Why I Hate Asuka Langley-Sohryu
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Why I Hate Asuka Langley-Sohryu Alright. In regards to my writing, I've had people calling me out on the treatment of a certain character. Now you see this girl right here? Her name is Asuka Langley-Sohryu, and I hate her. She is, in my honest opinion, one of the worst characters in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. And after all of the criticisms I've gotten for the treatment of her character, my less than flattering depictions of her, I've decided that enough is enough. I'm going to come out and explain to everyone precisely why I hate her, I think she's a horrible excuse for a human being, and that she doesn't deserve to be treated like some divine goddess who can do no wrong the way so many people seemed inclined to do. Now keep in mind that I'm referring to the anime version of Asuka. Not the Rebuild version or any of the versions from the various manga. The original red-haired terror that appeared in the original 26 episode length Evangelion series. Also, I'm going to be careful in my terminology. Not everyone who reads this will know everything about Evangelion, so I'm going to do my best not to confuse anyone with this narrative. You got that? Great, let's get on then. The Defenses of Asuka Now before I move on to explain exactly why I hate Asuka, I think it would be prudent for me to take a moment to explain why so many people think that she should be pitied and go out of their way to defend her. The big reason that people sympathize with Asuka is because there is indeed a traumatic element to her past. Asuka's mother, one Kyoko Zeppelin-Sohryu, was a brilliant scientist working in Germany. She was something of a workaholic as I understand it, but she did love her daughter. I don't have as much information on Asuka's father, but from what I understand, he didn't want children. He wasn't the warmest of people, that's for sure. When Asuka was four years old, Kyoko participated in an experiment that left her insane. From that point on, she couldn't recognize Asuka as her daughter. She instead thought that one of Asuka's dolls was Asuka herself, and would tell the doll to ignore "that girl over there". Now as best as I've been able to determine, during this time, Asuka's father initiated an affair with a doctor who was working at the hospital where Asuka's mother was. In fact, they even "did the deed" in the room next to Kyoko's. And on top of that, Kyoko eventually committed suicide by hanging herself. In addition to this, she destroyed the doll that she thought was her daughter. Sadly, Asuka found the dead body and the doll, and on the day she had gone to give her mother some good news. In the wake of Kyoko's suicide, Asuka's father married the doctor he had been having an affair with. Asuka was unable and unwilling to connect with her stepmother, who in turn was repelled by how defensive and self- isolating Asuka was, and was unable to connect with her. And after the funeral, Asuka decided that she needed to take care of herself from that moment forward, and promised herself that she would never cry again. She has since repressed her emotions and the damage caused by Kyoko's insanity and suicide. This coupled with her doing everything she could to be strong and independent, as well as pilot training and graduating college before she was even fourteen, essentially skipping her childhood, has not done her mental state any favors. On top of this, by the start of Evangelion, she's going through puberty. And I'm sure most of you have some not fun memories of that time. As a result, she's sexually frustrated and dealing with a great of emotional upheaval. Not a good place to be, I admit. And that's not even going into all of the crap that goes down during the actual series. Which wasn't kind to Asuka. That, as I understand it, is the most concrete reason people sympathize with and defend Asuka. Furthermore, there are those who feel that she's lively and exciting. Probably feel that she better fits the role of a protagonist in a giant robot anime. And I'm sure there are plenty of those who just go, "Ooh, hot redhead. She couldn't do anything wrong", as well as the Draco in Leather Pants crowd. But that's another discussion altogether. Alright. I've gone over a brief explanation as to why people sympathize with Asuka, and why I think people like and defend her. Now to move on my counters to these defenses, as well as explaining exactly why I hate Asuka so freaking much. How I Came to Hate Asuka Now I'm going to start explaining why I hate Asuka by first going over how I came to hate her in the first place. And for that, I'm going to cover the first two episodes of Evangelion, by the end of which I hated her with a passion. I'm going to going into great detail here, and hopefully what I have to say here will make sense. So let's begin with Asuka's debut; Episode 8, "Asuka Strikes". Now we had had hints dropped as to Asuka's arrival before this episode. We saw a third pilot in the opening credits, and in the previous episode, we hear about the arrival of a third Evangelion mecha and its pilot. So this didn't come out of nowhere. And I was admittedly curious to see what our new pilot would be like. Now as I said before, this will be a detailed analysis of this episode, Asuka's actions within, and my reactions to them. So I will be getting wordy here. When the episode begins, four recurring characters (Shinji Ikari, Misato Katsuragi, Toji Suzuhara, and Kensuka Aida) are flying out to meet the Pacific Fleet, which is transporting both Asuka and Unit 02 to Japan. Our first glimpse of Asuka is in silhouette, where she's standing with her hands on a railing, apparently watching the helicopter descend. Shortly after, we cut to a scene of Shinji, Misato, Toji, and Kensuke walking along the top of the aircraft carrier, the Over the Rainbow. Toji is busy chasing his hat, and is not being the least bit inconspicuous about it. Soon enough, the hat blows up against Asuka's foot and stops. Now, if I'd in been Asuka's position, I'd have done one of two things. 1: I would have done the courteous thing and reach down, pick up the hat, and have returned to Toji. Probably would have said something about being more careful, or just gone, "here you go". Something along those lines. Or 2: I would have just stood there because Toji was about to bend down and pick the hat up himself. Those are two things that I'd have done. So what does Asuka do? She waits for Toji to start reaching for his hat right before deliberately stepping on it. Now no one can tell me that Asuka didn't notice Toji chasing the hat. He was crying out for someone to stop it and was being very obvious about it. And when you get to the fact that he was standing right in front of him, I completely fail to see how she could have not noticed him. And yet, she still stepped on his hat before he could reclaim it. And then proceeds to completely ignore Toji as he tries to pull the hat out from under her. This was the moment that…well, I wouldn't say that I started hating her right then and there. But I will say that it was her first strike. There was no reason for Asuka to step on Toji's hat. She just did it because she could. It was a pointless bit of cruelty on her part, and like I said, this was the first strike against her. The first thing that said to me, "I'm not going to like this person." Then Misato and Asuka have the following exchange: Asuka: "Well…hello, Misato! How have you been?" Misato: "Just fine. Goodness, you've grown some, haven't you?" Asuka: "Uh-huh! And I'm not just taller; my figure's filled out as well!" Alright. First thing I should mention is that Toji is still trying to get his hat back. Some people might find that sort of thing funny, but I don't. Next, Asuka is just seeing someone for the first time in…how long? And one of the first things she says after greeting Misato was to boast about her bust size. There we have it. Strike 2 against Asuka. It's nowhere near as bad as the first one, but that bit of bravado and the tone with which it was delivered, all while completely ignoring Toji and keeping his hat under foot…this was the second big hint that I wouldn't like Asuka. And I think that it's really telling that Asuka has two strikes against her…and we haven't even seen her face yet in the series proper! But don't worry, Asuka won't be long in earning that third strike.