"I will not run away. I will not run away. I will not run away. I will not run away."

Fourteen-year-old Shinji is the Third Children, the pilot of EVA-01, which is one in a series of mecha designed to fight the Angels, a race of organic beings threatening Earth. For him, piloting an EVA is a terrible chore. He is quiet, shy, withdrawn, and finds it difficult to communicate with others. He has a very passive nature, letting others direct his actions and allowing events to happen around him without reacting actively to them. He seems to be removed from the rest of the world and has a pretty bleak outlook on life. This is my impression from the beginning of the series though. I think by the ending, he would have "come of age" somewhat ^_^. He listens to music to lose himself from reality.