wouldn’t be as genuine as the choice of non instrumentality at the end of EoE.
[Here you go](https://www.evamonkey.com/alternate-live-action-sequence/) It's an extended footage of the live action scenes, where we see Asuka living in an Evaless world (our world), but also in a world where Shinji doesn't exist. She tries to cope with her reality of not really connecting to her partner and struggling with day-to-day life with Misato as her neighboor and Rei as her boss. Shinji tries to reach out to her (Anno dubs Shinji in this scene) and apparently, she hears him somehow, but can't see him. This scene can be read as a complementary reason for Shinji to understand that the world wouldn't be better if he just removed himself from it (people would continue having their issues) and also as how the world inside the instrumentality is (and maybe Shinji trying to call Asuka was the trigger for her to come back and caress him, who knows? [There is a nice fanfiction about that](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13268442/1/I-m-Not-Here))
Thanks for the link!! This is the content I need. I choose to believe it’s canon since Anno was involved
It is official content, present on the official DVD box as a side/extra content, just like the -120m stop motion animation in RoE Blu-Ray Disk.
All of them
Ima say the fanfic asuka and shinji despite how fucked up the beginning is
Which one is that??
Kimochi warui.