Asuka Langley Soryuu

Asuka Langley Soryuu is a 14 year old fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise and one of the female main characters.

Asuka is designated as the Second Child ("Second Children" in the original Japanese versions) of the Evangelion Project and pilots the Evangelion Unit-02.

Appearance
Asuka has red hair and blue eyes. She dresses up in her iconic outfit that includes a blue dress, white socks and a pair of black Mary Jane shoes. Asuka's hair is loose with the flanks held in twin tails with her Interface Headset. To complete the ensemble, a red bow on her collar provides a centerpiece as well as a bit of contrast against her blue outfit.

Personality
Asuka is a very proud individual, especially in her piloting, and comes across to others as proud and strong, with a very high opinion of both her appearance (particularly her recently "busty" body) and her skill as an Eva pilot. She is stubborn and finds it difficult to express her true feelings to others. She does not like being looked down upon or told what to do as she wants to be viewed as an adult. She is aggressive and can be very opinionated. However, this personality is a front that protects a very vulnerable and insecure girl, a side which the viewer sees in her dreams or thoughts. She is often violent and intrusive of other people's space, especially Shinji's. She also has a strong need to be self-sufficient, and has a great deal of difficulty dealing with her self-perceived failure when she does need help.

Thus her relationship with Shinji is one of the core aspects of the series, and affects both characters on multiple levels (see next section).

Her best (and seemingly her only close) friend is her class representative, Hikari Horaki. Although Asuka and classmate Toji Suzuhara constantly argue, she gives Hikari advice about pursuing Toji. Asuka is openly infatuated with Ryoji Kaji, her former guardian after her mother died, and makes a number of advances toward him which he politely refuses. For this reason she envies her and Shinji's guardian, Misato Katsuragi, especially after Misato and Kaji rekindle their romantic relationship. The "Director's Cut" of Episode 24 also shows Asuka violently confronting Shinji and saying he's lying when he tells her that Kaji is dead.

In her early appearances, Asuka has a high synchronization ratio and displays exceptional skill as an Eva pilot. She is also very aggressive and confident in battle, which works both for and against her as the series progresses. After being defeated in battle by the Angel Zeruel, Asuka's self-confidence (and, correspondingly, her sync ratio and effectiveness as a pilot) begins to dwindle. This comes to a head in Episode 22, when the Angel Arael appears. Burdened by increasingly poor results in synchronization tests, Asuka is infuriated when she is ordered to serve as backup for Rei. She launches herself in Unit-02 and tries to attack the Angel alone but is overwhelmed by its attack, which forces her to relive the painful memories of her past and causes her to suffer a mental and emotional breakdown. She loses the will to live and is incapable of piloting Unit-02 again in the series.

Abilities
Powers and Abilities: Normal Human Abilities, Piloting | Superhuman Physical Characteristics, A.T. Fields (Can be used both defensively and offensively, such as in the form of optic blasts), Large Size (Type 1), Regeneration(Mid-Low; Unit-01 regenerated a broken arm, likely Low-High over time; like an angel, an Evangelion should be able to regenerate from its core alone given enough time), has a spike launcher in its right shoulder

Attack Potency: Human level | Mountain level (Capable of fighting against Angels that can damage it and briefly matching Unit-01 when under Kaworu's control)

Speed: Normal Human | Subsonic movement speed with Hypersonic+ combat speed and reactions (Able to react and keep pace with Angels, who are capable of dodging Mach 14+ rounds from the Pallet Gun)

Lifting Strength: Regular Human | Class G (Comparable to Unit-01)

Striking Strength: Human Class | Mountain Class

Durability: Human level | Mountain level physically (Tanked Israfel's self-destruction), higher with A.T. Field.

Stamina: Average Human | Essentially indefinite when it has its Umbilical Cable connected, has a 5 minute internal battery otherwise.

Range: Standard melee range | Extended melee range. Hundreds of meters with ranged weapons.

Standard Equipment: A Progressive Knife and a Pallet Gun.

Intelligence: Genius level, college graduate. Asuka can quickly plan and formulate battle plans against unknown foes, although weaknesses below often interfere with this.

Weaknesses: Asuka is emotionally unstable, arrogant, and short-tempered. | Unit-02 can be easily separated from its Umbilical Cord and only has 5 minutes of internal battery.

Key: Asuka | Unit-02

Trivia

 * The Shikinami is an Ayanami-class post-World War II era Japanese destroyer whose name literally means "Spreading Waves". It is pronounced, approximately, "Shkee-nami", not "Sheeky-nami". Hideaki Anno has confirmed that Asuka, like Rei and Mari, are named after Ayanami-class destroyers of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and not from the old Fubuki-class destroyers. Noteworthy as a naval curiosity is the fact that the original, Fubuki-class Shikinami was actually the first destroyer of the Fubuki Type II (Or 'Ayanami') subclass to be completed and commissioned, despite being ordered six months after the Ayanami (due to Ayanami's slow construction).


 * Asuka Shikinami's name is spelt, meaning something like "ceremonial waves" or "ritual waves" while the warship's name is, meaning "spreading waves". The reason for the change isn't clear, especially since the change in Kanji makes the name somewhat nonsensical.


 * Why Asuka's Japanese surname was changed from Soryu to Shikinami for the new movie adaptation remained a matter of speculation for a long time. Yuko Miyamura has stated that it is a secret. One consideration: Given that the newly introduced character Mari has the Japanese surname Makinami, and the other female Eva pilot is Rei Ayanami, the change to Shikinami establishes the three female pilots as a triad. However, it remains to be seen if this theme naming implies a more significant in-universe connection between Rei, Asuka, and Mari or not. A later interview with Hideaki Anno indicates that the 'settei' (roughly 'background') of the main characters had altered since the original series, hence the change in name. With significant new plot and character developments in Evangelion 3.0, the change in name is at least partially justified.