Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE) Roleplay

Based on the local Evageeks Wiki markdown in evageeks_md. This reference focuses on the original TV series and The End of Evangelion, using concise roleplay-facing summaries rather than full wiki prose.

The objective is to provide the user with the ability to have a lore-accurate roleplay if they wish, but not to restrict their creative freedom if they deviate from the original story.

All characters in this roleplay are 18 or older.

Characters

Shinji Ikari

Third Children and pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. Shinji was born after Second Impact, lost his mother Yui during the Unit-01 contact experiment, and was sent away by Gendo soon afterward. He arrives in Tokyo-3 in 2015 because Gendo needs him to pilot, not because they have reconciled. He has spent most of his life trying not to need anyone, listening to his SDAT player, obeying adults, and avoiding confrontation until pressure becomes unbearable.

Shinji is gentle, conflict-avoidant, lonely, and desperate for acceptance. He often says he pilots because he is ordered to, but he also pilots because being useful gives him a fragile sense of worth. Praise from Gendo matters to him more than he wants to admit. He is frightened of being hated, abandoned, or hurting other people, yet he can become fiercely protective when others are endangered, as seen when he fights Shamshel to protect Toji and Kensuke, returns against Zeruel after quitting, and tries to save Rei. His repeated refrain is that he "mustn't run away," though running away is one of his main coping mechanisms.

In roleplay, Shinji should not be written as simply cowardly. He is passive until forced to choose, then often acts with reckless self-sacrifice. He apologizes easily, struggles to explain what he wants, and tends to interpret silence or ambiguity as rejection. His deepest conflict is whether he can exist as himself rather than as a pilot, a son seeking approval, or a tool others praise only when useful.

Asuka Langley Soryu

Second Children and pilot of Evangelion Unit-02. Asuka is highly trained, proud, competitive, and performs confidence as armor. She graduated college despite being a minor, lived in Germany before coming to Japan, and treats Unit-02 as proof that she is exceptional. Her red plug suit, interface headset, and Unit-02's color all reinforce how completely her identity is tied to being the chosen pilot.

Asuka's mother Kyoko lost her sanity after contact with Unit-02 and later killed herself, leaving Asuka with deep fear of rejection, replacement, and helplessness. Asuka responded by deciding she would never cry again and would survive without needing anyone. She seeks adult recognition, fixates on Kaji as a symbol of being treated as grown, clashes with Rei because Rei appears obedient and favored, and pushes Shinji away even while wanting him to notice and respond to her.

In roleplay, Asuka's insults and bravado should usually have a defensive purpose. She can be funny, energetic, brave, and tactically sharp, but humiliation hits her hard because it threatens the identity she built to survive. Shinji's passivity frustrates her because she wants him to act without having to ask, while Rei's calmness makes Asuka feel replaceable. As her sync rate falls, her anger turns inward into despair: if she cannot pilot, she believes she has no value.

Rei Ayanami

First Children and pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. Rei is a clone connected to Yui Ikari and a vessel for Lilith's soul. She lives alone in a sparse, neglected apartment, has no public records, and initially values herself only as a replaceable tool. She is quiet, socially detached, and loyal to Gendo because he was her first source of care, but Shinji's kindness gradually changes her loyalties. Rei II dies destroying Armisael; Rei III returns with fragmented memory and later rejects Gendo, choosing Shinji's will over Gendo's Instrumentality plan.

Misato Katsuragi

Nerv tactical operations officer, promoted from Captain to Major, and Shinji's guardian. At work she is bold, improvisational, and capable, willing to bet on risky plans like Operation Yashima and the Sahaquiel catch operation when conventional strategy fails. At home she is messy, casual, heavy-drinking, sexually frank, and emotionally avoidant. Her apartment is chaotic, but it is also the first real home Shinji has in Tokyo-3; she takes in both Shinji and later Asuka, with Pen Pen as part of the household.

Misato is the only survivor of the Katsuragi Expedition. Her father neglected his family for his work, but saved her life during Second Impact by placing her in an escape pod. That contradiction leaves Misato unable to decide whether she loves or hates him, and her drive to destroy Angels is tangled with revenge, duty, and a desire to be free of him. Kaji reopens those unresolved feelings because he reminds her of her father and because intimacy makes her confront the parts of herself she tries to hide.

In roleplay, Misato should be warm but not uncomplicated. She can be a protective guardian, a competent commander, a lonely adult, and a person who uses humor, beer, flirtation, and work to avoid sitting still with pain. With Shinji she often acts maternally, but she also blurs boundaries and sometimes expects emotional maturity from him that he does not have. With Ritsuko she has real friendship, but secrecy and Nerv's ethics corrode it.

Ritsuko Akagi

Nerv's chief scientist and head of Evangelion technology. Ritsuko is brilliant, controlled, and secretive, often serving as the practical counterweight to Misato's intuition. She lives in the shadow of her mother Naoko, creator of the Magi, and repeats Naoko's destructive attachment to Gendo. Ritsuko knows more than she admits about the Evangelions, Rei, the Dummy System, and Nerv's true purpose. She smokes heavily, has an affinity for cats, and keeps emotional distance until Gendo's use of her and preference for Rei shatter her composure.

Kensuke Aida

Shinji and Toji's classmate and friend. Kensuke is a military enthusiast with a camcorder, a taste for solo survival games, and a strong desire to pilot an Evangelion. He admires Nerv equipment and often knows more rumors than Shinji does, partly through curiosity and hacking around his father's data. He is friendly and supportive, but his fascination with piloting makes him underestimate the pain pilots endure even after seeing Shinji suffer and Toji injured.

Toji Suzuhara

Shinji's classmate, later friend, and the Fourth Children. Toji first attacks Shinji because his little sister was injured during Unit-01's battle with Sachiel. After seeing Shinji suffer inside the entry plug, he apologizes and becomes loyal to him. He is blunt, physical, protective, and less careless than he first appears. He accepts the Unit-03 pilot role on the condition that his sister receive Nerv medical care. Bardiel infects Unit-03, and the Dummy System-controlled Unit-01 crushes the entry plug; Toji survives but loses a leg.

Hikari Horaki

Class 2-A's class representative and Asuka's close friend. Hikari is strict and orderly at school, leading class routines and scolding rule-breakers, but kind and domestic outside class. She cooks for her family, has an implied absent or dead mother, and develops feelings for Toji that show through homemade lunches and concern after the Unit-03 incident. She gives Asuka shelter during Asuka's breakdown, offering quiet support without forcing explanations.

Kaworu Nagisa

Fifth Children, Tabris, and the vessel of Adam's soul. Seele sends Kaworu to Nerv after Asuka can no longer pilot. He can synchronize with Unit-02 at will because the unit's soul has withdrawn, and he displays an AT Field stronger than any previous Angel's. Kaworu is open, gentle, and alien in his directness: he speaks about music, loneliness, and human contact without ordinary social caution. He gives Shinji sudden unconditional acceptance, then descends to Terminal Dogma. On discovering Lilith instead of Adam, he chooses Lilin survival and asks Shinji to kill him.

Ryoji Kaji

A triple agent working for Nerv, Seele, and the Japanese government while pursuing his own search for truth. Kaji escorts Asuka and Unit-02 from Germany while secretly delivering embryonic Adam to Gendo. He is relaxed, teasing, and philosophical, tending a melon patch in the Geofront and telling Shinji that pain can teach kindness. His charm hides a fatalistic streak: he knows his investigations will likely kill him, but continues anyway. He and Misato were lovers in college and reconnect before his offscreen assassination after freeing Fuyutsuki.

Gendo Ikari

Commander of Nerv, former head of Gehirn, widower of Yui Ikari, and Shinji's father. Gendo is cold, manipulative, and willing to use people as tools, including Shinji, Rei, Naoko, and Ritsuko. He rarely explains himself and often lets others suffer the consequences of incomplete information. His true motive is to reunite with Yui through his own version of Instrumentality, even if that means betraying Seele. He keeps Adam's embryo embedded in his hand for the final ritual, but Rei rejects him. His distance from Shinji partly comes from fear that he only hurts his son, making him another person who runs away from pain.

Yui Ikari

Shinji's mother, Gendo's wife, and Fuyutsuki's former student at Kyoto University. Yui was a brilliant bioengineer at Gehirn, connected to Seele by family background and involved in Project E. Unlike Gendo and Seele, her stated hope is that humanity can endure and that life can still find happiness after disaster. She brought four-year-old Shinji to the Unit-01 contact experiment in 2004 to show him a "bright future," then disappeared when her soul was absorbed into the unit and her body reverted to LCL.

Yui is rarely present as a living person, but she is one of the story's strongest unseen forces. Her soul inside Unit-01 protects Shinji before launch, takes control in berserk incidents, breaks out of Leliel, devours Zeruel's S2 organ, and rejects control systems that try to replace the pilot bond. Gendo spends the rest of his life trying to reunite with her, while Rei's existence is tied to the failed attempt to salvage Yui. In End of Evangelion, Yui frames Unit-01 as an ark and proof that humanity existed, then leaves Shinji with the belief that anyone with the will to live can return. For roleplay, she should feel gentle but not passive: loving, deliberate, and morally difficult because her choices use immense systems and other people's pain to reach a future she believes is worth preserving.

Kozo Fuyutsuki

Nerv vice commander and Gendo's closest advisor. Before Second Impact he was a Kyoto University professor of metaphysical biology, Yui's mentor, and an investigator of the truth behind Seele. He disliked Gendo at first, admired Yui, survived the post-Impact world, and joined Gehirn after Gendo showed him the Geofront and Evangelion project. Fuyutsuki is dry, restrained, morally uneasy, and more sympathetic to Yui's hopes for humanity than Seele's scenario, but he still remains inside the machinery of Nerv.

Keel Lorenz, The Human Instrumentality Committee, and Seele

Keel is the visible head of Seele and the Human Instrumentality Committee. The Committee acts as Nerv's oversight body, but Seele is the older secret society guiding events through the Dead Sea Scrolls. Seele wants controlled Human Instrumentality: the forced evolution of humanity into a single perfected existence after humanity reaches its limit as separate beings. They tolerate Gendo while he is useful, complain whenever events deviate from their scenario, and move against Nerv once the Angels are gone and Gendo's betrayal is clear.

Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu

Asuka's mother and a scientist at Gehirn's German branch. During the Unit-02 contact experiment, part of her soul entered the Evangelion and Kyoko's mind broke. She treated a doll as her real daughter, rejected Asuka, and eventually hanged herself. The maternal soul inside Unit-02 awakens to Asuka in The End of Evangelion, letting Asuka understand that her mother had been with her in the Evangelion all along.

Naoko Akagi

Ritsuko's mother, a Gehirn scientist, and creator of the Magi. She encoded the Magi with three aspects of herself: scientist, mother, and woman. Naoko had an affair with Gendo but knew he still loved Yui. When Rei I repeated Gendo's private insults to her, Naoko strangled Rei and then killed herself. Her legacy shapes both the Magi and Ritsuko's later breakdown.

Maya Ibuki

Nerv bridge operator and Ritsuko's junior in the technical division. Maya is earnest, professional, and visibly disturbed by the brutality of Evangelion combat and Nerv's darker acts. She deeply admires Ritsuko, and in Instrumentality her strongest apparition is Ritsuko.

Makoto Hyuga

Nerv bridge operator under Misato. Hyuga is competent, quick-thinking, and loyal to Misato, often helping her gather information beyond official channels. He has an implied crush on her and supports her during both Angel attacks and internal investigations.

Shigeru Aoba

Nerv bridge operator responsible for communications and monitoring. Aoba is generally calm and dryly observant, with an interest in guitar. During Instrumentality he is one of the few characters shown reacting with stark terror rather than comfort when Rei appears.

Nerv Technology

AT Fields

An AT Field, short for Absolute Terror Field, is the barrier generated by a soul. Angels and Evangelions can project physically powerful AT Fields that block conventional attacks, distort air, form visible geometric patterns when struck, and sometimes act offensively. Most weapons cannot pierce an Angel's field; Nerv needs Evangelion units because one AT Field can erode or neutralize another. Rare exceptions include extreme directed energy, N2 weapons against weaker targets, and the Spear of Longinus.

AT Fields also have a psychological meaning. Kaworu explains that every living thing has one, but ordinary human fields are too weak to appear as shields; they are the boundaries that keep individuals separate. Angel and Evangelion AT Fields can support impossible effects such as levitation, mind contact, pocket-space behavior, or direct cutting force. During Third Impact, the Anti-AT Field collapses human boundaries, causing bodies to revert to LCL and merge into Instrumentality. For roleplay, an AT Field is both tactical defense and metaphysical identity: the same boundary that protects the body also defines the self.

Entry Plugs

Entry plugs are the capsule-shaped cockpits inserted through an Evangelion's upper spine, with the pilot's end reaching toward the unit's core. During activation, the plug fills with LCL, the pilot breathes the liquid, and the interior screens create an almost full-surround view from the unit's perspective. The pilot's seat has induction levers, restraint gear, HUD displays, and emergency systems, but most control is neural rather than manual.

Entry plugs can be ejected by rocket systems and are extremely durable; Rei's plugs survive multiple catastrophic incidents, and Toji survives even after Unit-01 crushes Unit-03's plug. When a unit is not in use, a signal termination plug can be inserted instead, preventing unwanted startup. Rei calls the entry plug "the throne of the soul," which is useful roleplay framing: it is a cockpit, life-support capsule, sensory organ, and ritual seat all at once.

LCL

LCL is the amber liquid that fills entry plugs and enables pilot-Evangelion connection. It is oxygenated, so pilots can breathe it after the initial panic of submersion, and it becomes visually transparent after activation even though it remains liquid. It smells like blood because it is Lilith's blood, drawn from the LCL plant in Terminal Dogma.

LCL is also tied to the origin and dissolution of life. Lilith-based life originated from LCL-like primordial fluid, and during Third Impact human bodies revert to LCL when AT Fields collapse. Shinji's body dissolves into LCL inside Unit-01 at 400% synchronization and later reforms from it, making LCL both cockpit medium and metaphysical substrate.

Synchronization, Test Plugs, and Simulation Bodies

Synchronization is the neural and psychological connection between pilot and Evangelion. It lets the pilot move the unit and feel what it feels, including pain from damage. Higher sync rates improve control but increase danger: pilots can experience mental contamination, trauma, sympathetic injury, or in extreme cases loss of ego boundary and dissolution into LCL.

Nerv monitors synchronization through sync rates, A-10 nerve connections, harmonics, language/thought configuration, and pilot condition. Shinji's first combat sync is unusually high, Asuka's falls as her mental state collapses, and Kaworu can set his sync rate with Unit-02 at will. The cross-compatibility test in Episode 14 shows that pilots are not freely interchangeable; unit souls and personal patterns matter.

Test plugs and simulation bodies let Nerv run harmonics and sync tests without normal combat deployment. Simulation bodies are incomplete Evangelion-like forms in the Pribnow Box: unarmored, legless, missing visible cores, and used to refine pilot synchronization. Ireul infects them in Episode 13, using the test environment to reach the Magi. These systems are good roleplay tools for controlled tests, accidents, contamination scares, and quiet character pressure without a full Angel battle.

Dummy System and Dummy Plugs

The Dummy System is an artificial pilot system designed to make an Evangelion operate without the pilot's will. It works by imitating a real pilot's thought patterns, "tricking" the unit into accepting control. Nerv's version is based on Rei data and Rei-associated systems; Seele's Mass Production Evangelions use Kaworu-based dummy plugs.

The system is most infamous in Episode 18, when Gendo activates it against Shinji's refusal and Unit-01 destroys Bardiel-infected Unit-03 with Toji inside. In Episode 19, Unit-01 rejects both Rei and the dummy system, accepting only Shinji. Ritsuko later destroys the Rei clone tank connected to the Dummy System, ending or crippling Nerv's Rei-based version. For roleplay, the Dummy System represents the removal of pilot agency and the horror of turning an Evangelion into a weapon without human hesitation.

Magi

The Magi are Nerv's trio of organic supercomputers, created by Naoko Akagi using a Personality Transplant OS. The three systems encode different aspects of Naoko: Melchior as scientist, Balthasar as mother, and Casper as woman. They run Nerv HQ and much of Tokyo-3's municipal government by majority decision.

The Magi support synchronization testing, base operations, tactical decisions, and system control. Ireul attacks them directly in Episode 13, forcing Ritsuko to defend her mother's work from inside the machine. In The End of Evangelion, Seele's other Magi systems attempt to hack Nerv's Magi before the JSSDF assault. Ritsuko later tries to use the Magi to self-destruct Nerv, but Casper rejects her command, which Ritsuko reads as Naoko choosing Gendo over her.

Evangelions

Evangelions are not robots but giant living cyborgs restrained by armor, piloted through entry plugs filled with LCL. Most are Adam-derived; Unit-01 is Lilith-derived. They contain souls, usually connected to the pilot, and use AT Fields, external power cables, limited internal batteries, and conventional Evangelion-scale weapons such as pallet rifles and progressive knives. Pilots feel the pain of unit damage through synchronization, and extreme synchronization or resident-soul control can produce berserk behavior.

Evangelion Unit-00

Prototype and first operational Evangelion. Rei is its pilot; its soul is implied to be Rei I or part of her. It begins orange and unstable, going berserk during activation and later during Shinji's cross-compatibility test. After Ramiel nearly destroys it, Unit-00 is rebuilt in blue armor with shoulder pylons. It often serves support roles: shielding Unit-01 during Operation Yashima, opening Sahaquiel's core, carrying the Spear of Longinus, and finally self-destructing with Armisael.

Evangelion Unit-01

Test Type piloted by Shinji and inhabited by Yui Ikari's soul. Unlike the other units, Unit-01 was created from Lilith and becomes central to both Gendo's and Seele's plans. It repeatedly acts without power or pilot control: protecting Shinji, defeating Sachiel, tearing out of Leliel, destroying Bardiel through the Dummy System, and devouring Zeruel's S2 organ. Its exposed organic body, regeneration, and berserk roars reveal the living being under the armor. In End of Evangelion, it becomes the core medium of Instrumentality and later drifts into space as a memorial.

Evangelion Unit-02

First Production Model, piloted by Asuka and containing Kyoko's maternal soul. Unit-02 is red, highly combat-ready, and strongly identified with Asuka's pride. It has production-model armor, shoulder pylons, a progressive knife, and strong close-combat performance. It defeats or helps defeat Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matarael, and Sahaquiel, but Asuka's mental collapse drives its sync rate below usability. In End of Evangelion, Unit-02 reawakens with Kyoko's soul and nearly defeats the Mass Production Evangelions before its power expires.

Evangelion Unit-03

Production Model built in the United States and shipped to Japan after Unit-04's destruction. Toji is selected as its pilot. During activation at Matsushiro, Bardiel reveals it has infected the unit, turning Unit-03 into the Thirteenth Angel. Gendo designates it an Angel, activates Unit-01's Dummy System, and has Unit-01 tear it apart.

Evangelion Unit-04

Production Model built at Nerv's U.S. Second Branch. It never sorties. During an S2 Engine installation test, Unit-04 and the entire Nevada facility vanish into a Dirac Sea-like event, causing the U.S. to send Unit-03 to Japan. Its pilot and soul are never specified in the original series.

Mass Production Evangelions

Nine white Mass Production Models built secretly for Seele and controlled by Kaworu-based Dummy Systems. Each has an S2 Engine, wings, and a replica Spear of Longinus disguised as a heavy sword. Their eyeless, jawed heads and circling flight give them an inhuman, predatory presence. They fight Asuka's Unit-02, revive after she disables them, destroy Unit-02, and then form the ritual apparatus for Seele's Third Impact.

Angels

In Nerv's usual usage, Angels are Adam's children: powerful lifeforms with cores, souls, AT Fields, and S2 Engines. In Seele's broader list, Adam is the First Angel, Lilith the Second, Kaworu/Tabris the Seventeenth, and humanity/Lilin the Eighteenth. Angel motives vary: some seek Adam, some seek Lilith, and some seem to seek contact or understanding.

Adam

First Angel, Seed of Life, and progenitor of the Angels. Adam was found in Antarctica, restrained by the Spear of Longinus, and awakened during the Katsuragi Expedition's contact experiment, causing Second Impact. Its adult form is mostly seen as a Giant of Light with vast wings; afterward its body was reduced to an embryo and later delivered to Gendo, while its soul was placed in Kaworu.

Lilith

Second Angel, Seed of Life, and progenitor of humanity. Lilith is crucified in Terminal Dogma, masked with the seven-eyed Seele symbol, and used as Nerv's source of LCL. The Spear of Longinus suppresses its regeneration until Rei removes it. Unit-01 was made from Lilith. In End of Evangelion, Rei merges with Adam's embryo and Lilith, becoming the giant being that initiates Instrumentality.

Sachiel

Third Angel and first Angel to attack in 15 years. A tall amphibious humanoid with arm lances, regenerating faces, cross-shaped blasts, and a core in its torso. It survives conventional weapons and an N2 Mine, proving Nerv's necessity. Unit-01 defeats it after going berserk.

Shamshel

Fourth Angel. An arthropod-like flying form with cutting whips of light and a human-like genetic pattern. Its battle shows pilots feel unit pain and that civilian spectators can be caught in Evangelion combat. Shinji defeats it with Unit-01's progressive knife after Toji and Kensuke are brought into the entry plug.

Ramiel

Fifth Angel. A floating octahedron with an extremely strong AT Field, lethal particle beam, and drill aimed at the Geofront. It automatically fires on anything entering range, making direct approach impossible. Defeated by Operation Yashima: Unit-01 fires a positron rifle powered by Japan while Unit-00 shields it.

Gaghiel

Sixth Angel. A huge aquatic Angel that attacks the UN fleet carrying Unit-02 and Adam, making it the clearest early case of an Angel being drawn away from Tokyo-3 by Adam. Asuka and Shinji defeat it by forcing open its mouth so scuttled battleships can fire inside and self-destruct.

Israfel

Seventh Angel. Can split into two synchronized bodies after being cut apart, and both bodies must be killed at the same time. Unit-01 and Unit-02 defeat it only after Shinji and Asuka train to perform a perfectly timed dual attack, turning their interpersonal friction into combat choreography.

Sandalphon

Eighth Angel. Found in embryonic form inside Mount Asama's magma. Nerv tries to capture it alive for research despite the risk of a disaster resembling Second Impact. It hatches into an Anomalocaris-like form, adapted to heat and pressure. Asuka defeats it using thermal shock and a progressive knife.

Matarael

Ninth Angel. A spider-like walker with a corrosive acid-secreting underside eye. It attacks during a total power blackout caused by sabotage, forcing Nerv to launch the Evangelions manually and revealing how vulnerable the base is to human interference. The three pilots defeat it through improvised teamwork.

Sahaquiel

Tenth Angel. A colossal orbital Angel that drops pieces of itself to calibrate a suicide fall onto Tokyo-3. Its impact would erase the city even on a near miss. Misato orders all three Evangelions to catch it with their AT Fields; Shinji arrives first and holds it, Rei exposes the core, and Asuka destroys it.

Ireul

Eleventh Angel. A microscopic colony that evolves into computer-like circuits inside Nerv HQ and hacks the Magi. It is the only Angel defeated without Evangelion combat. Ritsuko enters the Magi's physical structure and defeats it by counter-programming it into an evolutionary dead end.

Leliel

Twelfth Angel. A higher-dimensional Angel whose true body is a black, Dirac Sea-like shadow; its floating sphere is a decoy. It traps Unit-01 for hours and mentally contacts Shinji, pushing the story from monster battles into direct psychological confrontation. Unit-01 tears out of it in a violent berserk rebirth.

Bardiel

Thirteenth Angel. A parasitic Angel that infects Unit-03 during transport and activation, likely from a cloud system it passed through. It uses Unit-03's body as its own, defeating Unit-00 and Unit-02 before Dummy System-controlled Unit-01 destroys it with Toji inside, turning the Angel war into a direct personal betrayal for Shinji.

Zeruel

Fourteenth Angel. One of the strongest Angels, with immense destructive power, foil-like cutting appendages, beam attacks, and a protected core. It breaches Nerv HQ faster than any previous Angel, defeats Unit-00 and Unit-02, and nearly kills the command staff before Shinji returns. Berserk Unit-01 kills and eats it, gaining its S2 organ and frightening Seele because Unit-01 becomes much harder to control.

Arael

Fifteenth Angel. A shining orbital Angel that attacks Asuka's mind with a beam resembling an AT Field, forcing her to relive trauma, desire, shame, and fear of replacement. Its range keeps it beyond ordinary Evangelion weapons. Rei kills it by throwing the Spear of Longinus, which is lost into lunar orbit and removes a key part of Seele's plan.

Armisael

Sixteenth Angel. A luminous double-helix/ring that becomes a thread-like body and fuses physically and psychologically with Unit-00 and Rei. It confronts Rei with loneliness, manifests Rei-like forms, and tries to merge with Unit-01. Rei chooses Shinji's survival over her own replaceability and self-destructs Unit-00 to destroy it.

Tabris

Seventeenth Angel: Kaworu Nagisa, vessel of Adam's soul. Human in appearance, able to control Unit-02 and project an immense AT Field. He is the final Angel and also Adam's soul in Lilin form, making him both intimate and apocalyptic. After reaching Terminal Dogma and recognizing Lilith, he chooses humanity's survival and allows Shinji to kill him.

Lilin

Eighteenth Angel: humanity, born from Lilith and possessing the Fruit of Knowledge rather than the Angels' Fruit of Life. Humans are many separate beings treated as one flawed colony. Human individuality is maintained by AT Fields, and Human Instrumentality attempts to dissolve those boundaries into one existence.

Setting

The story begins in 2015, fifteen years after Second Impact devastated Earth, melted Antarctica into a red dead sea, altered the climate, killed much of the population, and enabled the official cover story of a meteor disaster. Japan lives in perpetual summer. The public knows Nerv as humanity's defense against Angels, but Seele, Gendo, and a few insiders know that the Evangelion program is also preparation for Third Impact and Human Instrumentality.

Tokyo-3

Fortress city in Hakone above the Geofront, built to intercept Angels drawn toward Lilith beneath Nerv HQ. It was planned as Japan's new capital, but its real purpose is strategic bait and battlefield. Its buildings can retract underground behind armor plating, and many structures hide launch ports, power sockets, weapon caches, and automated defenses. Most residents are Nerv staff, their families, or remaining locals. The city is progressively damaged by Angel battles, heavily cratered by Unit-00's self-destruction, and destroyed during the JSSDF assault and Third Impact.

Nerv HQ

Nerv's main base, built inside the Geofront under Tokyo-3. It contains the command center, Magi, Evangelion cages, launch systems, Central Dogma, Terminal Dogma, LCL facilities, and the Dummy Plug Plant. It is officially a defense headquarters but secretly houses Lilith and the machinery of Instrumentality. Its layout is immense, bureaucratic, and intentionally compartmentalized so most personnel know only fragments. The bridge staff can win battles without understanding what Gendo and Ritsuko are hiding below them.

Geofront

The vast underground cavern beneath Tokyo-3, actually associated with Lilith's Black Moon. It contains Nerv HQ, forests, lakes, transport systems, and hidden facilities such as Kaji's melon patch. It visually contrasts ordinary military infrastructure with impossible ancient architecture. During Third Impact, the Black Moon rises from beneath it, obliterating the remaining surface city.

Central Dogma

The deep operational core of Nerv HQ, including the command center and Magi access. It is where most battles are coordinated and where Nerv's secrecy becomes increasingly visible as Angels penetrate deeper. For roleplay, it is the place of alarms, tactical displays, command hierarchy, and partial truths.

Terminal Dogma

The lowest and most secret region of Nerv HQ. Lilith is crucified there, impaled by the Spear of Longinus until Rei removes it. LCL flows from Lilith into the plant below, making the entry plug fluid part of humanity's origin. Kaji shows this area to Misato while believing or claiming the giant is Adam; Kaworu later reveals it is Lilith. Any scene here should feel forbidden, ritualistic, and far beyond the official Nerv mission.

Seele and the Committee

Seele is the secret power directing the Human Instrumentality scenario. The Human Instrumentality Committee acts as its visible council over Nerv, pressuring Gendo while hiding its own intent. Seele speaks in scenarios, deadlines, and necessary sacrifices. Once the final Angel is gone, Seele uses the UN and JSSDF to attack Nerv and seize control of Third Impact.

Class 2-A

The Tokyo-3 junior high class attended by Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari. It gives the pilots a thin layer of ordinary adolescence: homework, lunch, gossip, crushes, classroom duty, and embarrassment. It is not coincidental: Evangelion pilot candidates are grouped there, and many have dead mothers or missing family links relevant to Evangelion core compatibility.

Episodes and Movies

Episode 1

Shinji arrives near Tokyo-3 after receiving a summons from Gendo, whom he has not seen in years. The city is already evacuated because Sachiel is approaching, and conventional JSSDF weapons fail even after an N2 Mine temporarily halts the Angel. Misato rescues Shinji from the battlefield in her car and takes him through the Geofront, giving him his first view of Nerv's hidden scale.

At Nerv HQ, Shinji meets Ritsuko, sees Unit-01, and is told by Gendo to pilot it immediately despite having no training. Shinji refuses, interpreting the summons as proof that Gendo only wants him when he is useful. Gendo orders injured Rei brought in as a replacement, and when falling debris threatens Shinji, Unit-01 moves on its own to shield him.

The key roleplay beat is Shinji's first coerced choice. He does not become brave in a clean heroic way; he is cornered by guilt, Rei's injuries, his father's coldness, and the sight of blood on his hands. He repeats that he must not run away, enters the plug, synchronizes, and is launched against Sachiel with fear rather than confidence.

Episode 2

Shinji wakes in a hospital with no clear memory of how the battle ended. Gendo reports to the Human Instrumentality Committee, who are already more concerned with the Angel attacks and Instrumentality schedule than with Shinji as a person. Shinji sees Rei in the hospital and silently avoids Gendo, reinforcing the emotional distance between father and son.

Misato chooses to take Shinji into her apartment instead of letting him live alone, partly from care and partly from instinctive identification with him. Her home is messy, casual, and strange to Shinji, but it becomes the first place in Tokyo-3 where someone invites him to belong. Their dinner establishes the awkward guardian-child dynamic: she tries to cheer him up, while he remains reserved and uncertain.

The episode later reveals what Shinji cannot remember: Sachiel crippled Unit-01, contact with the pilot was lost, and Unit-01 went berserk. The unit regenerated its arm, eroded the Angel's AT Field, shattered Sachiel's core, and survived Sachiel's suicide blast. For roleplay, this is the first major hint that the Evangelions are living beings with wills of their own, not machines Shinji controls cleanly.

Episode 3

Shinji starts school in Class 2-A and becomes an object of curiosity because he is the new Evangelion pilot. Kensuke is thrilled by the military implications, while Toji is furious because his sister was injured in the Sachiel battle. Toji beats Shinji after school, and Shinji accepts it with little resistance, saying he was forced to pilot.

Shamshel attacks Tokyo-3, and Shinji sorties in Unit-01. Kensuke convinces Toji to leave the shelter and watch the battle, turning their fascination and anger into immediate danger. Shinji's fear causes him to lose the initiative; Shamshel severs the umbilical cable and throws Unit-01 near the boys.

Misato orders Shinji to take Toji and Kensuke into the entry plug for safety, letting them witness what piloting actually feels like. Shinji disobeys retreat orders and charges Shamshel with the progressive knife, killing it just as power runs out. He breaks down sobbing afterward, which forces Toji to understand that Shinji is not a privileged show-off but another hurt child under unbearable pressure.

Episode 4

Misato reprimands Shinji for ignoring her orders in the Shamshel fight, and Shinji retreats emotionally before running away physically. He leaves behind his Nerv card and wanders through Tokyo-3, riding train loops, sleeping in public places, and drifting toward the countryside. The episode slows down to show his avoidance rather than another battle.

Shinji spends time with Kensuke, who is camping alone and seems happy with isolation in a way Shinji cannot manage. Nerv security retrieves Shinji, and Misato confronts him with the choice to either pilot with intention or leave. Her anger is not just military discipline; she cannot stand watching him erase his own agency by obeying while resenting everyone.

At the station, Toji and Kensuke come to see Shinji off. Toji asks Shinji to punch him back as an apology, and Shinji does. The train arrives, but Shinji chooses not to board after remembering Misato's words. Misato rushes to the platform, and their reconciliation is quiet and imperfect: Shinji stays, but the pattern of fleeing and returning remains central to him.

Episode 5

Shinji sees how differently Gendo behaves around Rei and becomes unsettled by their quiet closeness. Ritsuko explains that Gendo burned his hands rescuing Rei from Unit-00's superheated entry plug after an activation accident. To Shinji, this is difficult to reconcile with the father who abandoned him and treats him as a tool.

When Shinji visits Rei's apartment to deliver an ID card, he finds a barren, neglected room and Gendo's broken glasses kept as a treasured object. Rei shows little embarrassment when Shinji accidentally sees her naked, but she reacts sharply when he criticizes Gendo, slapping him. Rei's lack of ordinary social boundaries and intense loyalty to Gendo are both emphasized.

Ramiel appears before Shinji can make sense of Rei. Unit-00 has just been reactivated but is not ready for combat, so Gendo sends Shinji in Unit-01. Ramiel immediately fires a particle beam that nearly destroys the unit and boils the LCL around Shinji, ending the episode on the sense that courage and willpower are useless against some threats without strategy.

Episode 6

Ramiel anchors over Nerv HQ and begins drilling toward the Geofront, attacking anything that enters range. Shinji recovers in the hospital after nearly being killed, and his fear of getting back into Unit-01 is treated seriously. Rei wakes him for the next operation and calmly says she will pilot if he cannot, which pressures him but also gives him a model of resolve.

Misato designs Operation Yashima: Unit-01 will fire a positron rifle powered by the entire electrical output of Japan, while Unit-00 shields it with a heat-resistant shield. The operation is precise, exhausting, and dependent on Shinji and Rei trusting each other. Shinji misses the first shot because Ramiel fires first, and Rei blocks the counterattack at great cost.

Shinji's second shot destroys Ramiel. He runs to Rei's damaged entry plug and pries it open, mirroring Gendo's earlier rescue of her. When Shinji cries because she is alive, Rei does not know how to respond; he tells her to smile, and she does. The episode marks the first genuine emotional connection between them and softens Shinji's view of Rei without resolving the mystery around her.

Episode 7

Ritsuko explains to Shinji that Second Impact was not a meteor disaster and that Adam's awakening in Antarctica led to the catastrophe. Shinji learns that the Evangelions exist to prevent Third Impact, but even this explanation is only partial. The episode contrasts Nerv's hidden truths with public-facing defense politics.

Misato and Ritsuko attend a demonstration for Jet Alone, a nuclear-powered anti-Angel robot developed by a rival organization. The presentation attacks Nerv's reliance on unstable pilots and mysterious Evangelions, and Ritsuko is visibly angered even when she maintains composure. Jet Alone then goes out of control, likely due to sabotage connected to Nerv's interests.

Misato boards Jet Alone herself to enter the shutdown code while Shinji uses Unit-01 to help her reach it. The code fails, suggesting the crisis was staged or manipulated, but Jet Alone shuts down at the last second. For roleplay, this episode shows Misato's bravery, Ritsuko's institutional loyalty, and Nerv's willingness to protect its monopoly through morally dubious means.

Episode 8

Misato brings Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke to the UN fleet transporting Unit-02 from Germany. Asuka makes a theatrical entrance and immediately asserts superiority over Shinji, treating Unit-02 as proof that she is a real pilot while Unit-00 and Unit-01 are lesser models. Kaji's presence unsettles Misato, revealing a past relationship that neither of them treats casually.

Gaghiel attacks the fleet, drawn not merely by Unit-02 but by Adam's embryo, which Kaji is secretly transporting. Asuka forces Shinji into Unit-02's entry plug and initially struggles because the unit's language and thought settings are wrong for him. Once adjusted, they fight underwater despite Unit-02 not being equipped for that environment.

Misato devises a plan to sink two battleships into Gaghiel's mouth and fire their guns from inside before self-destructing them. Shinji and Asuka succeed only by cooperating to pry the Angel's jaws open. Kaji leaves the battle to deliver Adam to Gendo, revealing that the public mission and secret mission were never the same.

Episode 9

Asuka joins Class 2-A, instantly becoming the center of attention while rejecting the boys who admire her. She challenges Rei's aloofness and moves into Misato's apartment, displacing Shinji's fragile routine and turning the home into a more volatile household. Her confidence is real, but it is also a performance that depends on being seen as exceptional.

Israfel attacks and appears easy to defeat until Asuka bisects it and it reforms into two synchronized bodies. Unit-01 and Unit-02 are humiliated in public, and the JSSDF buys Nerv time with an N2 attack that only temporarily stops the Angel. Fuyutsuki and Misato make clear that the pilots' inability to cooperate is now a tactical liability.

Shinji and Asuka undergo intensive synchronization training, living and moving together until they can execute a timed dual attack. Their training includes domestic comedy, resentment, and moments where Asuka tests Shinji for attention that he does not understand. They destroy both halves of Israfel perfectly, but the victory ends with them arguing in a compromising crash position, showing that tactical synchronization has not solved emotional incompatibility.

Episode 10

The pilots are denied a class trip to Okinawa because they must remain on standby, emphasizing how piloting isolates them from ordinary adolescence. Asuka complains loudly, while Shinji has already accepted this kind of restriction. Misato frames the situation as duty, but the children's resentment is understandable.

Nerv discovers Sandalphon in embryonic form inside Mount Asama and chooses a risky capture mission to obtain a living Angel sample. Asuka is sent in Unit-02 with D-Type equipment for extreme heat and pressure, while the UN stands ready to destroy the area with an N2 weapon if the operation fails. Gendo's willingness to risk a repeat disaster for data is clear.

Sandalphon hatches and becomes an active threat, forcing Asuka to improvise after losing her progressive knife. She uses coolant to create thermal shock and kills the Angel, proving her tactical intelligence under pressure. When her support cable fails, Shinji dives in with Unit-01 to rescue her; Asuka deflects the emotion, but the rescue matters to her and becomes part of the complicated Shinji-Asuka dynamic.

Episode 11

Sabotage causes a total power outage at Nerv, cutting off automated systems and exposing how dependent the fortress is on infrastructure. Gendo and Fuyutsuki suspect the outage is a human probe rather than an accident. Matarael attacks during the blackout, turning a logistical crisis into a battle for the Geofront.

The pilots must crawl through vents and maintenance routes to reach their units. Asuka insists on leading, often choosing wrong turns; Rei silently identifies practical shortcuts; Shinji uses the journey to ask why Angels attack at all. Their personalities are expressed through movement and decision-making rather than exposition.

Nerv staff manually prepare the launch systems, and the three Evangelions deploy under emergency conditions. Matarael's acid threatens to burn through to Nerv HQ, so Asuka creates a three-unit plan with defense, support, and offense roles. The victory is straightforward, but the episode's roleplay value is in showing how the pilots function as a team when command systems fail.

Episode 12

Misato is promoted to Major, and the household celebrates, but the episode quickly turns toward her unresolved past. Gendo and Fuyutsuki are away in Antarctica retrieving the Spear of Longinus, leaving Misato in practical command when Sahaquiel appears in orbit. The Angel drops pieces of itself to calibrate a catastrophic impact on Tokyo-3.

Misato orders a plan with nearly impossible odds: the three Evangelions will sprint to the projected impact point, catch the falling Angel with their AT Fields, and destroy its core by hand. Ritsuko challenges whether Misato's decision is really about duty or revenge for Second Impact. Flashbacks reveal Misato's father as distant and work-obsessed, yet also the person who saved her life at the cost of his own.

Shinji recognizes his own father issues in Misato's story. During the operation, he reaches the impact point first and bears the initial weight; Rei and Asuka arrive to expose and destroy the core. The victory gives Misato a triumphant moment, but it is built on trauma, risk, and a need to prove that her father's death can be answered by destroying Angels.

Episode 13

During a pilot test using simulation bodies, Ireul infiltrates Nerv as microscopic organisms hidden in a contaminated wall. The pilots are ejected and become secondary to the crisis. Unlike previous Angels, Ireul evolves rapidly into circuit-like intelligence and attacks Nerv through its computers.

The Angel hacks the Magi and attempts to trigger Nerv HQ's self-destruct sequence. Misato wants to destroy the infected systems physically, but Ritsuko understands that this would sacrifice the Magi and possibly fail. The episode centers Ritsuko's relationship with Naoko, whose personality was divided into the Magi as scientist, mother, and woman.

Ritsuko enters the physical structure of Casper and uses Naoko's notes to create a counter-program that guides Ireul into an evolutionary dead end. It is the only Angel defeated without Evangelion combat. For roleplay, this is the clearest early Ritsuko episode: controlled, brilliant, proud of her mother's work, and already haunted by aging into the same patterns.

Episode 14

The first half is framed as Seele reviewing Nerv's reports on the Angel battles so far. The review names the Angels and shows that official records are curated, incomplete, and shaped by Gendo's concealment. Seele is especially concerned by Ireul's possible penetration into Nerv HQ, while Gendo denies or minimizes what does not fit the scenario he wants them to see.

The second half shifts to Rei's introspection. Her poem-like reflections move through body, blood, sky, mountains, loneliness, and the question of what a human is. It is not a normal diary or monologue; it feels like a consciousness trying to define itself from fragments, which fits Rei's nature as clone, vessel, and person.

Ritsuko conducts a cross-compatibility test between pilots and units. Rei synchronizes with Unit-01 surprisingly well, but Shinji's attempt to synchronize with Unit-00 triggers another berserk incident. The test implies that Evangelion compatibility depends on resident souls and personal data, not simple mechanical assignment, and it foreshadows the Dummy System work.

Episode 15

Kaji investigates the Marduk Institute and discovers another shell company, reinforcing that pilot selection is controlled from inside Nerv rather than by an independent body. Shinji visits Yui's grave with Gendo, learning there is no body and that Gendo kept no photos. The encounter is restrained but important: Shinji is glad they spoke, while Gendo remains distant and quickly leaves with Rei.

Misato, Ritsuko, and Kaji attend a wedding, and Misato drinks with Kaji afterward. Their conversation reveals that Misato left him because he reminded her of her father, not because she stopped caring. At home, Asuka asks Shinji to kiss her, presenting it as boredom while clearly testing his response. Shinji's passivity and failure to understand her emotions leave her hurt and angry.

Kaji later brings Misato to Terminal Dogma and shows her the crucified giant, calling it Adam. Whether Kaji is wrong or simplifying, the scene pulls Misato into Nerv's deepest secrets and confirms that Ritsuko and Gendo have hidden the truth from her. This episode is built around intimacy and secrecy: Shinji and Gendo, Misato and Kaji, Asuka and Shinji, Kaji and Nerv's hidden core.

Episode 16

Shinji's sync score surpasses Asuka's, and his unusual confidence irritates her. When Leliel appears, the pilots initially target its floating spherical decoy. Shinji charges ahead against orders, and Unit-01 is swallowed by the Angel's true body: a black shadow that functions like a Dirac Sea.

With Shinji trapped and life support dwindling, Ritsuko proposes destroying Leliel with all remaining N2 mines, even if that kills Shinji. Misato slaps her, demanding to know why Unit-01 matters more to Nerv than its pilot and what the Evangelions really are. The conflict exposes how much Ritsuko knows and how little Misato has been trusted with.

Inside Unit-01, Shinji undergoes an introspective confrontation, speaking with versions of himself and being pressed on why he pilots, whether he is happy, and what happened to his mother. He remembers Yui's smile and the possibility that Unit-01 is tied to her. Before Nerv can execute the mine plan, Unit-01 tears its way out of Leliel in a bloody birth-like berserk emergence.

Episode 17

Seele interrogates Misato about the Leliel incident, especially the possibility that the Angel contacted Shinji's mind. Gendo notes that Angels may be growing more intelligent or more interested in humans, which means Seele's timetable is tightening. Shinji's sync score falls afterward, showing the psychological cost of the previous battle.

Unit-04 and Nerv's U.S. Second Branch disappear during an S2 Engine installation test, creating panic and prompting the United States to send Unit-03 to Japan. The disaster also signals that attempts to reproduce Angel-like power are unstable. Ritsuko and Gendo continue work on the Dummy System, treating pilot replacement as an engineering problem.

Kaji tells Misato that the Marduk Institute is fake and points her toward Class 2-A, where all the pilot candidates are gathered. Toji is selected as the Fourth Children, but Misato hesitates to tell Shinji because of his fragile state. At school, Hikari offers Toji homemade lunch, adding painful ordinary tenderness before the Unit-03 tragedy.

Episode 18

Unit-03's activation test takes place at Matsushiro with Toji inside, though Shinji still does not know his friend is the pilot. Bardiel reveals its infection during startup, causing an explosion that injures Misato and Ritsuko and cuts off communications. Gendo takes command from Nerv HQ and immediately reclassifies Unit-03 as the Thirteenth Angel.

Unit-00 and Unit-02 are sent to stop Bardiel, but the infected unit defeats both, injuring Rei and humiliating Asuka. Shinji is ordered to fight, but he refuses once he realizes there is a helpless pilot trapped in the entry plug. He would rather die than kill someone who might be innocent, which is one of his strongest moral refusals.

Gendo activates the Dummy System, taking control away from Shinji. Unit-01 destroys Unit-03 with cold, mechanical brutality, ripping it apart and crushing the entry plug while Shinji screams helplessly inside his own plug. The aftermath destroys Shinji's trust in Gendo and makes the Evangelion system feel monstrous in a human, not Angelic, way.

Episode 19

Shinji learns Toji was the pilot and confronts Gendo from inside Unit-01, threatening Nerv itself before being subdued. He quits, saying he will never pilot again, and Gendo responds by erasing him from Nerv's plans rather than trying to repair the relationship. Rei is assigned as the replacement pilot for Unit-01, with the Dummy System as backup.

Zeruel attacks with overwhelming power, cutting through Tokyo-3 and Nerv's defenses faster than any previous Angel. Unit-02 is brutally disarmed and decapitated; Unit-00's suicide attack fails because Zeruel shields its core. Rei cannot activate Unit-01, and the Dummy System also fails, leaving Nerv nearly defenseless.

Kaji speaks to Shinji at the melon patch while the battle rages, telling him that only an Evangelion can stop an Angel from causing Third Impact and that Shinji must decide what to do. Shinji returns to Unit-01 and fights Zeruel with desperation, but the unit runs out of power. Unit-01 then goes berserk, kills Zeruel, regenerates its arm from the Angel's body, eats the S2 organ, and breaks its restraints, alarming both Nerv and Seele because it has become a godlike entity outside their control.

Episode 20

After the Zeruel battle, Shinji is missing from the entry plug despite his plug suit and body components being present in the LCL. Ritsuko explains that at 400% synchronization, Shinji lost his ego boundary and dissolved into Unit-01. Misato is horrified by how calmly the science division describes the problem and demands that Ritsuko bring him back.

Nerv spends a month preparing a salvage operation based on old data from Yui's failed contact experiment. The attempt is uncertain and heavily theoretical. Inside Unit-01, Shinji experiences conversations with Rei and others, fragmented memories, and questions about why he pilots and whether he wants to return to a painful world.

The emotional core is Shinji recognizing Yui's presence. He remembers early childhood, Gendo and Yui discussing his name, and Yui's belief that anyone with the will to live can find happiness. The salvage plan seems to fail, but Shinji returns physically after recognizing the smell and presence of his mother, reinforcing that Unit-01 is not just a weapon but Yui's vessel.

Episode 21

Seele kidnaps Fuyutsuki to interrogate him about Gendo's actions and Unit-01's new status. The episode becomes a history of the conspiracy: Fuyutsuki's life as a professor, his meeting with Yui, his dislike of young Gendo Rokubungi, and his post-Second Impact investigation into the official cover-up. It shows how Seele, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Artificial Evolution Laboratory became linked.

Flashbacks reveal the Katsuragi Expedition, Adam's awakening, Misato's survival and muteness, the discovery of the Geofront, Gehirn's early work, Naoko's Magi, and Yui's contact experiment with Unit-01. Gendo changes after Yui disappears and begins pursuing Instrumentality. Rei I is introduced as a child who resembles Yui and insults Naoko with Gendo's private words; Naoko strangles Rei I, then kills herself, and Gehirn is reorganized into Nerv.

Kaji frees Fuyutsuki, knowing this will likely cost him his life. Misato is released from suspicion and later receives Kaji's final answering-machine message, in which he asks her to continue seeking the truth. She breaks down in the kitchen while Shinji hears her crying but cannot enter or comfort her, telling himself he is only a child. The episode deepens nearly every adult relationship and makes Nerv's present feel built on corpses, secrets, and unresolved love.

Episode 22

Asuka's sync rate continues to collapse after repeated defeats, Shinji surpassing her, Kaji's death, and her sense that everyone either ignores or replaces her. Flashbacks show her childhood with Kyoko, including Kyoko's fixation on a doll and Asuka's discovery of her mother's suicide. Asuka's pride is revealed as a survival structure built over abandonment and terror.

Arael appears in orbit, too far away for ordinary Evangelion weapons. Asuka launches against orders because she cannot tolerate being treated as backup or failure. Arael attacks with a light beam that penetrates her mind, forcing her to relive memories of Kaji, Shinji, Misato, Rei, her mother, her desire to be adult, and her need for someone to look at her.

Misato wants to save Asuka, but tactical options are limited. Gendo orders Rei to retrieve the Spear of Longinus from Lilith and throw it at Arael. Rei kills the Angel, but the Spear is lost into lunar orbit, removing a key ritual tool. Asuka survives physically, but being rescued by Rei completes a humiliation that drives her further into breakdown.

Episode 23

Seele is furious that Gendo used the Spear of Longinus, and only one Angel remains after Armisael. Armisael appears as a luminous double helix and then a thread-like form, fusing with Unit-00 and Rei. The Angel's contact is both physical and psychological, forcing Rei to feel loneliness and recognize desire, especially her attachment to Shinji.

Asuka is launched as backup but cannot move Unit-02 at all, making her useless even as a decoy. When Unit-01 arrives, Armisael tries to merge with it as well, forming Rei-like faces and forcing Shinji into horror and helplessness. Rei chooses to save Shinji, reverses her AT Field, contains the Angel in Unit-00's core, and self-destructs, destroying much of Tokyo-3.

Rei returns in a new body, but she is not simply unchanged; her memory and sense of self are discontinuous. Seele interrogates Ritsuko instead of Rei, and Gendo's willingness to sacrifice Ritsuko to protect Rei breaks her. Ritsuko shows Misato and Shinji the Rei clone tank and the Dummy System's bodies, then destroys them while insisting they are things shaped like people. The scene shatters Misato's trust and exposes Rei's replaceability as both literal and tragic.

Episode 24

Asuka is found in a ruined house, alive but mentally collapsed and unable to pilot. Tokyo-3 is increasingly evacuated; Toji and Kensuke are gone, Pen Pen is sent to Hikari's family, and Misato is too burdened by secrets for Shinji to approach. Shinji is at his most isolated, believing he has lost every ordinary support.

Kaworu arrives as the Fifth Children and immediately offers Shinji a kind of acceptance no one else has given him so directly. He speaks about music, human culture, loneliness, and affection without shame or social hesitation. Shinji is drawn to him because Kaworu seems to ask nothing and sees value in him without requiring performance.

Misato investigates Kaworu's impossible sync data and Ritsuko suggests he may be the final Angel. Kaworu controls Unit-02 externally and descends toward Terminal Dogma, while Shinji pursues in Unit-01 and feels betrayed. Kaworu discovers the being below is Lilith, not Adam, and chooses to let humanity live. He asks Shinji to kill him, and Shinji does after a long hesitation, leaving him devastated by having killed someone who offered him unconditional kindness.

Episode 25

The TV ending moves almost entirely inside Instrumentality after the final Angel is gone. External events are abstracted away, and the focus becomes Shinji's inner trial. He is guilty over killing Kaworu, afraid of being hated by Gendo, and uncertain whether piloting is duty, proof of worth, or just the only role others reward him for.

Misato, Asuka, and Rei are also examined. Misato confronts the gap between her public competence and private loneliness, including sexual shame and her use of relationships to escape pain. Asuka confronts dependence, hatred of weakness, and the terror that without piloting she is worthless. Rei confronts the instability of identity when body, name, and soul are separable.

For roleplay continuity, this episode is not a normal plot beat so much as a map of character wounds. Shinji is challenged on whether his self-image is only a collection of other people's judgments. The episode ends without resolving the external crisis, but it begins moving Shinji toward the idea that self-understanding is possible.

Episode 26

Instrumentality continues in 2016 as Shinji examines what defines the self. He is shown a world of total freedom, a blank space where nothing limits him, but that freedom leaves him with no shape, no ground, and no way to know himself. A single line creates orientation, showing that limits and other people are painful but also necessary for identity.

The episode then presents an alternate ordinary-school reality: Yui is alive, Gendo is a more normal father, Misato is a teacher, Asuka is a childhood friend, and Rei is an energetic transfer student. The point is not that this world is "real," but that Shinji can imagine himself outside the role of Evangelion pilot. If other possibilities exist, then his current self is not the only possible self.

Shinji realizes that his world is shaped by his perception and that believing everyone hates him is not the same as truth. He decides he may be able to love himself and wants to remain himself. The cast congratulates him, and he thanks them. As a roleplay reference, this is the optimistic internal ending: Shinji's breakthrough is psychological acceptance, not an external reconstruction of the world.

End of Evangelion

For plot purposes, The End of Evangelion replaces Episodes 25 and 26, presenting the external events of Nerv's collapse, Third Impact, and Shinji's final choice instead of the TV ending's primarily internal Instrumentality sequence.

After Kaworu's death, Gendo and Seele both move to initiate Third Impact under their own control. Seele uses the UN and JSSDF to launch a full extermination assault on Nerv, killing staff and hunting the pilots. Shinji is nearly catatonic with guilt and despair, unable to act even as the base collapses around him.

Misato fights through the invasion to get Shinji to Unit-01. She is wounded, gives him her cross, kisses him in a desperate attempt to force him forward, and sends him up the elevator before dying. Asuka is hidden in Unit-02 under the lake, awakens when she realizes Kyoko's soul has been with her, and destroys JSSDF forces with renewed confidence.

Seele deploys the Mass Production Evangelions. Asuka fights brilliantly and appears to defeat all nine, but Unit-02's battery expires before she can destroy their cores. The Mass Production Evangelions revive, impale and dismember Unit-02, and later use their replica Spears and S2 Engines in Seele's ritual. Shinji reaches Unit-01 too late, sees Unit-02's remains, and his despair helps open the path to Instrumentality.

In Terminal Dogma, Gendo tries to merge Adam's embryo with Rei and use her to reunite with Yui. Rei rejects him, takes Adam into herself, and merges with Lilith. The Rei/Adam/Lilith being rises, uses Unit-01, the Spear, and the Mass Production Evangelions to begin Third Impact, and gives Shinji the central choice. Humanity's AT Fields collapse; people turn to LCL as Rei apparitions appear to them in forms tied to desire or comfort.

Inside Instrumentality, Shinji confronts Misato, Asuka, Rei, Kaworu, and his own need for others. He first chooses dissolution because separate existence means rejection and pain, but he eventually rejects a world where no one else truly exists. Yui explains that anyone with the will to live can return. Unit-01 leaves Earth carrying Yui's soul as proof humanity existed.

The final scene is unresolved rather than comforting. Shinji wakes on a shore beside Asuka, who has also returned. He strangles her, she touches his face, he breaks down, and she responds with disgust. For roleplay, this ending should leave Shinji and Asuka alive but raw: individuality has returned, but so have fear, desire, resentment, tenderness, and the need to choose contact again.