Manga / Shinji Ikari Raising Project

Shinji Ikari Raising Project is a spinoff manga of Neon Genesis Evangelion, loosely based on the eponymous video game. The manga was written and drawn by Osamu Takahashi, and was serialized in Shonen Ace from 2006 to 2016 and compiled into 16 volumes.

A very Lighter and Softer High School AU, it features Shinji in an Unwanted Harem situation with many girls. Yet another Alternate Universe in which things aren't hideously messed up.

Compare Girlfriend of Steel 2 and its spin-off manga, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days.

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Contains examples of the following:

• Accidental Kiss:
  • Shinji and Rei's first kiss goes like this: Shinji trips and falls into Rei. The two of them land in a compromising position at the foot of a bookcase. A book falls off the shelf and lands on the back of Shinji's head, driving his face into hers such that they end up mashing their lips together.
  • Happens to Rei and Asuka in Chapter 102 when the former trips and is caught by the latter. Naturally, this is the exact moment Shinji walks in.
    Shinji: (walking back out) You two work it out.
• Accidental Pervert: Happens at least twice every chapter, with an incredible amount of character combinations and occasional Raging Stiffies.
• Action Girl: Kind of. Rei and, to a lesser extent, Asuka can beat up perverts with scary casualness.
• A-Cup Angst:
  • Rei. She's not happy about her chest. It's a reversal of the original series and especially of the manga, as Asuka used to be the less endowed one. Rei fans must not be pleased. She is still larger than most real-life adult Japanese women.
  • Asuka is jealous of her mother's breast.
  • Every woman is jealous of Misato.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: The manga is happier than both, Neon Genesis Evangelion and video game Shinji Ikari Raising Project (which is the direct source of the manga adaptation). Many characters that dead in the original anime are alive and live happily, and Gendo is a much better father to Shinji.
• Adaptational Curves: As mentioned above, Asuka and Rei switched their canon breast sizes, making Asuka the more-endowed one of the pair.
• Adaptational Villainy: Naoko Akagi is a Manipulative Bitch towards Gendo. In the original series, that was the contrary.
• Affectionate Parody: The amount of Mythology Gag moments that don't get a Deadpan Snarker response are probably in the single digits.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Shinji, Rei, Asuka and Mana have to escape this way in the Jet Alone chapter. Justified because the adults (Yui and Misato) can't fit in them, and even for the four teens, it's hard to move in the vents.
  • But Gendou manages to do it. When Shinji asks him how he could do so, he answers: "Don't underestimate your father".
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Gendo. Yes, Gendo. And Kyoko for Asuka. And Ritsuko is not fond of remembering that Naoko has the same obsession with Gendo as her.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Lampshaded by Mana and Asuka:
  Asuka: Great! We're stuck in that room, and Shinji and Rei are going to reach the target! We got to catch up with them!
  Mana: And fast. It could get dangerous...
  Asuka: Dangerous?
  Mana: Have you heard of the "suspended bridge effect"?
  Asuka: You mean... The theory according to which a love declaration is more likely to be accepted if done on a suspended bridge?!
  Mana: Yes. In short, people mistake the excitement of the situation with that of the declaration.
  Asuka: And how do you think it's relevant to our situation?
  Mana: Shinji and Rei are in the perfect position for it! Do you think Rei would be dumb enough not to try and use it?!
  Asuka: Crap!
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: When Shinji accidentally gropes Asuka or Rei, thing he can say to them that infuriates them most is: "I didn't mean to do it!"
  • In volume 13, hypnotized Shinji actually does molest them, in Asukas words "clearly intentionally!" (unlike every other time). They get all limp like string-cut puppets, and are left by him in post-orgasmic glow that Yui needs to snap them out of.
• Ascended Extra: Mana Kirishima from the first Girlfriend of Steel video game. So far, she's basically a less Tsundere and more flirtatious version of Asuka. Also Kyoko Sohryu, that goes from dead Missing Mom that only appeared in a couple of scenes to quirky parent that is an occasional source of embarrassment for Asuka.
• Ass Kicks You: Asuka accidentally rear-ends Shinji in the face during a training exercise gone awry.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Possibly Gendou. He only stays in place when he's sure he'll be punished if he doesn't, and even then...
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Shinji in a sailor fuku◊ is troubling. Unfortunately for Shinji, Asuka and Rei think he's cute as a girl and everyone else seems to find him prettier than the two actual girls standing right next to him.
• Babies Make Everything Better: The Imagine Spot of Asuka thanks to suggestion by her mother.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Half subverted in the OnsenEpisodes: the girls have nipples but another "strategic" spot remains hidden by steam clouds.
• Beach Episode: Many of them. A notable one shows Shinji cooking an impressive amount of veggies and Rei and Asuka in their swimsuits selling ice lollies.
• Big-Breast Pride:
  • Downplayed with Asuka, but regardless she is pleased that there is one thing in which she is ahead of Rei.
  • Played very straight with Misato, who gives Shinji Marshmallow Hell as a playful barb.
• Bishie Sparkle: Teen girls and Shinji tend to view Kaworu through a filter of sparkles and roses. Also, whenever someone imagines Shinji in a couple.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Misato is an incredibly airheaded teacher who's frequently spotted drinking alcohol in public, putting pupils in awkward sexual situations, and using the high school sport competition in her one-sided rivalry with Ryouji. Gendou is pretty much her male counterpart and would probably wear bunny ears in a far-fetched save-the-day plan if it came across his mind (which would be terrifying.)
• Butt-Monkey: Shinji, and how! Gendou and Asuka, to a lesser extent since they still get to be cool.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Misato's sizable chest is even more prominent than in the original series, and often triggers A-Cup Angst in other girls.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Gendou gets this all the time, mostly unfairly.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Gendou. It's worth noting that this manga recycled a bit of Fanon that he has or used to have an alcohol problem.
  • A whole chapter is devoted to Rei, Asuka, and Hikari getting drunk on Misato's sake on Hinamatsuri. Asuka acts pretty much as expected, which drives Shinji to the comparison with an angry drunken Misato. Hikari yells at Touji just a little louder than usual. Rei simply falls asleep... on Shinji's crotch. The chapter concludes that you shouldn't drink till you're 21.
  • In one extra chapter, Rei gets drunk on fumes after having some of Misato's stuff splashed on her. When Asuka cleans her up in the bathroom, she suddenly starts molesting her.
• Captain Ersatz: Yui's design increasingly looks like Belldandy's and Kyouko is quite similar to Urd.
• Child Supplants Parent: Parodied. Shinji and Gendou are in a kind of playful(?) rivalry that involves trying to outdo each other at indoor biking while yelling about generational differences, among other things. Their highly conflictual / "Well Done, Son" Guy relationship in the original series is also parodied in that Gendou is Shinji's biggest fanboy in existence◊ (at least partly because he's such a narcissist). However, Shinji is genuinely annoyed at his father's overwhelming weirdness and disturbing displays of affection, so he usually tries to avoid him. Which just serves to heighten Gendou's desperation for his approval.) At one point Rei lampshades this dynamic by wondering if she should be more like Yui, since Shinji is "kinda Oedipal" in her view.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Some of the video game's endings display this. THE THIRD IMPACT CAN STILL HAPPEN. GAINAX, GIVE ME BACK MY LIGHTHEARTED ROMANTIC COMEDY.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Gendou must have a rich inner life. Kyouko tends to be "out there" when talking to or about Asuka.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Shinji's gotten stuck wearing a girl's one-piece swimsuit, he complains to Misato about it being embarrassiing to wear. She asks him why, since it covers up more of his body than a a pair of swim trunks would.
• Cool Old Guy: Gendou, depending on how you define the term (possibly more towards "oyadi" and how you interpret the character.)
• Corner of Woe: Gendou, underneath trademark Evangelion spotlights.
• Cross-Cast Role: In-Universe, when the school puts on a performance of Romeo and Juliet, Asuka gets cast as Romeo, despite the presence of multiple male students in the drama club. It's not done the other way around, the part of Juliet is played by Rei.
• Cute Little Fangs: Asuka gains a fang in her mouth when she's being particularly mischievous.
• Deadpan Snarker: Shinji, due to being the Only Sane Man of the cast. Aoi, occasionally. Yui, of all people, is also able of biting sarcasm.
• Demoted to Extra: Pen Pen is just a toy you see in a few panels.
• Diet Episode: Asuka once thought she had gained weight and was trying to lose it by skipping meals, which was affecting her performance. It turned out that the scale was not working properly.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Shinji tends to do that, when trying to explain himself after his Accidental Pervert antics. When he accidentally sees Rei's AND Asuka's breast, and they scream, he says: "No need to cover yourself, I already had a good view..."
• Dirty Old Man: It's hard to know for sure whether Gendou is really this or is just the victim of a long string of misunderstandings.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Shinji accidentally throwing milk at Rei's face is a particularly nasty example. Also, who'd have thought he could dance so suggestively in the swimming suit episode!
• Domestic Abuse: Could lead to the not-so-good aesop "Domestic violence is OK if it's female on male", but is actually the perfectly fine "Domestic violence is OK if it's on Gendou."
  • Also, Asuka's daydreams about marrying Shinji really make one wonder what her couple would look like. Possibly a hundred variations of Accidental Pervert -> Baka -> Megaton Punch -> comical crying / bleeding / bruising.
• Double Entendre: For Shinji's birthday, Kyoko suggests that girls give him "their one most important thing", which causes Asuka to blush, and confuses innocently oblivious Rei. While readers are meant to assume "their virginities", it turns out Kyoko meant their allowances, since with money, he'll be able to buy what he knows he wants.
• Dragged into Drag: Shinj, on several occasions.
  • During rehearsals for the school play, Shinji briefly has to don a dress and wig because Asuka, who's been cast as Romeo, is uncomfortable with kissing her scene partner who's playing the role of Juliet, Rei.
  • In Chapter 24, Misato teaches Shinji, Rei, and Asuka synchronized swimming lessons so they can work on synchronizing their movements. So they can match, she gives them shiny new one-piece swimsuits for the kids to wear...all three of the kids. Poor Shinji.◊
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: Rei (especially) and Asuka, occasionally.
• Erotic Dream: Shinji gets one. It involves Asuka and Rei as nurses. Latter tries to take his temperature with rectal termometer, while former berates him for acting like wuss when "its not like she's trying to stick her entire arm in!". After waking up Shinji laments that he doesn't get more wholesome dreams.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Asuka makes most of her female classmates swoon when she cross-dresses as Romeo for their class play.
• Eyes Always Shut: Kyoko. Part of her peppy woman looks.
• Everybody Knew Already: Touji and Hikari's relationship. Kensuke even mentally comments on this when Touji asks Kensuke to keep it secret that Hikari made a bento for him.
• Fan Disservice: Strangely enough, Gendou's bouts of accidental perversity are significantly less cute that Shinji's. He seems to have taken lessons from Kimura-sensei, too.
• Festival Episode: With Tanabata (like in the Angelic Days manga), Hanami, and Hinamatsuri.
• Finger-Tenting: The trademark Gendo pose reappears on both (guess it) Gendo and Yui, though the former probably just does it out of shyness. Yui does it either to make fun of him (like on the cover of the first volume) or when she's really focused on outwitting SEELE or solving a problem. Strangely enough, Rei occasionally does the pose just like in the original series despite not having a strong connection to Gendo.
• Funbag Airbag: Shinji gets this from Misato. Like when she hugs him in her half-drunk half-asleep stupor. Or when he runs into her when he wasn't paying attention, and she blushes.
• Generation Xerox: Rei compares her relationship with Shinji with his parents'. Be very afraid] Ritsuko shows hints of Generation Xerox too, kind of like in the original anime.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Asuka asks Shinji if this is the reason he's so intent on getting her and Rei to rehearse their kissing scene from the school play (Asuka and Rei are playing Romeo and Juliet, in case you're wondering.)
• Homoerotic Subtext: A fair amount of it, most often between Asuka and Rei for fanservice. Especially when the two of them get cast as the leads for the school play. What's the school play? Romeo and Juliet, of course. Also applies to Shinji and Kaworu, though to a lesser extent, early in the manga.
• Hotter and Sexier: Compared to the original work. The manga is pratically an Ecchi with nudity, many Accidental Pervert moments and bath scenes.
• Improbably Female Cast: As with canon Eva, the women outnumber the men by a fair margin.
• Indirect Kiss: In Chapter 102, after lamenting that to actually kiss Shinji wouldn't be as easy as kissing Asuka while thinking about him to act out the school play's kiss scene, Rei asks Shinji if she could have a sip of his drink during the following class celebration. He obliges to her and she indulges herself, finishing in content at the consolation.
• In Name Only: The game is more or less based after the original series, while the manga goes for the High School AU. The only thing connecting the two are the three new Bridge Bunnies.
• I Want Grandkids: Kyoko - jokingly (maybe) - to Asuka's dismay and mortification.
• Kissing Cousins: Shinji and Rei. Or at least that's what it looks like, with Rei calling Yui and Gendo "Auntie" and "Uncle".
• Latex Space Suit: The plug suits, of course. Lampshaded:
  Shinji: Dad... So you're doing weird research again, uh...
• Lampshade Hanging: In the first Omake, Eva-01 and Zeruel complain about being left out of the show and parody the high school romance genre by wearing high school uniforms and declaring their mutual love; it doesn't end well. Misato's comments about Shinji's mother complex (possibly qualifies as Mythology Gag). Kensuke and Touji's (and occasionally Gendou's) jealous comments about his sizeable Unwanted Harem. Aoi, Kaede and Satsuki's quip that nobody notices Fuyutsuki because Gendou's co-conspirator is Yui. Shigeru and Makoto drowning their sorrows because they get even less screentime than Fuyutsuki. The operators thinking that one of Misato's Zany Schemes to force Shinji to be more suave "looked just like something from a manga."
  • Upon seeing Jet Alone, Shinji suggest it's being built to fight mysterious entities that would attack the city. Asuka immediately shoots this down, claiming it sounds like something from a "cheap, pseudo-profound TV show" with a low budget and an ambiguous ending.
• Large Ham: Gendou's enthusiastic outbursts can only be stopped through violence. Misato also has elements of this.
• Lethal Chef: Rei can't cook an omelette without producing a poisonous abomination. Even Yui has a Deadpan Snarker moment about it.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Gendou on smashing your way through reason.
• Lighter and Softer: It's pretty much of a Moe version of Evangelion: light-hearted, considerably dumbed down and where almost everybody has his or her cute moments; also, anxiety can probably be cured by hugs, food, or Shinji's radiant goodness. Most of the characters are better adjusted than they'll ever be in the original verse and there's no trace of childhood trauma so far. Raising Project still includes a darker subtext about separated families, as the Ikaris hardly ever get to have dinner together, Kyouko hides in the NERV basement, and Asuka's father is absent or dead, with the result that Shinji and Asuka still live at Misato's most of the time. Rei's background hasn't been explained in the manga so far, but she seems to have grown up mostly at NERV and been rejected by other kids for being "weird," doesn't have parents, and images from the video game suggest the Reiquarium still exists. The children are still NERV's lab rats and kept in the dark about everything, too, but the director occasionally throws a party for them for damage control their efforts.
• Limited Wardrobe: Gendou routinely embarrasses Shinji and creeps people out by showing up in his uniform (which, humourously, is the same as in the original although he's simply Nerv's director. When Shinji calls him out on this, he proudly announces it's the only outfit he owns, cue picture of his wardrobe full of uniforms. A special revolves around his confusion at having to wear a shirt and Bermuda shorts on a day at the sea.)
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Two of Rei's tests happen in virtual realities and nearly become this. Shinji rescues her both times.
• Love Dodecahedron: Shinji is loved by Rei, Asuka, Kaworu, and Mana and can't choose between Rei and Asuka. Asuka is also loved by Kensuke (like in Sadamoto's manga and the Girlfriend of Steel 2 / Angelic Days manga and video game. Kaworu, by most of the girls of his class. Misato and Ryouji might love each other in a masochistic way... we don't want to know. The main canon couple, Gendou-Yui, is threatened by incursions from Ritsuko and her scary mom (at least Fuyutsuki doesn't seem to have feelings for Yui. Touji-Hikari is the only relatively straightforward relationship of the show.)
• Manchild: Gendou. The man does stuff like arriving to his son's school fairs wearing cleats and acting excitedly when he sees his son (and with an attitude like that, isn't it quite obvious why the Running Gag of people finding him creepy?)
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Or, in this case, pederast. Whenever Gendo, who has No Sense of Direction, tries to ask schoolgirls for help, they think he's a pervert, scream and run away. Even his own son Shinji mistakes his dad for pederast when Gendo says: "I want you!" Gendo's explanation didn't help: "I don't mean physically, a photo would be enough to satisfy me. I don't make things worse, do I?"
• Mythology Gag: Lies at the core of the manga.
  • One of the first scenes alludes to the alternate universe sequence in the original TV ending. Shinji is an ordinary teenager, Asuka is his childhood friend who marches him down to school every morning, Gendou is hiding behind a newspaper (because he's embarrassed he didn't have "the conversation" with Shinji!), and Misato is an eccentric, airheaded high school teacher. It later turns out that Ryouji Kaji, Makoto, Shigeru, and Maya teach along with her.
  • The whole Shinji-Gendou relationship drips with all kinds of irony. Instrumentality Shinji just wants his dad to leave him alone and stop being a silly ADHD Manchild. Also, the de-powered patriarch is the perpetual victim of Shinji's sarcasms, feels lonely in a matter of minutes, is shy and clumsy around women, is spectacularly emotional, and gets wacked by his wife so many times that acute brain damage might explain his antics. There's also his failure to interact with Rei and the fact she thinks he's a great, caring father and Shinji is as clumsy and melodramatic as him (it's implied he'll grow to be as wacko as him, too).
    • In the original, Shinji vainly tries to get Gendou to care about him by asking him to show up at his guidance counseling day. The Instrumentality Project answer? Gendou gets carried away and shows up hours early wearing toilet slippers, is mistaken for a sex offender, "whispers" a (wrong) answer to Shinji in class, gets cut down to size by Misato, and daydreams about Shinji wanting to be a scientist on his team. It's implied Yui lectures him for the whole evening after this.
  Gendou: Shinji! It's Tokugawa! TO-KU-GA-WA!
  Misato: Sir, you're disrupting class. And anyway, it's Kamakura.
  Gendou: WHAT!?

  • And Shinji's reaction to all this embarrassment? I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away...
  • Ritsuko's desperate attempts to attract Gendou's attention (he barely notices she exists at all). The irony of the fact that he starts acting like a lovestruck pre-teen whenever the sixty-something Naoko is there, to the point that Yui gives him the Asuka glare. Also, the fact Ritsuko and said spoiler character are bumbling villains.
  • The multiple allusions to Rei's similarities with her "auntie" Yui. When Shinji is sick in bed and Rei prepares oatmeal for him, he wakes up and first mistakes her for his mom, which alludes to an early hospital scene of the Evangelion manga. Shinji's comment that she wrings a cloth just like Yui when she cleans the class is also present in this continuity. Also, Rei thinks she'll never look as good as Yui, but we sure know better.
  • Shinji walking on Rei who's just gotten out of the shower. And the fact that this time, she slaps him (although she clearly smiles on the preceding panel).
  • Shinji tripping and falling atop of Rei in one chapter is reminiscent of the same episode where he did so after she came out of the shower as above. But this time, she actually reacts.
  • The multiple allusions to the original series' dancing episode, such as the swimming suit chapter and a recent chapter where Shinji has to wear a dancing outfit.
    • Shinji's "feminine" side and occasional "coerced cross-dressing" in the original anime are also played with when he has to wear a sailor fuku. The girls are embarrassed at what a convincing girl he makes and how cute they find him.
    • A hidden one: during one of the coerced cross-dressings Shinji was identical to Mayumi Yamagishi, a character from an Evangelion videogame whose personality is essentially a female version of Shinji's.
  • Shinji and Asuka's shock when they see Rei in her plug suit, and Shinji calling out Gendou on their design while everybody took them for granted in the original series.: It turns out that Yui, of all people, designed the suits, but Gendou accidentally reveals that he likes them while trying to justify himself.
  • Ritsuko being the school nurse, which may be an allusion to what the school really is in the original and the role Ritsuko plays in episodes 17 to 19.
  • SEELE's vague and empty threats, and the meta play on its use of the school's media room when they abduct Rei. When Kensuke tells his schoolfriends that SEELE has been ruling the world from the shadows for centuries and that the Centre for Artificial Evolution works on the horrifying Human Instrumentality Project, Shinji calls him an conspiracy theory idiot and that there's no way his parents'd work on something that stupid.
  • The use of trademark Evangelion spotlights along with the Corner of Woe and other expressions of wackiness.
  • Misato's chest looking like two Leliels when she wears a tight striped sweater.
  • Shinji's reactions to Kaworu's flirting, and the fact Kaworu is really gay without any possible ambiguity, and a very playful "villain."
  • Asuka questions the logic of building giant robots when they visit the Jet Alone factory, and Shinji proposes that they might be useful if the Earth was being attacked by strange beings. Asuka responds that this sounds like the plot of a pseudo-profound TV show with a tiny budget and an ambiguous ending.
  • The allusion to the Jet Alone episode, with Yui both fulfilling Misato and Ritsuko's original roles and snarking the hell out of his creator: a former Kyouto university student who was always lagging behind her! to such an extent that even Shinji and Misato are scared. And Gendou fixing the password issue by hitting the computer while yelling that disobedient machines deserve punishment. Also, the Jet Alone's reappearance in a B-movie, with Kensuke yelling "JET ALOOOONE! GOOOOO!!" in the theatre.
    • Shinji subsequently wonders why they need to do sync tests and whether his parents create giant robots like the Jet Alone, but Asuka calls him an idiot for thinking about this, mirroring her reluctance to think about the ramification of fighting Angels in the original series.
    • Kaworu being a Chick Magnet (although ultimately only having eyes for Shinji) borrows from the original story proposal wherein he was The Ace.
• Neat Freak: Shinji, as his reaction to Misato's freaking mess shows:
  Shinji: When did you clean that place for the last time?!?!
  Misato: Er... Never, I guess.
  Shinji: HOW CAN YOU LIVE IN SUCH A MESS?!?! (Cleans everything)
  Asuka: Ma'am... He absolutely hates dirtiness.
  Misato: Yeah, I've just noticed...
• Ocular Gushers: Gendou whenever he's overcome by emotion, Yui punishes him, or Shinji is being particularly mean to him. Often includes some incoherent yelling that no, he's not drunk.
• Omake: "Guest-starring" Zeruel and Eva-01, Fuyutsuki, and the operators from the original series. Also, the beach and onsen specials.
• Omniscient Council of Vagueness: SEELE. Lampshaded and parodied.
• Only Sane Man: Shinji seems to be the only one to notice that the lab's universe and Zany Schemes are extremely weird. Well, Asuka also remarks on it sometimes.
• Onsen Episode
• Otaku: It's a reassuring thought to know that if one Evangelion character will never change, it's Kensuke. It'd be terrible if he went through Character Development in any continuity.
• Percussive Maintenance: Gendo somehow manages to fix the (possibly sabotaged) main computer at NERV by...giving it a powerful karate-chop. While giving a speech on how machines that turn against their masters SHALL NEVER BE FORGIVEN! Lampshaded by Yui, who screams at Shinji to stop Gendo before he makes it worse.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: This manga has little to do with the video game that shares its title. Given the original game was a Princess Maker style "child raising" simulator, complete with Shinji marrying whoever he got into a relationship with, the story ends up being a mix of events from the game played for comedy with elements of a harem manga.
• Raised by Wolves: Rei, though not as much as in the original series; Gendou is implied to be shy and largely unaware of social rules.
• Real Men Cook: One of the things that make Shinji attractive to the girls is that, comparatively speaking to the rest of the cast, he's a Supreme Chef and they acknowledge it.
• Really Fond of Sleeping: This version of Kyoko Sohryu sleeps a whole damn lot as a Running Gag. In her own words, she is still catching up on all of the sleep she didn't had back at college.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Asuka vs. Rei, Shinji, and Kaworu, Mana vs. Rei and Shinji, Touji vs. Hikari, Misato vs. Shinji, Rei, and Ritsuko, possibly Gendou vs. Shinji and Yui.
• Rule of Cool: The only way that Gendo Ikari entering a Matrix-style simulation and pull a Gurren Lagann-style literal Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? on an Angel would work.
• Rule of Funny: A whole damn lot of examples of it, mostly of the "Accidental Pervert" jokes and Lampshade Hanging of how things in the original series sound really weird.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Parodied. Gendou strikes scary poses while announcing his next plans. Also, Kensuke while attempting to reveal SEELE's terrifying plans -much like his role in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: Averted. Unlike in the original series, the children have an impressive wardrobe.
• Serious Business: A variety of sports, school events, and beach activities, and let's not forget o-hanami. Also, Touji and Mana strike threatening poses before playing rock, paper, scissors (Mana loses.)
• Shipper on Deck: Kyoko seems to ship Shinji/Asuka. Misato may be shipping Rei/Shinji/Asuka.
• Shrinking Violet: Rei gets extremely self-conscious and scared when in a crowd.
• Squee: All the Shinji and deredere fluff. Aoi, Kaede and Satsuki are pretty much the Greek chorus of Squee. And let's just say Gendou is sensitive to Shinji's cuteness. Ritsuko also shows an unexpected side in the latter's presence, and hilarity ensues.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: "I definitely wasn't imagining any perverted situations! Definitely not a situation where I would spread oil all over your body!" Yeah...
• Status Quo Is God: Shinji is unlikely to ever actually date someone...or hit fifteen, for that matter.
• Stripperific: Misato, Asuka, and Ritsuko's swimming suits (Yui usually keeps it in good taste. The latter stands out as particularly provocative even compared to Misato.)
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Rei; Ritsuko is either this or a Tsundere, maybe a complex mix. "Damn you, Gendou Ikari, you thwarted my plans again! ...Superb *sigh*"
• Their First Time: Played for Laughs, when Kyouko suggests that for his birthday present, girls give to Shinji their "one most important thing". Rei doesn't get it, but Asuka blushes. It turns out Kyouko was talking about their allowance, since this way he'll be able to buy something that he knows he would like .
• Third-Option Love Interest: All of Shinji's potential love interests but Rei and Asuka, which means Kaworu, Mana, possibly Ritsuko, as well as Aoi, Kaede, Satsuki, and Misato in the game. Kaworu stands out as the 'threat' that drives Asuka and Rei to ally against him to put Shinji back on the right path. It doesn’t help that Shinji is shown to return Kaworu’s attraction to him.
• Through His Stomach: Shinji cooks for Asuka when his parents aren't home, mirroring their relationship in Angelic Days. Shinji cooks for everyone as a display of nurturing; probably originates from the Fanon idea that he's a great cook. Rei tries to cook for him, but the results turn terribly wrong.
• Tsundere: Asuka is a glorious Type A (cranky as default mood) / "must glare my way through life", to the point that she nearly injures Shinji and basically expresses her love for him by trying to hurt Rei. Misato has a very similar fiery relationship with Ryouji and so does Hikari with Touji. Yui is a Type B who's nice and sweet to everyone but Gendou -and yells comically once or twice at Shinji over synchro tests, which everyone finds puzzling and somewhat scary. Particularly visible after Gendou's awesome scenes: she usually has a moment of blushing admiration then embarrasses him with a nasty comment. It either suggests that they're masochists or that he's so obnoxious even the saint-like Yui wants to beat him to a bloody pulp.)
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Gendo and Yui. Yui gets multiple bathing scenes and Male Gaze takes that show that, even if forty-something and having has a kid, she still is very pretty... while a Running Gag with Gendo is that he is occasionally mistaken for a stereotypical pedophile with his creepy looks and overly-annoying displays of affection to Shinji.
• The Unreveal: This manga is an even more ludicrous case than the original series. In the absence of Evas, it's not clear at all what Nerv is fighting for or against, what the synchro tests are all about, or what's the point of anything about anything (there's going to be blood on the floor if the answer involves "allegory" and "to make Shinji grow up". SEELE is probably just doing all of this horrible whatever-it-is for the same reason every villain does: For the Evulz and out of jealousy of Shinji's bishie-ness.)
• Weirdness Magnet: The series' weirdness level temporarily goes off the scale every time Gendou takes a major decision or solves a problem. Involves kick-starting Nerv's power system by having everyone ride fitness bikes (and shedding Manly Tears when Fuyutsuki collapses after two minutes), forcing Shinji to wear a girl's swimsuit (created by the Centre for Artificial Evolution with groundbreaking fiber technologies! It feels like wearing nothing at all!), opening a beach restaurant (because it's every man's dream), and countering a MAGI hack dressed like a pest control employee. In an early chapter, he reveals that he actually does feel shame over his uncontrollable quirks but thinks a man should get over it. Shinji also has a special knack for landing in wacky situations, largely because of his parents, Misato, Asuka, Naoko, or any combination of them.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Parodied and inverted with Shinji-Gendou, as it is Gendou who lives for his family's approval. Asuka's relationship to Kyouko, however, still has overtones of this. She even acts very childish and cute in her presence, with Blush Stickers and vulnerable expressions.

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