Line #69 TearJerker/NeonGenesisEvangelion


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[Recap/NeonGenesisEvangelionEpisode22DontBe https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sephirotic_evangelion_22_multibd_1080p_8bits_51_aac82842b04mkv_snapshot_1925_20220811_000725.png]]]]
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7	If Evangelion doesn't end up [[NightmareFuel/NeonGenesisEvangelion scarring you for life]], [[Awesome/NeonGenesisEvangelion give you a sense of awe and wonder]], [[Funny/NeonGenesisEvangelion or even make you laugh]] [[Heartwarming/NeonGenesisEvangelion or renew your faith in humanity]], it will certainly reduce you to tears.
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9	''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' examples go [[TearJerker/RebuildOfEvangelion here]].
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11	[[foldercontrol]]
12	[[folder:TV Series]]
13	* The first kiss between Shinji and Asuka is funny at first, but much sadder once their respective issues are taken into account. Shinji is so scared of being hurt that he does nothing to return it so that there's nothing for Asuka to reject, which is as good as rejecting her. Asuka is so scared of being vulnerable that she acts like she's only doing it out of boredom, like there's no other reason she could possibly want to be close to him. Both of them are just lonely kids who want affection but end up hurting each other even more without even realizing it.
14	* Kaji's final message to Misato is utterly heart-wrenching.
15	--> '''Kaji:''' Katsuragi, it's me. I've probably put you through a lot of trouble by the time you're listening to this. I'm sorry. Tell Ritchan I said I'm sorry too. Also, since I've troubled you so much anyway, there's this flower I've been growing... It'd make me happy if you'd water it for me. Shinji knows where it is. Katsuragi, the truth is with you. Go forward without any hesitation. If I ever get to see you again, [[CanNotSpitItOut I'll say the words I wasn't able to say eight years ago]]. Bye.
16	** Even more poignant is one fan-theory that the words he wanted to say weren't just "I Love You" but asking her to marry him.
17	* Asuka's MindRape scene.
18	** What's even worse is what's finally confirmed in that very episode; the whole reason Asuka is a {{jerkass}} and the whole reason she uses "doll" like it's an epithet is because part of her mother Kyouko's soul was sucked into Unit-02, leaving poor Kyouko clinically insane and incapable of loving her own daughter, treating a little rag doll like the actual Asuka. Kyouko then hangs herself on the very day that Asuka is chosen to be the pilot of the very robot that, without her knowing, drove her mother insane; she enters the hospital room while happily babbling about how she will save the world in the EVA 02, only to find that Kyouko has hanged herself.
19	** We also get to see her true feelings that she's been trying to bury for Shinji ever since the disaster of a make out session in episode 15. Seeing him appear from behind Kaji demonstrates that Asuka holds Shinji in the same (if not greater) level of romantic regard as the only other male she's ever shown any affection for and who accepts and tolerates all of her eccentricities. We also see the key moments of their interactions, from her failed attempt at playing coy in episode 9, to gaining hope in episode 10 that Shinji could return her affections after saving her life to going all the way back down hill again after the failure kiss. She's sobbing in heartbreak that the ONE guy who could actually love her just doesn't seem to want her at all and his confused reactions to her desperate attempts to form a connection hurt like crazy. The saddest thing is that Shinji really IS as interested in her as she is in him, but his lack of social skill and being deprived from traditional affection most of his life make it too difficult to communicate what he feels effectively.
20	** To be fair, Shinji DOES try to reach out to her after the fact (and was pleading with command to let him go rescue her). Unfortunately, by then it's too late. One wonders if Shinji had rescued her instead of Rei, there may have finally been a chance for reconciliation... But then it wouldn't be Evangelion to give the pilots a straight win.
21	** In the manga, they actually [[FromBadToWorse made it even worse]]: just before committing suicide, Kyouko attempts to murder Asuka by strangling her. This eventually causes Asuka to attempt the very same thing on Shinji, in lieu of the infamous DudeShesLikeInAComa scene.
22	*** The anime also has shots of said rag doll hanging from its own little noose -- recall that Kyouko ''thought this rag doll was Asuka''. Oh, and don't forget the voiceovers of [[Creator/MariaKawamura Kyouko]] asking [[Creator/YukoMiyamura Asuka]] to die with her and Asuka desperately agreeing and pleading "Don't stop being my mama..."
23	*** Kyouko's answer: “Mama? I don't know what you mean. Who are you?”. The sheer ''coldness'' in her voice...
24	*** Young Asuka crying BerserkerTears screams at her mother (supposedly) "Why won't you look at me?!"
25	** Asuka begging the Angel to stop showing her the memories she blocked out.
26	-->'''Asuka:''' I wanted to forget those things! ''PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER THEM!''
27	* Any time Shinji screams, if not found Nightmare Fuel or Narm, is this.
28	* ''Most of episodes 16 to 26'' have some element of this, due to being the show's descent into insanity.
29	** The end of episode 18, where Shinji is powerless to stop Gendo from murdering Unit 03.
30	*** For a little recap on what happened: when Shinji realizes that someone is piloting Unit 03, he staunchly refuses to fight even as Unit 03 pins him to a mountain by the neck because he would rather die than kill another human being. Gendo then tells the staff to switch to the dummy plug, and the control locks down over Shinji's hands as the plug takes over. Then Shinji is forced to watch (and possibly feel) Unit 01 completely brutalize Unit 03 (tearing off limbs, ripping out intestines brutal) as we pan to a shot of Gendo looking at his son impassively and the NERV staff listening in horror all the while [[HeroicBSOD Shinji desperately screams for Unit 01 to stop]]. In addition to this there is also the two episode build up to the pilot's identity, whom everyone except Shinji and Kensuke are aware of the imagery is there but the name is left out of the spoken dialogue completely. Post-Battle and post carnage, Misato finally recontacts Shinji who's already shook from his forced hand in the brutal slaughter of EVA 03 and then pushed completely over the brink when he bears witness to his own Classmate, Toji, being pulled from the crushed pod. Shinji can't even respond, only letting out a dread filled scream as the episode closes.
31	*** The manga version of the above episode is even worse for a lot of people, as Shinji actually ends up ''killing'' Toji.
32	* Nearly '''anything''' with poor Shinji.
33	** Episode 3 has Toji giving him a punch for when his sister was accidentally hurt in the battle against Sachiel. Shinji's almost paralyzed, both from guilt and the fact that the only other option he had at the time was to not pilot the Eva and let the Angel kill everyone. He even earns himself another punch when he rightfully points out that he didn't go into battle because he wanted to.
34	** That image of a little Shinji crying with bags full of his clothes around him. His dad just disowned him and left him with his aunt and uncle while Shinji begs him not to go. Just... he really needs a hug and his father needs a brutal NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and a ReasonYouSuckSpeech.
35	** Episode 4 seems to be one that's ignored. After at least a ''week or so'' after enduring psychological trauma of piloting Unit 01 and the fact he had been suffering SanitySlippage after being roughed up by Toji and having to disobey Misato in order to defeat the Fourth Angel, Shinji runs off and is later on found by NERV officials where he's confronted by Misato over whether or not he wants to pilot Unit 01 ''despite'' showing reluctance over it. While Shinji gives a reasonable reason that he has to out of feeling he's the only one that can't, Misato calls him out on it and tells him if he doesn't want to pilot it, he can leave. ''Ouch''.
36	*** Worse is the frustrated groan Misato gives after saying that. Was she saying it out of frustration at Shinji... or saying it out not knowing what to say to him? Or worse, is it because she felt horrible for what she said to him?
37	* Episode 24. After 23 episodes of relentless mental torture, Shinji finally finds someone who understands and loves him, and he turns out to be the final angel and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxFmbeDzcyU Shinji has to crush him with Unit 01's armoured hand]]. Even worse [[FridgeLogic when you realise]] that since the Eva-s and pilot are synched, it will feel like Shinji has killed him ''with his bare hands''. God, it sucks to be Shinji!
38	** Kaworu was the first one to say that he ever loved Shinji. In all his fourteen years of living, Shinji has never once, not from a friend or a guardian, heard somebody say 'I love you' to him. [[TheWoobie Somebody just needs to give the poor boy a hug.]]
39	*** Knowing what the chorus in Symphony 9 means, and considering what happens at the end of the episode, a certain snippet from the piece becomes really horrific:
40	-->Whoever has been lucky enough
41	--->to become a friend to a friend,
42	-->Whoever has found a beloved wife,
43	--->let him join our songs of praise!
44	-->Yes, and anyone who can call one soul
45	--->his own on this earth!
46	-->Any who cannot, let them slink away
47	--->from this gathering in tears!
48	* Speaking of Episode 24, we start off with a flashback of Asuka finding her mother's body hanging from the ceiling of her room with the doll that she thought was Asuka. As if watching her reaction to that wasn't tear rending enough we flash to the present to see her in a crumbled apartment bathtub with sunken in cheeks sitting in vaguely blood colored water [[DrivenToSuicide implying she had tried to slit her wrists]] while mumbling about how useless and pointless her life was.
49	* The end of episode 21 deserves a mention, too -- namely, Misato breaking down while listening to the last phone message Kaji left before his death.
50	** It's worth mentioning that his actual death scene counts as his SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome as he casually asks his assassin, "What took you so long?"
51	** Ritsuko's mother strangling little Rei to death. She then realizes what she'd done and commits suicide.
52	* Misato bidding farewell to Pen-Pen was not exactly a Tear Jerker, but it was sad to [[ShooOutTheClowns see the resident comic relief penguin go]]. And then, depending on which finale (original 25-26 or ''End'' or both) you believe is the true ending, things either got worse or near-infinitely worse.
53	* There's also both of Rei's heroic sacrifices. The first time she almost died protecting Shinji, but he [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments managed to save her]]. The second time it happened in reverse -- he ran in to save her, but she died protecting him.
54	** This particular scene was awful since Thanatos was playing in the background. To top it all off this is one of the few times we see Rei express emotions in the anime, even crying.
55	** It's even worse in the manga. When Rei sees Shinji coming to rescue her, the Angel (which is bonded with her at the time), rushes towards Unit-01, taking the form of lots of Reis who all lovingly embrace the Eva. Rei notes that this is her heart, which wants to "be with Ikari" -- and Shinji has to ''cut all these Reis off with his prog knife''. He tries and utterly fails. So she reverses the AT Field, containing the Angel in Unit-00, and blows herself up. And they give her a ReallyDeadMontage when Shinji remembers all the special moments they had later that night, whilst sobbing his heart out. ''Wow.''
56	** And of course, Ritsuko's complete mental breakdown. Specially when she recalls Naoko's mistake of falling for Gendo, and calls herself stupid and worthless because she committed the same mistake 10 years later.
57	* Touji was one of the few "normal" characters in the show. No underlying emotional trauma, good friends, relatively normal life all around. Then Shinji accidentally injures his sister during one of his battles with the Angels, and he is subsequently selected to pilot Unit 03. What does he get for his trouble? Being ''horrendously mangled'' by a dummy plug controlled Unit 01 beating the hell out of his Eva and then ''crushing his entry plug'', which leaves him confined to hospital bed and with an '''''AMPUTATED LEG!''''' Not only does his life go horrendously to hell just by mere association with Shinji, but him lying broken and battered in a hospital bed is ''the last we EVER see of him in the series.'' Either he had to go through life altering amounts of physical and psychological therapy, or he got to experience the hell of ''End of Evangelion'' personally, depending on which ending you take as the true ending.
58	* Something all of the episodes have in common, but only really sinks in around episode 18: heart-breaking, traumatizing action, horrendous tragedy, episode ends, and... "Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars..." That song becomes so disturbing.
59	** The fact that, in Evangelion, both Adam and Lilith fell on Earth traveling in "moons" (Adam brought life on Earth, and Lilith initiated the First Impact which ultimately resulted in mankind) makes it way more symbolic. "Flying to the moon" basically means returning to the Black Moon (Lilith's moon), thus merging into a single being. This song is an huge foreshadowing, starting at the very first episode.
60	* In episode 20, Misato sobbing into Shinji's empty plugsuit after he achieves a 400% sync ratio and dissolves into LCL.
61	-->'''Misato:''' If it can't... if it can't even save one life, then what good is science?! Give Shinji back! ''GIVE HIM BACK!''
62	* Asuka sobbing over how she hates herself at the beginning of episode 22.
63	* Misato saying in Episode 25 that she hates herself and doesn't know how anyone could love her.
64	* Episodes 25 and 26 as a whole. Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and Misato having emotional breakdowns over their perceived flaws is absolutely heartwrenching to watch.
65	* Episode 26: a positive version of a tear jerker -- tears of joy as everyone congratulates Shinji for beating Instrumentality by resolving to fully embrace, accept, and even love himself, appreciate others close to him and life around him, and go on living in the world because "my life is worth living here!".
66	* It is not explored much in the show, but there is the fact that Gendo was at some point under official suspicion of being involved in Yui's "death", and was apparently even facing charges (as a newspaper article mentions him appearing before the Supreme Court), although they ultimately didn't stick. One must wonder though, how it must have been for Gendo to not only suddenly lose the person he loved more than anything in the world, but on top of this also being wrongfully accused of killing her.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:The End of Evangelion]]
70	Let's just say the whole movie is a mixture of TearJerker and NightmareFuel.
71	* The hospital scene. Shinji, already royally screwed up psychologically, visits Asuka as she lays comatose on a bed. He begs and pleads with her to wake up and say something, anything to make the pain go away. When she doesn't respond, he angrily shakes her, causing her hospital gown to fall open. His actions afterwords are no doubt [[DudeShesLikeInAComa wrong]] (not to mention disgusting), but Shinji was so desperate to keep himself from crossing a DespairEventHorizon that pleasing himself seemed to be the quickest solution. Needless to say, [[FromBadToWorse it doesn't work.]]
72	** To further compound the issue, Asuka probably couldn't care less that a former ally is now masturbating over her naked body. She gets better, but still...
73	* Ritsuko deserves a mention here. She installs a firewall to keep out the hackers for a couple of days, but while she is doing this she tries to sabotage Gendo by changing plans. It doesn't work. The computer she was working with was based on three sides of her mother, Naoko's, personality: Melchoir-1 as a scientist, Balthasar-2 as a mother, and Casper-3 as a woman. Her mother? She was Gendo's mistress. [[GenerationXerox Just like Ritsuko.]]
74	-->'''Ritsuko:''' A loving daughter's final request -- mother, let's end it together. ''(pushes a button on her PDA but nothing happens)'' [[WhereIsTheKaboom It's not working? Why?!]] ''(red NEGATIVE blinking next to Casper)'' Casper betrayed me? Mother, how could you choose your lover over me?!
75	* If you know it's coming, Misato's death scene is especially gut-wrenching. Especially hard-hitting is the speech she makes beforehand. She knows she's dying, and she spends her last moments trying honestly to ''help'' Shinji and bring him out of his BSOD, even using her own death to try and shock him back into action; trying to show that even if it hurts and everything seems to have gone to hell (which by that point, it pretty much has), you can still step forward.
76	** Even sadder is the fact that Misato may have been saying that to herself just as much as she was saying it to Shinji. You can practically hear the pain and anguish in her voice.
77	--->'''Misato:''' That's an adult kiss, we'll continue the rest when you get back.
78	* Shinji sobbing silently in the elevator after discovering he has Misato's blood on him.
79	* Shinji rejecting humanity due to him suffering from rejection too much in ''End'', resulting in everyone on Earth to melt into LCL and die (especially with ''Komm Süßer Tod'' playing. The title is German and means "[[DeathSeeker Come, sweet death".]]).
80	** Also consider this: the event took place at midnight, on New Year's Eve, 2015. Humanity didn't see 2016 besides Shinji and maybe [[BackFromTheDead Asuka]].
81	** Gendo's part in this scene. The true tragedy of his character is laid bare, as he was in the end, not some monster or megalomaniac supervillain, but a lonely, broken human being whose immense sense of self-loathing led him to believe that he was unworthy of being loved and that only Yui could ever love him. So, he self-sabotaged his chances at any semblance of happiness by sending his own child away out of the fear that he would only drag Shinji down along with him then dedicated himself to a single-minded pursuit of recovering Yui, no matter the cost. At the end of it all, Gendo is woefully aware of all the damage he did in trying to fulfill his plan and believes that the only fate he deserves is to die in agony.
82	-->'''Gendo:''' When Shinji is near me, all I ever do is cause him pain. I thought it was better when I did nothing at all.\
83	'''Yui:''' Were you afraid of Shinji?\
84	'''Gendo:''' I didn't believe that anyone could love me. I never deserved to be loved.\
85	'''Kaworu:''' So, you were running away. And you rejected the others around you, so there was no chance that you would ever be hurt.\
86	'''Yui:''' And you were terrified by the invisible bonds that people form.\
87	'''Rei:''' You were afraid, so you closed off your heart.\
88	'''Gendo:''' ''(An apparition of Unit-01 now holds Gendo in its hand)'' And so this is my retribution. Forgive me, Shinji. ''(Unit-01 devours Gendo)''
89	* Asuka's death is pretty hard too. It's especially crushing because she had just crawled out of her HeroicBSOD and seemingly destroyed her enemies in one of the greatest mecha battles ever. She fails entirely because of circumstances that she couldn't affect. And the act itself was sickeningly brutal: Eva-02 is mutilated, torn apart and devoured, and Asuka with it because of her synch-ratio.
90	** Maya reporting it back, so overwhelmed with emotion that she can barely speak.
91	-->'''Maya:''' (''sobbing'') Shinji! U-Unit 02 is… oh god! Oh god, Asuka!
92	* [[DespairEventHorizon "Nobody wants me, so they can all just die"]]. Keep in mind that a ''14-year-old'' is saying that, and with [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum the horrific subsequent event]].
93	* This whole conversation:
94	-->'''Shinji:''' No-one understands me.
95	-->'''Rei:''' You never understood anything
96	-->'''Shinji:''' I thought this was supposed to be a world without pain and without uncertainty.
97	-->'''Rei:''' That's because you assumed everyone else felt the same as you.
98	-->'''Shinji:''' You betrayed me! You betrayed my feelings!
99	-->'''Rei:''' You misunderstood from the very beginning. You just believed what you wanted to believe.
100	-->'''Shinji:''' Nobody wants me. So they can all just die.
101	-->'''Rei:''' Then what is your hand for?
102	-->'''Shinji:''' Nobody cares whether or not I exist, and nothing ever changes. So they can all just die.
103	-->'''Rei:''' Then tell me, what is your heart for?
104	-->'''Shinji:''' It would be better if I never existed. I should just die, too.
105	-->'''Rei:''' Then why are you here?
106	-->'''Shinji:''' Is it okay for me to be here?
107	-->''(Silence.)''
108	-->'''Shinji:''' (screams)
109	* Young Shinji building a sand castle on his own, then crying and kicking it down.
110	* The moment just before Shinji begins Instrumentality. He's curled up in the EVA cockpit, [[DespairEventHorizon falling to pieces, screaming]], and then he looks up and sees ''Kaworu'', smiling, and for just a second he looks so overwhelmingly ''happy'', for the first time in God knows how long. It's just heartbreaking to realize that Shinji is so broken that a single smile from a boy that he only knew for a few days means so much to him.
111	* The last segment: ''I Need You.''
112	** After having woken up from Instrumentality, Shinji tries to strangle a catatonic Asuka upon seeing her, only to break down crying as Asuka regains consciousness.
113	** What Asuka does deserves clarification: reach out and touch Shinji's cheek. Keep in mind that she's severely bandaged up/ still wounded from her fight with the Mass-Produced Evas, possibly took all of her mental willpower to come back out of the LCL and reform her physical being, ''and'' is being choked while in this vulnerable state. Then, thinking back to Shinji's internal struggle (where Asuka called him "worthless", hence why he's choking her) up to this point where Shinji realizes from this one, affectionate gesture that [[YouAreNotAlone he's wanted and has worth to someone]]...
114	** Rei's goodbye to Shinji. She [[BookEnds shows up the same way she did at her very first appearance in Episode 1]] above the LCL where Shinji and Asuka currently rest for a brief moment. Despite the distance with no clear view of her face and saying nothing, you can ''feel'' the sadness from her as she makes a wordless farewell. This makes it all the more tragic when you remember Rei is a soulless clone, meaning that this is truly the last time Shinji and the audience get to see her.
115	** One of the unused endings "Last B" is further depressing: Shinji is lying on the beach holding onto someone's white arm. He says "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." [[HopeSpot He squeezes the hand harder and then sees Rei]] (like in the episode and Last A). We eventually see that there is nobody lying near Shinji, just a white arm without the rest of the body. There [[LastOfHisKind is no one around]] for the possibility to make him feel a sense of worth to someone, consigned to a fate of DyingAlone. This ending ultimately turns the series into a full-on ShootTheShaggyDog ending, even when compared to the existing ending.
116	* Pen-Pen is usually the PluckyComicRelief in the series. However, his appearance in the movie where he watches Shinji confront and strangle Asuka, seeming very confused, just somehow seems to hammer in how depressing it gets.
117	* During the famous LCL transformation scene all of the characters featured meet their loved ones and are at a moment of happiness and peace before they die/reborn, except for Shigeru Aoba, who hides under a table terrified at the army of Reis, showing that throughout his life he never found a single person he ever loved.
118	* Rei looking forlornly at Unit-01 as it practically turns into stone with cracks all over and the colours completely washed off before starting its floating travels across space. There is something so depressing that we can relate with Rei here, watching as one of the most iconic mecha of all time deteriorates from its glorious appearance that we all came to recognize and love.
119	* Two Words: ''Goodbye, Mother.'' Every single time. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2h8hXPRt_E The sad, minimalistic piano piece]] playing during this scene just nails it home.
120	* The indications that point towards the implication Shinji was alone for some time after he emerged from Instrumentality are disturbing and extremely sad. Instrumentality gave Shinji a newfound sense of hope and purpose; he confronted his traumas and worst sides of himself, but he triumphed in the end. He decided that life was worth living, and that humanity and individuality for all their flaws were integral parts of that. He was told by the closest thing to a god he could meet, that he did the right thing despite his doubts, and that mankind would return to life thanks to him. But he came back into an empty world. And for a while no one returned. Shinji clearly lost hope at some point that any one would return at some point, since he erected grave markers for his friends. How long was he alone, and just how long did it take him to lose that hope? When we see him in the last scene, is he actually lying where he is, because he had given completely up and was waiting for death by exposure? The poor kid got basically back from the brink, only to end up back there again in short order. It overall comes across as one of the cruellest examples of YankTheDogsChain ever.
121	* During the invasion of NERV headquarters, many of the personnel are gunned down with terrifying efficiency because, as noted by those on the bridge, none of them were prepared to kill humans, just angels. So the viewer is treated to a scene of utterly one-sided carnage, of the employees being killed by armored soldiers. Included among this is a scene of one employee, sobbing and trying to drag a clearly dead body to safety by the arm. Only for a passing soldier to spot them and shoot them in cold blood.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Manga]]
125
126	* Misato's death. An epic, yet sad DyingMomentOfAwesome.
127	* After Unit 01 rips apart Unit 03, the rescue team reaches the entry plug and finds that Toji is dead. We then see Hikari smiling and planning the lunch she's going to make for Toji. This is one scene where the manga manages to be even more emotionally wrenching than the anime. "This time he'll like my lunch for sure... I can't wait to see his face..."
128	** And then after Hikari spots Shinji outside of school he runs away. Kensuke suggests going after him but Hikari says that it's probably for the best because it will never really be the same between them anymore. She isn't stating it in anger but as a sad fact that can't be changed.
129	* Kaji's {{backstory}} in the manga. He was orphaned by the Second Impact and put into an orphanage, which he escaped with five other kids, one being his little brother, to go around stealing things to survive. They found a military base and began robbing it for food, until one day, Kaji was caught. He was beaten by a soldier and asked where his friends were. When he didn't say anything, the soldier threatened to use deadly force on him, pointing a pistol with a trigger pull of two-and-a-half kilos at his head. Kaji was so scared of death he told where his friends were. The soldiers went to find them, he knocked out one of the soldiers guarding him, and ran. When he finally found his hideout, the soldiers were already leaving. He peeked inside... every one of his friends had been summarily executed, including his brother. They died so that he may live. The saddest part is, this is probably what would really happen in a post-apocalyptic situation such as this. It's enough to make some of the most hardened of us well up.
130	** Although he doesn't show it, it's revealed in an artbook (and in the manga version) that Kaji is a self-hating mess. In the manga, he describes himself as "someone who does not deserve to be happy" (which is the reason for his extremely dysfunctional relationship with Misato).
131	* While Kaworu was definitely more of a villain here than he was in the TV series, his death is actually pretty tragic, probably more so here than in the show, primarily in how it's setup. While in the anime it's set up as a self-sacrificial moment, in the manga it's very clear that Kaworu just wants Shinji to MercyKill him, since SEELE will do it anyway if he doesn't initiate Third Impact, which is, of course, his only other option. Shinji doesn't want to do it because he doesn't want to lose anybody else, even though he continually made it clear that he didn't like Kaworu, but he complies. And instead of showing Kaworu's head falling into the LCL pool, we are treated to Shinji's perception of how he views the scene, which involves him personally strangling Kaworu to death in the very place they first met.
132	* Gendo is an irredeemable asshole in the manga -- power-hungry and ruthless, and a world-class nihilist to boot. The assumption that, like in the anime and [=EoE=] he might feel remorse for the way he treated Shinji, despite his reasons is shattered when, upon the anniversary of Yui's death, he notices Shinji wanting to reach out to him and shoots him down saying: "Don't try to think that we can understand each other. For some reason, people think they can do that. Remember that they can't. Never completely, never enough."
133	** It gets sadder toward the end: Gendo ''does'' end up feeling remorse for how he treated Shinji... as he's dying. And as he dies, he remembers that when Shinji was just a baby, he ''did'' feel love for his son, but was too scared of the notion of being a father to become close to him. He regrets this deeply, and his last thoughts are hoping that Shinji survives and lives a better life.
134	* In the anime, Gendo dropped Shinji off at a train station for him to be taken in by Shinji's "sensei" (a teacher or possibly a caretaker whose name and gender are never mentioned even ''once''). However, in the manga, Gendo drops Shinji off to live with his uncle and aunt. When confronted by Misato at the train station, Shinji says, in tears, that he "doesn't want to go back to where he was." We are shown in a later chapter that one, he didn't live in the house itself, as his uncle and aunt saw fit to make him a room in the backyard shed, where he stayed, contributing to his feelings of abandonment. Second, there is an incident where Shinji finds a bike lying in the trash, picks it up, and a nearby police officer takes him in for theft. Gendo doesn't come like Shinji was desperately hoping him to, and when his aunt and uncle come, they scold him for stealing the bike and don't believe him when he pleads with them that he didn't steal it.
135	* In the manga after Asuka speaks to her stepmother on the phone, she runs to her room and throws herself on her bed. She stares into the dark for a while, then says 'mommy', with the most heartbreaking expression on her face. It just really hits it home that for all her bluster Asuka is still just a kid who wants to be loved and comforted. Even though her mother died ten years ago, Asuka still desperately looks to her for guidance.
136	[[/folder]]

Context TearJerker / NeonGenesisEvangelion