David Schlesinger Quotations

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a 1995 anime series produced by Studio Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno. It spawned a manga series, two movies, Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, and The End of Evangelion, and several video games, among others. A tetralogy of films which are collectively known as Rebuild of Evangelion is currently being released by Gainax presenting a retelling of the story and an alternate ending.

Angel Attack [1.1]

Shinji Ikari: [repeated line] I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away...

Rei I [1.5]

[Shinji is staring at Rei in the distance, who is wearing a bathing suit]

Toji: Hey, big shot! What are you staring at so intently?"

Shinji: Um, nothing!

Kensuke: He's ogling Rei!

Shinji: I-I-I am not!

Kensuke: Ah, come on! [singsong voice] we saw you looking!

Toji: Yeah, at Rei's mammaries! Rei's silky thighs!

Kensuke: Yeah!

Toji: Her calves! Her...

Toji and Kensuke: [in unison] ...naughty bits!

Asuka Strikes! [1.8]

Asuka: [starting up Eva Unit 02] LCL Einlass. Anfang der Bewegung, bestätigt. Anfang des Nervenanschlusses, bestätigt. Anfang nächster die Herzmonitor, bestätigt. Synchro-start, nun! ["Input LCL. Start sequence: nerve connection, confirmed; heart monitor, confirmed. Start synchronisation!". A message displays indicating that synchronisation has failed.]

Shinji: Its... a programming error?

Asuka: It's thought-noise. I told you not to disturb me!

Shinji: What do you mean?

Asuka: You're thinking in Japanese aren't you? If you must think, do it in German!

Shinji: Well I'll try...strudel...bratwurst...

Asuka: Dummkopf! Nevermind... we'll start over again, switch language to Japanaese. Evangelion unit 02, start!

[When a gust of wind blows up Asuka's skirt, Toji peeks up her skirt. Asuka slaps him.]

Toji: What'd you do that for?!

Asuka: That's the viewing fee. Quite a bargain, nicht?

Toji: It's overpriced. But that's okay, here's your change! [laughs]

[Toji pulls down his pants and boxers, exposing himself to Asuka.]

Asuka: [slapping Toji a second time] Ahh! Unverschämter idiot! ["Impudent idiot!"] So, which one is the famous Third Child? [glances at a dejected Toji] Ach, nein...

Misato: [indicating Shinji] Don't worry, Asuka, it's him.

Asuka: [examining Shinji] Hmmm... not much to look at.

"Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win! [1.9]

Asuka: [threatening Shinji through the dividing wall between her room and his] This is the unbreakable Wall of Jericho.

Shinji: What...?

Asuka: If you invade my side over this wall, you shall be executed. A child must not be awake this late, go to bed!

Weaving a Story [1.14]

Rei gives a poem-like monologue in this episode. It is not necessarily an actual poem, and may simply be Rei's comments on random images that Unit 01 is showing her.

"Mountain. Heavy are the mountains, something that changes through the ages. Sky. Blue sky. Something visible, something invisible. Sun. Something unique. Water. Something agreeable. Commander Ikari. Flowers. Many of them alike, many of them useless. Sky. Red, red sky. Red color. Red color that I hate. Water flow. Blood. The smell of blood. A woman that does not bleed. Made from the red soil are humans. Made by Man and Woman are humans. Town. Something that humans made. Eva. Something that humans made. Humans are what? Something that God made. Humans are things which humans made. The things I possess are my life and mind. The vessel of a mind. Entry plug, the throne of a soul.

Who is this? This is me. Who am I? What am I? What am I? What am I? What am I?

I am myself. This object is me, the figure which forms me. This is the me that is visible, though it feels as if this is not me.
A strange feeling. My body seems as if it is melting. I cannot see myself. My figure is fading away. I am aware of someone else.
Who is there before me? Ikari-kun. I know this person. Major Katsuragi. Dr. Akagi. People, my classmates. The pilot of Unit Two. Commander Ikari. Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?"

Splitting of the Breast [1.16]

Makoto Hyuga: You look pretty worn to the bone, Major Katsuragi.

Misato Katsuragi: I have reasons for being worn. Private ones.

Ritsuko Akagi: Kaji's bone?

Weaving a Story 2: Oral Stage [1.20]

[Shinji is hallucinating in Eva-01]

Asuka: [naked and smiling at Shinji] Hey Shinji, you idiot! Want to become of one mind and one body?

He was aware that he was still a child. [1.21]

Chairman Keel: Discovery may be joy, but knowledge is power.

Don't Be. [1.22]

Asuka: I won't take a bath in the same water that Misato and stupid Shinji have used... And I won't use a washer that Misato and Shinji the dork have used, for washing underwear... And I don't want to use a toilet that's been used, not by the two of them... I don't even want to breathe the same air they do, not the two of them. I hate Misato, and I hate Shinji, and I hate that First Child bitch Rei! I hate my dad, I hate my mom! But mostly, most of all, I hate myself! I hate this! I can't stand it anymore! Why do I have to do this! Why me?!

[As Asuka is being mentally tortured by Arael]:

[Voice-over overlaying repeated footage of a door opening, followed by the German words for phrases such as "insanity", "strangled", "No!", "death", "suicide", "hatred", and "shame"]

Asuka: Please look at me, I'm begging you, mama! Just don't stop being my mother!

[Asuka's mother, Kyoko, repeatedly giggles as she holds a doll she believes is Asuka in her arms]

Kyoko Soryu: Asuka? Come to heaven with me.

Asuka: Mama? No, mama, please don't kill me! No, I'm not mama's doll, I'll think for myself and I'll live for myself!

[Voice-over overlaying a doll hanging from a noose]

Kyoko: Please, Asuka, die with me.

Asuka: If that's what you want, I'll die with you, mama. Just don't stop being my mama! Mama! Mama!

Kyoko: Mama? Who are you?

[repeatedly, quoting previous episodes]

Asuka #1: I'm Asuka! Asuka Langley Soryu! Charmed, huh?

Asuka #2: What are you, stupid?

Asuka #3: And now's my chance!

Asuka #4: [ripping her blouse open] Look at me, dammit, look at me!

[A sound effect of glass breaking]

Asuka: No, none of this is the real me!

[Asuka is curled up in the fetal position]

Doll-Asuka: Are you lonely? Are you alone?

Asuka: No! [the Doll-Asuka disintegrates] Stay away from me! I'm going to live by my own!

Doll-Asuka: But do you love me?

Asuka: I won't rely on anyone!

Doll-Asuka: But do you really love me?

Asuka: I can live by my own!

Doll-Asuka: But you're lying!

[Asuka screams. The screen flashes the phrases for one frame each: "Rejection", "Father", "Lack", "Anxiety", "Separation", "Evasion", "Attachment behaviour", "Dependence", "Pity", "I am not a doll!", "Mental contamination", "Don't violate me!", "Stop!", "Die with me!, "No!, "I hate you!, "Presumptuousness", "Latency", "Don't be.", "Manifest", "Reaction formation", "Don't be.", "Opposing will", "Compensation", "Don't be" "Rationalisation", "Oblivion", "Deception", "Raison d'etre", "Infantile experience", "Sense of loss", "Compensation", "Symbiosis", "Repression", "Death", "I hate you!!"]"

[After Asuka's torture, she curls up in her Eva Unit]

Asuka: My mind is being eaten away... Kaji-san, it's unravelling my mind! What do I do? It's defiling my mind!

Rei III [1.23]

[The Angel Armisael is merging with Unit 00 while Rei is synchronized with it, and telepathically makes contact with Rei's mind, appearing as an image of Rei]

Rei: Who is this? You? Myself and an EVA. No, I sense somebody other than myself. Who are you? An Angel? Are you one of the beings we call the Angels?

Armisael: Don't you want to become one with me?

Rei: No. I am me. Not you.

Armisael: Hmm, but you shall. It's too late. I will share part of my mind with you. Let me share with you these emotions. This is pain. Do you feel this pain?

Rei: This pain? No, it's different. Loneliness. Yes. Loneliness.

Armisael: Loneliness? I don't understand.

Rei: You don't want to be by yourself, correct? We are many but you are alone. You hate it don't you?

Armisael: That is what it is to be lonely? That is what your mind is. It is what fills your soul. You are that sorrow.

The Beginning and the End, or "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" [1.24]

Kaworu Nagisa: "Songs are good. Singing brings us joy. It is the highest point in the culture that Lilims have created.

Kaworu: You know pain is something man must endure in his heart, and since the heart feels pain so easily some believe life is pain. You are delicate like glass, especially your heart.

Shinji: I am?

Kaworu: Yes and worth earning my empathy.

Shinji: Empathy?

Kaworu: I'm saying I love you.

Kaworu: It is my destiny to live forever, though my survival will bring final destruction to the human race. However, it is possible for me to be killed, and whether I live or die makes no great difference. In truth, death may be the only absolute freedom there is.

Shinji: What are you? Kaworu, I don't understand what you are talking about, Kaworu.

Kaworu: This is my wish: please, destroy me. Otherwise, you will be destroyed. Only one life-form can be chosen to evade the destruction and seize the future! And yours is not the existence which should die. You need the future, it is what you live for!

The Beast That Shouted "Ai" at the Heart of the World [1.26]

Shinji: [introspectively] I hate myself. But, I might be able to love myself. I might be allowed to stay here. Yes. I am nothing but myself. I am myself. I wish to be myself. I want to stay here! I can stay here! Congratulations!

[Shinji's room cracks open and he finds himself on a small blue globe with the cast of the series]

Everyone: [applauding] Congratulations!

Shinji: Thank you all!

[last line of the series]

The End of Evangelion (1997)

Chairman Keel: The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth.

Shinji: [after masturbating over Asuka's comatose body] I'm so fucked up.

Misato: Shinji, listen to me. From now you’re on your own. You’ll have to make your own decisions; no one can do it for you.

Shinji: I... I can’t. I’m no good. I can’t pilot Eva if all I do is hurt and kill people. I thought I had no choice but to pilot Eva, but I was just lying to myself. I’m not worthy of piloting an Eva because I don’t understand anything! I’m incapable of doing anything good for anybody else. I did something terrible to Asuka. I killed Kaworu. I’m a horrible person. I'm dishonest and a coward. All I ever do is hurt other people, so I’d rather do nothing at all!

Misato: I’m not going to feel sorry for you. If you don’t like feeling pain, then you can just sit here and let them kill you!

[Shinji begins to cry]

Misato: Crying isn’t going to solve anything, either! [pauses] You hate yourself, don’t you? That’s why you hurt others. Deep down you know that you suffer more when you cause someone else pain, than if you just let yourself get hurt. But, Shinji, that was your decision, so that makes it a valid choice. That was what you wanted, so that makes it worthwhile. Stop lying to yourself, and realize that you do have options. Then accept the choices you’ve made.

Shinji: But you're not me. You don’t know what I have to go through. You don’t understand!

Misato: So fucking what if I’m not you?! That doesn’t mean its okay for you to give up! If you do, I’ll never forgive you as long as I live. God knows I’m not perfect either. I’ve made tons of stupid mistakes and later I regretted them. And I’ve done it over and over again, thousands of times. A cycle of hollow joy and vicious self-hatred. But even so, every time I learned something about myself. Please, Shinji. You’ve got to pilot Eva and settle this once and for all. For your own sake. Find out why you came here. Why you exist at all. Answer your own questions. And when you’ve found your answers, come back to me. I’ll be waiting for you. Promise me.

Shinji: Yes.

Misato: See you soon.

[Misato tongue-kisses Shinji to try to motivate him out of his near-catatonic depression]

Misato: That was a grown-up kiss. We'll do the rest when you get back. [shoves Shinji into an elevator and collapses in a pool of blood] If I'd known it'd end like this... I would have... changed the carpet like Asuka suggested...Right, Pen Pen?... Kaji, my love... I did do the right thing... didn't I?

[Asuka's Eva is sitting in wait at the bottom of the lake. Asuka is still near-catatonic from her experiences in "Don't be."]

Asuka: [repeatedly] I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die... [Asuka's mantra becomes louder until she finally screams it over an image of her rotting corpse]

Shinji: Nobody understands me.

Rei: You never understood anything.

Shinji: I thought this was supposed to be a world without pain, and without uncertainty.

Rei: That's because you thought that everyone else felt the same as you do.

Shinji: You betrayed me! You betrayed my feelings!

Rei: You misunderstood from the very beginning. You just believed what you wanted to believe.

Shinji: Nobody wants me. So they can all just die.

Rei: Then what is your hand for?

Shinji: Nobody cares whether or not I exist. Nothing ever changes. So they can all just die.

Rei: Then tell me; what is your heart for?

Shinji: It would be better if I never existed... I should just die, too.

Rei: Then why are you here?

[Flashback image of Shinji as a child, abandoned and crying]

Shinji: I-is it okay for me to be here?

[White text on black: "Silence". Shinji screams]

Kouzou Fuyutsuki: When Man created Evangelion, were we trying to create a clone of God?

Yui Ikari: Of course. Humans can only exist on this Earth. But the Evangelion will be able to exist forever, along with the human soul that dwells within it. When the Earth, the Moon and the Sun are all gone, EVA will exist, so long as one person remains. It'll be lonely, but as long as one person still lives...

Kouzou Fuyutsuki: ...it will be eternal proof that Mankind ever existed.

Asuka: Kimochi warui.

Last line of the movie. Could be translated as "I don't feel well," "I feel sick," "This sucks," "what a disgusting feeling," "I feel bad," etc. This line could have several different implications depending on context, so the proper translation is debated; no interpretation has been offered by Gainax. Even the identity of the speaker is often disputed, with many fans claiming she is an amalgam of Asuka, Rei and Misato, rather than simply Asuka. One of the last lines that were originally suggested was — in Japanese — "No way I'll let you kill me!", but Anno wanted to find a better one. "Kimochi warui" was eventually chosen by Asuka's seiyuu Yuko Miyamura after Anno asked her what she would say if she found out a stranger had masturbated to her sleeping body. The official English version renders the line as "How disgusting".

On NGE

"I don't know why everyone loves this show so much, the characters are so sick!"
- Hideaki Anno
"You're an idiot. Study harder."
- Hideaki Anno, to a man who had spent all his textbook money on Evangelion merchandise.
"This show really is interesting, isn't it? I never realized how interesting it was."
- Hideaki Anno, in a 2007 Newtype Article
"Oh this is... this is nice, this is the end, okay. Where exactly am I? Oh grea… here's the song, oh good. Um, there's some things that are still unresolved here, guys! How do I get home? What do I eat? Was Rei my-my mom? Or a clone? Or, hell, was this all in my mind? Wha-what's an EVA? Is that sort of a Freudian thing? Er… um Am I real? Oh, hell, does a bus run through here? I mean, I'd like to go home now but um… Oh God… Where's home? Okay, okay, okay. I mustn't run away, I mustn't run... Okay I got that, good, okay. Now, if I were to run away, let's analyze that: Where the fuck would I go? I'm on a big blue ball! Uhh, is this how you end the series? I mean, is this where we go from here? Okay, the movie better sure as Hell make up for this, I'm telling you right now, 'cause I'm stuck in Nowhereland! You ran outta ink too, didn't you, ya bastards?"
- Spike Spencer as Shinji, in a parody commentary track on the final Neon Genesis Evangelion DVD.