So, I recently discovered that the yellow shirt worn by Asuka during Episode 9, 15, and End of Evangelion is not actually Asuka’s shirt. It’s Misato’s.
I’m not pointing out this seemingly insignificant fact for the fun of it – because it definitely seems like a trivial, if not somewhat interesting, little detail – but like most things in Evangelion, Anno’s taken steps to imbue it with hidden and revealing character subtext. Eva often uses sequences of recurring, outwardly unimportant visual cues to tie some underlying theme to a character or characters. So why a yellow shirt? Turns out, it’s actually a pretty interesting symbol for womanhood and ill-fitting sexual expression.
“rei or asuka?” really baffles me because they’re presented as inverse contrasts in the show, and you can’t really derive any concrete analysis or understanding of their characters by taking them in separately. you have to examine them together through a comparative lens – their backstories, how they view themselves, their respective methods of coping/internalizing neglect and validation (or lack thereof). this goes for literally every single character in evangelion, but rei and asuka are most prolific for the grossest and most nauseating reasons.
when people say they like asuka more than rei for “x” reasons or visa versa, to me that’s just another gauge of how badly they missed the point.
more thoughts on this. i don’t believe in the idea “if you like asuka more you like rei less”. it’s interesting how both rei and asuka suffer disproportional amounts of bodily harm in the show but the emotional focus/concern rests solely on shinji (both in-show and fandom).
asuka and rei’s dynamism plays out in how they interpret and react to their their “maternalness” and “materialness”: rei, contemplating on never becoming a mother (which is complicated by her connection with yui and lilith) - and then asuka, who hates menstruation, hates the idea of having children (complicated by her forcible rejection from her mother; rei is removed from motherhood in the bodily sense but closer “spiritually”, while asuka is the inverse)
then there’s rei and materialness (corporeality) vs the soul, how rei can’t retain memories after each resurrection (memories being connected bodily, stored in the brain), but she possesses base latent comprehension of emotions and relationships (as these are stored in the soul) – how rei morphs through bodily trauma and repeated physical resurrection, and then transcends corporeality completely, because rei is rei without a body. this is in contrast to asuka, who marrys her entire identity to her body, tries to find validation in the body, presentations of the body. when asuka’s body and her ability to use her body crumbles, asuka crumbles. rei grows/transcends with each instance of bodily trauma while asuka regresses/ebbs with each instance of bodily trauma.
asuka and rei compliment each other so beautifully in their characters and i love them both so much.
The use of dolls as a motif in this episode is rather interesting.
In the script for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Mamoru Oshii described the psychology for the fear of dolls thusly:
[It’s] the uncertainty that perhaps something that appears to be alive actually isn’t, and the uncertainty that on the other hand something that doesn’t appear to be alive actually is. If you want to know what makes dolls so unnerving, it’s because they are modeled after humans. In other words they are man created in their own image. [It] creates the fear that the human phenomenon is fundamentally devoid of meaning and purpose…that humanity can be reduced to simple mechanical parts.
In the context of the story, the doll motif reflects the fear of being replaced. To be cast aside in favor of something new. Broken mechanical parts swapped out for newer ones that last longer and work harder.
Asuka values her skills as a pilot because they give her a sense of self worth via others’ dependence on her. She takes pride in her competitive spirit and her high synch ratios. She loves the fact that others depend on her to defend them against the Angels. However, she is dependent on others for her sense of self despite her personality. After all, human beings are social creatures and we depend on each other for both social, physical, and mental needs. You can’t live a healthy life “on your own”. Without the ability to pilot the EVA, she’s cast aside like a broken doll, broken parts in a machine by the power structure of NERV and SEELE who soon finds a new “toy” to replace her with in their game, now that she no longer has any value to them.
As a side note, the language that Gendo uses when discussing the pilots is rather interesting. In the subtitles, pilots are rarely if ever referred to by their names, the exception being Rei. Even Rei outright states that if she dies she can simply be replaced. When Shinji shows up, he’s referred to as “the spare”. The pilots are simply interchangeable parts in the command structure, kicked out when no longer useful and replaced.
I don’t see a lot of people talking about this scene. Maybe it’s the tendency to refer to Misato as The Mama Bear™ over the Eva kids, conveniently failing to mention that by Eva kids, we really mean Shinji Ikari. Asuka never gets Mama Bear treatment from Misato, and this scene is in many ways emblematic of the real dynamic between the two: which is marked by a whole lot of indifference, neglect, and a latent sense of casual disdain – mostly on Misato’s end. Granted, Misato never actually comes out and says “Asuka, I care about Shinji a lot more than I care about you,” but after watching this scene I don’t think she even needs to.
Here’s Asuka having a very thinly-veiled, very public, very loud breakdown in Misato’s own washroom, complete with a heated display of water-basin flinging. The most Misato does is, well, nothing, if you disregard the glaring – which is exactly the point. Misato’s recent share of shitty life experiences aside, it doesn’t take any stretch of the imagination to figure that she would’ve made an effort to reach out to Shinji if he were in Asuka’s place, just as she did in Episode 23, propelled by little more than a hunch that Shinji would be troubled after Rei II’s death.
Once you peel away all the pleasant pretenses and platitudes behind a lot of their initial conversations, this scene makes a lot of sense. Asuka has always framed Misato as both a rival and an exemplary in all its counter-intuitive glory. For Misato, Shinji’s been the pilot whom she feels most comfortable flexing her quasi-maternal muscles, precisely because Shinji is a boy, and Misato thinks she knows exactly what he needs from her, by virtue of Misato being a woman. Asuka is the problem, the conundrum, the puzzle Misato never really bothers to work through, up until the very end.
We can even see shades of this dynamic play out in Evangelion 3.0 (which is more or less an answer to Episodes 22-24 in NGE), where it looks like Asuka has now graduated to overt dislike of Q!Misato and her modus operandi (fuck your Eva, the mission is your top priority… you get the point.)
Hey, Bloodshog; hope this makes you smile. :D Ended up combining two of your requests: Asuka + a tattooed Maya. I loved that last headcanon in particular, and figure she’d go for a mix of programmer nerdery and good ol’ AT fields. She’d be the type to reach out to Asuka on a bad day too, I reckon.
EPISODE 12: The Value of a Miracle Is... / She Said, Don't Make Others Suffer For Your Personal Hatred!
If anyone tries to tell you Asuka isn’t capable of kindness, smack them upside the head.
This is one of my favorite Asuka scenes, because it demonstrates a subtle, oft-neglected part of Asuka’s character that is otherwise highly contested or outright ignored by the fandom. Asuka canbe kind. Asukacanbe thoughtful – and not just to Shinji, but to Rei and Misato, two individuals whom which Asuka seemingly harbors the most intense and visible resentment towards.
Asuka would rather give up an extravagant steak dinner if it meant that she could enjoy it with Rei, who can’t eat meat by virtue of being a vegetarian. And as it turns out, Misato – and her wallet – is more than grateful for the consideration. Asuka’s knocking out two birds with one stone.
“rei or asuka?” really baffles me because they’re presented as inverse contrasts in the show, and you can’t really derive any concrete analysis or understanding of their characters by taking them in separately. you have to examine them together through a comparative lens – their backstories, how they view themselves, their respective methods of coping/internalizing neglect and validation (or lack thereof). this goes for literally every single character in evangelion, but rei and asuka are most prolific for the grossest and most nauseating reasons.
when people say they like asuka more than rei for “x” reasons or visa versa, to me that’s just another gauge of how badly they missed the point.
