The Hedgehog's Dilemma: Why Neon Genesis Evangelion Still Hurts

"Get in the Robot, Shinji"

It has been decades since Neon Genesis Evangelion first aired, and Shinji Ikari is still mocked by anime fans for being a "crybaby." People complain that he hesitates, that he cries, and that he constantly tries to run away from piloting the Eva.

But the critics miss the entire point of the show: Shinji is a 14-year-old boy suffering from severe clinical depression and abandonment trauma. He reacts exactly how a real human child would react to being told the apocalypse is his responsibility.

Evangelion is a mecha anime only on the surface. At its core, it is director Hideaki Anno’s deeply personal essay on the pain of human connection.

The Hedgehog's Dilemma

In Episode 4, the character Ritsuko explicitly explains the "Hedgehog's Dilemma," a concept coined by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Hedgehogs huddle together for warmth in the winter, but the closer they get, the more they stab each other with their quills.

This is the thesis of the entire anime. Every character in Evangelion is freezing to death, desperate for love and warmth, but they are too traumatized to get close without hurting each other.

• Shinji seeks his father’s approval but is constantly rejected.
• Asuka covers her deep insecurities with aggressive superiority.
• Misato uses superficial relationships to hide her loneliness.

They pilot the Evas (which literally require a synchronized "Absolute Terror Field" or AT Field—the wall that separates human souls) not to save the world, but to find self-worth.

The Instrumentality of Healing

The controversial ending of the original TV series (The Human Instrumentality Project) is about breaking down those walls so all human souls merge into one pool of consciousness, eliminating pain entirely.

But the final message of Evangelion is that a world without pain is a world without individuality. Shinji ultimately rejects Instrumentality. He chooses a world where pain exists, because that is the only world where genuine joy and love can also exist. He accepts that getting hurt by the quills is the price we pay for warmth.