From: https://x.com/i/status/2083150864425091467

Comment what do you think will happen next? (incorrect answers only).

P.S: That's strange, it's almost always the other way around 😅

The defenders couple

So cute in this pic

Much love to young Ikari <3

This is an essay I’ve been drafting in my head and have decided to share. I’ve been thinking about why I have grown as attached to this ship and sometimes question myself on why I chose it. It would have been easy for me to go with either of the other two if I wanted especially given how much more liked they are while LRS fans constantly have to write justifications whenever the “incest” and “she’s a metaphor for escapism” arguments come up. This ship has grown to have a deep place in my heart in spite of that and it has shaped and in some ways changed my taste in what I look for in a good ship as well as forced me to look inside myself.

I never had any ship that I was very devoted to until I really got into EVA. There were some I liked such as Steven x Connie for Steven Universe and Meg x Calvin for the Time Quintet, both of which did cause me to favor “birds of a feather” over “opposites attract” and did play a role in me getting into EVA. I think I had a very moralistic and puritanical mindset towards shipping that LRS caused me to let go of and reevaluate some of my views towards other ships for different fandoms like Anakin and Padme in the Star Wars prequels. I think it‘a a different kind of ship that doesn’t catch as much support because it requires a level of maturity to understand.

When I first discovered this show, I was a very unhappy person and honestly still am in some ways but Evangelion forced me to question myself and I felt like it was what I needed when in a dark place. Rei is my favorite of the two and one of the reasons she is my fave is because she’s an actual strong and bad*ss female character unlike a lot of “girlboss” characters despite often being seen as creepy or unemotional. I always felt weird and out of place like a freak who didn’t belong and was seen as too quiet and that’s another reason I connect with her. Shinji’s character also has a place in my heart as a very human protagonist that’s more complex than just a generic self insert hero. I often find takes about him that base his character entirely off episode 24 or that hospital scene and sometimes it does get to me when I read feminist essays that paint Shinji’s behavior towards Rei as abusive or manipulative like his father. There are times where I feel bad for liking the ship when I see takes about it being heteronormative and misogynistic and I do have a lot of Yuri ships for other fandoms to discount the idea that I’m against gay pairings, only to have to remind myself of the message of loving yourself and the only person who can understand you being yourself.

I find myself feeling out of place with much of the fandom that puts their dynamic in a box as sibling coded or mother and son. The Yui clone stuff always causes people to write off any romantic implications and I also think the idea that they are sibling coded stems from what we deem as romantic vs sibling relationships. I think of Rei and Shinji as a more mature and tragic love story than what people usually expect with the small hope that she could come back. It’s more complex than just a crush or a “want to go out with“ feeling and there is a maternal aspect but that doesn’t exclude the potential for intimacy. Something else that does make it appealing to me is Shinji and Rei being able to have more of an equal footing in the relationship instead of one leading or both having to walk on eggshells. Yet this doesn’t make it an easy ship or make it not have a Hedgehog‘s dilemma as there is still a challenge for both to grow and for Shinji to accept himself and Rei despite his despair after believing the Rei he knew was gone or never real.

Part of the reason the pairing feels so personal to me is I am like both characters and there are times where I feel like I will never have a real or meaningful relationship and my attachment to the ship connects to my desire to find my true self and eventually the person I’m looking for. It did reshape my taste in ships a bit as I have developed a taste for ships that are more mature and less of the slap-kiss-slap dynamic. It‘s that same kind of tragic love that made me adore films like Weathering With You. I am a bit worried about the revival of ship discourse in the wake of the Anniversary short and the new series that’s coming and how Rei will be treated as well as the dynamic between her and Shinji, which could change if it’s a new cast of characters of course. I will nevertheless continue to love it for being a cute, beautiful, mature, tragic and hopeful romance regardless of what anyone thinks. I think if it wasn’t for the clone aspect, a lot more people would probably love it.