Anyone who was an Otaku in the late 90’s should be able to tell you who this is. Her name is Asuka Langley. She’s one of 3 heroes in an anime series called Neon Genesis Evangelion. The show was made by an animation group called Gainax. It’s unfortunate that the show became so popular because it overshadowed their later works, Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou and Furi Kuri which both had much more agreeable characters. Let me tell you about the heroes of the story.
- Shinji. Shinji was a total wimp with a pathological fear of his father.
- Asuka. Asuka was a disagreeable know it all that didn’t mesh well with anyone.
- Rei. Rei had no personality whatsoever. She was like a robot that did anything she was told regardless of how injured she was.
They weren’t exactly the greatest role models for a 7th grade Baker, but I was drawn to the series because of its absurd and strangely juxtaposed religious symbolism that has fans of the series perplexed to this very day. In my opinion, if you really want to be really perplexed, go watch Serial Experiments Lain. If you like the art, go watch Habane Renmei by the same animators. But avoid Boogie Pop Phantom because it’s so absurd I couldn’t even make it through the first episode.
Back in the day, when college internet connections were un-capped, every college freshman and his roommate had an anime hotline server, and back then most of the files were legal to share as they hadn’t yet been licensed in the US. Teams of individuals would scour the wasteland of IRC for new titles, and fansubs were available within days of the Japanese release.
Those days are over. With the advent of Bit Torrent most hotline servers went away, and with international trade agreements, every title released in Japan was already licensed in the US. Many things shared on bit torrent are illegal, and the fanlators shifted their focus to other projects like those few mangas that are so obscure, no American publisher would touch them.
