It is not a surprise to anyone that has seen Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis: Evangelion that the iconic Japanese anime is a collage of several key ideas that appear within literature, such as the psychoanalysis of its cast or how it reframes religion into the story. In fact, that is part of the reason that the show has been such a large cultural icon since its debut in 1995. The science fiction retelling of the Book of Genesis has been labelled by both audiences and academic writers as a deconstruction of the “Mecha” anime genre because of how the main character reacts to his responsibility to pilot Eva-01, a character study that showcases how the different characters react to their debilitating circumstances and how that influences their relationships with the rest of the cast, and a complex and harrowing display of how seemingly impossible human connection is through the lens of philosophy. However, there is one main aspect of the show that proves just how much literary theory was taken into consideration when Anno was writing Evangelion, especially with how Anno plays with those concepts and incorporates them throughout the narrative. That focal point is, of course, how Evangelion relates to Sigmund Freud’s work; particularly with the concept of the Oedipus complex and how the show creates a dark reflection of Freud’s theories on that subject.
It does not take a very long time for Evangelion to start showcasing its take on Freudian logic. In fact, as early as episode 1, it is shown that Anno plans to take Freud’s theories and pervert them into going against the natural order that Freud had talked about in his works, even if these ideas are not revealed to the audience all at once. The first episode is where a lot of the major elements of this perversion are set up; Shinji Ikari, a 14-year-old boy living in the year 2015 (20 years in the future at the time Evangelion was written), is travelling to Tokyo-3 at the behest of his father, Gendô Ikari, a figure that has been absent for the majority of Shinji’s life. While Shinji is attempting to make it to Tokyo-3, he is suddenly attacked by a giant monster that is known as an Angel. Before the Angel gets the chance to harm Shinji, however, he is rescued by Misato Katsuragi, a character that will later serve as the role of Shinji’s caregiver and mother figure throughout the series. With Shinji in her possession, Misato rushes the two of them back to Tokyo-3, where Shinji is finally able to confront his father as to why he was called to see him. Gendô then explains to Shinji that the reason he called for Shinji is so that Shinji can pilot a weapon known as an Evangelion (Eva for short), a humanoid organic machine that was designed for protecting humanity from the Angels.
This scene where Gendô attempts to force Shinji into piloting the Eva is one of the most crucial points to understanding the Oedipal relationships at play throughout the story. While the audience and even Shinji may not be privy to this information yet, Eva-01, which is the robot that Gendô is attempting to force Shinji into operating, is actually container for Shinji’s mother’s soul. This piece of information that is not established until later in the series completely recontextualizes this scene, particularly through the lens of Freud. When looking at Freud’s theories on the Oedipus, it is important to note that what Freud is establishing is what Freud believes is the natural order of how human males develop. As summarized by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan in their Literary Theory Anthology, Freud believes that “All male children… experience an early attachment to the mother that is sexual in nature. Only the father’s intervention, separating mother from child, prevents incest. All civilization is founded on the prohibition expressed in the father’s intervention,” (Rivkin and Ryan, 569). While this theory of how male child sexual development makes sense, at least in the concept of Freud’s theories, the roles have completely reversed, with Gendô, the father figure, attempting to force Shinji to enter Eva-01. The complexity of this interaction continues with how Shinji reacts to the whole situation. Despite what the Oedipus complex would have you believe, Shinji is extremely reluctant at the prospect of entering Eva-01, even with the lack of knowledge that the identity of the Eva is in fact his mother. This reaction from Shinji is where the complete rotation of Freud’s natural order lies; instead of the father attempting to separate the male child from the mother, it is instead the male child attempting to resist the father’s attempts to force the male child into performing these actions with the mother.
It is also important to look at how, visually, the scene presents these ideas to the audience, even if in the context of the first episode, we are unaware of Eva-01’s true identity. In Betty Stojnic’s essay “Boy with machine: A Deleuzoguattarian critique of Neon Genesis Evangelion,” another essay that deals with the Oedipal concepts in Evangelion, speaks about how the formation of the characters within the scene perfectly encapsulate the family dynamic that is on display, with both Gendô and Eva-01 towering over the manipulated Shinji. Stojnic states “…the visual deification of motherhood and the parallel depiction of the father as an image of male dominance makes clear that Shinji’s relationship to Yui (Shinji’s mother) may only proceed under Gendô’s terms, as well as his supervision,” (Stojnic, pg. 9). This visual storytelling by the shows part tells us that these themes are not just coincidental but are in fact a key piece to understand the relationships between these characters. I would like to take a moment to disagree with the point that Stojnic makes about the deification of motherhood. Gendô’s position throughout the scene is one that is towering over both Eva-01 and Shinji, which is representing the fact that Gendô is dominating over both Shinji and Eva-01, with Eva-01’s massive presence instead representing the repressed fear that Shinji has at the prospect of uniting with his mother in the way that Gendô is proposing.
Of course, despite Shinji’s initial refusal to enter Eva-01, the Oedipal pressure from Gendô and the external pressure from the Angel forces Shinji to enter the Eva. And it is here that we find the more physical nature of Eva as a metaphor for the mother. In order to operate the Eva, the pilot of each Eva is inserted into what is called an “Entry Plug,” which is a tube-like object that inserts directly into the Eva’s back. This Entry Plug is later filled with a substance that is called LCL, which is a orange liquid that humans are able to breathe in. Throughout the series, it is shown that the human piloting the Eva is free from external harm, with the pain that they are feeling being from the direct psychic connection they share with the Eva, known as a “Synch Rate.” This entire system that operates the Eva’s is absolutely a metaphor for the womb, with every time Shinji enters the Eva representing Freud’s concept of “becoming one” with the mother again. It should be noted, however, that Shinji’s entrance the Eva is never something that is an exciting prospect to him; even during the climax of the final installment of the series, him entering Eva-01 is one that is almost completely forced onto him, and not an act which he wishes to participate in, furthering the idea that Evangelion is playing with an inverse of Freud’s ideas of the Oedipus.
It is inside the Eva that the most interesting revelations lie about the nature of Freud’s concepts within the series, however. In episode 20, after defeating another one of the Angels, Shinji is found to be missing from Eva-01 entirely, and was, in fact, completely dissolved into the LCL solution that was pumped into the Entry Plug. Within this state of non-being, Shinji experiences a dreamlike state that serves as an exploration into what Shinji believes about the world, as well as what he desires. It is during this dream that we see the clearest example of Freud’s Oedipus complex acting upon Shinji. This, of course, is in line with Freud’s theories on dreams that he presents in his book “The Interpretation of Dreams,” but again, warps it into being something that is an antithesis to what Freud believed was natural. Freud writes “there arises the recollection of another, an unrecognizable, indifferent dream, which the patient has dreamed repeatedly, and which on analysis proves to be a dream with this very content – that is, yet another Oedipus dream. I can assure the reader that disguised dreams of sexual intercourse with the dreamer’s mother are far more frequent than undisguised dreams to the same effect,” (Freud, 124). What Freud is claiming here is that the Oedipal dreams that his male patients describe are all cryptic, with the true meaning of the dreams being hidden from the patient who is having them. Of course, Shinji’s dream while trapped within the Eva are the opposite; with Shinji’s desire seeming to be the reunification with his mother as he is trapped within her. This showcases the hidden nature of Shinji’s desires to reunite with his mother, and while it is quite possible that these dreams are not sexual in nature, the way that the Eva’s work and Shinji’s current status as being trapped within Eva-01 recontextualizes this into making this into something much Oedipal.
These examples are of course, just a small part of how Freud’s work has influenced Evangelion. Shinji’s relationship with Misato, Rei, and the entire ending of the series further showcase how Anno plays with Freud’s theories to create a work that is filled with potential for literary analysis. And that take on Freud is again just another small part of the puzzle when looking at everything that Evangelion is doing in the scope of literature and literary themes. It is a show that has left a major impact on everyone who has watched it, and its showcasing of all these themes is why Evangelion should be held alongside other pieces of literature when talking about pieces that are rich with literary significance.
Work’s Cited
“Episode 1” Neon Genesis: Evangelion, created by Hideaki Anno, produced by Gainax, aired in October 1995, Netflix.
“Episode 20” Neon Genesis: Evangelion, created by Hideaki Anno, produced by Gainax, aired in December 1995, Netflix.
Freud, S. (1899). The interpretation of dreams. http://convencionbautista.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/freud_the_interpretation_of_dreams.121204429.pdf
Rivkin, Julie, and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Wiley Blackwell, 2012.
Stojnic, B. (2021). Boy with Machine. Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, 2, 27–56. https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v2.822
Sprockets and Springes 