Gentlest please to draw your roller derby Asuka 🥹 when you have time! I just love your drawings sm and it’s such a wholesome idea 🥹

You're going to have to forgive the quality because I wanted to do it more than a doodle but I also don't draw a lot anymore and I don't enjoy coloring. This is about the best I could do given the circumstances. Roller derby girl Asuka and her number one fan/ secret lover Shinji Ikari. Her derby name has something to do with anarchy, I decided, hence the shirt

Masayuki Yamaguchi

whenever I see fanart of Shinji, there’s a high chance it PORTRAYS shinji as whiny, always in tears, or acting weak 24/7. I find that to be a misguided interpretation of Shinji, because that’s not how he acts whatsoever! I was looking through Reddit, and I found a comment from u/BorkNStein that describes exactly how I feel:

“Shinji isn't a typical powerfantasy anime protagonist. He's vulnerable, insecure, and he hates himself. For some people this just isn't what they come to anime to see. They want the protagonist to be a badass so they can feel like a badass. They don't want to try to empathize with Shinji and his struggle, even though the problems he deals with are very real and many people strongly relate to him.”

You don’t have to like Shinji, but please take this in mind.

shinji playing cello

Roller derby Asuka is genius though! I always imagined her as very competitive and liking sports. I pictured her playing soccer. Shinji would wait for her after her matches and after-school practices while trying not to drool over her in uniform

You know, I had considered soccer for her at first, too! But I was like, "No, she needs something way more violent" 😂 Shinji can help her put on her bandaids and apply an ice pack after.

Have you ever noticed that Asuka is slightly taller than Shinji at fourteen, but Gendo is 6'4, meaning little Shinji is gonna be towering over everybody very soon?

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT1gvTCWc40wfQD6JIp_fARAI5TMu_CH_bjLQ&usqp=CAU

Before you know it we're going to get gentle giant Shinji, which is one of my favorite varieties of man, especially when their gfs boss them around and they're just like, "Yes, ma'am."

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/FT2XiJhBtMNk2qyg/?mibextid=TrneLp

Normally I hate nickname like this but I actually like this one lol

How do I put this? It's about time the fandom started sexualizing Mikasa's muscles.

Competitive jock Asuka expecting to date a hypermasculine hunk jock, but actually falling for sensitive bissexual cello-playing Shinji instead is actually such an Asuka thing to do

But let's not forget that Shinji's attitude can change a lot when he's talking to Asuka specifically, he lets out his attitude as you said. Which can lead to a lot of … interesting developments with her

Yeah, like I feel like she assumes he's a pushover at first and then she finds out he can give as good as he gets when he wants to, which only makes her like him more. Like, one minute he is rhapsodizing about the lyrics to a song he just listened to, and then they're in a screaming match about something stupid, like what's in sauerkraut.

I'll bet their hookups would be absolutley bonkers. Like, all over the place. Completely inconsistent.

Gentlest please to draw your roller derby Asuka 🥹 when you have time! I just love your drawings sm and it’s such a wholesome idea 🥹

You're going to have to forgive the quality because I wanted to do it more than a doodle but I also don't draw a lot anymore and I don't enjoy coloring. This is about the best I could do given the circumstances. Roller derby girl Asuka and her number one fan/ secret lover Shinji Ikari. Her derby name has something to do with anarchy, I decided, hence the shirt

I like to imagine Shinji cooking German food for Asuka whenever he thinks she feels homesick

He has no idea how to pronounce half the names of the ingredients or the main dish itself but it ends up delicious

The first time he does it she has no idea what the fuck he's doing. He's trying to read an actual German recipe online to make it as authentic as possible and she keeps hearing (I'm taking liberties here and bringing it to the present day) google translate saying random German words and then Shinji completely mispronouncing them as he bangs around in the kitchen. Then he appears with a strudel or something and she's like, "Oh!"

I imagine college Hikari begging Asuka to accompany her to a double date (or a party?) with Shinji and Toji, because Hikari is extremely shy. Toji drags Shinji along and Shinji just goes because that's who he is.

Hikari and Toji end up doing their own thing sidelining Shinji and Asuka. Shinji is like “uh… do you want a drink?”. Anyways they end up doing much more than Toji and Hikari that night. Thoughts? (I love your aus)

I can just imagine Asuka antagonizng Shinji from the get go and as soon as Toji and Hikari leave she's is positive Shinji is going to take off but then he asks her to join him for a drink and they bicker the whole time until Asuka challenges him like, "Why are you still hanging around with me if you hate me so much?" and he's like, "Well, you're my date. I'm supposed to hang out with you." And she's like, "Oh, is that all? Well, I'll bet you don't like me enough to kiss me!" And then you can guess what happens then lol.

I'm watching NGE again with the original English dub and it really changes the vibe of some scenes a lot! I believe some of the translation choices are quite different. I couldn't pick out exact examples but there were a few parts where I was like, "Oh, I don't think that's the same."

Oh, wait! I did think of an example. In the original (ADV, right?) dub, Shinji actually says Misato stole the batteries. In the Netflix dub, he just infers it.

I think Misato is a bigger sex pest in this version lol. I like her VA, though. She gives Misato a very roguish, messy flair. I like both performances, though. I do find Ritsuko far more likable in the orginal dub. I think I prefer the Netflix dub for Shinji, though.

They start hooking up in secret and one day Asuka wakes up in Shinji's modest bedroom and he's like I made you breakfast. Because he's actually polite and nice and he sees her at least as a true friend if not something more.

Meanwhile Asuka is wearing his shirt looking at his toast and poached eggs he brought to her in bed with coffee, and she's in her head like “what the fuck are you trying to do to me. What does this mean”

She's not used to horny boys with gentle souls 😭 it sends her into a crisis as she tries to figure out what he's after, meanwhile he's just whistling to himself and doing dishes because why wouldn't he cook for his guest?

*slams hand on table*

I am frothing at the mouth with your college au

Roller derby Asuka is already canon to me !!!!

I want to draw a picture of her! I do not have the time or skill, but I would like to see her in her helmet and knee/elbow pads in an action pose (possibly with Shinji sitting in the stands behind her clapping with that little eyes closed smile on his face, wearing a polo shirt and holding a first aid kit and looking completely out of place).

Let me preface by saying I LOVED LOVED LOVED your college au but I also had this written already so

College au where everyone is aged up and Shinji is a freshman while Asuka just arrived from Germany to study in Japan. I guess they meet through Hikari, who has her own side thing with Shinji's friend Toji going on.

Like canon they bicker from the start but also they have this very intense sinful sexual tension from the second they met. Since out in the open they don't seem to act all lovey dovey, no one suspects that unassuming Shinji Ikari is the one spending most of his nights with the new foreign girl on campus.

Despite disdaining him at first and claiming to find him unimpressive, Asuka ends up very surprised by Shinji's performance where it counts. In an out of bed. Shinji is canonically very horny but also a nice boy trying his best, while Asuka tries to use her body in attempts to establish a connection while searching for something deeper. Basically a college fuck buddies to lovers.

"Shinji is canonically very horny but also a nice boy trying his best" 😭 it's so true. God, I love him. He's such a mess.

Also, excellent au. I can totally see their friends trying to puzzle out if they like each other or hate each other. Asuka shows up with poorly covered up hickies and when someone comments on them she claps her hand over her neck and glares at Shinji. It's just for a second but it's enough to get Hikari's gears turning.

Taking away the exaggerated comedy, I think this is unironically one of the most likely possibilities

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TojgdbdBm9Y&pp=ygUaU2hpbmppIGFzdWthIGFuaW1hdGlvbiBlcGU%3D

Yeah, this actually checks out 😂

Evangelion college au?

Okay, let me think about this. I feel like I haven't gotten myself fully immersed enough in NGE to be really confident in my answer here (gotta watch it again), but I'm going to say:

Shinji goes to college on a music scholarship for his cello playing. He is not passionate about playing the cello but he couldn't have paid for college without it, so that's what he does.

Kaworu is either studying philosophy or poetry, I feel like, and he would be the first person Shinji meets. Will they hook up? Probably. But there will have to be some kind of a moment where Kaworu gets removed from the equation, like in the anime. Maybe he and Shinji do something that can get them expelled and Kaworu is like, "place all the blame on me," and even though Shinji does not want to, he still does it because of his sense of self preservation. Also, I feel like Kaworu makes him feel like a prince at first, but then he starts getting skeeved out by his love/devotion. Shinji hates himself and can't accept Kaworu's unconditional adoration. Also, I feel like Kaworu is somewhat insincere and manipulative. They'd have a very toxically codependent sexual friendship, I think. Maybe Shinji starts getting romantically interested in Asuka and Kaworu starts sabotaging him. I don't know!

Rei would probably be in the sciences. Her dream is to develop organ cloning or something. She is suicidal and says very weird things. Kaworu is kind of obsessed with her because of it and Shinji is very worried about her. I want her and Shinji to be cousins, but in that awkward "I know we're related but I think they're hot" way. Like, they didn't grow up together and this is their first time spending any appreciable time together so they don't really think of themselves as relatives. I feel like this dynamic suits their vibe in the anime. They would not act on any attraction, it would just make Shinji feel even worse about himself because it's there (honestly, I feel like for him, at least, it would be a kind of intrusive thought situation. Like, he's noticing she's cute exactly because it makes him feel bad about himself). Also, maybe Rei is having a secret affair with Gendo, who is a professor at the college? She'd be related to Shinji through Yui, so not blood related to Gendo, and we know he loves screwing young scientists (god, this is so gross to me but I feel like it would be good for the plot. Rei reminds him of his dead wife and she is just doing all kinds of shit just to feel something, even if it's disgust). He could be juggling her and Ritsuko, who is her advisor. Why not? That could also add an extra layer to Rei's dynamic with Shinji and also create some drama down the line. Maybe that's the catalyst to Rei actually making a suicide attempt, and then Shinji finds her and encourages her to live.

I'll end with Asuka, who is probably a jock. Can you go to college on a field hockey scholarship? She probably does roller derby, too. For some reason, I feel like she grew up in a trailer park and feels like she has something to prove going to this ritzy school. Most likely she'd join a sorority for the clout but then struggle to comply with the sorority lifestyle. She fakes it okay, but she doesn't actually love the partying and social events and things. The expectation is that she'd date a frat guy but then she meets sensitive bisexual Shinji Ikari and she can't get him off her mind. She runs very hot and cold with him, because it's like, does she want him or does she want the image she's trying to build of herself? I think maybe she does get a frat boy bf (Toji, maybe???) but she sneaks around with Shinji anyway. She feels ashamed of herself but she projects that disdain onto Shinji and treats him like shit over it, but he just keeps crawling back for more.

No one should get together at the end of this, actually. They are all disasters. The happy ending is college ending and they all get to leave this terrible period of their lives behind with lessons learned and a new sense of their own value lol. They go off and form new, much healthier relationships. Or, Asuka marries a rich lawyer or doctor and keeps sneaking around with Shinji for the rest of her life and he's secretly the father of all her children. He never forms a meaningful relationship with anyone and just kind of exists, living his life as the other man.

Why is this so sad? 😭 Fuck!

Okay, trying for a fluffier option, college cheerleader Asuka and cellist Shinji. There's still the "forbidden" aspect because she feels it's below her to date anyone but a football player and his friends (twins Kaworu and Rei who are not related to him and both have crushes on him) don't like her, but they start falling in love anyway and start meeting in secret. They have some personality clashes but they learn to overcome them. Shinji gains more confidence and Asuka becomes more empathetic. Rei is not sleeping with Gendo. Everyone lives happily ever after.