Glossaries _ Characters _ Hikari Horaki

Name: Hikari Horaki
Designation: Fourth Level Candidate
Age: 14
Relations: None
Episodes:

Japanese Voice: Junko Iwao
English Voice: Carol Amerson

About Hikari: Truly good stories are ones in which everything interrelates, serves a purpose, and complements.  When it comes to Hikari Horaki, I think she gets written off as being a bit irrelevent in the grander scheme of the series.   She is simply a fourth level cantidate who is one step away from piloting an Evangelion, and at times she is a vehicle for conveying some of Asuka's inner thoughts and feelings, through scenes in which she speaks to Asuka in the confidence of their friendship.  That is the obvious, however I don't think thats all there is to Hikari.   She is not simply a love interest for Touji, or a friend for Asuka, her character itself accentuates the story in a very subtle way.

You could argue that Hikari is the very antithesis of one of the more prevalent themes of Evangelion, that being despair.  Throughout Evangelion, humanity's doom is touched upon numerous times by several Nerv employees, particularly Gendo and Fuyutsuki.  In a way they are right. You could argue that prior to Second Impact, humanity's time was not so short.  You could say that we are leading to ruin, through the pollution and consumption of our land and resources, but it is a slow process that will take place over a long period of time.  However humanity is in immediate trouble after Second Impact.   I like to think of the post Second Impact world as a brilliant flame.  It may burn bright and beautiful, but its beauty is short lived, as it burns out quicker than a smaller, slow burning flame.

After Second Impact, things were worse than they were at any point in history.   Imagine World War II to a much higher order.  Half the world perished, and much of civilation was destroyed.  In less than fifteen years, the world has rebuilt and returned to normal.  And I suspect that this was done at the expense or a great many things.  This brilliant flame of a ressurection may seem as if it could last forever, but it will consume rapidly until the point where it will go out.  The society would eventually collapse on itself through its use of resources.  It is even said that people around the world are starving due to the funding of Nerv.  In short, human civilization is limited by the manner of its reconstruction, hence why Instrumentality is seen as being so important.

So how does Hikari fit into all of this?

Hikari Horaki is a character who strives for a future that will never come.  She is the class representative, someone who takes on more responsibilities, in order to make the most of herself during her highschool career.  She more than likely would end up doing quite well on college entrance exams, and end up in a prestigious college.   There she would most likely excel at studies and eventually graduate to become a well paid buisness executive.  In the Japanese education system, they are much more mindful of the exams, unlike in the western world where education is much more lax for people.  We expect to make the most of ourselves once we have that degree, that we just have to get the degree, and success will follow if we work for it.  In Japanese society, you screw up and you're out.  And once you're out, its rather hard to go back.  Many students end up going to school six says a week, going to cram school, and summer school, in order to do as well as possible on college entrance exams.   Someone like Hikari would be inclined to strive in that manner, and someone would unknowingly be pursuing a futile goal in the post Second Impact world.  In Evangelion, there really isn't a tommorow to look forward to, yet Hikari nevertheless strives for a day that will never come.  There is something beautiful in that fact, the fact that someone would march blindly into an unknown future, planning to make the most of it.

Relevent Resources:
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