Favorite/Least favorite charas & why

[Lavinius]

I hate Asuka, Rei, and Misato!~

[Reichu]

I hate Asuka, Rei, and Misato!~

Do you also hate your mama and papa and yourself most of all?

[MuscleRobo]

I hate Gendo and not just a little. In fact I get upset that Gendo so frequently in recent years is thought of as "cool" or bad ass" by a lot of people who watch the show. I mean the amount of cosplay I see of him alone is frustrating! I just don't understand how you could like that awful person! I suppose besides just shouting and yelling about the amount at which I hate Gendo wouldn't be as helpful as saying why though. Gendo is a selfish user and it extends even to his own child. Shinji feels so scared of the world around him and doesn't even know how to live in it and I think a lot of that has to do with never having an older figure ins his life show him. Now, I know a lot of us might say our parents didn't show us how to make friends or do something but as a child we subconciously watch how they interact at least to see how things in social situations work! So, his only son who he ignored and treated like garbage is only brought back into his life not out of guilt, not to help him but to just use him like everyone else around him in life. Both Akagi's, Misato, Shinji and more he just squeezes them like a rag draining them out of any use they have and tosses them aside. How could someone like that?! Poor Shinji deserved so much better.

[Reichu]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with liking a fictional villain. Unlike the real-life version, they aren't hurting anyone. Quite the opposite, really -- they're one of the tools that humanity uses to analyze and criticize our own behavior, to help bring about greater self-awareness. Gendo is a terrible person, but he's not a caricature; he's a nuanced portrait of a broken man. His fans often see something of themselves in him, even if they haven't fallen quite as far and hopefully never will.

The whole "badass" meme can be a bit tiresome, but maybe think of it as a psychologically immature (or at times "ironically" hyperbolic?) way to express enthusiasm for a character, and not take it quite so seriously?

[Director Black]

In terms of the original, I would probably put Ritsuko. No denying she's a well-developed and interesting character...just not as much as everyone around here.

If we're talking about the Rebuild's in general, while I don't hate them as much as some people do, I can't stand Mari. True she does have some good back-and-forth with Asuka, but she's basically a walking anime character cliche without the development that the original Eva pilots had.

[Fyrstorm]

I don't really hate anyone, especially not from a character development perspective*-- but when looking at the characters themselves, I really dislike Gendo. It's practically cliche at this point, but Gendo... well, he's Gendo. I shouldn't have to say any more about that, as the point's been brought up time and time again. As an individual, he's... less than admirable, to say the least. Understatement of the century, I know. I just... don't think I could say anything about him that hasn't been said before.

Failing Gendo? ...Ha!Suka. I know Rebuild cast Shikinami as a generic tsundere... but jeez! At least Q!Suka has the excuse of living through fourteen years of whatever the hell came after N3I-- Ha!Suka's just a jerk most of the time, with some poorly ham-fisted 'character development' before Bardiel so we can actually feel some sympathy for her, rather than just the disappointment that she's not the Asuka we were hoping for. Q!Suka > Ha!Suka. Yes, it's a movie; yes, we won't get too much character development in an hour and a half; it's just... disappointing.


*Regarding Rebuild; Mari's lack of development is just a little annoying-- what we do get that isn't blatantly fanservice actually suggests a rather interesting character to me. Plus, there's always fanworks to round her out.

[Javik]

I don't really hate any of the characters, I love and feel sorry for them all. That said, Asuka was the only one that irritated me. I consider her definitely a well-written and interesting character, but I know that personally I could never come to like her. I mean the fact that she was agressive and compulsive couldn't really make me like her, especially before we found out about her background story.

I mean I obviously despise the actions of Gendo and SEELE, but I feel like most people would agree and it's kind of implied we're supposed to feel that way, they're basically the "villains" of the story, but Asuka is a character lots of people like.

[mammaluser]

Anime wise i sorta hate Asuka and manga wise i hate kaworu (you frickin' cat killer! :'c)

[Xxx_Generic Name_Xxx]

Anime wise i sorta hate Asuka and manga wise i hate kaworu (you frickin' cat killer! :'c)

Thanks for shitting my best girl and best boy at the same time.

[mammaluser]

Thanks for shitting my best girl and best boy at the same time.

i don't actually hate Asuka completely, it's more like a love/hate thing (more hate tho xD) and c'mon you gotta admit manga kaworu is just a dick.

[silvermoonlight]

i don't actually hate Asuka completely, it's more like a love/hate thing (more hate tho xD) and c'mon you gotta admit manga kaworu is just a dick.

I have to agree with that, I really loved Kaworu in rebuild but in the Manga to me he came off as creepy and he really didn't under stand boundaries and that whole scene with killing the white kitten really got to me. Yeah I get the point he was making and I get that the author was foreshadowing coming events but I felt it was a really bad way to introduce a character because when people kill baby animals it instantly sets them in a very bad light.

[Reichu]

I find Kaworu interesting in theory, like if I'm writing fanfic for myself and I can do whatever the hell I want. In actual practice, I find him extremely shallow, even unlikeable. He's a pretty-faced cipher whose only function is to lure Shinji in and break him with "love". His entire existence, especially in the new films, revolves around a single-minded Shinji obsession; there's nothing else to him, aside from maybe everything he's hiding from Shinji that ends up hurting the kid. More than a little "creepy stalker" vibe going on, but when you're so beautiful and speak in nothing but ethereal philosobabble, I suppose these things are easy to forgive. I assume his popularity is due to the fact that his lack of established character traits means he's whatever the audience wants him to be.

Javik echoes my own sentiments about Asuka above. (Asuka apologists are also the worst.)

I really dislike the new films' version of Shinji. There is some possibility that the tetralogy's completion will be able to change this, but I'm not going to count on it.

Sadamoto's manga is not really alluring to me in general, so no real point in commenting upon his characterizations.

[pwhodges]

(Asuka apologists are also the worst.)

This is a completely vague claim. What is it meant to mean?

[Reichu]

Fans who defend Asuka's irritating, selfish behaviorisms and shield her from any criticisms they don't personally approve of are more annoying than the character.

[Director Black]

Fans who defend Asuka's irritating, selfish behaviorisms and shield her from any criticisms they don't personally approve of are more annoying than the character.

How much you think that those people prefer that side of Asuka are just tsundere lovers?

For me, it's not the annoying parts that make Asuka, it's what she's really like, not just by what's shown through us in her backstory, but her actions in the final scene of EoE when she caresses Shinji's face after all they've been through. That's the sign that she's going to be the great person she always hid under her mask.

[Reichu]

"What she's really like", eh? The thing is that none of us are "really like" any one thing. Asuka's defense mechanisms emerge naturally from who she is; that's why different people use different defense mechanisms. Just because they're being used to hide something, they're no less a part of the "real" her.

[Mr. Tines]

How much you think that those people prefer that side of Asuka are just tsundere lovers?

As an Asuka apologist, my take is that she reminds me way too much of my younger self, only lashing out with words rather than fists. As I avoid romance as a genre, I don't have much exposure to the usual run of stock tsunderes (the only one I can bring to mind is Wakatake Mari from Blue Drop).

[CommanderFish]

I've always tried to distinguish what constitutes between a well written/developed character vs a likable character. Personally, I find most characters that I deem to be well written also to be likable. Thus, I really don't "dislike" any of the NGE characters in any real way. There are a few exceptional circumstances, but generally the main reason I would dislike a well-written character is if their actions are irredeemable to the point where I just couldn't stand them at all anymore. There are no Eva characters that ever even got close to that point for me. In fact, (and to answer the actual question), I would have a hard time finding my least favorite character in Eva, because they are all great character studies in their own regard (and just for the record, I don't view NGE Kaworu as a character, but rather as a slightly-more-developed angel. I haven't watched 3.0 yet, so I can't comment on the Rebuild version of his character).

[silvermoonlight]

Fans who defend Asuka's irritating, selfish behaviorisms and shield her from any criticisms they don't personally approve of are more annoying than the character.

I'm an Asuka fan but I don't apologise or condone any of her bad or selfish behaviour in the original series because I don't condone bulling others or hitting which is what she does but I do understand why she's doing it because I went through a rotten childhood and one thing that comes out of that is resentment and violent anger towards others who have things you don't and it makes you want to lash out at them. She also goes through depression and that is another symptom that comes with that kind of childhood as she's buried her feelings and has never really faced them hence why when its get bad she really falls apart as the underlying issues have never been resolved.

I loved her most in EOE because to me her true self is revelled when she takes on the army and the eva series and I think to say that she can't change or doesn't have the capacity to change is very unfair because your basically saying that people who suffer that kind of abuse and neglect will always be abusive towards others when everyone out there has the capacity for change and can better themselves. I love Asuka for who she could be as I think she could grow up to be very loving kind and gentle and have deep compassion for others. Please note I don't care for tsunderes as to me its a stereotype and people are not stereotypes.

[Javik]

I've always tried to distinguish what constitutes between a well written/developed character vs a likable character.

Just try to think of it this way, the first is the kind of character you'd like to read and explore in fiction, the second is the type you'd enjoy haning out/befriending/dating in real life.