Is this cartoonist mentally ill?

The sun shines through the large French windows onto the marble floor of the urban office building, reflecting a faint white light.

The sound of high heels hitting the ground comes and goes, accompanied by the clicking of keyboards and the hum of copiers, weaving together a symphony of urban work.

People are in a hurry, holding documents or laptops in their hands, and it seems that the word "busy" is engraved between everyone's eyebrows.

The phone rings like a death warrant, ringing throughout the office area every few minutes, and the answerer always ends the conversation as quickly as possible, as if even breathing is in a hurry.

The afternoon coffee aroma and the smell of copier consumables are intertwined, which is the daily fragrance of urban elites.

In the office, white-collar workers stare at the computer screen expressionlessly, their fingers dance on the keyboard, and occasionally there is a slight sigh floating in the cubicle.

The door of the conference room is closed, and through the glass, you can see that the people inside are sitting around the table. Their discussion is intense and engaged, and sometimes someone waves the information in his hand, trying to make his point more distinct.

In the corner of the corridor, a slightly tired figure leaned against the wall, the screen of the mobile phone in his hand flashed the reminder light of unread messages, took a deep breath, rubbed his frowning forehead, and revealed a subtle anxiety in his eyes.

The afterglow of the sunset was gradually swallowed by the forest of steel and concrete. The lights in the office building were lit one after another. The overtime employees worked hard under the orange light. The power of caffeine seemed particularly precious at this moment.

As night fell, the hustle and bustle of the city gradually subsided, but in many office buildings, the lights were brightly lit, as if they were a hive that never went out, and every worker bee was busy for his goal.

In the pulse of this modern city, they are an indispensable landscape.

"Finally overtime is over!"

Zhou Wenwei breathed a sigh of relief, tiredly picked up the cup, and wanted to drink a sip of coffee to refresh himself.

However, the cup was already empty.

"Brother, give it."

At this moment, a paper cup filled with coffee was handed over.

Zhou Wenwei looked up and was a little surprised, but he still took it and thanked him, "Zaihe, thank you very much."

"You're welcome, brother, you've worked hard too."

Li Zaihe took a sip of coffee and said, "But we finally finished overtime, let's go downstairs and have a midnight snack."

"Not impossible."

Zhou Wenwei yawned and said, "I'll ask others if they want to go together. I'm really tired, so it's just right to have some barbecue."

He picked up his phone and sent a message in the department group.

Soon, most colleagues said they would go to have barbecue together, and only a few employees who were more family-oriented chose to go home directly after working overtime.

"It's past nine o'clock, and it's almost eleven o'clock after the barbecue. After going back, we can just watch "Eva."

Zhou Wenwei looked at the time and said with a smile.

"There are about four or five episodes left for "EVA". It's really fast."

Li Zaihe also said with emotion.

In the 21st episode, the story is told in a flashback about the birth of NERV and the love between Shinji Ikari's parents.

Ryoji Kaji was shot and killed by an unknown character.

This leaves a huge mystery for the current audience.

Then, the 22nd episode was broadcast.

It starts with Asuka's past.

Asuka's mother, Kyoko Soru Zeppelin, is a scientist in the German branch of the EVA project.

When Asuka was 4 years old, she participated in the connection experiment of Unit 2.

Although she survived the experiment, she suddenly went crazy for some reason. She regarded Asuka's doll as her daughter and refused to admit that Asuka was her daughter.

Then Asuka's mother finally hanged herself to death. At that time, Asuka was about to tell her mother the good news that she was selected as a pilot, and thus found her body.

Then, during the period when Asuka's mother was ill and crazy, Asuka's father had an extramarital affair with Asuka's mother's doctor, and their conversation was overheard by Asuka.

And most importantly, after Asuka's mother committed suicide, her father married Asuka's mother's doctor, which was a seamless transition.

Therefore, this left a solid wall of resistance in the heart of young Asuka.

Her stepmother immediately faced her defensiveness and could not be liked by her.

When Asuka mentioned her stepmother to Shinji Ikari, she did not say that she hated her stepmother, but she would not let her stepmother replace her real mother.

During Asuka's funeral, Asuka's grandmother told her that she was a "tough girl", but she could cry as much as she wanted.

However, Asuka disagreed with this proposal and told her grandmother that she had to take care of herself from now on.

From this day on, she promised herself that she would not cry anymore.

This made her suppress a good way to deal with emotions and not mention the psychological trauma caused by her mother's illness and death.

This is also why Asuka is so strong.

After Kaji Ryoji's death, it was undoubtedly another huge mental blow for Asuka.

Therefore, Ikari Shinji and even Ayanami Rei both tried to take care of Asuka's feelings.

However, Asuka still maintained a strong and tough attitude towards Ikari Shinji and Ayanami Rei.

At this time, an angel with a shape similar to a glowing bird, the fifteenth angel, the bird angel, appeared in the orbit of the moon.

This time, NERV headquarters only sent Asuka and Rei Ayanami to attack.

They did not send Shinji Ikari and Unit-01.

At this time, one of NERV's commanders asked, "Excuse me, aren't you going to send Unit-01?"

"It's already frozen, under the absolute order of Commander Ikari."

Misato said meaningfully.

The camera gave Ikari Gendo, who was still in the classic pose, watching all this from the back.

Obviously, the audience has more or less guessed why this is happening -

"It should be because Unit-01 went berserk last time and devoured the S2 mechanism of the apostle."

"Because Unit-01 is no longer restrained, it has the S2 mechanism again. According to the setting of the previous episode, the S2 mechanism can give Unit-01 endless energy."

"Yes, it is obviously out of control, and it is impossible to wake Unit-01 again."

"From this point of view, Unit-01... is not right. Could Unit-01 be the second apostle Eve?"

"It may be that Unit-00 is a replica of Adam, but the Unit-00 experiment failed, so Unit-01 was created using the second apostle Eve."

"But if it is an apostle, shouldn't it be born with the S2 mechanism?"

"Maybe they deliberately deprived it later."

"It doesn't feel right, but it's impossible for Unit-01 to appear now."

"And then they found out that they couldn't win, so they had to rely on Unit-01 ()"

"After all, they are the protagonists and the protagonist's machine, they will definitely not be left idle there."

"So...Asuka and Rei Ayanami...are in danger!"

"Fuck! That's very likely. In the last episode, the old thief Aoyama killed Kaji Ryoji. According to the old thief's previous behavior, he may not kill you in the first episode, but he will kill you all in the second episode!"

"So...I'm scared!"

...

At this time, the audience still thought that the setting of "EVA" was completely the myth of the Holy Bishop, mainly based on the story of Adam and Eve.

In fact...they forgot that there was also Lilith in the myth of the Holy Bishop.

And they were completely misled.

However, in the following plot, Asuka drove Unit-02 to assist Unit-0 driven by Rei Ayanami in the battle.

Unit-0 driven by Rei Ayanami aimed at the bird angel in the lunar orbit.

Asuka is now very anxious because of the successive failures.

She doesn't even know that the staff at NERV headquarters have secretly planned to replace the pilot of Unit 2.

It's just that the successive failures have made Asuka's strong character become quite impatient.

"I can't stand it! Can you come quickly!"

Asuka drove Unit 2 and said anxiously, "I'm so anxious!"

However, the next moment, she aimed at the sky and a ray of light suddenly fell!

And at this moment, background music suddenly appeared, and this background music turned out to be...

"Hallelujah!"

"Hallelujah! Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah--!"

The religious song "Ode to Joy" was online.

Then, in this joyful background music, the alarm at NERV headquarters sounded.

"Alarm--! Alarm--!"

In the alarm, Misato asked as if she was facing a great enemy, "Is this the enemy's directional thermal weapon?!"

"No! There is no thermal energy reaction!"

The commander gave a surprising reply.

But at this moment, the commander who was always monitoring the situation of the EVA body qualified personnel suddenly reported, "The mental image is confused, and mental pollution has begun to appear!"

When the word "mental pollution" came out, the audience was shocked. Why did this word sound a bit... funny.

But the most mentally polluting... is actually the joyful "Ode to Joy".

In this tense scene, there is a sense of humor full of huge contrast.

The audience was also happy, because this scene... In fact, they have seen it before, that is, when the gun demon appeared in the previous "Chainsaw Man" animation.

In the comics, after the gun demon appeared, it directly destroyed the church that was singing hymns to the music of "Goddess of Joy".

So the "Chainsaw Man" animation has already used this technique.

In the holy religious song, the powerful demon who blasphemed the Lord directly destroyed the church and the Lord's believers.

But that scene is more about the gun demon's blasphemy against the Lord, and its power, which gives people a very shocking feeling.

The contrast between the current "EVA" and the current "Ode to Joy" with mental pollution is different.

So the audience played more memes-

"It's so right! Aoyama Laozei is a classic! Some pranks in religious music!"

"The cartoonist who respects the Holy Bishop the most in the comics industry! Aoyama Laozei!"

"Hi, those guys from the Holy Bishop said that Aoyama Laozei is a member of the Holy Bishop Church, but I don't believe it anyway."

"Aoyama Laozei is really too funny, it feels inexplicably funny."

"He is really, I cried to death, but I still like "Ode to Joy" so much."

"This "Ode to Joy" is indeed in line with the style of "EVA", after all, it is set by the Holy Bishop."

"I just think this is definitely mental pollution, it's so right!"

"Ah, yes, yes, mental pollution, isn't this the cyber psychopath of Aoyama Laozei?"

"Why are there cyber psychopaths everywhere? I'll call the terrorist mobile team now!"

...

And back to the plot of "EVA".

Suddenly, the apostle's mental attack from thousands of miles away in the sky caused the situation to become chaotic.

"Apostle...using psychological attacks?!"

Ritsuko once again acted as the commentator at this time and said, "How is it possible?! Can an apostle understand the human heart?!"

"You bastard!!!"

Asuka seemed to have encountered something unacceptable, and her whole body was about to collapse.

She directly controlled Unit 2 and fired bullets.

However... the Bird Angel did not enter the range, so the positron cannon directly missed!

Then Asuka was in Unit 2, holding her head and screaming, while Unit 2 also started shooting randomly.

The target is not even in the sky, but on the surface of the city.

Because Asuka suffered an unexpected mental pollution attack from the apostle, the NERV headquarters was also in chaos at this moment.

"The rifle of No. 2 machine is out of bullets!"

"How about wavelength analysis?!"

"Thermal energy waves are visible waves! This is something similar to an A.T. force field!"

"The details are unknown!"

"How is Asuka doing?"

"It's very dangerous. Mental pollution has penetrated into the Y-axis!"

…

A series of explanations of professional terms made the audience feel unclear.

This also shows that Asuka's current situation is very bad.

"don't want--!!!"

Asuka also held her head in pain and screamed, "No! Don't come into my heart!"

She seemed to have suffered some unbearable psychic attack, and her entire psychological defense collapsed.

In other words, her psychological defense is inherently weak, and her strong will on the outside is just a disguise.

In her pain, her limbs and those of Unit 2 seemed to be twisting, making a crackling sound like the unit was breaking.

"Don't peek into my heart!"

Asuka suddenly wailed and shouted again.

It seems that...the apostle entered Asuka's inner world through this mental pollution attack method and peeked into the innermost things in her heart.

"Please! Don't invade my heart again!"

Her painful pleas for mercy were heard by everyone at NERV headquarters.

She just didn't know if it was a kind of social death if she found out later.

But now Misato was filled with worry about Asuka, and she shouted in horror, "Asuka!"

"Mental imagery reaches its limit!"

At this moment, along with the commander's report, Asuka's mental image appeared on the screen.

It can be said to be... a complete mess!

At this time, the picture of Asuka's inner world finally appeared.

The death of her mother, the betrayal of her father, the arrival of her stepmother, and the safety of her grandmother. In the end, she was the only one left who had to survive strong.

Then she appeared again when she came to NERV headquarters, the arrogant and dismissive one, the one who... kissed Shinji Ikari because it was fun!

"No! That's not me!"

Asuka hugged her body and shouted in pain.