Breakfast Club: Nov 29, 2021
breakfast club
weekly running roundups
Rolling through PAUSATF cross country champs with Fernando De Samaniego Steta and Charlie Enscoe. Photo: Katie Klymco.
“Get in the f**king robot, Shinji”
There is a meme from the late 2000s used by fans of the anime series Neon Evangeleon Genesis to insult the main character for refusing to pilot one of the show's giant mecha robots.
It’s actually an interesting plot point: Shinji’s continual refusal to pilot the robot is less dissent than inability—he’s traumatized from fighting horrific aliens, frightened to risk further injury or death, and horrified to sacrifice his friends to complete the mission.
But when you watch the series, Shinji does get tedious. Sure, he has every right to be upset about the unfair circumstances, but eventually you just want him to make a choice: c’mon, man, either do or don’t take on the bad guys; if you sign up to fight, eventually you gotta get in the fucking robot.
Lately, I've been thinking about the meme. It’s a good…
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