Katsuragi Misato

Name: Katsuragi Misato
Age: 29 years old (born 1986) (14 years old at the time of the 2nd Impact)
Parents: unknown (father died 2000)
Notes: her father died in the 2nd Impact (saved her); she did not speak for 2 years after the 2nd Impact; met Ritsuko & Kaji in college (2005); once Kaji's girlfriend, but broke up with him; fond of alcohol; disorganized; means well but rarely succeeds with people; temperamental

Misato is a woman in her late twenties who likes to have fun. She's very pretty and all the boys in Shinji, Asuka, and Rei's class are in love with her and envy him because he lives with her. This embarasses Shinji (just like everything else). Misato goes from Captain to Major during the episodes, and is very devoted to fighting the Angels. This is the result of the 2nd Impact, when an angel later named Adam fell to earth. This explosion destroyed the South Pole and killed millions of people, including the Katsuragi research team, led by her father. She was the sole survivor, and she only lived because her father, whom she despised, put her in a pod to save her. After the 2nd Impact, she didn't speak for 2 years. Now, she fights the Angels to get her revenge on them.
Once, long ago, Misato and Kaji were boyfriend and girlfriend (when they were in college). They were very serious but Misato broke up with him when he wouldn't make a commitment. Now, they meet again for the first time since college, and she wants him dead. "You haven't changed a bit!" she accuses him. Kaji loves to tease her and goes out of his way to embarass her, mentioning old habits of hers that she would rather have kept hidden. He is a real romeo, running after every girl he sees. Misato still cares for him, and they eventually get involved again as she begins to feel her age creep up on her (she's 29).

Misato and Ritsuko are good friends, despite the occasional quarrel. Misato and Shinji finally begin to get along when Misato decides to tell Shinji about her past. This gives him a better understanding of her, and she decides to try to be a bit more serious and neat. Misato also has a habit of coming home drunk nearly every time she goes out. When Misato learns that Nerv is holding the very being she has despised for so long, Adam, the cause of the 2nd Impact, she is determined to get some answers, no matter what.
Misato is a very caring person; she tries really hard to get Shinji to open up to her and tries to make Asuka into a better person, but she isn't very good with children. She really tries, but she can't quite seem to make them trust her. She drinks to escape her problems, and likes to stay on a comfortable buzz as much as possible, though she never drinks on the job. She's a very lonely person -- she spends a lot of time thinking about Kaji and about all the people who've left her, like her father. She's been emotionally and physically scarred, and she's struggling to regain the balance and inner stability that she hasn't had since her college days.

Misato's pet penguin. He is a very intelligent animal who can survive in warm water. He reads the newspaper, sleeps in the fridge, and tries to avoid Misato's cooking (from which he has suffered many times).