Shinji Ikari is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Gainax. He is the franchise's poster boy and protagonist. In the anime series of the same name, Shinji is a boy abandoned by his estranged father Gendo after the mysterious death of his mother Yui. Years later, Gendo asks him to pilot a mecha called Evangelion Unit-01 to protect the city of Tokyo-3 from Angels, creatures which threaten to destroy humanity. Shinji appears in the franchise's feature films and related media, video games, the manga Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, the Rebuild of Evangelion films, and the manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.
Shinji Ikari with his Eva-01 (in the background) as a child (left), as a pilot (center) and as a student (right)
Original sketch of Shinji by Sadamoto, altered for the anime series
"[Shinji] shrinks from human contact. And he tries to live in a closed world where his behavior dooms him, and he has abandoned the attempt to understand himself. ... Both [Shinji and Misato] are extremely afraid of being hurt. Both are unsuitable-lacking the positive attitude-for what people call heroes of an adventure". – Hideaki Anno
Shinji-decorated taxi in Sapporo
Neon Genesis Evangelion (franchise)
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a Japanese media franchise created by Hideaki Anno and owned by Khara. Most of the franchise features an apocalyptic mecha action story, which revolves around the paramilitary organization NERV and their efforts in fighting hostile beings called Angels, using giant humanoids called Evangelions that are piloted by select teenagers. Subsequent works deviate from this theme to varying degrees, focusing more on romantic interactions between the characters, plotlines not present in the original works, and reimaginings of the conflicts from the original works.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (franchise)
Hideaki Anno, creator of the original series and co-founder of Gainax at the World Premiere of Shin Godzilla
Shirō Sagisu, composer of the majority of the franchise’s soundtrack