> I just watched all 26 episodes of the TV series, DEATH & REBIRTH, and END
OF
> EVANGELION in the past three days.  I followed the story just fine up
until the
> point in END OF EVANGELION in which Shinji finally launches EVA-01 and
sees the
> remains of EVA-02 which has been torn to pieces by the white EVAs.  After
that,
> there was a lot of stunning visuals, but I didn't really know what the
hell was
> going on.
>
> I know that Rei merged with Lilith and somehow Lilith awoke.  I have no
idea
> what was going on with EVA-01 and the other EVAs.  They were making some
kind
> of magical pattern in the sky.  It looks like Rei then dissolved the AT
fields
> -- what kept everyone's soul incorporated in a body apart from other
souls --
> and then there was a lot of discussion going on with Shinji mixed with
live
> footage of Japan.  There seemed to be some discussion going on about him
having
> the power to choose what happened next although I am not clear on what his
> options were and what he chose in the end.
>
> The last thing you see is Shinji and Asuka lying on a beach of what looks
to be
> a sea of LCL.  Then the whacko -- I am now convinced Shinji is unhinged
> although I used to feel sympathy for him -- starts strangling Asuka.  He
stops
> when she touches his face and then the movie ends.
>
> ?!? Can someone please explain what in the world was going on and what
> happened?  As poetic and profound as all of that dialogue and visuals
appeared
> to be, I was unable to conceptualize what the plot of the last thirty
minutes
> or so actually was.  It was disappointing that the story ended on such an
> unclear note.
>
> Thanks in Advance,
> Chad



Shinji in 01 sees Asuka, and 02 in ruins and he gives up and allows 01 to be
crucified.  The pattern formed with the mass production model evas was a
mock up of the tree of life.  Insert more religious references here.
The visuals were part of Shinjis battle with his own identity and seeing
what the world is and isnt through his own eyes.  Shinji who felt pain that
he felt alone and unloved worsened when he saw Asukas state in the Eva.  She
was not dead, as a lot of people assume. He hated the pain that his own AT
field causes him, always seperate from everything else.

Rei merged again with Lilith and thus started the human completion project,
to which the at field (soul) of all life on earth is returned to one ocean
inside of rei called the LCL.  The LCL is the blood of Lilith.  Shinji has
two options, give up and stay in the LCL as not an individual with
individual thoughts, feelings and emotions but as part of one entity.  His
other option is to return to life with all the pain and seperation and
anxiety he had once before.  You see Rei and Kaoru trying to talk him out of
returning.

Shinji sees that even inside of the LCL, that he has no purpose, no love,
and that nothing is the reality that he craves and needs despite all of the
pain, so he decides to return despite of how life pains him, real is better
than staying in the false sense of security in the LCL. It should be said
here that everyone who had died and returned to Lilith, also has that
option, if they just have the will to live and the desire to return.

Next you see Shinji on the beach, the evas fallen back to earth as stone.
and Asuka laying beside him.  Asuka also had the will to live and she too
has returned.  The meaning of his attempting to strangle her again is
unclear, but it is safe to say that, Shinji and Asuka may or may not be the
only life on earth