is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion

, commonly referred to as Evangelion, is a commercially and critically successful Japanese anime series that began airing in October 1995. The series was highly influential, and launched the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It garnered several major animation awards...

franchise created by Hideaki Anno

Hideaki Anno

is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...

. The protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 of the series (and almost all of its spinoff works), he is the Third Child ("Third Children" in the Japanese versions) and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01. He is the son of Gendo

Gendo Ikari

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is the commander of Nerv. While all of the English versions romanize his given name as Gendo, Gainax's website romanizes it Gendoh, and some fansites romanize his name as "Gendou"....

 and Yui Ikari.
Shinji's relationship with his Evangelion and status as a pilot is very ambivalent; the entire series can be seen as a bildungsroman

Bildungsroman

In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...

 centered around Shinji.
Shinji has often been seen as a version or reflection of the creator of Evangelion and Anno has referred to the plot line as a metaphor of his life.
"Ikari" means "anchor" in Japanese.