Take care of yourself.

Season 1, Episode 26, Aired

Episode Summary

EDIT
8.2
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
73 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate Now!
As Instrumentality continues, Shinji feels he can disappear from existence because he is unwanted. Without piloting Eva, he is useless, without an identifier. Now in a world of nothingness, with no restrictions, he can do anything, but without others he has no identity. After a glimpse at one possible existence, he realizes that the way the world is seen can change through different perceptions and that there could be value in living.moreless
WRITE A REVIEW

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (7)

See All

  • Am i the only one who preferred this to the angstfest of EoE?!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By ultrassjstuart, Oct 18, 2010
    This, emotionally is how Anno wanted the series to end if Gainax hadn't spent their enrire budget up to this point allowing them to do their best with the cash available to create a 2 parter dream sequence-esque ending in which Shinji finally gets to come to terms with himself, survive instrumentality, crack the shell around himself (hence the cracking effect in the last few seconds) and survive instrumentality and be reunited with everyone once again; basically it was Anno's ideal happy ending in metaphorical terms. But afterwards everyone was so bummed about the last eps though sheer fan support lead to decision for the creation of EoE many people sent death threats to Anno (which were displayed and flashed across the screen in EoE) and has sadly lead fans to see EoE as 'Anno's Revenge' I mean COME ON; we get to see NERV personeel slaughtered indisremenently; Shinji becoming even MORE anti-hero than before and Misato getting shot and dying slowly from a bullet wound then blown up; plus Asuka is pretty much ripped limb from limb and impaled THEN everyone else is turned into a puddle of orange goo and we are left with a questionable ending as to whether or not anyone BUT Shinji and Asuka were restored from it; so yeah... with EoE Anno really got us. Hence why i love to see his vision replayed, alothough in a mere metaphorical sense in these last two eps wrather than the high budget spite-filled feeling i get from the moviesmoreless

  • This is a look into the alternatives of life depending on the reallity in which we preceive. By utilizing our emotions to produce an existence that we would believe to understand.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Rev_5000, Sep 12, 2010
    This is a look into the alternatives of life depending on the reallity in which we perceive. By utilizing our emotions, experiences and memories to produce an existence that we would believe to understand. The issue that arises here is that our own existence can in some ways be defined at how we perceive others and ourselves in the world. In order to identify ourselves the everyday comments that we receive will apply to the line of life in which we follow. In order to fully comprehend the differences and changes shown the viewer would need to actually have some realization to their own life and how they analyse their surroundings; by utilizing all our senses to describe the life that we exist as part of our reality.

    Simply; to understand you need to either believe, experience, or conceive an open mind on the subject matter which is determined only by the willingness of the viewer them self.moreless

  • Overall confusing for me, even more than the previous episode.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By Silverspud, Jun 07, 2006
    I was hoping that any of the questions that came from the previous episode would be answered, but they weren\\\'t. When I saw the whole alternate reality, I thought that the whole series might have been a dream. That would have been disappointing, but at least it would provide closure for the series. I found the alternate reality to be hilarious, but it fell apart and went back into Shinji\\\'s mind filled with debating self-hatred and self-acceptance. When I saw every main character from the show suddenely come back, including the dead ones, I questioned whether any of the events had ever happened on the show. The final lines of \\\"Congradulations\\\" were heart-warming though. Overall the series was entertaining, but I\\\'d rather have a regular anime action-packed series finale.moreless

  • Revealing what I think is what the whole series is about. About him Shinji Ikari, and the meaning of life and self-worth.

    6.8
    "Fair"
    By ShinkuNaito, Apr 14, 2006
    I'm writing this review as I have just watched the 26 th episode again. I think this gives much insight to the nature of people. The nature of how a person will usually feel at one point in their lives. To question yourself, to question the possibilities, the *what-if's*, to keep questioning until as that there is to question is yourself. Face some hard facts, face that questioning your own self-worth is to face yourself, to go in circles, trying to find the straight and narrow in the rounded world. Face the facts and get used to it, cause' their real.moreless

  • This is the final episode of the TV series. The year is 2016 A.D., and the complementation of mankind is ongoing. Shinji agonizes over the value of his existence and his relationship with other people and comes to a conclusion.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By StarlightMaker, Nov 14, 2005
    This is the final episode of the TV series. The year is 2016 A.D., and the complementation of mankind is ongoing. Shinji agonizes over the value of his existence and his relationship with other people and comes to a conclusion. The subtitle \"The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World\" is from a story by the Amerinca sci-fi author Harlan Ellison of the same name. Taking the subtitle of the final episode from a sci-fi novel is a tradition of Director Anno\'s works, continuing from Aim for the Top! and Nadia: Secre of Blue Water. The \"love (ai)\" being written in Katakana is likely a play on the \"love (ai)\" and the English \"I.\"

    The final episode also takes the unusual route of unfolding entirely within what appears to be the world within Shinji[\'s mind. IN terms of technique, there are also various modes of expression used in abundence, such as still photographs, paper anime, and illustrations. Director Anno and th animator You Youshinari are the ones who did the key animation for the paper anime.

    In \"one of the possible worlds,\" Shinji lives with Gendo and Yui, and in this world, Asuka is his childhood friend. Note that on the newspaper Gendo is reading in the headline \"South Pole Base Pening Its Doors T Visitors.\" The Second Impact has not occurred in this world. Incidentally, par of this newspaper headline was revised in the renewal. The parts that were \"MPEG2\" for the TV broadcast and LD and VHS versions are now \"MPEGX.\"

    The moment Shinji gains conviction that it is okay for him to be there, the background changes, and the blue Earth spreads beneath his feet. However, there are no continents on this Earth, and it is covered by a gigantic coral reef. It seems this is the Earth that has been transfigured by the Instrumentality Prject. This episode ends with the captions \"To my father, thank you.\" \"To my mother, farewell.\" \"And to all the Children.\" \"Congratulations!\" Eva is something of an Oedipus complex story, where a boy feels love and hatred for his father and mother, so the first two captions can be thought to mean that Shinji has come to an understanding with his father and has grown out of his dependence on his mother. Perhaps the latter two captions mean, \"This is a world where all the children born into it deserve to live.\" It is left for the audience to decide whather this ending is the Best Ending or the Bad Ending.moreless
WRITE A REVIEW
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

FILTER BY TYPE

  • TRIVIA (0)

    ADD TRIVIA

  • QUOTES (2)

    ADD QUOTES

    • Shinji: [with b/g music increasing in pace] I'm a coward... I'm cowardly... I'm sneaky... And weak. Misato: [echoing intensely in disagreement] NO only if you think you are. But if you know yourself you can take care of yourself Shinji: I... Hate myself... But... Maybe I could love myself... [instrumentality and the shell around his soul begins to crack] Maybe my life could have a greater value... [the shattering widens] Thats right! I am no more or less than myself!! [shatters further] I am me! I want to be myself!! [shatters further again] I want to continue living in this world!! MY LIFE IS WORTH LIVING HERE!!!

    • Shinji: (floating in nothingness) What is this? An empty space? An empty world? A world where nothing exists but myself? But with only myself, I have nothing to interact with. It's as if I'm here, but not here at all. It's as if I'm slowly fading out of existence. Why? Yui: (voice) Because only you are here. Shinji: Only myself? Yui: (voice) Without others to interact with, you cannot truly recognize your own image.

  • NOTES (2)

    ADD NOTES

    • In the scene where everyone is explaining the concept of truth to Shinji, the instrumental version of Zankoku na Tenshi no TE-ZE can be heard playing.

    • Japanese Title: 「世界の中心でアイを叫んだけもの」- ("Sekai no Chūshin de 'Ai' o Sakenda Kemono") - "The Beast Who Shouted 'Love' at the Heart of the World" The word 'Ai' is both a play on the Japanese word 'love', and the English word 'I'. The word 'love' in Japanese is written in kanji as 愛. The English word 'I' would be written in katakana, as it is in the title above, as アイ.

  • ALLUSIONS (0)

    ADD ALLUSIONS

Neon Genesis Evangelion Forums


Add a Topic See All
Last Activity
Replies

Season 1 Episodes

See All
Ep 31
Revival of Evangelion
Ep 28
The End of Evangelion
Ep 27
Death & Rebirth
Ep 26
Take care of yourself.
Ep 25
Do you love me?
Ep 24
The Beginning and the End,...
Ep 23
Rei III
Ep 22
Don't Be.
Ep 21
He was aware that he was s...
Ep 20
WEAVING A STORY 2: oral stage
Ep 19
INTROJECTION
Ep 18
AMBIVALENCE
Ep 17
FOURTH CHILDREN
Ep 16
Splitting of the Breast
Ep 15
Those women longed for the...
Ep 14
WEAVING A STORY
Ep 13
LILLIPUTIAN HITCHER
Ep 12
She said, "Don't make othe...
Ep 11
The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still
Ep 10
MAGMADIVER
Ep 9
Both of You, Dance Like Yo...
Ep 8
ASUKA STRIKES!
Ep 7
A HUMAN WORK
Ep 6
Rei II
Ep 5
Rei I
Ep 4
Hedgehog's Dilemma
 more

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
TV.com Properties | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use