So, was emo Asuka really trying to be AN HERO in #24?

[Sailor Star Dust]

Has anyone noticed that Asuka took the time to fold up her clothes nice an neat on the table near the top of the picture?

It's some suciedal tradiation, me thinks. Somebody brought that up on the intial THAT BOARD thread (eg, Not the thread Reichu made.)


Anyway, so *ahem* my impression of Asuka getting her first period in 22' was wrong, then?

Either way, it is possible the blood near her legs could be menstruation.

[Mr. Tines]

Anyway, so *ahem* my impression of Asuka getting her first period in 22' was wrong, then?

With no practical experience myself, I have to rely on having read to the effect that menarche - even 25+ years ago - was below Asuka's likely age. Though, OTOH, she has an anime-girl anorectic build, which might argue for a delay. Only that wouldn't square with the decolletage that she sports in some episodes. But OTOH that might just be rolled up socks.

[BrikHaus]

Menarche should begin around age 12/13. If she didn't have it until well into age 14, there might be some kind of problem (e.g. genetic or malnutrition). And she definitely wouldn't be having those huge gazongas, either.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Ah. So really bad PMS (cramps, bloating, irrtiablity and the like. You males got off lucky!) it was then.


.....Hmm. Guess my VERY premature birth (1pound, 6onces, 4months) explains why mine happened at 14. (or possibly 13) *coughs*

[Mr. Tines]

Ah. So really bad PMS (cramps, bloating, irrtiablity and the like. You males got off lucky!)

FYI -- at the height of PMS, the female hormonal balance is closest to what men have to put up with all the time.

@Topic
Not only is tidying one's clothes a typical symptom of just tidying up the mess one's life has become, it's worth remembering that in Japan, the idea of suicide as something to expunge dishonour was a cultural given until way into modern times -- this is a complete contrast to the attitude to suicide in the Christian west.

[BrikHaus]

Not only is tidying one's clothes a typical symptom of just tidying up the mess one's life has become, it's worth remembering that in Japan, the idea of suicide as something to expunge dishonour was a cultural given until way into modern times -- this is a complete contrast to the attitude to suicide in the Christian west.

Since Asuka was raised in the West, and since her Japanese mother died when she was young and unable to impart such information to her, I think it is unlikely that Asuka was trying to bring honor back to her family by committing suicide. It's more likely she wanted to die due to depression and a belief that things won't get any better. If the writers of the show did have her intend to kill herself due to traditional Japanese beliefs, they probably didn't realize* that the West thinks differently about it.



*I'm sure they are aware of this fact, but it probably didn't dawn on them to think, "Oh wait, she's Western, she wouldn't do that for the same reasons we would."

[Ornette]

I think the intention that Tines brings up isn't for the character of Asuka within the show but for the impact of a Japanese audience who's watching the show.

At least that's what I thought he meant.

[CorporalChaos]

Personally, I highly doubt that the red streaks in the tub are blood, instead, just streaks of rust.

Last time I checked rust isn't blood red. It not diffusing in the water can be chalked up to LOL ANIME PHYSICS

Or that they wanted you to notice something red in the water. Otherwise, if real life physics were in play, the water would just look a little redder.

Or you could just have a red cloud expanding out from her wrists....

Okay, looking at the spot between her legs again, one streak runs just underneath her right kneecap. But, just to the right of the same kneecap, there is a small spot of rust that is blood red. There is nothing touching it. Also, it doesn't look to me like the most prominent streaks start at her wrist, but near the middle of her palm. (I could be mistaken, its hard to tell what's what in that part of the picture).

[Ornette]

A question I've always wondered about the original:


And as far as the streaks not connecting, could it be possible that the bottom of the tub is not all to level?



Regardless if it's actually blood or not, one of the things that this thread brings up that previous ones didn't touch on much (if at all) was the fact that the red was added into the NPCs. But why?

[Mr. Tines]

for the impact of a Japanese audience who's watching the show.

Yes -- while Asuka is shown as having a few token gaijin traits early on, the cultural context of the author and the audience is different to ours, and that is going to be important in reading the intended subtext.

[Jamie the Great]

[quote="Sailor Star Dust"]

Either way, it is possible the blood near her legs could be menstruation.

I always thought that it was her period because she was talking about it in ep 22

[BobBQ]

Pardon my ignorance, but would it be normal for her to be bleeding more than a week after her period started?

I would think not, but...

[Executor]

Pardon my ignorance, but would it be normal for her to be bleeding more than a week after her period started?

I would think not, but...

No, a period is only supposed to last three days, Bob.

[Opteron-O3]

.....Hmm. Guess my VERY premature birth (1pound, 6onces, 4months) explains why mine happened at 14. (or possibly 13) *coughs*

Actually starting late isn't a bad thing either. Everyone grows at different times, thus they have different puberty stages. Some grow at same time, some things happen sooner or later than others. It's just the way your body decided to grow. But too late can be a problem, but as long as you're still within age range it's natural.

Pardon my ignorance, but would it be normal for her to be bleeding more than a week after her period started?

I would think not, but...

No, a period is only supposed to last three days, Bob.

Yes and no. But normally they do.

[NAveryW]

The only evidence I've ever seen for it being Asuka's "first period" is that it was Tiffany Grant's impression in the commentary for that particular episode. Is that true evidence? Nah.

[Big Panda]

Well, 'bout the menarche, it's normal age is around the 11 to 15, so she's at the right time.
I also thinks that she had the menarche at 22', cuz she hadn't did anything like that during the series and she had just started "growing up" (Episode 8, when she says that she had changed a lot physicaly... well, it may be over-analyses thought...)

But still, she should've had stoped it at the time for 24', cuz it surely wasn't one month later (Or was it? I guess that she wouldn't wait one month to do that, she'd do that just after Zerogouki blowing up)

[Ornette]

We don't know how long of a period between her complaining in 22 and the beginning of 24, however, we do know that she was wandering aimlessly for 7 days before Section 2 found her in the tub with the red streaks:

Misato:
I see.
It isn't like Division 2 to take seven days to find her
on top of losing her in the first place.

So yes, highly unlikely that it was her period, more likely that the base of the tub was not flat at all but bumpy (fanwank) if those streaks are from blood.

So nobody has anything to say about the different shades of brown in the original picture? Note that there are 3 shades, the base of the tub, the shadow, and something else that seems to go around the base of the tub. We know the third is not a shadow, because you can see the shadow along the right and this color runs UNDER Asuka's feet whereas a shadow would contour over them. Could this shade be rust?

[Mr. Tines]

Pardon my ignorance, but would it be normal for her to be bleeding more than a week after her period started?

4 weeks is "more than a week". And in that case it would indeed be normal.

[BobBQ]

Since when were E22 and E24 a whole month apart?

[Mr. Tines]

Since when were E22 and E24 a whole month apart?

Since there is no reason to think they run straight from one to the next -- if at least a week goes by in the gap 23-24, I don't see any reason to think that there's any tight upper bound on the timespan. NGE is slack enough in its internal chronology to permit that.