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Shinji, anyone?


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vahuuka



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:32 pm Reply with quote
Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone could recommend any anime with a main character (or significant supporting character) Like Shinji from eva. I really relate to his character's self-hatred because I went through a similar stage in my life and it was refreshing to see a lead character who was unsure of himself instead of the usual bravado. Doesn't have to be a guy either, Just someone who is genuine but not overconfident. I'm really a fan of character growth and bonding as well.
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poilk92



Joined: 07 Aug 2010
Posts: 433
Location: Long Beach California
PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:43 pm Reply with quote
>.<

i doubt any other character is quite as lame and whiny as shinji

also best thread ever
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drdr48



Joined: 16 Mar 2009
Posts: 360
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:29 am Reply with quote
poilk92 wrote:
>.<

i doubt any other character is quite as lame and whiny as shinji

also best thread ever



"Whiny"? Maybe a little.


"Lame"!?

Hell no!!

Shinji is one of the most realistic, complex, deep characters I've seen from any medium!


Last edited by drdr48 on Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:42 am; edited 2 times in total
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:32 am Reply with quote
poilk92 wrote:
i doubt any other character is quite as lame and whiny as shinji


You mean, you doubt that any other character is quite as human as Shinji.

----------

A lot of Anime have characters which are unsure of themselves, or are snivelling brats at the start but then get a spine before the end. However, it is hard to find another lead character other than Shinji with the same sort of self-loathing that he had. I mean, we are talking about a character who hated himself so much that he wasn't even suicidal. That's dark, that is.
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vashna



Joined: 19 Feb 2010
Posts: 1313
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:43 am Reply with quote
I've always been under the impression that Naota Nandaba from Fooly Cooly is somewhat a reference to Shinji. Of course, the series is far more comedic in tone, but Naota is also a character shoved into a situation that he doesn't understand and is forced to interact with it in the only way he understands. He also shares physical commonalities. Naota is very clearly obsessed with acting mature, and constantly intones that 'Nothing amazing ever happens here,' when Haruhara Haruko's antics provide him with plenty of insanity. Likewise, Shinji Ikari plays the straight man to Misato Katsuragi's foolish behavior.
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Wrathful



Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 372
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 3:21 am Reply with quote
Noein To your other self - It's not the main character that's whiny but her friend who'd be considered as secondary main character who plays rather an important part to the story. I'd say he's almost close to Shinji when it comes to whiny and being weak. It's a very awesome anime overall.

Texhnolyze/Ergo Proxy - These main characters are not whiny but they lack the personalities. As the series go on, they develop into interesting characters to me halfway through the series. Both of the series are highly recommended.

Actually, watch any animes by Geneon. Most of them feature the main characters that are unsure or whiny.
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ZakuAce



Joined: 06 Jan 2010
Posts: 525
Location: SE Wisconsin
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:00 am Reply with quote
poilk92 wrote:
>.<

i doubt any other character is quite as lame and whiny as shinji

also best thread ever


Yeah pretty much. I hate Shinji so much I don't want to rewatch eva.
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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1533
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:58 am Reply with quote
^^Rebuild Shinji is much more tolerable.

That being said, best thread. period.
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hipnox



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:00 am Reply with quote
al this shinji hate. tsk tsk

I think Shinji is a LOT more real than most anime characters are.

go ahead. have a crappy childhood. have no real sense of family, friends or love. have a mother that´s dead and a father that doesn't like you, and you hate him yet you desire his love/approval.
Have no purpose in life. no expectations.

be forced to pilot creepy robots for a group of people you don't know nor have a reason to care for, and have your father treat you as a mere tool, or resource. Fight against enemies of incredible power you did't even know existed, for reasons that you dont understand and never will.

feel manipulated, and used. a disposable resource, instead of a person.

Make new friends, then lose them one by one.

Try to get close to your father, only to be dissapointed time and time again.

Have the fate of the world on your shoulders.

be on the brink of death way too many times.

all of this, while being 15 years old.

No, i dont think Shinji is a whiny character, for you need some special cojones to do all that and keep part of your sanity. The fact that his character evolves throughout the series makes him more believable.

At first: Whiny emo kid. Just does what he is told to.

later: grows a pair. becomes stronger. confronts his father. makes friends. seeks answers

Finally: the $h!t hits the fan. The situation becomes hopeless, all characters have mental breakdowns, shinji included.
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Dorcas_Aurelia



Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5344
Location: Philly
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 6:19 pm Reply with quote
I like how people argue that Shinji is a more realistic person than typical anime characters, as if the justifications of his whininess somehow makes it less irritating.
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hipnox



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:50 pm Reply with quote
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:
I like how people argue that Shinji is a more realistic person than typical anime characters, as if the justifications of his whininess somehow makes it less irritating.


i for one dont find him irritating at all. My point is that he's got reasons to be whiny, but i never said his whininess had any negative impact on his character or the series.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:05 pm Reply with quote
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:
I like how people argue that Shinji is a more realistic person than typical anime characters, as if the justifications of his whininess somehow makes it less irritating.


I'll be the first to say that I hated Shinji being a whiny, angst-ridden character. He would be unlikeable as a human being; he's hardly the only person who has had absolute crap in their lives.

That said, he is more realistic than 99.5% of characters out there. He may be a horrible character in popularity, but he's believable. He makes human mistakes. He takes a "human" amount of time to get over the very human tragedies he went through.

Basically, most people watch Anime for escapism, not to watch a guy who could easily be the whiny emo kid from down the street hate on himself.

But get over it guys. Surely, instead of hating on Evangelion for daring to provide such a realistically flawed character, you could be spending your time actually pointing out the myriad of faults that actually hurt the show. You know, like the huge plot problems, Rei*, the non-existent budget towards the end, the shoehorned symbolism, or dare I go there, episodes twenty-five and twenty-six. Plenty for you to chew on without resorting to Shinji-bashing, no matter how good you might feel afterwards. (Hey, even I wanted to punch the guy.)



*
Who is the opposite of Shinji, in that she's popular among fandom but drags the show down.
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Peroxid



Joined: 23 Jan 2010
Posts: 210
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:26 pm Reply with quote
I seen it some time ago, but I do have the idea that Albert from Gankutsuou was quite realistic as shinji.

Still the best thing I would recommend is the Planetes Manga, not the anime. All characters are simply human, instead of that superhero characters. The anime ruin it though...
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Cowboy Dev



Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 9
Location: Houston
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 9:54 pm Reply with quote
hipnox wrote:
al this shinji hate. tsk tsk

I think Shinji is a LOT more real than most anime characters are.

go ahead. have a crappy childhood. have no real sense of family, friends or love. have a mother that´s dead and a father that doesn't like you, and you hate him yet you desire his love/approval.
Have no purpose in life. no expectations.

be forced to pilot creepy robots for a group of people you don't know nor have a reason to care for, and have your father treat you as a mere tool, or resource. Fight against enemies of incredible power you did't even know existed, for reasons that you don't understand and never will.

feel manipulated, and used. a disposable resource, instead of a person.

Make new friends, then lose them one by one.

Try to get close to your father, only to be dissapointed time and time again.

Have the fate of the world on your shoulders.

be on the brink of death way too many times.

all of this, while being 15 years old.

No, i don't think Shinji is a whiny character, for you need some special cojones to do all that and keep part of your sanity. The fact that his character evolves throughout the series makes him more believable.

At first: Whiny emo kid. Just does what he is told to.

later: grows a pair. becomes stronger. confronts his father. makes friends. seeks answers

Finally: the $h!t hits the fan. The situation becomes hopeless, all characters have mental breakdowns, shinji included.

You speak the truth my good man (mam?) Shinji's one of the most bravest human beings I've ever seen in not just anime, but fiction in general.
Too bad people would rather have a cardboard "Macho Badass" as a main character.
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ZakuAce



Joined: 06 Jan 2010
Posts: 525
Location: SE Wisconsin
PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 9:58 pm Reply with quote
I did not like Rei either, but I hate Shinji more. I also hated ep 25-26. Wink There's a lot I don't like about the show, but Shinji is what I hate the most.

I have a hard time seeing him as such a "real" character. Whenever I do hate on him, I usually get the response, "can you tell me you would not have acted in the same way if you were in his position?" And you know what....I really do not believe I would. Here's the thing: Shinji has a shitty, shitty life. It turned him into a self-loathing, whiny, submissive character. I never had a dad who didn't love me or a dead mother. But from middle school to my sophomore year of high school, life was shit. I was constantly bullied, had no friends. But instead of self loathing, I thought "I am better than these people. Their words mean nothing because they are nothing." And that's about when I saw this show for the first time. I was going through shit myself, and my way of dealing with it clashed so heavily with Shinji's that I could not stand him. Maybe that's a strange way of putting it, but I thought I better put everything on the table.

Also, I hate the submissive, can't-make-a-decision character type.
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