LogFAQs > #932216782

Misato > Rei > Asuka

Misato was all shades of fucked up, but she was one of the closest people Shinji had in his life and even as her foibles and issues as a person negatively affected Shinji - making him do all the chores, making a move on him at one point to numb the pain of Rei 2's death - she offered support and stability, even as a pantomime. She's deeply messed up, but because of that I think she can level with Shinji when she's not Hedgehog's Dilemma-ing it up like he does. She is, for all intents and purposes, the closest person in Shinji's life. And maybe she uses that to exploit him for the good of NERV, like in EoE, and that's a function of her role at NERV. But still, in optimal conditions, Misato is a very fun and out-going person, and if we're talking "waifu" shit then sure, she's neat.

Rei has a lot in common with Shinji. She's very meek, she's used to living alone, she's mistreated and exploited by Gendo and NERV. But because of her upbringing in NERV, she's accustomed to being used as a tool, whereas Shinji holds a lot of baggage regarding his dad and being used to pilot the EVA. Shinji slowly supercedes his father as the person Rei fights for, because he shows her kindness and treats her like a person, and it's this influence that results in her self-destruction to kill... Bardiel? It's been a while since I've seen the show. Shinji and Rei grow the most throughout the course of the series, and I don't think it's wrong to say that they influence each other's actions within NERV as the series goes on. It's a good pairing, especially if you read the manga. It's a shame that the Evangelion universe basically exists to make something shitty out of anything that could be good, what with Rei's origin and whatnot.

I don't like Asuka. I find her more sympathetic than when I was a teenager, but she verbally and physically abuses Shinji and a relationship in that sense would lack an equal distribution of power. Her relationship with Shinji is extremely unhealthy, down to the last shot of the series, and I genuinely don't understand how people find her behavior appealing. I understand the "tsundere" concept, but this idea that you'll get to a soft, demure core after weathering abuse is fucking stupid - everyone needs help, but turning "traumatised individual hurts those around her until someone comes along and weathers her storm long enough to fix her" into a goddamn trope? That shit is wack. Asuka warms up to Shinji, but the fact remains that she spends most of the series toying with him, hitting him and yelling at him, extolling her superiority over him and just generally treating him like a piece of shit - it's unappealing as a pairing at best, and outright irresponsible at worst. And Shinji does retaliate with creepy weird teenager shit, which arguably makes things even worse - a majority of their relationship is built on mutual hostile dysfunction, which even Misato is better about.

If we're counting these people for their strengths and not their weaknesses - Misato is very accommodating and outgoing, Rei is sheltered but sweet and has room to grow as a person, and Asuka is confident to the point of brashness. I've had 12 years with these characters to get to the root of their characters, and I can say with certainty that I think the order here is Misato > Rei > Asuka.

Even then, Kaworu is the best choice, so I mean whatever.

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