Asuka Langly Soryu

Asuka Langly Soryu is the beautiful and boisterous pilot of Evangelion Unit 02, the first non-experimental unit. She is also extremely intellegent; she graduated from college at the age of 14. Asuka is the kind of person who strives for excellence and desires to be the best of the best. Her extreme confidence gives her an edge both on and off the battle field.
She served as the foil to Rei Ayanami, who is the quiet and withdrawn pilot of Experimental Evangelion Unit 01. Asuka placed herself in a one-sided rivalry with Rei, because she felt as if Ayanami was Commander Gendo Ikari's "favorite" pilot. Her own personal insecurities drove her to be a reckless showoff at times, and to take on a please all attitude before her commanding officers, though Misato Katsuragi quickly saw through her act...

As for Asuka and Shinji, it is my personal belief that the two are in love with one another, but both are so afraid of rejection that neither one is willing to stick their neck out. I do not believe that Asuka would spend so much of her time flirting with Shinji if she only saw him as a little boy. Even when they first met, Asuka defended him in the fight at the arcade, then claimed that it was in fact our beloved Shin-chan that saved her. She and Shinji just seem the natural pair.

Behind the self-assured and easy-going exterior lies the mind of an insecure and deeply troubled individual. Asuka's life has been dotted with tragedy. When she was a small girl her mother had a nervous breakdown and had to be placed in a mental institution. She was abandoned by her mother and replaced by a doll which her mother began to treat as a child. On the day that Asuka learned she was to become an Evangelion pilot, her mother hung both herself and the doll.