This section contains 'Spoilers'

As the 1st child, Rei Ayanami is the designated pilot of the Evangelion Unit-00. She reveals few emotions and is regarded by mosts as a having hardly any feelings she can call her's. Rei will try her best to succeed in anything she has been ordered too, but in general most see her in terms of having no will of her own, this is especially due to the fact that she is easily willing to die if ordered to. However there is more to her than meets the eye. Rei's past is concealed in a thick veil of secrecy, which by the end of the series are dispelled. Genetically engineered from the cells of an Angel and that of Yui Ikari, Rei lives a tragic life of one who has been created for a purpose. Rei was the key to Gendo Ikari's plans. But as clone, Rei possesses many replacement bodies, although she can only one 'soul' at a time. Rei shows that she is more than a 'doll' as Asuka refers to her as, mostly in the End of Eva movie, where she refuses to remain as Gendo's tool and trusts the fate of mankind to Shinji's hands instead. Rei's greatest fear is that she will be without purpose.

My View: Rei is arguably the one of the most enigmatic anime character ever created. As the one of the primary poster girl of Evangelion she is also one of the best looking. Rei is a very complex character which even I have a hard time understanding. Even at the end of the series and the movies, there are many questions about her left unanswered, such as what was it that held her to Gendo Ikari in the first place, was it the bond between one and it's creator? Was it that Yui's feelings were able to merge with hers? I personally think that Rei, although an aforementioned clone, is a individual in her own right, and that she did share a bond with Gendo in the beginning. Many would favor the Rei-Shinji relationship rather than the Asuka-Shinji relationship because of the fact that Shinji would probably end up with less bruises. Others however argue that the Rei-Shinji relationship is impossible because of Yui's genes in Rei, making her effectively Shinji's half sister.

The 2nd child is the chosen pilot of Evangelion Unit-02. Part Japanese and part German, his fiery red-head's past is obscured in tragedy. Known for her temper as well as her bite, she is frustratingly the most stubborn and wildest of all the pilots. Her self-defense mechanism is well known, which is to hurt others nearby her to save being hurt herself. Asuka's mother was one of the scientists who worked on Project-E in the German branch of GEHRIN. It is unclear whether by time of her incident, GEHRIN had already changed to NERV. Deduction however places Kyoko Zepplin Sohryu's death as after or at lest around the same time as Yui Ikari's disappearance. Asuka's mother was presumably the test pilot for Unit-02, in the incident in question, she had part of her mind and consciousness wretched from her and implanted into Unit-02. This is what enable Asuka to control Unit-02 and she eventually comes to realize this in the End of Eva movie. At that time however Kyoko was thought to have lost her mind as she begun to nurse a doll as her child instead of Asuka, later, she would commit suicide leaving Asuka to be the unfortunate person to find her hanging body. Asuka was forever marked by this event, and was unable to forget, especially when they are forcefully brought to the surface again by the 15th Angel; Ariel. Asuka's greatest fear is that she will get close to someone who will leave her again.

My View: Asuka is currently my favorite Eva character ( sorry to Rei-supporters, but I just do ), and definitely am a Asuka-Shinji relationship pro-activist, although I have no real problems with other potential candidates. I believe that Asuka sees in Shinji, someone who COULD understand her. The main problem is that Shinji doesn't know how to handle most situation very well. Also, they are both unwilling to speak about their past or their feelings. True expression of her feelings towards Shinji doesn't come obvious until probably in the last scene of End of Eva ( for my opinion of the truth on the matter read my fanfic; 'Last Scene: Nowhere left to run' ). There are those who might disagree with me, but this is my opinion.

Shinji Ikari is the primary character in the series. He is a quiet boy, living most of his life in solitude. Shinji was quite unsure of his relationship with his father; the much feared, and powerful Commander Ikari. Shinji is seen as quite a spineless boy, but it is probably due to the lack of stability in his life, his father having ignored him until he had a use. Shinji was witness to his mother's 'death' at a very young age, Yui Ikari was absorbed into Evangelion Unit-01. Ever since, he blocked out that episode in his life and never remembered it until much later. Other than piloting Unit-01, Shinji shows skill in playing the Cello, possibly the only other thing he sees himself being able to do. The 3rd child is attributed to have defeated the greatest number of Angels of all the pilots, though, arguably, a few of them were actually done by Unit-01 in its berzerker mode. Most people relate to Shinji as a believable character, one who was tainted by flaws just as real life people are. Some however, despise him for how low he eventually sinks to, especially in the movie. Shinji's greatest fear to be used and then abandoned.

My View: The way I see it, is that Shinji originally started to pilot Eva ( other than because of the incident with the injured Rei ) primarily because he wanted to have something that would enable him to gain attention and give himself that 'indispensable' quality so that he would not be abandoned again. He later, however realizes that there are more important things than the praises he recieves and starts to care about those who he can protect with his status as a pilot. This relevation is emphasized in this determination in defeating the 13th Angel; Zeruel. This however unfortunately contributes to his downfall, as one by one those whom he care about are injured / killed without him being able to do anything about it. He reachs the very bottom by the End of Eva movies, as by then he begun to believe that whatever he does won't matter. That is why in my mind Shinji became how he was then. However, Shinji is then given the chance to control 3rd impact by Rei, thus in the end, he found himself really able to make a difference, that being, probably gave him the courage and reason to live in the end.