I don't really agree. Gendo is ultimately the same as Shinji, in that he's unable to relate to other people beyond 'blind subservience' (to Yui) and 'utter bastardry' (everyone else). He rejected Shinji because he knew that he would never be a good father, and in the end he would rather retreat into the giant primordial womb rather than try to mend his relationships. If it weren't for the cast's psychoses, he'd have no reason to start his plan at all. So no, I don't think Gendo can be called responsible, and if that is the basis of your argument, I can't agree.

Also I'm going to link to this

Eva, Gundam, and Utena all have one thing in common: the use of womb imagery. Eva has LCL, which is something that's given to newborn children whose lungs are too underdeveloped to breathe air. Gundam has that one scene where Amuro sees Matilda for the last time from within the Gundam, and it's like an adoptive mother looking at her baby in his incubator. Then there are the coffins in Utena.

You could also see Eva as a metaphor for the decline of Japan's "cradle to the grave" corporate system that existed throughout the 80's. Shinji's a perfect citizen of just that system: docile, self-effacing, unambitious and yet dedicated to his job, with a generalized notion of obedience to social norms but no attachments to anyone in particular. The moral that they basically shove in everybody's face is that people should learn to accept the world outside the system rather than isolate themselves, which the EVAs and the Geofront and the interstitial shots of empty train stations are a metaphor for. You could almost say it's agitating for more openness to the international community, since almost every major anime since the mid 90's seems seems to support immigration in principle. Ghost in the Shell, Eureka 7, Ergo Proxy, Tokyo Godfathers, Black Lagoon, there are many more.

Last edited by Overlord Morgus (11-18-2012 10:10:01 PM)

Overlord Morgus wrote:

The moral that they basically shove in everybody's face is that people should learn to accept the world outside the system rather than isolate themselves,

Evangelion isn't the only anime that spreads this message like cancer. There's another giant robot whose name I refuse to utter or type due to this.