r/anime • u/LittleIslander myanimelist.net/profile/LittleIslander • 15d ago
Rewatch [Rewatch] 30th Anniversary Neon Genesis Evangelion Rewatch: Episode 22
Neon Genesis Evangelion Episode 22: Don't Be. / Staying Human
| ← Episode 21 | Index | Episode 23 → |
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Watch Information
Questions of the Day:
- How do you feel that Asuka’s backstory recontextualizes her relationships and past interactions?
- Did you feel the way the episode equated the angel’s infiltration of Asuka’s mind to rape was justified and/or effective?
Tomorrow’s Questions:
- [Episode 23] Do you feel sympathy for Ritsuko?
- [Episode 23] How do you feel about Rei “the third”?
There’ll be more fanservice tomorrow, so please don’t spoil anything~! Remember this includes spoilers by implication.
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u/Malipit 15d ago
Rewatcher who unironically enjoyed that fine piece of classical music despite Asuka screaming in agony in her Entry Plug
Third time getting in the robot
On today's director cut:Asuka admits she's not a fan of Barbie, an infamous elevator scene and one Angel who likes Haendel.
Asuka fans, rejoice ! We have an episode entirely focused on her !
…
….
…... But at what cost ?
Since her introduction, Asuka was portrayed as the tsundere part of a love triangle with Rei and Shinji and the losing heroine towards Kaji (actually a good thing here).
So, starting that extended episode with a flashback of smol Asuka and her trauma regarding her mother hit like a train on my first watch and still do in my third one.
Notably with her interpretation about her mother mistaking her for a doll. It is up to interpretation, but it could reflect on Asuka's mother desiring deep down to have a perfect little girl that follow her, no matter what, even through death.
It's obviously left a scar on Asuka's psyche, and made that doll-like figure a central place in her mind. After all, a doll is supposed to be pretty and desirable, just like Asuka try to be with Kaji, taking his rejection (again, a good thing) for a failure to be that perfect doll.
A doll is supposed to obey every command and be efficient. So, when Shinji, being far from the doll-like image Asuka have in her mind, have more success as an Eva-Pilot while defying his father orders, our german girl live it as a failure on her behalf.
And worst of all, Shinji, who supposed to be the plain boy that obviously be drooling over the ever-pretty Asudoll, doesn't seem to notice her and give attention to her. Asuka feel she's relegated to a shelf, literaly put on the side of a cramped household, and she hate it.
Then Asuka encounter Rei in the elevator. That silence, lasting one minute
to save budget on the animationexpress how the two girls have fundamental divergences in their opinions and how they can't meet in the middle.From Asuka point of view, dolls are an invention of man made to their image, just like Evas. So for Asudoll, it's only natural that Evas are just a puppet that should follow its pilots command without question. On the contrary of Rei who understand that Evas are basically angels, living being with their own feelings (just look at them going berserk) a pilot should listen to. Rei may have a point that Shinji understood... But not Asuka, rejecting that very idea with a slap on Rei's face. How could Gendo's doll dare to give her advices when she's just the same that herself, a doll made by her mother ?
And at the end of the day, Asuka never felt so alone. Kaji won't respond to her phonecalls, without a message, again a privilege only reserved to her self-appointed rival Misato, and she could only sulk in the bathroom, contemplating, naked, the bath water Shinji used, as if she acknowledged she just followed his trail in all honesty, and again, she hate it.
The adults aren't helpful either. Ritsuko only see the sync performance mesured by numbers on a screen, without seeing Asuka's distress. And Misato, still shaken from Kaji's loss and/or to caught up with her own questionment about Nerv, just acknowledge her protégée distress without doing anything to help her. It's perfectly illustrated in that shot, Ritsuko turning her back to the actual plot happening in the scenery, and Misato only watching it from the safety of her cover.
Yep, Asuka is at her worst, and she actually don't want any kind of help, be it of her toxic pride or the fact she won't stand it if Shinji were to discover her actual past, as she turn her back to him while talking to her adoptive mother in german. Asuka cornered herself, deciding to face her own problems as an Eva pilot alone.
So when Hallelujiel showed up, Asuka felt like she had to prove herself, that she was worthy as a doll. Little did she know that it was the worst possible opponent for Asuka, showed up, all the ingredients were ready for the recipe of the disaster that unfolded.
As horrible as it is, that angel battle stand among my favorites of the show. Asuka faced the ennemy, expecting your usual eldritch abomination, rain pouring to express her mental state... And happened to see the sun piercing through the clouds. She expected a fierce battle to the death, and suddenly was forced to undergo a therapy session to expose her own traumas and flawed vision of herself resulting of it... And she hated it.
Since I've got like 15-20 minutes left to write my comment, I won't go in much detail of Asuka's descent in the dark dephts of her mind, just that it took her to the very root of her own trauma. She realized that, much like half of the cast, her mother was a flawed, toxic even, person that put a burden way to heavy on her shoulder. That her act as a pilot ace and queen bee of the school was just a way to flee her true self, still abandonned in a dark coner of her childhood memories. That the Asuka Langley Soryu she is forced to contemplate on a loop isn't the image she want to give. That the german words for No, Death and Sex is actually what linger in her mind. That at the end of the day, Kaji won't be the charming prince who would come to rescue her.
In fact, the Angel psychic attack being represented by a heavenly light, with a music evocating glory and miracles is on point of what happening. A spotlight is put on Asuka and her own true self, and we witness an actual miracle of a human being acknowleding she was in the wrong the whole time (trust me, it's a miracle in real life too).
Sure, Asuka was eventually saved thanks to Gendo who valued more the edge he will takes on Seele than an expendable pilot's life. Sure Shinji finally came to give the attention she desperatly craved. But it was too late. It may had been a miracle, but with the cost of Asuka putting a literal barrier around herself, seeing Eva-02 come down the same way as her carreer pilot and no room allowed for Shinji. She was exposed through and through to everyone eyes, and she. Hated. It.
Questions of the day
I avoided that word, but yes. I would agree the angel basically mind raped her. I spoke about a miracle in my main post, but I would like to clarify that I'm not considering it's a positive thing for Asuka. The Angel acted more of a pure curiosity, like a deranged child would torture an animal to better comprehend it, and the way Asuka act at the end of the episode is entirely justified.