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2) If you are in the boat that interpret the final scene as having something to do with Asuka and
Shinji learning to accept each other then a Hegelian interpretation of the scene further supports
your interpretation because it does not contradict it and Hegel's entire idea of self-consciousness
coming into existence (like coming out of instrumentality) is dependent on two
consciousness(people) recognizing each other ,through negation (rejection), and then accepting
each other because they need each other to be true self-consciousness(fully realized people). So
Hegel's ideas matches literally with the scene and thematically with Shinji and Asuka's character
arc and the themes/ideas that are commonly associated with interpretations involving Shinji and
Asuka accepting each other to any degree and/or accepting each other in combination with
rejection(disgust).
3)Title: One final I need you. The title obviously can be referring to multiple things at the same
time but it also fits nicely with Hegel since he is all about self-consciousness recognizing and
needing another self-consciousness to have any meaningful existence or to even exist in the first
place.
4) It further connects EoE to EoTV. I'll explain this further but basically I think that the end of
episode 26,specifically ,11:20-14:17 and Final scene are communicating the same exact thing to
the viewer. Like EoE is a physical and literal adaptation of Hegel's idea on self-consciousness
while EoTV run/reads almost like a sparks notes version of Hegel's idea on self-consciousness.
So if you think both endings are in agreement then this is just one more example of how they are
similar/same event. Note: Not saying they are exactly the same event only that they are directly
related. It could or could not be the same exact event.
Instrumentality:
I'm gonna talk a bit about Instrumentality and the Eotv 26 as a whole first. Sorry if anything I say
sounds off topic or redundant or obvious to you EVA experts but I wanna be clear and it is
relevant. Once' I'm done I'll go on to analyze episodes 26 art/dialogue to show how it relates to
Hegel/EOE specifically. So, anyway:
Instrumentality is similar to the Buddist idea of oneness. The idea of leaving your identity behind
and becoming one with everything; in instrumentality's case dropping your AT field and
becoming one with everyone. Here I would allow myself some freedom of speculation in regard
to Hegel's ideas and Buddism and Instrumentality and Evangelion since this is a show and not a
strict philosophy book or some psychology textbook or religious text and as a viewer there are
certain times I'm allowed to randomly speculate to a certain degree; this being one of them:
What Hegel describes as an unaware consciousness sounds a lot like Buddism/instrumentality's
idea of oneness. By that I mean if we were to imagine the experience of Hegel's state of
consciousness prior to it becoming true self-consciousness, a state of raw and unaware
consciousness, and compare it to what we would imagine the Buddist/Instrumentality's idea of
losing identity/ATfields and becoming one with everything/everyone, we would essentially
imagine the two experiences as the same thing. In other words there is no experiential
difference between being 1 single unaware consciousness or 1 super unaware consciousness
made up of conglomerate of unaware consciousness(Basically what instrumentality is) as
The image in the middle, the whiteness is Shinji in full instrumentality/fully complemented;
oneness/nothingness. Everything before it is Shinji in the process of instrumentality and being
"complemented". The image after is the beginning of Shinji exiting instrumentality. We know
this because Shinji has a "feeling" experience and has regained his "outline" after the few short
pure white frames. He should absolutely not have an outline if he is truly "complemented". The
dialogue during and after this image is Shinji making sense of the real world after returning and
beginning Hegel's Master/Slave dynamic. This moment of exiting instrumentality is analogous to
the scene from EOE when Shinji says good bye to his mother and returns to real world; note the
similarity in the art. The mechanism by which he does this is through his consciousness' sheer
will and no special power. Shinji is not like Neo from the matrix or a dream warrior from
Nightmare on Elm Street:3 or any person with a special ability to escape dream like worlds. We
know its will alone because the show outright says so. The common confusion people have in
understanding this is in the definition of this "will". I will go into what "will" is after I analyze
the dialogue, since, it is a bit off topic but I'll say right now that Anno's use of the word is very
close to becoming like philosophical jargon. Lol it's NGE jargon.
Shinji: What is this? A world of nothing. A world with nobody in it.
Other Shinji voce: This is a world perfect freedom.
Shinji: Freedom?
Other Shinji voice: Perfect Freedom, a world in which you have no restriction.
Shinji: Is this really Freedom?
Other Shinji voice: Yes. This is what it is.
Analysis: The scary sound effect signifies the very scary realization that Shinji is about to have
about what it means to be a single consciousness; a single consciousness is incapable of proving
it's self-awareness/reality even if it has objects that let it know it exist as a separate thing from
everything else.
Shinji is no longer fully unaware(instrumentality/complemented) because of his consciousness'
"will to perceive" but he can not be sure of his experience; he is experiencing a Limbo,
between reality and instrumentality, like phenomenon. This limbo like feeling is what
Shinji feels while he explores the beach before Asuka's arrival in the final scene. So all this
"my world" stuff is bad in relation to consciousness.
Shinji: What is this? A empty space? An empty world? A world where nothing exist but myself.
But with only myself I have nothing to interact with. It as if I'm here but not here at all. It
as if I'm slowly fading out of existence.
Analysis: This is the realization I mentioned. Shinji's is repeating exactly what Hegel is
saying about self-consciousness while he lays on the white floor. And this realization is what
Shinji is thinking/experiencing while he lays on the beach. And this frame is analogous to
the imagery of Shinji laying on the beach; the shadow let us now he is against the floor. Also
notice how white the beach is, it is extremely similar to the white space in EoTV. Here is a
Hegel quote for you to think of and compare with the dialogue:
Hegel: "Self-consciousness exist in and for itself when, and by the fact that, it so exists for
another; that is, it exists only in being acknowledged."
Misato: Because only you are here.
Shinji: Only myself?
Misato: Without others to interact with you cannot truly recognize your own image.
Shinji: My own image?
Misato: That's right. In the act of observing others you may find and recognize yourself.
Asuka: Yourself imagine is restrained by having to observe the barriers between yourself
and others.
Rei: And yet you you cannot see yourself without the presence of others.
Analysis: This is exactly what Hegel is saying. This dialogue here and right after is basically the
sparksnote version of Hegel. The various double imagery is analogous with Asuka and Shinji
laying next to each other on the beach. Both these moments from the movie and EoTV are trying
to convey the importance of 2 consciousness in this process. And in addition notice the symmetry
in the imagery from both endings. For Hegel you are only self aware through the recognition of
another. So your self-awareness, according to Hegel, is based off your perception of the others
perception of you; the self-awareness/Master&Slave process is a reflective/mirror like process
where you see yourself in the other.
Again notice how white the beach looks. It could almost be a part of EP 26. By comparing the
white beach imagery with Ep.26's dialogue and its use of white space we can see that the beach
represent the void of existence experienced by 2 non aware consciousness(raw consciousness).
The beach implies through the art that Asuka and Shinji are literally 2 consciousness' that are
floating around in the void of existence(the world/everything) and have yet to truly identify
themselves as themselves/become self-aware. The white space of EoTV and the white beach of
EOE represent the same thing and are trying to convey the same ideas/feelings to the audience.
Shinji: Because there are others I can perceive myself as an individual. If I am alone The I
will be same as with out others. For if this world is only of me then there will be no
difference between me and nothing.
Misato: By recognizing the differences between yourself and
others, you establish your identity as your self.
Analysis: Like I said earlier this is exactly Hegel is saying. So lets exam the imagery that runs
during this dialogue. We have Shinji's face and it's distressed. It is strange because so far the
dialogue seems like it's going in a "positive" direction; in relation to self-consciousness he is
getting closer. But Shinji is making another terrifying realization that is not being explicitly
stated through the Dialogue but is being expressed by his facial expression. The realization that
all of this requires that he and the other consciousness negate/reject each other
completely(recognize the differences) and fight to death. The fear of death being the only thing
that can possibly give this process any meaning because it validates the consciousness as being
more than just an object that is simply existing. So in other words self-awareness requires
pain/fear/struggle. Shinji must feel this fear and struggle in order to know he is selfconsciousness. Any hope of experiencing anything else, for example love, in the future is
completely dependent on this moment since it gives rise to true self-consciousness. This moment
is analogous to the moment when Shinji decides to get up and strangle Asuka. Here is quote for
you to compare with art and dialogue:
Hegel: "They must engage in this struggle, for they must raise their certainty of being for
themselves to truth, both in the case of the other and in their own case. And it is only
through stalking one's life that freedom is won; only thus is it proved that for self-consciousness,
its essential being is not [just] being, not the immediate form in which it appears, not its
submergence in the expanse of life, but rather that there is nothing present in it which could
not be regarded as a vanishing moment, that it is only pure being-for-self."
Asuka rejects Shinji(Disgust) and presumably Shinji will accept/submits to Asuka afterward.
Point being that there is an exchange going on between them. Hegel never explicitly states how
the master can achieve true consciousness like the slave and only describes the relationship from
one angle in his essay. Hegel just leaves the reader to sort out the implications of what he is
writing themselves. One possible implication being that the master and slave can only both
achieve true self-awareness at the same time through mutual respect and recognition. They do
this by taking turns and switching roles the way we see Asuka and Shinji do in the Final scene.
So the most optimal form of the Master-slave relationship is an extremely reciprocal relationship.
And eventually in this kind of relationship loving yourself literally means loving the other
because you love yourself through them the same exact way you achieve true self-consciousness
through the other. And most people would say that a reciprocal relationship made up of two
fully realized individuals(2 True self-conciousness') is a relationship made up of true love.
The final scene is about true love. AsukaXShinji shipper for life. It is beautiful because it is
true love being reciprocated between two equal and fully realized self-consciousness unlike
the one sided true love that a mother/slave/true self-awareness has for her
baby/master/false self-awareness.
Shinji: Right. I am I and she is she. But are you really sure that the perception of other
forms my true self.
Misato: It's true Shinji Ikari.
Asuka: Has it taken you this long to realize that. What an idiot.
Anaylsis: Shinji is literally questioning Hegel's ideas before accepting them. I take Misato's
response as proof that Anno/Shinji agrees with Hegel's view on self-consciousness. Asuka's line
is likely directed at Anno himself, Shinji and the audience. The rest of ep 26 has a few more lines
related to Hegel but it is just repetition of what I've explained already and I do not think it
connects directly to the final scene so I am satisfied with stopping here. I do not think EoTV and
the final scene are necessarily the same exact event but it could be. I personally don't think it
matters since EoE is basically is a remake anyways but they are, in my opinion, without a doubt
depicting the same exact ideas and themes in relation to consciousness and Hegel and each
other(Final scene and EP 26 11:20-14:17) and love(true love?).
Note: The final scene is about "love" but I would not say "love" is the moral of the story/NGE. If
you take a step and look at the show as a whole ...I would say it's more like "Hope" is the moral
of NGE and all of this is Anno's justification for that Hope. At any rate this is off topic and just
my opinion.
Will:
The show/movie makes it very clear that will is what makes everything I've written about so far
even possible so I don't need to prove/define it. But it does directly relate to the master/slave
conflict and Anno's use of the concept can be very easily misunderstood so since it is appropriate
to mention it in this post I will. This is my understanding of what Anno means by "will",
specifically, the will to return from instrumentality:
Will: Think of the word "will" as "primordial will". The will of raw being/consciousness is deep
rooted. It is deeper than any psychological drive or surface level want or need. It is on the same
level as instinct, if not, then it is even deeper. This is why people in instrumentality still have this
will despite being reduce to physical nothingness and near non-existence(unaware
consciousness)/full non-existence. This will is what drive consciousness to go into a state of selfconsciousness, literally. So when Shinji "wills" himself from instrumentality it means that at his
deepest core the being that is known as Shinji demands to exist, in other words this will is there
even before Shinji is aware that he is Shinji. And based off the final scene, EoTV, and Hegel not
just exist but exist in relation to others. Misato foreshadows this idea of "primordial will" when
she tells Shinji that those with the will to survive deserve to live after Kaworu's death. The
reason it sounds so cold is because it sounds like she is talking about deserving to "suicide/die"
but the line is not strictly about suicide, it's about "The primordial will to live"; deserving to live
is a separate concept than deserving to suicide/die. Now imagine if someone asked you why a
rock doesn't deserve to live. The only way to answer that without being fallacist is to say that the
rock literally lacks the will to live. So this "primordial will" is like a force, phenomenon, a thing
consciousness just does even before it is self-awareness.
Example: If Kaworu were to switch spots with Shinji he would not have returned from
instrumentality because as Misato noticed he does not have the will.
"But I can also die here. Life and death are of equal value to me. Dying of your own will.
That is the one and only absolute freedom there is. " -Kawaru
Absolute freedom=non-existence=instrumentality
When Kaworu says "Dying of your own will" he does not mean only to choose to die, he means
a literal lack or lost of primordial will. Death and Life are equal because he lacks the fear of
death that is intertwined with "will". Kawaru recognized our "will" and basically decided we
deserved to live and not him so he let Shinji kill him. When he says humans live for the future
that is in reference to our will to exist.
Note/Speculation: Kaworu is an Angel and this is most likely why he has no "will".
Hypothetically, all humans should have the "will" that Shinji has. It makes humans human.