Why is Misato less popular than the other 2 female leads?

[Slowpokeking]

No offense to Asuka and Rei, they are very good characters and deserve such popularity. Just why wasn't Misato as much popular as these two?

She has a very complete characterization and value so much to Shinji's change. It's actually quite difficult to write a mature age female character so well when most of her interaction was with a boy like Shinji. I also think she is very beautiful.

[Kendrix]

I don't actually think she's that much less popular.

We once had a site popularity contest and she won.

She doesn't so much have less fans as she has less dedicated hardcore fans. But she doesn't have as many haters either. & most ppl appreciate the complexity there.

• the touching on social issues etc. like how women are made to feel ashamed for their sex lives
• Like some ep 4 scenes actually made me understand what That One Argument looks like from my parent's perspective & made me just erase some phrases from my vocabulary(& this only worked because she's also a struggling PoV character trying her best despite not knowing how, someone that we see in their pyjamas all groggy in the morning & feel sorry for, not your typical mentor judging you from a position of power & wisdom)
• The fear of ending up marrying a crappy dude just like her mother but not played for a joke but for a constant doubt to everything you do
• Having a character who's actually happy their parents divorced meant so much to me. Cause it's always treated as a bi drama to be avoided at all costs but I always WISHED my parents would divorce & was happy when they considered it & sad when they stayed together... ppl are different. We also have Asuka for whom it was definitely traumatic but both of them are allowed to exist & have feelings

I mean for Asuka & Rei for every person who's obsessed with them there's another who hates them with a passion.
We had maybe a few users with very negative views of Misato but for the most part, most ppl who've seen the show like her at least somewhat.
And what's not to like, she's cool, she's badass, she's hot, she's relatable, she's one of the few ppl who try to be nice/moral while still struggling with it & acknowledging that it's hard.

If you shout into the void: "Misato's cool!" most ppl will agree & move on with their days.
If you say, "Asuka is cool!" some ppl will come out of the woodwork to say she sucks or "Rei is much better!" "No Kaworu is best!" (and same when you gush about either of those) & then you'll get into an leghty argument and that causes you to be more invested.
Asuka & Rei seem sort of predestined to create that situation cause they canonically don't get along.

There's not as much fanworks for Misato but that's probably for the same reason that no one makes that much Beren/Luthien Silmarillion fanfiction: They already get everything on screen you're not left wanting more as much. Misato's ​arc is very complete, they basically do all with her that could have been done, she boinks her love interest on screen, she comes out of her dark depressed moment & goes down heroically.
All the catharsis you could want is given to you in the show.

Meanwhile the pilots don't really turn the corner - there's a possibility that they might, were shown what could be the beginning of that especially for Shinji and Asuka, but the camera fades to black once they get as far as, "Ok, truce lets not murder each other"...
Obviously this is the point where you're supposed to use your own brain & look at where they went wrong, WHY all the what if's never happened - you're left hanging in a good & deliberate way, but you're still left hanging & that creates desire for extra catharsis.

Maybe you want to see Rei/Shinji/Asuka boink a love interest, come out of their funk and deliver a heroic speech XDD Misato has already done that.

and i mean since you joined the forum misatos hardcore fan population has at least increased by one

[Slowpokeking]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah I have been her fan for 20 years as a little boy like Shinji. Even in the series she was liked/admired by quite a few characters. But whenever I ask ppl around, they think she's too old or already hanging out with Kaji or whatever reason. When I was making the video last week I have found that she is just like a role model and symbol of woman/humanity's good to me that no fictional character could surpass.

Of course, I like Rei(especially the 2nd one) and Asuka as well. Even Ritsuko is a quite sympathetic one to me while I dislike some of her weaknesses.

[Mr. Tines]

She's less popular because, by anime standards, she's positively geriatric -- it's like in one of the Dirty Pair OVAs, those 19 year old girls get referred to as "ba-san" rather than "nee-san" (they do get quite indignant at that). Misato's really aimed at the "hot for teacher" demographic, not that there's anything wrong with that (why, hello there M Macron!).

The fact that she's also an alcoholic and a slattern may have something to do with it as well.

[BusterMachine4]

She's less popular because, by anime standards, she's positively geriatric -- it's like in one of the Dirty Pair OVAs, those 19 year old girls get referred to as "ba-san" rather than "nee-san" (they do get quite indignant at that). Misato's really aimed at the "hot for teacher" demographic, not that there's anything wrong with that (why, hello there M Macron!)

Yeah, I always found it kind of funny that “adult” and “old” are considered synonyms in anime. I don’t think it’s the reason for her lack of popularity in Japan, though. Is the whole “women over 25 are too old” culture really that strong there?

Overall though, it really says a lot about cultural differences that the quiet teenager is the most popular character in Japan, while the headstrong adult is the most popular character in America.

[Lavinius]

The real question is why Ritsuko is the least popular of the five female leads.

[Line]

As much as I saw, for instagram for example, she is popular because "Uh oh so hot ! Misato boobs and ass so sexy " or "She have to bear and take care of Shinji and Asuka, such a courageous woman to support these twos!"

She popular because of the stereotype sexy -woman in that's case- she represent. Or her so called role "substitute mother" to Shinji (<--Not trying to tackle wheter or not is it truly her role here, just pointing out is it what some type of fans usually call her.)

But, she not really popular for herself. Her hidden deepths and struggle. After all, how many people can claim "Ooh I watched evangelion, and I identify highly with her struggles"? I'm not saying those people don't exist, but I didn't saw many saying that's compared to Shinji and Asuka.

I'm even seeing people openly saying identifying more with Rei, (who as for herself, some "fans" dare to say "But how can you identify with Rei?!") than with Misato.

She the hot milf . The subsitute mother to Shinji. The lover to Kaji. Not really Misato Katsuragi

.And, as for the sake of continuing the tangent, some evangelion adults are criminally underrated. Ritsuko, for giving a close example...

I'm stopping there cause I'm tired, and at some close point, this tangent would not make sense anymore, and would be just me rambling.

[Slowpokeking]

The fact that she's also an alcoholic and a slattern may have something to do with it as well.

I did feel a bit weird when I saw it, but couldn't blame her abit when I learned her past.

These small problems actually made her character more human and realistic.

SPOILER: Show

As much as I saw, for instagram for example, she is popular because "Uh oh so hot ! Misato boobs and ass so sexy " or "She have to bear and take care of Shinji and Asuka, such a courageous woman to support these twos!"

She popular because of the stereotype sexy -woman in that's case- she represent. Or her so called role "substitute mother" to Shinji (<--Not trying to tackle wheter or not is it truly her role here, just pointing out is it what some type of fans usually call her.)

But, she not really popular for herself. Her hidden deepths and struggle. After all, how many people can claim "Ooh I watched evangelion, and I identify highly with her struggles"? I'm not saying those people don't exist, but I didn't saw many saying that's compared to Shinji and Asuka.

I'm even seeing people openly saying identifying more with Rei, (who as for herself, some "fans" dare to say "But how can you identify with Rei?!") than with Misato.

She the hot milf . The subsitute mother to Shinji. The lover to Kaji. Not really Misato Katsuragi

.And, as for the sake of continuing the tangent, some evangelion adults are criminally underrated. Ritsuko, for giving a close example...

I'm stopping there cause I'm tired, and at some close point, this tangent would not make sense anymore, and would be just me rambling.

I don't think these stereotype were bad(I don't have sexual attraction to her though), these could attract ppl in their first sight just like Rei and Asuka's some basic traits, THEN you will truly focus on characters deep down. It's how I went through. Till today I really wish to be loved and cared by someone like her, at the same time wanted to follow her path to love and care others.

Her relationship with Shinji and Kaiji were both reflecting her nature. She also has a very complete growth due to the interaction. That's very very rare for character of her age in animes. Most of the "elder female" are just like what you said, typical stereotype supporting role without such depth and complexity, even Rebuild kinda pushed her closer to such role.

The real question is why Ritsuko is the least popular of the five female leads.

I don't like Ritsuko much because compare to Misato showing positive both to others and break her own shadow. Ritsuko couldn't get over it and resulted in such tragic ending.

[Kendrix]

I#m not sure I'd still consider Ritsuko one of the 'leads', she didn't even get her own EoTV segment

[baldur]

The real question is why Ritsuko is the least popular of the five female leads.

Uh, five female leads? Is that a joke or am I missing something?

I think she's less popular because there's not as much focus on her in comparison to the other characters. She also has a rather cold and repressed demeanor, is less ethical than most of the main cast, and ultimately meets a rather pathetic/tragic fate. If you're implying that she's underrated, though, I agree.

I#m not sure I'd still consider Ritsuko one of the 'leads', she didn't even get her own EoTV segment

I'm not sure how tongue-in-cheek this is meant to be, but I actually agree.

The fact that she's also an alcoholic and a slattern may have something to do with it as well.

I always felt like that was a relatable and likable trait of hers. It's not really played off in a very serious or unappealing manner either.

[Mr. Tines]

Uh, five female leads? Is that a joke or am I missing something?

Shinji, as best girl, makes five.

[Slowpokeking]

I always felt like that was a relatable and likable trait of hers. It's not really played off in a very serious or unappealing manner either.

Totally, it's very reasonable since she had experienced such terrible incidents and daddy issue.

And she mostly kept it to herself, not trying to hurt others at all.

[baldur]

Shinji, as best girl, makes five.

of course.

[C.T.1290]

I know that a lot of fans go for Rei or Asuka. Me personally, I’m more of a Misato person, mostly because of how she around my age. Jailbaits just aren’t for me because of obvious reasons. It might have been more acceptable if I was their age again, but frankly I’m not. So Misato or Ritsuko are the best option for me.

And I still believe that Misato is a popular character. It could be because of her role in Q that her popularity may have more or less declined.

Still, Misato is the best girl in my book.

[BusterMachine4]

Me personally, I’m more of a Misato person, mostly because of how she around my age. Jailbaits just aren’t for me because of obvious reasons. It might have been more acceptable if I was their age again, but frankly I’m not. So Misato or Ritsuko are the best option for me.

I've always been kind of zig-zaggy about the whole "is liking Asuka and Rei pedophilia" debate. But right now, I think that it's not really pedophilia.

I mean, they're not even drawn like 14 year olds in the first place. They look like adults, just shorter. They were written as teenagers to take advantage of the writing opportunities that allows, but they were drawn as adults so people would be less weirded out by the fanservice.

And even if the Eva characters did look like teenagers, the whole reason why age-of-consent laws exist in the first place is to protect young people who don't know a lot about sex from adult sexual predators. The Eva characters, as you probably know, are fictional, so taking advantage of them sexually isn't really possible in the first place. Like it or not, you're never going to screw a cartoon.

[Kendrix]

Do we really have to derail every single thread with that purity culture bullshit?

How about, say, having a central thread for it & moving all related tangents there like with the "quality of rebuild" one?

[Zusuchan]

Kendrix wrote:
Do we really have to derail every single thread with that purity culture bullshit?

Why of course we do.

More seriously, I guess this thread already works fine. The main question is slightly different, but it should suffice.

[Slowpokeking]

I know that a lot of fans go for Rei or Asuka. Me personally, I’m more of a Misato person, mostly because of how she around my age. Jailbaits just aren’t for me because of obvious reasons. It might have been more acceptable if I was their age again, but frankly I’m not. So Misato or Ritsuko are the best option for me.

And I still believe that Misato is a popular character. It could be because of her role in Q that her popularity may have more or less declined.

Still, Misato is the best girl in my book.

I am around her age now, but my favor started when I was at the same age with Shinji, different time gives me different feeling of the character.

Q's handling was terrible to say at least.

Yeah, she is my favorite fictional female.

[baldur]

I mean, they're not even drawn like 14 year olds in the first place. They look like adults, just shorter. They were written as teenagers to take advantage of the writing opportunities that allows, but they were drawn as adults.

I heavily disagree and honestly, whenever I hear this explanation it sort of just sounds like cope. I think the characters being young teenagers is very much clear from their visual design. Look at Episode 21. Young adult Gendo does not look like teenage Shinji, despite them having similar features. Young adult Misato or Ritsuko do not look like teenage Asuka, and perhaps most illustrative of my point: young adult Yui does not look like teenage Rei Ayanami, despite the fact that Rei's, y'know, her clone and all.

They were drawn as adults so people would be less weirded out by the fanservice.

I think the sort of people that are being catered to with fanservice are not going to be very bothered by the ethicality of characters looking underage (I suspect the opposite, in fact). I actually think NGE handles fanservice rather tastefully for the most part, though. The same can unfortunately not be said of merch and some other Evangelion media.

And even if the Eva characters did look like teenagers, the whole reason why age-of-consent laws exist in the first place is to protect young people who don't know a lot about sex from adult sexual predators. The Eva characters, as you probably know, are fictional, so taking advantage of them sexually isn't really possible in the first place. Like it or not, you're never going to screw a cartoon.

Still doesn't make it any less weird (and unhealthy) to be super horny for fictional children, not gonna lie.

I get having a crush on Rei or Asuka when you watch the series in your teens, I can even personally relate there, but by the time you reach your 20s it will have gotten more than a little weird if you're still super attracted to these characters that are very clearly children in how they look and behave.

[Zusuchan]

Please continue this discussion in this thread. Thank you.