[EVA] Gender analysis in the series, vis a vis Asuka and Misato

[Carl Horn]

On Dec 12, 2009, at 2:00 PM, V V wrote:

> Logical counterpoint:  Anno grew so disgusted with the endless  
> merchandising of Eva, the thousands of naked Asuka and Rei  
> statuettes, that he put in the opening scene of End of Eva (not the  
> whole thing just the first scene) as sort of a "this is what you  
> fanboys are really like, you ignored our character study and just  
> made a ton of porn" thing.
>
> I really think the naughty fanart detracts from our overall  
> understanding of the series.
>
>
> The self-serving, misinterpretted fanfiction has been allowed to  
> run rampant for too long.  It's time to rein in the brutes.
>

But you seek to see what is actually there, don't you? Look at "E- 
Mono," (ISBN4-04-852868-8), edited by Gainax and published by Newtype  
during Christmas 1997; i.e., the year THE END OF EVANGELION came out.  
It was the then-definitive catalog of licensed Evangelion goods.  
There are certainly many Asuka and Rei statuettes, but not naked;  
many are in fact based on fan-service shots from Anno's show-- 
bandages Rei, one-piece bathing suit Rei, two-piece bathing suit  
Asuka, skirt-blowing Asuka, etc.

Gainax is certainly capable of making an anime without fan service-- 
look at ROYAL SPACE FORCE, an anime that had the exact same character  
designer as Eva. But they didn't take this approach on Evangelion. If  
they were worried about the risk of naughty fanart detracting from  
people's overall understanding of the series, perhaps they shouldn't  
have included scenes where you can see Asuka's boobs hanging inside  
her nightshirt. Again, they could have written the female characters  
in Eva with the same roles, the same psychological complexity, but  
made them look plain and unglamorous, like Leiqunni in RSF. Or at  
least, made them no more "cute" than most of the male characters in  
Eva are.

But Gainax didn't--Anno didn't; Rei and Asuka were designed as sex  
symbols, and that's what they became. I agree with you that the  
masturbation scene in the film is a statement about the sexualization  
of the characters, but I took it to be an confession by Anno of what  
he had done, as much as a condemnation of others (Watch the video  
store scene in Anno's LOVE & POP for more on this).

--C.