>>4090273My problem as an Asuka fan is that her character just doesn’t have any part to play in this new story of Anno’s. Her role appears to exist on a tangent, her story never seeming to connect with the overarching plot. Even at the end when we are told Shikinami’s backstory, it doesn’t have to do with anything else going on. It’s just something specific to her. Her actions also don’t factor into much, except that she represents some sort of guilt on Shinji’s part over his failure to save her in the unit03 trial. But Shinji was already made to feel guilt over his actions that (maybe?) caused near third impact. So it’s unnecessary to add Asuka to his guilt list. He’s already sufficiently guilt-ridden. Incidentally, if they kept it as Toji in unit03, it would have achieved the same result anyway; it didn’t even have to be Asuka. At the end of the day it feels like Asuka’s inclusion in Rebuild was done out of obligation to the fans rather than any genuine interest to integrate her into the narrative.
