Neon Genesis Evangelion Chapter 78 Discussion

Awesome chapter. Gendo generates an AT field, and finally comes clean with Shinji.

Significant, but great departures from the anime.



Misato kicks all sorts of ass.

So,  Gendo reveals himself to Shinji. That he envied him for taking Yui's love and that he wants to play god in order to stop from losing anything ever again. Which is something Shinji definitely relates to. He is also able to deploy an AT field since he has Adam in his hand. Misato arrives as well, I'm not sure if she agree with Gendo or not, but she is taking Shinji to Unit 01 regardless.

Fuck you Gendo. Shinji did nothing wrong.

This chapter was a great addition to the manga. Sadamoto is doing a great job at adding in additional scenes that were never in the anime. Gendo's whole speech to Shinji here was epic. What a complete douchebag though. What horrible things to say to your own son.

Shinji isn't as apathetic here as he is in the show

cant tell if gendo is really trolling or not

If from the beginning Gendo seemed to me a despicable guy, with this he has just earned a good place in my top "worst pieces of shit" in the history of anime.



I hope, from the bottom of my heart that he has a horrible and painful death.

Lol Gendo is more nuts than Kaworu

Ok...I don't know how to feel about this.



I know Gendo was always a piece of shit but I liked how he was more of an embodiment of the hedgehog's dilemma, in the sense that he doesn't feel like he has the right to be loved by others, not even his son, because he know he'll only cause them hurt, and someone who just can't get over his wife's death. Still awful, but tragic. I also liked how in 2.0 he was given a but more attention with a few subtle details to his character and the way he acts.



Instead, in here he's shown as a full-blown narcissistic sociopath with a creepy obsession over Yui. It's not even love, but a weird mix of idolizing and objectification. I can't tell if this fits the overall themes of Evangelion or if it suddenly feels a bit too edgy.

I've never imagined that a father wouldn't love his son for this reason.

That monologue and seeing Gendo using the A.T field were great additions, indeed

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                        Holy shit, Ikari telling to his son that he hated him because he was jealous of him was freakin' epic. It reminded of the scene where Ryouji was telling to Shinji that he doesn't deserve happiness.

This is what I love about Eva, it's violent and depressing when we're not expecting it.

And people can overburden others when we're expecting them to cheer them.



Eva is the very definition of thought provoking, nuff" said.

Gendo finally spills what was probably the worst kept secret in the whole story: he doesn't like Shinji. In fact he hates him. Hates him to the very core. That Yui, understandably as a mother, would shower affection on Shinji, didn't fit well with Gendo. Yet again, like Asuka, Shinji comes to the realisation that his birth wasn't welcomed by one of his very own. Predictably because it's the final time they'll ever meet, the father also tells his son to join his crusade. The crusade to make him into a God so that he never loses anything again.



Gendo, in short, is an absolutely miserable human being. Unable to face the loss of his loved one, he's hell bent on turning the rules for himself, rather than accepting them as any other human being. In his quest for getting back to the one he loved, he has ironically severed several other relationships, alienated his own son, used people for his own causes and then leaving them in the cold.



' I want to become God, so that I won't lose anything'..

One of the pet themes of Eva is how the characters deal with personal losses, and Gendo's reasons here aren't meant to be viewed in a sympathetic light.



I would've liked the manga to explore more on Gendo's past, the guy he was before he met Yui. I guess the manga missed a trick there.