>>4063422I think what
>>4063381 said about hate being directed towards "serious fans" is a good point. A lot of what I see against Rei or Asuka seems to intentionally use the characters as objects of attack to intentionally irritate, even enrage, the person who has *themselves* adopted one of them (or both) as a mere object for their own pleasure.
I do, though, agree with your points on Rei. But I have to check myself as biased, because I recognize that I have a deep attachment to her. Indeed, I would say I love her, or at the very least find comfort in thinking about her and appreciating her. Because of this I've long wrestled with whether it is waifuism. I don't know exactly where one draws the line, but I would suppose if it becomes an all-encompassing obsession that one orients their entire life around, then certainly a threshold has been crossed, which for me has not occurred. I think a level of sexual objectification is also involved, which I have tried to reject. I find her attractive, but some of those traits have precedent from real people I've known, and, too, I am always mindful to differentiate the Rei of the actual series from simple fanart that has reduced her to a moefied object valued only as some kind of submissive thing. But we cannot escape bias.
