Don't Be

The directors cut of the episode (only on the DVD release) opens the night before the eighth episode of the series, "Asuka Strikes!". Asuka Langley Soryu, pilot of the mecha Evangelion Unit-02, and Ryoji Kaji, a member of the special agency Nerv and Asuka's legal guardian, talk while en route to Japan. Asuka attempts to seduce Kaji by showing him her breasts and saying she is an adult, but he rejects her advances. The broadcast version of the episode begins with Asuka remembering her own refusal to cry at the funeral of her mother, Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, who died after a contact experiment with an Evangelion unit. During the flashback, Kyoko speaks to a doll she believes is Asuka while Asuka's father cheats on Kyoko with a nurse—her future stepmother. Asuka overhears a conversation between her father and the nurse in which they describe humans as God's dolls.

Sometime later, Asuka practices at the Nerv base, achieving shockingly low results with her Evangelion. Misato Katsuragi, Asuka's new guardian after Kaji's death, argues that this may be due to menarche, but Ritsuko Akagi, a doctor in Nerv's science department, argues instead that the cause is rooted in Asuka's psychology. After the drill, Asuka attempts to call Kaji, who does not answer. She sees Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami, her fellow pilots, arguing, and feels jealous. In the evening, Asuka has dinner with Misato and Shinji, but all three remain silent. During dinner, Asuka receives an international call from her stepmother. After the call and a bath, she feels disgusted for living in the same space as Shinji and Misato. Misato and Ritsuko discuss Asuka, who feels a strong animosity and sense of inferiority toward Shinji. Asuka and Rei, meanwhile, are left alone in the elevator. After almost one minute of silence, Rei suggests that Asuka open her heart to Eva-02. Asuka insults Rei by calling her a "doll" and slaps her.

The fifteenth in a series of mankind's enemies called Angels, Arael, appears in geostationary satellite orbit. Asuka, fearing the loss of Eva-02, and refusing her assignment to cover Rei's Eva-00, attempts to intercept the enemy with a Positron Rifle. Before Asuka can attack, Arael, via a beam of light, erodes the girl's psyche. Asuka experiences a flashback in which she rejects a stuffed monkey from her stepmother, and her real mother suggests that she commit suicide along with her. Meanwhile, Rei attempts, with her own Positron Rifle, to shoot down Arael in orbit, but she fails. Gendo Ikari, supreme commander of Nerv, orders the use of a weapon called the "Spear of Longinus". Misato and Nerv's deputy commander Kozo Fuyutsuki attempt to prevent this, but the commander refuses to stop. Eva-00 extracts the Spear from a white giant in the deepest level of Nerv headquarters and launches it into orbit, defeating Arael. Asuka is angered by her defeat, which is worsened by her hatred of Rei. Shinji tries to console Asuka, but she angrily lashes out at him, telling him that she hates everyone and would rather be dead.

In 1993, Neon Genesis Evangelion studio Gainax released a presentation document for the series called {{nihongo|New Century Evangelion (tentative name) Proposal|新世紀エヴァンゲリオン (仮) 企画書|Shinseiki Evangelion (kari) kikakusho|}}, containing a presentation of the series and it's planned episodes,{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=1 |page=26|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}}{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap 2: La Proposition}} which was then published in 1994.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap. 1: Lancament du Project Eva}} "Don't Be" was based on the studio's original plan for the twenty-first episode, which was to be titled "At least, human". The original premise had Shinji, rather than Asuka, suffering from a mental attack.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=19|pages=25–26|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} The episode would have included an underwater battle near a sunken ship, and explored the past of Yui, Shinji's mother,.{{Cite book|author=Gainax|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Newtype 100% Collection|date=1998|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten|language=ja|isbn=4-04-852700-2|page=88}}{{cite book|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Theatralical VHS Box Booklet|language=ja|publisher=King Amusement Creative|date=1997}} Gainax's early concept for the Angel Arael used high-frequency swords on the tips of his twelve luminescent wings. Arael also would have fought the Evangelions in the Earth's atmosphere, rather than open space, in the nineteenth episode.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=23|pages=9–10 |publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}}

Hideaki Anno, the director and main scriptwriter of the series, wrote the script{{cite book|title=新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 原画集 Groundwork of Evangelion|volume=3|language=ja|page=314|publisher=Ground Works|date=2020|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/d/df/Groundwork_of_EVANGELION_VOL.3_JP.pdf|access-date=4 November 2024}} with Hiroshi Yamaguchi.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=27 |page=26|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}}{{cite book |title=Neon Genesis Evangelion: Platinum Edition Booklet |volume=6 |publisher=ADV}} Kazuya Tsurumaki drafted the storyboard and worked on character design.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=48 |page=11|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}}{{Cite book|author=Gainax|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Newtype 100% Collection|date=1998|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten|language=ja|isbn=4-04-852700-2|page=178}} The episode was directed by Akira Takamura and Mau Hanabatake was the chief animator.{{cite book |title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Blue Ray Ultimate Edition Encyclopedia |date=2021 |chapter=Staff}}{{cite book |title=Data of Evangelion |publisher=Gainax |year=2003 |editor=Gainax |page=24 |language=ja}} Yoh Yoshinari was the chief animator of the mecha.{{sfn|Poggio|2008|p=80}}{{sfn|Porori|2010|p=70}}

Hideaki Anno originally introduced Asuka in the eighth and ninth episodes of the series, in an attempt to lighten the heavy, moody tone of the previous installments. He did not have an initial plan for the character. He developed Asuka as a character through her catchphrases, such as "Are you stupid?" or "Chance!",{{sfn|Takekuma|1997|p=96}} without thinking about a future devolution of her character.{{cite journal|script-title=ja:あんた、バカぁと、言われてみたい。（庵野秀明、宮村優子）|language=ja|date=July 1996|journal=Animage|publisher=Tokuma Shoten}} According to the Japanese cultural critic Hiroki Azuma, the change was the result of a decision made by Anno during the airing of the series. During the first broadcast of Neon Genesis Evangelion on TV Tokyo, Anno began to criticize animation fans, or otaku, for being closed and too introverted. This prompted him to take the second half of the series in a darker direction than the first half, which was seemingly headed towards a happy ending. Asuka's character development reflects this change; initially introduced as a comedic character, she suffers heavy physical and psychological wounds in the last half of the series.{{cite magazine|last=Woznicki|first=Krystian|date=1997|title=Towards a cartography of Japanese anime: Hideaki Anno's "Evangelion"|magazine=Blimp Film Magazine|issue=36|pages=18–26|url=http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9802/msg00101.html|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=October 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023060845/http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9802/msg00101.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Azuma |first=Hiroki |author-link=Hiroki Azuma |title=Animé or Something Like it: Neon Genesis Evangelion |url=http://www.ntticc.or.jp/pub/ic_mag/ic018/intercity/higashi_E.html |publisher=NTT InterCommunication Center |access-date=13 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808182031/http://www.ntticc.or.jp/pub/ic_mag/ic018/intercity/higashi_E.html |archive-date=8 August 2012 }} Azuma has stated that Asuka's injuries broke with the conventions of classic mecha anime, in which a character like Asuka would not be hurt.{{cite journal|first=Bounthavy|last= Suvilay|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion ou la déconstruction du robot anime|date=2017|publisher=Università Gustave Eiffel|journal=ReS Futurae|issue= 9|doi= 10.4000/resf.954|url=https://journals.openedition.org/resf/954|access-date=15 November 2023|language=fr|doi-access=free}} Anno claimed in an interview that he wanted to go against the pleasure principle of viewers who watch Evangelion and television to see an enjoyable character and a happy Asuka.{{cite journal|script-title=ja:新世紀エヴァンゲリオン』をめぐって（庵野秀明×東浩紀）|journal=Studio Voice|publisher=INFAS|language=ja|date=October 1996}}

File:Don't Be on air vs director's cut.png

The episode features a scene with Asuka and Rei in a lift together that uses an almost one minute long freeze frame,{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap. 3: Exploiter ses propres limites}} during which there is no movement apart from Asuka's occasional blinking.{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|p=33}} According to the academic José Andrés Santiago Iglesias, "the sequence recreates the social awkwardness of being stuck in a lift with someone you simply don't want to share the room with".{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|p=34}} The tension between the two characters is created without explicit images; at the end of the scene, for example, Asuka slaps Rei, but the viewer only sees the initial image of a slap and the sound, and not the actual slap. This expedient allowed the animators to avoid drawing a scene with elaborate movements.{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|p=36}} In the following scenes, Asuka waits for the Angel Arael with her Eva-02 in the rain. The writer Virginie Nebbia has stated that in the same sequence Asuka is then surrounded by a divine light without drops, which could be inspired by the directorial style of Akio Jissoji, who directed the tokusatsu series Ultraman.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap. 3: Mettre en scène l'émotion}}

During Asuka's subsequent mental attack, Gainax inserted distorted kanji{{sfn|Redmond|2004|pp=165-166}} and handwritten German terms in quick succession, such as {{Lang|de|wahnsinnig}} ({{Translation|insane}}), {{Lang|de|wie ärgerlich}} ({{Translation|how annoying}}),{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=19}} {{Lang|de|unsauber}} ({{Translation|dirty}}),{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=21}} {{Lang|de|der Verlust}} ({{Translation|the loss}}),{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=114}} {{Lang|de|Doppelselbstmord begehen}} ({{Translation|commit double suicide}}),{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=121}} {{Lang|de|peinlichen}} ({{Translation|embarrassing}}),{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=130}} {{Lang|de|Groll}} ({{Translation|resentment}}),{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=49}} {{Lang|de|Stiefmutter}} ({{Translation|stepmother}}){{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=72}} and {{Lang|de|erhängte}} ({{Translation|hanged}}).{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=22}} In an interview, Michael House, the only American member of Gainax and the company's official translator at the time, stated that he had inserted German terms using his basic knowledge of the language acquired in high school and a Japanese-German dictionary.{{cite web|access-date=January 20, 2021|url=https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2011-house|title=Interviewing translator Michael House|date=November 11, 2011 |archive-date=August 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824175245/https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2011-house|url-status=live|last1=House |first1=Michael }} The terms also include {{Lang|de|Nein}} ({{Translation|no}}){{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=123}} and {{Lang|de|Tod}} ({{Translation|death}}), which, according to the magazine Evangelion Chronicle, indicate emotions lurking in Asuka's heart,{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=48 |page=17|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} as well as menarche, a woman's first menstrual cycle.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=159}} According to the writer Sellés De Lucas, these inscriptions in rapid succession challenge the viewer's attention span and drawn on cinéma vérité, "which ha[d] been often considered one of Anno's inspirations for his fractured narrative".{{sfn|Sellés de Lucas|Hernández-Pérez|2024|p=234}}

According to the Evangelion official filmbooks, Asuka is unable to pilot the Eva-02 as she once did due to her first menstrual cycle in the episode.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=41}} Anno initially planned to include more scenes about Asuka's first experience with menstruation. However, not feeling, as a man, capable of exploring such a feminine subject, he condensed everything into a single scene.{{cite book|script-chapter=ja:庵野秀明 – Part II|title=Zankoku na tenshi no you ni|publisher=Magazine Magazine|date=1997|isbn=4-906011-25-X}} In the Eva-02 ejection scene, a spark caused by rubbing against the rails used to launch the mecha is visible. In response to possible criticism from viewers that the Eva's Linear Rail System should not cause such vibrations, taff attempted to give realism to the sequence.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=47}} On the other hand, the animators unrealistically depicted Eva-00 launching the Spear of Longinus into orbit, prioritizing the spectacle of the scene.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=57}}

After the episode aired, Gainax released several new scenes that added to the plot and redrew some existing scenes to improve the animation quality.{{cite web|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/neon-genesis-evangelion-resurrection |title=DVD 7: Director's Cut: Resurrection|first=Paul|last=Fargo|publisher=Anime News Network|website=animenewsnetwork.com|access-date=14 November 2024}} Unreleased sequences were also included in the film Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997).{{cite web|access-date=4 December 2024|publisher=IGN|website=ign.com|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/04/22/neon-genesis-evangelion-resurrection|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion - Resurrection|date=22 April 2004|author=Efrain Diaz Jr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206155914/https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/04/22/neon-genesis-evangelion-resurrection|archive-date=6 February 2022}}{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap 1: Death and Rebirth/The End of Evangelion}} These new animations were later included on the home edition of the series,{{cite book |date=2021 |title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Blue Ray Ultimate Edition Encyclopedia |chapter=History 1993-1999}} starting with the first LaserDisc release in 1998.{{cite book |date=2021|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Blue Ray Ultimate Edition Encyclopedia|chapter=Laserdisc and video 1996/1998}} The studio distributed two versions of "Don't Be" and the other retouched episodes: one from the first airing, called the on-air version, and the extended version, called the director's cut{{cite web|access-date=4 December 2024|publisher=Polygon|website=polygon.com|author=Allegra Frank|url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/11/29/18115299/how-to-watch-neon-genesis-evangelion-anime-rebuild-netflix|title=The right way to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion|date=29 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711203548/https://www.polygon.com/2018/11/29/18115299/how-to-watch-neon-genesis-evangelion-anime-rebuild-netflix|archive-date=11 July 2024}} or home video version. In the extended version of "Don't Be", the staff added an opening scene of Kaji and Asuka arguing on an aircraft carrier before meeting Misato and the others in "Asuka Strikes!", the sequences in which Asuka sees Shinji and Rei on a station platform, the one in which Asuka screams in the bathroom,{{cite web|publisher=DVD Talk|website=dvdtalk.com|access-date=17 November 2024|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/14978|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion: Volume 6 (Platinum Collection)|date=23 March 2005|author=Randy Miller III|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109200753/https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/14978|archive-date=9 November 2024}} the one in which Eva-00 extracts the Spear from Angel Lilith and grows legs,{{cite journal|title=テレビ版第弐拾四話時点でのポイント14|page=7|language=ja|date=April 1997|journal=Animage|publisher=Tokuma Shoten}} and greatly extended Asuka's inner monologue during Arael's mental attack.{{cite book|title=Newtype Complete Shinseiki Evangerion|script-title=ja:Newtype Complete 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン|trans-title=Newtype Complete Neon Genesis Evangelion|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten|year=2005|language=ja|page=114}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Newtype|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten|date=February 1998|pages=100–101|language=ja|title=繋がれた、糸}} Tsurumaki handled the storyboards for the director's cut version, acting as animation director with Takeshi Honda and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.

File:Yuko Miyamura by Gage Skidmore (cropped).jpg]]

Gainax used a version of "Fly Me to the Moon" as the closing theme, performed by singer Aya, called Bossa Techno;{{cite book|title=Eva Tomo no Kai |volume=6|publisher=Gainax |language=ja |date=1996}} in the director's cut it is replaced by an instrumental rendition.{{cite book |title=Neon Genesis Evangelion: Platinum Edition Booklet |volume=4|chapter=Fly Me to the Moon |publisher=ADV}}{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=26 |page=26 |publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} In addition to Shiro Sagisu's original score, the episode includes George Frideric Handel's Messiah, specifically the Hallelujah when Asuka is mentally attacked. According to an official booklet on the series soundtrack, the song's use reflects the idea that God is judging Asuka's sins.{{cite book|language=ja|publisher=King Records|title=Symphony of Evangelion booklet|date=1997}} According to Virginie Nebbia, it's use is relevant to the religious-spiritual theme of the series and suggests an analogy to a divine message too powerful for humans to learn, which crushes Asuka.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap. 3: Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!}} The writer Dennis Redmond compared the scene's fusion of classical music and violence to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.{{sfn|Redmond|2004|p=165}}

File:Handel - messiah - 44 hallelujah.ogg's Hallelujah chorus]]

Yūko Miyamura, who voiced Asuka, empathized greatly with her character, and chose the design of the puppet in the introspective sequences. She decided on a small monkey,{{cite book|title=Eva Tomo no Kai |volume=3|publisher=Gainax |language=ja |date=1996}} an animal also visible in some of her autographs.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=52}} She also wrote the script of the telephone sequence between Asuka and her stepmother and took a conversational course in German to improve her pronunciation.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=43}}

In the extended version of the monologue from the director's cut edition, her mother asks Asuka who she is, and Asuka—voiced by five different actresses—repeats five times statements she had made in previous episodes.{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|p=75}} The five Asukas are voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi, Megumi Hayashibara, Miki Nagasawa, Yuriko Yamaguchi, and Junko Iwao,{{cite book|title=Eva Tomo no Kai |volume=11|publisher=Gainax |language=ja |date=1998}} the voices of Misato, Rei, Maya Ibuki, Ritsuko, and Hikari Horaki, respectively.{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|pp=76-77}} The academic Ida Kirkegaard wrote that Shinji's voice actress Megumi Ogata is absent among these alternate Asukas, suggesting that it is the characters, not the actresses, who are taking over Asuka's identity. For Kirkegaard, the sequence also has "a sense of wrongness" and unease that reinforces the narrative events.{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|p=77}} The replacement of Asuka's voice with that of another actress highlights the artificiality of her identity as a character, and calls into question Asuka's personal identity.{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|pp=77-78}} Kirkegaard also argued that the scene could be misinterpreted as an attempt to demonstrate to otaku the fictional nature of the characters and the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion; instead, "the viewer is asked to further empathize with Asuka as her reality is unraveled".{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|p=78}}

In the scene in which Evangelion units are under repair, scientific terms such as apoptosis,{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=9}} mitosis,{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=152}} necrosis,{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=2 |page=23|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} receptor,{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=170}} and morphogenesis are mentioned. Yahata Shoten's {{nihongo|Evangelion Glossary|エヴァンゲリオン用語事典 |Evangerion Yougo Jiten}} linked the latter term to morphogenetic fields and Rupert Sheldrake's concept of morphic fields, which are energy fields with a collective memory that are located in and around systems and serve as an organising force.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=50}} The concepts of visible spectrum{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=39}}{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=4|page=26|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} and positrons are also mentioned{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=162}}{{sfn|Porori|2010|p=72}} in reference to Eva-00's Positron Sniper Rifle{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=149}}{{sfn|Filmbook|p=48}} In the same scene, Gendo utters the phrase "The hands of the clock cannot turn back", a reference to an earlier work by Gainax and Hideaki Anno, Gunbuster.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=54}} Anno also used the Hallelujah chorus in the same series. Eva-00 then extracts the Spear of Longinus from Lilith; its name is a reference to the Christian relic of the same name.{{cite web |url=https://abcb.com/trivia/eva_2201.htm |title=In episode 22, what was the Spear of Longinus?|publisher=The Anime Café |access-date=23 July 2022}}{{sfn|Glossary|1998|pp=173-174}} The official filmbooks of the series noted how the shape of the spear resembles DNA.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=56}} According to the scholar Fabio Bartoli, Lilith is also depicted in the guise of the Golem.{{sfn|Bartoli|2008|p=34}} During the Eva-00's descent into the deepest level of Nerv headquarters, the Nerv mentions a section of structures named Malebolge; their name is a reference to the eponymous circles of Hell presented in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=27 |page=22|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}}{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=155}} When Eva-00 sends the Lance into orbit, the concept of escape velocity is also mentioned.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=94}}{{sfn|Filmbook|p=58}}

In the opening scene of the director's cut version of "Don't Be" a drink called Isoroku is shown, a tribute to the Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=15}} During the episode, Shinji wears a shirt with the inscription XTC, in homage to the British band of the same name.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=30}}{{sfn|Morikawa|1997|p=65}} Virginie Nebbia compared Arael to Perolynga, an antagonist from Ultraman,{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap. 2: Les Anges}} and Kyoko to Kushana's mother from Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, who also speaks to a doll believing it to be her daughter.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap. 3: Les mamans et les femmes}} Arael's mental attack, on the other hand, according to Nebbia, resembles Solaris, the animated ocean protagonist of Stanisław Lem's novel of the same name.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap 2: Numériser une âme}} Kyoko's madness is caused by a mental contamination,{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=11 |page=22|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} which the Evangelion Glossary linked to the phenomenon of a mental contagion, where one patient's symptoms are passed onto another by suggestion.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=84}}

Several psychological terms appear during Arael's attack, such as primary identification, dependency,{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=15}} manifestation,{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=52}} shadow,{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=71}} suppression, masculine protest,{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=108}} and attachment behavior.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=87}}{{sfn|Porori|2010|p=73}} In Asuka's inner monologue, the English title of the episode, "Don't Be", is visible. According to the official film-book of the series, these are words no Western parent would say to their children.{{sfn|Filmbook|p=46}} Asuka rejects the doll given to her by her stepmother and attempts to abandon her childish behavior in order to become an adult; her attachment behavior consists of attempting to gain the approval of others. Furthermore, as in the concept of imprinting studied by Konrad Lorenz, Rei rarely shows emotions towards anyone other than Gendo, her primary attachment figure.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|pp=2-3}} The Evangelion Chronicle encyclopedia notes that Asuka performs reaction formation, another term present in the monologue, a defence mechanism consisting of replacing a feeling with its opposite; unlike a child who cries in order to gain affection, Asuka represses this desire by displaying an adult attitude.{{sfn|Glossary|1998|p=134}}{{cite book|title=Evangelion Chronicle|volume=22|page=23|publisher=Sony Magazines|language=ja}} Her memories related to her past and her mother are repressed and removed from her consciousness.{{cite book|title=Evangelion Chronicle|volume=29|page=29|publisher=Sony Magazines|language=ja}} Asuka also demonstrates masculine protest, an aggressive and stereotypically masculine form of attitude shown by women who are tired of their feminine social role, thus competing with their male peers.{{cite web|url=http://www.style.fm/as/05_column/animesama41.shtml|script-title=ja:第41回 エヴァ雑記「第八話 アスカ、来日」|language=ja|access-date=April 28, 2020|archive-date=October 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010182026/http://www.style.fm/as/05_column/animesama41.shtml|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Cannarsi|first=Gualtiero|title=Evangelion Encyclopedia|volume=6|pages=44–45|publisher=Dynamic Italia|language=it}}

"Don't Be" focuses on the psyche of Asuka Langley Soryu, exploring her troubled psychology and traumatic past.{{cite book|language=ja|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Laserdisc Encyclopedia|volume=11|date=1998}}{{cite book |date=2021|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Blue Ray Ultimate Edition Encyclopedia|chapter=Episode 22: Don't Be}} According to the writer Virginie Nebbia, Asuka, like the other protagonists of the series, hides her inner self for fear of being hurt, as in Arthur Schopenhauer's porcupine's dilemma.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap 3: Combler la vie}} At the beginning of the episode, Asuka is in a state of severe psychological crisis over her defeat in "Introjection", fearing herself surpassed by Shinji.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=48 |page=13|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} The Evangelion Chronicle, an official magazine about the series, wrote that in the scene where Shinji, Misato and Asuka are having dinner, a heavy atmosphere is created through the silence and soft music in the background. Misato pretends to drink during dinner, never showing her mouth. This detail is due to a directorial choice to emphasise Misato's lack of courage in talking to Asuka about the death of her guardian Kaji, who died in the previous episode.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=48 |page=14|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} In the lift scene, however, Rei tells Asuka that without the pilot opening their souls, the Evangelions do not move,{{sfn|Bartoli|2008|pp=33-34}} a dialogue that condenses the theme of the entire episode.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=48 |page=20|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}}

According to Antony Chun-man Tam, in "Don't Be" it is revealed that Asuka "only wants to catch her psychopathic mother's attention".{{cite book|page=31|chapter=Serial Communication Experiments: You Can (Not) Advance|author=Antony Chun-man Tam|date=2019|title=The (Un)Certain Future of Empathy in Posthumanism, Cyberculture and Science Fiction|isbn=9781848883369|publisher=Brill}} Kyoko is mentally unstable because part of her soul remained in the Evangelion unit that she made contact with.{{sfn|Fujie|Foster|2004|p=83}} Kyoko's subsequent insanity and suicide led Mariana Ortega of Mechademia to describe her as a "vampiric" mother, just like Ritsuko's mother Naoko, who committed suicide in the previous episode.{{sfn|Ortega|2007|pp=229-230}} The writer Gilles Poitras compared the suicide of Kyoko, who before killing herself asks Asuka to commit suicide along with her, to the shinjū, a ritual of double suicide in Japanese culture.{{cite book | date =1999|page=119|title=The Anime Companion: More What's Japanese in Japanese Animation?|first=Gilles|last=Poitras|publisher=Stone Bridge Press|isbn=1-880656-32-9}} In the sequence in which Asuka is alone in the bathroom and pressing her belly due to cramping she uses the expression {{nihongo|"Kimochi warui"|気持ち悪い|||}}, which is translated as "How disgusting", or "I feel sick". This phrase possibly shows a refusal to share her existence with Misato and Shinji. Asuka later uses the same expression at the end of the movie The End of Evangelion (1997), where she seems disgusted by the existence of another human being, Shinji.{{cite news |url=http://www.animenation.net/blog/2003/01/27/ask-john-what-does-asukas-final-line-mean/ |title=Ask John: What Does Asuka's Final Line Mean?|access-date=April 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309115813/http://www.animenation.net/blog/2003/01/27/ask-john-what-does-asukas-final-line-mean/ |archive-date=March 9, 2009 }}

"Don't Be" includes doll symbolism, as evidenced by a theological discussion between Asuka's father and stepmother where they describe men as God's dolls, Ritsuko's cat-shaped figurines, and the lift scene in which Rei says she is not a doll.{{cite web|url=http://www.style.fm/as/05_column/animesama55.shtml|script-title=ja: 第55回　エヴァ雑記「第弐拾弐話　せめて、人間らしく」|language=ja|access-date=April 28, 2020|website=style.fm|first=Yūichirō|last=Oguro}}{{sfn|Redmond|2004|p=165}} The Japanese writer Taro Igarashi, has stated that Neon Genesis Evangelion has a recurring theme of copies and cloning; in "Don't Be", for example, Eva-02 replaces Kyoko, who replaces her daughter with a doll, only to later be replaced in the role of mother by Asuka's stepmother. Misato can also be considered a substitute mother figure for Asuka and Shinji; Ritsuko in the same episode points out how they wanted to "play" by pretending to be a family.{{sfn|Morikawa|1997|p=77}} Misato replies by saying that she does not intend to accept such a joke from someone like Ritsuko, who fills her loneliness with cats, before apologizing. According to the Japanese writer Hiroshi Daimon, Misato's response is an example of how characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion exhibit traits associated with borderline personality disorder.{{sfn|Morikawa|1997|p=124-125}}

File:Don't Be regression.png]]

According to Dennis Redmond, another theme of "Don't Be" is feminism.{{sfn|Redmond|2004|p=169}} Asuka rebels against society's sexism and being treated like a doll; moreover, when Asuka is saved by Rei, he states Rei is "exhibiting the first moment of genuine rage we have ever seen".{{sfn|Redmond|2004|p=166}} For Redmond, the moment constitutes a "savage denunciation of the unutterably vile sexism permeating so many anime series".{{sfn|Redmond|2004|p=166}} During Arael's attack, graphics called psychographs are framed, showing the psychological state of the pilot.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=10 |page=24|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}} The Japanese critic Akio Nagatomi wrote that faces are visible in Asuka's psychographs. According to Fabio Bartoli, the attack scene, in which Asuka begs Arael not to penetrate her, has physical as well as psychological connotations.{{sfn|Bartoli|2008|p=35}} At the end of her mental rape, Asuka describes herself as contaminated, and curls up in a fetal pose. In the final scene of the episode, Shinji tries to console her, and Asuka is shown surrounded by a ribbon that says "Keep out". According to Evangelion Chronicle, the presence of the ribbon also reflects Shinji's cowardice, as he is incapable of crossing that line.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=48 |page=19|publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja}}

According to Virginie Nebbia, Arael's attack shows how Angels are increasingly curious about human beings and their feelings, although it is not clear whether they act out of pure instinct or through premeditation. Arael's psychological contact technique is subsequently used by two Angels, Armisael and Tabris.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap 3: La fuite de la réalité}} The episode also reveals that the Spear of Longinus is an essential element for Seele to realize the Human Instrumentality Project, a plan to artificially evolve humanity and unite it into a single divine being. For Redmond, the loss of a monopoly on the Spear constitutes "Seele's ultimate nightmare scenario".{{sfn|Redmond|2004|p=167}} Seele is furious with Gendo after he uses the Spear against Arael, and it becomes clear that Gendo has his version of Instrumentality in mind.{{sfn|Fujie|Foster|2004|p=71}} When Rei descends with the Eva-00 to a giant locked in Nerv, believed to be the first Angel Adam, Misato protests that doing so may set off the Third Impact, but the order cannot be overruled and Misato is left feeling that everything she has learned is false.{{sfn|Fujie|Foster|2004|p=31}} After the loss of the Spear, Seele changes its plans, and in The End of Evangelion uses the Eva-01 instead to realize Instrumentality.{{harvp|Nebbia|2023|loc=Chap 2: Et dans The End of Evangelion?}} Fabio Bartoli also linked the scene in which the Spear heads towards the Moon to "Fly Me to the Moon", the series' closing theme song.{{sfn|Bartoli|2008|p=36}}

"Don't Be" was first broadcast on 28 February 1996 and drew a 7.9% audience share on Japanese television.{{cite magazine |magazine=Newtype |publisher=Kadokawa Shoten |date=May 1996 |page=74 |language=ja |title=Anime Land}} Merchandise based on the episode, including a line of official tee-shirts,{{sfn |Porori |2010 |p=125}}{{cite web|url=https://www.evastore.jp/shop/g/gA7002302/|title=新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 全話Tシャツ 「第弐拾弐話 せめて、人間らしく」|publisher=Evangelion Store|website=evastore.jp|language=ja|access-date=19 November 2024}} have been released.{{cite book |title=Evangelion Chronicle |volume=10 |page=28 |publisher=Sony Magazines |language=ja }}{{cite book |title=E-Mono |publisher=Gainax |page=113 |language=ja |date=1997 |isbn=4-04-852868-8}}

Digitally Obsessed's Joel Cunningham gave "Don't Be" a positive review, describing it as an "example of the unconventional goals of the series".{{cite web |access-date=30 May 2021 |url=http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?ID=1279 |title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Collection 0:7 (1995) |date=5 June 2001 |publisher=Digitally Obsessed! |website=Digitallyobsessed.com |first=Joel |last=Cunningham |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416020152/http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?ID=1279}} Film School Rejects' Max Covill also gave a positive review, praising the emotional impact and the evolution of Asuka.{{cite web|first=Max|last=Covill|publisher=Film School Rejects|website=Filmschollrejects.com|url=https://filmschoolrejects.com/neon-genesis-evangelion-ranked/2/|title=Every Episode of 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' Ranked|date=17 June 2019|access-date=21 March 2021|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108222245/https://filmschoolrejects.com/neon-genesis-evangelion-ranked/2/|url-status=live}} Akio Nagatomi of The Anime Café described it as a "decent" episode and praised the use of high-speed cuts during Asuka's mind rape, but criticized Anno's use of the Hallellujah chorus, the elevator scene, and Miyamura's performance.{{cite web |url=https://www.abcb.com/eva/eva_t022.htm |title=Shinseiki Evangelion Review - Episode 22: At Least, Be Humane / Don't Be|publisher=The Anime Café |access-date=23 July 2022}} Kenneth Lee of Anime News Network similarly criticized the lift scene and described Anno's use of the Hallellujah chorus as "one of the worst choices of music ever", since "sacrilegious" and incongruous.{{cite web|first=Kenneth|last=Lee|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editorial/1998-09-09|title=The Thin Veneer Known as "Evangelion"|publisher=Anime News Network|date=8 September 1998|access-date=6 February 2021|archive-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724103237/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editorial/1998-09-09|url-status=live}} The academic José Andrés Santiago Iglesias, on the other hand, described the lift scene as one of the "examples of masterful uses of stillness" in the series.{{sfn|Anime Studies|2021|p=19}}

The Japanese writer Shoko Fukuya reported that Asuka's extended inner monologue in Death and Rebirth gained a negative reaction from viewers due to the loop of Asuka repeating the same lines.{{sfn|Morikawa|1997|p=67}} GameRant described Arael's attack and Asuka's mind rape as one of the most disturbing events in Evangelion.{{cite web|author=Sid Natividad|date=February 18, 2022|url=https://gamerant.com/evangelion-anime-most-disturbing-events/|title=Evangelion: 8 Most Disturbing Things That Happen In The Anime|publisher=Game Rant|access-date=October 11, 2024}} Screen Rant similarly described it as "one of the most traumatic" battles in the series.{{cite web|access-date=16 May 2021|publisher=Screen Rant|website=Screenrant.com|url=https://screenrant.com/neon-genesis-evangelion-battles-ranked/|title=Every Battle in Neon Genesis Evangelion Ranked|date=7 July 2019|first=Jack|last=Cameron|archive-date=17 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117215451/https://screenrant.com/neon-genesis-evangelion-battles-ranked/|url-status=live}} According to Fangoria: "It's a harrowing example of pure psychological terror".{{cite web |url=https://www.fangoria.com/original/10-terrifying-moments-in-neon-genesis-evangelion/ |title=10 Terrifying Moments In NEON GENESIS EVANGELION |date=4 October 2023 |publisher=Fangoria |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025103138/https://www.fangoria.com/original/10-terrifying-moments-in-neon-genesis-evangelion/ |archive-date=25 October 2023}} Anime News Network's James Beckett similarly lauded it, saying: "When Asuka's mind and soul were invaded by Arael in Episode 22, 'Don't Be', I learned the ways that you could use form and technique to not just tell a story, but to break it, and in so doing allow your audience to connect with your characters on an even deeper level".{{cite web |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2021-08-15/growing-up-with-evangelion/.176258 |title=Growing Up With Evangelion |date=15 August 2021 |publisher=Anime News Network |first=James |last=Beckett |access-date=26 November 2021}} Looper described Asuka's character development as one "of the strongest on the show".{{cite web |access-date=7 November 2021 |url=https://www.looper.com/487002/the-most-powerful-angels-from-neon-genesis-evangelion-ranked/ |title=The Most Powerful Angels From Neon Genesis Evangelion Ranked |date=13 August 2021 |publisher=Looper |first=Thompson |last=Smith |archive-date=8 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108050745/https://www.looper.com/487002/the-most-powerful-angels-from-neon-genesis-evangelion-ranked/ |url-status=live}} IGN critic Ramsey Isler also praised Asuka's characterization and past, ranking her as the thirteenth greatest anime character of all time and saying: "She's a tragic character, and a complete train wreck, but that is what makes her so compelling because we just can't help but watch this beautiful disaster unfold."{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/04/top-25-greatest-anime-characters?page=3|title=Top 25 greatest anime characters|last=Isler|first=Ransey|page=3|date=February 4, 2014|publisher=IGN|access-date=April 18, 2020|archive-date=May 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518092832/http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/04/top-25-greatest-anime-characters?page=3|url-status=live}}

In 2015, the Japanese actress Natsuki Kato dressed as Misato Katsuragi during an announcement by the Hakuto team of a space mission to send a miniature replica of Longinus' spear to the Moon, taking inspiration from the scene in "Don't Be".{{cite web|url=https://kotaku.com/5862115/thank-evangelion-for-tokyos-latest-nerd-hotspot/|title=Thank Evangelion for Tokyo's Latest Nerd Hotspot|date=23 November 2011 |access-date=2 June 2018|archive-date=23 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123160832/https://kotaku.com/5862115/thank-evangelion-for-tokyos-latest-nerd-hotspot/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|language=it|url=https://www.animeclick.it/news/41963-una-spedizione-spaziale-per-piantare-la-lancia-di-longinus-sulla-luna|title=Una spedizione spaziale per piantare la Lancia di Longinus sulla Luna?|date=30 January 2015|access-date=24 October 2018|archive-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024232225/https://www.animeclick.it/news/41963-una-spedizione-spaziale-per-piantare-la-lancia-di-longinus-sulla-luna|url-status=live}} According to Anime News Network's James Beckett, a scene from the fifth episode of Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga, in which Izumo Kamiki confronts her mother, may be inspired by Asuka's inner monologue in "Don't Be", including a shot of Izumo running towards the camera against a red backdrop.{{cite web|first=James|last=Beckett|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/blue-exorcist-shimane-illuminati-saga/episode-5/.207201|title= Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga - Episode 5|publisher=Anime News Network|date=4 February 2024|access-date=6 February 2021|archive-date=4 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204164823/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/blue-exorcist-shimane-illuminati-saga/episode-5/.207201|url-status=live}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Film Book|volume=8|date=1996|language=ja|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten|ref = {{harvid|Filmbook}}}}
• {{cite book | date = 1997 | first = Kaichiro| last= Morikawa | title=The Evangelion Style|publisher=Daisan Shokan|language=ja|isbn=4-8074-9718-9}}
• {{cite book |first=Kentaro |last=Takekuma |title=Anno Hideaki Parano Evangerion|language=ja |year=1997 |publisher=Ōta Shuppan |isbn=4-87233-316-0}}
• {{cite book| title = エヴァンゲリオン用語事典 第2版| date = 1998| publisher = 八幡書店| language = ja| isbn= 978-4-89350-327-5| ref = {{harvid|Glossary|1998}}}}
• {{cite book |first=Dennis |last=Redmond |title=The World is Watching: Video as Multinational Aesthetics, 1968–1995 |date=2004 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |isbn=0-8093-2535-7}}
• {{cite book|last1=Fujie|first1=Kazuhisa|last2=Foster|first2=Martin|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Unofficial Guide|year=2004|publisher=DH Publishing, Inc.|location=United States|isbn=0-9745961-4-0}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Ortega|first=Mariana|year=2007|title=My Father, He Killed Me; My Mother, She Ate Me: Self, Desire, Engendering, and the Mother in Neon Genesis Evangelion|journal=Mechademia|volume=2|isbn=978-0-8166-5266-2|doi=10.1353/mec.0.0010|s2cid=120554645}}
• {{Cite book|first=Alessandra|last=Poggio|language=it|year=2008|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion Encyclopedia|publisher=Dynit}}
• {{cite journal|last=Bartoli|first=Fabio|url=http://www.antrocom.net/upload/sub/antrocom/040108/06-Antrocom.pdf|title=Neon Genesis Evangelion e la Kabbalah: dal Tempo di dolore al Tempo Benedetto|year=2008|journal=Antrocom|volume=4|issue=1|page=34|access-date=18 April 2020|language=it|archive-date=22 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422065644/http://www.antrocom.net/upload/sub/antrocom/040108/06-Antrocom.pdf|url-status=live}}
• {{cite book |first= Syunsou|last= Porori|title=The Essential Evangelion Chronicle: Side B|language=fr |publisher=Glénat Editions |year=2010|isbn=978-2-7234-7121-3}}
• {{cite book|date=2021|publisher=Stockholm University Press|title=Anime Studies: Media-Specific Approaches to Neon Genesis Evangelion|isbn=978-91-7635-164-2|url=https://www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/site/books/e/10.16993/bbp/|editor-first1=José Andrés |editor-first2=Ana |editor-last1=Santiago Iglesias |editor-last2=Soler Baena |doi=10.16993/bbp |s2cid=245093477 |ref = {{harvid|Anime Studies|2021}}}}
• {{cite book |last1=Nebbia |first1=Virginie |title=La Saga Evangelion: L'oeuvre d'une vie |language=fr |publisher=Third Editions |date=2023 |isbn=978-2-3778-4430-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TT7aEAAAQBAJ |access-date=2023-10-25 |archive-date=2023-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025081027/https://books.google.it/books?id=TT7aEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=it#v=onepage&q&f=false#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Sellés de Lucas|first1=Victor|last2=Hernández-Pérez|first2=Manuel|title=Exegesis and authorial agency through Judeo-Christian iconography in Japanese anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-97) as an open work|journal=Imafronte|issue=31|publisher=Universidad de Murcia|date=2024}}

{{refend}}

• {{IMDb episode|0785995}}

{{Neon Genesis Evangelion}}

Category:1996 Japanese television episodes

Category:Neon Genesis Evangelion episodes

Category:Science fiction television episodes