Shinji Ikari

Origin

Shinji Ikari is a character and the main protagonist for the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Shinji is the only child of Gendo and Yui Ikari and is one of few select runners or Children, as they are called in the series, that are able to pilot NERV's semi-sentient machines called Evangelions

During his childhood, Shinji's mother died on the job in an incident involving one of the Evangelions- she had been assimilated by the very machine she had been working on. Both of his parents were working for NERV at that time. Shinji's father abandoned him after Yui's death, leaving him in the care of a teacher so he could focus on the Project he and Yui had been working on. This had resulted to Shinji turning into quiet and reclusive child, having essentially no self-esteem and avoidant of any from of confrontation with people.

Character Evolution

The main evolution seen with Shinji Ikari is through his childhood, losing his parents caused him much mental and physical stress. Eventually altering the current person he is today. The major changes seen in this is his quietness as well as being very lonely, having little interaction with other people. He likes to keep to himself and has little self-esteem with anything he does. He also gets embarresed easily, so he tries not to confront people or even interact with them.

Major Story Arcs

Third Child

When Shinji was fourteen years old, his father had contacted him. This was the first time Gendo had made contact with his son since Yui's death. Shinji had received a letter from his father telling him to come to the city. Also included in the letter was a NERV ID card; he had been chosen

Shinji is is the third pilot to be chosen and thus became the Third Child. The other Children being Rei Ayanami (First Child), Asuka Langley Sohryu (Second Child), Toji Suzuhara (Fourth) and Kaworu Nagisa (Fifth)

Unit 01

Eva Unit 01 holding a Progressive Knife

Eva Unit 01 is the Evangelion piloted by Shinji Ikari and sometimes by Rei Ayanami. Created in the Third Annex of in an Artificial Evolution Laboratory in Hakone from 2003 to 2004 and deemed a functional Eva unit in 2014. It frequently acts independently (the "berserker" mode), without the instructions of a pilot and without any apparent power source. The Eva will also take action to protect its pilot while sometimes servicing other interests.

Like Units 00 and 02, Unit 01 is driven an umbilical cable since Evangelions have a massive energy requirement, so much so that for functions beyond pilot life support, their internal batteries' charge only lasts for a maximum of 5 minutes.

Unit 01 is also sports the B-type equipment, The standard equipment of the Eva Units, their "normal" armor. This kind of armor is not suitable for combat in extreme conditions or under water though.

Apart from external weapons, such as Assault Rifles and Positron Rifles, that Eva units can be equiped with, unit 01 also has an internally concealed weapon called the Progressive Knife, a combat knife often referred to as a "prog knife", stored in the shoulder "wing" of the Evangelion that uses it. It works by vibrating particles at an extremely high frequency, which allows it to slice an object at the molecular level. However, like all of the weapons that Evas use, it has no effect on Angels until an Eva has neutralized their AT Field.

AT Field

The last weapon that the Eva has is called the AT Field. An A.T. Field (short for "Absolute Terror Field") is a nearly impenetrable force-field barrier which Angels and Evas can generate. Conventional weapons such as those used by the combined military forces of the U.N. are effectively useless in penetrating an A.T. Field. Essentially, the only thing that can penetrate an A.T. Field is another A.T. Field, such as those created by the Evas.

Relationships

Throughout the course of the series, Shinji builds relationships with many of the other characters in the anime. He builds a friendship with classmates Kenzuke Aida and future co-pilot Toji Suzuhara. They're initial meeting was quite a violent one after Toji had punched Shinji, blaming him for his sister's hospitalization. His sister was injured during one of the Angel fights Shinji had before. Their relationship improved though after Shinji had saved them during an Angel encounter. Now the three frequently hangs around each other

Easily, Shinji's best relationship is with Misato. His guardian, despite going through so much in life and having issues of her own, has always had a sunny disposition in life. She constantly tries her best to guide and motivate Shinji through his career as an Eva pilot and through life itself. It is hinted in the series though that the two has some sexual tension despite Misato being almost twice Shinji's age.

Shinji's most complicated relationships are arguable with the other Children - none more complex than with Asuka. Shinji carries out a deceptively straightforward love-hate relationship with Asuka and as the series progresses more layers are revealed, making it a very complex interaction between emotionally damaged pubescent children who are confused about how to express their attraction to each other. Their mutual psychological scarring and emotional issues keep the two from confronting their true feelings to each other. In the anime, the two are frequently seen bickering - although Asuka does most of the shouting - with one another. So much so that in one of the episodes Toji comments on the two of them saying that they "fight like a married couple".

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	Name	Movies	TV Shows
	Megumi Ogata	5	26
	Spike Spencer	5	26

Name:	Shinji Ikari
Name:	碇シンジ
Romanji:	Ikari Shinji
Gender:	Male
Birthday:	06/06/2001
1st manga book:
1st anime episode:	Neon Genesis Evangelion #1
1st anime movie:	Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
Aliases

	Evangelion: Death and Rebirth The first movie in the evangelion franchise, it consists of two parts, the first one is a retelling of the show and the second a ...
	Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo Evangelion 3.0 is the third movie in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, it covers the events of episodes 20 through of the anime, and it ...
	Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance Evangelion 2.0 is the second movie in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, it covers the events of episodes 8-19 of the anime, and it will ...
	Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone Evangelion 1.0 is the first movie in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, it covers the events of episodes 1-6 of the anime, and it includes ...
	The End of Evangelion A alternate conclusion to the epic anime series, written and directed by Hideaki Anno.

	Rei Ayanami
	Maya Ibuki
	Shigeru Aoba
	Hikari Horaki
	Touji Suzuhara
	Ryouji Kaji
	Ritsuko Akagi
	Kaworu Nagisa
	Makinami Mari Illustrious
	Yui Ikari
See All »