Shinji Ikari
Shinji Ikari is the main character of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Third Child who pilots Unit-01. He is voiced by Megumi Ogata in Japanese and, in the current Netflix English dub, by Casey Mongillo.
About Shinji Ikari
Shinji Ikari is the lead character of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Third Child and pilot of Unit-01. Abandoned by his father after his mother's death, he is called to Tokyo-3 at fourteen and ordered into a giant weapon he never asked for. Shinji is no chosen one. He is a depressed, kind, musically talented boy who pilots because it is the only way anyone, especially his father, ever praises him. His slow fight to accept himself is the story of Evangelion.
Appearance
Shinji is a slight fourteen year old with short dark brown hair, blue grey eyes and a permanent air of apologising for taking up space. He wears his school uniform, white shirt and dark trousers, or the white and blue plugsuit of Unit-01, and he carries an SDAT cassette player everywhere, with earbuds in whenever the world gets too loud. His character design is intentionally ordinary next to Rei's stillness and Asuka's red hair and hair clips. Shinji looks like a boy you would pass in a station, which is the point: the fate of the species has been handed to a completely normal, unhappy kid.
Personality
Shinji is gentle, considerate and terrified of being hated, so he apologises constantly and agrees to almost anything. He cooks, cleans and cares for the people around him without being asked. He also runs away, literally and emotionally, whenever the cost of staying gets too high, then hates himself for running. The series refuses to call this simple cowardice. Shinji is a child soldier with no support, and his hedgehog's dilemma, wanting closeness and expecting only pain from it, is stated in episode 4 and worked through for 26 episodes and two endings.
Background & Story
Shinji's mother Yui died in an experiment when he was three, in front of him, though he has buried the memory. His father sent him away to live with a teacher and barely contacted him for a decade. At fourteen he is summoned to Tokyo-3 and told, within the hour, to pilot Evangelion Unit-01 or go home. He stays, moves in with Misato, transfers to a school full of classmates who envy and resent him, and fights Angels while trying to work out whether his father's rare words of praise are worth the pain they cost. Everything Shinji does in the series, brave and cowardly alike, comes back to that one hunger: to be told he is allowed to be here.
Powers & Abilities
- Piloting Unit-01: Shinji syncs with Evangelion Unit-01 at an unusually high and unstable ratio, because the Eva holds his mother Yui's soul. In battle the unit protects him like a parent, and sometimes moves without him.
- Berserk Unit-01: When Shinji is beaten or unconscious, Unit-01 can go berserk: faster, stronger and utterly savage, tearing Angels apart with its hands and teeth. It is the most feared sight in the series, and nobody controls it.
- Cello: Shinji plays cello well, having practiced since childhood because someone once told him to. It is his one talent that has nothing to do with NERV, and the series treats it as a sign of the life he could have.
- Endurance: His real ability is psychological survival. Shinji absorbs losses that break the adults around him and, in both endings, still has to make the largest decision in the story.
Key Relationships
- Gendo Ikari: His father, who abandoned him and summoned him back as a tool. Shinji's whole emotional life orbits Gendo's silence, and Gendo, in his own way, is as afraid of Shinji as Shinji is of him.
- Misato Katsuragi: His guardian and commander, part older sister, part mother, part fellow patient. They save each other repeatedly and fail each other at the worst moments, like family.
- Rei Ayanami: His fellow pilot and, though he learns it late, a clone grown from his mother's remains. Rei is the first person Shinji tries to reach without being ordered to, and it changes both of them.
- Asuka Langley Soryu: His rival, housemate and the person who most wants to be seen by him. Their inability to say one honest sentence to each other is the series' saddest running thread.
- Kaworu Nagisa: The Fifth Child, who offers Shinji unconditional kindness for one episode. What Shinji is ordered to do about Kaworu haunts every version of the ending.
Quick Answers
Who voices Shinji Ikari?
Shinji is voiced by Megumi Ogata in Japanese. In the Netflix English dub he is voiced by Casey Mongillo. In the classic ADV dub he was voiced by Spike Spencer.
Why does Shinji keep piloting the Eva?
Because, at the start, piloting is the only thing that earns him praise and a place to live. His father summoned him for it, Misato houses him for it, and his fragile sense of worth becomes tied to the Eva. The series is largely about Shinji learning to separate his value from that one use.
What is Shinji's SDAT player?
An SDAT is a fictional cassette style digital audio player. Shinji loops tracks 25 and 26 on it constantly, using music as a wall against the world. The track numbers match the final two episodes, one of the series' many quiet jokes about itself.
Is Shinji different in the Rebuild films?
In Rebuild, Asuka's surname is Shikinami and Shinji meets a somewhat different version of events, including a fourteen year time skip in 3.0. The television Shinji and the Rebuild Shinji start from the same place and are taken to very different endings.