Neon Genesis Evangelion: Asuka's Arrival in Japan / Asuka Strikes!   First Watch 
July 4, 2019 2:30 PM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe

Misato, Shinji, Touji and Kensuke travel to a famous aircraft carrier to collect the new EVA-02 and its prideful pilot, Asuka Langley Souryuu. A seaborne Angel strikes the fleet, and Asuka leads Shinji into her Eva's entry plug for an immediate demonstration of her skills.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Don’t love the tropey anime sex comedy stuff, but I’m sure there’s a lot more coming. On the upside, another ridiculous great Misato plan wins the day.
posted by rodlymight at 6:48 PM on July 4, 2019 [1 favorite]


The sex comedy stuff is definitely one of Eva's weakest moments. It's 100% possible to depict 14 year old kids discovering their sexual selves without also leering at them the way Evangelion does, and there's definitely ways to deconstruct fanservice tropes without also unironically indulging in them.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:27 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]


I love how much Asuka is just the Michael Bay's Evangelion (new watchers don't Google it, it's got a ton of spoilers) version of Shinji as a girl.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:26 PM on July 4, 2019 [1 favorite]


This is an example of the whiplash I experience with Evangelion. On the one hand we're supposed to take the psychological and horror elements seriously, but then they load it up with sexism and fanservice.

It really does not combine well, and ultimately the sexism detravts from the story.
posted by happyroach at 10:09 AM on July 5, 2019 [6 favorites]


Speaking of the whiplash, they cover this a lot in the Waypoint podcast, covering episodes 8-13.
There is a long running trope of fan service in anime, where by characters (almost always women) are sexualized by the "camera" for the enjoyment of the (largely male) audience. It's often deployed in irrespective of whatever plot point is happening at that moment, purely to titillate. Evangelion is no exception, though it complicates it's own usage by attempting to explore the burgeoning sexuality of it's teenage characters. But there's a notable difference between characters having complicated sexual feelings and the show's creators deciding to sexualize characters for the viewer. We discuss the messy way that episodes eight through thirteen deal with these issues and more on this week's Waypoints.
I'm still listening, and they go through a fairly lengthy content warning at the beginning that covers bits I haven't got to yet in the podcast, nor have we hit those episodes yet.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:57 AM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]


That underwater shot of them being dragged through a sunken city is really effective. I also love the last triumphant shot as Unit-02 lands, back to the explosion, and immediately faceplants. The series of interactions between Misato and the ship's captain are nice, especially when she pops her head in like "hey, want some effective strategies for that mystery monster? No?"

I thought it was interesting that Asuka was shocked to see a mouth on the angel, why don't any of these departments share intel?
posted by lucidium at 3:04 PM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]


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