Sadamoto handles the final scenes with Shinji and Asuka with a great deal of respect, and all without straying too far from the plot of the anime. Skip plot summary @ 9:03
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055: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 13
Chapters 84 to 90, "Calling" and "Memories of Summer"
By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Translation by John Werry and Evan Galloway
Topics:
- Shinji x Asuka
- Existentialism, Is Rei god? Is Shinji God?
Other references:
- Guf (or the chamber of Guf) is depicted as an orb held by the combined Lilith and Rei, in both Judaic lore and in Evangelion it is a celestial body which houses all unborn souls and during third impact is where all the souls on earth return to. Confusingly Ristuko makes reference to Guf when she reveals the Dummy plug system (the Rei Clones), but due to circumstances in that mankind has no access to Guf, or there being no souls left in Guf, this means the Evas have adapted souls from others and that the Rei clones have no souls. [1]
- Tree of life vs Tree of Knowledge (Fuyutsuki refers to the formation as both)
There are many interpretations of this symbolic "tree" as it appears in a multitude of theological text. One being the tree that Adam and Eve ate from, however Evangelion takes the majority of its symbolism from Kabbalah and sacred geometry.
In the opening of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, we first see the tree of life in Robert Fludd's illustration and again as the Systema Sephiroticum, illustrated by Athanasius Kircher, which also appears in Gendo's room.
Within Kabbalah, the tree of life is a diagram called the Sefirot (Sephiroth), consisting of 10 nodules known as Sefira. It is a diagram representative of creationism. In End of Eva, before instrumentality is triggered, you may find Shinji is placed on the sixth nodule of the Sefirot. In a Kabbalisic interpretation of Genesis, Tifaret (or Tif'eret) is referenced when God is creating the world on "the fifth day" in the following passage:
"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. '" – Genesis 1:20 (English Revised Version)
This is because all nodules represent all of God's utterances upon creating the world, the first being uttered on the first day, "Let there be light"- Genesis 1:3 (English Revised Version). "Tif'eret" or "Tifarah" means "Glory" or "beauty" in Hebrew, it symbolises compassion and beauty. It's placement on the sefirot gives it more significance due to it representing mercy, justice, balance, giving and receiving.
The image of the cross is also superimposed on the Tifaret, with Shinji in the centre, this gives a sacrificial meaning towards the scene. [2] [3]
Italian for evil ditch (referring to the destruction of NERV's basement and formation of Lilith's egg) Malboge is referred to as the eight circle of hell in Dante's Inferno (the first part of The Divine Comedy by Italian poet Dante Alighieri) the Malboge word is plural, meaning "evil ditches", which there are ten of, the first instance is in canto 18 of the divine comedy "There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,
Wholly of stone and of an iron colour". [4]
Synopsis:
Shinji is able to get inside his Eva and save Asuka from the opposing Eva units. Meanwhile Ritsuko, desperate that the after-life doesn't fall on Gendo's terms, uses the help of the Magi system to blow up Adam and the entire base. In a twist of fate, it is her mother's Artificial Intelligence that stops her from doing so. Ritsuko's attempt at making a murder-suicide against Rei and Gendo fails.
During this time, Shinji is ambushed by the Evas and is provoked into awakening his own Eva as he syncs with it beyond the maximum threshold, this gives his Eva the properties of an Angel and allows Shinji and his Eva to become a pawn towards triggering a third impact.
This advertently causes the lance of Longiness to be drawn out from the moon's orbit and crucify Shinji's Eva. The enemy Evas coordinate and trap Shinji.
Gendo attempts to fuse himself with Rei, Lilith and Adam, however Rei rejects Gendo and instead chooses Shinji to be the arbiter of the world. A dying Ritsuko manages to fatally shoot Gendo in the throat and tells him that he is a liar, that there was only one person he ever loved, and it was not herself.
Rei, having undergone her fusion with Adam and Lilith is now a macro-cosmic being, she beholds the crucified Shinji and his Eva unit, in doing so Shinji becomes a literal tree of life. The being formerly known as Rei is able to use Shinji's new body to amass a single treasury of all earthly souls, but before she does so, she asks Shinji to show him his personal wishes, his thoughts and all that he truly is.
Sources:
- https://wiki.evageeks.org/Guf
- https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ten-sefirot-tiferet
- https://wiki.evageeks.org/Tree_of_Life
- http://www.fullbooks.com/Dante-s-Inferno2.html
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