Evangelion Character Profiles
Throughout the Eva series you will see all of these characters and this page provides info on them. Each of the characters are all different and unique in their different ways. Some of them are very strange and mysterious which causes you to want to know more about them and why they are their in the complex storyline of Evangelion.
Rei Ayanami
The First Child & Pilot of EVA 00
Rei Ayanami was the first EVA pilot to be "found" and has a strong connection to Gendou Ikari because when EVA 00 first overheated in a testing Gendou burned his hands saving her. She is called “The First Child” because she was the first person to pilot the Eva. She is 14 years old and she rarely speaks and has problems dealing with Shinji who seems to be interested in her as a friend if not more. Her only friends are Shinji and Asuka and no one else. She goes to Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School with Shinji and Asuka and her career and genetic backgrounds have been erased from all records. Rei is very quiet and never becomes emotional. She always performs all of her duties perfectly and follows all of her orders. She lives in an apartment by herself and it’s a pretty bad environment. The area around the apartment is still under construction and the noise from it is terrible. Rei is transferred to the Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School during the 7th grade because that was when she started training for the Eva in the early stages of the Evangelion Project. Once when Rei 1 (the first clone) encountered Dr Akagi, Ritsuko's mother, she told her that Gendou called her "a useless, old hag". In her anger Dr. Akagi strangled Rei to death and then committed suicide. When we begin Evangelion we are following the exploits of Rei 2. One week before the Evangelion series begins; Rei is injured in an accident caused during a boot-up experiment for Eva Unit 00. It is suspected that the cause of the accident is that her mind was not stable enough to control Evangelion Unit 00. Rei is much more than anyone ever guessed. She is the result of the "Dummy Plug" program Gendo Ikari created: lifeless human clones who can be easily manipulated. The ultimate cannon fodder. That would explain her coldness and inability to express emotion but whom was she cloned from? The series indicate she was hybrid clone of an Angel and Yui Ikari, wife of Gendo and mother of Shinji. One such supporting incident occurs when Kaoru is battling Shinji and the bridge crew detects a powerful AT field not being generated by Kaoru, the only Angel believed to be in NERV HQ. But we glimpse Rei Ayanami watching on, her eyes red as an Angel's is. And in that same episode Kaoru tells Rei "you and I are the same". And since Kaoru is an angel it can only mean one thing. One final thing that you might want to know (but I don’t know why) is that she doesn’t eat meat at all.
(Japanese Voice by Megumi Hayashibara, English Voice by Amanda Winn)
Asuka Langley Soryuu
The Second Child & Pilot of EVA 02
Asuka is the the most arrogant and self righteous of the EVA pilots. She is 14 years old and was selected by the "Marduk Report" to be the pilot for Evangelion Unit 02. Asuka is one quarter japanese and three quarters German American. She is of German nationality but speaks Japanese, German, and English fluently, but she seems to favor German, as seem in Episode 08 when the Primary Control Language of Unit 02 was set as German. She has trouble reading Japanese which causes her to have low grades in school even though she graduated from college in Germany(DAMN this girl is smart!!!). Her mother committed suicide when she was a little girl, and ripped up a doll which she thought was Asuka. This left Asuka traumatized and she was later adopted by parents in Germany. She became closely attached to Ryoji Kaji who was assigned to her. When she comes to Tokyo-3 she is slowly opened up to the reality of life as she sees the skills her fellow pilot's possess.
In one significant battle with an Angel she is "mind raped" and she accepts everything that has happenned to her in her life. Following that she runs away to stay with Hikari Horaki, her classmate and friend, and then is found by NERV agents. Unfortunately she is in a coma by the time she is returned to NERV HQ.
(Japanese Voice by Yuuko Miyamura, English Voice by Tiffany Grant)
Shinji Ikari
The Third Child & Pilot of EVA 01
Shinji Ikari is the embodiment of the ultimate wuss. He is introverted, will take a beating and won't fight back. He is also weak in every sense. Shinji goes to Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School with Asuka and Rei. He lives with his caretaker Misato Katsuragi and Asuka Langley Soryuu and is 14 years old (pretty damn lucky if you ask me!!!). His friends besides the other Eva pilots are Touji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida. He plays the Cello at school and is usually quiet and obeys most orders given to him.
When Evangelion begins his father, whom he hasn’t seen for ten years, calls Shinji to the NERV HQ. Gendou, his father, walked out on him when Shinji was just a kid but it seems his dear father wants Shinji back in his life. When first faced with the prospect of piloting the EVA Shinj is sacred and keeps repeating to himself "I mustn’t run away" until he sees Rei Ayanami as the substitute pilot. However she is very injured and Shinji decides he must take it upon himself to fight Sachiel (the third angel). He feels especially close to Rei but never does learn that she is a clone of his mother (Yui Ikari).
Throughout the series Shinji is the focal point and catalyst of many important events. He does attempt to become closer to his father but he fails. He tries to get close to Rei and Asuka but also fails. The only one who reaches out to him is Misato, his guardian in Tokyo 3. Things go bad when the dummy plug takes over his EVA and he cripples the fourth child, his best friend Touji. Shinji goes crazy after seeing how his dad manipulated him and tries to revolt against NERV but is halted before his rampage can be unleashed. However his life is changed when he is forced to kill Kaoru, a close friend to him and someone he thinks he loved. Later when Asuka is in a coma, he slaps her around and tells her to please wake up. In slapping her around, she gets flipped on her back exposing her bare back and panties through her hospital gown. When this happens, Shinji decides to close and lock the room door and rapes her. After he finishes he returns her to her normal position and leaves.(If you want to know why he did it, I am as clueless as you are. Since I live in America I can’t get my hands on the Death/Rebirth of Evangelion video or any of the movies: ( )
(Japanese Voice by Megumi Ogata, English Voice by Spike Spencer)
Touji Suzuhara
The Fourth Child & Pilot of EVA 03
Touji's sister is hurt in the first battle of EVA 01 and he bears a grudge against Shinji for that reason. But once he sees how brave Shinji is, he decides to befriend the third child.
Later Touji is revealed to be the Fourth Child and pilot of EVA 03. However an angel takes over his EVA and forces his EVA to fight EVA 01. Gendo activates the dummy plug, which forces EVA 01 to destroy EVA 03, thereby crippling him. As the series closes the final fate of Touji is not known.
(Japanese Voice by ???, English Voice by ???)
Kaoru
The Fifth Child & Pilot of EVA 02
Kaoru is the mysterious fifth child, sent to NERV on the same day that Asuka is recovered, coincidentally enough. He says to Rei "you and I are the same", a line that is very important. He soon befriends Shinji who has recently dealt with having crippled his best friend Toji, the fourth child. Kaoru offers him happiness, companionship and love. Whether Kaoru is gay is unknown. But he is however an outgoing, friendly pilot whose EVA synch ratios are off the scale.
However Kaoru is revealed to be an Angel and takes control of EVA 02. Shinji pilots EVA 01 and they fight in Terminal Dogma in front of the crucified Angel believed to be Adam. However Kaoru notices it is not Adam but in fact Lillith. But Kaoru lured Shinji down for a reason, which was so Shinji could kill him. Kaoru knows he could make contact with Lillith causing the Third Impact but tells Shinji that Shinji is more worthy to live. As per his friend request Shinji kills Kaoru and the Third Impact seems to have been averted.
(Japanese Voice by ???, English Voice by ???)
Misato Katsuragi
NERV Operations Managers
Misato's father was the head of the Katsuragi Expedition, which investigated Antarctica, and found the cause of the Second Impact (the exact cause is believed to be Adam, the first Angel). When the Second Impact occurred Mr.Katsuragi was killed and Misato became a scarred, mute child.
Later in life she dedicated her efforts to destroying the Angels and started to work for NERV where she met Ritsuko Akagi. By this time she had become quite a talkative person and seemed to be "making up for lost time" by never shutting up. She is a very brash, outgoing young woman but has a drinking problem and has a messy apartment. At the beginning of the series she is 34 years old and as the series begins to unfold she becomes to guardian of Shinji Ikari and then later of Asuka Langley Soryuu.
Early in her life she had an intense relationship with Ryoji Kaji but this ended because she found him to be too much like her father. She does admit her feelings to Kaji but unknown assailants later kill him. As the series closes Misato carries on Kaji's work by working to find out the truth behind the Second Impact and trying to figure out who killed Kaji. One last note is that she doesn't know how to cook.
(Japanese Voice by Kotono Mitshuishi, English Voice by Allison Keith)
Ryoji Kaji
Champion of Truth
Ryoji Kaji is one of the most mysterious characters in EVANGELION. He seems to work for all the sides: SEELE, NERV and the Japanese government except that he works only to find the truth. He is a charasmatic ladies man who has had past relations with Misato Katsuragi. He also has a penchant for growing melons.
When he shows up in EVANGELION he is the escort for Asuka Langley Soryuu. But he also carries a mysterious briefcase which he gives to Gendo and it contains the embryo of Adam, the first Angel. OR at least that is what they believe because in fact the briefcase has the embryo of Lillith, the second Angel! Kaji begins to bond with Shinji a bit and starts repairing his past with Misato. However he does find Asuka very attached to him and he has to deal with some old fashioned puppy love. But through all this Kaji still searches for the truth and using Misato's ID card he and her discover Lillith in Terminal Dogma, the lowest center of NERV HQ. They still however believe the Angel to be Adam. However in the end it seems Kaji is supposed to meet with someone he knows but he is killed by that very person. Anticipating this he sent all his findings about the ultimate truth to Misato who he knows will carry on his legacy. He has been called the "James Bond" of anime becaues he takes information to inform people about the truth.
(Japanese Voice by Yamadera Kooichi, English Voice by ???)
Gendou Ikari
The 48 Year Old Commander of NERV
Gendou is the father of Shinji and possibly the most intriguing character in Evangelion. He is the ultimate villain but the ultimate hero. When his wife disappeared in an "accident" testing EVA 01 rumors flew around about him killing his wife. More likely is that Dr. Akagi, mother of Ritsuko, killed Yui Ikari in order to preserve her affair with Gendou. However Yui's soul inhabits EVA 01 and so he feels very strongly about that very EVA. Then he cloned his wife and an Angel and created Rei Ayanami who was to be his "Dummy plug" for the Eva’s: a mindless puppet for him to control. Then he used his own son's EVA to cripple his son's best friend. He has no disregard for most human life and seems to only care about Rei. His ruthlessness is rivaled only by his ambition to complete his own agenda, which is different for the Human Instrumentality Project launched by his bosses at SEELE.
However Gendou is a hero. If not for his sacrifices the Angels would have destroyed the world. He burned his own hands to save Rei from death. He cannot love since the death of Yui and has the job of protecting the entire free world. If he hadn't crushed EVA 03 the Angel would have destroyed Tokyo 3. Most people consider Gendo evil but I see him as a damned man. Everything in his life has gone wrong and no matter what he does he will be sacrificing something or someone(just like me : [ ). He had to ditch his son in order to save the world.
Gendo is the epitome of what EVA is about. A man trying to protect the world from the Third Impact while completing his own agenda. Is he noble? No. Is he evil? No. He is just trying to be the best man he can be against all odds.
(Japanese Voice by Tatsuki Fumihiko, English Voice by Tristan MacAvery)
Ritsuko Akagi
Head of Scientific Operations
Ritsuko is the daughter of Dr.Akagi, her mother who created the Magi Computer system, which runs NERV. Ritsuko has a seemingly cool demeanor but inside she is concerned about the actions of NERV and about how she has sinned. She knows the truth about all of NERV's operations and the Eva’s. By the end of the series she reveals the truth about Rei to Shinji and Misato and then destroys all the clones. There are indications she has had a relationship with Gendo and possibly with Ryoji Kaji.
(Japanese Voice by Yuriko Yamaguchi, English Voice by Sue Ulu)
Kouzou
Vice Commander of NERV
Kouzou is an old college professor of Yui Ikari, wife of Gendou Ikari and a respected scientist. He got to know Gendou because Yui was dating him and when they got married Kouzou met Gendou after the Second Impact. Gendou took him to the then unfinished NERV HQ and persuaded the old man to join him in his noble quest. Kouzou functions as the voice of humanity for Gendou. He cautions all operations and reminds Gendou of the severity of his actions. He appears to be a friendly man with a good nature, the opposite of Gendou. Though he does not approve of all of Gendou's actions he still believes in the goals he fights for, even knowing Gendou's true agenda
(Japanese Voice by ???, English Voice by ???)