Five essays on why Shinji pilots, the replaceable person, Asuka's falling number, Gendō's attempt to recover one person, and the wall that both hurts and makes relation possible.
Evangelion is often described as a story of damaged people unable to connect. These essays ask a more structural question: what forms of connection are offered to them, what do those forms demand, and when does recognition become another way of using a person?
The TV series and The End of Evangelion supply the primary ending discussed here. Rebuild continuity is outside the argument. Full spoilers follow.
He does not pilot because he discovers courage. The available no is placed beside a wounded Rei and made almost impossible to inhabit.
A new Rei can wake with selected memories. The mechanism restores the pilot and breaks the assumption that replacement restores the person.
When being the best pilot has carried every claim to worth, a declining synchronization rate becomes an existential verdict.
His goal is not humanity in the abstract. It is Yui—and he reduces Shinji, Rei, NERV, and the world to the route back to her.
The wall between selves causes loneliness and makes encounter possible. Shinji chooses its return without receiving a happy ending.
五篇从真嗣开机的理由出发，读可替换的人、明日香不断下落的数字、碇源堂想找回的那一个人，以及既造成痛苦又让关系成为可能的墙。
《新世纪福音战士》常被概括成一群受伤的人无法互相连接。这五篇换一个结构问题：作品给他们什么样的连接，这些连接要求什么，以及识认在什么时候会变成另一种使用。
以TV版与《The End of Evangelion》为主要文本，不纳入新剧场版连续性。全文剧透。
他不是因为发现勇气才驾驶；那个可用的“不”被放在受伤的绫波丽旁边，几乎无法站住。
新的绫波丽可以带着部分记忆醒来；机制恢复了驾驶员，也拆掉了“替换即恢复那个人”的假设。
当“最好的驾驶员”承载了全部价值主张，同步率下降就不再是数据，而像对自我的判决。
他的目标不是抽象的人类，而是碇唯；真嗣、绫波丽、NERV与整个世界都被压成回到她身边的道路。
自我之间的墙造成孤独，也让相遇成为可能；真嗣选择让它回来，却没有因此得到幸福结局。