Sohryu Asuka Langley

Name: Sohryu Asuka Langley
Age: 14 years old (born 2001)
Parents: unknown (mother went insane and died)
Rank: 2nd child
Evangelion Unit: 02
Notes: born in Germany; highly unstable and temperamental; extremely intelligent (college diploma obtained); cannot abide weakness or passivity; highly independant and self-sufficient; strong leadership qualities but poor teamwork skills; very little cooperation; strong ego; very arrogant and superior; very lonely; dislikes Shinji because he is willing to be pushed around and will not stand up for himself; very jealous of Rei's relationship with Commander Ikari and Rei's supposed perfection and emotionlessness (a state she's never managed to achieve); trouble with relationships; uses beauty and innocence to get her way

Asuka's arrival instantly makes a lasting impression on everyone involved. Loud, obnoxious, annoying, and temperamental, she has been brought from Germany to pilot Evangelion Unit 02, which arrives with her. We first meet her as she desperately chases after Ryoji Kaji, who also makes a first appearance in this episode, scaring Misato half to death. Toji and Kensuke are with Shinji at the time when they meet. When Asuka's dress gets blown up by the wind, she slaps all those who saw anything (Shinji, Kensuke and Toji; she doesn't care about Misato). Toji, who refuses to accept this, promptly returns the favor by mooning her. He gets slapped again. The boys are later sitting at school, relieved not to have to deal with her on a permanent basis and pitying Shinji for having to work with her. Asuka walks in and writes her name on the chalkboard. All three fall off their chairs.
Asuka is eager to make friends but doesn't realize she's annoying and obnoxious. Kensuke and Toji begin selling pictures of her to their classmates, because every boy in school (except Shinji, Kensuke and Toji, of course) is in love with her.
Rei and Asuka do not get along. When they first met, Rei was calmly reading a book when Asuka presented herself. "Hi, I'm Asuka Langley Sohryu," she said brightly. "I'm the new pilot of Eva 02. I hope we'll be great friends." Rei looks at her for a long time, then murmurs: "If I am asked to, I will do it." Asuka scowls. Their personalities are not compatible in the least. Asuka believes that Rei is stuck up, too quiet, and boring. She calls Rei "wondergirl", because somehow Rei always seems to be better at everything than Asuka or Shinji. Asuka's slightly jealous of Rei, mostly because Shinji seems so fascinated by her, but also feels sorry her, because she never shows any emotion. She also feels menaced by Rei, but cannot explain the feeling. Asuka resents Rei's relationship with Gendo and the way that Rei seems to know everything.
Asuka is a girl tortured by memories of the past. She remembers, when she was a little girl, seeing her mother in a hospital room, craddling a teddy bear and speaking to it as if it were her daughter. Her mother was once trained as an Evangelion pilot, but she failed the syncronization test and went insane. In another memory, Asuka is running home to her mother, excited about how she was chosen to be an Eva pilot. She walks into the house to find her mother's body hanging from a noose tied to the ceiling. At her mother's funeral, as her foster-mother cries and whispers: "Poor Asuka," little Asuka straightens her spine and says: "No, I won't cry." This has been her attitude for most of her life. She refuses to let sadness or pain into her emotions; she locks them away, much as Rei does. In her sleep, Asuka often whispers: "mother..."

As a pilot, Asuka has to learn to work with Shinji and Rei. She resents this. Shinji has to put up with her day and night when Asuka moves in with Misato, claiming Shinji's room. Despite it all, there is a sense of friendship (a kind of love-hate thing) between Asuka and Shinji; after all, Shinji is a lot more fun than Rei. Asuka does try to befriend Rei, but cannot seem to get her to open up, and takes this as a person insult (just like everything else). Asuka eventually becomes unstable as memories of her past begin to haunt her. When one of the Angels penetrate her mind, her memories become overwhelming. She becomes mentally unstable and can no longer pilot Unit 02.
After her defeat at the hands of the 15th Angel, Asuka makes one last attempt at life and at being an Evangelion pilot (which, after all, she has been training for since she was a child. Being an Evangelion pilot defines her; she's made it the focus of her life). She's afraid of the others now: she sees herself as a failure, and assumes everyone else sees her the same way. She's at the point where she no longer cares about anyone or anything. Asuka would probably have bounced back from this in the end, had it not been for two more events that sent her plummeting over the edge. Asuka is called back to pilot Unit 02, and cannot sync with it. This is like rubbing salt into the wound. But the final blow comes when Gendo, who had insisted that Unit 01 remain on stand-by while Asuka's mind was raped by the Angel, orders Unit 01 out to help Rei. This sends Asuka over the edge, driving home all her resentment against Gendo and especially against Rei. "Why for her? Am I so worthless you couldn't do this for me?" she asks with a hint of her past anger. This is the last rational thing she ever says.
It's hard not to feel sorry for Asuka. She's always had everything so hard, and she's stayed strong through all of it, only to finally give in at a seemingly insignificant moment. She's held everything inside for too long, and she's beyond any point of turning back by the time she joins the Nerv team -- her insanity was inevitable, given the personalities of those she worked with and her own inability to trust. Asuka's life has always been ruled by loneliness -- her father abandoned their family, her mother killed herself, and the other kids always thought her a little strange. Finally, the loneliness gets to be too much and she gives in to insanity and the freedom of not thinking, ever again.

Asuka's Evangelion Unit reflects her personality: it is bright red. Eva 02 is the Unit that's survived everything (like its pilot): magma diving, deep sea diving, forests, etc. Because of Asuka's personality, she is always the first to volunteer for dangerous missions and as a result, Eva 02 is almost as battered as Eva 00.