Neon Genesis Evangelion takes place between July 6th, 2015 to January 1st, 2016. Here’s an exhaustive breakdown of the exact dates of events. Some noteworthy finds:
Kaworu meets Shinji on Christmas Eve and dies on Christmas Day.
The median amount of time between angel attacks is 11 days.
Toji loses his left leg on Halloween.
Kaji dies a day before Misato’s 30th birthday.
The first half of End of Evangelion takes place on Toji’s 15th birthday, one day after Kaworu’s death.
And more!
Note that in Japan, schools are in session (half-days) on Saturdays.
“Misato and Shinji are extremely afraid of being hurt. They both are unsuitable—lacking the positive attitude for what people call heroes. But in any case, Misato and Shinji are the heroes of this story.”
— Hideaki Anno
This scene is loaded. There’s a whole constellation of themes being realized as Shinji and Misato—NGE’s two protagonists—share a powerful exchange before everything to allegorical shit. This is the last “real” scene in the show; come Episode 25 and we are deep in the throes of Instrumentality.
Discussions of self-alienating love, suicidal idealization, Becker, Feuerbach, and various other revelations below.
To think people discredit the legitimacy of kawoshin because of the lack of obvious sexual attraction between them takes me aback. That is the whole reason WHY kawoshin is so real and important and why shinji is so head over heels for kaworu
Throughout the whole series shinji is put into sexual situations. He is mocked and harassed for not experiencing sexual attraction i.e. them making fun of him for not wanting to bang misato, assuming his want to understand rei is because he wants her. He gets teased by adults to be more sexual (i.e. misato and then kaji in the rebuild which /:) and is constantly put in a sexual eye by asuka because of her own conditioned views of sexuality. He is surrounded by it and confused by it and hes obviously uncomfortable but he also seems to be frustrated that being close to someone must mean something sexual and it confuses him further
Then kaworu comes along. Kaworu doesnt expect any of this from him. They sit together naked and its nothing sexual. They just hold hands. They sleep together and its not sexual. Shinji feels for the first time he can open up to someone. Kaworu just loves him and showers him in affection. They learn and talk together. Theres nothing sexual there but thats what makes it so special. Its why shinji is so happy. Hes surrounded by this push to be sexual and he finally founds someone who will love him and not necessarily want that. He found someone who helps him understand that he can be loved regardless of that. Kaworu loved him without any conditions
people don’t discredit kawoshin because “it wasn’t obvious enough” or “there wasn’t any sexual attraction”. people discredit kawoshin because they’re homophobic and sexist. people discredit kawoshin because they are obsessed with het ships; they are obsessed with asuka; they are obsessed with shoving asuka into het ships that sanitize and make her complacent, especially with the boy MC who has tremendous power over her, the boy MC who has tried to kill her twice, the boy MC who barged into her hospital room, saw her emaciated and comatose, and demanded that she help him, the boy MC who deliberately locked her hospital room door before masturbating to her body.
people discredit kawoshin because they are obsessed with the ‘de-bitchfiying narrative’ through which asuka, The Red She-Devil, is knocked down a few glorious pegs. if you’ve ever browsed evageeks or other asushin-dominated spaces it becomes clear that asushin isn’t so much about not finding “merit” in kawoshin – they don’t care if kawoshin was “subtle” or “overt” b/c it literally does not matter to them - they’re homophobes. rather, it’s about asuka, and their obsession with asuka fulfilling the perfect waifu role, with shinji
but how interesting that this whole second paragraph conveniently neglects the fact that shinji was pervasively objectifying+sexualizing asuka (and rei! and misato!) throughout the entire show. did you forget wall of jericho, where shinji lingers at asuka’s breasts before responding? or when asuka falls in his bed and shinji ogles at her breasts before attempting to kiss her in her sleep? (but asuka forced him into that uncomfortable situation, uwu!!) or when EOE revealed how shinji is deeply repulsed by overt displays of sexuality on part of asuka+misato but secretly gets off to them, because shinji cannot comprehend the fact that women can be more than a mother, a madonna, or a whore? when shinji yells at asuka, misato, and rei (yes! even rei!) for not attending to his needs while his subconscious projects smiling, placated, and most importantly naked images of asuka, misato, and rei gazing at him fondly in the foreground?
but these inconvenient points go neglected because it tarnishes the smol birb infantilized fandom shinji that everyone’s so obsessed about. because it attacks the dominating narrative that vilifies asuka, the very same narrative that paints her as an abuser and/or “equally complacent in the asuka-shinji abuse”, the narrative that claims asuka levies power over shinji and not the other way around.
shinji and kaworu can sit, bathe, and sleep together without gross sexual objectification from either side – shinji loves kaworu. kaworu is the only character in the show shinji loved and respected. like that’s the whole point. shinji objectifies girls/women as a desperate vie for control. shinji does not feel the need to exercise power over kaworu because they are equally matched. c+p’ing this to underscore:
Specifically, it is important that Shinji takes to Kaworu immediately and how Kaworu’s Position as being a boy affects the way Shinji receives him.
Shinji’s sexual assault on Asuka in EOE is 100% motivated by Asuka being a girl and Shinji being a boy, and is about power and overpowering someone who is more vulnerable than you. & When you truly, truly look at who Shinji has the power to hurt the most, it all leads to Asuka. He objectifies Asuka, he sexually abuses Asuka in the hospital room, he strangles Asuka twice. The way that Asuka protects herself verbally as a defense mechanism is contrasted with the extremely violent ways that Shinji seeks power over her.
These events do relate to Kaworu, too, because who immediately resolves to forgive Shinji and encourage Shinji to forgive himself for whatever sins he may have committed? The thing with that is that it’s not exactly Kaworu’s place to do that, but Asuka’s.
tired of these infantilizing metas that implicitly suggest shinji’s assaults on asuka are not shinji’s fault, but asuka’s, metas that obscure and shove context neatly under the rug. shinji is an incredibly complex character; stop doing him dirty like this.
the establishing shots of the military attacking sachiel? repeats itself in end of evangelion
misato marching shinji down nerv’s corridors? repeats itself in end of evangelion
emotionally charged peptalks between misato and shinji? repeats itself in end of evangelion
unit-01′s hand moving on its own for shinji’s sake? repeats itself in end of evangelion
even our very first shot of ritsuko, which has her emerging from an LCL pool in episode 1, echoes the very last shot her falling into the LCL tank upon being shot in end of evangelion
ever wonder why asuka’s debut episode takes place in the ocean? because asuka emerges from the ocean, kicking and screaming, in end of evangelion. and to top it all off, rei’s bookend appearances in episode 1 and end of evangelion respectively recapitulate the concept of alpha and omega so perfectly
rei’s tragedy is that she becomes a goddess in EoE
goddesshood is historically regarded as the pinnacle of femininity because goddesshood is glorified objecthood: and objects, even divine and powerful ones, can’t be loved - they can be worshipped, idolized, and influential, but evangelion says that love is human and love depends first upon one’s ability to be empathized with. goddesshood is the opposite of humanity - there are no feelings involved, just an inability to be empathized with, only worshipped and/or feared.
when rei - who was once introduced as a girl who had trouble “being human” - becomes a goddess in EOE, she’s seeing through the irrevocable end of femininity by molding herself into a vessel out of Gendo’s cathexis, transferred to his son. i already mentioned how gendo represents masculinity in that he is totally dependent on divine feminine energy: in keeping with the child/parent motif, shinji takes gendo’s place and rei appears to shinji as a goddess.
notice when shinji reminisces the “friends he wants to see again”, rei’s head is blocked by shinji’s face (this photo includes all the characters who can come back if they want to: hence kaworu’s absence & rei getting literally and metaphorically photobombed by shinji’s smiling face). when asuka and shinji wake up on the beach, rei is a hallucination at best, and a forgotten and lonely spirit at worst
there’s also tragedy in the human - the “feminine imperfection” symbolized by asuka, misato, and ritsuko. the point is that there is no way for the girls/women to simply BE, to be human (“at least, be human”) without gendered pain. the irony inherent in kaworu, a nonhuman, still being able to choose the circumstances of his death (as the angel of free will) despite his inhumanity is 100% explained by his perceived gender as a boy while rei and the rest of the girls/women are barred from a proper self-determined death
evangelion is all about people seeking objectifying love instead of humanizing love, and hurting, limiting, and depriving themselves in pursuit of that objectifying love. the (other) point is that everyone needs love, including rei - but rei can never be allowed it
some interesting naming conventions in evangelion:
asuka calls rei ‘yuutousei’, not ‘wondergirl’, which can be loosely translated as ‘honor student’
shinji refers to asuka as simply ‘asuka’, but calls rei ‘ayanami’. likewise, rei refers to shinji as ‘ikari-kun’, adding the proper honorific at the end
asuka calls misato ‘misato’ without honorifics. a child referring to an adult without honorifics is considered extremely impolite in japan - for point of comparison, shinji first calls misato ‘katsuragi-san’ and later eases into ‘misato-san’. before you say it’s because she’s german, asuka is steadfast in calling kaji ‘kaji-san’ (she even refers to him as ‘kaji-senpai’ on one occasion)
misato usually calls shinji ‘shinji-kun’, but sometimes she’ll jokingly refer to him as ‘shin-chan’ - a petname typically reserved for toddlers. imagine toji getting called ‘to-chan’ and you’ll get an idea of how cheeky this is on misato’s part
on a similar note, the petnames ritsuko and kaji reserve for each other are especially hilarious. ritsuko refers to kaji as ‘ryo-chan’ and kaji refers to ritsuko as ‘rit-chan’ (consequently, ritsuko is the only character in nge who calls kaji by his first name, which is ryoji). ‘rit-chan’ and ‘ryo-chan’ are weirdly infantilizing/overly-affectionate; they only do this within the earshot of misato with the obvious purpose of annoying the shit out of her
gendo still refers to fuyutsuki as ‘fuyutsuki-sensei’ (’professor fuyutsuki’); everyone else calls him ‘vice commander fuyutsuki’. old habits die hard
misato and kaji refer to each other on an entirely last-name basis; misato calls kaji ‘kaji-kun’ and kaji calls misato ‘katsuragi’
there are many different ways to refer to your father in japanese, but shinji refers to gendo as ‘otousan’. typically, children will use ‘otousan’ when speaking to their father and ‘chi-chi’ when speaking of their father, but shinji makes no such distinction, which says something about the emotional distance there. (interestingly, misato flip-flops between ‘otousan’ and ‘chi-chi’ when speaking of her own father. when does she use otousan? when she’s talking to kaji about her father)
rei never once calls asuka by her name. the name ‘asuka’ never leaves rei’s mouth once. rei refers to asuka as ‘the pilot of unit-02‘ or simply ‘anta’ (‘you’) when speaking directly to her
A lot of people don’t know that Makoto Hyuga was supposed to be canonly gay, too. Evangelion quietly slipped an allude to his sexuality in the original Episode 24 drafts (the same drafts that saw Kaworu and Shinji kiss). Ultimately, the idea was trashed and replaced with his crush for Misato, likely for the same reasons they trashed the original Kawoshin kiss.
Here’s the scene in question (you can read the entire draft here):
HYUGA: Seems like we’ve got ourselves involved in a pretty unbelievable organization.
[HYUGA hands MISATO more documents.]
HYUGA: Here’s my research on the Fifth Child. There’s nothing particularly suspicious in his history. He’s been in contact with the committee, but there’s no sign of involvement. As far as family goes, it seems there’s been some turbulence there. You could say he’s just a garden-variety pretty boy who’s had an unfortunate life.
this is actually so wild to me because of the violence against women used in all three of these movies, with the body of the mother as the vessel for pain and suffering
+ aronofsky’s plagiarism is well established. he’s a hack who purchased the rights to satoshi kon’s perfect blue to steal wholesale scenes for black swan and requiem of a dream without fear of suit. knowing him it’s likely he turned to eoe for inspiration, and knowing anno he likely borrowed from karel thole likewise
anno listing “tom and jerry” as one of his top ten anime, unironically
when he admitted to forgetting rei existed not even halfway through the making of evangelion
“i feel like star trek is american imperialism itself”
when anno’s highly anticipated australia visit had to be cancelled because he fell down a tokyo escalator during rush hour and cracked his forehead
“we have to put a little repulsive things in our works, especially for the children. it’s like poison: we need to give it to kids little by little to establish an immunity, so they’ll grow up with the ability and mental strength to resist”
when he called an american fan a “fool” for spending textbook money on anime
“i don’t listen to the beatles”
when he accused disney of casual fascism for “portraying nazis as fashionable”
“disney is simply not capable of handling the wide range of stories we see in japanese anime”
when he compared animation to “masturbation shows”
when he justified his veganism not for political or religious reasons, but because he has “no interest in ordinary life, including eating”
“when i first met anno in college, the first thing he told me was how he knew every line in space battleship yamato, except for the first episode, and the reason he didn’t know every line in the first episode was because he didn’t record it, and the reason he didn’t record it was because he didn’t know if the series would turn out any good”
"i dislike western civilization. i don’t place much trust in western civilization”
"i have an attachment towards deformity. i can’t love something if it’s not broken somewhere”
“maybe i have multiple personality disorder. i don’t even understand myself”
Anno really wanted to kill Toji off - he was supposed to die in Episode 18 when Unit 01 crushed his entry plug. But Anno was forced to maintain two conditions on part of Eva’s production company, King Records, to guarantee his show would get airtime:
Takekuma: Toji lost his leg. Why didn’t he die?
Anno: I couldn’t kill him.
Takekuma: Of course.
Anno: No, um, I made a certain promise, though I think I might have broken it by now. From the start, when we drew up the plot, I met with the producer, from King Records, who told me, “I will approve the plan you submit, whatever it is, because I have faith in you. However, there will be two conditions. The first one is that you will remain with me for five years. You cannot, for example, do a film version with another producer. The additional condition is that you will not kill any children. The adults can die, but I don’t want children dying.” Because of that condition I couldn’t kill Toji. (interview excerpt from schizo/parano by mitsunari oizumi)
As Anno alludes, sometime between Episode 18 and Episode 24 he pulled a fuck what da teacher said and decapitated Kaworu on a primetime weekday timeslot. King Records reportedly lost their shit and demanded that they pre-approve all storyboards before subsequent episodes would be aired.
In episode 18, Gendo orders that Unit 00's left arm without severing the nerve connections between it and Rei because the angel was infecting Unit 00. The person I'm watching Eva with (this is their first viewing) noted, somewhat understandably, that this was a perfectly fine decision.
But in the very next episode, Misato orders that Asuka's nerve connections with Unit 02 be severed before the angel decapitates Unit 02. Although the order was given too late, the point here is that it is possible for the nerve connections to be severed.
This contrast tells us that, for the millionth time, Gendo does not care about Rei. At best he doesn't care if he causes her pain, and at worst, he actively enjoys it. Although Misato is not a fit caretaker in any sense of the word, she is still better than Gendo for this reason alone.
That moment in 18 is mirrored in the finale. In End, its Rei's left arm that sloughs off when she's told, point blank, that her sole use is to reunite Gendo and Yui. That act of callousness in Episode 18 left a deep mark - and because Eva is weird like it is, it was a direct act of brutality to not just one Rei, but to two: Rei I's soul, in the Eva, cannot be spared the pain - Rei II, as pilot, could have been.
Quite possibly the memory of that is the final straw that flips the gestalt of the Three Rei's against Gendo - the moment of true reintegration between Rei I, Rei II, and Rei III in the pilot's seat, where suddenly their trauma and pain isn't just a hazy recollection but a concrete, physically embodied reality... and one that, without the degree of conditioning the other two have, Rei III is able to say 'get fucked' to Gendo over, steal Adam, and pursue her version of Instrumentality instead.
the current state of wwe yuri is killing me. rhiyo so happily married it sets off my romance repulsion. charlexa halloween costumes and alexa bliss confirmed freak who wants to bite charlotte soooo bad. zaruca still the coolest butch4femme bi4bi couple locked in a dynamic i can only describe as zaria the failbutch being religiously devoted to her surfer stoner girlfriend. and then you have fucking. asukairi DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TOXIC DOOMED YURI UNHAPPY MARRIAGE
finding the "folk" and the "lore" in the folklore of the wwe
do you want to participate in/contribute to the most electrifying master’s dissertation in all of folklore studies sports entertainment? read below to find out how you can!
thank you to @moxleyrollins for helping me find and source footage, and @alistairs for both excellent suggestions and putting up with me throughout the whole process!
i am currently looking for wwe fans to answer questionnaires and potentially sign up for one-on-one interviews regarding their relationship to, experiences with, thoughts on, and memories connected to their viewership of the wwe and professional wrestling. these will be used as data to help bolster my upcoming master’s dissertation project, where i will be arguing that the “lore” within and surrounding the wwe fits the criteria to be considered folklore, and that the wwe universe, comprised of both performers and fans alike, can be viewed as a folkloric group.
i know what you might be thinking: how the hell do you get folklore out of what is essentially a soap opera of violence? well, that was my question too and apparently i’m the first person to ask it because as far as all of my research has found, i am the first to climb this mountain, and by participating, I’m inviting you to climb it with me!
at this point, feel free to skip to the bottom unless you want to go down this absolute rabbit hole with me as well.
now, what exactly am i calling folklore? for starters, everything you see above. but let's take it step by step. think about how extensive of a culture wwe has amassed over the years, and not just for those of us tuning in weekly and for events. how many people do you know who’ve never watched a single match in their lives, but can recognize john cena’s entrance music and can understand what the five knuckle shuffle is, and the “you can’t see me” catchphrase? how many memes have you seen using pictures or gifs of various wrestlers or that one clip of vince mcmahon (i don’t even have to specify which one do i?) or videos using the undertaker bell?
as fans, have you ever thought about how, given all the various jargon, when you talk about wrestling, you’re practically speaking a different language, one unique to those within this specific community? and a whole language it definitely is. i’ve got 220+ words in the glossary portion of my appendices to prove it. material culture? how about all the replica belts, action figures, and various merchandise sold by wwe? what about fan-made stuff like signs, clothes, fanart? and yes, ring gear can and does count (or at least i’m arguing it does) as a kind of folk costume, whether that’s ric flair’s robes, cody rhodes’s red, white, and blue get-up, the wyatts’ masks, and pretty much every look shawn michaels or seth rollins have sported across their entire careers.
the very nature of wwe storytelling adheres to some of the characteristics folklorists study. not only are the plotlines and developments governed by adherence to calendar customs, with raws and smackdowns always leading up to and following in the wake of one of the many premium live events, but the storylines themselves are chock full of motifs straight out of the stith thompson index, constantly utilising tropes of good vs evil/hero vs villain (babyface vs heel), underdogs and heroes journeys. additionally, folklore and the folkloresque are often used as symbols and aesthetics to build up the image of a character and their gimmick.
and the community, from the wrestlers in the ring to the fans behind the barricades? easily checks off the list for attributes of a folkloric group. shared experiences and interpersonal relations, a sense of community, unique customs, rituals, beliefs, and traditions that are preserved and sustained, culture transmitted through group-wide communication and oral traditions (online with the iwc or in-person at events). the only box not checked has to do with size, and that's a point of wider contestation living now in such a technologically interconnected world.
i'll stop here, or else you'll end up reading through what is essentially a prolonged abstract of the entire project.
so what am i actually looking for and asking of the community?
i need members of the wwe community to take a few moments out of their day in order to answer questions about their introduction to and memories involving the wwe, their interest, engagement, and experiences with the material and the performances, their knowledge of wwe 'lore' whether it deals with the wrestlers (in or out of kayfabe) or fans and how they view those anecdotes, and their thoughts on the wwe community as a whole.
the questionnaire is made up, in total, of 10 main questions (one for every era), with an additional checkbox for those interested to note down their willingness to participate in one-on-one interviews, either chat-based or audio-recorded depending on the interviewee's preference.
below you will find a link leading first to an official consent form provided to me by my university. this will involve some level of sharing personal information, however it should be noted that no identifying information will be shared outside of the written project itself, all data will be kept secured on a university-issued cloud drive and will be deleted following the submission date of august 4, 2025, and any participants not wishing to be named in the dissertation itself can and will be anonymised.
upon finishing the consent form, you will then be referred to the questionnaire itself, described previously.
as for the interviews themselves (for those interested and able), those may range anywhere from 30 minutes to 1-2 hours, depending on time constraints and interviewee preference), and will largely focus on expanding on the answers previously provided in the questionnaire.
i hope that's all clear but i am happy to clarify any information for those who may have questions! if not...
click here to access the consent form and the questionnaire thank you to all who contributed! the dissertation has been submitted and so the questionnaire is closed!
now, for those who may wish to contribute but either don't have time to fill out the questionnaire or for whatever reason don't want to, my ask box and dms are both open for any comments or suggestions for what others might consider "wwe lore." have a moment that's stuck with you ever since it aired? a favorite match or promo? a fan-story you can point me to somewhere online? send it in, anonymous or otherwise! and feel free to share this post wherever you like and/or send it to anyone you believe might be interested in participating!
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