Evangelion Retrospective

How I somehow became an Asuka fanboy

If you asked me which character I liked most when I first saw Evengelion, I probably would have said Misato. I liked the way Shinji was explored, and Gendo in some ways was the most memorable - even Santa Claus would have shove hot coals down his trousers to keep warm under Gendo's icy gaze. Rei never appealed to me despite being moe-moe prototype 00 who would spawn clones across the anime landscape. While little is said about her, Ritsuko has a demure professional vibe going but is probably secretly the kind of woman that would rock your world. Misato is a fun character, sexy, and she kicks major ass. Asuka? Asuka struck me as one of those obnoxious girls that were a dime a dozen in anime.

Time passed. Evangelion is an anime I remembered over the years. But for some reason I always thought of poor Asuka left in the depths of despair; laying traumatized in a bathtub in a bombed out building. And I started to feel bad for Asuka. What kind of character ever deserved that? She deserved better. Hell she deserved a lot better considering all that she did in the show.

We need comic relief at someone's expense: use Asuka. We need to make someones life as annoying as hell: use Asuka. We need fledgling teenage hormone exploration to boost ratings: use Asuka. We need a traumatized character: ... technically use everyone, but Asuka got this one pretty bad too. Shinji's got a boner in the hospital and needs it taken care of stat: use Asuka. And what did Asuka get for all of this? The fanboys went rabid over Rei Ayanami and Asuka was remembered as the annoying one.

Her outspoken personality can be annoying, but a part of me started liking that about her too. Shinji bends to everyone's demands. Rei has no personality. Misato is obsessed with duty/revenge. Asuka however is different. Asuka's opinion is basically "fuck everyone, I'm awesome!". And I'm like: you know what Asuka? you ARE awesome. You provide everything from fan service to gripping drama. You're really messed up, but you're smart, attractive, talented, and you can swear in German. Everyone else is wrapped up in politics, human evolution, avoiding worldwide extinction and crap like that. You on the other hand, enjoy the simple things in life. Like destroying incarnations of divine judgement with your giant mecha to prove how great you are.

Then came the Evangelion rebuild and people are like, wow Asuka is a total bitch now. If you went through even half the shit she went through in the first series, you'd be more messed up than simply being a bitch. Asuka probably deserves that concession. Seriously, end of the world stuck with Shinji.

So after many years of "Rei clones" in anime, people got kinda burnt out on all that. To rectify this studio Gainax brings in meganekko pandering machine "Illustrious" Mari Makinami. Note Asuka doesn't need flamboyant titles to demonstrate her awesomeness. Mari doesn't even do much, but she's got glasses. Then Asuka is like, "pssh... glasses? Please. I got an eyepatch bitch!"

Thank you pirate Asuka for your continued hard work. And hopefully this time you wont get stuck at the end of the world with Shinji.

<-- back to Eva stuff