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{{work}}
{{characters need descriptions}}
{{outdated}}
The cast of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' and ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]''.
The [[Your Mileage May Vary|YMMV]] tropes relating to the characters have been moved to [[Neon Genesis Evangelion/YMMV|that page]].
{{Unmarked Spoilers}}
==
=== Tropes in common ===
* [[Early Teen Hero]]: All of the pilots are fourteen. [[Justified]] in that only children born after the Second Impact can pilot the [[Humongous Mecha|Evangelions]]. Also [[Subverted]] in the sense that ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' is by no means a kids' show, nor does it try to appeal to young children.
=== '''Shinji Ikari''' ===
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Shinji, the Third Child, is the estranged son of NERV Commander Gendō Ikari. He is the main protagonist and the [[Ordinary High School Student]] of the cast, and the series is actually mostly about him and his relationships with the other characters. He witnessed the death of his mother Yui when he was four years old (she was seemingly killed in an early test stage of Evangelion Unit 01), and was abandoned by his father shortly thereafter. He suffers from an extreme lack of self-confidence throughout most of the storyline, has a very low opinion of himself, and generally does whatever is asked of him.
Especially in the early episodes, Shinji is the series' resident [[Butt Monkey]], the victim of almost every joke the scriptwriters could come up with for purposes of comedy relief. He's [[The So-Called Coward]] who saves the day occasionally but never gets any respect
In the first episode, [[The Call Knows Where You Live|Gendo blackmails Shinji into piloting Unit 01]] with the threat that if he doesn't, a severely-wounded Rei will be sent out in his place to certain death. From then on, [[Resigned to the Call|Shinji is reluctant to pilot his
Over the first half or so of the series, Shinji makes noticeable progress toward becoming more stable and more accepting of others. However, beginning with the Angel Leliel's attack, and the increasing toll subsequent Angels' attacks and revelations about the truths behind NERV and SEELE take on him and everyone around him, Shinji becomes [[Alone in a Crowd|increasingly alienated]], [[Break the Cutie|increasingly depressed]], and [[Driven to Madness|his sanity slowly erodes]]. By the end of
In the manga version, Shinji's personality has noticeable differences, as he is more apathetic, depressive
''Rebuild of Evangelion''
* [[Accidental Pervert]]:
** His first actual conversation with Rei starts with this, and is notable for being one of the first major signs that Rei [[Creepy Child|isn't normal
** This happens again with Mari in ''Rebuild 2.0''. Again, Shinji is the only one of the two who seems to care.
* [[Action Survivor]]: His first encounter with danger occurs at the feet of Sachiel, which crushes and detonates an army helicopter less than fifty feet from him, and the next encounter is inside Misato's car and beneath Misato as the blast wave from an N2 explosion throws and rolls the car sideways and up a hill.
* [[Adorably Precocious Child]]: Well, he used to be one.
* [[Adorkable]]: His polite behavior coupled with his tendency to get into incredibly awkward situations really makes him this.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type I, specifically]], with hints of Type IV as the plot advances.
* [[Apologises a Lot]]: Too often, according to Asuka.
{{quote|'''Asuka''': Stop apologizing to me! Grow some backbone!
'''Shinji''': [[Digging Yourself Deeper|S-Sorry]]!
* [[Audience Surrogate]]: Whether people want to admit it or not, Shinji acts much the same way a lot of people would act given the circumstances, asks many of the same questions the audience is asking, and shares many of the audience's views on the events happening in the series (or vice versa, thanks to the story being told from his perspective). This, naturally, leads into a lot of the [[Fan Wank]] about the series.
* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: His name can be read as "[[Unstoppable Rage|Wrath of]] [[The Chosen One|the]] [[Physical God|Divine Child]]
* [[Ax Crazy]]: When sufficiently stressed.
* [[Badass Adorable]]: He's more cute than "handsome" or "pretty" and is often one of the only reasons for humanity's continued survival.
* [[Beginner's Luck]]: Subverted in several ways.
* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: With Asuka in practically every installment of the franchise. [[Everyone Can See It]]. Even Toji can see it: Asuka starts chewing out Shinji for not bringing their lunches, while he tries to get his side in. Toji tosses off a remark that they're arguing [[Like an Old Married Couple]]. Cue double [[Luminescent Blush]] (they had kissed not many days earlier), then simultaneous denial in perfect stereo. But due to their personality problems, neither can actually tell the other, leading to... well, [[The End of the World as We Know It]]. Luckily, many fanfiction authors go out of their way to fix these problems. So did the canon author in the ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' series; her [[Tsundere]] and his [[Shrinking Violet]] tendencies are toned down considerably.
* [[Berserk Button]]:
** In the TV series in Episode
** In ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', anyone {{spoiler|or anything}} hurting Rei gets a dose of Shinji's new-found rage. This comes to a head in ''Rebuild 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance'' when Rei is ''devoured'' by Zeruel, and he decides to take a page from [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Kamina]] and ''rip the angel to pieces'' with glowing eyes of rage to save her.
* [[The Berserker]]: When pushed past his breaking point, Shinji becomes a brutal killing machine. There's only so much pressure a doormat can take.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: When [[Heroic BSOD|he's driven over the edge]], horror ensues for the Angels, Asuka
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Sometimes as the rescuer, sometimes as the rescued. His one indisputable moment of this comes in
* [[Bishonen]]: Shinji's level of bishie-ness (or non-bishie-ness) is very polarizing in the fandom, although [http://www.evamonkey.com/writings_sadamoto01.php Sadamoto wrote that he designed Shinji to be a delicate/vulnerable-looking bishonen].
* [[Break the Cutie]]: One of the defining examples of this trope, at least in anime.
* [[Butt Monkey]]: [[Deconstructed Trope|To the extreme]], but not in a ''comical'' way.
* [[Byronic Hero]]: Becomes more in ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' as the series progresses.
* [[Character Tic]]: The twitching of his fingers, and opening and closing his hand.
* [[Chick Magnet]]: Asuka, Misato and Rei's actions around him say much... and then there's [[Even the Guys Want Him|Kaworu]].
** As of ''Rebuild 2.0'', it's official. If you've met Shinji, you will want to screw Shinji. No exceptions.
* [[Conscription]]: It's been said that the reason Shinji gets so much flak from anime fans is because he has far more in common with a [[Vietnam War]] draftee than with most [[Shonen]] protagonists. While the reasons the animosity are up for debate (like virtually everything else in
* [[Covert Pervert]]: As evidenced by his dream sequences. No more than [[Truth in Television]] level for a hormonal teenager
* [[Cowardly Lion]]
* [[Creepy Child]]: He's ''all over'' this in ''The End Of Evangelion''.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: He has signs of this in the anime, at least in the beginning, before [[Break the Cutie]] rears its ugly head. In the manga, it seems to be his default state when he's catching flak from people, especially to Asuka. On a more subtle level, it also counts as another trait that makes him [[Not So Different]] from his father, as seen in Episode 22 where it turns out the younger Gendo also had quite the sarcastic wit back in the day.
* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: In a horribly cruel fashion, he crosses this line more than once. How does that even work? Something will happen that will [[Break the Cutie|break him]], throwing him into a [[Heroic BSOD]] (for example, the incident with EVA Unit 03 where he goes into a complete [[Freak-Out]]), and then he will slowly and painfully pull himself back from the brink into some semblance of barely-functioning normality... and then something '''else''' will happen to just decimate him all over again and drive him ''back'' over the horizon. Each time he "recovers", he is more damaged and less stable than the time before, so it becomes even easier ''next time'' for him to be broken. It's only in ''The End of Evangelion'' that he becomes permanently fixed beyond the [[Despair Event Horizon]] by virtue of the fact that he is so completely and utterly destroyed -- his mind being a broken mess of psychological torment and agony -- that becoming an [[Empty Shell]] would be a ''relief''.
* [[Determinator]]: In ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', even if his flesh tears away, he WILL save Ayanami.
** It's more than that. Willing Unit 01 to reactivate and proceeding to [[Beyond the Impossible|turn physics inside-out]] and getting torn apart, all to save Rei? Hell yeah, total [[Badass]] [[Determinator]]. But that's not enough, oh no. Since an Angel's physical form is defined by its AT Field (its soul), what we have here is a boy who by dint of his conviction is able to rip into the soul of the most powerful Angel NERV has ever faced and [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|*tear it apart*]] to get back the girl he loves. Clearly, Third Impact is just another name for what happens when Shinji's balls drop.
** But there is also a disturbing implication to this action, namely the fact that Shinji is willing to disregard all consequences, including the death of the entire human race, to be reunited with a girl whom he relies on emotionally. He has basically adopted his father's [[Love Makes You Evil|screwed worldview]]. And just to drive the point home, the action is centered around the clone of the same woman.
** He also shows this in the original anime. If you convince him that he has to destroy an angel he will do ''anything'' to destroy it. The difference between ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' and the original anime
* [[Determined Defeatist]]: Kaworu admits that what he admires the most about Shinji, in contrast to Gendo and SEELE, is that Shinji keeps going despite all the heartbreak life causes him.
* [[Dreadful Musician]]: He considers himself as such, but is actually a pretty decent cello player. Case in point: he can play the prelude to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIzKdmDxdD0 Bach's Cello Suite No. 1], a piece known for requiring a considerable amount of skill, very well. Even ''Asuka'' is impressed.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: He comes close to it about twice before ''The End of Evangelion'', after which he is continuously in a state of suicidal depression.
* [[The Eeyore]]: Not (generally) played for laughs
* [[Even the Guys Want Him]]:
*
** On the other hand, Kaji jokingly(?) flirts with him in ''Rebuild 2.0''
* [[Expy]]:
** In a sense; Shinji's character design is a [[Gender Flip]] of [[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water|Nadia]].
** He also has a few character traits similar to [[Gunbuster|Noriko]].
* [[Extreme Doormat]]: Less so in the manga and ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
* [[Freak-Out]]: Happens often. Earlier in the series, the occasional [[Freak-Out|Freak Outs]] just temper into a [[Heroic BSOD]], and eventually, he seems to "recover" for a bit. However, as the series goes on, they become more and more damaging, and it becomes more and more difficult for him to recover from. And then we get to ''[[It Got Worse|The End of Evangelion]]'' [[Foregone Conclusion|and well...]]
* [[Genre Savvy]]: His ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]] 3'' incarnation to an extreme degree. He even teaches [[Gundam Seed|Kira Yamato]] Dealing With an Angry Tsundere 101. [[Through His Stomach|He demonstrates by subduing a pissed off Cagalli with food]].
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: Second movie, towards the end. They're blood red, and it is truly, unconditionally terrifying.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130911205346/http://cjblackwing.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/eva-2-22-13852-shinji-red-eyes.jpg Here's a pic.] Be warned, it WILL freak you out.
* [[A God Am I]]: Somewhat becomes this during ''The End of Evangelion'', where he is asked whether or not he wants humanity to continue existing as it is or not. The question being asked shortly after his [[Despair Event Horizon]], {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All|humanity is forced to take it up the ass]]. [[Mind Screw|Or]] [[Gainax Ending|not]]}}.
* [[Go Mad from the Revelation]]: Starts late in the series and goes full blast in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Hard Work Hardly Works]]: [[Deconstructed Trope|There's a reason why he's such a good pilot]].
* [[Hates Being Touched]]
* [[Headphones Equal Isolation]]: He's often seen wearing headphones, listening to music on his SDAT player, when he wants to block out reality.
* [[The Hero]]
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Several times over the course of the series, and so much so in ''The End of Evangelion'' that after the [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]] opening, he becomes a passive [[Death Seeker]].
* [[Heroic Self-Deprecation]]: Gendo really did something awful to his self-esteem.
* [[Heroic Willpower]]: He mustn't run away
* [[Hurting Hero]]: Progressively more and more as the series reaches the climax.
* [[I Ate What?]]: In response to trying Misato's cooking.
* [[If It's You It's Okay]]: Possibly towards Kaworu. Shinji is most likely straight considering how he expresses attraction to Misato, Asuka and Rei. However, in the manga, at one point, he thinks "I was attracted to him (Kaworu) even though I knew I shouldn't like a boy like that." The most [[WMG|common fan theories]] are that [[Bi the Way|he's either Bi]] or [[I Just Want to Be Loved|just starving for affection]].
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Desperately clings to any chances at a normal life despite knowing all too well that he's stuck in the world Gendo has placed him in. Even discounting that, the plans Yui made for him effectively means that he never really had a chance.
* [[Incest Is Relative]]: The sexual attraction between him and Rei (who, unbeknownst to either of them, is a clone produced from a mixture of his mother's DNA and Lilith's').
** Just how genetically close Shinji and Rei are is one of the more debated topics among fans, and is frequently played with in fanfiction, especially among [[Shipping|Shippers]]. Depending on who you ask, a relationship between the two could be [[Parental Incest]], [[Brother-Sister Incest]], [[Kissing Cousins]], or not incest at all.
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Shinji/Rei might also be this, since she is a [[Half-Human Hybrid]].
* [[Mean Character, Nice Actor|Introverted Character, Extroverted Actor]]: [[Spike Spencer]], Shinji's English voice actor, is a perpetually hyperactive, highly sociable guy who loves cracking jokes and being the center of attention and doesn't care much for [[Contemplate Our Navels|contemplation]]... that is to say, he's the polar opposite of Shinji.
* [[It's All My Fault]]: He has a nasty habit of blaming everything on himself. The absolute refusal by the rest of the cast to explain anything to him only makes it worse.
* [[It Sucks to Be the Chosen One]]: Shinji hates being an EVA pilot.
* [[I Will Protect Her]]: In the manga version of ''The End of Evangelion'', Shinji piloting Unit-01 takes a stand against the MP Evas once Unit-02 shuts down and, [[Heroic Resolve|vastly outnumbered]], speaks this line in utter [[Badass|Badassitude]]:
{{quote|"I will... protect Asuka!! Never... again... shall anyone die!!"}}
* [[The Kirk]]: He forms the insecure and indecisive center trying to balance out the emotionless Rei and the overly emotional Asuka.
* [[Kissing Cousins]]: His possible relationship with Rei in ''Shinji Ikari Raising Project'', where she is his distant cousin.
* [[Like an Old Married Couple]]: With Asuka when they're both at their most emotionally stable. It's lampshaded by Touji.
* [[Like Brother and Sister]]: His relationship with Rei has some shades of this, not least due to Rei's origins.
* [[Loser Protagonist]]: A core aspect of his character is his refusal to acknowledge anything about himself besides his failures.
* [[Midnight Blue Eyes]]
* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: There are quite a few shots of him naked.
* [[Not So Different]]:
** In ''The End of Evangelion'', Shinji realizes the similarities between himself and Asuka.
{{quote|Asuka: Even just the sight of you gets on my nerves!
Shinji: Because I'm just like you? }}
** It becomes obvious by the end of the series that he and Gendo actually are very similar people, both being introverted persons wracked with an extreme sense of social anxiety and self-loathing.
* [[Oedipus Complex]]:
** Especially in the manga, where Shinji throws a punch at Gendo, and later has a dream sequence about killing him. Also, while trapped inside Unit-01, he is tempted by the naked spirit of his mother.
** His relationship with Rei is often seen as a metaphor for this, even if she isn't really a 100% duplicate of Yui.
* [[Ordinary High School Student]]: At the beginning. On the other hand, his family past is such that he could never have had an ordinary life to begin with, which Kaji makes amply clear in the manga. Also, like so much of ''Evangelion'', deconstructed since it shows how well an actual ordinary teenager would react to being unwillingly thrust into war against [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]].
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: He watched his mother die. Dad is emotionally neglectful/abusive (''especially'' in the manga). Misato tries to fill in, bless her heart, but she simply can't get the job done.
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: In the dub.
** ''"I'm so fucked up."''
** "[[Hilarious Outtakes|Now if I were to run away, let's analyze that: where the FUCK would I go??]]"
* [[The Scream]]: Screams quite a bit throughout the series, and at least [[Rule of Three|three times]] in ''The End of Evangelion''. Usually coincides with a particularly painful [[Freak-Out]] or begging Gendo to stop doing something highly unethical.
* [[Short Wimpy and Brunet]]
* [[Shrinking Violet]]: Generally a passive wallflower in social situations, though he does make attempts at being more social.
* [[The So-Called Coward]]: Subverted; he saves the day again and again, but rarely gets any respect for it.
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: For most of the series he walks around quietly with a little smile on his face, even when it becomes clear he's dying inside.
* [[Super Mode]]
* [[Supreme Chef]]: So good, even Asuka didn't want to share hers with anyone when he made lunch.
* [[Ten-Minute Retirement]]: Every time something traumatic happens to him in his EVA, he swears off piloting only to be dragged back in not long after due to his own hidden [[Determinator]] qualities. The one time when he finally decides to call it quits for good, things don't turn out well.
* [[This Loser Is You]]
* [[Took a Level
** Subverted in that ''everyone'' was waiting for him to do this. There are at least two instances in which he goes completely, homicidally
** In fan works, on the other hand, Shinji does this ''all the freaking time''. If you're reading an
*** ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' has done this with Shinji a lot, and in ways that are much more realistic than [[Fan Fics]]. The most triumphant example would have to be ''
** There was the time in ''
** The ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' incarnation of Shinji, in comparison to the original.
* [[Tragic Hero]]: He oscillates back and forth during the series between terrified near-catatonia and insane superhuman courage, though by the end, he's clearly heading for a nervous breakdown, and completely snaps in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Trauma Conga Line]]: Shinji's entire life, basically. A lot of it courtesy of [[Jerkass|Gendo]]. As for the result types, he's a result B in the original, but shifts to a variation of a result D in ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
* [[The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter|The Ugly Guy's Cute Son]]
* [[Unlucky Everydude]]
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: After all, he is the central character, and on a fundamental level the series
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Whenever he gets pushed too far by the stress of being an
* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: He's this way up until the incident with Unit-03, at which point his wanting to reconcile with Gendo dies a very messy death.
=== '''Rei Ayanami''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Megumi Hayashibara]] (JP), [[Amanda Winn-Lee]] (EN, series), [[Brina Palencia]] (''Rebuild''), Circe Luna (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Gabriela Ugarte (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
Line 148 ⟶ 153:
{{quote|''[[We Have Reserves|If I die, I can be replaced.]]''}}
Rei, the First Child, is a [[Shy Blue-Haired Girl]]. She is [[Moe|beautiful]], [[Creepy Child|fey
At first, her only human relationship is with her commanding officer
She is stated in Episode 17 to have [[UST|strong feelings]] for Shinji, though her thoughts and feelings are for the most part revealed neither to the people around her nor to the audience. This is changed in the manga adaption where, as well as the pair having more scenes together, she shows much more of a fondness towards him and openly admits it. However, the true depths of her feelings are still hidden until later in the story.
She is in many ways the polar opposite of Asuka, and is compared to Yui Ikari, implicitly and explicitly, on multiple occasions.
* [[Action Girl]]: She has her moments.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type III. Given her willingness to share uncomfortable truths whether someone wants to listen or not.
* [[Apocalypse Maiden]]: The intention was for her to cause Instrumentality according to how Gendo wanted it. Didn't quite work out that way: when SEELE caused Instrumentality Rei put a stop to it.
* [[Artificial Human
* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]: Bonding with Lilith causes the resulting hybrid being (commonly referred to as [[Fan Nickname|"Giant Naked Rei"]]) to grow gigantic, and then ''monumentally'' gigantic.
* [[Badass Adorable]]: The vessel of the mother of the precursor race to humans, pilot of a mecha that fights said precursors, and [[Trope Codifier]] of [[Moe]].
* [[Badass Bookworm]]
* [[Bandage Babe]]: To an outrageous degree.
* [[The Berserker]]
* [[Bizarre Human Biology]]: While Rei is [[Canon|canonically]] known to be at least [[Half-Human Hybrid|partially human]], the specifics aren't made clear. To compensate, [[Fanfic
* [[Bob Haircut]]
* [[Body Backup Drive]]
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* [[Cloning Blues]]: She hates being a clone, especially the fact that she cannot die and will just be replaced if she does.
* [[Conditioned to Accept Horror]]
* [[Creepy Child]]: Regarded as this by Toji, Kensuke and Asuka.
* [[Dandere]]: Toward Gendo.
* [[Death Seeker]]: Of sorts. She flat out states that she wants to die, though this can be interpreted as not having the ability to due to her [[Cloning Blues]]. She does not take the pointlessness of her [[Heroic Sacrifice]] well at all.
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: She ''slowly'' begins opening up to others, particularly Shinji, and even seeks Toji out when she learns he's a pilot, before hesitating to shoot him when she might have before.
* [[Determinator]] [[Plucky Girl]]: [[Incredibly Lame Pun|DetermiReitor]]?
* [[Disney Death]]: Subverted
* [[Emotionless Girl]]: Subverted
* [[Expendable Clone]]: "If I die, I can be replaced."
* [[Extreme Doormat]]: Perfectly willing to commit suicide if Gendo asks her to.
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: She has no problem telling Asuka and Shinji they suck when the need arises, going as far as slapping Shinji [[What the Hell, Hero?|when he badmouths his father]].
* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: A clone of Shinji's mother and Lilith.
* [[Heroic Albino]]: Sort of.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Rei is the empress of this trope, risking her life no less than four times depending on how you count them.
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: This is the reasoning for her [[Defrosting Ice Queen|frosty]], [[Good Is Not Nice|pragmatic]], [[Emotionless Girl|distant]] personality, and why she becomes more pissed off and tired near the end.
* [[Innocent Fanservice Girl]]: Rei appears to have [[No Nudity Taboo]] thanks to a lifetime of scientific experiments. Her reaction to Shinji walking in on her naked, falling on top of her, and [[Thanks for the Mammary|accidentally groping her]] was limited to politely asking him to move without a hint of embarrassment or annoyance, let alone asking him to leave the room while she dressed.
* [[Kissing Cousins]]: Her possible relationship with Shinji in ''Shinji Ikari Raising Project'', where she is his distant cousin.
* [[Kuudere]]: Although she initially comes across as emotionless, aside from the aforementioned scene with Gendo, in truth, she's so disconnected from meaningful human contact that until Shinji enters her life, she doesn't really know ''how'' to emote, something she essentially admits at the end of
* [[Luminescent Blush]]: Displays this a few times when Shinji is particularly kind to her.
* [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter]]
* [[Messianic Archetype]]: Rei's entire existence is basically a [[Fate Worse Than Death]], and she is key to the [[Assimilation Plot]]. She basically says, "Screw that", and when SEELE do this through Shinji, she modifies it to at least give people the option of whether or not they want Instrumentality.
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]
* [[My Hero Zero]]: She pilots Unit 00, and her first name means "Nothing". This ends up being inverted for the most part, as her synch-rate is several points lower than either Shinji or Asuka. However, she has some talent in piloting.
* [[Mystical Waif]]: Introduced as a quiet, oracular young girl.
* [[No Social Skills]]: To the point where she will ask if there's something she should feel or do in social situations.
* [[Oracular Urchin]]: Borderline
* [[The Philosopher]]: "Mankind has always feared the darkness."
* [[The Quiet One]]: Rei says little, and almost never initiates conversations with anyone whose last name is not Ikari.
* [[Mean Character, Nice Actor|Quiet Character Manic Actress]]: Listening to the audio commentary for ''The End of Evangelion'' can be a jarring (but fun) experience, as Rei's voice actress, who was also a writer/producer/just about everything for the show, might be [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl|the single most hyperactive woman ever]] with shades of [[Perky Goth]] as she squeals with delight seeing a body get run over with a car.
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Zigged zagged. From about
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Blue Oni to Asuka's red.
* [[Replacement Goldfish]]: For Gendō, [[Unfortunate Implications|in a sense]]. It's important to note, for what it's worth, that if Gendo and Yui had had a girl instead of Shinji, she'd have been named Rei.
* [[Shy Blue-Haired Girl]]: To the point where her choosing to interact with anyone is greeted with either shock and/or fear.
* [[The Spock]]: The stoic and inhuman Rei forms the cold and logical part of the main trio.
* [[The Stoic]]: Although the second version was [[Not So Stoic]] by the end.
* [[Strange Girl]]
* [[Take a Third Option]]: Gendo wants her to cause Instrumentality. Rei doesn't want to. What's she do? [[What an Idiot!|Ask Shinji
* [[Technicolor Eyes]]: Her red eyes are the most distinctive sign that she isn't completely human, which becomes even more clear once Kaworu shows up with the same eye color.
* [[Through His Stomach|Through Her Stomach]]: In ''Rebuild 2.0'', Shinji sharing miso soup with her at the sea life preserve, and later preparing a lunch for her at school, are the major keys toward getting her to open up to people.
* [[Tyke Bomb]]: Gendou's intention was to use her to set off the [[Assimilation Plot]] on his terms. It backfires to the point where [[The Bad Guy Wins]], with Rei after arguing against it leaving an out.
* [[Uncanny Valley]]: Rei was supposed to [[Invoked Trope|invoke]] this. Whether or not it actually worked is another story.
* [[Unkempt Beauty]]: So true.
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: With Shinji.
* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: Justified, since everybody except Shinji knew her for years, and the strangeness of her blue hair and red eyes are nothing special by the start of the series.
* [[Veganism and Vegetarianism]]: Rei is vegetarian; she got an emotional reaction from Auska when Rei asked that no pork be included in her ramen.
* [[Warrior Therapist]]: Rei plays this to Shinji, Asuka, and in the manga, Ritsuko, and demonstrates that the world is so effed up that it's better [[There Are No Therapists]].
* [[Weak but Skilled]]: The lowest synch rate and the worst EVA, but she makes up for it with piloting ability and capacity to follow the plan.
* [[We Have Reserves]]: Maybe one of the creepiest examples ever.
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: Rei thinks there is worse than none, placing her welfare and safety at basically zero. This doesn't change throughout the series, and she places the welfare of others (Shinji in particular) and the human race in general (the Angel attacks, Instrumentality) far and above her own.
* [[When She Smiles]]: Used to be the page image, and probably the cutest moment of a bleak and depressing series.
* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]: Gendo wants her to. Rei, unsurprisingly, doesn't.
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility]]: To Shinji in the movies.
* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]: Her second incarnation gains some shades of this after she [[Defrosting Ice Queen|defrosts]]. She is quite serious, never shows any animosity towards anyone (even to Asuka, whose dislike of Rei is very evident) unless they insult the Ikaris, either of whom she would die for at any given moment. She also reacts with a [[Luminescent Blush]] to being told that she'd [[Lampshade Hanging|would make a good housewife]]. It's more obvious in ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' where she tries to get Shinji to get along with Gendo by inviting them to a home-cooked dinner.
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Rei's unrealistic, icy blue hair is one of her defining character traits, to the point that it got its own paint color.
=== '''Asuka Langley Soryu/[[Alternate Continuity|Shikinami]]''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Yuko Miyamura]] (JP), [[Tiffany Grant]] (EN), [[Norma Echevarria]] (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Gina Sanchez (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
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{{quote|''[[Jerkass|What are you, stupid?]]''}}
Asuka, the Second Child, is an [[Tsundere|obnoxious, conceited, abrasive]] German-Japanese girl with a [[Fiery Redhead|short temper]], who alternates between flirting with Shinji and brutalizing him both emotionally and physically. She is a [[Teen Genius]] who has a college degree at the age of fourteen, speaks at least three languages fluently, and is very [[Plucky Girl|determined]] and very [[You Go, Girl!|athletic]]. She pilots [[Jumped At the Call|gleefully]] because she wants to become famous the world over for her intrepid exploits. [[Blood Knight|She glories in combat, and it's very nearly all she lives for]]. Her [[Heroes Want Redheads|naturally red hair]] and blue eyes also make her [[Foreign Fanservice|exotically attractive]] by Japanese standards. Her almost pathologically arrogant, rude
She is [[Clingy Jealous Girl|infatuated with]] Ryōji Kaji, Misato Katsuragi's on-again, off-again boyfriend, and [[The Glomp|throws herself at him again and again]] in an aggressive manner that is, for cultural reasons, quite shocking to the Japanese (and still fairly obsessive and disturbing even in more demonstrative cultures). She initially offers to be friends with Rei because "it would be convenient", but quickly comes to hate her because she perceives Rei as being akin to a doll or puppet, something Asuka harbors a deep hatred for. At first, she appears to be a potential
As the series goes on, she becomes more sympathetic when [[Freudian Excuse|her own painful past is revealed]], which is proportionate to the emotional issues she's developed as a result. Her personality and attitude are shown to be psychological defenses against cripplingly ''low'' self-esteem, and that she abuses others partly out of a fear of intimacy and partly out of sheer anger at the world. She does ''not'' change for the better, but, depending on interpretation, there is a hint at the very end of ''The End of Evangelion'' that she has come to realize how much she has hurt everyone around her.
The manga version of Asuka is not much different: the main changes are to her background (she is a test-tube baby), her introduction (which establishes her as more of an outright [[Badass]] than in the anime), and her traumatic past (an extra event is introduced which compounds the tragedy and which plays itself out again through Asuka).
* [[Ace Pilot]]: Deconstructed.
* [[Action Girl]]: More so in the manga where we see her in action outside of the EVA.
* [[Alpha Bitch]]: In the anime especially. Is [[Lovable Alpha Bitch|more bearable]] in the manga, and in the ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' films, she isn't an [[Alpha Bitch]] at all even ''when'' a jerkass, depicted as completely antisocial in school rather than the popular girl like in the anime.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type IV. As deeply flawed as Shinji and with similar issues, but in a more extroverted fashion.
* [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy
* [[Ax Crazy]]: If anyone or anything that isn't named "Kaji" or "Hikari" pushes her buttons. This effect is turned [[Up to Eleven]] if Shinji is the victim or if she is in Unit-02, and passes the horror threshold in ''The End of Evangelion'' when she fights the MP EVAs, dispatching them with brutality that is at times almost sickening.
* [[Attention Whore]]: Due to her abandonment issues.
* [[Back
* [[Badass Adorable]]: As usual, she's a cute [[Tsundere|tsundere]] girl who's also one of the most accomplished and capable EVA pilots upon her introduction.
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: While not quite to the extent of Rei, Asuka ''did'' manage to graduate from college, and she ''does'' have quite a good knowledge of Science: the only reason she has trouble in the exams is because she hasn't mastered Kanji.
* [[Bandage Babe]]: During the last scene of ''The End of Evangelion''. She suffers from similar wounds to Rei's.
* [[Bastard Girlfriend]]: Deconstructed, since her abuse is neither played for laughs nor sexy.
* [[The Berserker]]
* [[Blood Knight]]
* [[Blue Eyes]]
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Her breaking happened a little later than Shinji's but was much harsher and traumatic.
* [[Break the Haughty]]: Since her entire self-conception revolves around being the best
* [[Broken Ace]]:
* [[Broken Bird]]: She already qualified for this at the start of the show. This being ''Evangelion'', [[It Got Worse]], and after the [[Mind Rape]], she was almost completely broken.
* [[Broken Smile]]: She's currently featured on the page image.
* [[Bungled Suicide]]: It's implied that she tried to cut her wrists in
* [[But Not Too Foreign]]: She's born to a half-German, half-Japanese mother and an American father of unknown ethnicity (though if Langley is assumed to be his surname, he's likely English), and has an American passport.
* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]: For extra fun, she has a hard time even admitting her feelings for Shinji to herself, let alone telling him. Of course, it probably doesn't help that on the occasions when she subtly or [[First Kiss|not-so-subtly]] flirts with him, it doesn't work at all.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: "Anta [[Baka]]?", meaning "What are you, ''stupid?''".
* [[Character Development]]: Following her [[Mind Rape]], she starts questioning who she is and nearly kills herself in the process. After returning from the LCL, she shows Shinji a sign of affection by caressing his face (though it's clear she's still mad at him).
* [[Character Escapist Phase]]: After her [[Mind Rape]] and before her suicide attempt. She briefly became obsessed with videogames to cope with her horrible reality. Even Hikari was worried about her playing games all the time. Not surprisingly she is the trope picture.
* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]:
** In the presence of Kaji. She's very possessive towards Kaji whenever it seems like he's paying attention to another woman; this makes his past flame Misato the main object of her jealousy.
** Also towards Shinji, not that she would ever admit it. Even catching Shinji looking at Rei can trigger an outburst, and then there's Episode 22, where in the midst of her [[Heroic BSOD]], she spots Shinji and Rei talking to each other. The next time she interacts with Rei, Asuka goes into a screaming meltdown and slaps her. This is often much more explicit in [[Alternate Continuity]] works. [[Canon Foreigner|Mana Kirishima]] seems to really bring this out in her. She also plays this trope painfully straight while Shinji is viewing an alternate world in Episode 26 where he was never an EVA pilot: she is instead his next door [[Childhood Friend]], and doesn't like how much attention he seems to be giving to [[New Transfer Student]] Rei.
* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]: The way that Asuka checks out in ''The End of Evangelion'' is definitely not for the faint of heart... [[Nausea Fuel|or stomach]].
* [[Defrosting the Ice Queen]]: There are shades of this immediately following her introduction. She steadily becomes less and less of a [[Jerkass]] to Shinji until finally they have an awkward kiss scene. Unfortunately, then things went south {{spoiler|when she interpreted his awkward reaction to the kiss as a rejection. Then her jealousy flares back up once he surpasses her as a pilot, and his relationship with Rei grows warmer. Then came the [[Mind Rape]]}}...
* [[Designer Babies|Designer Baby]]:
* [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!]]: Asuka hates the very thought of anyone feeling sorry for her, as she has a pathological fear that it means people have seen through her thunderous surface and therefore think she is weak and pathetic.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Shortly after her mental breakdown and [[Mind Rape]]. It fails when she is found, but she falls into a coma.
* [[Expy]]: She is a [[Gender Flip]] version of ''[[Mazinger Z|Tetsuya]]'' ''[[Great Mazinger|Tsurugi]]''. Tetsuya is the [[Trope Codifier]] and [[Trope Maker]] of [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Ace Pilot]] in the [[Super Robot Genre]]. He also would be a [[Deconstruction]] if he actually was not [[Unbuilt Trope|THE FIRST ONE]]
* [[Eye Scream]]: The poor girl is doomed to this in both continuities. In ''The End of Evangelion'', she gets stabbed through the eye when a fake Lance of Longinus flies at Unit-02, and as a result of the high sync rate she bleeds profusely. In ''Rebuild
* [[Fiery Redhead]]: The page picture.
* [[Foreign Cuss Word]]: Asuka's American voice actress can speak German, and peppers Asuka's speech with German profanity.
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* [[The Gadfly]]: A rather [[Jerkass]] example.
* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: Wears true tsundere tails.
* [[Glory Hound]]: Her [[Attention Whore]] issues lead to her striving to hog the spotlight (and, consequentially, the praise) when it comes to being an Evangelion pilot.
* [[The Glomp]]: On Kaji.
* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: Asuka's temperament is perpetually on thin ice, and she unloads almost as often as Shinji or Rei steps upon it.
* [[Hates Being Touched]]: After her [[Mind Rape]].
* [[The Hero]]: In the radio drama ''Shin [[Sentai]] Evangelion'', she creates her own sentai series and says she'll be the leader [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|because she's wearing red]].
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Episode 22 starts with Asuka going into a mental breakdown that sends her sync ratio plummetting, [[It Got Worse|then she gets]] [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]].
* [[Hot-Blooded]]: Especially compared to Rei and Shinji. She's prone to screaming her head off when piloting.
* [[Hot Girls Are Bitches]]
* [[Hurting Hero|Hurting Heroine]]: She has a lot of emotional baggage under her haughty surface.
* [[
* [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice]]: [[Spam Attack|Spam Attacked]] to [[Gorn]] levels with her death in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Inferiority Superiority Complex]]: Asuka's attitude and abrasiveness are a psychological coverup for her self-esteem issues.
* [[Japanese Politeness]]: Is constantly annoyed by Shinji apologizing. Is also the most prominent foreigner on the show.
*
* [[The Lancer]]: Shinji's polar opposite who is actually very similar to him beneath the surface. Their conflict with each other is a driving force throughout the series.
* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]: Part of the series' [[Deconstruction]] of the [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Ace Pilot]] is Asuka's occasional tendency to be this. Her first attempt to work together with Shinji was a disaster, after which she got better as she learned to work together with her teammates before reverting back to this due to her mental breakdown.
* [[Like an Old Married Couple]]: Her bickering with Shinji is [[Lampshaded]] by Touji in class when he addresses them as the "newly weds" making them both [[Luminescent Blush]].
* [[Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy]]: Masculine Girl to Shinji's Feminine Boy.
* [[Master of the Mixed Message]]: Towards Shinji.
* [[The McCoy]]: The emotional, hot-tempered and unpredictable part of the main trio.
* [[Mind Rape]]: One of the cruelest examples ''ever''
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: A contender for the position with Misato and Rei.
* [[Narcissist]]
* [[Panty Shot]]: In her first appearance. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* [[Patient Childhood Love Interest]]: In the [[Anime]]'s [[Alternate Universe]] scenes, she is one.
* [[The Perfectionist]]
* [[Plucky Girl]]: Though her pluckiness is presented in a rather negative light.
* [[Poirot Speak]]: In the Mexican dub.
* [[Precocious Crush]]: On Kaji.
* [[Pride]]
* [[The Rival]]: Whenever [[Mazinger Z|Kouji Kabuto]] and Asuka meet in the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' series, they often butt heads.
* [[Slasher Smile]]: During her battle with the EVA Series.
* [[Smitten Teenage Girl]]: She's 14 and has a crush on the much older Kaji, who, despite acting like a [[Casanova]] toward most of the ''adult'' female cast, simply isn't interested. It's also a subversion, however: Asuka forces herself to be attracted to Kaji because she wants to seem mature; by contrast, she hides the feelings she ends up developing for Shinji.
* {{spoiler|[[Spared by the Adaptation]]: Okay, odd example, considering the ending of ''The End of Evangelion'', and it's still not quite certain here, considering that Third Impact has just been initiated, but in the manga, Shinji manages to save her before she is killed by the EVA Series}}.
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Is it Soryu, Sōryū, Souryu, Sohryu, Soryuu...? ADV's subs for the Platinum Edition use ''Sohryu'', while the official English translation of the manga uses ''Soryu''.
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: A combination of the Depressed and Unstable types.
* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]
* [[Team Prima Donna]]: Although she is a very good pilot pilot when not in the middle of a [[Heroic BSOD|mental breakdown]].
* [[The Tease]]
* [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|Testosterone Brigade Bait]]
* [[Troubled but Cute]]: She's a dysfunctional, ''extremely'' troubled loner and easily one of the cutest characters in the series along with Rei.
* [[Tsundere]]: '''Very''' tsun, with a heavily repressed dere side. She's essentially an answer to the question, "How messed up in the head would a person actually have to be to act like an anime tsundere?".
* [[Tsunshun]]: Describes her perfectly. She's not the page image for nothing.
* [[Tyke Bomb]]: In the manga.
* [[Unknown Rival]]: Her relationship with Rei has elements of this in the original show
** It does bear mentioning that some of Rei's internal dialogue indicates that she actually does view Asuka as a rival for Shinji's attention, but this being [[The Quiet One|Rei]], she never treats Asuka as such or even realizes that she does secretly view Asuka as such (yes, Rei's mindset is honestly that screwed up). The manga takes this further, especially during Rei's mental confrontation with [[Hannibal Lecture|Armisael]].
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: Practically the walking [[Incredibly Lame Pun|embodiment]] of it. Most of all, with Shinji.
* [[Waif Fu]]: Her first appearance in the manga involves gratuitous handsprings during a fight scene.
* [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!]]: It is clear that at least some of her [[Jerkass|meanness]] towards Shinji stems from her belief that Misato's acceptance of his apologetic and passive behavior only enables it. She embodies it completely during the
* [[Wife Husbandry]]: Inverted and subverted. Asuka is the closest thing Kaji has to a daughter, Asuka desperately wants to do stuff with Kaji, but despite Asuka's continued advances, the most Kaji ever does is let her down gently.
* [[The Worf Effect]]: Despite starting out with highest sync rate and being described as a very talented and competent pilot, she is also the one who suffers the most defeats on the battlefield, which eventually severely worsens her confidence and erodes her psychological stability, causing her sync rate to drop drastically.
The ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' version of Asuka differs quite a bit from the depiction in the original anime. Her last name is changed from Souryū to Shikinami, her loathing for dolls is seemingly gone, and so is her obsessive crush on Kaji. While still having made a remarkable achievement at her age, instead of graduating University at the age of 14, she joined the European Air Force, reaching the rank of Captain at age 14. While still kind of a jerk most of the time, Asuka Shikinami is merely hostile, selfish and arrogant as opposed to being pathologically narcissistic. Not only is she more emotionally healthy, she's actually willing to open up to other people, displaying some affection for Shinji and coming to respect and befriend Rei. Her character design, while starting out the same way as in the anime, undergoes a small but rather drastic change at the very end of ''Rebuild 2.0'', namely an [[Eyepatch of Power]].
'''Tropes Present in ''Rebuild'':'''
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: She actually gets to [[Character Development|become a better human being
* [[Eyepatch of Power]]: In the preview for ''Rebuild of Evangelion 3.0'', which makes her, implied disfigurement notwithstanding, even ''cuter
* [[Flanderization]]: The tsundere aspect.
* [[Hand Puppet]]: She is seen talking with one soon after moving in with Shinji and Misato. Unless her backstory has changed, it might mean she isn't quite as healthy as she seems to be.
* [[I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: When Asuka determines that Rei loves Shinji, she decides to let them be together despite her own feelings for him.
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: ''Shikinami'' Asuka Langley has a genuinely considerate, caring and kind-hearted side that finally qualifies her as a traditional [[Tsundere]] as opposed to a mere female [[Jerkass]].
* [[Pet the Dog]]: In ''Rebuild 2.0'', she takes Rei's place piloting Unit 03 so that Rei can host her party (even though she insists it's just so she can pilot an
* [[Tsundere]]: While it's debatable whether or not Soryu ever was one, Shikinami is undeniably a tsundere, as she does show more of a good side.
=== '''Touji Suzuhara''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Tomokazu Seki]] (JP), Joe Pisano (EN, eps 3-18), Michael O'Connor (19-20), Brett Weaver (21-26, ''Death and Rebirth'', ''The End of Evangelion''), [[Justin Cook]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Enrique Medeiros (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Luis Daniel Ramirez (Latin-American Spanish, second dub)... whew! ''
[[File:toujIharA_6576.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''[[Jerk Jock|Hey, bigshot! What're you starin' at so intently?]]''}}
Toji, in his first appearance, punches out Shinji because his little sister was injured during Unit 01's fight with Sachiel. However, after experiencing firsthand what Shinji has to go through as an
There are a few noticeable differences between Toji's portrayal in the anime and manga. Shinji's payback for his punch is different, and their out-of-classroom antics are shown more. Also, he reveals to Shinji that he is Unit 03's pilot prior to its activation/takeover, and he is actually killed when his Entry Plug is destroyed.
* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: Switches between black (anime) and brownish-blond (manga).
* [[An Arm and a Leg]]: Toji survives the slaughter of EVA-03, but Shinji can't stop Unit 01 from crushing his entry plug with the dummy system overriding his control... and so, Toji wakes up in the hospital light a left leg, all thanks to Gendo Ikari.
* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: When he first meets Shinji and slugs him. Inverted an episode later when he [[Hit Me Dammit|has Shinji hit]] ''[[Hit Me Dammit|him]]'' so he can [[My Fist Forgives You|apologize for the earlier incident]].
* [[The Big Guy]]: He has the muscled look and boisterous personality to fit, though the one time he gets to pilot his EVA leads to him getting incapacitated before he can do anything.
* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: In the anime, his last scene is of him talking to Hikari when she visits him in the hospital. [[The Ghost|He is mentioned a few times here and there]], but, aside from some brief moments in
* [[Covert Pervert]]:
** In the manga, Toji tries to teach Shinji how to turn cleaning the stairs into [[Panty Shot|a peeping opportunity]], but gets caught by Hikari.
** Inverted in the anime when he gives Asuka her "change" after she takes her "viewing fee" in
* [[Custom Uniform]]: Toji always wears the same tracksuit ensemble. It's clearly not the school's gym uniform, but for some reason, he never gets in trouble for it.
* [[Death by Adaptation]]: In the anime, Touji survives the [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] by the dummy-controlled EVA Unit 01, though has become crippled. In the manga, however...
* [[Demoted to Extra]]:
** His part in the story was given to Asuka in ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'', turning him and Kensuke into just [[Those Two Guys]]. However, whether or not that will change for the next films is uncertain.
** [[Lampshade Hanging]]/[[Mythology Gag]]: In ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', when Kensuke mentions that NERV is looking for a test pilot for the recently arrived Unit 03, the camera pans to Touji, who looks down at his bare popsicle stick and says, "Damn, I didn't get it." [[Don't Explain the Joke|He's talking about a giveaway contest]].
** In the dub, this becomes "Man, nothing lasts forever", turning it into [[Fauxshadow]]ing.
* [[Four Is Death]]: He's the Fourth Child and pilots the fourth created EVA (counting Unit-00). He only dies in the manga adaptation, but it doesn't end well for him either way.
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: From raging bully to Shinji's friend over the course of two episodes.
* [[The Idiot From Osaka]]: Subverted. He fits the stereotype in quite a few ways, having the accent and being a brash, short-tempered guy, but his more stable mental state compared to other characters and strong moral compass sets him a bit apart from it.
* [[Jerk Jock]]: Subverted. He initially comes across as one when he beats up Shinji, but it turns out he has a very good reason for being angry and later on becomes friends with Shinji. In fact, he proves afterwards to be quite the [[Lovable Jock]], being unquestionably loyal to his friends and family, having a friendly, down-to-earth demeanor most of the time, as well as proving to be one of the show's more mentally stable characters.
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: He's loud mouthed and rough, but he's one of the most moral characters in the entire series, even more so than Shinji himself; though to be fair, Shinji receives much harsher tests of moral character a ''lot'' more frequently than Toji does.
* [[Kansai Regional Accent]]: Of the Brooklyn rendition in the manga.
* [[Only Sane Man]]: or at least the most mentally stable man
* [[Spared by the Adaptation]]: In ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Thirteen Is Unlucky]]: The 13th Angel possesses Unit-03.
* [[Token Good Teammate]]: The only child who never performs any morally reprehensible act beyond punching Shinji during their first meeting. He supports his friends through thick and thin and only pilots his EVA out of his love for his sister.
=== '''Kaworu Nagisa''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Akira Ishida]] (JP), Kyle Sturdivant (EN, series), [[Greg Ayres]] (Director's Cut), Aaron Krohn (Movies), [[Jerry Jewell]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Ernesto Lezama (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Edson Matus (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
[[File:kaworUnagI_3472.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''[[Intrigued by Humanity|Singing brings joy and revitalizes the human soul. I think that song is the highest achievement of the Lilim culture. Don't you agree, Shinji Ikari?]]''}}
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[[Bishounen]], [[Creepy Child|as fey and mysterious as Rei]], and [[Dissonant Serenity|possessed of an unnatural calm]], Kaworu is the last major character to appear in the anime, puts in only 13 minutes of screen time in one episode, yet is a critical character for a variety of reasons, and marks a significant turning point in the plot.
Kaworu is sent by SEELE as the Fifth Children in order to replace Asuka when her synchronization ratios fall too low, a task he handles with startling ease. He shows a strong interest in Shinji, showing him more physical and emotional affection than probably any other character, which Shinji appears to accept, to a degree he shows to none of the other characters. Kaworu even goes as far as to say that he
Kaworu's behavior towards Shinji and their interactions are ''very'' open to interpretation, and have been hotly debated since the show aired. A [[Ho Yay|homosexual subtext]] clearly exists, and is carried through to both [[Alternate Continuity]] works and some official artwork. However, how much this particular aspect of Kaworu's personality is emphasized, and how Shinji tends to react to him, vary greatly depending on the work in question.
Line 408 ⟶ 405:
Oh, and wait until the third ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' movie comes out...
* [[All According to Plan]]: He's just as unflappable as Rei, though he replaces her stoicism with an omni-present knowing smirk. The few times we see him change his expression from this terse smile are the only times we can be completely sure that he is being genuine (and even in those cases, he's usually still smiling too).
* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Since Kaworu is like Rei (a human body with the soul of an Angel... in his case, Adam's soul), the human concept of sexuality doesn't seem to exist for him. That said, a lot of what he does around Shinji is ''really'' questionable. Also, while he has more knowledge about human emotions than Rei does, he is just as oblivious to them as she is and doesn't see any sexual undertones in his interaction with Shinji, and also doesn't see anything wrong when he does something that makes others uncomfortable.
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Allows himself to be killed so that Shinji and humanity can survive: of course, that's if he was a villian in the first place (though he definitely was one in the manga).
* [[Ascended Extra]]: He only appeared in one episode of the original anime, but is a more major character in all other adaptations. The original drafts of episodes 25 and 26 show that he was meant to play a larger role, and he does in the movie versions of the intended ending. More of a case of [[Demoted to Extra]].
* [[Batman Can Breathe in Space]]: In ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', he's shown on the moon without a spacesuit. Or any clothing for that matter.
* [[Bishonen]]: As [[Akira Ishida]]'s star-making role, it's no surprise the [[Pigeonholed Voice Actor|route his career took afterwards]].
* [[Breakout Villain]]: He only appeared in ''one episode'' in the original series. Then ''Death
* [[Closet Key]]: Seemingly is this for Shinji, though Shinji seems to be more [[Ambiguously Bi]] than anything.
* [[Creepy Child]]: Considered one in universe as well as out. His ever-present smirk, universal way of speaking and lack of any social skills make others incredibly suspicious of him almost immediately. The manga plays this to the hilt: even Kensuke, looking at him from their classroom while he and Shinji are on the street, sees that something about Kaworu isn't right.
* [[The Determinator]]: What he admires about Shinji, in contrast to Gendo and SEELE, is that Shinji keeps going despite all the heartbreak life causes him.
* [[Dissonant Serenity]]: Not only does he smile a lot despite the fact that he is introduced at a moment in which events have taken a turn for the tragic, he even manages to smile as he asks Shinji to kill him.
* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: He appears at the very end of vol.7 of the manga, a full two volumes before his actual introduction. The first ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' movie has him in a scene at the very end.
* [[Enigmatic Minion]]: The [[Trope Codifier]]. He does possess the soul of a Seed of Life, which pretty much is as close to a god as one can get without being of the First Progenitor Race.
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: His death. But that ''[[Squick|sound]]''...
* [[Guile Hero]]: He betrays SEELE's orders and follows his own agenda.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]
* [[Hope Spot]]: Someone who thinks that human culture and Shinji saving the world by piloting a giant mecha are actually pretty awesome? In ''Evangelion''? Obviously he had to be killed off.
* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: The most powerful of the angels, in fact.
* [[Humans Are Special]]: Believed that humanity, and Shinji, should control the future, not angels or SEELE's plots.
* [[I Am Your Father]]:
** Or, if Gendo fused Adam onto his hand in that continuity, he could also have been referring to that.
* [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]]: Why he asked Shinji to kill him. Unless it was a [[Batman Gambit]], intended either to break Shinji or force him to recognize that he wanted to live hard enough to kill the one person to ever show him affection and think he was worth something.
* [[I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: An [[Alternate Character Interpretation]]. Canon for ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion Gakuen Datenroku]]'', and there are hints in ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
* [[Inconsistent Dub]]: The French translators cannot seem to agree between Kaworu or Kaoru.
* [[Jerkass]]: Seeing how polite he is in the show, it's jarring to see how he behaves in the manga.
* [[Laser Guided Tykebomb]]: SEELE's equivalent of Rei Ayanami, until he either decided to deny them their victory or reveals that he was never going to in the first place.
* [[Leitmotif]]:
** Beethoven's ninth symphony, fourth movement. Oddly, they even get the mood right, going to the largo parts just before he dies. Fittingly, he earlier described it as one of the greatest achievements of human culture, which is part of what he's dying to preserve.
** Before he enters Heaven's Door, the choir's singing "Und der Cherub steht vor Gott/Steht vor Gott/Vor Gott!" (replace "cherub" with "angel").
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: In the manga at least, where he's a completely different person.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: "Nagisa", though not with the same kanji, means "messenger". Also, Tabris is the Angel of Free Will: very appropriate for a character who decided to [[Screw Destiny]], even at the cost of his own life. Not to mention that Tabris, as the name being so different indicates, is from an entirely different tradition/version of Christian mythology than the other angels.
* [[Mercy Kill]]/[[Shoot the Dog]]: Shortly after he and Shinji meet in the manga, Kaworu kills a starving kitten that was following Shinji around, reasoning that a swift death was kinder than letting it die of starvation.
* [[Evil Albino|Morally Ambiguous Albino]]: Much moreso in the manga.
* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: An unintentional example, much like how Rei was with her [[Moe|unintended role
* [[No Sense of Personal Space]]: Yet another thing Kaworu doesn't get about humans or willingly ignores. Especially noticeable in the scene where he reaches for Shinji's hand while they're bathing, to say nothing of what he does in the manga.
* [[No Social Skills]]: Although he is easy around people and very confident overall, his knowledge of human social mores is pretty much non-existent. Given his fear of loneliness and background, one can assume he hasn't had much human contact before the events of the series. Justified in the manga, as it's implied that he's been kept in stasis his entire life.
* [[One-Episode Wonder]]: Or two episode wonder. While he only shows up in
** He appears for a little bit in
* [[Physical God]]: If he hadn't surrendered, they wouldn't have had a prayer of stopping him from causing Third Impact.
*
* [[Punny Name]]: Nagisa means "messenger", the same as the Greek ''angelos''.
* [[Screw Destiny]]: Third Impact, the entire point of an angel's existence (supposedly) was within his reach and he decided not to. Of course, he is the Angel of Free Will.
{{quote|'''Kaworu''': But people must act of their own free will, or nothing will change at all.
* [[Shirtless Scene]]: In ''Rebuild 2.0'', he gets a brief one on his first appearance, sitting there half naked on the Moon.
* [[Shout-Out]]: A minor one to either ''Zyuranger'' or ''[[Power Rangers]]'': Kaworu pilots his
* [[Sixth Ranger Traitor]]: Betrays SEELE by not causing Third Impact in the moment of his/their victory.
* [[The Smart Guy]]
Line 461 ⟶ 458:
* [[Spirit Advisor]]: Along with Rei, he appears to Shinji after Third Impact: they, and what they represent, are what convince Shinji to leave Instrumentality and give life another try.
* [[Stealth Pun]]: Koui ("kindness")/Koi ("romantic love").
* [[Technicolor Eyes]]: Like Rei, his red eyes are a sign of his inhuman side.
* [[Thanatos Gambit]]: It's agreed he was playing a deeper game, the question is what, given that he obviously wasn't after Third Impact. His stated goal is to help Shinji and humanity survive: [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] says that he was just out to hurt Shinji more, but that would make him inspiring Shinji to return to life a [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]].
* [[Trickster]]
* [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]: One of the earliest quintessential examples in anime history.
* [[Yandere]]: He slowly becomes this in the manga adaptation. Also, in the ''Angelic Days'' manga, Kaworu is Shinji's childhood friend, and is severely possessive of the boy when Asuka or Rei get too close.
=== '''Mari Illustrious Makinami''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Maaya Sakamoto]] (JP), [[Trina Nishimura]] (EN) ''
Line 474 ⟶ 470:
{{quote|''[[Nightmare Fetishist|The smell of LCL... My favorite smell in the world.]]''}}
A new character from the ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' continuity, Mari Makinami is the designated pilot of Unit-05 and the [[Gundamjack|undesignated pilot of Unit-02]] later on in ''2.0'' when she makes off with it to join in the battle against Zeruel.
In contrast with Shinji, Asuka
Her personality has a few feral aspects, such as her fixation on scent and her [[Attack! Attack! Attack!|reckless style of fighting]].
* [[Action Girl]]: She's an EVA pilot, and when inside her mecha, she demonstrates clear competence despite her highly aggressive approach to fighting Angels. She has one Angel kill under her belt in the second movie, and scores further kills during the third movie with an implication of having achieved other kills during the [[Time Skip]].
* [[Attack! Attack! Attack!]]: Her default strategy.
* [[Badass Adorable]]: A dark type. She's a cute teenage girl, but with the bloodlust and talent to destroy Angels when she's piloting an EVA.
* [[Blood Knight]]: If not [[Axe Crazy]].
* [[Blind Without'Em]]: This trope may be an act for her, however. In the ''3.0'' preview, she's seen without them off and still being able to see fine enough to glare at Rei.
* [[Blue Eyes]]
* [[But Not Too Foreign]]: Half Japanese, half British, according to the pamphlet included in the ''Evangelion 2.22'' Blu-Ray.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: She's pretty perky for an
** Not to mention charging into her battle with Unit-05 against the bone Angel while singing a jaunty little tune.
* [[Crash Into Hello]]: [[Turned Up to Eleven]]
* [[Cute and Psycho]]: A corollary to a love of violence and cute persona.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: "Things just seem to work out for him, huh?"
* [[Double Agent]]
** On the other hand, they could be interrogating her.
* [[Foreign Fanservice]]
* [[Gag Boobs]]: She complains that her original plugsuit is too tight around her chest, and then jiggles her boobs enthusiastically when she gets her new one.
* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: Her hairstyle incorporates a pair of pigtails gathered just around the level of her jawline, and it's befitting considering her playful and exuberant personality, as well as her apparent fondness for the color pink.
* [[God-Created Canon Foreigner]]
* [[Hair Color Dissonance]]: Within canon her hair is brown, but in supplemental materials (like the picture above) and in fanart, it often gets represented as violet.
* [[Hot-Blooded]]: People are calling her a [[Gurren Lagann|female Kamina]], for Heaven's sake. It doesn't help that she openly sympathizes with Unit 02 while it turns into a robotic, coked-up man-frog from the Wrath circle of Hell.
* [[Marshmallow Hell]]:
* [[Meganekko]]: [[Cute and Psycho|For the most part]].
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Particularly that moment when the camera focuses on her well-shaped bust as she says "this [plugsuit] is a nice fit!". She seems to know it
* [[Nice Girl]]: Her actions toward Shinji ''seem'' like this... time will tell if this ends up being a subversion or not.
* [[Nightmare Fetishist]]: She seems, uh, awfully fond of LCL. While it remains to be seen what role LCL will play in ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', it's difficult not to think of the original series, where it's essentially the blood of Lilith (and smells like it, according to Shinji). It's that and, of course, Tang.
* [[No Name Given]]: Outside of [[All There in the Manual|supplementary materials]], her full name doesn't appear in her debut film at all with the exception of the credits and preview of ''3.0''.
* [[No Sense of Personal Space]]: To Shinji.
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: ''"Just... fucking... die!!"''
* [[Sixth Ranger]]: Literally and figuratively.
* [[Slasher Smile]]: [http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkxavcxhHU1qzea6yo1_500.gif Oh, yes
* [[Strange Girl]]
* [[Surprisingly Good English]]: Maaya Sakamoto speaks English just well enough that she can at least be understood without subtitles, which if nothing else puts her a few measures above Koichi Yamadera's "[[Engrish|English]]" earlier in the film.
* [[This Is Sparta]]: See [[Precision F-Strike]] above.
== NERV staff ==
=== '''Misato Katsuragi''' ===
Line 530 ⟶ 521:
She is a very complex character, with three important aspects to her personality:
She is one third [[Plucky Comic Relief]]
She is one third [[Action Girl]]: tough, smart, cunning, hard-nosed, determined
The last third of her personality is what unifies those two seeming opposites: despite her age, she is, like Shinji, a [[Broken Bird|broken-hearted child]], striving to live up to crushing responsibilities, yearning for love and acceptance, and trying desperately to hide how very sad, lonely
She hates the Angels, blaming them for her father's death and [[Scars Are Forever|her own near-fatal injuries]] in the cataclysm of 2000, and that hatred drives her to amazing feats of cunning to defeat them. Unfortunately, it also drives her to say the worst possible things at the worst possible moment to Shinji near the end of
She and Shinji become very close, perhaps even come to love one another, as the series goes on
Her on-again, off-again boyfriend is the aforementioned Ryōji Kaji
The only noticeable difference in the ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' movies is that she starts as a Lt. Colonel and the Second Impact looks quite different.
* [[Adult Child]]: Played for tragedy.
* [[The Alcoholic]]: Borderline.
* [[Armor-Piercing Slap]]: Gave one to Ritsuko after Shinji is absorbed into Leliel. The slap was powerful enough to knock Ritsuko's glasses off.
* [[Beauty Is Never Tarnished]]: She has serious scars, but considering their placement on her chest, most of the characters never get to see them, and the audience doesn't see them much either.
* [[Beergasm]]: The happy yell she lets go of when she knocks back her first cold one after work provides the current page image.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: She's friendly, but it is not wise to piss her off.
* [[Big Breasts, Big Deal]]: Our (and Shinji's) very first image of her has an arrow scribbled by her to point it out to us.
* [[Broken Bird]]: Her personality is mostly a coping mechanism for her childhood traumas.
* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: She is certainly a [[Hard-Drinking Party Girl]] and definitely marks for [[Plucky Comic Relief]], but there is a ''very'' good reason why she is top of the military chain of command within an organisation like Nerv.
* [[Butt Monkey]]: She has her moments, mainly when the series gets comical, and she finds herself on the receiving end of Ritsuko or Shinji's [[Deadpan Snarker|snide remarks]].
* [[The Captain]] --> [[Majorly Awesome]] --> [[Colonel Badass]]: Proves her [[Badass]] credentials several times in the anime, ''The End of Evangelion'', Sadamoto's manga and ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', and she starts out as a Captain in the original anime and manga before being promoted to Major, and as Lieutenant Colonel before becoming a full Colonel in ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
* [[Christmas Cake]]: And not happy about it.
* [[Click. "Hello."]]: To Ritsuko when she was about to show Shinji the origins of Rei.
* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: She gets quite jealous whenever Kaji runs off to flirt with another woman.
* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Subverted. Misato attempts to be this towards Shinji to get closer to him. It doesn't work.
* [[Cordon Bleugh Chef]]: Ramen and curry do ''not'' mix well. But tell that to ''her''...
* [[Creepy Cool Crosses]]: Wears a cross pendant that her father put around her neck just before sealing her in the capsule that saved her during Second Impact.
* [[Cute Mute]]/[[Dumb Struck]]: For at least a few years after Second Impact due to [[Heroic BSOD]].
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: Episode 7.
* [[Deuteragonist]]: Per [[Word of God]], Misato is the secondary hero, following Shinji.
* [[Disappeared Dad]]: Her father was a scientist who was caught in the middle of the Second Impact with his crew. 14-year-old Misato was the only known survivor of the expedition. Do your math.
* [[Flanderization]]:
*
**
* [[Gainaxing]]
* [[Genius Ditz]]: Sure, Misato might appear like a quirky woman with a perky attitude and an alcohol problem who often fails to act her age, but she has one hell of a knack for tactics and working out very effective short-term plans on the fly.
* [[Hangover Sensitivity]]: She gets quite a few hangovers.
* [[Hard-Drinking Party Girl]]
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: See [[Taking You with Me]] below.
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: With Ritsuko and Kaji
* [[Hot-Blooded]]: A milder example.
Line 581 ⟶ 571:
* [[I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!]]: When she's pissed off and drinking, ''don't'' try to stop her.
* [[I Need a Freaking Drink]]: She ''does'' drink a lot.
* [[In Vino Veritas]]: When she's sober, she's a force to be reckoned with. Drunk... not so much.
* {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real]]}}: The poor gal {{spoiler|takes a fatal bullet wound}} in ''The End of Evangelion,'' but just to make sure the audience knows for sure {{spoiler|she's kicking the bucket, her body gets '''''[[Nightmare Fuel|incinerated]]''''' by a sudden, ''[[Tear Jerker|very]]'' unexpected explosion}}.
* [[Kotono Mitsuishi]]
* [[The Ladette]]: She enjoys drinking copious amounts of beer, has an interest in cars, and is quite the disorganised slob in private. She also has a notable aversion to wearing high-heeled shoes, judging from Kaji's surprise upon seeing her wearing them at a wedding.
* [[Mama Bear]]: ''Fiercely'' protective of the Children, especially Shinji. The best example comes in ''The End of Evangelion'', where she leaves the command center mid-battle to rescue Shinji, takes down several JSSDF soldiers who were about to kill him.
* [[Messy Hair]]: When she wakes up, obviously.
* [[Motor Mouth]]: During her college days, according to Ritsuko. She even wonders while talking to Naoko if Misato is compensating for her [[Cute Mute]] years (see above).
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Competes with Asuka and Rei for this.
** Played up in the previews of next episodes, in which she regularly comments on how much fan service she's giving
** Taken further in the manga, especially in still art.
* [[Not a Morning Person]]: Especially when she has to attend Shinji's parent/teacher conference.
* [[Parental Substitute]]: Usually comes across as a mother-figure for Shinji.
* [[Pin-Pulling Teeth]]: Done beautifully for her death scene in the manga. JSSDF soldiers approach her slumped and fatally-wounded body; she turns her head towards them, revealing a pin in the corner of her mouth. She then [[Oh Crap|shows them the hand grenade she's holding]].
* [[Precision F-Strike]]:
** ''"So '''fucking''' what if I'm not you??"''
** And in Volume 4 of the manga, albeit the one there is censored.
* [[Scars Are Forever]]: A large scar on her chest, which she got in Second Impact.
* [[Sensei-chan]]: She is one in the alternate universe depicted during Instrumentality.
* [[Shipper on Deck]]: Seems to be one for Shinji/Rei, if the look on her face as she sends the former to drop off the latter's new ID card is any indication.
* [[Shotacon]]: [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Possibly towards Shinji]].
** The breakfast scene in
** There's also her attempt to comfort Shinji after Rei's death, which can easily be seen as a come-on.
*** This is more straightforward in the Japanese version with her saying "This is just about all I can do for you." and leaning in [[Intimate Psychotherapy|for what may be a kiss]].
** Her kissing Shinji just before her death in ''The End of Evangelion'' and the manga.
* [[Shout-Out]]: In the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' games featuring ''Evangelion'' and ''Gundam'' (UC timeline), Misato gets a crush on ace pilot Amuro Ray, alluding to their seiyuus' other famous anime roles as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen respectively. She also makes some ''Sailor Moon'' comments when admiring the Nobel Gundam from ''Mobile Fighter G Gundam'' on ''Super Robot Wars MX'', and points out similarities in voice with Vega from ''Gear Fighter Dendoh'' and Murrue Ramius from ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'' (two other characters voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi).
** In addition, Anno has pointed out that her character design (most easily seen by her hair) is based on Sailor Moon's, as well as her character being "a 29-year-old Usagi Tsukino".
Line 608 ⟶ 600:
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Acts like a [[Bottle Fairy]] to hide her daddy issues and emotional problems.
* [[The Strategist]]: To an exceptional degree, and enough that even Gendo recognizes her skills.
* [[Taking You with Me]]: [http://www.mangareader.net/687-45529-20/neon-genesis-evangelion/chapter-84.html Her death
* [[Tsundere]]: Type A towards Kaji.
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: She's the closest thing the series has to a sexpot, so there's plenty of sexual tension to go around. The tension with Kaji is resolved, at least in the most literal sense, so that leaves the winner of this trope as Shinji. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the closing credits song to ''You Can (Not) Advance'', which is a love song from Misato and
* [[Urban Legend Love Life]]: Her flirtatious facade hides a desperately lonely woman who only has eyes for Kaji.
* [[Work Hard, Play Hard]]: At least, [[It Got Worse|until it all goes wrong]].
=== '''Doctor Ritsuko Akagi''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Yuriko Yamaguchi]] (JP), Sue Ulu (series), [[Colleen Clinkenbeard]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Maru Guerrero (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Gabriela Gomez (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
[[File:ritsuko.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''The interaction of men and women isn't very logical.''}}
Ritsuko is NERV's resident [[Hot Scientist|computer scientist]], tasked with the development and upkeep of the MAGI supercomputers and research on the Evas. She, Misato
Ritsuko is extremely intelligent and competent, but has a coldly logical and [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|often cynical attitude]], and can be callous and petty. She also doesn't seem to really understand human nature, and is in some ways childishly naive. Secretly, she is romantically involved with Gendō Ikari, [[Generation Xerox|as was her mother Naoko]] before her death ten years before the series opens. Despite Gendō's ambiguous intentions, she has convinced herself both that he loves her and that Rei is actually her ''rival'' for his romantic attentions, and she deeply resents Rei because of this. She also shows little concern for the lives of the pilots during battle, and is ready to sacrifice them should such a tactic seem necessary, a position Misato vehemently disagrees with.
* [[Absent-Minded Professor]]: Inverted, so so much.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type V, while not as villainous as Gendou or the guys from SEELE.
* [[Armor-Piercing Slap]]: She received one from Misato, knocking her glasses off.
* [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot]]: The MAGI computers are built around different aspects of Naoko's personality; this bites Ritsuko hard in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[Badass Labcoat]]
* [[Beauty Mark]]
* [[Berserk Button]]: She goes nuts directly after destroying the Rei clones and is arrested.
* [[Beta Test Baddie]]
* [[Blown Across the Room]]: In ''The End of Evangelion'' when Gendo shoots her.
* [[Boxed Crook]]: Let out of prison to install a firewall in ''The End
* [[Christmas Cake]]: Like Misato, she's almost 30 and single, and pokes fun at Misato over it... but by the end of the story, the reason for her being so is tragically evident.
* [[Click. "Hello."]]: Courtesy of Misato. Ironically, [http://www.mangareader.net/687-45529-49/neon-genesis-evangelion/chapter-84.html she gets to do this] to Gendō and Rei in the manga adaptation of ''The End
* [[Crazy Cat Lady]]: Misato spits that Ritsuko uses cats as a substitute for human affection.
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: Episode 13.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]
* [[Death Seeker]]: She begged Misato to kill her after she destroyed the Rei clones. She [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades this]] to Gendō in ''The End
{{quote|'''Ritsuko''': I will kill you first, then I will die myself. They say this happens often. In cheap dramas.}}
* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Inverted with her being the head of a secret government agency's science department ''before'' she hit [[Christmas Cake|age 30]]... '''and''' subverted, as it's not her natural hair color; she's actually a [[Brainy Brunette]] who dyes her hair in an attempt to defy [[Generation Xerox]]. This can be seen by noting her eyebrows, which are quite dark and well-defined.
* [[Even the Girls Want Her]]: Maya surely does.
* [[Fan Service]]: Two brief scenes, with the latter edging into [[Fan Disservice]] due to the circumstances.
* [[Firing One-Handed]]: [http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/1/10/Ritsukosrev1.jpg/500px-Ritsukosrev1.jpg In
* [[Flat What]]: In addition to "That's not possible!" and "Oh no!".
* [[Generation Xerox]]: Her and Naoko's relationships with Gendō
* [[Girls Behind Bars]]: Averted, as she was let out to put her computer skills to use.
* [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking]]: Ritsuko toes the line between the distinction.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: This depends on one's view of her.
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: With Misato and Kaji, though her coldness questions if she could ever be a life partner with anyone.
* [[Hidden Heart of Gold]]: She expresses displeasure at coming over to visit Misato, but does it anyway, and even eats with her, Shinji
* [[Hot Scientist]]: A mini-skirt is not standard work attire...
* [[I Ate What?]]: In response to tasting Misato's cooking.
* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: Her explanation as to why she destroyed the Rei clones.
* [[Instant Death Bullet]]: She dies about a half a second after getting shot in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[In the Blood]]: She makes the exact same mistakes as her mother.
* [[Kick the Dog]]: She's certainly willing to sacrifice the Eva pilots if necessary.
* [[Kuudere]]: Early on in the TV series. Definitely in ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
* [[Mexican Standoff]]: With Gendō in ''The End
* [[Million-to-One Chance]]
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]]: Because committing
* [[Never a Self-Made Woman]]: It's not clear what extent Naoko played in landing Ritsuko her job at GEHIRN, but Ritsuko definitely resents standing in her mother's shadow. Part of the reason she bleaches her hair.
* [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]: A milder example.
* [[Oedipus Complex]]: She seems to have a love/hate relationship with her mother Naoko.
* [[Oh Crap]]: She fails to activate the MAGI computers in ''The End of Evangelion''.
* [[The Philosopher]]: She does understand philosophy and even psychology to some extent and does raise pertinent questions on decisions and on the state of existence more than once.
* [[Please Kill Me If It Satisfies You]]: After destroying the Rei clones, Ritsuko begs Misato to kill her.
* [[Put Down Your Gun and Step Away]]: To Gendō in ''The End
* [[Rape as Drama]]: It's slightly implied that Ritsuko was raped during her time in prison.
* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: Sometimes, although nowhere nearly as often as Gendo.
* [[Showdown At High Noon]]: She faces off against Gendō at Terminal Dogma in ''The End
* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Her ashtray is filled with cigarette butts stained from her lipstick.
* [[Stop or I Will Shoot]]: She attempts to shoot Gendō in ''The End
* [[Taking You with Me]]: In ''The End
* [[Took a Level in Jerkass]]: The redub and Director's Cut paints Ritsuko as a decidedly more horrid person.
* [[Tragic Villain]]: Depending on one's view of her.
* [[We Meet Again]]: To Gendō.
* [[Where's the Kaboom?]]: Ritsuko... you should have known better. Now look what you did.
* [[Yandere]]: Over Gendou. She tries to kill Rei just like her mother did (in the manga only), then destroys the Rei clones in a bid to get at her and Gendou. [[Fridge Brilliance|It may have actually made Rei better]].
* [[You Always Hear the Bullet]]: And she does, when she is shot in cold blood by Gendō.
=== '''Gendō Ikari''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Fumihiko Tachiki]] (JP), Tristan MacAvery (series), [[John Swasey]] (Director's Cut and ''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Humberto Solorzano (Latin-American Spanish) ''
[[File:gendo-profile2.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''There is no one else who can pilot the Evas. As long as they survive, that is what I'll have them do.''}}
Gendo Ikari (neé Rokubungi) is the secretive head of NERV and Shinji Ikari's estranged father. While he is not the series' true [[Big Bad]], he is without a doubt one of the main antagonists. He is NERV's liaison to [[Ancient Conspiracy|SEELE]], and a member of SEELE's [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness|Committee for Human Complementation]], but in reality, he is playing his own scenario which runs counter to SEELE's plans. To see this plan succeed, he is more than willing to use and betray ''everyone'' around him without hesitation, from his own son to NERV's central personnel to SEELE itself. He is confident, brooding, self-possessed, self-controlled, cunning, intimidating, cold-blooded, amoral, humorless
Yet, for all of this, the series gradually makes clear that Gendo's primary motivation for all of his bastardry is, in fact, [[Love Makes You Evil|love
For some, Gendō [[Casanova|appears to be quite the ladies' man]]. First, Yui fell in love with him, and he with Yui. After Yui's death, he took Naoko Akagi as a lover, then her daughter Ritsuko after ''her'' death, although in both cases it's revealed that these trysts were solely to use them for their knowledge. He also has a brief and thin friendship with Rei, which is a sore point with Ritsuko
Gendo's abandonment of Shinji shortly after Yui's death is one of the key factors behind Shinji's emotional problems, and over the course of the series, Gendo does little to bridge that gap. Indeed, Gendō and Shinji spend as much time opposing each other as they do fighting the Angels. He is merciless where Shinji is kind, confident where Shinji is fearful, calculating where Shinji is hopelessly naive. He is Shinji's twisted and sinister [[Shadow Archetype|mirror image]], and it's obvious that on some level there is an [[Oedipus Rex|Oedipal conflict]] taking place. What the story doesn't reveal until ''The End of Evangelion'' is just how similar Gendo and Shinji really are under all their differences.
* [[Abusive Parents]]: His emotional abandonment of Shinji is horrible, and he admits it before his death. May have had them himself
* [[Adaptational Villainy]]: In the manga, Gendo's [[Pet the Dog]] moments towards Shinji are absent, and Gendo shows no regrets for mistreating him as he does in the anime.
* [[Ambiguously Evil]]: At the beginning it is unclear whether he does care about Shinji or is just an evil jackass.
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Arguably, a Type III.
* [[Badass Beard]]: His beard, coupled with his [[Scary Shiny Glasses]], completes his intimidating visage.
* [[Big Good]]: Subverted ''hard
** [[Big Bad]]
** [[Big Bad Ensemble]]: With Keel Lorenz.
* [[Byronic Hero]]: He certainly fulfills several of the list, even if calling a hero is questionable, being a very intelligent, ambitious, brooding and ruthless man who does whatever he deems necessary for his goals, revolving around love. Furthermore, he is quite popular with the ladies despite having only one woman he ever loved. Then there's the mess of a relationship he has with his son.
* [[Casanova]]: Gendo tends to be popular with the ladies.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: He's technically subordinate to SEELE, but he constantly makes moves to mess up their plans while advancing his own goals.
* [[Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive]]: [[Trope Codifier]].
* [[Comic Book Fantasy Casting]]: Overlaps with [[Fake Nationality]]. His character design his based ''heavily'' off of [[Ed Bishop]] in his staring role on the Britsh television show ''[[UFO]]''.
* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: The finer details before he met Yui are unknown, but it's implied he had a rough childhood. Though Yui's death definitely sent him off the edge, he was already there before he met her.
Line 718 ⟶ 709:
* [[Diabolical Mastermind]]: In a sense.
* [[The Dragon]]: As it would seem, at first, to Seele.
* [[Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor]]: Gendo was a pretty epic [[Deadpan Snarker]] back in the day, as shown in the flashback episode, but when Yui died, she apparently took his funny bone with her.
{{quote|''Fuyutski'': You said it was luck you left the day before but you took all your files with you... even though the expedition wasn't over!
''Gendo'': Those weren't shredded? How careless.
''Fuyutski'': And I've been looking into your finances as well, quite a sum for a college professor!
''Gendo'': Remarkable, are you now teaching economics as well?
* [[Fallen Hero]]: Yes, really. The flashback episode makes it clear that he and Yui were planning to try to prevent the Third Impact after all of the Angels were defeated. After her absorbtion into Unit-01, he decides to plot out his own version so they can be reunited.
* [[Fond Memories That Could Have Been]]: Three words. [[Famous Last Words|"Forgive me, Shinji."]]
* [[Former Teen Rebel]]: Gives the impression that he might have been one during the first meeting with Fuyutsuki. He still has hints of it, in that he's in flagrant breach of regulation by always wearing his uniform in an unzipped state, and frequently displays a lowkey devil-may-care attitude to his superiors, though that's also been seen as a sign that he is only focused on his quest and has pretty much moved beyond caring about what the world thinks of him.
* [[Four Eyes, Zero Soul]]
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: It's clear someone or something made him lose his grip even before Yui's death. It's strongly implied that he had a decidedly less than pleasant childhood.
* [[General Failure]]: There's a reason he hired Misato to run military matters.
* [[Generation Xerox]]: It is implied a few times, especially in ''The End of Evangelion'', that Gendo shares most of his character traits with Shinji.
* [[A God Am I]]: His true objective (made [[Anvilicious|Anviliciously]] clear) in the manga.
* [[Happily Married]]: To Yui before her death.
* [[The Heavy]]: As the chief agent of SEELE, Gendo is directly responsible for triggering the events of Second Impact and organizing the global push towards [[Assimilation Plot|Human Instrumentality]].
* [[Hot Dad]]
* [[Inferiority Superiority Complex]]
* [[Jerkass Facade]]: He truly does care about Shinji, and in his dying moments, he regrets everything he's done to him.
* [[Karmic Death]]:
** Unlike everyone else who got to be embraced by images of their loved ones before turning into LCL, Gendo is picked up by Unit 01 and bitten in two. He did deserve a good metaphorical smacking from the cosmos, and his death (provided that it isn't just a remorse-fueled hallucination, or what happened to him actually counts as dying) drips of poetic justice.
** In the manga, Ritsuko manages to ''shoot him in the throat'' after she herself is shot.
* [[Knight of Cerebus]]: Became this after activating the Dummy Plug in the Unit-03 incident.
* [[Kubrick Stare]]: One of the three "ingredients" of his signature pose.
* [[Love Makes You Evil]]: An extreme version.
* [[Love Redeems]]: A reverse [[Zig-Zagging Trope|zig-zag]]. Before he met Yui, he had few friends and was accustomed to hatred. Then he met Yui, fell in love with her, and actually became a somewhat decent and caring guy. Then Yui died, and he did a full 180 into [[Love Makes You Evil]] territory and spent the rest of his life trying to find a way to bring her back... and was willing to destroy the entire human race to do so.
* [[The Maiden Name Debate]]: Gendo (Rokubungi) took Yui's surname when he married her. Worth noting is that this fact is not revealed until late in the series and is the first strong piece of evidence that Gendo's love for Yui is no act.
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: In every appearance. Though it's somewhat notable that he's almost always a [[Manipulative Bastard]] by accident. To paraphrase the man himself, he just isn't good at interacting with other humans.
* [[More Than Mind Control]]: Gives the impression of having this over Rei and Ritsuko, although this is proven to be nonexistent by the end.
* [[Necromantic]]: He still thinks of Unit-01 as Yui.
* [[Not So Different]]: He and Shinji are more alike than they both know.
* [[Not So Stoic]]: Gendo's true agony begins to leak out in ''The End of Evangelion'', culminating with his final apology to his son.
* [[Perpetual Frowner]]:
** While he shows off the occasional triumphant smirk when something goes [[All According to Plan]], he spends most of the series with a downcast scowl on his face. His only truly warm smiles tends to happen when he is around Rei.
** Notably, the flashback episode shows that the younger Gendo tended to default to a confident smirk for his standard expression. After losing Yui, the frown that his older self will be known for appeared and was there to stay.
* [[Pet the Dog]]:
** The few occasions when he treats Shinji well, and his dying words in ''The End of Evangelion'': "I'm sorry, Shinji
** It's also made pretty clear during the course of the series that he loves Rei like a daughter, and is willing to go to great lengths to protect her. Though their relationship is... complicated.
* [[The Philosopher]]: Comments a great deal on science, scientists and the state of humanity.
* [[Psychotic Smirk]]: It's usually hidden behind his hands.
* [[The Quiet One]]: He usually speaks little, and when he does, he never says a single word more than he has to.
* [[Scars Are Forever]]: His hands, as a result of opening Rei's entry plug after the failed activation of Unit 00. His scars are much worse in the manga too.
* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: Former [[Trope Namer]] and so iconic that this coupled with his [[Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive|signature pose]] have long been the subject of [[Memetic Mutation|meme]] and [[Shout-Out]].
* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: In his final (and only) soliloquy, he states that the reason he abandoned Shinji was because he was afraid of hurting him, in the process giving Shinji one of his deepest emotional scars.
* [[Shadow Archetype]]: Of Shinji.
* [[The Stoic]]: His default facial expression hardly ever changes.
* [[Sugar and Ice Personality]]: '''Very''' icy, with the sugar only showing up around Rei.
* [[Sunglasses
* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]
* [[The Unfettered]]
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Zigzagged. We don't have a great idea of what his goals were before Yui's contact experiment, but they seemed to be similar to what the committee had in mind. After the contact experiment, he merely wants to be with his wife again and doesn't seem to care much what happens to everyone else.
* [[White Gloves]]: First used to hide his scars. Later used to hide the embryonic Adam, [[Body Horror|which has been fused with his hand]].
* [[Yandere]]: For Yui.
=== '''Doctor Kozo Fuyutsuki''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Motomu Kiyokawa]] (JP), Guil Lunde (series, Director's Cut), Michael Ross (movies), [[Kent Williams]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Jesse Conde (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Rolando de Castro (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
[[File:fuyutski.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''As long as one soul still exists, it will be eternal proof that Mankind once existed.''}}
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Fuyutsuki is far more ethical and a much more decent human being than Gendō, but he has allowed himself to be carried along by events until it is too late to act on his ever-growing misgivings. His being [[The Stoic]] (and in comedic situations, [[The Comically Serious]]) doesn't exactly help.
* [[The Comically Serious]]
* [[Comic Book Fantasy Casting]]: Just like Gendo, his character design is based off of a star from ''[[UFO]]'', in this case [[George Sewell]]. In fact, his character design mirrors Sewell so much that the only difference in appearance between them is hair color. Which means that he canonically looks British, not [[Fake Nationality|Japanese]]... certainly not the weirdest thing in this show.
* [[The Consigliere]]: often spars verbally with Gendo, mostly by questioning his motives, alternatively trying both to remind Gendo to act with patience and not do something overly reckless in his ploys against SEELE, and also acting as a conscience of sorts, trying to remind him of the human costs of his actions.
* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Fandom considers him this, since he's among the few more or less ''[[Only Sane Man|sane]]'' people in the cast.
* {{spoiler|[[A Good Way to Die]]}}: {{spoiler|Accepts his fate to become LCL with no fear at all}}.
* [[Hot for Student]]: Towards Yui, although he didn't make his feelings known (not that it would have made a difference, since she loved Gendo).
* [[Only Sane Man]]: And how.
* [[The Philosopher]]: Engages in some philosophical banter with Gendo on occasion.
* [[The Professor]]: To Yui and Gendō. Throughout the entirety of the series, the only time Gendo refers to him as "Professor" is during flashbacks and his final descent into Terminal Dogma.
* [[The Stoic]]: Is generally pretty reserved, though not as much as Gendo.
=== '''Ryōji Kaji''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Koichi Yamadera]] (JP), Aaron Krohn (EN, series), [[J Michael Tatum]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Enrique Cervantes (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Gerardo Garcia (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
[[File:Ryoji_Kaji.gif|frame]]
{{quote|''The gulf dividing men and women is deeper and wider than any ocean.''}}
Ponytailed, [[Perma-Stubble]]-ed, confident, and charismatic, Kaji is half [[James Bond]] and half [[Handsome Lech]]
He and Misato were lovers in college, but by the start of the series have been broken up for several years. Asuka [[Clingy Jealous Girl|has a crush on him]] and is [[The Glomp|anything but subtle about it]], but to his credit, [[Chivalrous Pervert|he does not take her up on her premature offers]]. It doesn't help that, in some continuities, he's strongly hinted [[Squick|to have been her guardian after her mother's death]]. Much to Misato's chagrin, Kaji flirts with several of the female staff, including Ritsuko and Maya. As the series progresses, Kaji and Misato renew their stormy relationship, and Kaji briefly [[Big Brother Mentor|becomes more of a father to Shinji]] than Gendō ever was. Tragically, he digs too deep when he rescues Fuyutsuki from SEELE after they kidnapped the old man shortly after the 14th Angel. SEELE (or NERV) responds by having him assassinated.
In the manga, Kaji's role and personality are unchanged, but he is given a tragic backstory: he was a war orphan and [[Street Urchin]] who carries a huge burden of guilt for ratting out his friends to soldiers so he wouldn't be killed for stealing their supplies.
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While not quite an [[Expy]], Gainax have revealed that Kaji is strongly "based" on Col. Paul Foster from the TV series ''[[UFO]]''. They also add that Foster was not nearly the lech that Kaji is (though admittedly Kaji's lechery is partially an act).
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type II.
* [[Big Brother Mentor]]: To Shinji.
* [[Bi the Way]]: Some of his lines to Shinji can be interpreted as heavy flirting.
* [[Call to Agriculture]]: Chooses to enjoy his last hours this way.
* [[Casanova]]
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Has a sly quip for every situation, even his own death.
* [[Double Agent]]: He is working for NERV, but is secretly in league with SEELE, and is later revealed to also be an agent of the government. We later learn that he had an agenda of his own entirely separate from any of these three groups.
* [[Engrish]]: Kaji's attempts to speak to Americans in ''Rebuild 2.0''. Everyone else who speaks English in the film is [[Surprisingly Good English|really quite good]], but Kaji is ear-crunchingly awful. If it weren't for the subtitles, he'd almost be unintelligible. What makes it worse is that it's smack-dab in the middle of a dramatic scene, and the sheer [[Narm]]iness of his accent almost completely ruins the tension.
* [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]]: Both in and out of universe.
* [[Heroic Self-Deprecation]]: Although he doesn't show it, it's revealed in an artbook that Kaji is a self-hating mess.
* [[Informed Attribute]]: We find out that he's a self-hating wreck on the inside from a series ''art book''.
* [[The Mole]]
* [[Murderer POV]]: He speaks directly to his assassin in his final moments, even chiding him for his poor aim in the manga.
* [[Perma-Stubble]]: His face always sports some stubble, giving him a sloppy and laid back appearance at all times.
* [[Smoking Is Cool]]
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Is calmly smiling even when he's about to be shot to death. Supplementary materials reveal that he's a self-hating wreck who's just very good at covering up his problems. This is one possible explanation for why he didn't do anything to stop his own death.
* [[The Stool Pigeon]]: ...in the manga, of the Betrayer Barry model. As a kid, he and his friends were stealing food and supplies from a military base; when he was caught, he gave up his friends.
* [[Street Urchin]]: His backstory in the manga.
* [[Survivor Guilt]]: In the manga, due to his friends being killed by the soldiers he ratted them out to.
* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]: Tall, good looking and always ready to crack wise about the situation.
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: He flirts with almost every female he meets. Most (not all) are appreciative, or at least pretend to be. On occasion, he even seems to be trying to flirt with Shinji, although it's not entirely clear if this is out of genuine interest or just habit
* [[Urban Legend Love Life]]: Behind his flirtatious facade, there are hints that he is in fact a very lonely man, and no question that he only has eyes for Misato.
=== '''Maya Ibuki''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Miki Nagasawa]] (JP), Kendra Benham (EN, series), Amy Seeley (movies), [[Monica Rial]] (Director's Cut), [[Caitlin Glass]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Alma Wilhelme (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Mariana Ortiz (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
[[File:maya.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''Oh God! I can't watch...!''}}
Dr. Fuyutsuki isn't the only one who's in love with someone he can never have
* [[Actual Pacifist]]
* [[Bridge Bunny]]
* [[Doesn't Like Guns]]: In ''The End of Evangelion'', she completely freaks out when Aoba tries to give her a gun to defend herself from the JSSDF:
{{quote|'''Aoba:''' [hands Ibuki a gun] Release the safety.
'''Maya:''' I can't! I just can't shoot this thing, Aoba!
'''Aoba:''' Of course you can! You've had basic training!
'''Maya:''' But I shot at targets, not at other human beings!
'''Aoba:''' Idiot! You kill or you die!
* [[Gender Flip]]: Whether intentional or not, Maya is basically a female version of Shinji appearance-wise; this has carried over to some non-canon
* [[Lipstick Lesbian]]: Her sexuality isn't immediately obvious in that while she is certainly boyish looking, she's not really butch either.
* [[Machine Worship]]: She's extremely enthusiastic about the prospect of the Magi supercomputers running everybody's lives, and most of her [[Ship Tease]] moments come from watching someone do something amazing with computers.
** In Episode 11, Aoba rolls his eyes at her blatant technophilia, making him one of the few people in or out of the show to comment on this.
** One exception to this is the Dummy Plug, which she openly distrusts even before it's first activated. It's also the only thing that ever causes her to openly protest against Ritsuko's actions.
* [[Only Sane Man|Only Sane Woman]]: Deconstructed. Compared to the character traits and emotional baggage of most of the other characters, Maya is pretty normal... perhaps even ''too'' normal for her own good, considering the very abnormal events that take place around her. She doesn't work well under pressure and often loses her cool during traumatic moments, particularly whenever an Evangelion is butchered in front of her eyes or when NERV HQ is under attack.
* [[Sempai-Kohai]]
* [[Shorttank]]
* [[Vomit Discretion Shot]]: Twice in the anime, during Unit 01's destruction of Bardiel and when Unit 01 starts eating Zeruel, and again in ''The End of Evangelion'', when Unit 02 is being torn apart.
=== '''Makoto Hyūga''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Hiro Yuki]] (JP), [[Matt Greenfield]] (series), Keith Burgess (movies), [[Mike McFarland]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion''), Enzo Fortuny (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Roberto Mendiola (Latin-American Spanish, second dub) ''
[[File:hyuga.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''It's okay, Major... besides, dying beside you wouldn't be a bad way to go out.''}}
A geeky, bespectacled computer technician in the command center
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* [[Bridge Bunny]]
* [[Dogged Nice Guy]]
* [[Hopeless Suitor]]: Might have stood a chance with Misato if Kaji wasn't around. Key word being ''might''.
* [[It Has Been an Honor]]: See the above quote, when it seems as though self-destructing NERV headquarters is the only way to prevent Third Impact during Shinji's fight with Kaworu.
* [[Megane]]
=== '''Shigeru Aoba''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Takehito Koyasu]] (JP), Jason C. Lee (series), [[Vic Mignogna]] (Director's Cut), [[Phil Parsons]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion'') ''
[[File:aoba.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''Idiot! You kill or you die!''}}
The long-haired, guitar-playing computer technician in the command center. Unlike everyone else in the series, he seems to have no one he truly cares about, although he appears to get along well with Maya and Makoto.
* [[Air Guitar]]: Is seen playing one in a brief 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' moment towards the middle of the series.
* [[All There in the Manual]]:
** Supplemental publications and [[Word of God]] have stated that Aoba is an atheist/nihilist, which is also why his Instrumentality is so different from everyone else's.
** There's also a few references here-and-there to him having an [[Unrequited Love]] for Maya. How canonical this is could be up for debate.
* [[And I Must Scream]]: While everyone else touched by a messenger Rei gets to enjoy seeing a form of their most trusted loved ones before being turned to LCL, Aoba trusts ''nobody'', so he gets the exclusive horror of being suffocated by a mob of Reis, cowering and screaming like hell under a table.
* [[Asexuality]]
* [[Bridge Bunny]]
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== GEHIRN staff ==
=== '''Yui Ikari''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Megumi Hayashibara]] (JP), Kim Sevier (EN, series), [[Stephanie Young]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion'') ''
[[File:Yui_ikari.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''Any place can be paradise, as long as you have the will to make it so.''}}
Shinji's mother, Gendō's wife, creator of Evangelions... she is a linchpin for a '''lot''' of things that happen in the story, and while Shinji is the main character, Yui is more central to the overall plot. Despite this, we see very, very little of her in the story, almost entirely in flashbacks. A great deal about her is [[Alternate Character Interpretation|left open for the viewers to interpret]].
Yui's treatment in the manga is virtually identical, but certain aspects of her attachment to Unit 01 are changed, and also played with in a ''very'' disturbing fashion.
* [[Action Mom]]: Sort of.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: One of the ''Evangelion'' games tells us that Yui is a [[Never a Self-Made Woman|daughter of a SEELE member]], which is why she received their backing in the first place. Canonicity is debated.
* [[Badass]]: Whenever Unit 01 awakens.
* [[Berserk Button]]: On no account should you '''EVER''' hurt Shinji inside EVA Unit-01 while Yui's soul is aware of it. You ''will'' pay the price.
* [[The Berserker]]: Whenever Unit-01 awakens, it attacks its enemy with frenzied animalistic fury, and will tear its opponent apart given the chance.
* [[The Chessmaster]]/[[Puss in Boots]]: One alternate interpretation of her character, reinforced in ''The End
* [[Happily Married]]: To Gendo, before her death.
* [[Hot Mom]]
* [[Hot Scientist]]: She was a very beautiful woman, as well as a prodigiously talented scientist.
* [[I Am a Humanitarian]]: Unit-01 eating one of the Angels.
* [[Mama Bear]]: The Eva her soul is imprisoned in goes ''apeshit'' more than once to protect Shinji.
* [[Missing Mom]]: Her contact experiment happened when Shinji was 4.
* [[My Beloved Smother]]: In a benign sense
* [[My Death Is Just the Beginning]]: It's been hinted by conversations in certain flashbacks that she had planned both her "accident" and Shinji's presence during it in advance, for an as-of-yet not explicitly explained purpose; it seems implied that she "was running out of time" (i.e. someone was targeting her for assassination, and she was rushing to finish her work beforehand).
* [[Posthumous Character]]: Kind of.
* [[Sealed Badass in a Can]]: Her goodness might be debatable, but her badassery is very much certified. Whenever Yui's soul seizes control of Unit-01, ''shit gets wrecked''. Of course, how much of that is stemming from her original personality and how much is stemming from being a bundle of raw emotion stuffed in a giant bio-mechanical monster that doesn't obey human biological laws is hard to say.
* [[Ubermensch]]: Leaves her human vessel in order to go against the shadow organization suppressing humanity, and (secretly) guides humanity to a new path of existence.
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Note to giant alien monsters who may be reading this:
=== '''Naoko Akagi''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Mika Doi]] (JP), Laura Chapman (EN) ''
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Naoko Akagi is Ritsuko's mother, and was the creator of the MAGI supercomputers, basing each on a particular aspect of herself. She and Gendo Ikari were lovers for some time after Yui's incident with Unit 01, but Naoko learned through the first Rei that Gendo was only using her for her genius. She killed Rei, and died violently shortly thereafter.
* [[Berserk Button]]: Rei calling her an old hag and revealing that Gendo was just using her caused her to snap.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Ambiguous in the anime; strongly implied in the manga.
* [[Hot Mom]]: If not Hot Crazy Mom.
* [[I'll Kill You!]]: If you call her a hag, she most likely will.
* [[Love Makes You Crazy]]: Hated Yui Ikari's guts and praised her "death
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]]: Just pure crazy, up to and including murdering Rei I.
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: After suddenly realizing she just strangled Rei.
* [[Posthumous Character]]: Sort of, since she survives in some form as the MAGI.
* [[Room Full of Crazy]]
* [[Yandere]]: Over Gendo.
* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: She had an affair with Gendo Ikari after the death of Gendo's wife, and Rei seems to have witnessed it.
=== '''Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Maria Kawamura]] (JP), Kimberly Yates (EN) ''
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{{quote|''Come die with me, Asuka...''}}
Kyoko Sohyru was Asuka's mother, and developed Unit 02 at NERV's Germany Branch. When Asuka was five, Kyoko went through the same contact experiment that fused Yui Ikari with Unit 01, but only the maternal part of her soul was absorbed into the
Her manga portrayal is basically the same, although an extra scene is added to the time before her suicide that compounds the tragedy and how it damaged Asuka, and she appears to play more of a role in her reveal to Asuka before the battle with the Mass Produced
* [[Action Mom]]: [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|For about]] [[Diabolus Ex Machina|five minutes]]?
* [[Ax Crazy]]: After losing part of her soul.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Kyoko eventually hangs herself, along with the doll that she thinks is Asuka.
* [[Ironic Hell]]: A definite interpretation. The maternal part of her mind is trapped in Unit 02 and can only watch as Asuka suffers, not even realizing that the mother Asuka loved resides within Unit 02 until the very end... and by then, it's too late...
* [[The Ophelia]]
* [[Posthumous Character]]
* [[Slasher Smile]]
==
=== '''Keel Lorenz''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Mugihito]] (JP), Richard Peeples (series), Tom Booker (movies), [[Bill Jenkins]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion'') ''
[[File:icon.200x150.kiel.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''The beginning and the end are one and the same. Yes... all is right with the world.''}}
As the chairman of [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness|SEELE]], Keel Lorenz is NERV's superior and commissioner of the
* [[Assimilation Plot]]: Wishes to enact Third Impact as a means of merging all humanity's souls into one via Instrumentality to end all suffering.
* [[Big Bad]]: Being SEELE's Chairman, he is effectively the driving force behind the events of Second Impact and the subsequent global push towards [[Assimilation Plot|human Instrumentality]]. However, the plot of the series centers around the events at NERV directed by [[The Heavy|Gendo Ikari]], a SEELE agent who effectuates the organization's will [[Dragon with an Agenda|while secretely pursuing his own agenda]]; Keel is seen only occasionally by the audience, and often in the form of a [[Sinister Silhouettes|featureless black monolith]].
* [[Cyborg]]: Keel sports a heavy degree of state-of-the art biological implants and a visor to cope with dehabilating injuries that would otherwise leave him frail, crippled and nearly blind. When further inspected, those injuries he suffered and extensive, painful surgery could be an underlying reason behind his suffering and motivation for Instrumentality: [[Fridge Brilliance|he wants to end his ''own'' pain]].
* [[Evilutionary Biologist]]: Of sorts. Worth noting is that Konrad Lorenz was an ''evolutionary'' biologist.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: In ''The End of Evangelion'', Keel and the rest of SEELE are the ones responsible for the actions of
* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: Gendo is [[The Heavy]], but only acts as [[The Dragon]] to this man and his council. They fund NERV, providing them with the resources to conduct the experiments and research to carry out the Human Instrumentality Project, but never directly interact with the protagonists, leaving the day-to-day operations to their subordinates.
* [[The Philosopher]]: He's prone to waxing rhapsodic about the nature of humanity, fate, destiny and evolution, amongst other things. To say nothing of founding SEELE entirely to exert his philosophical conclusions into reality.
* [[Robotic Reveal]]: After reverting to LCL in ''The End of Evangelion'', Keel is revealed to be a cyborg, from surgery done to fix damage caused by unknown injuries or a condition.
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Canonically, his name is '''Keel''' Lorenz, but it's frequently spelled "Kihl".
=== '''Kensuke Aida''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Tetsuya Iwanaga]] (JP), Kurt Stoll (EN, series, movies), [[Greg Ayres]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion'') ''
[[File:kensu1.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''This is SO COOL!!!''}}
Kensuke is, at the start of the series, Toji's best friend. He reveals to the class that Shinji is a pilot, and later bonds with Shinji after he runs away the first time. He is very computer savvy, and is a die-hard military [[Otaku]], constantly badgering Shinji to get him pilot clearance and practically salivating over the trip to the ''Over The Rainbow'' in
* [[Ascended Fanboy]]: He becomes an EVA pilot in the second ''Girlfriend of Steel'' game, and in ''[[Fighting Game|Evangelion Battle Orchestra]]''.
* [[Expy]]: Of Jean from ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]''.
* [[I Just Want to Be Special]]: Kensuke ''really'' wants to be an EVA pilot, and remains constantly oblivious to how unhappy the actual EVA pilots are. He finally gets his wish in some [[Alternate Continuity]] games.
* [[Nerd Glasses]]
* [[Otaku]]: If it's something to do with the military, he's into it
** Also a bit of [[Self-Deprecation]] on the part of [[Hideaki Anno]], who is himself a military geek.
* [[This Loser Is You]]: A not too subtle reminder to the ''really'' [[Otaku]] viewers of [[Take That|what they could or already have become]].
=== '''Hikari Horaki''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Junko Iwao]] (JP), Carol Amerson (EN, series), [[Leah Clark]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion'') ''
[[File:hikari.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''Sit down, you guys!!''}}
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Hikari is the no-nonsense [[Class Representative]] of Shinji's class, and the second-born of three sisters. She later becomes Asuka's best friend, and tries to give her emotional support in the later episodes as Asuka becomes more and more distraught. She nurses a crush on Toji as well.
Her role in the manga is unchanged, but she gets more scenes with Shinji. However, near the end, she has essentially shunned Shinji, feeling that having him around is a too-painful reminder of Toji's death.
* [[Alliterative Name]]: '''H'''ikari '''H'''oraki.
* [[Class Representative]]: She's this to the Children's class, and takes it seriously enough that Toji's preferred (mocking) way of addressing her is through referring to her simply as "Class Rep".
* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: Pretty appropriate choice of hairstyle for one of the series' most idealistic and innocent characters.
* [[Theme Naming]]: She and her sisters are named after the Tokaido Shinkansen's three train services, with each sister's age corresponding to the increasing order of the services' speeds (Kodama -> Hikari -> Nozomi). Interestingly, the Hikari service was the first one out of the three to be introduced; no points for guessing which of the sisters was first seen in-series.
* [[Through His Stomach]]: To Toji.
* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: She's the Girly one, with Asuka as the Tomboy.
* [[Tsundere]]: Possible
* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]: At least the beginnings of one, and Touji is ''just that good'' at getting under her skin.
=== '''Pen-Pen''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Megumi Hayashibara]] (JP), [[Amanda Winn-Lee]] (EN, series), [[Mandy Clark]] (Director's Cut), [[Monica Rial]] (''Rebuild of Evangelion'') ''
[[File:icon.200x150.penpen.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''WARK!''}}
Pen-Pen is ''Evangelion'''s main non-[[Butt Monkey]] comic relief, and a mysterious character to boot. Gainax has never stated where he came from
Given that penguins were native to Antarctica, which was destroyed by Second Impact, there may also be some hidden significance in Pen-Pen's presence in Misato's life.
[[Shoo Out the Clowns|When he leaves the story, you know that a change in tone is imminent
In the manga, he is a result of genetic experimentation, and was saved from being euthanized by Misato.
* [[Everything's Better with Penguins]]: Is a penguin and widely agreed to the only character not to have any unsympathetic moments.
* [[Shoo Out the Clowns]]: See below.
* [[Shoo the Dog]]: Misato eventually sends him away to live with Hikari's family, where he'll be safer.
* [[Team Pet]]: He serves as the beloved cuteness-and-funny-generating family pet for the first half of the series.
==
[[File:270px-Ramiel RoE.jpg|frame|Ramiel, the fifth Angel]]
The Angels are the monstrous adversaries that NERV is committed to battling. Little is revealed about them, except that the "molecular structure" of their DNA is ''very'' analogous to that of human DNA, their presence was predicted by the secret Dead Sea Scrolls in SEELE's possession, and that should an Angel make contact with Adam (one of the two Seeds of Life, the other being Lilith), it will cause a version of Third Impact that would annihilate humanity and leave the Angels (or just that particular Angel; it's unclear which) as the dominant life form on the planet.
* [[Adaptive Ability]]: Ireul's superhigh-speed adaptation.
* [[Alien Geometries]]:
** Leliel is a nanometers-thick black void with a spherical shadow that's completely disconnected from it.
** ''Rebuild of Evangelion'''s version of Ramiel; see [[Stance System]] below.
* [[All There in the Manual]]:
** Adam and Lilith's classification as "Seeds of Life", and the fact of their and the Angels' origin as artificial creations by [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|extremely powerful extraterrestrial]] [[Neglectful Precursors|mysterious precursors]], was only introduced in ''[http://wiki.evageeks.org/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion_2 Neon Genesis Evangelion 2]'''s [http://wiki.evageeks.org/Classified_Information_(Translation) Classified Information] files, which were [[Word of God|based on interviews with the franchise' creator]], [[Hideaki Anno]].
** In spite of their alleged source, the canonicity of material in ''Evangelion 2'' is still the subject of [[Broken Base|some debate]].
* [[Archangel Lucifer]]: In the roleplaying materials, one of the angels is named Iblis.
* [[Asteroids Monster]]: Israfel, though it only splits once.
* [[Beehive Barrier]]: The AT-field defensive barrier for Ireul, which is hexagonal. The rest of the Angels (for the AT-field is a standard power for all Angels and Seeds of Life, whether or not it was actually shown on-screen)
* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: Their motivations are unknown. All they seem to want is to be reunited with Lilith.
* [[Body Horror]]: The result of Armisael's choice method of attack.
* [[Dark Is Edgy]]: Leliel.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: All except Tabris, who is more [[Humanoid Abomination]].
* [[Fearful Symmetry]]: "Hi. I'm Israfel-A, and this my twin Israfel-B. Will you dance with us?"
* [[Four Is Death]]: Bardiel (Toji is the fourth child
* [[Giant Spider]]: Matarael is shaped like [[wikipedia:Opiliones|an opilione]].
* [[Healing Factor]]: Another mostly standard Angel power.
* [[Hollywood Acid]]: Matarael.
*
* [[Knight of Cerebus]]: Bardiel, and arguably Leliel.
* [[Light Is Not Good]]:
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** Arael's "heavenly" beam of light.
** Tabris: Albino.
* [[Living Shadow]]: A unique and essentially literal case with Leliel, as the "shadow" is actually its super-thin body, while the floating sphere is its three-dimensional shadow. Don't think about that last part too much
* [[Lotus Eater Machine]]: Leliel, Arael (a more sinister version)
* [[Meaningful Name]]:
** Adam and Lilith are the first humans in certain unorthodox Jewish mythological texts and the progenitors of Mankind and the demons known as Lilim, respectively, while the eponymous Seeds of Life are the progenitors of the Angels and Mankind, respectively.
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** Shamshel (literally "Sun of God") appears to be [[Subverted Trope|an exception to the rule]], as neither its name's meaning nor its namesake have any particular relevance to its design or its actions. As it can mean Angel of the Day, however, it might simply be related to the timing of the Angel's appearance.
*** Shamshel is a cherub, meaning he guards Eden. Toji and Kensuke break the rules in order to see Shinji in action, basically gaining forbidden knowledge. It could be that Angel of the Day refers to the phallic appearance, to go with Leliel (the Angel of the Night)'s uterine appearance.
** Ramiel (literally "Thunder of God") is the angel of thunder; and while the
** Israfel is the angel of music (its defeat involved dancing to a specific musical score).
** Sandalphon is the angel of embryos (discovered during a "larval stage", its "voice" is composed of electronically distorted baby wailing), among other things.
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** Bardiel is the angel of haze and hail (it infests Unit 03 while its cargo plane flew through a thunder cloud). Its name means "humiliated son of God", referencing the fact that it has no body of its own.
** Zeruel (literally "Arm of God") is the angel of power and strength (it takes out Units 00 and 02 in no time flat, devastates NERV headquarters, and very nearly destroys Unit 01). Also, Unit 01 [[Lovecraftian Superpower|eats it, regenerating its arm]].
** Arael is the angel of birds (no bonus points for guessing its general appearance).
*** Arael means "Sight/Vision of God" referencing [[Mind Rape|its desire to look into Asuka's mind to understand human psychology]].
** Armisael is the angel of the womb (it's vaguely shaped like an umbilical cord).
** Tabris is another [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] of this trope, as neither are there any official Judeo-Christian source that lists an angel with that name (or one close to it), nor is the name's etymology clear; [[Word of God]], however, is that he's named after the angel of free will, and the character exercises that free will to allow Shinji to kill him. Whether it's a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] or not [[Alternative Character Interpretation|is up to debate]].
*** [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Spell his name with two B's...]]
*** Tabbris seems to come from ''bris'', which in Ashkenazi Hebrew means "covenant". "Covenant with God". Yeah.
* [[Mind Probe]]: Leliel, and...
** [[Mind Rape]]: ...
* [[Monster of the Week]]: Naturally.
* [[Our Angels Are Different]]: Boy howdy.
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* [[Pocket Dimension]]: The nature of Leliel's main power, contained within and entered through its flat body and connected to its floating spherical shadow.
* [[Pure Energy]]: Energy blasts and beams; used by Sachiel, Ramiel, Israfel, Zeruel. And for specific forms of it...
** [[Energy Weapon]]: Sachiel's "arm lances
** [[Eye Beams]]: Sachiel and Zeruel.
** [[Wave Motion Gun]]: Ramiel... especially in ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', where his adjustable energy beam, at its maximum setting, can melt through a goddamn mountain!
* [[Rain of Blood]]:
** Leliel's quite graphic death
** In the ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' continuity, Sahaquiel's cilia curl up like a spider's legs when it dies, and the entire island-sized creature explodes into a fountain of blood that floods most of the city. How they cleaned it all up is anyone's guess.
* [[Shock and Awe]]: Ramiel.
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** For one, the eyes on Matarael (and to a lesser extent, Sahaquiel) are a deliberate allusion to the Atlanteans from ''[[Nadia
** Iruel is a clear homage to ''[[The Andromeda Strain]]''.
* [[Stance System]]: The ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' incarnation of Ramiel changes form in extreme, often impossible ways to adapt its offense and defense to the constantly changing requirements of the battlefield.
* [[Taking You with Me]]:
** Sachiel's last-ditch move, which ultimately fails.
** Sandalphon attempts this with Asuka.
** Sahaquiel's default and only tactic
** Zeruel seems to have been gearing up for one before Unit 01 eats him up.
** Ironically, that's the exact move that Rei uses to defeat Armisael.
* [[Techno Babble]]:
** Part of the on-screen exposition on the (in-universe-wise presumed) mechanics behind Leliel's "Sea of Dirac
** Also applies for all the Angels, as the MAGI identifies them during each invasion as Blood Type: BLUE. What that means is anyone's guess, especially since none of them have actually blue blood.
*** Humans (and
* [[Theme Naming]]: Aside from being named "Shito" (which can translated as either "Apostle" or literally "messenger"; "angel" is descended from the Greek word for "messenger"), all names are of Judeo-Christian Angels excluding two cases: Adam and Lilith (see [[Meaningful Name]] above).
* [[Thirteen Is Unlucky]]: And how! Bardiel arrives when the show really gets dark.
* [[This Is Gonna Suck]]: Zeruel appears to do a version of this in ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion
* [[Tomato in the Mirror]]: The 18th Angel is Lilim, the offspring of Lilith, {{spoiler|more commonly known as [[A God Is You|mankind]]}}.
* [[The Virus]]: Ireul is a colony of nanites.
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: "Human" is a loosely-defined term in the Evaverse. In light of this fact...
** [[Artificial Human]]: They (and by proxy, "Mankind"/Lilim) are creations of the First Ancestral Race.
** [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: Both Zeruel (devoured) and Unit 01 (devourer) are technically "human," by the
* [[Whip It Good]]: Shamshel.
* [[White Mask of Doom]]: Present on several Angels, including Sachiel, Zeruel, and nearly every Angel in ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', including Lilith.
* [[You Are Number Six]]: The Angels are almost always referred to by the characters according to their order of appearence (3rd Angel, 5th Angel, etc
== '''The Evangelions''' ==
'' Voiced by: Hiro Yuuki (JP), Matt Greenfield (EN, TV/Director's Cuts), Jason C. Lee & [[Taliesin Jaffe]] (EN, movies), [[Mike McFarland]] (EN, ''Rebuild of Evangelion'') ''
The Evangelions are biomechanical mecha designed by GEHIRN, and later by NERV, as a means of fighting the Angels. Their effectiveness against the Angels is based on their ability to generate an AT field, the same form of defense that the Angels use. It's eventually revealed that the EVAs are actually cloned Angels, all based on Adam except for Unit 01, which was derived from Lilith. The EVAs have human souls bonded to them, and are piloted by select 14-year-old teenagers who can synchronize with those souls; in the case of Units 01 and 02, those teens happen to be the children of the women who were bonded to those EVAs.
* [[Appendage Assimilation]]: <s>[[Fan Nickname|Yui-sama]]</s> Unit 01 attaching and then transmogrifying Zeruel's arm to replace her own, and later absorbing his "precious" S2 engine/organ.
* [[The Berserker]]:
* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]:
* [[Cyber Cyclops]]: Unit 00.
* [[Eva Fins]]: The [[Trope Namer]]. Units 01, 02, and 03 come with the signature shoulder attachments from the get-go. Unit 00 gets them when its armor is replaced after the Ramiel battle. The MP
* [[Flawed Prototype]]: Unit 00 is massively inferior to the later models, only getting deployed to achieve numerical advantage.
** In ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', Unit 05 is also referred to as a prototype but suffers from [[Crippling Overspecialization]]: it can't leave Bethany's tunnels without switching to battery power, has no ranged attack capabilities and is restricted to using a freakin' ''jousting lance'' as its [[Weapon of Choice]] as its mechanical pincers can't hold anything else. On the other hand, Unit 05's ass is basically a rocket it uses for [[Flight]].
* [[Four Is Death]]: Unit 04 explodes and takes a whole local branch of NERV and a chunk of the Nevada desert with it. The actual fourth
* [[Healing Factor]]: Unit 01 exhibits some of this, restoring its broken arm during the battle with Sachiel and regenerating its [[Eye Scream|blown-out eye]] immediately after.
** The Mass Produced
* [[Heroic RROD]]: Shinji forces Unit 01 to do this against Rebuild!Zeruel. The consequences are [[The End of the World as We Know It|very grave]]...
* [[High-Pressure Blood]]:
** The blood fountaining from Unit 01's eye socket and skull after getting impaled by Sachiel.
*** Rebuild!Zeruel causes a similar reaction when it impales Unit-01's torso. Interestingly, Shinji is projectile-vomiting blood at the same time.
** Unit-02 demonstrates the trope in both incarnations of the Zeruel battle: both arms in the original, one arm and a chunk of its head in ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
** Good '''God''', Unit 03's destruction leads to blood-spattered ''buildings''.
* [[Holy Halo]]: Unit-06. Unit-01 too, but only in ''Rebuild of Evangelion''.
* [[Living Weapon]]: The EVAs are a mecha version—mostly-organic creatures that can fight the Angels on their own terms because, in essence, they ''are'' Angels. In ''The End of Evangelion'', Unit-02 takes over the role.
* [[Mama Bear]]: The EVAs are imbued with the souls of their pilots' mothers. Special mention goes to Yui Ikari/EVA Unit-01, who goes [[Extreme Melee Revenge|berserk]] at the drop of a hat if Shinji is in danger.
* [[Meaningful Name]]:
** (Most)
** "Evangelion" itself means "Good news", and it was applied to the Bible books about Jesus because they spread the news about the resurrection of the Lord and salvation for mankind.
* [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]]: They need to absorb human souls before they can function at all.
* [[Restraining Bolt]]: The "armor"'s primary purpose.
* [[Send in the Clones]]: They're essentially "clones" (by ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'''s loose definition of the word) of the First Angel Adam, or the Second Angel Lilith in Unit 01's case.
* [[Slasher Smile]]: One of many creepy things about the Mass Production Models. Also sported by an armorless, bandage-swathed EVA Unit-01 while undergoing repairs after eating Zeruel, although she could just have [[More Teeth Than the Osmond Family]], as EVAs aren't normally seen out-of-armour.
* [[Super Prototype]]: Unit 01, kinda. Unit 04 might count as well, if we ignore the [[Explosive Overclocking]] part.
* [[Twinmaker]]: Freeze-frame play of the director's cut version of
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Part and parcel of an EVA going berserk.
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: See the Angels' entry above. Also, consequentially...
** [[Artificial Human]]: As "clones" of Adam (and Lilith, in Unit-01's case).
* [[Youkai]]: Not examples themselves, but from [[Word of God]] [
* [[Your Size May Vary]]: No official heights have been given for them, and they seem to shift depending on what will look correct in a given scene. This is most noticeable in {{spoiler|Episode 8}} when {{spoiler|after Gaghiel explodes, Unit-02 is launched out of the sea, lands on an aircraft carrier's deck, and collapses. Nothing wrong there, until you remember that just a few scenes ago it was playing "hopscotch" with a ship the exact same size, which means it has shrunk down to the size of its own shoe}}.
** ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' gave a size to the Evangelions... but that's ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''.
*** They are listed as 40m in the [[All There in the Manual|Proposal]] while height comparisons with humans in the shots that feature both put them somewhere around 55m.
== Characters from other media ==
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[[File:ManaKirishima.jpg|frame]]
From ''Girlfriend of Steel''
* [[Ascended Extra]]: She's one of the very few non-canon characters to reappear in another spin-off (''[[Ikari Shinji Raising Project]]''), and has prominent roles in the [[Fanfic
* [[Becoming the Mask]]: She was supposed to befriend Shinji to get under his skin and steal info from SEELE. She falls for him for real.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Her backstory as a member of a group of [[Child Soldiers]].
* [[But Now I Must Go]]: In the ''happier'' of the [[Multiple Endings]].
* [[Girl Next Door]]: The type of feeling she tries to provide, which traps Shinji pretty hard (depending on the player's choices).
* [[The Mole]]
* [[Third Option Love Interest]]: Was created specifically to have the gregariousness of Asuka with the gentleness of Rei.
* [[Tyke Bomb]]: Sort of.
=== '''Mayumi Yamagishi''' ===
'' Voiced by: [[Kyoko Hikami]] ''
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From the Sega game ''2nd Impression''.
* [[Beauty Mark]]: Has a mole on her face.
* [[Meganekko]]: Has glasses and is pretty much [[Blind Without'Em]] (which Shinji discovers early on).
* [[The Symbiote]]: She has an Angel's core inside her body.
* [[Third Option Love Interest]]
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