>> (Can't say I really like either image, both Rei and Asuka have weird, 
>> half-frightened, half-sad expressions.
>
> Yeah, I was trying to figure out why Rei was naked in that picture--
> she certainly wasn't looking "sexy" (and nudity != sexy, so there),
> just inexplicably nude.

Is Gainax trying to send us a message by making these characters uncomfortable
when they're undressed?  Why does so much anime sexualize females who don't want
to be?

Gainax made this calendar in 2001, after making Kare Kano and Furi Kuri, both
anime that star rarely sexualized, strong-willed young women.  Now, it'd be
nice to have both, a girl who's as competent and self-motivated as any guy at
work/school, then playful and sexy after hours.  But all anime I've seen do one
or the other.  If guys are going to use anime as a role model for sex, it should
explain how to work with and get along with, then maybe score with, girls who
are strong, independent and sexy.

Back in my teens, I was perfectly satisfied with how Dragon Knight and Eva
treated girls.  But in real life, if you treat a woman that way, you get a world
of hurt.  I know from experience.  So anytime I see such simple minded hentai, I
get turned off because they bring up bad memories.  I think anime should still
show a guy and a girl go all the way, but I want to see it feature personalities
who would get far in real life.

When you use fiction as a role model, you're really using the people who made it
as a role model, so it's never really fiction.  So, how is Hideaki Anno's love
life?  How about Miyazaki?  Naoko Takeuchi?  Akira Toriyama?  The Clamp
ladies?  Mamoru Oshii?  The Wachowskis?  Hironobu Sakaguchi?  Hideo Kojima?  Yu
Suzuki?  James Cameron?  George Lucas?  Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze?
Alfonso Cuaron?