[EVA] Misato the crack shot

[RJN]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harold Ancell" <hga at ancell-ent.com>
To: "The english-language evangelion mailing list." 
<evangelion at shinobu.onegeek.org>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 8:47 AM
Subject: [EVA] Misato the crack shot


> At 09:55 PM 8/19/2007, Drew Lewis wrote:
>
>>On 8/19/07, Carl Gustav Horn <once at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Misato is not a professional soldier.  She is a fighter definitely,
>>> > & the NERV cops are paramilitary I guess, but more like armed police.
>>>
>>> What the 1995-97 story never explained is how Misato acquired not
>>> only combat training, but training sufficient to take out three
>>> assault-rifle packing JSSDF troops
>
> A gun is not a magical totem, conferring upon its wielder any
> special ability.  In this case, surprise and hitting where they
> aren't wearing body armor counts for a lot more.
>
> Shooting a bunch of armed people does not indicate any skill, and
> while their failure to quickly take the "bridge" was I'm sure mostly
> a matter of dramatic necessity, in "real life" the use of grenades
> (free and launched) would have made that a short affair against
> people without fragment protection (body armor and helmets).
>
>>> armed with only a pistol, a pistol
>>> she had never been seen before to use, except for pointing it at
>>> people's backs. (It would be one of my special otaku requests to have
>>> such a special flashback scene in the new films explaining this).
>>
>>              I always figured that she was seconded from some other 
>> branch
>>of the UN military to Nerv for the duration of the crisis.  I can't think 
>>of
>>any evidence of this offhand, but it would explain a few of those 
>>questions
>>if she were a former infantry or  armor officer.
>
> I don't have anything handy to cite and Wikipedia says there is no 
> information
> about her past between college and NERV (except for a bit from the manga 
> about
> "genetic research" WRT PenPen), but I *thought* it was canon she had done 
> a
> stint in the ground part of the JSDF before joining NERV, and so she's as
> "professional" as an ex-JGSDF officer might be.
>
> Learning to shoot well with a pistol only requires time, opportunity, and
> determination as well as some aptitude, and while coaching is helpful, 
> it's
> not essential past the basics.  She could have learned once she was in 
> NERV
> at a level where she was issued one, I'm sure in its depths it has at 
> least
> one good conventional range.  And there *has* to be least a short course 
> for
> those who, especially in Japan, have no prior training.
>
> Most people also say they need at least monthly refresher practice for a
> handgun (long gun skills don't seem to deteriorate much), but that doesn't
> seem to be true for me---however I started shooting in kindergarten, and
> based on the abilities of all my blood relatives it would seem I have some
> genetic aptitude as well.
>
> All in all her performance in the one time she used it "in anger" is
> entirely credible given a few reasonable assumptions like the above.
>
>                                        - Harold

Not forgetting the element of surprise.  Hard cases about to murder a child 
(& who met little serious resistance overall), were not expecting a red 
coated avenging firebrand to attack, & were caught completely offguard. :)
>
> -- 
> Evangelion mailing list - To unsubscribe, visit
> http://eva.onegeek.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evangelion
>