Welcome to Zeyrritos world

greetings, the name’s Zey 🐻 | MOA ⭐️| lazy licensed translator 🌟

[prof-president]

shinji is the archetypical harem protagonist. not even just a character with a harem—he’s a representation of the archetype of a harem protagonist because evangelion is a deconstruction of the harem genre just as much as the mecha genre. perhaps even moreso today, given how much harem has proliferated in modern animanga culture

the archetypical harem protagonist (harem guy) is often a blatantly empty, self-insert husk. he often has dark hair and eyes, unremarkable features, and little to no discerns personality beyond being a nice guy sometimes. sometimes he’s a salaryman who dies to a truck. sometimes he’s a lowlife, epic gamer who wakes up in his favorite mmo. sometimes he’s called on by the lord God and Jesus himself. pick your poison—you know Harem Guy: he’s the most important, specialist guy ever.

while many characters elicit the feeling “he/she is like me!”, Harem Guy is intentionally designed to seamlessly communicate “i am him.” it’s the difference between, “i relate to this character” vs “this character’s experiences are my own.”

shinji is Harem Guy.

but, how can that be? how can a character with such defined character traits (his anxiety, loneliness, misogyny), backstory (parental abandonment), and often reprehensible/embarrassing actions constitute the epic glory of Harem Guy? it’s easy to agree that shinji is a harem protagonist (he has a harem), but how is he Harem Guy?

because shinji is someone who’d identify with Harem Guy. he’s the salaryman who dies to a truck, the lowlife gamer who’d dream of waking up in an mmo—shinji represents the exact kind of miserable person who slots himself in a Harem Guy escapist fantasy. however, rather than breezing by on plot armor and Being A Nice Guy, shinji must actually live out the experience and trauma of suddenly being thrust into the role of a hero.

this fact is used to draw a connection between the viewer and shinji, particularly that his experiences as a result of his fear of rejection are that of the viewer’s because (on a surface level without exploring his inner turmoil) shinji is just as blank, vapid, and devoid of personality as any typical Harem Guy.

he’s nice, maybe a bit mousey, but beyond physical traits, shinji’s classmates likely don’t have much else to say about him. he’s not good or bad, he has one or two hobbies, but like any good Harem Guy, nothing about him really rouses any conflict with others.

so, why is Harem Guy (shinji) like that? this question is rarely answered in archetypical harem settings, but evangelion explores how this type of person—someone who is ultimately unwilling to take up space and exert their existence unless called upon—is a result of child abandonment and neglect. rather than assuming Harem Guy just spawns into the world as a blank slate, evangelion explores through shinji that a fear of rejection and being burdensome learned by experience is why Harem Guy is so vapid a person.

then, what’re the consequences of being like Harem Guy? in the archetypical harem, this is yet again rarely explored as plot armor leaves Harem Guy free of major consequences. but in evangelion, the consequence of Harem Guy’s personality traits cause shinji to act in cowardly or contradictory ways.

for example, though shinji continually receives a the call to action—pilot the eva!—he doesn’t overcome his fear of the angels nor of death. he never gets the Courage Juice that instantly grants protagonist the resolve to charge into danger for the sake of justice, and this trait of shinji’s is consistent with Harem Guy. how could a person who’s so afraid to even take up space have the courage to choose to risk his life?

this is also reflected in Harem Guy’s role as a Nice Guy as well, where the Harem Guy performs basic acts of kindness. typical harem settings rely on the fact that Harem Guy’s niceness comes from common sense notions of niceness, but evangelion explores the contradiction between Harem Guy’s blankness and niceness by asking: what if being “nice” doesn’t get you what you want?

niceness can also be conflated with “doing the right thing” or “doing as you’re told,” and for shinji, they’re all kind of the same thing. shinji does nice things to earn the praise, attention, and most importantly, right to exist by other people. when misato reveals to him that he’s not “needed” by nerv to pilot the eva—that he can be replaced if they so choose to—shinji is left with the horrible realization that his “niceness” and sacrifices are moot in the eyes of nerv, resulting in part of his resignation

this question is most fully explored in the End of Evangelion, where shinji’s niceness throughout the series is cemented as not stemming from altruistic but rather a shield (shinji’s superego) hiding a selfish, cowardly, and self-flagellating mentality.

evangelion posits that a blank, empty person would not have the ability to discern “what is good/right” from “what is nice” because they fear the consequences of being hurt by the judgement of others, preferring to be wholly neutral rather than rouse any dissent. a vapid person has not experienced the reasons why something is good/right beyond being told to do so, being insinuated that doing admits being ingrated. nice acts often incur a personal loss to the performer, and particularly for a blank person like shinji, being nice is merely an act of self-flagellation for the sake of social gain.

this all serves to criticize the archetype of the Harem Guy as someone as pathetic, lonely, cowardly, and selfish. evangelion deconstructs the vapid persona of a Harem Guy as deriving from a fear of social rejection and reveals that that fear cannot exist in tandem with courage and identifying “what is good.” additionally, shinji’s role as someone who would escape into a Harem Guy fantasy serves criticize YOU (the viewer, or a viewer who fantasizes through Harem Guy) in possessing those traits. the deconstruction of the harem protagonist through shinji serves as harsh criticism against those who use harem settings as escapism from their fear of rejection

TLDR; shinji is a harem protagonist and if you’re obsessed with haremslop you got some things you may wanna consider buddy

[strawberry-macchiato]

Dreamscape

Day 86

[prof-president]

asuka is keenly aware she is a teenage girl in a society for adult men. she is aware she is overlooked simply because she is a girl compared to her male counterparts, so she is bolder and brasher to force attention on her. she is aware others expect her to be over-sensitive and loyal, so she relentlessly criticizes their flaws when they try to get to close and performs her duties with a theatrical air of authority. she is aware that to be noteworthy, worthy of status and the same respect as her peers, she must exceed perfection.

she is aware she’s sexualized without her control, seen as lesser when she is fetishized and objectified, so she acts and dresses promiscuously so she can lie—to others but mostly herself—that she is the one in control of how others perceive her.

she knows from her mother’s insanity and her father’s infidelity that failure to judge someone—god forbid a man who gets close—means that despite anything she’s sacrificed or worked to attain, she can be just as easily discarded. at just 14, asuka understands that she is perceived by others as inherently inferior, and this is entirely out of her control

i see people understand that asuka is a child trying to play the role of an adult. but what’s key to understanding her is that she has more pressure to succeed and more barriers to her success because she will always, always be objectified in some way by the men who, consciously or not, hold social power over her.

yes, asuka wants to be close with others, but she is keenly aware that those “others” hold much higher positions of power and influence than she can fathom. she doesn’t want to just be seen as an adult—she wants to be seen as human.

[clare-123x]

I don't know if I'm the only one who noticed, since I haven't read anyone else about it, but I've always loved how Lilith and Adam's two vessels were... everything society wouldn't expect.

Rei—Lilith's vessel, the "virgin mother" and creator (and also destroyer) of humanity—is this impassive, emotionless girl at first glance. Disconnected from reality to the point that she gives the impression of being a robot, programmed to follow orders. A somewhat cynical person who doesn't give room for emotional issues, but gets straight to the point, thinking about what needs to be done even at the cost of self-sacrifice.

Kaworu—Adam's vessel, the first angel, the embodiment of "male authority"—is this altruistic and empathetic boy, always smiling and putting everyone else before himself. A boy who would sacrifice himself without batting an eyelid to save someone else and would always be there to comfort them, someone that represents unconditional love.

I think it's interesting because, in a way, Kaworu is everything society would expect from a traumatized woman, while Rei is everything society would expect from a traumatized man.

As a woman, society expects her to smile, to put everyone first, and to be ready to love unconditionally and always forgive.

As a man, however, society expects him to be impassive and show no emotion, to be practical and not burden others, but rather to be 'strong.'

Each is what the other "should be," ultimately.

'Unconditional love' is often associated with women, but it's Kaworu who represents it—while Rei is the one who represents 'acceptance'. Just like the two of them tell Shinji in EoE.

[bodiesdecaying]

asuka gets written off a lot as just the "mean girl" or "tsundere," but she's honestly one of the most layered characters in evangelion. her entire personality is a survival mechanism, she's brash, competitive, arrogant because deep down she's terrified of being insignificant or unloved. the way she clings to validation through being "the best" eva pilot isn't about ego, it's about needing proof that she deserves to exist.

and the show doesn't treat that lightly. it shows how exhausting it is for her to hold herself together, how fragile that confidence really is, and how devastating it is when she starts to lose her place as "the best." you watch her spiral not because she's weak, but because she's human desperately trying to live up to an impossible image she built to protect herself.

asuka's anger, pride, and cruelty are just as real as her loneliness, vulnerability, and need for love. she's not easy to love, but that's what makes her so painfully real. eva doesn't give you the comfort of one-dimensional archetypes; it gives you a girl who's fifteen, traumatized, brilliant, and self-destructive, all at once.

asuka isn't "just" a character to like or dislike, she's a mirror. she's what it feels like to armor yourself in bravado because the alternative is collapsing under the weight of your own insecurities. and that’s why she sticks with people so long after the show ends.

[bodiesdecaying]

misato katsuragi is not just "that pedophile character."

yes, she grooms shinji. yes, it's messed up. eva wants you to feel disturbed by that. but flattening her entire character into "pedophile" misses what's actually going on with her writing.

misato is written as hypersexual, but not in a way that's empowering. it's survival. it's her crutch. she uses sex and flirtation as coping mechanisms, the only way she knows how to build intimacy after a life defined by abandonment, second impact trauma, and the death of her father. her relationships (with kaji, with shinji, even her casual joking) show how she's stuck in this loop where she equates intimacy with sex, because genuine vulnerability feels impossible.

her "hypersexuality" isn't meant to be titillating, it's meant to be tragic. it's messy, it's inappropriate, it's self-destructive. eva keeps showing us how she drinks too much, pushes boundaries too far, hides behind seduction instead of honesty. and when she offers herself to shinji, it's not some secret truth of "oh she’s a pedophile," it's a breakdown of everything she's been holding in. her fear of dying, her terror of being alone, her inability to connect in any way that isn't sexual.

that's why her character is important. she embodies adulthood in eva's world. not wise or put-together, but broken people dragging their baggage into every relationship. misato hurts shinji, but not because she's only predatory, it's because she's caught in the same cycles of trauma he is.

so yeah, call her out for her behavior, but don't erase the bigger picture. misato isn't "bad representation." she's realistic representation of how trauma, hypersexuality, and desperation can warp someone's entire way of existing.

[my-dailydreams]

[maxismusprime]

asuka….

[heizzer]

the bus won't arrive

[artclari]

[xxmiette5000xx]

this one is dedicated to my middle school self

[vexheart]

[dogrotpdf]

how’s that house that raised you?

[vexheart]

This

[babieswithrabiesforpresident201]

[silencingthedrums]

My favorite part of conventions.

[sunshiny-rants]

just watched Heart…Sam just killed his own fucking narrative mirror??? he’s put him in the same situation he put Dean in…but he does what Dean couldn’t do…allegorically killing himself…

[yfel-axel]

the curse of bad posture continues on in the family, I'm sorry Agott