There have been some interpretations of End of Evangelion's infamous final scene from others. Some of them tended to view it as "hopeful", but I personally view it as devoid of hope. It simply reeks of hopelessness to me.
Now, I never really watched Neon Genesis Evangelion nor End of Evangelion, and I do not claim to know anything about this franchise, but I at least wanted to talk about the final scene of End of Evangelion. Again, I don't really know much about Neon Genesis Evangelion, so take this with a grain of salt.
First of all, it's a known fact that Hideaki Anno was depressed when he was working on Neon Genesis Evangelion, and I'm sure he was depressed even when he was writing the originally planned script for the final two episodes of the series, both of which would later become the End of Evangelion. He probably wrote the ending for the originally planned final episode of the series just to spite the fans, since he most likely hated the otaku culture at the time.
Onto the final scene itself: when Shinji wakes up to find Asuka laying next to him, he looks disturbed. He thought she was dead, as he previously saw the dismembered remains of Eva-02, which Asuka piloted. Shinji didn't really seem to recover from what he had went through. Shinji then proceeds to choke Asuka, as he previously did to her shortly before initiating Third Impact.
Shinji then stops choking Asuka when she touches Shinji's head, causing him to cry, realizing that he has become the worst. Keep in mind, Asuka looked completely emotionless and seemingly catatonic when she was touching Shinji's head, and she didn't seem to be looking at Shinji directly. I'm not a psychological expert, but I interpret this as an abnormal movement seen in people with catatonia.
It is only when Asuka's eyes move down when she realizes that it's actually Shinji. Asuka likely knows that Shinji previously masturbated to her body in the hospital (at the beginning of the film) as she was present in Instrumentality after having her soul harvested by Rei/Lilith when she died, and she gained access to Shinji's memories after he turned into LCL (from my guessing). She implies as such when she says that she knows that she's Shinji's "jerk-off fantasy" during Instrumentality. Because of this, Asuka says, "Disgusting." in the coldest tone. I think this means that Shinji and Asuka's relations with each other are strained.
As for why Asuka looks catatonic in the final scene, being choked by Shinji isn't much of a pleasant experience for someone who witnessed her psychotic mother, Kyoko, commit suicide while "killing" a doll at the same time, thinking that it's her daughter. This is probably why Asuka was shell-shocked by Shinji's final act towards her, because she was likely reminded of her insane mother committing suicide while trying (and failing) to kill her.
In the original script, she was supposed to say, "I can't stand the idea of being killed by someone like you," but Anno was dissatisfied with the line, so he asked Asuka's VA to imagine a stranger who would rather masturbate while watching her sleep (which is exactly what happens in the beginning of the film, where Shinji masturbates to Asuka's body). When Anno asks the VA what she would say if she woke up and realized what had happened, the VA gets disgusted and tells him, "Disgusting."
Also, one of the grave markers seen in the beginning of the final scene is broken, and I don't think Asuka broke the grave marker in the final film, though she was supposed to be depicted as such before being scrapped. I think it was scrapped because look at how Asuka is depicted at the final scene. She clearly looks catatonic. I think that Shinji broke the grave marker himself in the final film since he couldn't get over being rejected by Asuka in such harsh ways, which is probably also why Shinji chokes Asuka when she is resurrected.
I also have heavy doubts that most others will come back after the Third Impact. The world already looks like a wasteland as seen in the beginning of the final scene. Even after Shinji is reassured that anyone can restore their bodies, no one is seen aside from Shinji and Asuka (after a long time has passed with Shinji being all alone), and everyone has ended up experiencing PTSD by that point. And with both Shinji and Asuka being traumatized teenagers (with Shinji being 14 and Asuka likely being 13) who's unlikely to have recovered, it's very unlikely that they will survive together. They're basically too young to survive in such a wasteland.
What makes me think that End of Evangelion is a tragic ending is that there was a scrapped ending that had Shinji all alone with Asuka being absent. In that ending, Shinji was supposed to be lying alone on the beach, holding onto a white arm. He was then supposed to say, "I'll never see them again. It's better to think of it this way. I'm still alive, so I'll keep living." Then, we were supposed to see that there's nobody lying near Shinji, just a pale, white disembodied arm that he's holding.
Also, in an interview Toshimichi Otsuki (who's made some controversial statements about anime, I guess) gave to Cyzo magazine back in November 2006, he says, "With the situation of society at that time, Anno-san's internal problems, and so on, and especially because the film version ended ruinously, with the world destroyed and Shinji and Asuka the only survivors, continuing the Eva of 12 years ago is not possible." (Credits to 1731298478 from EvaGeeks.org Forum for the translation)
This seems to indicate that at least some of the staff who worked on the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series and the End of Evangelion (possibly including Anno himself) seem to disagree that the film is a hopeful conclusion of the original series. I mean, I don't think someone who's very depressed would write a hopeful ending, and I'm saying this as someone who has suffered from depression (and still do to some extent).
Anyway, that's my interpretation of the final scene of the End of Evangelion. I at least wanted to prove that while some view End of Evangelion as a hopeful conclusion for the series, there are others (like me) who see it as a tragic conclusion. Also, no AI was used in the writing of this post. You can (hopefully) tell by the lack of em dashes.
flashiranakirov
Written in June 13th, 2025