Fanfic / Neon Genesis Evangelion R

No, that thing with a tiny head on the chest is not a Mykene War Beast. It is something even weirder.

Neon Genesis Evangelion R, also known as Evangelion R or simply Eva-R, is an Alternate Universe Fic that diverges shortly before the controversial ending. Released originally in the late 1990s, it was eventually republished on another site in the early 2000s, with an enhanced look and style. It's also somewhat unique for its use of concept art, doujinshi, a partial soundtrack, and even two animated trailers (featuring some of the English voice cast in original recordings) alongside the usual script format.

It's also slightly less favorably known for its abuse of ellipses (...).

Tiffany Grant remarkably agreed to do original voice work for the series. The author's domain actually currently hosts her official website.

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Tropes:

• Abusive Parents:
  • In addition to the original plethora of abusive parents, Eva-R gives us Lyn Anouillh, whose relationship with his father is, shall we say, less than amiable.
  • Although she might not count (on virtue of not being entirely what one might call human), Aoi has a rather resentful relationship with most of the other angels as well as Seele, who essentially reared her for their specific purpose.
  • Special mention goes to guest character Jye Yuh, whose father is shown to think he's doing the right thing, but without considering his daughter's actual wishes. Notably less extreme than most of the people listed here.
• Alternate Universe Fic: Evangelion R takes place before End of Evangelion and overlaps with it, timewise. Due to various changes in the timeline, End of Evangelion doesn't happen, though many of the events from it still occur, albeit altered to some degree.
  • Notably depicts two alternative universes, with the series running the same way up until episode 24, at which point it diverges into Evangelion: R: Annihilation or Evangelion: R: Prime.
• Ancient Astronauts: While present in the backstory for the original series, Evangelion R touches on the origins of the angels a little bit more, even going so far as to indicate a connection to Babylonian Mythology.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Asuka to Shinji. See the entry for Cannot Spit It Out.
• Artificial Human: Tenkei
• Ascended Extra: Maya Ibuki, of all people, who basically ends up becoming a more compassionate Ritsuko by the end of the series, even going so far as to replace her at NERV.
  • Also, Kensuke has a much more important role in Evangelion: R than he did in the original series, particularly near the end where he even gets a whole episode that pretty much focuses around him.
• Assimilation Plot: As in the original, but slightly different.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Unit 06's wings never really seem to end up being good for anything.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Shinji and Asuka at the end of both Annihilation and Prime.
• Back from the Dead: Tenkei is apparently a clone of Kaji, though there's not even superficial similarity between the two.
• Because Destiny Says So: Aoi uses this to excuse her descent into the Moral Event Horizon in Annihilation.
• Beginner's Luck: Averted with Lyn, at least compared to Shinji.
• Bittersweet Ending: Both endings, depending on your interpretation.
• Break the Cutie: Played straight, averted, and subverted alike. While Lyn and Aoi both go through some pretty serious breaking (along with mainstays Asuka and Shinji) they may come out of it alright (depending on which ending you're following).
• Bridge Bunnies: When Maya gets promoted, she's replaced by another Bridge Bunny.
• Call-Back: Lyn's debut mirrors Shinji's in many ways.
• Cannot Spit It Out:
  • Considering the story is as much about character relationships as The End of the World as We Know It, this happens a few times. Notably with Asuka, who screams a declaration of love out to Shinji but disguises it in German (though he eventually translates it and realizes what she meant).
    Shinji: Why can't you just open up to me?
    Asuka: Because... because ich liebe dich, you jerk!
    Shinji: Wh-what? What does that mean?
  • Also occurs to both Aoi and Lyn, who for most of the series go in circles around one another.
• Character Development: Most, but not all of the characters, receive some development. Notably, Lyn and Shinji become more confident, Asuka less angry, Rei more in touch with her emotions, and Seyoko more responsible (as well as Misato too, to a lesser extent).
• Clone Angst: Rei inadvertently regains Yui's memories in one episode. She's not happy. Neither is Shinji.
• Colon Cancer: Neon Genesis Evangelion: R: Annihilation and Neon Genesis Evangelion: R: Prime.
• Contemplate Our Navels: Like the original, very much so. The main difference is that now Shinji shares this duty with Aoi and Rei, who do most of the navel-contemplating this time around.
  • Tenkei gets in on some of the navel-gazing action as well.
• Continuity Nod: A few. For instance, recalling the "personal hell" sequences from the original series that so often involved trains, Shinji, just before departing on one for a school trip, remarks that he loathes trains.
• Cyberpunk: Played up a little compared to the original. Notably, one story involves using the technology that allows Evangelion synchronization to try and cure blindness.

• A Day in the Limelight: Kensuke, who gets an episode that focuses around him and Jye Yuh near the end of the Prime storyline.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Asuka very much so. Rei too, though in a different way.
  • Inverted with Aoi, who starts out as a Genki Girl and gradually becomes colder and more detached from humanity as she realizes the weight of her destiny.
• Despair Event Horizon: Because Shinji and Asuka spend much of the story getting over their issues this is used instead with Aoi and Lyn, who both descend into an endless pit of hopelessness for a time.
• Double Agent: Seyoko Okazaki, though some characters suspect this from the start. However, she's not working for who they think she's working for.
• Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Strongly averted. The second scene in the first episode is a deliberate mirroring of the opening for End of Evangelion, where Shinji engaged in his... erm... appreciation of Asuka. This scene clearly sets up the different tone the fic aims to take with its character relationships.

• Early-Bird Cameo: Sort of with Tenkei, who shows up as a Plot Device long before he becomes a character.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: One of the series' endings (Prime), in which things actually turn out pretty okay. Unless you're Lyn, that is.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Most of the story is about avoiding this. In one ending, they succeed. In another, they fail (From a Certain Point of View).

• Expecting Someone Taller: Lyn says this to Asuka, during his introduction. Needless to say, she is not pleased.
• Fan Fiction: Actually has spawned its own fan fiction, though none of it's hosted on the official website.
  • Evangelion: Redemption splits off from Eva-R: Prime.
• Fanservice: Not a lot, but a little. For instance, one might consider the fact that in both endings Asuka and Shinji get together to be a form of fan service, though of the non-traditional variety. Also, one of the covers◊ for the series is, at the very least, unintentional fan service.
• First Kiss: At the end of Prime, Shinji and Asuka get a more traditional variant that makes up for the awkwardness of their real First Kiss.
• Fix Fic: As in many Eva fics, a lot of the story is spent mending the characters' various emotional problems and averting the Downer Ending of the original.
• Flash Back: Several times, often focused around Lyn.
• Four Is Death: Unit-04 comes back in a chapter called "The Grim Reaper".
• Freudian Excuse: It's Evangelion, so naturally. In addition to the pre-established characters, we get Lyn who mercy-killed his mother when he was a child. What makes it worse is that he seems to have, at the time, known what he was doing in spite of his very young age, but his mother begged him to. His father never let him live it down and now hates him for it. So does, Lyn, for that matter.
• Gainax Ending: The other ending of the series (Annihilation), which ends with Instrumentality occurring in a manner even more bizarre than in End of Evangelion. Not as sad though.
• Gambit Pileup: Dear gods, yes. First, there's Seele plotting against the world in general, as in the original. Then there's Gendo plotting against Seele, which naturally they know about, so they plot against him. And then there's Misato, who's plotting against both Seele and Gendo, in which she is eventually assisted by Seyoko, who was independently running her own continuation of Kagi's schemes, who is herself part of a plot by Seele and UN Synaps. Oh, and then there's Aoi, who's plotting, depending on which ending you're reading, against the world or against SEELE. And Ritsuko, not to be left behind, get in on it a little too, plotting against Gendo in particular.
  • In fact, it's the opening moves of the Gambit Pileup that cause the timeline to diverge from the original timeline in the first place, as Gendo, anticipating SEELE's attack in End of Evangelion, initiates a reconstruction of Tokyo-3 that makes him too popular to touch - for awhile.
• Genki Girl: Aoi, very much so. Naturally, she's pared with the awkward Lyn.
• Glomp: Aoi does this to Lyn occasionally, much to his embarrassment.
• A God Am I: Aoi, as well as, to a lesser extent Tenkei
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: From time to time, often in imitation of the original series with Asuka. Occasionally, Tenkei also speaks what seems to be Arabic and is implied to be Babylonian. Oddly, because the series was written in English instead of Japanese, Japanese serves this purpose as well while Lyn's dialogue is implied to be Gratuitous English but, of course, isn't.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Tenkei, like Rei and Kaworu.
• The Heart: Maya in some ways and Aoi in others. Maya certainly serves as the most innocent of the cast, giving a moral center to the series. But it's Aoi who's constantly cheering people up (or at least Lyn).

• Just Friends: Al-Samkari's interpretation of the Kaworu/Shinji subtext.
• Kavorka Man: Averted as neither Shinji nor Gendo have the harem they had in the original series. In Shinji's case, Misato matures and stops flirting with him, Rei grows apart with him and bonds with Tenkei instead, and Asuka comes to grips with her feelings for him. In Gendo's case, Ritsuko plots against him while none of the other females seem to show any interest in him at all.
• Kid Hero: Reconstructed, as much of Shinji's character arc is him coming out of the pit of despair he'd fallen into at the end of the original series. Still deconstructed with Lyn though.
• Lethal Chef: Misato's continued inability to make food the rest of the household considers unpalatable becomes a minor plot point in one Bottle Episode, in which Shinji is made the designated cook.
• Lighter and Fluffier: To a certain extent. A lot of angst and disaster remains in the series, but Shinji grows closer to his teammates and comes out of his shell while newcomer Aoi is, while not without her issues, a pretty normal kid by Evangelion standards. Only she isn't.
• Loser Protagonist: Shinji slowly sheds this character trait, only to dump it on Lyn.
• Love Makes You Evil / The Power of Love: As in the original Evangelion, love can be quite destructive in Eva-R. Oddly though, Gendo's Love Makes You Evil motivation seems to be dropped, however, or at least downplayed, while Lyn's rejection of Aoi is a major part of her going through with her plans in Annihilation. And just because it likes being contrary, the Prime storyline ends with Lyn using The Power of Love to redeem Aoi and convince her the world deserves to live.
• Love Redeems: Used by Lyn in Eva-R: Prime. Subverted somewhat in that Aoi dies immediately thereafter.
• Mama Bear: Rei of all people. Over the course of the story she becomes more and more Yui-like, learning to show compassion and becoming extremely protective of Tenkei.
  • Speaking of Tenkei, Maya is pretty protective of him as well.
• Mandatory Twist Ending: At the end of Prime it's revealed that Tenkei is a quasi-clone of Kaji, as Rei is to Yui or Kaworu is to Adam.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Subverted with Aoi. Yes, she really seems to care about Lyn, but she also has ulterior motives that essentially amount to wiping out humanity. Really, this should be no surprise. This is Eva, after all, even if it is a fanfic.
• Mayfly–December Romance: Aoi and Lyn.
• Meaningful Name: Aoi means "blue" in Japanese. Guess what color Aoi likes.
  • Tenkei is also Japanese for "heaven" and, given the amount of navel contemplating and God in Human Form overtones the kid has, that's probably intentional.
  • Lampshaded with "Ikari" from the original series, where Lyn notices that the kanji for "wrath" is pronounced "i-ka-ri."
  • Aoi's angel name, Malachi, is likely also meaningful (unless it's not). Malachi was the last of the biblical prophets, who waxed on about how humanity had grown sinful and would soon be purged from the Earth. Sound familiar?
• Medium Blending: Part script, part animated, part recorded music, and part manga. There also supposedly used to a Radio Drama version.
• MegaCorp: UN Synaps, sort of. They're actually (as their name indicates), a branch of the United Nations, but they act in a way that is very reminiscent of a MegaCorp and are treated as such within the context of the story.
• Messianic Archetype: Shinji naturally, but Tenkei intrudes on this a little himself.
• Million to One Chance: Likely as an intentional tribute to the original series, this trope is played completely straight.
• Multinational Team: Played up compared with the original, where the USA and Europe give plenty of flack to NERV about its Nippocentrism. Lyn joins Asuka as the foreign kid, this time hailing from the United Kingdom (with French ancestry).
• Myth Arc: Very much so, and with much more details than the original series. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on your point of view, as it can also reduce the mystery that surrounded the original Evangelion.
• Only Six Faces: Lyn looks alot like Shinji - only with sort of dirty blond hair. Some have accused Seyoko of the same thing (looking too similar to Misato).
• Oracular Urchin: Like Rei, Aoi appears to live without a family. Like Rei she knows a lot more than she's letting on.
• Our Angels Are Different: Surprisingly, yes. First of all, there's the fact that the angels which attack Tokyo-3 during the series are nothing of the sort. Then there's Aoi, who much more closely resembles the popular depiction of angels than most of her kind in Evangelion.
• Possession Implies Mastery: Averted even harder than in the original series. If you thought Unit 01 was bad, wait until you see Unit 06...
• Posthumous Character: Kaji may be dead, but he plays a major role in the story all the same. Also, Tenkei is his clone.
• Rage Against the Heavens: Inverted with Aoi.
• Redemption Equals Death: Aoi, in Eva-R: Prime.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Rei off doing her own thing, Aoi fills the blue oni role against Asuka. If anything, they seem to loathe one another much more than Asuka and Rei ever did. This is probably in part because Rei wasn't exactly a very hateful person.
• Relationship Upgrade: Hikari and Toji are (pretty much) together by the time the story starts.
• Rousseau Was Right: What Aoi learns in the end of Prime.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Sort of. Lyn's actually got some good sense when he isn't mired in self pity and Aoi certainly has the Genki Girl thing going. However, subverted in that things don't turn out so well for them.
• Script Fic: Intended by the author to compliment the images, music, and animation for the series and described as an "annotated screenplay format". In actual execution, however, it's in a psuedo-screenplay format much like most Script Fic.
• She's Back: Asuka, after recovering from the coma she begins the story in.
• Soaperizing: A great deal of the story is spent on character relations and resolving the tensions left unresolved from the original series. That said, there's still quite a lot of plot going on and Aoi's relationship with Lyn is a crucial plot point.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Aoi/Malachi vs. Seele in Prime.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Though Shinji ends up sending much of the story growing out of his insecurities it seems the author decided he still needed an Extreme Doormat. For this purpose, we arrive at Lyn - the British Shinji.
• Teasing from Behind the Language Barrier: During one of Asuka's rants, Shinji asks why she's so angry with him, and she replies "Because... ich liebe du, dich'', you jerk!" ("I love you" in German). A while later Shinji tells her that he looked up what the phrase means and therefore has known for a while how she feels about him.
• Technicolor Eyes: Aoi appropriately has blue eyes. Tenkei has yellow eyes. Aoi as Malachi has red eyes. You know the rest.
• Took a Level in Badass: After much agonizing, Shinji gets around to this eventually. Lyn... not so much.
• Tyke Bomb: Tenkei. He's actually a literal bomb (though not in so much that he explodes, more that everything around him does).

• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Tenkei. He's treated as a thing by NERV, even more than Rei was (who Gendo seemed to have genuine affection for). However, he's clearly capable of emotion, forms a close bond with Rei, and is a clone of Kaji. On the other hand, he is a weapon of war and has quasi-deific rings to him.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Tenkei oh so very much. Or at least when he's not babbling in a language no one around him understands.

• World Half Empty / World Half Full: Starts off the one, ends the latter (at least in Prime).
• Yandere: Aoi does take rejection well. She gets over it though. Ritsuko does this a little as well, though only at the beginning.

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