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WH40k can make anything Awesome. Even one of, if not the, most whiny, pathetic spineless wusses in fiction. This is my creed. The Emperor's hand guides all.
Charles Bhepin, the author.

As its name suggests, Shinji and Warhammer40k is a Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction that crosses over with Warhammer 40,000, written by Charles Bhepin.

Shinji Ikari, Evangelion's protagonist and Butt-Monkey, discovers a case full of Warhammer 40,000 miniatures and rulebooks at a very young age, and they have a profound effect on his personality and relationships. He becomes an efficiently intellectual power-player who knows no fear, charges headlong into combat without hesitation, exhibits incredible planning abilities, and gains the adoration of everyone around him.

And then, in the second chapter, he actually arrives in Tokyo-3 and meets his Evangelion.

There are numerous other influences and references at work besides Evangelion and Warhammer. The story loosely follows Evangelion's canon events, but diverging greatly around the end of chapter nineteen. Shinji himself becomes a very different character, and the rest of the cast develop differently but with some connection to their canon selves. The story oscillates between pitched battles and domestic comedy, the mood going from bleak despair to Hot-Blooded defiance.

The effects and implications of Second Impact are explored to a greater extent than in the source material. The author has also acknowledged TV Tropes as an aid to the fic. Be aware that Chekhov's Armoury is very much in effect, and continuity can be tricky to follow as a result. Started in 2007, the story was declared finished in 2019 at 791,000 words.

See also Thousand Shinji, a more direct Eva-40K crossover that is shorter, darker, and with a different evolution of Shinji.


Tropes:

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    A-C 
  • Action Figure Justification: Referenced. Rei uses this line as an Insult Backfire when Asuka calls her a "doll". "I am not a doll," said Rei. "I am, at the least, an action figure."
  • Adaptational Badass: Besides his prologue power-up, Shinji eventually travels to Javaal to better understand his abilities, returning with the power to reduce an Angelspawn to vapor with a glance. Additionally, the secondary characters get their own upgrades: Toji, Hikari, Maya, Makoto, Mana, and Kensuke. Chapter 34 even has a Big Damn Heroes moment with a penguin. On the other side, several of the Angels are much more dangerous than their original versions, to the point where Matariel terrorizes Tokyo-3 with Angel-spawn and Sahaquiel trades its kamikaze attack for bombing the whole world.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: This version of Misato has known Shinji and Asuka since they were kids.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: "Dark figures with dark designs deigned to discuss their dire directives despite the distance."
  • Adults Are Useless:
    Shinji: Why me? I'm just a boy. You're all adults. Why don't you have the power to solve your own problems?
  • Alas, Poor Yorick: Shinji does this with Rei's severed head after Yui!Lilith kills her near the end of ch. 44.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: In his previous Good Boy incarnation, the most concern and/or interest he could get out of any grown woman, never mind girl near his age bracket, was a few brief moments of motherly pity, if that. In his current All-Conquering history, the least he draws from any "female of the species" (to quote Asuka) is obsessive, if not mindless, Fangirlism. In the seemingly singular exception of Ritsuko, he causes her to be blatantly terrified over the future of humanity...fear that she tries to not think about via banging his psychopathic father. (It should be noted, however, that at heart Shinji is still very much that nice kid.)
  • Alternate Universe: Gendo is a slider stuck in a Stable Time Loop trying to reunite with Yui — but not this universe's Yui.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
    • Subverted in chapter 30.
      -Magnos Tancred- felt no pain. -Magnos Tancred- knew no fear. -Magnos Tancred- had several powerful weapons integrated into its torso, all pointing at the enemy's soft underbelly.
    • Played straight in ch. 31 part 1:
      "Uh... heretics! Witches! Tax evaders!"
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: If it doesn't follow the exact path of the God-Emperor of Mankind of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this is almost certainly going to be the conclusion of the life of this universe's Shinji Ikari, as well as possibly Asuka and Rei.
  • Ascended Extra: No less than ten of these by now. The author's admitted to having a hell of time keeping their side stories from being crushed and forgotten under the sheer weight of the general plot.
  • Attack Drone: Unit 01's Air Mines.
  • Axes at School: Kensuke kept several dozens of bolter guns stored in his school's attic per Shinji's intructions in case his schoolmates needed to defend themselves. Although it sounds like a spectacularly bad idea, Shinji's foresight saved his schoolmates lives when Matarael's spawn invaded the city.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: The Space Marine and Chaos Space Marine, amusingly enough, during the Mind Screw portion of the battle with Leliel.
    Space Marine: What is this lunacy? Can you not fight by yourself!?
  • Badass Boast:
    • Shinji gets a lot of these. For example:
      Shinji (to his kidnappers): I have walked as a god! I have fought as a god! You will not frighten me, LITTLE MAN!
    • The Chaos Marine gets one in the very first chapter after the debacle with Minase and her boyfriend:
      But see! He that has stolen from you has paid for it with his LIFE.
      She that set herself above you now lies humbled and broken, the BLOOD of that she once loved on her hands.
      He that follows you is now a HERO, respected by many.
      And she who once held you in high regard, now WORSHIPS you.
      Chaos IS. And in CHAOS all things are possible.
  • Badass Bookworm: Shinji, Rei, Maya, Asuka...hell, anyone remotely intellectual.
  • Badass Creed: You are the soldiers of mankind. You are the Guardians who stand at the Gates of Hell! The dead howl for vengeance, and you must become as the Spirit of Wrath! You shall Eat War And Shit Awesome! YOU ARE DEATHWATCH! KILL TEAMS! YOU ARE THE ONES THAT MAKE THE XENOS DIE!
  • Badass Crew: If anyone, at any point, directly assists Shinji against the Angels, expect at least two examples per person of stupefying awesomeness. Beyond this, the "master-level class" consists of the usual suspects.
  • Badass Longcoat:
    • Kommissar Kirishima.
    • Techpriest Aida, during Matariel's attack.
  • Badass Normal:
    • Asuka uses the term to describe herself, although it's debatable if an Eva pilot can be considered "normal".
    • Shinji is the most physically normal of the pilots, being the only one not infused with Angel DNA. That being said, he also subverts the trope in that his abilities often go far beyond the territory of blatantly-admitted superhumans.
    • Admiral "Miracle" Yang Wen-li and Sergeant Angelo De Leon certainly qualify.
    • Wilfred Jaeger manages to take out a cyber-Tyrannosaurus by letting it eat him so he can kill it where there is less armor. And he was just a lowly panzer driver a few hours ago...definitely channeling some Shinji there. Then again, his full name before adoption was Wilfred Ingram Wulfenbach.
  • Battle Couple:
    • Toji and Hikari. Nothing like a date followed by shooting alien invaders with your boltguns.
    • Shinji and Asuka often fought together before becoming a couple.
  • The Berserker:
    • Shinji in hand to hand combat, and Unit 01 in Eva vs. Angel combat. By the second fight, though, he realizes brute force and bloodlust will only cause needless destruction and tries to clamp down.
    • Despite the protestations of the Chaos marine, Asuka's battle antics and use of the traditional gear of a Khornate Berserker (in the form of an Eva-scaled chainaxe) raise some questions...
      • Asuka is reportedly enough of a berserker that her battlerage overrides even that of her Eva's default mental state. The issue? She's a cold berserker. A berserker Unit 02 uses weapons and fights with the same techniques, only with more eating of enemy body parts. Yum.
    • Mana reacts in this fashion in chapter 30 when Magnos Tancred faces off against Trident Warborn "abominations".
      "This is the true Trident project!" she shouted to her crew. "Shoot this worthless pretender down! TANCRED IS RAGE! KILL IT! PURGE IT! We won't rest until these abominations are DEAD!"
  • Berserker Tears: Shed by Minase while she was bashing the head of the guy who had just raped her.
  • Beware the Nice Ones": Battle-Sister Maya Ibuki, starting in Chapter 9.
  • BFG: This being a crossover between a giant mecha story and Warhammer 40K, it's no wonder there will be plenty. Highlights include the psychic supercondutor-enhanced destroyer lasguns and Rei's Gargant Moonbiter.
  • Big Book of War: Maya quotes from The Art of War. Shinji, on the other hand...whose entire life would make Sun Tzu and Miyamoto Musashi very proud if not outright weep for joy...can not only quote every line from either author's work, but has had his own teachings on war, peace, compassion, honor and most every other possible subject get enshrined in "Da Book"...an always-hand-written tome jotted down as Holy Writ by each and every single member of his worshipful, millions-strong yet publicly-unknown national youth gang.
  • Big Damn Heroes: This happens a lot.
    • A shining example is Shinji returning to Tokyo-3 riding in style in a golden Leman Russ Vanquisher, at the head of a small army of super tanks, super soldiers in Terminator armor, and psychic monks. Then they fight zombies.
    • Asuka in Germany. "SCHLAGANN IMPACT!"
      • That may or may not be Bilingual Bonus; the verb 'schlagen' (proper noun: 'der Schlag') means to hit (noun: the hit) in German.
      • Bilingual Bonus even more when you translate "impact" (which is more like "Einschlag" or "Aufprall" in German) somewhat loosely as "Fall" (as in "fall of a meteor"). This gives us "Schlagann Fall", and from there it doesn't take much to arrive at "Schlaganfall" - German for "stroke".
  • The Big Guy / Boisterous Bruiser: In the prologue and a couple of scenes where the action cuts back to Shinji's original hometown, Kobayakawa could fit either, but most likely the former. The Warboss is definitely the latter.
  • Bigger on the Inside: The Boyz's operation room is a small broken house around their town's outskirts. It is bigger on the inside because its occupants had dug out a three-levels basement.
  • Black-and-Gray Morality: Shinji's been exposed to the worldview that "there is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt," and while he tries to do good, he's committed his share of sins in the name of humanity. Similarly, Asuka's and Kaworu's interpretation of the Greater Good allows for the ends to justify the means. Most of the secondary cast realizes that they live in a Crapsack World, and the fact that Gendo and SEELE are amoral doesn't really need to be stated.
  • Blessed with Suck: Psychics, in keeping with the story's 40K influence. If you're not forcibly conscripted into the UN armed forces, you will either end up going insane or be murdered in what may possibly be a very gruesome manner. If you're lucky, that is.
  • Body Horror: The MP Evas eventually fuse together into a hideous, almost Lovecraftian form to battle Shinji and Kaworu.
  • Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Rei and Asuka make a surprisingly good comedy duo. Typically, Asuka is the straight man, while Rei is the boke. Asuka, perhaps understandably, thinks "tsukkomi" is some sort of bizarre Japanese perversion and refuses to listen whenever someone attempts to explain it.
  • Born in the Wrong Century: Admiral Yang admits that he often feels this way, while a Russian precognitive makes similar remarks concerning Shinji.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: As early as the prologue, the Space Marine slaps Shinji and tells him to "stop being emo! You're breaking the fourth wall!" Kensuke, and later Yang, regularly ignore the fourth wall and are often around to conveniently comment on the symbolism of various events, and otherwise pop Shinji's ego.
    • Kensuke at one point mentions that he's not even a player character like the others. They think he's talking about something to do with theatre.
    • When Shinji enters the conference room of the Trident base, there is a throne made of white materials, shaped like a Skull Throne. When asked, Kensuke replies, "Why ask me? It's not like I recognize when I'm breaking the Fourth Wall."
    • Then there's the bridge crew's comments in Chapter 24 over whether it's easier to understand Ritsuko in the subtitled version or the dub, which ends with "What you just read must have been a trick of the light, or something."
    • "The conference hall had a missing fourth wall"
  • Bring My Brown Pants: Eventually, thanks to Rei's method of working off stress, even the most merciless Yakuza wet their pants at the sight of a blue-haired schoolgirl.
  • Brown Note: Somehow, Shinji managed to obtain the Ark of the Covenant. Yes, that Ark of the Covenant... possibly because the previous owners were worried about the Cradle getting their hands on it. Whenever a normal person looks at it for too long, they freak out and just want to get away from it and are too busy panicking to explain why. The only people known to be immune to its effects so far are Shinji himself, Raka, and possibly Rei.
  • Buffy Speak: Pops up occasionally.
    [Asuka] "Again, with the not giving of the good feelings."
    Rei tilted her head to the side. "An interesting way to arrange words, pilot Sohryu. You intrigue me."
  • Bullet Hell: "Kaworu was in hell. It was made of bullets and beams and dragon-heads. He could not simply blink and begone. The writhing loops filled the sky against a backdrop of hostile gunfire. Airburst shape-charge artillery left fan-shaped trails and tracers stitched patterns in the air."
  • But Not Too Foreign: Lampshaded by Asuka, when she wonders why, out of all the potential candidate children on the planet, all four pilots just happen to have Japanese ancestry. The four is not a typo; we briefly meet the pilot of NERV America's Eva, who is also of Japanese descent.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Shinji's post-Temple of Trials rant against the elders of Javaal is particularly entertaining, and he has things to say about his father's plans.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Asuka's "GIGA DRILL BREAKER!" and Mana's combination FALCON DRILL PAWNCH!! ...which leads us to...
  • Canon Immigrant:
    • Mana, originally from the Girlfriend of Steel game.note  This is lampshaded by Kaworu ("It's as though canon refuses to accept her existence") when it's pointed out that the Dead Sea Scrolls don't mention her, allowing her to Screw Destiny.
    • Mayumi Yamagishi is from another Sega Saturn game, Neon Genesis Evangelion: 2nd Impression.
    • The three new bridge bunnies are from Shinji Ikari Raising Project.
  • Captain Ersatz:
  • The Casanova: Doubly subverted. The whole Shinji's high school female population has a crush on him. There are three girls (Asuka, Rei and Mana) and a woman (Maya Ibuki) chasing him actively, two of which consider that he should claim all them. The double subversion comes from Shinji affirming that he is not interested in being a player, he does not want a harem and "their" girls are not sluts... and at the same time the Eldar Farseer -that embodies his lust, among other things- spends the whole time suggesting that he should sleep with Asuka or all them, prefferably at once.
    • In the Hot Springs Episode while the cast was relaxing in the springs he felt that Misato, Maya, Asuka, Rei and Mana were getting upset... so he openly walked into the only women side, reassured Mana and left with no bodily harm inflicted upon him. His male friends instantly bowed down.
    • After a Time Skip his sync rates were very low. Maya came up with an idea to cheer him up. She recruited Rei and Mana and together barged into Misato's apartment declaring they were going to kidnap Shinji -and Asuka- and have an orgy. Misato thought that they were joking, but the next day Shinji and Asuka flatly refused commenting on the matter. A bunch of chapters later it is revealed that Shinji had kissed Asuka and Rei in rapid sucession.
  • The Cavalry: The battle against Iruel in Chapter 30 is all but lost... until the Leman Russ tanks and elite soldiers in Terminator armor show up.
  • Celebrity Paradox: One of the author's notes points out that it's odd there are still Emotionless Girl anime in a world without Evangelion to popularize the trope.
  • Celibate Hero: Played with, but ultimately averted. Once he gets over his middle school crush, Shinji is too busy trying to save humanity and avoid becoming the God-Emperor of Mankind to respond with anything besides incredulity towards his admirers. He is slowly but surely dragged kicking and screaming into it (often with the help of a portion of his own subconscious) but by chapter 36 is mentally comparing the differences between kissing Asuka and Rei and fiercely declaring his possession of those he loves most.
  • Chainsaw Good:
    • Evas with prog-chainswords, or in Asuka's case, a prog-chainaxe.
    • Shinji specifically invokes this trope whenever he uses a modified chainsaw to cut wood.
    • Unit 01's upgraded Titan Armor takes this to ludicrous extremes - it has chainsaws coming out of practically every body part imaginable.
  • Chekhov's Armoury: Bpen loves this trope, to the point that most readers on The Fanfiction Forum have largely given up trying to figure which parts are going to be plot sensitive and which are just fluff.
  • The Chessmaster:
    • Shinji. Then again, he's had tutoring from an Eldar Farseer as well as a worshiper of Tzeentch, and keep in mind who he's the child of. That being said, he is quite reluctant to exchange "the machinations of one Ikari for another," especially if it would involve using his friends as pawns. The Farseer's response? Make them his knights, bishops, rooks, and queens.
    • Also, Gendo and Yang. Played with when Yang asks Shinji if he plays the game, and Shinji says he's not too good at it. Gendo usually loses his chess matches against his mentor. Yang is terrible at Real-Time Strategy games; it's implied that it's because the scale is too small for him.
  • Child Soldiers:
    • Discounting the pilots themselves, Shinji has the "Gretch," an entire army of young children to do his bidding by passing messages, spying on the whole city, and performing various missions for him.
    • Reconstructed with Mana when she declares that, yes, she has been traumatized, and yes, she has lost friends, but she is a soldier, it is her LIFE, and she refuses quitting.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: If this version of Shinji is running anywhere, he's probably charging into close combat.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Shinji has accomplished more through the power of faith alone than anyone since Jesus.
  • Cliffhanger/Foreshadowing - Chapter 39 ends with the revelation that things are about to take a serious turn for the worse in Tokyo-3....
  • Cluster F-Bomb: From Chapter 5
    There's no -beeping- glory. There's only living for the next day and killing the other guy! We all saw that, that kid tried his -beeping- best to kill the -beeping- Angel without being -beeping- killed in return. He knew it, -beep- it! He knew that he died there, if he tried to play the stupid shounen hero, then who's gonna be there to stop the next stupid -beeper- that comes?!"
  • Colonel Badass: Misato eventually gets a well-deserved promotion, and acts as commander of NERV for a time.
  • Colony Drop: Aside from Sahaquiel's modus operandi, Kaworu uses this by slamming Pluto and Charon into the moon and Lilith.
  • Combining Mecha: After the MP Evas combine, Misato orders Shinji and Kaworu to combine their mechs. Both pilots make it very clear that's not happening. It does however turn out that if Unit-00 is wearing the O it can equip Magnos Tancred as a power source.
  • The Comically Serious: Shinji is usually The Stoic, and as such gets to play the Straight Man a lot.
  • Companion Cube:
  • Conservation of Competence: Discussed by Kaoru. SEELE and NERV grabbed the best scientific and military minds of the world, leaving less important agencies to pick through their leavings. As a result projects like the Earth Cradle tend to have staff that is less skilled and often less sane than the canon NERV staff.
  • Conversational Troping: Characters use terms like You Fail Biology Forever, Badass Normal, Authority (Not Necessarily) Equaling Asskicking, or Impossibly Cool Clothes in what are admitted shout-outs to TV Tropes.
  • Cool Chair: Shinji gets his "skull throne" when some soldiers carve up an Angel's skull mask as a gift. It nearly kills him.
  • Cool Shades: Used by agents J and K, but also most recently by Pen-Pen. Yes, Pen-Pen:
    It was black car. Tinted windows rolled down, and sunglasses-wearing faces showed.
    "Wark." greeted Pen-pen from the back seat, the bird leaning out the window.
    Yes, he too was wearing special custom-fit sunglasses.
  • Covert Pervert:
    • There's a Running Gag about how Rei secretly desires to lick Shinji all over.
      • More private than secret; Shinji was the first to learn about it. Also, with him actually starting it and all...
    • Shinji's first thought upon an N2 mine nearly bombing him in Chapter 1? "Maybe coming to Tokyo 3 wasn't such a bad idea after all" as Misato "shielded him with her body".
    • It turns out that among the four imaginary personalities Shinji has, it is the only female one, the wise and intelligent Eldar Farseer, that possesses Shinji's lust. This is revealed by way of a rather hilarious Brick Joke.
  • Crack Fic: Less that this fic is on crack, and more that crack is on this fic.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Shinji's ability to plan on multiple levels simultaneously occasionally borders on prescience, to the point where Kaworu has to consult an actual prescient just to keep up. Admiral Yang, on the other hand, trains and equips a group of soldiers for amphibious combat in Tokyo-3, and has them on standby status so they can take part in the Leliel fight. This is both tactically justified in the face of possible amphibious assaults, and totally in character.
    • Shinji has special compartments sealed in his safehouses for him to leave messages to himself or allies in case he travels back in time. Yes, you read that right: Shinji has contingency plans in case of Time Travel.
    • He potentially even tops the last one with his actually being prepared to nuke himself, if his own very existence were ever somehow compromised.
    • When Toji shows Hikari all the things Shinji has had built for his safehouses, and she calls it insane, he directly invokes the trope by name.
    • Likewise, during the Matariel attack, Kensuke has already put enough bolters and live ammunition in the school to stop a small army of Angelspawn, which, coincidentally, it does.
  • Cross Counter: At the very beginning of their first, highly-anticipated EVA-scale fight, Kaworu and Shinji attempt this... but fail epically.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • An extremely swift Shinji victory against a foe that had been butchering civilians for hours and nearly killed Mana prompts a military hearing and nearly sparks riots.
    • Rei and Mana vs seven out of twelve Mass-Production Evangelions. It doesn't end well for them.
  • Cursed with Awesome: The national government has to make a special ruling exempting Shinji from taking part in the Japanese Valentine's Day custom of accepting and eating chocolates from admirers and loved ones, in lieu of his being rushed to the hospital the previous year after dutifully eating every single one received. After a prohibition against anyone (but namely the young women) at the school from presenting them, the revelation that certain among them will actually still be permitted almost sparks a(nother) riot. And this is only one early example of what his life has become; by later chapters, he is occasionally reduced to slamming his head upon the nearest solid surface or object, all but begging to know why this is happening to him.
    • This has apparently happened to humanity due to the potential of the EVAs. Admiral Yang even references the trope by name:
      The power of the Evangelion is like cursing ourselves with awesomeness. We can live just fine without it, the same way the human race has deserved its success with its own pain and suffering and learning from our mistakes, but we can't SURVIVE now without them.
  • Cutlass Between the Teeth: Shinji tried to do this in chapter 2 part 2.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Ritsuko may be starting to edge into this, as she has created mechadendrites to make herself functional after her paralysis.

    D-F 
  • Dark Messiah: Kaworu is the anti-Shinji... whatever that means.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Rei and Kaworu. Kaworu takes this to extremes when faced with Shinji's Refuge in Audacity during their battle. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Deface of the Moon: Lilith covers the entire moon with a sea of LCL. And then Kaworu drops Pluto and Charon on it.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: How 'Da Boys came into being.
  • Defictionalization: invoked The most effective weapons against the Angels and their spawn are based on Warhammer 40K technology. There's also the matter of Machine Cults popping up in different universities.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Thanks to his "I do not want anybody to get hurt" policy Shinji did it to both Rei and Asuka (the former being cold and the latter being aggressive). The result was them becoming more badass and him getting stuck into a real, complicated love triangle.
  • Delinquents: Da Boyz were originally a few delinquents who went around bullying smaller kids. When Shinji proceeded to beat the crap out of them single-handedly, they changed their ways and started following him around, eventually growing in number and actually becoming something of a militia in Shinji's hometown and an information network in Tokyo-3.
  • Democracy Is Bad: The chapter twenty-one bureaucratic governmental inquisition into the activities of NERV and NNHIS paints this picture. Even if such activities ultimately involve Gendo planning to liquify the world's population into whatever the Hive Mind actually is, the panel's effective demands that they and their proxies maintain strict adherence to social institutions in the face of utter annihilation smacks as nothing less than suicidal fat-headedness on a national scale.
  • Destructive Saviour: People know Shinji's back when there's massive destruction. Even when he's trying not to, Shinji ends up causing more destruction than actual Angels.
    Just having him around increased the flammability of -concrete-.
  • Determinator: Aside from the obvious, the Assault Terminators are the most specific example, especially their initial arrival.
  • Detonation Moon: In the final arc, Kaworu blows up a chunk of the Moon in order to try to destroy an Eldritch Abomination. Many people wonders whether humankind is definitely and inescapably screwed or it is not as bad as it looks. Fortunately it looks like the debris is floating away Earth.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: A lot. Shinji literally punches out one of the Angels and the Jet Alone in the first seven chapters alone. He started the latter fight by blowing the limbs off the Jet Alone with an Eva-scaled bolter...
  • Dirty Old Woman: The Farseer that lives in Shinji's head. As the Chaos Marine points out, given that her race birthed Slaanesh, this should not be particularly surprising. For his part, Shinji is profoundly disturbed that a facet of his subconscious has such urges, especially when it starts influencing the people around him on its own.
  • Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Invoked in a mental note from Shinji to Unit 01.
    "Machine spirit. Why are we taunting the Angel?"
  • Don't Look At Me: Happened to Minase after she was raped.
  • Dope Slap:
    • Administered several times by the Farseer.
    • Invoked in chapter 33 when the narration states that Yui should be there to give both her husband and her son a good headslap.
  • Double Entendre: Rei embraces a unique "brand of psychological torture as a device for humor." She seems to particularly enjoy reminding Asuka of how well she and Shinji "connect," while implying that she and Asuka could "connect" in a similar fashion.
    "... and she began to scream. I still fail to understand this concept of humor."
  • Dramatic Irony: Minase rejected Shinji thinking that she would be surrounded by cool guys in high school and she would have no time for Shinji. Later she developed a crush on him, but for that time Shinji was living on Tokyo-3, fighting Robeast for breakfast and getting chased and lusted after for Asuka, Rei, Maya, Mana... and Minase is just a childhood friend back in his hometown.
  • Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Seriously, Asuka, Shinji just woke up from one. That's what she wants us to think, at any rate.
  • Dynamic Entry: Reinforcements arrive at the battle against Iruel by ramming a battleship against the city dock at full speed and slicing their way out.
    • From chapter 41:
      A HERO ARRIVES IN THE NICK OF TIME!" A boxy red shape punched out to stand on top of the tilting structure's roof. "A hero strikes when least expected! The enemy of all that is good, the ones who wants to destroy this world that is made of love! And peace! Will never escape from justice! Specially in the moment that he feels safe, he will know! There is nowhere to hide! The name for this! IS DYNAMIC ENTRY!
  • Dysfunction Junction: The Earth Cradle makes the NERV staff look well-adjusted. This is largely due to SEELE and NERV poaching the best minds, leaving the Cradle as a dumping ground for people who are less skilled and less sane.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Under the willpower of SEELE, the six remaining MP Evas have merged together into a shapeshifting abomination that has six mouths and can sing the song that ends the Earth.
  • Enemy Mine:
    • Shinji knows what Gendo's planning. Gendo knows Shinji knows this. And they both know the only way they'll survive long enough to have their final showdown is to work together... for the time being.
    • Shinji and Kaworu have to do this to take down the invading MP Evas.
  • Energy Weapon: Earth's Cradle has these, and fires them at Castle Sturmbrand, but not in Beam Spam fashion. They miss.
    "We missed? How could we miss?!" Martin Bettelheim shouted. "It's a goddamn laser! It travels at lightspeed!"
  • Evil Counterpart: Kaworu to Shinji. Kaworu seems to view his foil as a Worthy Opponent, though it doesn't look like the feelings are mutual.
  • Evil Lawyer Joke: The UN Psykana drafted the contracts for psykers with the help of a law firm out of LA named "Staüb and Cutt."
  • Expendable Alternate Universe: Subverted. Shinji cares just as much about the original Canon alternate world that he might have inadvertently destroyed as he does about his own. Whether the fanbase also does, but for opposite reasons, is up in the air.
  • Explosive Overclocking: Happened to Shinji at the very end of the Lilith incident. Turns out that manifesting the armor of the God-Emperor completely fried his internal organs, then healed him to a point of minimum functionality, and he has no tongue and no eyes.
  • Fangirl: Mana Krishima, complete with Squee moments. This and the Genki Girl and Stalker with a Crush aspects of her personality get hit hard during the Matariel battle, in which she loses her best friends, her arm, and her innocence, but they occasionally surface afterward.
  • Faux Affably Evil: How Shinji sees Kaworu... and boy, does it piss him off.
    Shinji Ikari wanted to shout 'Do you understand now?! Do you understand, Misato-san? All of you?! THIS is why I -hate- Nagisa beyond all other things on this Earth. He can be so Goddamn POLITE and so obliging that it's so Goddamned -easy- to -forget- that he's supposed to be your Goddamn -enemy- until he's finished slicing your throat open.'
  • First Kiss: In chapter 13 Asuka is very pained and upset. Not knowing how else helping her, Shinji kisses her. The narration explicitly points out that it was their first kiss.
  • Five Rounds Rapid: For the first few chapters, Shinji constantly has to rely on his prog knife because NERV can't seem to build a decent gun. Fortunately, the Eva-scaled bolters and NNHIS come along soon after.
  • Fix Fic: Today, Shinji; tomorrow, the world. Since in canon both are very much broken by design, it's understandable that the gap can't be bridged in under half a million words.
  • Flash Step: Used by Kaworu's ultimate Trident unit.
  • Foe Romance Subtext: Perhaps as a nod to Canon, Kaworu admits that Shinji "is...very compelling in many ways." He's mainly interested in Asuka, though. Invoked when he tells Asuka she has to be the one to kill him.
    • Chapter 40 averts this, however, when both Shinji and Kaworu refuse Misato's suggestion to, well, combine their mechas to fight the MP Evas.
      Shinji: NEVER.
      Kaworu: Agreed. That shall remain an output-only port, thank you very much.
  • Foregone Conclusion: One of the story's draws comes from the fact that Eva fans have a general idea of how that story ends, depending on which version you're referring tonote , while 40K fans know how the Emperor's rise to power goes... but since the two plot lines are happening simultaneously, it remains to be seen who is Doomed by Canon and which outcome will ultimately triumph. Then again, given the nature of both materials, they might not be mutually exclusive.
  • Foreshadowing: It is humorously noted early on that some bored troops taught a technique known as the Ikari after witnessing Shinji's infamous signature headbutt-curbstomp maneuver. When Shinji and Maya are kidnapped, Maya uses the Ikari to disable and murder a captor about to rape her. She notes that it is seriously taught at NERV.
  • For Want Of A Nail: The starting premise is that discovering the eponymous game as a child gave Shinji Ikari a hobby that helped him build confidence and strategic, tactical, and interpersonal skills, with the resulting Character Development changing the way he deals with the events of Evangelion canon. It eventually turns into something more like a crossover.
    • Per Word of God:
      Bepin: Shinji to be awesome doesn't need to be an asshole. Or be replaced utterly. One simple, simple thing. Just change his childhood. Make him happy. Everything pulls its own weight after that.
  • Friend to All Children: Shinji, by his own admission — while he does believe that there are no innocents, he sees no reason for childhood not to be safe and happy, and Da Boyz were styled by him primarily as a way to keep kids entertained and out of trouble.
  • From Bad to Worse: Gendo suggests to Fuyutsuki that each time the latter claims it could be, it inevitably becomes so.
  • Funetik Aksent: Shinji's English is quite "authentic," as he learned it by reading Ork codices. The Boyz and Gretch picked up the same speech patterns, resulting in a generation of Japanese schoolchildren who speak like English football hooligans.

    G-I 
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Kensuke manufactured the first functional Boltguns all by himself.
  • Gambit Pileup: between Ikari Gendo and NERV, Lorenz Keel and SEELE, Shinji and his Terminators and UN PSYKANA, and Kaworu and the forces of Earth's Cradle, with Yang sticking his nose in sometimes. Also, the Angels themselves.
  • Genre Savvy:
    • When Shinji feels -understandably- reluctant to get in Unit 01, one of his figures tells him: "You are a teenager. That is a giant robot. There is no other way this can end except you getting into that pilot seat."
    • Mana, perhaps appropriately, seems to know quite a few of the standard Dating Sim tropes, and reacts in horror when she hears about two girls Shinji knew back in Sendai.
    • Asuka, on the other hand, is a would-be Troper: she reclassifies Shinji from The Ace to a Mentor, considers Rei an Uncompromising Confidante, notes her own Moral Ambiguity...
      "Asuka was aware she was Assigning Capital Letters in her own mind. She had learned that other people weren't quite so clear-cut, but needed to classify them anyway. It was methodical, it was convenient, and for the most part it worked. Even events could be predicted according to patterns."
    • BPen also qualifies, thanks to his use of tropes. Also, in his notes from one chapter, he thanked TV Tropes for giving him some ideas and helping him write the story more believably.
    • Kaworu is also confirmed to be this in the author's notes. That's why in ch. 42, he decides to take out Magnos Tancred FIRST even though it's the one that's least of an immediate threat.
      "If you say something about my 'not having any honor', I will be severely disappointed in you, Ikari-kun." Kaworu commented in the same cheery voice he had used earlier, in complaining about being stabbed in the face as a hello. "I've told you this before, I did not come here to -fight-." He grinned wider. "I came here to WIN."
  • God-Emperor: Shinji is the Memetic Badass in a universe where belief is power. Meanwhile, by chapter nineteen, Hikari becomes the first to reference Shinji with a deity honorific, and Rei outright suggests to Asuka that he could in fact be a living god.
    • And in Chapter 45 Shinji temporarily manifested the iconic golden armour of Him On Terra.
  • Godwin's Law: Invoked several times by German characters in chapter 37: The similarities between WWII and post-war Germany with their current situation is mentioned by several psyker Lamas who were also Holocaust survivors. One of these psykers later shows a group of assembled German soldiers and leaders his barcode tattoo, stating that if they simply gave in, they would be no better than the ones who let the Nazi atrocities take place. A soldier responds by asking if they should keep paying for the sins of their fathers. Later, one of the colonels, who does not want to see all the people die in a war zone, confronts a group of soldiers who want to stay and fight to the end rather than leave many of the citizens to die and demand if fighting to the last man was really any better, by invoking Hitler's scorched-earth policy and the destruction of Germany so that the allies would not be able to take control the country.
    The colonel clenched his fists. He had served the army well, he was no coward. He was no moron either, to waste his own life on futile gestures. "So you would rather have millions suffer in the middle of a warzone than relinquish control? Do you know how all of this sounds?" He pointed at Wilfred. "This is insane! Do you know WHO you sound like?"
    The young man snarled, and would have pulled the trigger right there. How dare he!
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: Ritsuko begins to crack more and more when what Shinji does takes the laws of physics and throws them completely out the window. By chapter 35, Ritsuko qualifies as a full-fledged Spark.
    "What sort of madness are we going to inflict upon the galaxy? FOOLS! I will destroy you ALL before I let-"
    Maya coughed. "Focus, sempai."
  • Gratuitous German: First with Asuka and Martin, then in the narration itself once there's actually a battle in Germany.
  • Green Rocks: The psychically-formed crystals encountered by Shinji during the Javaal arc are room temperature superconductors needed in order to make the next necessary step in technology.
  • Grew a Spine: Possibly The Most Triumphant Example in Evangelion fanfiction, this fic is the tale of a wuss becoming God Emperor of Humankind. At the start of the story Shinji is his wimpy canon self, but after finding a suitcase full with Warhammer 40,000 figurines and books he gradually grows a gigantic spine, becoming an utterly fearless badass that earns the reverence of his people for his heroism and the love of women for his gentleness.
  • Grimdark: Ultimately subverted. The irony of ironies is that Shinji's exposure to 40K actually gives him the purpose and courage to make Evangelion a less dysfunctional and more optimistic setting. That said, the "Farewell to Peace" arc is considerably darker than earlier chapters, what with Shinji being brutally beaten and Maya almost getting raped by their kidnappers, while from Matariel on the battles against the Angels are much more desperate and have a much higher human cost than previous encounters. In the latest chapters the story has been heading back towards Grim Dark; with the rise of the Black Moon things have gone down the toilet for the average person, especially if they have psychic powers and/or live in China, Russia or Germany.
  • Guns Are Worthless: Annihilated by Kensuke's unspeakably righteous badassery during the Matariel attack, and then played straight later on when most heavy bolters aren't powerful enough to hurt some of the creatures from Earth's Cradle.
  • Hauled Before A Senate Subcommittee: In chapter 22 the main characters have to come before a Government committee to explain what happened in Tokyo-3 during the attack of Matarael.
  • Happiness in Slavery: To Shinji's slowly-growing horror, more than a few of his associates have begun taking up this stance in their degree of loyalty to him... Rei taking it to the point of stating that he himself is Happiness incarnate in her mind.
  • Hero Insurance: NERV can cover the rebuilding costs, but the people of Tokyo-3 are quite supportive of any battle plan that takes Shinji out of the city. The local defense forces realize he's returned based on the amount of destruction some surprise reinforcements cause.
  • Hidden Elf Village: Javaal, but they eventually give up the hiding and become Grey Knights.
  • Hilarity Ensues: Teenage 40K fanboy Shinji becomes immensely popular amongst his classmates, pilots a giant Eva, and is stuck in a twisted Love Dodecahedron, all while trying to keep personalities of his favorite miniatures from distracting him with their wacky hijinks as he attempts to save the world and doing his best not to become The God-Emperor. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Historical In-Joke: Yang and Kensuke start laughing uncontrollably when Shinji returns with a Greek citizenship and Macedonian Terminators... Others bring up the similarities between him and Alexander often.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: The rest of the cast eventually stops being shocked when Shinji tries to kill Angels with their own body parts.
  • Hot-Blooded:
    • Shinji has apparently been taking life lessons from Kouji Kabuto or Kamina.
    • And Asuka oozes hot-bloodness.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Chapter 23, a Breather Episode (or so it would seem) after the "Inquiry Into Values" arc, that shows that while Shinji may be on the road to becoming The Emperor, he's still...well, Shinji.
  • Human Resources: Kaworu uses the cores of three of the last Angels as power sources for the Black Cradle.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Shinji expresses disbelief and exasperation when Keel shows that he can manipulate the AT-field and break laws of physics better than he can. This annoys Kaworu to no end.
  • Idiot Hair: Poor Ritsuko develops this, as she struggles to deal with the number of impossible things happening around her.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Admiral Yang would like nothing more than to be a full-time history teacher. Even though he has a job as one at Shinji's high school, he still moonlights as a UN Advisor/sometimes military commander.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Shinji did not make anything about Asuka seeing Kaworu because it made her happy and that the most important thing to him. Even after Kaworu had revealed his true self, when Asuka asked him if he was not going to try and convince her to not be tempted, Shinji still told her: "Decide what you want." Subverted when he said he was not afraid to lose Asuka because she was his.
  • I Want My Jetpack: In one of the interlude chapters a character jokes that since AT Fields make antigravity possible... "It is 2015 already. Where's my hoverboard, punk? Where is it?!"
  • Imaginary Friend: As a child, Shinji talked to his four favorite figures: a Space Marine, an Eldar Farseer, an Ork Warboss, and a Chaos Space Marine. At some point, they started talking back. Sometimes to other people like Asuka in chapter 22. The "friend" part (and possibly the "imaginary") may be subverted by the time it's all said and done, based on the Chaos Marine's part in ch. 42.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This tends to happen a lot, on all sides.
  • In the Blood: This version of Shinji is noted many times as being eerily similar to Gendo, with the two thankfully having very different goals. Ritsuko takes this to the logical most extreme and personifies Shinji as mini-Gendo and Rei as mini-Yui. Naturally, the idea of two Gendos running around freaks her the hell out, and the prospect of a mini-Gendo allying with a mini-Yui makes her fear for the planet.
  • In the Name of the Moon: This happens just about every Angel fight.
    KNOW THE NAME OF YOUR DESTROYER, YOU WHO HAVE COME DOWN TO JUDGE HUMANITY! THIS IS EVANGELION! TITANICUS! PRINCIPIO ETERNUS! IN ITS NAME, DIE! IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY, DIE!
    • Subverted when Kaworu tries this...and is rewarded with a bolt to the face.
  • Indy Ploy: Shinji both plans it all out and makes it up as he goes along. The result is something of an amalgam between Xanatos Speed Chess and going into screaming berserker rages while stabbing Angels point blank with their own ripped-out teeth.
  • Instant Fan Club: Asuka's canonical admirers face competition in the form of fan clubs devoted to Shinji's other possible love interests (Rei, Mana, and Maya), all Color-Coded for Your Convenience. "Inquisitor" Hikari heads the Ordos Custodes, a neutral group devoted to the protection of all the pilots. And then there's Shinji himself...
  • Insult Backfire: Rei's response to being called a "doll" in to retort she's "an action figure".
  • Intimate Healing: ...of the "shared body heat" variety. Then there's Rei and Maya in the Omake, and Rei giving massages...
  • It's Personal: When Kaworu uses the Earth Cradle to take over Germany by force, Asuka is just ticked off.

    J-L 
  • Japan Takes Over the World: With a huge influx of Latin words introduced into its language, though.

  • Jerkass:
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: The scheduled Leliel encounter plays out a bit differently, involving Shinji lampshading the fauxlosophical symbolism of the train sequence, a Heroic BSoD followed by a Battle in the Center of the Mind, and culminating in a Mind Screw.
  • Karma Houdini: Amidst the Lilith debacle, Gendo gets what he wants and leaves everyone else to pick up his mess. This makes Kaworu snap.

  • Kick the Dog: Kaworu literally kicks Pen-Pen unconscious when he breaks into Misato's apartment with Kaji. Although his act was somewhat justified by Pen-Pen's hostility towards him and even though he left him alive, Kaji still calls him out for this.
    Kaji: What the hell do you think you're doing?
    Kaworu: That guardian animal could have been troublesome. It should be just unconscious, no need to worry.
    Kaji: What about not leaving a trace of our presence? You just kicked a penguin! Misato's penguin! (pause) It's a penguin! What's -wrong- with you?
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Yang, via sniper.
  • Killed Off for Real: As of the end of ch. 44: Musashi, Keita, Lader, Martin, the Sunshine Kid, Yang, Rei and Kentaro.
  • Lampshade Hanging: The story occasionally pokes fun at the source material, such as when Misato wonders why there isn't a huge particle cannon protecting NERV or where the mental therapists went, and when Shinji wonders what kind of sucky life he'd be living without his exposure to 40K. Also, all the Shout Outs to TV Tropes and the in-character requests for certain pop-culture references.
    "I have a gun. And armor. What is the source of your confidence?" Kensuke replied. He ignored the barely-repressed chuckles from some of his friends. 'Darth Aida', someone said. He threw his bolt pistol at the man's feet. "There are still six rounds in that bolt gun. Go and kill some Angelspawn if you feel like being a man."
    "Do...don't patronize me!"
    "Then stop being an idiot. Live. Or die. It's your choice and I don't care." Say it! he heard from behind. He sighed. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." Kensuke growled.
  • Large Ham: The corporate executive in charge of Jet Alone, and later NNHIS, has a thing for dramatics, as does Shinji any time he's in his Eva or making an Inspirational Speech. The Chaos Space Marine takes the cake, though, and chews it thoroughly...though he's facing some new competition whenever Ritsuko is in "the madness place."
  • Last Stand
    • This more than anything else is the core of Shinji's beliefs that he's inherited from his 40K influences. No matter what, humanity must fight on and overcome.
    • You also get a more literal invocation in the last words of the Continental UK's prime minister in chapter 37, when he quotes Churchill's "never surrender" speech.
  • Lensman Arms Race: The Angels are forced to adapt to the new tricks Shinji and the gang come up with to defeat them. From Sandalphon on, the battles diverge from canon significantly, becoming increasingly epic and insane.
    • Summed up best by the exponential growth of the giant cannons NERV and the UN are making:
      Ritsuko: You want to hit Phobos? We can hit Phobos.
      Fuyutsuki: Wait, Phobos? THAT -MOON-? OF -MARS-?!
      Ritsuko: Well, it's not that hard... If the Angel had attacked in its previous form just one more time, no AT-field could possibly stand up to that blast. This is anti-orbital defense...and it's -puny- compared to the Grand Cannon being made up in Europe.
    ...and even that was a midget compared to the one planned for Canada.
  • Libation for the Dead: Mana does this.
  • Little Miss Badass: Mana, as soon as she's given command of Magnos Tancred.
  • Little "No": After hearing that they had been unable to prevent Sahaquiel from strafing Berlin-2, Asuka utters one:
    Asuka: "no..." [...] "It can't be... please, it can't be..."
  • Love Confession: Although Shinji had said other people he liked Asuka they were dancing around each other for months, half-acknowledging their feelings but not acting on them. It was during the Black Earth Craddle Arc he told Asuka he loved her and she was hers. Asuka replied he was also hers and wanted everything of him.
  • Loved by All: Even the Yakuza eventually give tribute to Shinji, no doubt at the gentle encouragement of Rei.
  • Love Interest: Shinji is Asuka's and Rei's (Mana's and Maya's, too. But Bhepin tends to forget about them). Asuka is Shinji and Kaworu's.
  • Lonely at the Top:
    • One of Shinji's deep fears.
      ...for what he wanted most was a friend, not a slave.
    • Mentioned by Asuka several times. In chapter 22 she quotes the trope word by word. And in chapter 37 she says that being at the top feels cold and lonely.
    • It is mentioned in chapter 33 that both Shinji and Gendo feel like this.
  • Lotus-Eater Machine: While trapped in the Dirac Sea, Shinji spends some time in a strange alternate universe where Tokyo-3 is mostly intact and the battle against the Angels has been less devastating, but Misato is only a major, Rei is strangely robotic, and Asuka's permanently angry. Afterward, he worries if his exit destroyed it.

    M-O 
  • Macross Missile Massacre:
    • Attempted against Sahaquiel in the form of a massive coordinated nuclear strike...and it bites humanity in the ass in a huge way after the Angel extracts the warheads and turns its own projectiles into nukes.
    • At the end of ch. 44, a massive coordinated missile attack, including nukes and ICBMs, has been launched at Tokyo-3 to try to destroy the resurrected Yui.
  • Madness Mantra: In early fights, Shinji's "I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away" runs more along the lines of "BURN! MAIM! KILL!"
  • Mad Scientist: Ritsuko, of all people, is already very close since she was exposed to too much craziness. It remains to be seen if she starts embracing it after Luftschloss Sturmbrand successfully took off.
  • Magitek: Ritsuko desperately tries to avert this, but Shinji keeps finding ways to mess with physics, and psychic crystals are required for the next generation in anti-Angel weaponry.
  • Marry Them All:
    • Averted by the militant fan clubs.
      Someone was thrown out of the huddled masses below for his heresy. The four points star was not a valid option, dammit.
    • Asuka briefly considers the idea when under the influence of the Farseer. Shinji is so horrified by what his subconscious is doing that he knocks himself out by slamming his head on his desk.
    • Rei, on the other hand, seems to have absolutely no problem with the idea.
  • Marshmallow Hell: During the Javaal Arc, in chapter 24, Misato hugged Shinji against her chest and nearly asphyxiated him.
    Shinji pulled himself loose from her (Misato's) suffocating embrace. Those bosoms were deadly.
  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover: At first this fic is just Eva as influenced by 40K. Once the plot stops following Eva canon around chapter 20, numerous other series start to have influence on the setting (e.g. GunBuster and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water), and then characters from other series start to appear (e.g. Yang Wen-li).
  • Meaningful Name: Several:
    • The Farseer refers to Shinji as her "young king," which any scholar of Eldar lore knows isn't necessarily a great title to have.
    • Part-time priest Makoto spends a lot of time hanging around Mini-Storm Studios.
    • The UN Imp(rovised) Guards: Deathwatch.
    • And from chapter 35:
      Sinn? Dje? No explanation necessary.
  • Mecha Show: This fic blends two different sci-fi universes. There are more sci-fi technological thingamajigs than you can shake a stick at.
  • Messiah Creep: Shinji is aware how his situation parallels the God Emperor of Mankind's, and spends a great amount of effort desperately trying to avoid it. So far, he hasn't been entirely successful.
    • Since the prologue, Da Boyz refer to any command given by Shinji as "Da Word", an allusion (intended or not by the author) to the Biblical concept of the Messiah, complete with the affirmation that one lives or dies by their respective degree, or lack, of obedience to it.
  • Meta Mecha: Evangelion-sized power armor.
  • Metaphorically True: No, Shinji is not part-Angel, and no, he is not technically a psychic. Either status would imply limits to his potential.
  • Mind Rape: Kaworu does this to Lader, Stockman, Bettelheim and Campbell during the Earth Cradle arc.
  • Mind Screw: The entire story, but about the point you realize Shinji Ikari is being set up to become the God Emperor of Mankind your mind screams "I REJECT IT!"... but the story just won't stop making sense.
  • Mind Screwdriver: For the exact same reasons as the Mind Screw.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Mana's friends Musashi and Keita try to gather intelligence about Shinji, but end up asking the wrong questions.
  • Mood-Swinger: Maya notes that Rei has only two settings, "apathetic or violently happy," while Shinji oscillates between "I'm no one special, really" and "I pity the galaxy that does not know me." There's also "Inquisitor" Horaki: sweet schoolgirl, caring friend, and iron-fisted, (safe)bolt-shooting Class Representative from hell.
    "By special order of the Tokyo-3 City Council and NERV Operations..."
  • Mood Whiplash: Happens fairly frequently.
  • More Dakka: An aspect of Orkish philosophy wholly embraced by Rei. NNHIS is happy to provide...with Kensuke, and ultimately Shinji, as the original sources of the majority of the new designs.
  • More than Mind Control: A non-evil example. The Eldar Farseer often talks to an unaware Asuka via telepathy to encourage her to get into Shinji's pants. Asuka's feelings and desires are real and the Farseer is not forcing Asuka to do anything she doesn't want to do, but Asuka has no idea where the thoughts in her head come from, and she gradually becomes more receptive to her suggestions.
  • Mundane Made Awesome:
    • Subverted in general. When Purple Prose is used to describe something, said something is usually ridiculously awesome even without the Purple Prose.
    • Played for Laughs with Shinji's reaction upon first seeing Misato's apartment.
      Shinji: (thinking) Well, first things first. I don't care if she thinks it presumptuous. One must guard oneself against Chaos. Demons of untidiness! Fear me! I have come, with the mop of justice and the sponge of truth! I shall cleanse you from this home! Let it be sanctified with the sweet scent of the Emperor's soap!
  • Mundane Utility: To the pilots' boredom, one of the peaceful applications of AT-Field weirdness is masonry, as it allows the Evas to lift huge sheets of rock out of the ground to turn Tokyo-3 into a fortress-city. Shinji also ruminates on more exotic uses, like levitating things such as converted nuclear subs into orbit to launch an invasion of wherever the Angels are coming from. Chapter 36 opens with the Evas using their AT fields to break down destroyed machinery into pristinely pure slabs of their component metals.
  • Mutant Draft Board: The Black Ships.
  • Mythology Gag: Yui's true identity is "Yui Ichijou," the pilot for EVA-00 in an alternate reality. Her name and character design come from early pre-production revisions of the character that would become Rei.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands:
    • Shinji's mastery of the AT-field. Lampshaded by Ritsuko's teeth-grinding frustration about it. Asuka later learns to improv tricks of her own.
    • Shinji's temporary delve into psychic powers during the Javaal arc.
    • Apparently, Rei can control the length and color of her hair if Raka is any indication.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Iruel's infestation of the Earth's Cradle creates a unique (and horrifying) faction, combining the Tau's philosophy of supplication to the Greater Good, the Tyranids' swarm tactics and evolutionary drive, and the Necron's high technology and ability to shrug off wounds. The result is an army that Mind Rapes you from its floating fortress, before swamping you with teleporting hordes of infested humans capable of regenerating most damage who try to assimilate you.
  • No Name Given: Rika Izuna's ever-loyal cameraman. He comments on this at least once. His full name is revealed in Chapter 44 when he makes his last stand: Toshiro Manabe.
  • No Range Like Point-Blank Range: As he was fighting Samshel, Shinji picked a rocket launcher and shot it point blank to make sure he wouldn't miss.
  • Nonchalant Dodge: Shinji is able to easily sidestep Toji's introductory fisticuffs (and retaliate with his signature move). Shinji's as surprised as his attacker, and the incident is the first clue that his exposure to the Eva may have unforeseen consequences.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • Whatever happened in Hawaii that led to Gendo and Fuyutsuki being banned from the entire state.
    • During the Time Skip, Shinji apparently had some globetrotting adventures, and has alluded to a lost city in Egypt and an encounter with a sidhe in England without going into too much detail.
    • From chapter 23:
      Asuka: G-get your hand out of there! Dammit! Help! She's molesting me...again.
      Rei: It was an accident, Sohryu.
    • In chapter 32, Maya, Rei and Mana decide that the only way to get Shinji's sync ratio up is to resolve some typical pent-up teenage stress, and had even cleared it with the local (tantric) Buddhist priests. When Asuka tries to stop them, they figure they might as well include her as well, and bring her along against her will. They then invite Misato, who declines and only requests that they bring the two back in time for school. Although Maya's wink to Misato suggests that she was joking, the only thing we know for sure is that hours later, several buildings collapse without reason, thirty-six Terminators deploy, and portents of doom are sensed throughout the city.
      "Oh, come on." Misato turned to Shinji. "It was for your own good. So... what happened?"
      "Nothing happened. Ever." he replied. "It was exhausting, it was random, it was completely pointless, and you're never going to know."
  • No Seatbelts: Observed by Shinji in chapter 2 when he gets flattened by Sachiel.
  • Nosebleed: Kensuke, Mana and, to her own surprise, Asuka ("I can't possibly have a maid fetish!").
    • Maya almost gets one in chapter 5 after imagining Ritsuko addressing her as "neechan".
  • No Sympathy: In chapter 9, reporter Rika Izuna considers Shinji's video, reading the demands of the terrorists who captured and beat him, as a personal attempt to damage her career.
  • Not What It Looks Like: In chapter 24 Shinji and his father are alone in a room and Shinji punches himself to get his father in trouble. When Misato stormed into the place and saw Shinji bleeding Gendo tried to explain what this was not what it looked like... and then he shut up why he realized that NOBODY would believe him.
  • Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Slightly averted. Eventually the UN is prepared to use all their strategic weapons, including nuclear, on the Angels...if Misato's team (which is to say, Shinji, Rei and Asuka, and very occasionally anyone else) falls, and everyone's going to wind up dead anyway.
  • Official Couple: Shinji and Asuka after chapter 36.
  • Official Kiss: In chapter 36 Shinji says Asuka he is not worried about her choosing Kaworu over him because she is his. And then he kisses her roughly and passionately. She replies he is hers, too, and they make out.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • This tends to happen a lot as each of the factions keeps on one-upping each other. The whole planet reacts this way when Admiral Yang (Chinese tactician and war hero who won the "allegiance of the steppes") and Shinji Ikari (mecha pilot and adopted citizen of Greece who leads a private army of Macedonians in Terminator armor) start working together.
    • Also the reaction of everyone at NERV Mission Control when they hear Asuka's statement after finishing Israfel: "Hey Shinji?... I think I like you."
    • "Face it, Asuka Langley-Sohryu. You're the sanest, most emotionally well-adjusted pilot here."
    • SEELE's membership give the less family-friendly version of the phrase when Shinji quits NERV, and just after they finally realize that no global power, anywhere, knows either his ultimate intentions or the limits of his capabilities.
  • Omake: Pen-Pen's experiments with flight and Battle-Sister Ibuki's nighttime adventures. Also, a discussion on some alternate uses of Wraithbone, the revelation that Shinji's character development is all proceeding according to Yui's plan, and some disturbingly cute interactions between Shinji and Rei in the Alternate Universe.
    • Out of Context 1 and 2
  • Only Sane Woman: More precisely, "Only Sane Women". Asuka and Ritsuko bond over their mutual loathing of Shinji's ability to "pull weird shit with his AT-field." Inevitably, such attitudes prove only temporary, with both slowly drawn ever further into the impossibilities of his existence, and in Asuka's case, actively seeking his nigh-inhuman power... and slowly being granted it.
  • Order Versus Chaos: One of the strongest ongoing philosophical debates of the story, with Shinji's mind being only one of the most prominent battlegrounds. For more than a few others, the stability he has brought to their lives, when present, has only too easily served to magnify the resulting chaos, when not.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: For one thing, they're nanomachine-powered, and immune to headshots, since they'll just grow 'em back unless the brain is completely destroyed by something like, say, a bolt pistol.

    P-R 
  • Painting the Medium: For the third installment of "All Along the Watchtower", the author asks the reader to switch the website to 1/2 of the page. This is so the following chapter can do an ASCII-art "GIGA DRILL BREAK!" Unfortunately, this happens to break depending on one's screen size.
  • Palm-Fist Tap: Shinji does this in the prologue. The author's explanation for the Western audience is only slightly awkward.
  • Parental Substitute: After Shinji's arrival to NERV Misato took her in, even if she thought he was a weird kid. As things get crazier and crazier she also becomes Asuka's guardian, and Rei's for a while when Shinji was away.
  • Pass the Popcorn: At one point while Shinji's mental Space Marine and Chaos Space Marine are beating each other up, the Farseer and the Warboss break out the popcorn.
  • Percussive Maintenance: Shinji's preferred method of stopping his mental miniatures from influencing the people around him is to knock himself unconscious.
  • Persona Non Grata: Gendo and Fuyutsuki are banned from Hawaii for some reason.
  • Perspective Flip: See, with this new information, we can finally begin to understand what was happening during the spooky train scene...
  • Pervert Revenge Mode: Played straight in the Hot Springs Episode 24 when Toji and Kensuke tried to use a miniature camera to spy on the girls, and Asuka busted it. Averted in an insanely awesome way when Shinji shortly after walked calmly in the girl's side, cheered one of them up and walked back to the boy's side... and nobody lifted one finger against him!
  • Pet the Dog: Gendo actually gets a few moments, such as when after asking why Rei was messing with Asuka, he gives her permission to continue. "Let it not be said that he was ever selfish in his bastardiness." This is a different Rei than the one he shot in the back of the head. Later he even stuns Misato with his trust in Shinji, at a time when she was hesitating.
    • Gendo actually has the most moments for a "villain", expressing pride in his son's manipulations after his Wounded Gazelle Gambit and caring a fair deal for Ritsuko. Particularly after she got paralyzed.
  • Pluto Is Expendable: Used to justify Kaworu using it for a Colony Drop on the moon.
  • Portal Cut: Happens during the fight against Leliel, when the opening to the Dirac sea closes unexpectedly.
  • Powered Armor:
  • The Power of Love: Mana's bionic arm has sensitivity beyond that of a normal prothesis, and Kensuke posits that her affection for Shinji makes it "powered by perversion."
  • The Power of Rock: Iruel's low-frequency, fear-inducing sonic attack is first countered by a bunch of Gretch banging pots and pans together.
  • Power Perversion Potential: After hearing how Shinji can sync with Rei's AT-Field, Agent Jiro wonders "So... just by thinking about it, can you make her o-" Luckily his partner has the presence of mind to shut him up before he's torn apart.
  • Prophecy Twist:
    • SEELE comes to realize that due to changing circumstances, the old Dead Sea scrolls now have a few possible interpretations. Additionally, the words on the lambskin themselves have changed.
    • Then the cast notices that an event from the Evangelion Fantasy Battles movie script comes true in a truly horrifying manner.
    • Gendo at one point remarks that the prophecies clearly have no relevance anymore... then later on subverts this by wondering why an event from the Prophecy appears to be playing out straight.
  • Psychic Powers: The Russians have the PKRU in Siberia undertaking extensive research into the field of psionics, and those with Angel genes all possess such abilities to degrees slight or extensive...while Shinji quietly sends a messenger to the Russian premier, with answers to questions the latter won't ask for several more days.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The Trident Warborn pilots are either dark, Gender Flipped versions of the Eva pilots, or what the Eva pilots would be if Shinji followed the Chaos Marine's advice and broke the others to his will rather than more subtle tactics.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
    • Shinji's response to Yang's half-serious offer for command of the Chinese military. "ARE! YOU! HIGH?!"
    • Kaworu's "JUST! AS! PLANNED!"
  • Rape Portrayed as Redemption (Rape as Drama?): Happens to Minase near the end of the prologue. The person who did it is then killed (accidentally) after being attacked by her and Kobayakawa.
  • Reference Overdosed: Takes its Shout Outs just as far as everything else.
  • Refuge in Audacity: This is why Shinji's Hot-Blooded speeches are taken seriously, rather than getting him institutionalized.
  • Refusal of the Call: Shinji's first-episode refusal to pilot the Eva stems not from fear, but anger over Gendo's treatment of him. He caves when Rei is brought out but he resents his father's use of such obvious psychological blackmail, and the incident cements Gendo as a bastard in Shinji's mind.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Shinji and Asuka became Official Couple in chapter 36.
  • The Rival + Gender Flip: The Warborn team is a gender-flipped version of the Eva pilots, and Dr. Lader considers himself a rival to Ritsuko. Even The Cradle itself is a rival to NERV. All of whom end up as Evil Counterparts.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Actually averted when the Eldar Farseer convinces Rei not to level the city block by block as her method of searching for Shinji when he was kidnapped.
  • Rouge Angles of Satin: The author has a problem with the suffix -gue; he tends to spell it -uge. 'vague' becomes 'vauge', 'dialogue' 'dialouge', et cetera.
  • Rousing Speech: Whenever Shinji says anything, odds are that a life is in the process of being changed. When other characters strive to think of something noble to say (or do, for that matter), they will inevitably ask themselves at some point, "What would Shinji...?"
  • Running Gag: A few in the early chapters.
    • "Damn you Ikari!"
      "Which one?"
      "Damn you Ikaris!"
    • (gasp!) "Inquisitor Horaki!"

    S-U 
  • Sacred First Kiss: During their training to beat Israfel, Asuka is feeling very gloomy. not knowing what else doing to cheer her up, Shinji kissed her. It was just the WRONG time to it, and the narration notes that it was the first kiss for both.
  • Sadistic Choice: The Leliel battle presents Shinji with the choice between saving Rei or Asuka when all three pilots are about to be sucked into the Angel's Dirac Sea. By now, you know Shinji's gonna Take a Third Option and opt for the Heroic Sacrifice instead.
  • Say My Name:
    • Shinji's reaction on realizing that Kaworu invaded Tokyo-3 with the Black Moon on his birthday as a personal insult is to yell "NAAAGIIIISAAAA!"
    • Dr. Lader, shouting Yang's name upon realization that only a tactical genius could have gotten a Land Raider inside Earth Cradle without getting detected.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: The usual suspects, as well as every glasses-wearing character who Took a Level in Badass at some point. Lampshaded heavily at several points when characters spontaneously note that Shinji should have these as well when it's apparent that he's manipulating events. It probably just runs in the family.
  • Science Is Wrong: Every time the Evangelion and/or Shinji violates a fundamental law of physics, Ritsuko begins ranting about him invoking this trope. She finally decides to share the misery and publishes scientific papers whenever the Evangelion disproves a fundamental aspect of scientific theory. The hate-mail from other scientists keeps her going.
  • Screaming Warrior: Pulled off by Shinji in the prologue, using -what else?- "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Played literally by the Farseer's lessons in foresight. This is also how Shinji gets his Cool Chair.
    Farseer: The future only calls for events to be altered to suit itself. It is the present that is malleable, never the future.
  • Serial Escalation: Just when you think there is no way for this fic to get any more utterly batshit insane, the next chapter proves you dead wrong. Shinji's private army of Macedonian Terminators is one of the most normal things this fic has to offer.
  • The Shangri-La: Javaal, though not as perfect as you'd think.
  • Shaming the Mob: Performed by Makoto in Chapter 20. Needless to say it is awesome. And yes, he did it with a chainsword...even if it was a prop.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: An In-Universe example — Shinji's classmates argue over who to ship him with: his high school hosts fan clubs devoted to the various possible love interests that can be quite militant in their disagreements.
  • Ship Sinking: Minase rejecting him killed the couple, but even if it did not, Shinji leaving for Tokyo-3 definitely deep-sixed. Now Shinji is being chased by Asuka, Rei, Maya, Mana... and there is no place left for Minase, especially now that Shinji has chosen Asuka.
  • Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: During his fight with Samshel, Shinji grabbed a rocket launcher and fired it at point blank range. Justified, since Shinji wanted to make sure he couldn't miss, even if it meant to take a risk and get close.
  • Shout-Out: Lots... and lots... and lots, from oblique references to direct quotes. See the Shout Out page for details.
  • Show Within a Show: Evangelion Fantasy Battles, now a major motion picture! Later, it's made into a video game, used by MAGI to try to anticipate Angel battle scenarios.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: The high point of the conversation between Shinji's imaginary Space Marine and Chaos Space Marine in chapter 5.
  • Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: The fic takes all of Evangelion's seriousness, gives Shinji four advisors in his head, and somehow manages to make it silly in a great way despite still having very serious moments. See Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann for a decent comparison.
  • Smart People Play Chess: Played straight, and subverted. Rei plays at a Grandmaster level without really trying, while Shinji, who rarely wins games against any opponent at all, operates on levels seemingly beyond chess.
  • Sophisticated as Hell
    For the sea did surge, and the waves did flow over him, and he gasped and flailed and something big and black rose along with the tides to clonk him upside down the head.
  • Space Marine: Prominently featured in a game that Shinji likes.
  • Spell My Name With An S: Mayumi Yamagishi/Hamagishi's surname is spelt in quite a few different ways, probably unintentionally.
  • Spirit Advisor: Shinji's four figures. Given what they're figures of, their advice is not always helpful...
    • Zen Survivor: The Farseer, who even uses the "Endure, and in enduring grow strong" line. When not offering lessons on farsight or talking Shinji through his current mental state, she seems to enjoy her role as the personification of Shinji's sex drive.
    • Evil Mentor: The Chaos Space Marine, who typically offers the advice Shinji shouldn't and doesn't follow. Occasionally he has the right idea, though, such as how to free Rei from Gendo's influence.
  • Split Personality: A possible explanation for Shinji's figures. Additionally, Mana begins nurturing an aspect of her psyche she calls the Kommissar as a refuge from severe psychological pain, while Makoto occasionally goes into Badass Preacher mode, only to suffer memory loss and confusion afterwards.
    • Given that several of Makoto's experiences have happened while Shinji has been unconscious in some way, there may be more going on than meets the eye.
  • Start My Own: Gendo has NERV. The Ancient Conspiracy has SEELE. Shinji has Da Boyz, and is the owner of both NNHIS, his own global-spanning private army of mercenaries...and Rei's, Maya's, Mana's, and probably Asuka's souls. Then there's Kaworu, torn between loyalties to humanity and Angelkind, who comes up with an innovative third option: form your own faction by infesting the Earth's Cradle with Iruel nanocolonies, turning the human personnel into a Tyranid-like Hive Mind devoted to the Greater Good and the structure itself into a floating, teleporting, super-fortress.
  • "Stop Having Fun" Guys:invoked
    • Averted with Admiral Yang, who used to play a D&D campaign with his military advisors, and with Rei, as she discovers the concept of fun when Shinji gives her a copy of the Ork codex, as well as finding the time to write a movie.
    • Played straight with Shinji, who realizes that this isn't one of his games or flights of fancy, and tends to take everything dead seriously.
  • Stout Strength: Kobayakawa.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Kaworu at one point muses that he got the short end of the stick when it came to recruiting followers. SEELE and NERV snapped up the best and brightest, resulting in the Earth Cradle containing few top-tier minds, most of them too damaged for even NERV to want.
  • Swiss-Army Appendage:
    "Damn it, Ikari! Do you have any part of your body that doesn't deploy a chainsaw or prog blade? ...or shoot fire. Do you have any part of your body that doesn't deploy a chainsaw, or prog blade, or shoot fire." Nagisa realized just how ridiculous was his question. "No. No, of course not."
    • Unit 01 then shoots him with a Crotch Laser.
  • Sworn Brothers: After meeting an injured Rei for the first time, Shinji swears a "Blood Angel oath" by tasting her blood (to the horror of the watching NERV staff). He later asks her to return the favor, sealing their bond. In a less literal sense, Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke cement their friendship as "battle-brothers" after the latter two's ride in the cockpit during the second Angel fight, while Maya and Rei grow closer after they help rescue Shinji from kidnappers.
  • Take a Third Option: The Israfel fight culminates in a hostage situation when one of the Angel's "halves" gets Asuka in a death grip, challenging Shinji to either save himself or his comrade. Instead, he pleas with Unit-02's "machine spirit" to help save its pilot. You can guess the rest.
  • Take That!:
    • Bpen may have taken a shot at competing Eva/WH40K fanfic Thousand Shinji with this line:
      You may THINK she serves Khorne with her flailing about, but that girl... her fears, her sweet PAIN... she is Slaaneshi to the core.
    • From the prologue, after Shinji gets into the band:
      Hmm… if was going to play the cello, he thought about getting some white gloves. Perhaps also some orange-tinted sunglasses, if he was going to keep standing out in the dramatic sunset. Nah, that would look ridiculous. It was so poseur. Who wears stuff like that?
    • From Chapter 3: "I wanted a Shinji that could go; DJ Croft? Who's that?"
    • One Take That! to the manga is Kaworu's repeated line, "It's not as if I'm going around killing kittens for no reason."
  • Technopath:
    • Mana has an unusually sensitive bionic arm, Magnos Tancred's power supply flickered when she named it, and she furthermore seems to feel whatever damage Tancred is receiving, to the point of having swollen lips after the Trident's front is pounded several times by Unit 04.
    • Maya, as the MAGI seem to recognize her without having to receive log-in information, and she blacked out when the computers lost power.
  • Testosterone Poisoning: Shinji's now-legendary "...eat war and shit awesome!" line is an homage to "...eat iron and shit a chain" seen on the page, while his actions themselves threaten to recodify the trope.
  • Textual Celebrity Resemblance: Yang is compared to Jackie Chan by multiple characters AND the narration.
  • Theme Naming: Just about every possible meaning or interpretation of Shinji's name is discussed by members of the UN after the Greek representative makes a half-joking proposal to see if he fits the criteria for godhood. Most are not amused by the implications about Gendo.
  • Theory of Narrative Causality: Subverted: After losing the ability to pilot his Eva and spending the Javaal arc trying to get it back, Shinji returns to find that, contrary to the Theory, he is able to pilot the Eva, BARELY, and can't even use the AT-Field.
  • They Would Cut You Up: Shinji keeps his out-of-Eva abilities hidden as much as possible due to an understandable desire to avoid being dissected.
  • This Is a Drill: Magnos Tancred's Rocket Drill Punch.
  • Thou Doth Protest Too Much: Rika Izuna is obsessed with proving that Shinji Ikari is not the Messianic figure that more and more of her countrymen treat him as. Yearnings for such things are childish fantasies, fit only for those who can't accept the brutal, abusive truths about life scarred into little girls' minds from an early age.
  • Time Skip: "All is well! Move along!" Shinji stared oddly at the passing steamed peanuts seller, who had yelled out for no particular reason.
  • Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Or Tokyo-3, technically. Justified far better than in the source material, given Shinji's... existence.
  • Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Said verbatim by Maya in Chapter 15, to Rei.
  • Transforming Mecha: In one of the fic's more direct references, we have the Asshimar, Cradle-made biomechanical flying disks that can transform into twelve meters-tall robots.
  • Troperiffic: This is a crossover between Neon Genesis Evangelion and Warhammer 40,000; it will likely be easier to list tropes that it doesn't invoke.
  • Troubled Fetal Position: In the prologue, after a friend of hers was raped, Shinji shut himself in his bedroom, bent his knees up and went into a fetal position.
  • True Companions: Shinji, Asuka and Rei may have others that are close to them, they may view every human as someone to protect, but their role as Pilots has created a bond that no-one else shares. Mana even expresses frustration at how improbable it is that she will ever be a part of it, but is content that her role results in her being closer to them than anyone else.
  • Tsundere: Asuka's irritation/anger at Shinji increases early on the more she comes to adore him. Outright rage tends to be reserved for her rivals for his attention.
  • Übermensch: Slightly subverted in that Shinji is by far the most loving and compassionate character in the story, but the fundamental fact of changing the history of the future ultimately by simply willing it to be so remains. That every male, at at least some point in the story, wants to be him, and every female likewise to serve him, only piles the effect on and on.
    • Not every male or female. Still, that the opposite is also true is what makes it funny.
  • Unreliable Narrator: In the early chapters, when the perspective shifts to that of any of the antagonists, each one of them is absolutely sure that Shinji is just a puppet of his father.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Only to be expected when most of the female main cast, the majority of the female population of Tokyo-3, and some of the males all want Shinji. Possibly resolved in Chapter 32, although even Asuka argues that it wasn't canon.
    • Also potentially partially resolved in chapter 36. Shinji claims Asuka as his and she claims him as hers, and they kiss, a few hours before she goes off to take down the Cradle. It should be noted that in the middle of the kiss there is a reference to Ayanami's lips and the difference between Asuka's and Ayanami's. It could be merely a reference to the events of chapter 32, at least the lips comparison.
  • Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Kaji is quite surprised to find out that the pale young woman he chats up at a festival turns out to be Kaworu Nagisa.
  • Unwanted Harem: Aside from the usual suspects, Misato claims in part 3 of "Cry for Me, Tokyo-3" that "Shinji could just walk up to to nearly any woman, say 'I want to have sex with you'...and they would." Herself included.
    • Considering that the Farseer, who is an aspect of Shinji's unconscious, really seems to want Shinji to have a harem, it's hard to say whether they're really that unwanted.
      • Word of God is that this is a reference to Ladder Theory. The list of other people in the planet who combine such wealth, looks, and power in one body is very short indeed. As the public face of NERV, people look at him and see 'heir to an organization that has more funding than whole nations' or 'monumentally insane pilot that stands between the aliens and human extinction'.
    • The Russian precognitive, whenever asked about Shinji, always replies "I want to bear his children". Considering the fact she's under ten, it's more than a little unsettling.
    • Also, unwanted in the case of Shinji, specifically. Rei and Maya, for their part, have made it perfectly clear just how 'unwanted' the arrangement is for them, with Rei going so far as to intend to calmly force it upon him.
  • Use Your Head: After Shinji's debut battle, "the Ikari" becomes a standard fighting style among special forces around the world, which "starts with a headbutt and ends with the opponent on the ground, begging for mercy."
    • This in reality looks impractical because Unit 01's horn would get in the way. By Chapter 41, this approach has been abused so thoroughly that Unit 01 has a prog blade in its forehead.

    V-Z 
  • Vault Door Stopper - Just over 700K words as of the last update.
  • Vetinari Job Security: Though Gendo winds up in prison for a time, eventually everyone realizes that NERV operates best with a ruthless bastard to make all the unpalatable decisions and serve as a scapegoat of sorts. He returns to his position, though reduced in power and at the head of a council to help keep him in check.
  • Villainous Crossdresser: Kaworu horrifies Kaji and Asuka with his disturbingly effective disguise.
  • Wacky Wayside Tribe: The Javaal arc starts out feeling like this, but subverts the trope by paying off in spades.
  • Walking Armory: Shinji's Titan module, which is promptly lampshaded.
    Kaworu: Do you have any part of your body that does not deploy a chainsaw, or prog blade, or shoots fire? [beat] No. No, of course not.
  • Warrior Monk: Javaal's Grey Knights are elite psykers whose training and discipline allow thin scraps of armor to be stronger than steel, while their halberds are capable of destroying an Angel's core.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Chapter 18.
      Then hear my command. Send the assassins. Plant the evidence. All the things we talked about before... let it be done... Begin The Purge. Protect my city.
    • Chapter 44, no holds barred. In order: Armisael attacks Yui!Lilith (a being born from the original Lilith's death who has both Yui's human understanding and all the raw power of Lilith) only to be killed with hideous ease; Yui!Lilith kills Rei and absorbs her soul, and it's strongly implied that the clones are destroyed as well; Lama Pagnor is eviscerated by the same; finally, Agent Kentaro gets Tanged.
  • What Measure Is A Nonhuman: Tackled by Rei and Kaworu. Shinji and Rei agree early on that her being being a Half-Human Hybrid doesn't warrant exclusion from the human race, and when her secret gets out, her classmates readily accept her for who she is. Kaworu, on the other hand, views himself neither as human or Angel but something completely different. It doesn't stop him from falling in love with Asuka, though.
    • Shinji actually has an interesting viewpoint on the whole issue of humanity, especially given his influences. He believes that "humanity" belongs to anyone who is able to choose to be compassionate and work together rather than destroy.
      Kaworu: "Humanity is defined by its FUNCTION, not its FORM! It defines itself. The genome is supremely adaptable; it does not matter what shape we wear, now or in the future."
      "The shape of man is sacred! The form of man is for man alone!" Shinji shouted back."Let everyone who wishes to live as a human, with his limits and his laws, be treated as a human being. Our shape may change, yes, in time. But let us change the universe to suit ourselves, not ourselves into the demands of space and life beyond- for that way lies surrender. No, Nagisa. Humanity is defined by its WILL to keep going, proudly on, stubborn, free, and unbreakable."
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Maya calls Shinji out for sending Rei II to her death, leading to a short Heroic BSoD.
  • Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Wondered aloud by JSSDF soldiers watching boltguns in action. The answer, is from New Nippon Heavy Industries Solidarity, making insane Eva- and human-scale weapons IN HIS NAME since Chapter 7.
    • Though, to be sure, the fact that Shinji and Kensuke are the ones coming up with most of the new designs has been a guarded secret, at the bright lord's insistence.
  • Which Me??: The original ghost train scene finally makes sense. 40K Shinji was the one talking to Anno's Shinji.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Lampshaded by Kaworu in chapter 40:
    If there was anything his association with Ikari had taught him; it was that with great power comes great insanity. And with even more insanity? More power!
  • With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: In the prologue, after a carefully-crafted plan to get the attention of his crush fails spectacularly, Shinji gives in to his hatred and despair. Soon afterward, the girl who scorned him meets a terrible fate, and Shinji is haunted with guilt for either causing the incident or not doing enough to prevent it, vowing never to let anyone suffer like that again.
  • World of Badass / World of Ham: With 40k's over-the-top influences, it shouldn't be a surprise. It starts with Shinji and spreads throughout the cast from there.
  • Worthy Opponent: Even the Angels begin to fear/respect Shinji, and during the Israfel battle, one of the Angel's "halves" backs down for a moment as Shinji deals with a hostage standoff. By Chapter 33, Shinji has evolved into a thing of horror for their race.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Mana will drop into an Imagine Spot at the slightest hint of romantic drama, due to a military upbringing that has left her relatively sheltered to normal teen drama and left her using shoujo novels and manga as reference materials.
  • Wunza Plot: She is a meek computer programmer by day and a Powered Armor-wearing vigilante by night. She's a Half-Human Hybrid that can fly and blow up buildings. They fight crime.
  • Yandere: Shinji's schoolmates see Rei as the yandere to Asuka's blatant tsundere, as past chapter six, Rei will do anything Shinji wants; absolutely anything, without a moment's hesitation.
    She felt indeed, happy. Whatever you say, pilot Ikari. It is as I will be. For you have said to believe, and I do. Together shall we stand; until time itself ends. My name is Ayanami Rei. I shall love that which you love, and shun that which you shun. Until time itself ends.
  • You Have Failed Me: Averted. Gendo, as the semi-malevolent amoral dictator of NERV, uses the threat of firing people to keep them in line. With events taking a different turn, the best he can do is severely reprimand them and dock pay since the list of other careers a NERV employee can have has significally increased, as well as the UN taking a more active role in overseeing the agency. Played straight with SEELE, which will make bloody examples out of people who they see as inadequate, and Gendo's execution of Rei II after she stops blindly following his orders.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Shinji's psychic soldiers almost kill Iruel, Kaworu finishes the job and puts Lader in charge.
  • You Need to Get Laid: When Shinji barely could move his Eva, Maya thought that maybe his mood would improve if he had a bit of fun. So she recruited two other girls and they kidnapped Shinji and Asuka announcing the five of them were going to have an orgy. The next day neither Shinji nor Asuka wanted to tell what had happened, but Shinji's sync level had skyrocketed (and several chapter later another scene revealed that he had kissed both Asuka and Rei in quick sucession).
  • Zeerust: Canon's Zeerust is justified by the author. Since Second Impact occurred in 2000 and ravaged the world's industrial base and consumer economy, cellphones never developed into smartphones and retain a more ruggedized 90's feel, valuing durability over the feature treadmill. Computer tech is similarly retro for similar reasons.
  • Zeppelins from Another World: Supersonic, AT-field-powered zeppelins used as Evangelion carriers, naturally. Asuka is not happy about the pun on her mother's name.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: Iruel does this, in an insane homage to the Tau, Necrons, and Tyranids.


"That fucking thing runs on fucking bullshit. If it was just an Angel, we would be better off. They'd be a lot more predictable."
'No, you all run on bullshit and hax.' Mayumi wanted to say. Asuka cleaved through the Earth's Cradle, which was like two kilometers thick. With a hammer. At around the same time Shinji was all Suddenly: Ice Dragons. It was just a pity Ayanami didn't get the chance to show off.

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