Mr. Tines wrote:And that is really where the problem lies. She doesn't have one to that for her.
It's rather a Catch-22 with her: she has a ready-made peer group (other pilots) yet her deep-seated self-reliance prevents her from integrating.
I also was a "gifted" child; I acculturated at some point, though, choosing to indulge in integrating with my surroundings to an increasing extent and becoming normalized to some degree in the process - at first noticing the difference between how I interact with others as opposed to how others interact with each other (as Rei does), and then choosing to modify my behaviors (and in so doing allowing my personality to evolve).
Simple observance of cause and effect is a broadening process. Asuka seems too consumed by her frustration that the world doesn't work according to her model ("the version of the world within her mind") to let the workings of the actual world into her awareness.
I don't mean to knock Asuka, though I also wouldn't spend 2 minutes in the same room with her. At the end of things, she still has a lot to learn - and, thankfully, apparently the time to do it in.
I wonder if Shinji and Asuka in the end will help each other grow, or drive each other further into dysfunction...