Introduction
The End of Evangelion and the Majin Buu arc of Dragon Ball Z both culminate in major characters briefly fusing into one being to achieve a common end. However, the meaning of that fusion is vastly different between the shows.
In DBZ, fusion represents cooperation and the willingness to work with someone; whereas in Eva, accepting the Human Instrumentality Project means resignation and an unwillingness to work to understand others.
Despite the near opposite meanings of fusion in Eva and DBZ, the shows convey the same message: learning to understand and work with others, especially those vastly different from you, is part of life.
Dragon Ball Z
The main character of DBZ is Goku, a happy go lucky Saiyan raised on Earth who loves to train his body and fight. He strongly values life and the potential for goodness, and he sees it as his responsibility to protect Earth and his loved ones.
Vegeta is Goku’s foil, a prideful, powerful Saiyan prince who shares Goku’s love for combat, but who starts off selfish and callous. When Goku defeats him in the Saiyan arc, he gets insecure from losing to someone he views as lesser, but over time, he forms positive bonds with his companions and grows to care for them. However, that dissonance between who he is and who he was continues to weigh on him.
In the Majin Buu arc, Vegeta has a crisis of identity. He’s formed a family and feels a sense of loss towards his old self. He enjoys the serenity of his new life, but is terrified that part of him, maybe even his real self, is dying. Worse, he’s still weaker than Goku, and Goku doesn’t seem to respect him as an equal because he held back during a duel.
Vegeta died when he tried to take down Buu alone, but he’s revived and granted a second chance. His only shot to defeat Buu is to fuse with Goku, but Vegeta refuses to. His pride won’t let him work with Goku, despite knowing he’ll lose against Buu alone.
Goku brings things back into perspective--Buu has killed everyone they love. They can’t defeat Buu separately, and if they fall here, their wives, children, and friends will remain dead forever. Only then, Vegeta puts aside his pride to fuse with Goku and they take on Buu together.
According to interviews, Toriyama intended for Goku and Vegeta to perform the fusion dance here, but he changed it to the Kaio earrings. The fusion dance would have conveyed the theme of cooperation far better, since it requires coordination between the two parties and for the stronger one to match their power to the weaker one, but the way Goku got Vegeta to fuse still conveys the idea.
Goku is much stronger than Vegeta at this point. He could’ve tricked Vegeta or forced the earring onto him, but he deliberately persuades him instead. Goku appealing to their common goals and even coming clean about the downsides of fusion is the thematic equivalent of performing the fusion dance.
Evangelion
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The main character of Eva is Shinji Ikari, a depressed boy who desperately craves understanding and connection, yet he struggles to understand and connect with others. Shinji contrasts Asuka Langley Sohryu, a proud girl who fights with him constantly. Shinji can’t understand Asuka on his own, and Asuka refuses to understand him.
However, they have very similar issues at the core. They both crave security in appreciation and affection but can’t get it, they just express their frustrations in opposite ways. So despite their similar motivations, Shinji and Asuka clash from the start and fundamentally don’t understand each other.
In The End of Evangelion, Shinji gets to eliminate that gap. Overwhelmed by loneliness and despair, he gives in to the Human Instrumentality Project. Shinji and the others dissolve into one being, and in doing so, they lose the boundaries that both separate them and define their distinct identities.
As thoughts and feelings cascade from the others into Shinji, Asuka’s cut through the rest: “I’d rather die than be with you”. Shinji then leaves Instrumentality. They both want to be understood and appreciated for being themselves, and dissolving into one being wouldn’t grant them that.
The meaning in understanding and being understood by others comes from the reciprocal effort needed to bridge that gap of difference. Without the difference, there is no effort, and without the effort, there is no meaning. So even if Shinji doesn’t understand Asuka, he’ll make the effort to reach her in hopes that one day she’ll reciprocate and they’ll come to understand each other.
Goku & Vegeta
Vegeta is self-centered, so he misses implicit information that would bolster his confidence. Goku doesn’t look down on Vegeta, he held back during their duel because going full out would reduce his time on Earth. Goku dithered over who to fuse with against Buu, but he rushed over as soon as he detected Vegeta. Goku doesn’t force Vegeta to fuse, but he persuades him to instead. Goku does respect Vegeta, Vegeta just doesn’t see it.
When they disagree, Vegeta doesn’t try to understand Goku, but Goku can understand Vegeta due to his value system and life experience. Goku values life, redemption, and the potential for good because he started off as a feral, homicidal child, yet he grew into a heroic man. He sees himself in everyone he fights, even the cruelest of enemies, so he spares as many enemies as he can afford to because they might turn good one day.
And it paid off. Vegeta had intended to destroy all life on Earth, but in time, he became an important comrade who would gladly give his life to protect everyone on it.
Shinji & Asuka
Asuka finds Shinji pathetic. She wants him to take decisive action but doesn’t recognize that her vitriol makes him shy away, and she misreads his hesitance as rejection. Despite that, he’s into her, and she’s into him. She wants his recognition and commitment, but Shinji doesn’t give it to her because he doesn’t understand what she wants, and he doesn’t understand what she wants because she doesn’t try to make herself understood to him.
Yet they both reject Instrumentality because they’re the same at heart. Shinji awakens on the beach, stares to the side, and sees Asuka laying next to him. He strangles her, she caresses his cheek, and he breaks down crying.
They want each other, but their dissonant expressions just hurt each other, but despite it all, they can’t leave each other. They’re stuck through all their faults. So when Asuka reaches out for the first time, Shinji cries because she finally met him in the middle.
Conclusion
In The End of Evangelion, accepting the single consciousness means resignation. It’s the easy way out of trying to understand and connect with others.
In Dragon Ball Z, fusion represents cooperation. It requires trust and coordination to execute to its fullest potential, but offers more power than the individuals can muster alone.
The End of Evangelion and Dragon Ball Z represent the concept differently, but they each promote working to understand others, both for the huge feats people can achieve together and the emotional fulfillment of companionship itself.