Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion - Characters & Cast

Shinji is primarily motivated by a desperate and often-unspoken need for validation and affection, particularly from his father. He pilots the Evangelion not out of a sense of duty, but out of a fear of being abandoned and a fragile hope that by being useful, someone might love him. His actions are often driven by a desire to escape pain and responsibility.

Shinji begins the film in a state of near-catatonia, consumed by depression and self-loathing following the death of Kaworu. He is incapable of action, even as NERV is invaded. Forced into the Evangelion by Misato's sacrifice, he witnesses Asuka's brutal defeat, which triggers the Third Impact. Inside the sea of collective consciousness, he is forced to confront his deepest fears of abandonment and his dysfunctional relationships. Ultimately, he rejects the painless but empty reality of Instrumentality, choosing to return to a world of individuals, accepting that life's potential for joy is inseparable from its potential for pain. His arc is not one of triumphant heroism, but of taking a single, painful step toward self-acceptance.

Asuka's motivation is rooted in a deep-seated childhood trauma stemming from her mother's suicide. She has constructed a brash, arrogant, and hyper-competent persona to hide her profound insecurity and desperate need to be seen and valued. Her entire self-worth is tied to being the best Eva pilot, and any failure threatens to unravel her fragile identity.

At the start of the film, Asuka is found unresponsive in a bathtub, having withdrawn from the world due to her severe trauma and shattered pride from her previous defeats. During the JSSDF's invasion, she is placed inside Unit-02 for her own safety. There, she has a breakthrough, realizing her mother's soul has always been inside the Eva protecting her. This revelation allows her to fight with a ferocity and confidence not seen before, single-handedly defeating the Mass Production Evas. However, her triumph is short-lived as the Evas reactivate and brutally dismember her unit, killing her. She is reborn from the LCL sea in the final scene, becoming the first "other" for Shinji in the new world, representing the difficult reality of human relationships.

Initially, Rei's motivation is to fulfill Gendo Ikari's orders. However, her interactions with Shinji awaken a sense of individuality and a desire for connection. Her ultimate motivation in the film becomes a choice born from her bond with Shinji, rejecting her creator in favor of the person who treated her as a unique individual.

Rei, a clone of Shinji's mother Yui Ikari and a vessel for the soul of the Angel Lilith, begins to exercise her own will in the film. For most of the series, she has been a passive, almost emotionless figure, largely subservient to Gendo. In "The End of Evangelion," she defies Gendo's plan to reunite with Yui. Instead of merging with him, she chooses to merge with Lilith and go to Shinji, the one person who showed her genuine compassion. She cedes control of the Human Instrumentality Project to Shinji, allowing him to decide humanity's fate. Her arc is one of finding selfhood and making a definitive choice that shatters her role as a mere puppet.