#Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu

[gainaxvel3o]

So, remember how Kyoko Soryu had her mind/soul split during her contact experiment resulting in the part of her that recognized Asuka as her daughter to be stuck in Unit 02 while her body went insane?

What would it be like if it happened to Yui Ikari?

Keep in mind, unlike Kyoko, Yui went into her contact experiment knowing what would happen. She even brought in Shinji to witness it, telling Fuyutski it was part of her plan to leave the planet as a living reminder of mankind's existence.

I could see this playing out in two ways, both sound creepy to me. One, either the Yui that remains is superficially kind, doesn't get angry nor does she have close bonds, while Unit 01 is full of her rage... or probably- more likely- the Yui that's in Unit 01 is really the part that loved her son, maybe Gendo and Fuyutski, while the Yui shell is a ruthless, uncaring scientist who probably treats them all like garbage. Any trace of benevolence gone. What do you think?

#Neon Genesis Evangelion #Yui Ikari #Contact Experiment #Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu #Unit 01 #Shinji Ikari #Gendo Ikari #Meta

[hikikomoriheadphonegirl]

#Shin Seiki Evangelion #Neon Genesis Evangelion #Asuka Langley Soryu #Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu #Sadamoto Yoshiyuki #Evangelion 80

[worst-mother-throwdown]

BRACKET 1

Round 1

Propaganda under the cut, but feel free to add yours in the reblogs

TW: child abuse, abuse, suicide

Kumasawa Chiyo propaganda

Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu propaganda

#worst fictional mother throwdown #worst mother throwdown #umineko: when they cry #umineko #chiyo kumasawa #neon genesis evangelion #neon evangelion #tw abuse #tw child abuse #tw sui

[microversejimmy]

Lina and Naga as Eva Pilots

Suddenly, their rivalry/mutual dislike for one another makes even more sense. Also, Fun Fact: Naga’s seiyuu (Maria Kawamura) actually voices Asuka’s mother, Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu.

#slayers #neon genesis evangelion #lina inverse #naga the serpent #rui araizumi #megumi hayashibara #rei ayanami #asuka langley sōryū #cosplay

[femslashfictournament]

Femslash Fic Tournament, Round 1.3

Meant to Be Ship: Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20454464 Summary: “I love you,” Hilda could tell her with all the seriousness in the world, and Marianne would answer with a sweet blush and a shy smile.

“Y-you’re sweet, Hilda,” she would reply. “Even to someone like me. Thank you.”

The best MariHilda fic I've ever found. Hilda's choices in this fic are just-- so romantic, especially when you consider her personality.

In Other Words, Please Be True Ship: Asuka Langley Soryu/Rei Ayanami Fandom: Neon Genesis Evangelion Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22080493 Summary: What if Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu had lived? — A different life for Asuka.

this fic literally changed my brain chemistry, i think about it all the time. the prose evolving early on as asuka ages. the horror movies. the soccer match. the ending??? i'm crazy

Unarmed Truth Ship: Jenny Flint/Madame Vastra, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song Fandom: Doctor Who Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18036467/chapters/42620423 Summary: “Welcome to the home of the Great Detective.” She began, a wide smile on her face as she listened to footsteps moving closer towards the door. “The sleuth who inspired Sir Doyle's tales of his own Sherlock Holmes.”

No propaganda submitted

#marianne von edmund #hilda valentine goneril #fire emblem three houses #asuka langley soryu #rei ayanami #neon genesis evangelion #madam vastra #jenny flint #thirteenth doctor #river song #doctor who #femslash fic tournament

[godfrey-industries]

( @haus-der-mysterionmusen )

“Merry Christmas so uh you’re kinda hard to shop for Yarbert so have this.” Shinji hands over a mug that says ‘I’m English I need a cuppa.”

“Allie on on the other hand is a delight to shop for.” Asuka hands the French esper a book on cybernetics by a Dr Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, PhD with a forward on bioethics by a Dr Yui Ikari PhD, the question is more where she found this relic of pre second impact scientific thought considering well things…

( Thanks for the ask @haus-der-mysterionmusen )

"Nonsense, this is perfect for me." Yarbert says happy to take the gift, "I've been wanting to start a collection of mugs for a while now. A cup for every day of the year."

The scientist ruffles up Shinji's hair and hands him a new cassette player. He didn't want to brag but he made it himself. In his humble opinion it was better than the one his dad gave him, "Merry Christmas, Shinji-kid."

-------

"Such an interesting thesis." Allie says looking through a few pages, "I'm sure this will be useful in the near future, Thank you, Asuka."

"I wasn't truly sure what you would like but I am sure this is a fitting gift." It was a giant red penguin plush. Yeah one of their roommates was already a penguin but at least this one won't hog the shower.

#haus der mysterionmusen

[i-was-a-teenage-eldritch-horror]

Asuka Was An Accident

Unit 02 is notoriously flaky, and dare I say, the most lifeless eva of all. Asuka even thinks of it as a “toy.” Whereas Unit 01 is protective and lively, and Unit 00 is erratic and self-injurious, Unit 02 fills the role of “robotic military weapon” the best out of all the evas, at least for the majority of the series. Towards the end, Unit 02 becomes obstinate and flaky.

Since Unit 02 contains Kyoko’s soul, I think this indicates something about her as a parent. Namely that Kyoko didn’t want to be a mother, in my opinion. After the contact experiment with Unit 02, she retains not only her body, but a piece of her mind. Yui, however, didn’t even retain her body (Gendo states in Episode 15 that the gravestone is an artifice), only enough DNA to be used to make Rei. This is because Yui wanted to be a mother, and to be an eva. She directly tells Fuytsuki in Episode 21 that she wants to have kids. Shinji was planned. I don’t think Kyoko particularly wanted either of these things; motherhood or being an eva. Hence only a part of her being taken into Unit 02.

Asuka is introduced into the series late, unexpectedly (to the audience), and she completely changes the game. Character dynamics, tone, everything. What does that sound like to you? To me, it sounds like a surprise pregnancy, and an accidental child.

If we know one thing about Asuka’s father, it’s that he’s a jackass. He cheated on Kyoko while she was in the hospital-- a startling parallel to how commonly men cheat on their wives and girlfriends when they experience long-term illness, such as cancer. If I’m being honest, I think Mr. Langley probably pressured Kyoko into keeping Asuka. Benefiting one-sidedly from a woman’s labor and sacrifice.

Taking this into account, it’s no surprise Unit 02 is so flaky when it comes to protecting Asuka. Kyoko tried her best to cope with being a mom, and what that ended up looking like was lifelessness, to the point that Kaworu was able to use Unit 02 in Episode 24. But ultimately it was just too much for her, so she dips out when it becomes too hard, like at the end of Asuka’s fight against the MPEs in end of evangelion. Of course, Asuka bears the brunt of that.

So, there’s another one to add to the pile of Asuka-Ritsuko parallels: being accidents. Because unless Naoko is older than Gendo, she would’ve had to have been a teen mom, and most babies born to teen moms are accidents.

Additionally, Misato and Rei, characters who are each associated with motherhood in their own way, reject Asuka. Misato consciously, purposefully neglects her. Rei ignores her. Misato also has to take Asuka in unexpectedly at the last minute.

The cherry on top of all of this is that Asuka is literally a red-headed stepchild. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, “red-headed stepchild” is a saying used to describe someone who is both fussy, hard to handle, and neglected, unwanted, and mistreated.

Sound familiar?

#originals #Asuka Langley Soryu #Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu #nge #eva #evangelion #neon genesis evangelion #eoe #end of eva #end of evangelion

[kushanna]

"she does nothing but huddle in a corner of her room, trembling and clutching a filthy doll."

nausicaä of the valley of the wind, volume 4 • hayao miyazaki

neon genesis evangelion, volume 9 • yoshiyuki sadamoto

#ah yes the doll related mommy issue. i think about it every single day #that quote is from nausicaä btw! #nausicaä of the valley of the wind #nausicaä manga #kushana #neon genesis evangelion #nge manga #asuka langley soryu #kyoko zeppelin soryu #hayao miyazaki #yoshiyuki sadamoto #mangacap #nge* #nausicaa*

[goji-pilled]

So I spent multiple hours of my day on this, since Anno wont give us any more details about them I'll just make shit up myself so I dont go insane smh

And because tumblr fries the quality so fucking hard:

#my art #neon genesis evangelion #mari illustrious makinami #does kyoko have a character tag even??? uhhhh #kyoko zeppelin soryu #<- she did not #yui ikari #gendo ikari #kozo fuyutsuki #anyways self indulgent art stuff my beloved <3

[echidna-artxiliatrix]

“And the God man found was lost. But man continues to attempt to ressurect the God! From that God was Adam. But man attempted to make a man who was like a God himself, and that was eva.“

“The evas were created from the angel known as Adam. Now, in order to defeat the angels, we are employing the same forces which caused The Second Impact and wiped out half of the human race. Only humans could be so foolish as to attempt to harness the engine of our own destruction.“

#artpost #eva #nge #neon genesis evangelion #evangelion #naoko akagi #magi system #rei ayanami #unit 00 #yui ikari #unit 01 #kyoko zeppelin soryu #unit 02

[freezing-kaiju]

has anyone ever thought about the meta that Asuka not only dyes her hair but started dying it after her mother’s death

both of her parents have black hair yet Asuka’s is a very distinctive and iconic red

What else notable has black hair? What else associated constantly with her?

#nge #neon genesis evangelion #asuka langley soryu #i know theres pieces of canon that contradict this but look evangelion’s canon as far as i can tell is a contradictory mess #kyoko zeppelin soryu #leanne grabs a megaphone #nge meta

[gainaxvel3o]

This is about as close as we got to see what Asuka's mom fully looks like in the anime continuity. Makes sense why we wouldn't get a full view of her there, Asuka wasn't ready to face her until that point in End of Eva, but...

All the other times I've seen Kyoko fully depict her with the manga design, which looks nothing like the anime version. Has there been any character sheets or fanart that depicts what the anime version of her would look like unfiltered?

#Neon Genesis Evangelion #Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu #Asuka Langley Soryu #Depictions #Asuka's Mom #Manga #Show #Series

[hikikomoriheadphonegirl]

#Shin Seiki Evangelion #Neon Genesis Evangelion #Asuka Langley Soryu #Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu #Sadamoto Yoshiyuki #Evangelion 80

[unknown-eva]

Asuka and Kyoko Vol. 12 Ch. 81 : Chance meetin - Part 2

#asuka #asuka langley #asuka langley soryu #kyoko #kyoko zeppelin #nge #manga #neon genesis evangelion #evangelion #90s #90s anime

[zenosanalytic]

Growing Up is Hard; It’s Hard and Nobody Understands

So I noticed netflix has Neon Genesis Evangelion up last week and started watching it front to back for the first time ever(this happens to have coincided with me being in a down-mood for your edification, dear readers u_u), finished it today, REALLY liked it, and I wanted to try my hand at explaining what the hell is even going on in NGE cuz it actl seemed super-clear to me(a person who has been consuming NGE analysis and post-NGE media for literally 25 years) u_u

Surface Plot; Or NERV: What the Hell Is It?

I’ll try to make this as brief as possible: An organization of super-wealthy individuals calling itself Seele(looking this up, it means soul in german) wants to possess the power of God. The final third or so of the series is clear on this; it’s all about power. Ikari Yui, a geneticist, is recruited by this organization, and her husband Gendo(having taken her name which says a LOT given typical Japanese practice) comes with her. In seeking out this power, they discover a hollow sphere underneath Antarctica(”The White Moon”), send an expedition there under the guise of the UN, encounter an entity with this power which they label an “Angel”, and do SOMETHING which prompts it to explode the continent flooding the earth and killing half the population(that Gendo left beforehand implies this may have been intentional, or that a bad outcome to Seele’s approach was easy to predict, tho in typical Gendo fashion, his is the only ass he cared to save).

Afterwards Seele blame the scientists for this outcome and send Gendo on a salvage mission which recovers both remains of the Angel, now dubbed “Adam”, and a device they dub “the spear of Longinus”. Seele creates Gehirn to study these remains for practical use; they clone “Adam” and dub the result Evas(Eves). Having cloned them, they now need a way to use and control them as the Evas are non-responsive. They hit on the idea of injecting people into them via the Entry Plug system, presumably to act as a brain. The first person to try this, Ikari Yui, was absorbed by the Eva(Unit 01); the second(Soryu Kyoko Zeppelin; Asuka’s mother) was partially psychologically absorbed by Unit 02, psychologically and mentally injured by this, institutionalized, abandoned by her shit USian husband Langley who remarried to her LEAD DOCTOR, and eventual kills herself in a hanging which Asuka either is the first to discover or, given her memories of promising to die with her/begging her not to do it, was present for. An important thing to note about this: Shinji and Asuka’s ability to sync with their Evas comes from the fact that their mothers are PART of their Eva’s identity, and all of their classmates are potential pilot-candidates. The implication here is that Seele KNEW this happened when you put adults into an Angel, and they KEPT DOING IT ANYWAY to create more pilots, but there’s no confirmation of that in series.

After the attempt at human adult control fails, Gendo combines Yui’s DNA with Adam’s and creates Rei. At the same time he is doing this another team, under Akagi Naoko, is developing Magi, a biomechanical computer for simulating the human mind(again: certain implication to this re: Evas though the series never says anything). Naoko is romantically interested in Gendo, and they start getting together(Gendo’s too much of an asshole to be said to date, I think). After Rei, a toddler, tells her Gendo calls her an “old woman” in private, not realizing this is insulting, Naoko kills her, then kills herself out of shame over having MURDERED A CHILD, and Gehirn is folded into a new organization, NERV, which Gendo is put in charge of. Rei forms the basis of the second attempt at controlling the Evas; child-pilots.

How they use Rei for this I’m not exactly sure. It could be because Rei is cloned from Yui(she easily syncs with Unit 01 before Shinji bonds with it completely), or because she’s part Angel via her Adam element(Kaworu says Angels merge with one another easily and naturally), or it could be they did something with Rei I’s corpse and Unit 00(I dont see how as it seems to require a LIVE pilot). Regardless, she is raised to be the pilot for 00, the prototype. MUCH later, when the rest of the Angels finally decide to come looking for Adam, Shinji is called in, and after his success Asuka(who like Rei and unlike Shinji has been training to pilot her whole life) is called to Nerv headquarters(under Japan, in the “Black Moon”; a second spherical hollow where they found another Angel they call Lilith) too.

Regardless the child-pilots are only a step in Nerv and Seele’s plans, as Rei is ALSO the template for the Dummy Plug system, the final step in complete control of Eva units. To put it simply, the Dummy Plugs are Rei-clones without her personality or memories, and will just do whatever the heck they’re ordered to. At least once during the series(and I’d argue two, possibly three times) Rei dies and is replaced by one of these clones through some process, which involves what looks like a pre 00 Eva’s spine and probably a Magi-like backup, which transfers her personality and memories into the new body.

So what is Nerv? Well it’s hard to say EXACTLY because Gendo is in some sort of conflict with Seele(and I want to keep my watches of End of Evangelion out of this post; to focus entirely on JUST NGE itself) and Nerv IS Gendo, but as the series states repeatedly it’s an attempt to control the future of humanity by controlling what they call “the power of god” which, given that it’s what most distinguishes the “Angels”, is the AT, or “Absolute Terror”, Field. What is the AT Field? It’s a field that can make or unmake any kind of matter or energy from basically nothing, and it also seems to have a strong tie to what you could call the Ego; to desires and sense-of-self. An AT Field gets stronger when the person generating it is experiencing powerful emotions; Confidence, sure, but also Fear, Abandonment, the Will to Live, and Anger.

That last bit is very important. Why? Strong AT Field effects require a powerful emotional motivation in the pilot combined with high sync-rates with the Eva(basically a lobotomized Angel-clone) generating the Field. The three pilots we meet, the Strongest candidates, are all exceedingly traumatized people, and Gendo is the direct cause of the trauma of two of them. At no point in the series is Gendo ever a good father to Shinji, he is CONSTANTLY unreasonable, neglectful, and cruel to him; he’s kinder to Rei but at the same time her loneliness, the state of her “home”, and her lack of self worth shows that he rarely interacts with her outside of missions or explains what’s going on beyond bald facts; and he COMPLETELY ignores Asuka, a deeply lonely child with a history of abandonment and close brushes with death; he even delegates bumping her from the program. This point is important because it’s important to recognize that Gendo is a bad dad on PURPOSE; that he instrumentalizes his bad dadness to traumatize Shinji(and Rei and Asuka, though sadly the series doesn’t focus on them enough for us to see much) as much as he can, because he thinks that trauma, that emotional instability and anger, MAKES SHINJI A MORE USEFUL PILOT; ie lets him generate more powerful AT Fields. This is never said clearly, but it’s clearly what’s going on as forcing Unit 01(and thus Shinji) into awful, heartbreaking, life-threatening situations is vital to his plan. Gendo’s a piece of shit, and I want ppl to recognize just HOW BIG a piece of shit he is, because I feel this powerfully.

And for what? For Power. To be “God”. To get the highest numbers. To generate the MOST Invincible Invincibility Shield. For Ridiculous, Absurd, Childish reasons. For, you know, the same reasons rich and powerful people do all the fucked up shit they do in the real world where giant magic robots thankfully DONT exist.

And how do they plan to do this? Through “Human Instrumentation”, which will literally kill everyone by turning them all into goo.

Metaplot; Or “SHINJI! Don’t Get in that Robot!!”

So, maybe this is just because(as said previously) I’ve been reading NGE Analysis and consuming media which NGE heavily inspired for ~25 years, but I think it’s old hat at this point to note that Neon Genesis Evangelion is ALSO an allegory for becoming an adult, centered on Shinji. However, it’s just really SO on the nose in this, so PERFECT as such a narrative, that I want to run through it real quick. Also: A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is basically a thesis-statement for this series; please check out the lyrics.

So Shinji is living under the guardianship of a teacher(yup: this series even takes a swing at how our society uses schools to warehouse kids so their parents can waste their lives producing “Value” instead of raising them), when the shitty dad that abandoned him decides he has a use for him after all and calls him up.

On meeting with a child he has not seen SINCE HE WAS A TODDLER LITERALLY ABANDONED HIM ON THE STREET WHEN HIS MOTHER DIED he immediately ambushes him with the command that he get in a huge body(that he grow up) to do what? Whatever Gendo tells him to, but specifically: commit acts of violence for Gendo and Seele’s profit. He tells him this will protect people; meanwhile doing it destroys those peoples’ literal homes. The rest of the series is a series of monotonous, incomprehensible “Tests” judging his, and his peers, worthiness for approval and affection on the basis of how well they can use those giant bodies to do what Gendo tells them(so: capitalist work), punctuated by unpredictable, brutal, traumatizing, and physically dangerous events(so: capitalist work). Every friend, and the one lover, he meets, he is placed in unnecessary, destructive competition with and, when they are male, forced to attack and(in the case of the one lover, Kaworu) kill them; this last comment on homophobia is so stark and obvs I don’t even feel like you can CALL it subtext, even IF it plays out over mostly a single episode(honestly this plotline should have been given more time). And all the time they’re doing this, they must ALSO continue going to school and maintaining the front that they’re happy smiley Heroes, completely normal and not traumatized at all, and Nerv and the government that lets them run this city is a great and wonderful organization. Is this not what becoming an adult, over your teens and 20s, feels like?

And then there’s Seele and Nerv. Able to move state governments as they wish, Seele CAUSED Second Impact(Global Warming). By not returning Adam’s remains, they’re CAUSING the Angel attacks on Nerv meant to retrieve them(the threat of Human extinction). The Angels eventually begin trying to communicate and Nerv’s response? Destroy them before they can; blow up the Evas(and their pilots) if they succeed. And to top it all off Seele and Nerv are actually trying to CAUSE the very extinction(Third Impact) they claim to be preventing! Seele and Nerv are just SUCH good metaphors for capitalism in our modern day.

The transwoman reading of Shinji also seems pretty dang strong to me, though I’ll only deal with it shallowly. Shinji is the only “male” of all the pilots. Outside of command and security, most Nerv staff are women. Being an Eva pilot, being Nerv staff, is marked as “feminine”, and Shinji is an Eva pilot; is a Nerv staffer. The body he gets into, Unit 01, acts as a metaphor for the large, imposing, masculine body he’s expected to have as an adult “man”, yet it’s also spiritually his mom -feminine- and his ability to use it is tied DIRECTLY with his ability to “Sync” with that spirit; with his ease and comfort being feminine. Even at the level of mere aesthetics, Shinji’s plugsuit makes him appear to have breasts! Going a bit deeper, he initially relates to the women around him by relating to their gender. He’s most at ease with Rei because of the personality traits she shares with him which, we know from his gender-policing of Misato from earlier in the series, are traits he considers feminine(ie: he doesn’t feel like Misato has them, so he thinks she’s being a woman “wrong” and gets oddly offended by this in a way that really feels more about him than her). Asuka is constantly expressing her frustration with him for not “being a man”, ie, for being “feminine” in her eyes, and he isn’t really bothered by it(her calling him an idiot seems to stick much more firmly). Misato and Shinji establish a modus vevendi when she accepts him as he is, allowing him to do the household chores and to cook; he’s comfortable and happy when accepted into roles his culture considers feminine, while most of the series is him bucking AGAINST the masculinity forced on him by Nerv, his father, and others. Again: this is a very surface-level engagement with the subject, but even at that shallow level I feel like the case for reading Shinji as a transwoman is pretty solid.

Dislikes

It’s not a perfect series by any means of course.

There’s allot of dialogue that’s pure 90s nonsense, though the series mostly includes it only to shoot it down.

Like I said above, I don’t think Rei and Asuka really get the time or attention they deserve. In general the series treatment of women is ...Weird... especially around the issue of sex. It’s really strange; in many ways it’s far better than most anime(spcl from that period) on this. Women are ACTUAL PEOPLE with psychology, opinions, and pasts; they’re allowed to have emotions of their own, and struggles, and to be damn competent; they are independent and their own selves rather than accessories or “prizes” to men. But on the issue of feminine sexuality it just gets suddenly so weird in this very particular old-school misogynist way. Like: it treats women’s attraction and reactions TO relationships as something devoid of and impenetrable to reason, without belittling the emotions(the desire and hurt) behind those reactions. That’s the only way I can describe it, and it’s so strange to see something that is both so insulting and sympathetic at once. Oh, and the Akagis in particular are done super-dirty for seemingly no reason I can see, tho I can guess, and Akagi Ritsuki is CLEARLY a lesbian(possibly bi lesbian) and also Rose Lalonde(srsl; her Deal should have been an unrequited, unspoken crush on Misato. They openly dealt with queerness re: Kaworu and Shinji they could have done it here too).

The Kaworu storyline should have been a series of episodes or even developed from the start with him as another pilot(maybe replace Toji with him), though they’d have to tone down his weirdness, at least at the start. A deeper dive on Shinji’s sexuality(honestly his attraction to Kaworu is SO much more immediate and believable than anything we see with him and Asuka, which there is basically nothing of beyond the ep where they had to do choreography for a fight, and that’s not developed on) would have really been appreciated, and having Kaworu be a bigger part of the series would have facilitated that.

Also honestly the whole series feels a bit rushed? Spcl the second half. Like I said: I haven’t done any followup reading lately, but I remember there being some budget problems or something, so maybe that’s the cause. Ironically it might actl also be why it’s as GOOD as it is; having to keep it short forces you to write concise and lean, and that’s probably why its themes and message are so clear. But, I’d have liked more rambling for character development, and more time spent on seeing Rei and Asuka react to the stresses we saw Shinji face(also they never really get moments to shine like he does; another negative common to the medium and genre). Asuka in particular, as a Japanese German with a USian temperament abandoned by her parents, already an outsider in SO many ways, coming to live in an entirely different culture where she’s even MORE of an outsider; forced to live with people(Misato and Shinji) she finds it impossible to relate to or connect with; who has literally NO ONE beside a single adult guardian who totally blows her off THE WHOLE SERIES after delivering her; PLUS her awful past: there’s just SO MUCH material I’d have loved to see explored more slowly and with greater depth, detail, and sympathy even if what IS there already is pretty powerful and effecting. She’s SUCH a good Vriska(so I’d also have loved to see her break more shit too >:>)

Conclusion

So Anyway: I really liked this series. It had its problems, there are things I’d have liked to see, but it absolutely deserves the reputation it has. I might write more about this, I might do a watch through INCLUDING End of Evangelion(which actl makes much more sense having watched the series, though having done so makes Shinji’s masturbation scene comPLETELY out of left-field like where the hell did THAT come from); we’ll see.

#Neon Genesis Evangelion #The Dreaded Animes #zA Reviews #zA Opinions

[insomniacowl]

Neon Genesis Evangelion analysis chapter 11: Eva Unit-02 Mother of Asuka

Trigger warning: Suicide

First time we see Unit – 02 in action

 Evangelion Unit – 02 is the third Eva unit that was produced. After the prototype Unit – 00, and test type Unit – 01, Unit – 02 was the very first production type model. Thus, it had improved upon problems that exist on the first two. In simpler words, it is the Unit best designed for battle against the angels.

 Unlike the previous two models, Unit – 02 stands out in its difference in design. Contrasted to the Red coolant and brown-toned skin of the previous two, this model has a purplish coolant and dark green skin. Furthermore, it was made with four-eyes, have sharper facial outlines, and a generally slimmer body that makes it resemble a person much more.

My theory regarding this design choice is that there might have been attempts to emphasize the connection between Evas and humans.

Design sketch for Unit – 02 in the making of End of Evangelion

 The physical appearance aside, let us talk about Unit – 02’s core. Just like how Unit – 01 contains Shinji’s mother, Ikari Yui’s soul, Unit – 02’s core also contains Asuka’s mother, Soryu Kyoko Zeppelin’s soul. This is a fact that many Eva fans would be familiar with. But there is another fact that is not mentioned as often nor in detail.

 Firstly, Unlike Yui whose soul was absorbed into the core completely during the contact experiment, Kyoko’s soul was split into half; only the half that contained Kyoko’s motherly love for Asuka was absorbed into the Unit-02’s core, leaving the other half devoided of her love for Asuka. (The possibility for soul splitting will be important in the discussion of Unit-00’s core)

 This is why Kyoko did not die after the experiment and lived a short life in the state that we hear Asuka recount.

Yet it would be inaccurate to think that Unit – 02 contains only the soul of the motherly side of Kyoko, and this is one of the common misconceptions many viewers have when they discuss this topic. In the world of Evangelion, the body and the Soul are clearly different from each other. This means that even when Kyoko’s body has died, the soul did not necessarily disappear. Rather, accounting for the fact that since half of the soul was already inside Unit – 02’s soul, there is a high likelihood that the remaining half was absorbed into the Unit-02’s core when Kyoko’s physical body has died.

We can say that this is the exact moment when Unit – 02’s core became “Complete”; it was complete not when the contact experiment took place, but rather when Kyoko’s physical body has died. This view is supported by the fact that Asuka’s pilot training began around this time as well. 

 But we should also keep in mind that Kyoko’s soul stayed as two separate entities even when they entered Unit – 02’s core.

Please don’t give up yet! / Please die with me!

One proof of this is in End of Evangelion, part ‘Air’ before Asuka realized her mother’s presence. We hear Kyoko’s kind voice whispering “I won’t leave you to die, you must live on” mixed in with Kyoko’s angry voice screaming “Please die with me”. While this is a representation of the severity of Asuka’s trauma, it also serves to show the viewers that two Kyoko’s souls exist concurrently in the Core and are talking to Asuka separately.

Further proof of this is in episode 24 where Tabris can freely move unit – 02 (Since it is made out of his body after all), he points out that he cannot synchronize with Unit-02 as there is already a soul “Trapped” within it. If we were to think that the soul inside Unit – 02’s core was only the motherly half of Kyoko, it is a sentence that does not make sense. However, if we consider that there are two souls in the Core that are competing against each other for control, we can better make sense why Tabris used the word “Trapped” to describe the state of Kyoko’s soul(s) in the core.

Let die together… Asuka

Now let’s turn our attention to Kyoko herself. We know that she is Asuka’s mother and that she was working on the E-project in Gehirn’s facility in Germany. She took part in the Contact experiment as Yui did and suffered hefty damage to her mental state due to it. 

She did not die when this happened. But she was no longer able to recognize her daughter, Asuka and lived the rest of her life believing the doll she had to be her daughter. Kyoko in this state referred to this doll as Asuka and later on hung herself with the doll in an attempt at double suicide with her daughter.Unfortunately, young Asuka witnessed this scene and it became a source of great trauma in her young mind.

To add on, the Langley in Asuka’s name is from her father. To describe him, we can call him the garbage of a person. When Kyoko was isolated in the hospital, he was already having an affair with Kyoko’s doctor.

 To add on, on the day of Kyoko’s funeral, Langley was already married to this doctor (The person Asuka now refers to as mother). Since this is conveyed to us not in detail nor visually, but in symbolically, it is easy to miss without an attentive viewing of the episode. Yet it is an important piece of the plot that tells the tragic story of Asuka’s cruel and dysfunctional family. 

 It tells us that Kyoko was not loved in any way, shape, or form from her husband, and Kyoko was nothing if not for her motherly love Asuka.

I am strong. So I won’t cry. I will think for myself.

Coming back to Asuka, even if her mother were inside of unit – 02, she was unable to realize her presence, neither was Kyoko in a state that would allow her to communicate with Asuka.

 Yet fortunately, Eva can be moved if its harmonics with the pilot is above a certain level, and this harmonic can be forced into sync if the pilot have enough willpower. That is how all three pilots, Rei, Shinji, and Asuka were able to pilot the Eva well enough for battle even before they became aware of the souls that reside inside the core. 

 Asuka was able to show a superior synchronization rate among the three pilots. We will touch on this in greater detail when we come around to a discussion of Asuka herself, but the point I want to raise here is to consider that Asuka was able to move her Evangelion just with her pride alone.

 This also is the reason why in the later parts on the series, where she no longer felt pride in herself, her synchronization rate fell below the level required to move the Eva.

 Rei: Eva won’t move if you don’t open your heart to it

Asuka: Huh? What are you saying?

Rei: Evas have their own heart and mind

Asuka: heart and mind? That doll?

We can reasonably say that the most important criteria to synchronize with and move the Evas is the willpower of the pilots in their desire to pilot the Eva.

 For Asuka, this willpower comes in layers. On the surface, it was fun for herself to be able to pilot a giant mecha. But deep within her psyche, she equated her self-worth with her ability to move the Eva. Just as how Rei sees herself as worthless without her Eva; just as how Shinji is convinced that he has to pilot his Eva, Asuka too, when her Eva was taken away from her, had nothing left of herself.

 That is why when Asuka’s pride came tumbling down, it was the last chance for Kyoko to help her. Yet Asuka was unable to recognize her mother’s presence inside the core and this left her to end up in the state that we see her in.

You are my doll. All you have to do is to do as I say.

 For Asuka, Unit – 02 was not the person that loved her; it was too late when she realized this. To her, Eva Unit – 02 was nothing but a tool to prove her self-worth to the world. The way she calls Unit – 02 a doll symbolically parallels how Kyoko mistook the doll for her daughter. It shows us that Asuka is projecting the trauma of her childhood directly onto Unit – 02.

As Asuka calls Unit – 02 a doll, the English sub-title flashed at the bottom of the eye-catch is ‘Don’t be’.

 Perhaps, this was something Kyoko worryingly wanted to communicate to Asuka.

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