"Amani" <amani@charter.net> wrote in message
news:vi9ik1n02g8i3f@corp.supernews.com...
> Asuka is entirely, extremely human. She's a broken individual. Her mother
> hung herself (with Asuka walking in and finding it while she was very
> young), her father and stepmother didn't have time for her or didn't
really
> care. No, she's not the nicest person. You expect her to be normal with
her
> past?

No, but I wouldn't expect them to be complete cyphers either. ^_^

> However, she does manage to focus her life enough to be a damn good
> pilot.

Maybe in terms of her synch scores. In actual combat, she's much weaker than
Shinji or Rei. She's a pretty crappy pilot really.

> She's not a perfect person. She's not even average. She can be a real
bitch.
> (I've always found Asuka's physical abuse to be wildly exaggerrated in
> fanfiction.) However, there's not a lack of explanation as to her
behavior.

"I hate my parents". It's the same reason that just about everyone uses. The
rest of the cast is not so one dimensional because of this.

> Is this an excuse? No, of course not. Asuka, like everyone else in the
> series, needs some serious therapy and has some definite issues. But she
> wasn't made a bitch for the sake of having a character to verbally abuse
> Shinji or to give some humor to the series. There are definite, realistic
> reasons she acts the way she does. She's a disturbed, problematic girl who
> has spent a good chunk of her life training to be the best. I'd guess she
> didn't get much of a childhood because of this. She's a desperate person
> hanging on to some ounce of pride. And we know what happens when she loses
> this. She breaks. She's human.

This may be the case, but you have not answered my question. Why is she even
in the show in the first place - when she doesn't actually *do* anything?

> I'll always jump to defend Asuka, as she's one of my favorite characters
> ever just because she's so human and I can recognize exactly why she acts
> the way she does and can see some of her defensive problems in myself.
She's
> too often just blown off as a bitch without people even bothering to
wonder
> why she acts the way she does. Jeez, sorry if she's more offensive than
the
> ever-stoic Rei.

I like the way that Rei always comes out on top in any situation with Asuka,
making her look like the whiny child she is. Rei doesn't need to say much -
during her tantrums, she just gives Asuka enough rope to hang herself then
cuts her down with a word. It's the difference between being a woman and
being a girl.

Rei is probably the most intelligant character in the series.