Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
is a fictional character in 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 young man who was abandoned by his father Gendo, who 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 animated feature films and related media, video games, the original net animation "", the "Rebuild of Evangelion" films, and the manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.