Getting in the robot is getting old. One of the most popular and influential anime series ever made, Neon Genesis Evangelion turns 30 this year in case you want to feel ancient. I know I do. It took me 10 years to actually watch the show, so it’s only 20 for me. Still old, however. At any rate, the series itself has had a number of different iterations and redos in the years since. From the End of Evangelion movies giving us a different ending, to the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy (sidebar: “quadrilogy” isn’t a word) completely retelling the story. And in that, the characters have varying degrees of bad times. None more than Asuka.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary, Studio Khara has put out a new short film showcasing both versions of Asuka. (H/T Polygon.) The video begins with Asuka Langley Soryu from the original series and Asuka Shikiami Langley from the Rebuild movies taking the stage. Together they discuss the not-great endings they had, especially O.G. Asuka. Having protagonist Shinji Ikami strangle you has not aged all that well.
Enjoy the short below. It’s in Japanese, so you’ll need to turn on captions and have it auto-generate English translation for you. It’s not perfect, but it does the job.
What transpires after the basic setup is a series of “what-if” scenarios where Asuka’s life could have turned out very different given specific choices. It’s a nice look at the ever-changing nature of the story while never shying away from creator Hideaki Anno’s basic tenet of self-actualization. And suffering. Always suffering. A typical “happy” ending isn’t super realistic, but a satisfying one can be.
We’ll get to see yet another look at the Evangelion story with Nier creator Yoko Taro’s new take on the material. This might be good for Asuka, or ten times worse. Only time will tell.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
This post has affiliate links, which means we may earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, we just have to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!