Ikari Shinji spent ten years of his life living with his aunt and uncle because he wasn't wanted. When Shinji was approximately four years old, his mother was killed in a failed test of EVA Unit 01: she was absorbed into the Evangelion before young Shinji's eyes. After that his father sent him away, without ever hinting about wanting his son back.
Shinji is a softspoken lonely person; his depression so deep that he prays for death, yet fears to be his own killer. Better for it to be some one else's hands and not his own.
At the age of fourteen his father calls Shinji back. The day of Shinji's arrival in Tokyo-3 heralded the arrival of the Angels: large monsterous creatures who wish to see the human race destroyed.
Humanity's only hope lies in the Evangelion, giant "robots" that can only be piloted by hand-picked and specially trained youths. The reason that Shinji was called home was to pilot one of these units.
At first angry and afraid, Shinji eventually accepts his destiny for what it's worth, and even hopes to develope the semblance of a relationship with his father, Commander Ikari Gendo. Much to Shinji's dismay, Gendo openly rejects his son, and seems to only use Shinji as a pawn in the master plan directed by Seele. |
