Rebuild of Evangelion

Asuka acting like everything is fine does not mean everything is fine. I suspect that the incident in Unit 03, combined with her past, will be a major part of her character development.

How do we know that Shikinami's past is the same as Soryu's past though?

Never said the past was the same. I'd expect there to be something that causes her attitude, though.

Maybe she's just a bitch this time?

Maybe the dub of 3.0 will have the REAL ENGLISH REI VOICE BACK?

There's clearly something wrong with her.

Remember that creepy scene with the doll?

She still seems to have some form of validation issues, seeing her anguish over doing very little with stopping the falling Angel, so I see that coming into play in 3.0.

I don't think we're going to see a tonal Bait-and-Switch like we did with the original NGE though.

I think Asuka just thinks she's better than the others her age because she's a captain and such, whereas the rest of them are technically civilians.

I like that Asuka actually beat an angel on her own in Rebuild. Not like in the original series, where she either needed help or got roflstomped.

Asuka was alway the more competent, but also the" unlickiest" one of the 3* (Rei was used as a kamikazee which is different).

Which is to say... very "unlucky".

I always thought she was sabotaged.

I mean, as much as she was a bitch, at least she always fought when she had to.

edited 22nd Apr '12 11:12:55 AM by Baff

I disagree with 'competent'. She was the most aggressive but that didn't translate into actual battlefield success. She was pigheaded and often rushed into bad situations where she was over her head.

Note, though, that Baff said 'more competent'. Now consider the competition.

Rei's more coolheaded and competent, I think. Even Shinji is less rash, he just cracks too easily under pressure.

?

Unluckiest. Which should've been clear from the context of his post.

edited 22nd Apr '12 12:50:48 PM by kay4today

Well she was in an Eva's mouth. Presumably she isn't that unlicky.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/441/15axq8.jpg/

OMG, Shick X Evangelion

edited 22nd Apr '12 12:59:32 PM by CaptainKatsura

Rei's more coolheaded and competent, I think.

Rei's pretty much a robot, and not all that great at handling an Eva. She'll do what you ask her to, but that's about it.

Rei wasn't so bad though. She beat Arael (by only throwing a lance, granted), blew herself up to kill Armisael and protected Shinji against Ramiel.

Even so, I think the most competent one was shinji, since he was the one that actually pushed the eva to limits without overextending himself (seriously, shinji only loses when he is overpowered). On the other hand, there was a moment where her loss was so instantaneous and complete (not to mention off screen) that it definitively was a case of plot conveniance and you haven't guessed it yet, I am talking about the fight against Bardiel (Eva 03).

How do you define competent though? Shinji easily cracks under pressure and only gets shit done when he's in a berserker rage.

She still seems to have some form of validation issues, seeing her anguish over doing very little with stopping the falling Angel, so I see that coming into play in 3.0.

That was more to do with her not being able to do it by herself. So far, she doesn't seem to have any validation issues at all.

...But that is her validation issue, desperately wanting to show the world she's independent but at the same time crying out to it to tell her she's doing right.

To show herself that she is independent. Shikinami doesn't seem to care much about how others think of her.

Though, we really haven't seen enough of her to judge her goals. So maybe she will be shown to care. All we know so far is that she thinks she is better than everyone else and wants to be independent.

edited 22nd Apr '12 2:11:04 PM by SilentColossus

By competent, I mean that he did beat angels by himself without his mother's assistance. Hell, he was even beating zeruel with one arm (after the utter failure of both asuka and rei's attempts) before the power got cut out. And note that I am talking about tv series shinji. Rebuild shinji only managed to beat the 4th angel (shamshiel?) by himself and ramiel with assistance.

Asuka is an interesting case in that she seems to be the most changed character, yet got a bit out of focus but there is not much that I can add.

Am I the only one who feels that "Asuka piloting Unit 03 to be nice to Rei and Shinji" was a terrible narrative decision? A theme of the franchise, including Rebuild, is people being fear getting hurt so they run away. Asuka thinks she lost, so she runs away. Perfect opportunity for drama (and it is for five seconds, in the elevator), which climaxes in getting crushed by Unit 01. Now she knows Shinji really doesn't care about her. Either he did it (she might not know about the Dummy Plug) or she feels abandoned by everyone, including Shinji. I hope she ends up upset about the Unit 03 incident. But they didn't do the former part. Instead, they have her "give up" by being nice. What? She is shown as being upset by the situation (mentioning that she thought she didn't mind other people, but that's not her), yes, but she is also shown to be doing this primarily to be nice to Rei and help Shinji. The "running away" part is presented as en excuse so she won't admit she is being nice.

Rather than having her wear a completely unnecessary fanservice plug suit while having a nice conversation with Misato, they should have had her be devastated by this. Then she meets Bardiel. Who makes things worse via Mind Rape. Then Unit 01 crushes her entry plug. Seems a bit over the top, maybe, but I might have preferred it. I can understand Rebuild as Evangelion written by a happier Anno, but this seems to be a complete abandonment of the previous theme. Indeed, I recall interviews admitting they made Asuka friendlier so the haters (and new comers) wouldn't cheer.

Thoughts? Am I full of shit with this? A small thing, but I feel it really damages the narrative. I won't judge Rebuild till 3.0, though.

edited 24th Apr '12 6:32:37 PM by SilentColossus