here's my chance

neon genesis evangelion (episode eight, "asuka arrives in japan")

Please forgive me a moment of pointless memory lane walking: in college, I often got into arguments about War and Peace (a book I find infuriating) that hinged on the character of Natasha. I found Natasha to be an unconvincing and frequently irritating character but others responded by saying something along the lines of “it’s so crazy how Tolstoy knows exactly what it’s like to be a teenage girl.” There is no way to resolve this conversation when it comes to Natasha, but I bring this all up because this is exactly how I feel about Asuka in Evangelion. She is so vivid, so real, and, also, and most importantly, she is such a brat.¹

Asuka’s brash and needy and loud; she’s constantly waiting for the boys to notice how hot she is and then she’s outraged when they so much as look at her. She’s aggressive and fragile, tough and breakable, delusionally self-confident and very insecure. I do get why to some she’s like nails on a chalkboard, but I love her.