“Even though a hedgehog may want to become close with another hedgehog. The closer they get the more they injure each other with their spines.”
Ritsuko Akagi Quotes
2 quotes from Neon Genesis Evangelion, each with commentary on what it means and why it stuck.
Hands the series its thesis in episode three, as a parable about hedgehogs and other people's problems, and spends the remaining episodes inside it rather than diagnosing it.
“It's the same with some humans. The reason he seems so withdrawn is because he's afraid of being hurt.”
A fair objection is that this is a lab coat explaining the protagonist to the audience, which is exactly what it is. The defence is that the series keeps testing it and keeps finding it insufficient. Shinji is not simply afraid of being hurt, he is afraid of being unnecessary, and the distinction is what the last two episodes are for. The diagnosis is offered early precisely so it can turn out to be too small.
Read Ritsuko Akagi's story from the start
Every line above is a fragment. The manga is where the fragments come from, and the print edition is the one this site checks its quotes against.
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Schopenhauer's parable, handed to the scientist in episode three so the audience has a frame before it needs one. It is unusual for a series to state its thesis this early and this plainly, and Evangelion gets away with it because the person speaking is describing other people's problem. Twenty-three episodes later the same principle is what the ending has to solve, and she is inside it rather than diagnosing it.