Characters

Rei is known as the First Child, the pilot of Eva 00. Very quiet and inward, Rei seems to be pretty emotionless for the most part. She only seems to open up around Ikari Gendo, Shinji's father. Rei is always obedient, doing what she's told when she's told to. She doesn't argue most of the time and usually keeps to herself. However, when she does want to get her point across (e.g. trying to get Shinji to stop pitying himself), she can be very forceful and sometimes rude, which often shocks others, who aren't used to this side of Rei. Rei's life lies deep in secrecy, all the files of her past and her childhood have been erased. But Rei seems to know more about her past than others do, and it seems as though she looks at her life and decides it's pretty much worthless, and that she's only around to defeat the Angels and keep the other EVA pilots alive.

Quote: "Do you perceive the almost intangible, invisible presence that lurks inside your darkest dreams? It is there that your true identity lies."

Name: Soryu Asuka Langley
Age: 14
Position: Pilot of EVA-02

Asuka is the Second Child and the pilot of Eva 02. Of Japanese and German origin, Asuka is the only pilot to have completed college, and speak two languages fluently, even though she's still fourteen.. Asuka is extremely self-confident, but to the point where she becomes cocky. Seemingly the only one of the Children who enjoys her work, she doesn't like others showing her up, and she doesn't like to lose. Usually active, Asuka always becomes unhappy when something goes against her plans. Being the pilot of Eva 02, she feels that she's superior than the other Children, preventing her from making close friends until after a long while. With the kids at school it's obvious that she feels superior to them, but it's not clear just how superior she thinks she is compared to Shinji and Rei.. especially after Shinji surpasses her on a synchronization test. A lot of strange stuff happened to Asuka when she was young, so she ended up living with her aunt until she was fourteen. When she came to Japan to pilot her Eva, she lived with Misato and Shinji in Misato's appartment.

Quote: "All right, I'm here, just the way you wanted. Butt-naked and run through the wash cycle 17 times!"

Name: Ikari Shinji
Age: 14
Position: Pilot of EVA-01

Shinji is the emotionally unstable character of the anime. The way he acts gives you the general feeling that he sees himself as nothing but a pawn being thrown around and put to work against the Angels. Shinji seems to be an extremely lucky klutz with really low self-esteem. But, Shinji has an extremely complex emotional thought process. He's almost always feeling lonely, or feeling that no one cares about his survival in the world, or praying that people don't hate him. And to avoid feeling guilty or to avoid confrontation about any of these things, he just does what he's told without any arguments (most of the time).

Shinji's not on the best of terms with his father, Ikari Gendo, due to the fact that he was "abandoned" by his father when he was really little and then called back unexpectedly. Although he wants to gain some kind of recognition from his father, it seems like Gendo isn't going to display any paternal affection publicly. So, Shinji ends up living with Misato (after lots of objection from Ritsuko). Getting the short end of the stick with Misato, he's put to work cooking and cleaning almost every day per month (they decided how the turns worked with Rock, Paper, Scissors). Even though Shinji's put with someone a bit more caring than his father, because he feels like an incompetent, he tends to throw little pity parties for himself ~ running away and complaining and other such stuff. He's kinda stand-offish and has a hard time making friends, but he opens up a little more when he's around Misato and begins to gain confidence. He ends up piloting EVA-01 after seeing what a mess Rei is after her encounter with the third Angel.

Quote: "Asuka.. this isn't the time.."

Name: Suzuhara Toji
Age: 14
Position: Pilot of EVA-03

Toji's kinda the tall bully of sorts. After his li'l sister is seriously injured in EVA-01's battle against the third angel, he decides that the pilot ought to pay for it.. so he punches Shinji after-school (just for existing). But after awhile, he and Shinji get along. Especially after his little second grade sister tells him off for being disrespectful to an EVA pilot. After the initial hatred, Shinji and Toji become pretty good friends, and hang out often. Toji's excuse for seeing Shinji most of the time revolves around Misato being around. After being chosen as the pilot for the newly built EVA from the U.S., Toji ends up being beaten nearly to death by EVA-01 after an angel contaminates his EVA. Afterwards, he becomes paralyzed, and is forced to stay in the hospital for a looooooooooooooooooooong while.

Quote: "You stuck up egotistical little..."

Name: Aida Kensuke
Age: 14

Kensuke's a major military buff. He sits there with about fifteen billion war books and reads about whatever he can. During battles against angels, he sits there and tells Toji what kind of artillery is being fired and how effective it is. He was the first to tell Toji that he shouldn't beat up an EVA pilot. He wasn't very successful in convincing Toji, but he and Shinji became good friends (between the him, Shinji, and Toji, their stupid ideas get them dubbed as the "Three Stooges"). Kensuke comes along with Shinji and Misato and Toji to meet the pilot of EVA-02, and goes around the UN's military ship with his little video camera (which he takes EVERYWHERE with him) whispering "Kokkaii, Kokkaii, Kokkaii.." until he ends up screaming and walking into a military official. He's the one who eventually talks Toji into going out while EVA-01 and an angel are duking it out just so he can see what man's greatest fighting machine is like in person (and nearly gets himself killed)... He's a little crazy, but altogether a funny person.

Quote: "kokkaii! kokkaii! Kokkaii! Kokkaii! KOKKAII!"

Name: Horaki Hikari
Age: 14

Hikari's Shinji's class rep. Whenever there's an angel attack, she's in charge of getting all her classmates into the shelter and checking off attendance and staying after school to help out and basically running things. She's the only person who stays friends with Asuka after all the nasty things that Asuka says to everyone. She backs her up and is always knocking Shinji around about being insensitive and uncaring towards Asuka's needs [o_O]. Hikari's also got a crush on Toji, and shares how she feels with Asuka (who responds in a rather unflattering way). Hikari's kind of motherly, and tries to make sure everyone's taken care of and that everything's working according to plan.

Quote: "Kaji? You mean that really cool looking guy who never shaves?"

Name: Katsuragi Misato
Age: 29
Position: Strategical Tactician and 3rd in command of NERV

Misato is the wild child of the anime, serious and confident on the job, she's absolutely crazy at home. A brilliant strategist with great commanding skills, Misato can get along with almost anyone. She's smart and willing to take risks when she has to, and is mainly responsible for the Angels being defeated. But, like I said before, at home she's crazy. Although Shinji's friends go ga-ga over Misato, they're cautioned by Shinji about Misato's slovenliness. After seeing the stuff Shinji has to pick up every day.. eh o_O.. With a fridge full of beer and a penguin in her tub (Pen-Pen!), she's an absolute slob who really values her Saki. Always one for a party, she's enthusiastic and hilarious (especially when she's drunk). As far as personal relations go, Misato used to be involved with Kaji, and it seems like sometimes she still feels something towards him.

After learning more about NERV itself from Kaji, Misato starts to dig deeper into what the EVAs are designed after and how they work. As she does so, she gets increasingly impatient with Ritsuko, and slaps her every time she feels that Ritsuko is lying to her. As the anime goes along, Misato learns more and more and begins to uncover things she wouldn't have even thought of as possible models for the EVAs.

Although her ability to do certain things is limited (cooking, learning to brake when she's driving...), Misato is just someone who you'd love to know, she's kind but original in her own way. She's an optimist who lives life because it's still there to live.

Quotes: "Please open! PLEASE! I've got to go to the bathroom!"; [about Kaji] "Who the hell'd marry this dork?"

Name: Akagi Ritsuko
Age: 30
Position: Chief Scientist and Development Head, NERV

Ritsuko is the head scientist of NERV, and the one responsible for hooking the MAGI up after her mother committed suicide. Ritsuko's work is what's enabled the EVAs to come so far. She tends to be a little.. um.. cold-hearted when it comes to whether the EVAs survive or whether the pilots survive, which tends to get her slapped around by Misato a few times, especially when it concerns if Shinji survives. Ritsuko is always calm and professional, even during a crisis (she's even responsible for destroying one of the Angels). Having been friends with Misato and Kaji since college, she tends to get along with them most of the time. Ritsuko also seems to have a thing for Kaji, who's busy trying to put the moves on her so he can get secret information about NERV from her.

She seemed to have a bit of a rough relationship with her mother (Akagi Naoko) when she was young (Ritsuko: "I loved my mother as a mother, I respected her as a scientist, but I hated her as a woman"), and tried to look different by dying her hair blonde (hence the blonde hair and dark eyebrows). And, after her mother's death she was a bit more withdrawn than normal. Ritsuko usually keeps to herself and doesn't really open up unless she's around close friends.

Quote: [about Misato's curry] "How can she make something that's ready-to-eat so awful?"

Name: Kaji Ryoji
Age: 31

Kaji is sort of the Romeo of the anime. He has this thing about trying to romance all the ladies at NERV, especially Misato and Ritsuko. And whenever Misato sees him doing this (to her or someone else), she goes ballistic. Although Kaji and Misato used to have a relationship when they were both in college, it seems as if some of what they used to have is still there. Misato, of course, denies it and puts Kaji down at any chance she can get.

Kaji turned up at NERV while escorting Asuka (who's got what you could call a severe crush on him) to their headquarters in Tokyo-3. As an agent for the Japanese government sent to spy on NERV, it's sometimes hard to tell whether his loyalty lies with NERV or with the government. Kaji knows more about what's happening at NERV than most who work at NERV do, and forces Misato (one of the clueless ones) to see what they're doing. He brings Gendo the embryo known as "Adam," and works with NERV for a great part of the anime.

Although Kaji seems to be sort of sneaky, he's kind of strange in some ways. He keeps a watermelon garden in the underground Geodome and sits there watering them while an Angel attacks NERV's headquarters (after defeating two EVAs). And while he's there, he tells Shinji (who has just recently quit NERV) that if he were able to do something to save the world, he'd do it. It's times like these you wonder how Kaji is really thinking.

Quote: "I'd like to give you my sincerest regards Major Katsuragi. I suppose I'll have to be polite to you now."

Name: Fuyutsuki Kozo
Age: 58
Position: Sub-Commander of NERV (i.e. 2nd in Command)

Fuyutsuki is the Second in Command of NERV, and tends to get stuck with a lot of the rough stuff while Gendo goes away on meetings and stuff. He's in charge of commanding what can be done with the EVAs and how they should deal with an Angel. Most of the time he leaves all the decision making up to Misato and then approves her plans. Fuyutsuki used to know Gendo and Yui (Gendo's wife) when they were both in college. He advises Gendo and feels a responsibility to stay with NERV because he wants to keep what Yui (one of his favorite students) devoted her life to alive. Usually soft spoken and quiet, Fuyutsuki only comments when he feels it's necessary. He remains cool and calm even in the worst tragedies and provides a stable rock for NERV to lean back on.

Quote: "It's hot."

Name: Ikari Gendo
Age: 48
Position: Supreme Commander of NERV

Gendo is the Commander of NERV, and the one who seems to have come up with many of the ideas for the inventions created there. He takes a great interest in the Human Complementation Project, and spends most of his time working on that while Fuyutsuki keeps NERV in check. Gendo is an extremely mysterious and cold man, and he seems to have no qualms about using people to get what he wants (i.e. Shinji, Ritsuko, Akagi Naoko). The only people who he seemed to actually care for where Yui, and Ayanami Rei. With a somewhat evil look on his face, it's sometimes unclear how he feels about things, and who he gives his loyalty.

Quote: "They're clever bastards."

Neon Genesis Evangelion
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