Evangelion Fanfiction and Fandom
Evangelion has a significantly large fan base all around the world, and many die-hard fans enjoy creating their own version of Evangelion using through doujinshi, fanart and fanfiction. These creations are unofficial works but provide the creator, writer and fans place to explore and enjoy the Evangelion anime world in alternate ways using the characters and plot of the series.
Fanfictions provide limitless possibilities. Some range from alternate universes where the protagonist Shinji doesn’t get recruited by his father and simply lives the normal life of a teenager, to simply the same story if a couple of decisions we made differently, to continuing on with the story of the anime after the show and manga have both finished.
Popular Fanfic Situations
Evangelion is an anime with an extensive story behind the characters, plot and idea. And is said to be the ideal fanfiction canvas that is open for all kinds of adaptations. Here are some popular situations.
Shinji x Asuka Couple
From episode 8, the first appearance of Asuka in the anime series, it was evident that Shinji and Asuka were going to have a love-hate relationship. Throughout the show, aspects of the relationship remained unexplained and ‘teaser-like’. Their quarrelling and bickering were teased by their classmates as if they were a “married couple”.
In episode 15, Asuka initiated that she and Shinji should kiss. The kiss was provoked by Asuka with a cold attitude and claimed the reason was due to boredom. However in a time that she was feeling rejected and ignored, she was looking for compassion and love from someone who she felt that cared for her, and that happened to be Shinji. In addition, throughout the anime series there are flashbacks about both Shinji and Asuka showing the similarities of their background, despite their very different personalities.
There are many scenes and moments in the show that gives hints to fans that Shinji and Asuka are a potential pair in the making. This pairing of AsuShin (Asuka x Shinji) is a popular fanfiction topic in the Evangelion franchise.
Shinji x Rei Couple
Shinji and Rei met on the very first episode of the anime series. Rei is quiet and introverted and the type that isolates herself from the other pilots and class. Shinji finds Rei a mystery and throughout the anime series it shows Shinji trying to learn more about her.
There were times story that would indicate to fans that there might be a possibility. For example, an early episode in which Shinji accidentally saw her naked when visiting her apartment. Also the fight with Angel Ramiel, where Rei put her life on the line to block Ramiel’s attack giving Shinji time to defeat the Angel with a positron gun.
The pairing of Shinji and Rei become another hot topic upon the release of the Evangelion Rebuild 2.0 movie. Throughout the movie Shinji seemed to be much closer to Rei and even putting his life at risk to save her from death at the end of the movie. This stirred the Shinji x Rei (ReiShin) fans in anticipation.
Popular Fanfiction Websites
On fanfiction.net, users are able to write and produce their own fanfiction, and can even put it into categories the website provides, allowing for users searching for fanfic for a specific show to find such with ease. This site even has pages for its most popular fanfic for each Anime. For Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic, there is a list of ten most popular fanfics, the latest of which was updated in 2009. This site is easy to navigate as it is simple, direct, and organized.
On Reddit.com there are pages and forums for almost anything, and there are users that have taken to this site to write their own fanfic or share some of their favorites with other users. There are many pages with titles “Neon Genesis Evangelion Fanfiction?” which are home to many comment threads of users’ favorite fanfics of the anime along with many opinions to help other users decide which they think would be the best to read for themselves.
Official Story Adaptations
In addition to unofficial adaptations such as fanfictions, there are also official works that provide Evangelion fans with alternate stories to the original anime timeline.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days
Angel Days is a manga illustrated by Fumino Hayashi and is a spin-off from the Evangelion game, Girlfriend of Steel 2nd. The story is set to continue from the 26th episode sequence of an alternate world. Shinji and Asuka are childhood friends and neighbours, Rei is a regular student and Misato is a homeroom teacher. The manga still portrays Evangelion Units and Angel battles however the manga is comedic romance manga.Shinji Ikari Raising Project
Shinji Ikari Raising Project is a game released in 2004, based like the manga Angelic Days on an alternate universe. The story follows the everyday lives of the pilots and the player makes decisions that ultimately could lead to Shinji marrying one of the other main characters in the story.