End of Evangelion (EoE) can be split cleanly into 2 halves: the action half in which NERV is conquered by SEELE, everyone dies, and Shinji & EVA-01 are corralled into the SEELE ritual; and the introspective half which ends with the infamous ‘kimochi warui’ scene.

There is some preliminary introspective material from some other characters’ perspectives, but the exact pivot is a fight scene set in Misato’s apartment between Asuka and Shinji . It’s a disturbing scene to watch. It’s not clear whether this is a memory, a telepathic conversation , or a product of Shinji - or Asuka’s! - imagination. Both characters are frayed, at their limits. Powerful emotions and memories are at play here; this scene is perhaps the single greatest example of the hedgehog’s dilemma in Evangelion. It also points out the hedgehog’s dilemma which we might have missed in the previous scenes. Asuka had fought to prevent SEELE’s conquest, and had been utterly defeated; throughout the fight, Misato tries to get Shinji to help Asuka in the fight, but Shinji delays until it is too late - betraying Asuka and Misato’s expectations. If you count on others, they can let you down and hurt you.

Asuka : “You’re only using me as an escape - because that’s the easiest way not to get hurt!”

Asuka : “Then, don’t do anything. Don’t come near me anymore… Because all you ever do is hurt me.”

Shinji : “I want to help you in some way… and to be with you forever.”

Shinji : “But it makes me afraid… Afraid that I won’t be needed again someday. It makes me uneasy! It worries me! Let me hear your voice! Interact with me!! Care about me!”

Immediately after the strangulation in the EoE scene and Shinji’s descent into despair, everyone is forcibly joined into one being and EoE begins the dream-like introspection; immediately after the analogous 3 lines in the EoTV scene, the voices begin talking about the destruction of the world that Shinji wished for and his control over everything. The parallel is striking.

Shigeru: The world where how to accept things and how to perceive things is absolutely up to you.

Asuka : So I’ll live alone. But I don’t want that. It’s painful. I don’t wanna be alone. I don’t wanna be alone. I don’t wanna be alone!

One particularly prominent allusion is the previous ending. Following a SSD suggestion, Mr. Tines points out that the end of the scene (‘ Shinji : “Don’t leave me alone! Don’t abandon me! Don’t kill me!”’) strongly echoes an earlier scene in episode 25:

“But it’s important to note that Komm Susser Tod’s progression changes ~2:10 and never really returns to the Pachelbel thing. No doubt its included in the film due to its ‘cover’ of Canon (not to mention the lyrical subject matter), and it certainly refers to Canon’s earlier usage in Death [& Rebirth] (particularly the inferences to Instrumentality during the rehearsal parts).”

Why does Shinji say “Don’t kill me!” when he’s the one physically attacking people? Is this linked to the defeated Asuka’s final incoherent words to her SEELE enemies, “Kill you all… I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you all”?

On the other hand, Asuka’s coma puts some severe limitations on her interactions with other characters; neither Shinji nor Asuka seem to be desperate enough before EoE for such a violent interaction; nor is it clear why Asuka would call for Shinji in the final fight if she had previously (as depicted in the hypothetical flashback) told Shinji to leave her alone, and likewise why would Shinji ask the unconscious Asuka for help in the earlier infamous ‘hospital masturbation’ EoE scene? Further, many scenes are not obviously ‘dream sequences’, yet must be - for example, D&R has unexplained scenes of Asuka, Shinji, and Kaworu playing classical Bach pieces TODO: was it Bach? together, despite the fact that Kaworu was introduced after Asuka was put into a coma.

This is possible. In this scene, Asuka and Shinji are in the kitchen and Asuka is wearing a yellow shirt; 2 of the added scenes in D&R (inserted into the Director’s Cut) put them in the kitchen with Asuka wearing a yellow shirt, and it is known that those added D&R scenes were being written simultaneously with EoE’s plot. On the other hand, another commenter points out that the clothes are the same as a chronologically earlier scene and argues that this repetition is indicative of memories being mingled and the scene not being real.

In the climax of End of Evangelion, one character performs a shocking act against another, and there has been some audience speculation, based on the abstract and internal nature of said finale, whether the incident actually occurs in the “real world” of the narrative. However, in one of the last television episodes, a series of brief, near still images of a disrupted kitchen (in particular, a lingering shot of an over-turned coffee pot lying partially out of frame) imply heavily that the incident truly happens, and thus makes it all the more devastating. In the final moments of the film, the incident is all but reenacted, and while the setting has changed, the animation returns to a similar series of still images (detailing the state of the world) to recall that moment.

The scene is too off-beat… too surreal. Considering the circumstances, I think it’s simply a physical manifestation, via Complementation, of Shinji’s inability to relate to, and interact with, others.

There are several cels from that scene used in episode 23, Special Edition (as well as some frames from the Rei/Lilith being). These are added during the sequence when Shinji tells Asuka that Kaji is dead (or at least, “not coming back”). Assuming this scene from EoE was real - it is only logical to presume they would have been edited into the Japanese release as all the other scenes were…So you’re saying Shinji tried to strangle Asuka? I can see a post-Kaworu Shinji doing that; but any time before that is ridiculously out of character.

SSD provides the screenshots; despite the uncanny visual similarity, it seems Jamieson’s cuts are actually of Misato & Asuka mourning Kaji’s death - but not quite exactly as one might expect. Perhaps, as SSD remarks, they are “one of the many ‘twisted retakes’ EoE’s Pre-Instrumentality and Instrumentality proper alludes to. Another being the Episode 15 kiss scene.” Brendan, on balance, thinks that the scene is not real:

“I noticed something very disturbing during the scene where Shinji first meets Kaworu on the beach. There is a very quick cut of Asuka flashed and looking at it now I am positive it is a view of Asuka from Shinji’s perspective in the coffee-pot scene. The cut is of the camera looking down upon Asuka, sitting at the dinner table - head in hands - from her left. This would be exactly how Shinji would have seen her in the EoE scene. The whole thing seems very peculiar to me”

Spilt coffee certainly could ruin a carpet, and both Asuka and Pen-pen witness the spilling; so is this Anno telling us that this scene is a memory set way back before TV episode 23 or 24?

For example, when Shinji Ikari says only Asuka can help him and she replies “Liar”, it’s the same single-word reply that Ritsuko Akagi gave Gendo Ikari just before he shot & killed her. Significant?

Part of the trouble interpreting this scene is that Anno is a very good director and a master of callbacks and allusions and variations - but one man’s allusion is another man’s mot juste.

I’m sure you know a similar thing happens with ‘Komm, Susser Todd’. The song’s clapping makes you want to clap along, and the repeating of the chorus at the end makes you sing along. The chorus is short and very catchy, built of two five word sentences (‘It all comes tumbling down’ and ‘I just keep letting me down’), but the repeat chorus cuts it down to shorter sentences (‘Letting me down’ and ‘Tumbling down’). That makes the song all the more catchy and seductive, makes you want to sing and clap along. KST was composed by Anno himself, and is the song that plays during Third Impact. By singing along and clapping along, you ‘give up your individuality’ and become instead of a listener another singer, you join the group. Also, the singing and clapping makes you feel like you can’t always tell your voice from the singers, and like Rei says, the Sea of LCL is an ambiguous world, where you can’t tell where you begin and others end.

Those lyrics are different enough that we can’t really compare them on a line by line basis, but we have 3 translations of Anno’s Japanese lyrics:

The ultimate English adaptation is quite different from the original lyrics Hideaki Anno apparently gave the translator, Mike Wyzgowski. It’s easy to discount the English lyrics as being less ‘original’ and perhaps only reflecting Wyzgowkski’s views, but both versions are worth looking at; the English transcription (omitting repeated lines):

The music itself is not helpful; many have noted that it sounds improbably cheerful and also rhythmically similar to the Beatles’ “ Hey Jude ”. The lyrics seems to be about suicide - quite a contrast! This contrast is, however, an Anno trademark. He previously used it in episode 24 where Beethoven’s celebratory Ode to Joy played as Shinji kills his friend, and the cheerful song/tragic event technique is used not once but twice in Rebuild 2.0 .

The movie version is in English; reportedly Anno penned the lyrics in Japanese and had them translated for the singer, Arianne , to perform.

The song “Komm, süsser Tod” (KsT) overlaps the scene only briefly as we segue to an ‘external’ view of the planet earth and humanity deliquescing to form a singular entity, but if we’re not certain what the scene means just from the text, we have to look to the lyrics - it would be logical if the lyrics described the consequences of what seems to be Asuka’s complete rejection of Shinji.

As one can see, the general tone of defeat, resignation, and suicide is present as well. We might be over-interpreting KsT on its own, but when both candidates suggest this interpretation, we are on solid ground.

“Oh, and it’s understandable why KST was used in terms of scene-matching and tempo compared to EYED. Although it was the other song option for Instrumentality, Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed is too slow-tempoed (also it’s a minute or two shorter than KST), though some of the music fits the scenes when you play the sequence and song together.”

KsT was not always going to be the EoE feature song; the Refrain of Evangelion OST notes say that there was a competitor, “Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed” (EYED), which was likewise penned by Anno & translated/heavily adapted by Mike Wyzgowski.

The sequences immediately after KsT are confusing montages and live-action clipshows. It’s not clear what’s going on, and this is a point at which many people seem to simply give up and wait for the movie to terminate on the beach; Shinji’s dialogue with Rei seems like pure gibberish. But it turns out that we are lacking a huge puzzle piece - the live-action clips were drawn from a longer cut live-action sequence which had made it all the way to filming. Is this important?

Every work is made under constraints but that doesn’t mean we should applaud every decision which had to be made. EoE seems to have been under time constraints just like the TV series, given the delays and very weird release schedule, so it’s possible that that was why the full live-action sequence was cut and an incomprehensible set of clips used instead. I don’t see what’s inessential about it: EoTV also used anime and crayon and random stuff, and also included a full alternate world sequence.

This is important: EoTV also had an alternate world, even if it was animated and not live-action like EoE’s. I think there is clear parallelism: both alternate worlds take place in the last episode (episode 26 and 26’ respectively), both take place not terribly long before the end, and both seem to trigger a decision or realization by Shinji. Both sequences served a didactic purpose: in EoTV, it showed Shinji that he could live in a world without EVA and in EoE, it took it a step even further and showed Shinji a completely ordinary world without EVA, NERV, Second Impact and without any of his relationships with other people.

I admit that it’s much easier to understand the EoTV alternate reality sequence than the EoE one, since episode 26 lays out the meaning very explicitly:

Shinji: “I get it, this is also a possible world. One possibility that’s in me. The me right now is not exactly who I am. All sorts of me’s are possible. That’s right. A me that’s not an Eva pilot is possible too.” “When you think of it that way, this world of reality isn’t so bad.” S: “The world of reality might not be so bad. But I hate myself.” “It’s you that perceives reality as bad and unpleasant. It’s you who’s mistaken reality for the truth. Your perspective on reality and the importance you place on reality, the slightest difference in these things will greatly change the world inside your mind.” … S: “I hate myself. But maybe I can learn to love myself. Maybe it’s okay for me to be here! That’s right! I’m me, nothing more, nothing less! I’m me. I want to be me! I want to be here! And it’s okay for me to be here!” “Congratulations!” etc

The EoE one is located close to the end like the EoTV one - it was to be placed around the ‘I hate you’ dialogue and it exits into the Shinji-Rei discussion in the Sea of LCL which then leads to the beach and the end of the film. Like the EoTV one, it seems to be some sort of realization for Shinji; he discusses ‘reality’ and ‘truth’ and ‘dreams’ and ‘illusion’ with Rei (note that in both EoTV and EoE, there’s some rather confusing uses of the words ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ in the English translations, which suggests that we may be missing the intended meaning entirely because we’re reading in the usual meanings) and finally Shinji rejects the Sea of LCL.

At the end of the EoE sequence, Rei tells Shinji that the alternate world is just a ‘convenient dream’. Shinji asks whether that’s bad, Shinji defends dreams, Rei tells him that he’s misusing the word dream and this world is an illusion and escape from reality. Switching back to the final EoE script, Shinji admits he doesn’t understand reality or happiness, realizes that the world is ‘empty’ and a distortion of the real world; Rei tells him further that his dream is in the real world. Then we go into the Sea of LCL dialogue which we all know, in which Shinji seems to take a stoic viewpoint and accept that the real world sucks but it’s real so he will endure it. The draft of EoE which had the full sequence seems to put it much more harshly than the final script, going by Olivier Hague’s translated snippets:

Shinji's voice : “I’m sorry, Ayanami. I’ll return to where I used to be. There may be nobody there, by now, but I’ll return. I guess there is nothing good for me, there, never was and never will be, but I’ll return. Because it’s the place I belong and I have to live in.”

That description of life is almost as pessimistic and despairing as the Last B ending:

…We then see Shinji lying on the beach. His right hand is holding a white one. “I’ll never see them again.” “It’s better to think of it this way.” “I’m still alive, so I’ll keep on living.” He squeezes the hand harder. Then, he sees Rei (like in the actual episode and Last A). We eventually see that there is nobody lying near Shinji. Just a white arm without the rest of the body…

At this point, I have to wonder: why? In EoTV, his breakthrough is understandable: he’s realized he can live his life in other ways and be happy. But in EoE, there is no such breakthrough and the sequence serves a different role in somehow convincing Shinji that really existing and being real is more important than anything else, and so he should go on living even though there is ‘nothing good for me, never was, and never will be’ - to say nothing of the shocking Last B.

The closest it comes to really explaining is immediately backpeddling on the lack of good things by having Yui claim that “It will be alright. All lifeforms have the power to restore themselves……and the wish to live. If you decide to live, anywhere can be heaven……because you’re alive. There will be chances to be happy everywhere. As long as the Sun, Moon and Earth exist……it will be alright.”

Can this tension between the 2 sequences, and the dialogues and messages of EoE and EoTV, be resolved if we can nail down what exactly Anno means by ‘dream’, ‘reality’, and ‘happiness’? Maybe.

I have to say that even if the tension were resolved, the delivery of the message in EoTV was far more effective than EoE. Reading online, I see few people who seem to have been helped by EoE, while EoTV did help people (some of whose messages are shown in EoE). Anno talks of administering children “poison” to help them learn to deal with the painful real world; yet I wonder if EoE goes overboard on the poison.

But Shinji’s pessimism and escape into a dream, and his choice to then reject assimilation and a form of suicide, confirms the original interpretation of the KsT scene and in fact gives us a general sketch of EoE: rejected by the world and Asuka (pre-KsT), he escapes into Instrumentality (KsT), but with Rei/Instrumentality’s help and the alternate world (cut live-action sequence), comes to a realization/breakthrough (Sea of LCL) and returns to reality (the beach).

And with this stoic pessimal viewpoint in mind, the three EoE endings (final, Last A, and Last B) are no longer surprisingly dark. In reverse order - the real world sucks, and a dismembered Rei limb is merely realistic; the real world sucks so a grave for Misato is merely realistic and his relationship with Asuka is strained at best so of course she yells at him; the real world sucks so a possible grave for Misato is merely realistic and his relationship with Asuka painful enough that he escaped into Instrumentality so why not strangle her again, since the real one will react and the Instrumentality ones won’t.