Is Asuka Overrated as a Pilot?

[BiQ]

About Asuka's claim to have a college degree: wouldn't Misato, as their guardian, (and ostensibly Asuka's guardian earlier) not know the truth about it? And would she play along to simply let her flaunt false air of superiority towards others, mostly Shinji?

Yeah, 13 year old girl having a college degree in the side of having been heavily trained to be evangelion pilot is really stretching it... but if we allow for fanwank's sake that she 1) was/is actually some kind of child prodigy, 2) was homeschooled and 3) had absolutely no social life to speak of, would it still be out of possibilities range? We are talking about a show where weird shit happens. For all we know, her fast-track education could have started even before Kyoko's contact experiment.

[Bagheera]

About Asuka's claim to have a college degree: wouldn't Misato, as their guardian, (and ostensibly Asuka's guardian earlier) not know the truth about it? And would she play along to simply let her flaunt false air of superiority towards others, mostly Shinji?

Yeah, that's why I give her the benefit of the doubt. But degree in what? She doesn't seem to be particularly skilled in any one area (apart from piloting).

Yeah, 13 year old girl having a college degree in the side of having been heavily trained to be evangelion pilot is really stretching it... but if we allow for fanwank's sake that she 1) was/is actually some kind of child prodigy, 2) was homeschooled and 3) had absolutely no social life to speak of, would it still be out of possibilities range? We are talking about a show where weird shit happens. For all we know, her fast-track education could have started even before Kyoko's contact experiment.

No, it's not that weird. I mentioned something similar earlier in this or another thread. In fact, if her degree was honorary it might even explain why she's in school -- apart from her difficulty with kanji it could be that no one outside of Germany will even recognize her degree (which is an issue even with degrees from accredited universities).

[Trajan]

About Asuka's claim to have a college degree: wouldn't Misato, as their guardian, (and ostensibly Asuka's guardian earlier) not know the truth about it? And would she play along to simply let her flaunt false air of superiority towards others, mostly Shinji?

Yeah, 13 year old girl having a college degree in the side of having been heavily trained to be evangelion pilot is really stretching it... but if we allow for fanwank's sake that she 1) was/is actually some kind of child prodigy, 2) was homeschooled and 3) had absolutely no social life to speak of, would it still be out of possibilities range? We are talking about a show where weird shit happens. For all we know, her fast-track education could have started even before Kyoko's contact experiment.

I still think the college degree is bullshit; there is no way she would be able to focus enough time on getting a degree whilst participating in combat training with Unit-02. I’ve read in a lot of places that Asuka has Narcissistic personality disorder and claims such as this could be evidence.

Check this out and see who it reminds you of when reading:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder [/url]

[Bagheera]

I still think the college degree is bullshit; there is no way she would be able to focus enough time on getting a degree whilst participating in combat training with Unit-02. I’ve read in a lot of places that Asuka has Narcissistic personality disorder and claims such as this could be evidence.

Check this out and see who it reminds you of when reading:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder [/url]

But again, Misato and the rest wouldn't play along.

It's easily possible that someone could manage this, but...Asuka doesn't seem to be the sort who could. She isn't that focused or driven, she doesn't seem that bright, and her personality is just off. As others have noted Rei would seem a better candidate for the role.

Still, not impossible. Just improbable.

[Eric Blair]

I think you guys are overlooking the fact that the college degree, along with the "elite pilot" are meant to be cues of what Asuka did with her life after her mother died; tried to be an overachiever just to ensure people would praise her/wouldn't forget her as that was the central crux of her trauma.

Unless I'm over-reading too much.

[Bagheera]

I think you guys are overlooking the fact that the college degree, along with the "elite pilot" are meant to be cues of what Asuka did with her life after her mother died; tried to be an overachiever just to ensure people would praise her/wouldn't forget her as that was the central crux of her trauma.

Unless I'm over-reading too much.

That's fair -- I don't disagree in principle -- but where's the evidence?

To put it more bluntly, where does she give any indication she's any smarter or more accomplished than the typical bratty teenaged girl?

[Eric Blair]

That's fair -- I don't disagree in principle -- but where's the evidence?

To put it more bluntly, where does she give any indication she's any smarter or more accomplished than the typical bratty teenaged girl?

Dunno, but again; if this was a mere fabrication, Misato would say so; in both the animu and the manga she mentions Asuka is a college graduate (in the movies she mentions the same of Shikinami, but I see that as a completely different character so I won't count it); while there is no factual information to make such a statement valid, the fact it was said by someone other than her means it should be taken as "truth", no?

It would be like me assuming that just because Misato had a skateboard in her room, Katsuragi likes to 'board around tokyo-3 in her spare time. there's no proof, but what other reason is there for the board to be there?

[Bagheera]

Dunno, but again; if this was a mere fabrication, Misato would say so; in both the animu and the manga she mentions Asuka is a college graduate (in the movies she mentions the same of Shikinami, but I see that as a completely different character so I won't count it); while there is no factual information to make such a statement valid, the fact it was said by someone other than her means it should be taken as "truth", no?

It would be like me assuming that just because Misato had a skateboard in her room, Katsuragi likes to 'board around tokyo-3 in her spare time. there's no proof, but what other reason is there for the board to be there?

I already said I agree, remember? I'm just noting that it's weird that we don't see anything in the show to back it up.

[Eric Blair]

sorry, I think that was me beating the dead horse then.

[Azathoth]

I'm just noting that it's weird that we don't see anything in the show to back it up.

Not really. It's part of the point of her character that she never is put in a situation where the skills she keeps boasting about are genuinely helpful to her: no amount of academic ability or skill in whatever can make you any less human. For Asuka to come up and kill some Angel with SCIENCE would be completely defeating the point. Who knows, maybe Asuka is the next Gauss or something, but if Asuka is allowed to have any plot effect on the basis of her own self-proclaimed talents she stops being Asuka.

[Bagheera]

Not really. It's part of the point of her character that she never is put in a situation where the skills she keeps boasting about are genuinely helpful to her: no amount of academic ability or skill in whatever can make you any less human. For Asuka to come up and kill some Angel with SCIENCE would be completely defeating the point. Who knows, maybe Asuka is the next Gauss or something, but if Asuka is allowed to have any plot effect on the basis of her own self-proclaimed talents she stops being Asuka.

I don't expect her to do anything useful with it. Just show that she actually has that knowledge! At least tell us what the degree is and let her boast about it. Maybe she brags about how easy her math homework is because her degree is in applied maths or something, I dunno. Something.

[Legendary]

In the animu, Misato never mentions Asuka's degree. It's mentioned once, if I recall, and Misato isn't there. Asuka tells Shinji at the pool that she has a college degree and that the only reason her grades are bad is that she can't read the Kanji. In fact, she goes on to defeat an Angel with the SCIENCE mentioned in the episode. So it's probably a science degree (since the SCIENCE is thermal mechanics), and she probably studied either chemistry or biology through Nerv in the hopes that the Angels would be biological enough to give her a chance.

[Eric Blair]

In the animu, Misato never mentions Asuka's degree.

Yeah, but she does mention that in the manga, though... but still, I doubt the "Graduated at 13" is an in-universe lie; and the fact that no one knows what Asuka's degree is in (maybe it could be in teaching/education) it gives more validity to the degree being lampshaded as "this girl just devoted herself to being the best in any field possible, that's how she managed to graduate at age 13; through sheer willpower and GUTS!"

(since the SCIENCE is thermal mechanics)

It could also be something to do with engineering, since thermal expansion is something seen there as well; just saying.

[Mr. Tines]

To get a degree at that age it pretty much has to be mathematics -- clear crystalline abstract puzzle solving, which you can do on innate talent.

And as a bonus, one where you'll pick up some physics ( = applied mathematics ) along the way.

The package also comes wrapped up with a level of social maladroitness (both from the being hot-housed away from one's own age cohort, plus the high correlation of autistic traits with mathematical ability), and the likelihood of being full time annoyed with other people because their thought processes are so ploddingly slow.

[Galaxy News Reidio]

Very well. It is now part of my personal canon that Asuka's degree is in Maths, and also that she enjoys XKCD.

[Bagheera]

To get a degree at that age it pretty much has to be mathematics -- clear crystalline abstract puzzle solving, which you can do on innate talent.

And as a bonus, one where you'll pick up some physics ( = applied mathematics ) along the way.

The package also comes wrapped up with a level of social maladroitness (both from the being hot-housed away from one's own age cohort, plus the high correlation of autistic traits with mathematical ability), and the likelihood of being full time annoyed with other people because their thought processes are so ploddingly slow.

I've been tempted by this line of thought for awhile, if only because there's really no way she could use it to show off -- unless something involving math actually came up she'd never do more than mention it in passing. There's just one hitch, though.

Why???

I mean, sure, applied maths are probably important for the Eva project, but...Asuka's not really involved in that past being a pilot. So what the heck would she do with such a degree?

[Galaxy News Reidio]

Get a job in Maths/Applied Maths once this whole mess is over?

Teaching would pretty much be her perfect job, since she would by definition be paid to be smarter than people.

[Kendrix]

I've been tempted by this line of thought for awhile, if only because there's really no way she could use it to show off -- unless something involving math actually came up she'd never do more than mention it in passing. There's just one hitch, though.

Why???

I mean, sure, applied maths are probably important for the Eva project, but...Asuka's not really involved in that past being a pilot. So what the heck would she do with such a degree?

Asuka never struck me as this type of character - sure, she's not stupid, but she spens her time shopping, chasing after boys/men, or with her friend hikari, wearing revealing clothes, wanting to put on the expensive parfumes and insults Shinji for studying when Misato tells him to, appears ridiculously thin even in the generally pole-ish drawing style of evangelion - Not exactly a "math"/"science" person - that would be more like Rei (she's seen reading complicated books about genetics, looks a bit 'lost'/'unkempt', doesn't really understands people) tough not even Rei really fits the description.
Asuka is as far from austistic (or just "analytic type of person") as the south pole from the north pole, she comunicates A LOT and god have mercy on those who don't listen. Jealousy/competetiveness is essentially a social activity.
She's not the "analytic person" that just "sees" things, she's a hard worker (and proud of it - "I am a TRAINED pilot, so go home, Third Child!") that archieves things through ambitiousness and effort - Her real life equivalent would be the kind of person who posseses mildly above average intelligence(She's the kid of a scientist, after all- or well, that didn't help Shinji too much XD), but HAS to be at the top of the class and is dissapointed at a B, and therefore spends hours studying.

[Sailor Star Dust]

People don't have to "look" the part or fit a job description 100% as long as they enjoy their career of choice.

I agree that most likely Asuka had a math or science degree (I'm curious if something like Chronicle ever went into detail about her degree, but I suppose not). Assuming Nerv wouldn't have been disbanded ala 25', there's no reason Asuka couldn't have some sort of position there in her adult years. But teaching could fit her as well.

Although for whatever it's worth: In the Eva2 game, Hikari convinces Asuka in her Best End Instrumentality sequence (which was a retake of a real world conversation between them at school) to become a model. Initially Asuka was resistant to the idea because she wasn't happy at the thought of doing something like flaunting around for other people, but then she realized that modeling could be something enjoyable for herself.

[Eric Blair]

Why???

I mean, sure, applied maths are probably important for the Eva project, but...Asuka's not really involved in that past being a pilot. So what the heck would she do with such a degree?

Whils in fanwank territory, I can tell you that popular knowledge says that some piloting programs put special emphasis in math because of travel vectors, and applied to the physics of substance resistance; I remember a friend of mine who is a fighter pilot fro the USAF mentioned that one of the first things he learned was applied math to degree vectoring for navigational purposes.