Let's be clear: I am Asuka Langley Soryu's #1 super-fan.

Asuka, The Second Children: The Child

Asuka is implied to have been neglected by her parents in favor of research in her infancy and early toddler life and when she's only four, she loses her parents altogether. Her mother, Kyoko, participates in an experiment with an Evangelion unit and while she physically survives, she leaves with a fractured psyche. The extent of Kyoko's psychological damage leaves her unable to recognize Asuka as someone she knows at all, let alone her daughter. Not only is Kyoko unable to recognize her living, breathing daughter as anyone other than a random girl, she forms a deep attachment to a ragdolls that she believes to be and treat as the newborn, infant Asuka. It is made evident to the viewers that Kyoko's relationship to the dolls alternates between maternal and violent, and she throttles and decapitates multiple ragdolls during a steady mental decline.

During Kyoko's hospitalization, Asuka's father, Mr. Langley, begins a barely-disguised affair with Kyoko's doctor. They are noted to have been married by Kyoko's funeral- unconventional, some might even say disrespectful timing. Attendees of Kyoko's funeral speculate that the affair is what ultimately drove Kyoko to suicide at all. In my opinion, that is true, but I probably believe it in a more literal way than Kyoko's loved ones. I don't think Kyoko was just driven into further madness by the knowledge of her husband's abandonment of her, I think she was at high suicide risk anyways and was only not killing herself due to her hospitalized status. Now, it seems like the psychological damage is permanent, so why would the hospitalization not also be permanent? Because her doctor, conspiring with her husband, discharged Kyoko, knowing that she would pose a threat to herself and likely end her own life. A suicide is simpler and quicker than a divorce, and for passionate, newfound lovers, time is of the essence.

So, Kyoko is discharged from the hospital and a short while later, Asuka is selected to be an Evangelion pilot. She runs home, excited to share the good news with Kyoko, making exclamations about how people will notice and pay attention to her and be nice to her now. Upon arriving home, she discovers Kyoko's hanging corpse. It's later revealed that Asuka sees Kyoko as "peaceful" in this moment, and at Kyoko's funeral, Asuka vows that she will never rely on anyone again.

I feel that many character studies and analyses explore this series of developments by simply explaining what's happened to Kyoko and informing their readers that this had a profound impact on Asuka, setting her up for her fragile pride and insistence on independence, and they neglect to explore what this would have been like for the four year old Asuka.