This is a list of characters as they appear or characters that debuted in Evangelion -ANIMA-. For information about the characters from the original anime, go here.
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The Children (Evangelion Pilots)
Shinji Ikari
Shinji Ikari
Evangelion: Evangelion Unit-01 (Formerly), Super Evangelion
Third child
The protagonist of Evangelion -ANIMA- and pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, as well as one of the first pilots of the Evangelions.The son of former NERV Commander Gendo Ikari and former Gehirn scientist Yui Ikari, Shinji Ikari reluctantly became an EVA pilot to combat the threat of the monsters known only as the Angels. Having grown and learned from his experiences battling them and battling other hostile forces across the globe, he became the de-facto leader of the EVA pilots.
- Abled in the Adaptation: Considering he's had three years to work with his issues, Shinji is far more well-adjusted to life as an Evangelion pilot.
- Fusion Dance: After being near-fatally wounded by Rei No. Quatre, Yui chooses to leave and "pass on" from Evangelion Unit-01, causing Shinji to fuse with the EVA and transform it into the "Super Evangelion".
- Generation Xerox: Physically speaking, he looks like a younger version of Kaji, and he's even taken up maintaining a watermelon field.
- He Is All Grown Up: It's implied that he's developed a Heroic Build, if Asuka's near lustful reaction to his bare back is any indication.
- The Leader: He's recognized as the de-facto leader of the EVA pilots, including Asuka.
- Older and Wiser: He's definitely grown from being the whiny self-loathing 14-year-old kid he was when Gendo brought him into NERV, and it shows.
Asuka Langley Soryu
Asuka Langley Soryu
Evangelion: Evangelion Unit-02 (Formerly), Evangelion Unit-02 Type II (Formerly), CrimsonA1
The Second Child
Daughter of renowned German scientist Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, Asuka was chosen as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-02 and was deployed to Japan to help combat the threat of the Angels, where she met fellow pilot Shinji Ikari. Though their relationship was initially complicated, years of fighting together has led to them becoming closer.During the battle against Armaros on the moon, Asuka and her EVA are infected by alien organisms that fuse her and her EVA together, resulting in the creation of the Human-Evangelion Synthetic designated as CrimsonA1.
- The Ace: She's still this even after three years have passed.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: While she can still act hot-headed towards her fellow pilots, Asuka is a lot nicer to Shinji and especially Rei, whom it should be noted she hated in the anime and manga. It's also telling that Asuka is willing to Shinji give her orders when she would otherwise demand to be the one calling the shots out in the field.
- Big Red Devil: Evangelion Unit-02 Type II has this design, being colored predominantly red. It even sports two horns, similar to Unit-02's design in Rebuild of Evangelion.
- Face–Monster Turn: After a failed attempt to return Asuka to normal results in her being thrown into another dimension, she returns as the Torwartα1—a being similar to the twin EVA-like entities Victor and Torwart. She's thankfully reverted back to her human self by Volume 5.
- Fusion Dance: During her battle with Armaros, Asuka and her EVA are infected by something inhabiting the moon that causes her to merge with Unit-02. Unlike with Shinji and his EVA, the process is more extensive to the point that it's biological and she's classified as a Human-Evangelion Synthetic lifeform.
- She Is All Grown Up: The book makes a point of saying how much Asuka's body has filled out nicely over the past three years, something she exploits when teasing Toji.
- Took a Level in Kindness: The Jerk with a Heart of Gold defrosted quite a lot since her first meeting with Shinji. She treats both him and even Rei more kindly, which is saying something seeing as how Asuka hated Rei back when they were piloting together.
Rei Ayanami
Rei Ayanami/Rei No. Trois
Evangelion: Evangelion Unit-00 (Formerly), Evangelion Unit-0.0 Type II
The First Child
The human vessel of the Second Angel Lilith, Rei Ayanami was created from the "salvaged remains" of Yui Ikari, Shinji's mother, from the Contact Experiment. She is but one of the many clones of 'Rei Ayanami' and is the third known clone. Following the death of the second clone, Rei No. Deux, at the hands of the Angel Armisael, she piloted Evangelion Unit-00 and was meant to carry out Gendo's plan for Human Instrumentality until Ryoji Kaji's intervention threw everything into disarray.Rei now operates an "Angel Search-And-Destroy" operation by controlling her clones until mental contamination causes the clones to develop their own unique personalities, with the fourth clone, Rei Quatre, going rogue.
- Adaptational Jerkass: She Took a Level in Jerkass by way of distancing and acting somewhat coldly towards Shinji for unknown reasons. This stems from her own troubles with her growing resemblance to Yui and fears Death of Personality.
- Death of Personality: Rei's developed a fear of this as of late, due to her growing resemblance to Yui Ikari and her sadness over Gendo's disappearance; all signs point to her becoming a copy of Yui. It's also the reason why she's distancing herself from Shinji. She gets better after Shinji and Quatre reaffirm to her that she is her own distinct person and that her feeling like she doesn't have her own identity isn't because she doesn't have one, it's merely because she hasn't found it yet
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Zig-zagged. Compared to the original series, Trois has become closer to the other pilots and more involved in their world (it's noted early on that she's on their high school's student council) albeit still being rather reserved as before. At the same time, due to her growing fears of becoming nothing more than a copy of Yui Ikari, she's started to close up again, especially in relation to Shinji. Post-character development, she is once again back to defrosting, becoming much more confident and assertive as well as acting much more casual and informal towards her friends.
- Fusion Dance: All but directly confirmed that this is what happened to her and Rei Cinq after Cinq was killed in action early in the series, with Cinq's personality occasionally surfacing in Trois. Touji even gives her the nickname 'Ayahachi' (hachi=8, Trois=3, Cinq=5)
- Generation Xerox: She was explicitly stated to be a clone from the "salvaged remains" of Shinji's mother, but her appearance three years later has her look even more like Yui. Rei has some serious problems with that.
- Hive Mind: Zigzagged in that her clones did have a semblance of free will, but for the most part, Rei was the dominant mind in control as she coordinated them during missions. That changed when Rei Quatre's mental contamination spread among the clones and caused all of them to develop their own unique traits and personalities.
- Mission Control: She served as this for her clones during operations until Quatre's mental contamination.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: She gains the ability to manipulate the QR Signum embedded in Super Eva and ends up pushing herself and it in order to assist Shinji. The strain of drawing power from Armaros causes the back of her hair to darken to black and dark blue, which it remains even after she stops using the power
- She Is All Grown Up: Deconstructed. Because Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother, she fears that she will eventually become Yui upon reaching adulthood, and avoids contact with Shinji because of this.
Kaworu Nagisa
Kaworu Nagisa
Toji Suzuhara
Toji Suzuhara
Former Fourth Child
Once the short-lived pilot of Evangelion Unit 03, 3 years later Toji would go on to become even more involved with Nerv Japan and the other pilots' activities as their liaison.- Artificial Limbs: Has advanced prosthetics in place of his missing arm and leg.
- Cool Big Bro: Forms this dynamic with Rei Six after she develops her own personality along with the other Ayanamis. Mentioned to be due to him already being an older brother.
- Official Couple: With Hikari.
- Older and Wiser: Downplayed, especially compared to Shinji. Played straight after he's made Deputy Commander.
- You Are in Command Now: He's promoted to Deputy Commander after Misato goes missing.
Hikari Horaki
Hikari Horaki
Evangelion: Evangelion EUROII Heurtebize
Former Class Representative
Once the class representative at Shinji's school, Hikari was recruited as an EVA pilot.- Action Girl: Hard not to be one when she becomes a fellow EVA pilot like her friends and classmates.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: At some point during the Euro and NERV Japan war, she's brainwashed by the former. It's thankfully undone after she's defeated.
- Official Couple: With Touji.
- Soul Jar: Her EUROII Heurtebize Evangelion unit, like the other units, is thought to house a human soul inside it. It's not Hikari's mother, but rather Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, Asuka's mother. It's implied Kyoko's soul transferred to the Heurtebize after Asuka merged with her EVA.
Rei Quatre
Rei Quatre
Evangelion: Evangelion Unit-00 Type II [[Quatre]]
For unknown reasons, Rei Quatre breaks away from NERV Japan and goes rogue and serves as the antagonist for Volume 1.
- Dark Action Girl: She wears a dark-colored plug suit, and she's the antagonist for the first volume.
- Face–Heel Turn: After suffering from mental contamination, she goes rogue for unknown reasons and even sides with the Euro army. She later returns to NERV Japan to aid Shinji and the rest of the Children against Armaros when it becomes clear that it's far too dangerous to be left alone.
- The Heavy: Of the first volume. She's quickly displaced by Armaros, who is far more threatening.
- Hero Killer: Narrowly averted. She comes dangerously close to killing Shinji, and the only reason he survived was because he merged with his Evangelion.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: She says that she will kill Shinji while she's kissing him at the same time.
Rei Cinq
Rei Cinq
Evangelion: Evangelion Unit-00 Type II [Cinq]]
The Fifth Clone
One of the clones of Rei Ayanami. Initially without any unique characteristics or traits like that of the previous clones such as Rei No. Trois or Rei No. Deux, mental contamination caused her and her fellow clones to develop their own unique personalities.Among the clones, Rei Cinq is arguably the closest in terms of personality to Ayanami and is thought to succeed even Rei No. Deux, the first clone of Rei that Shinji met and the original pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. She is presumed dead after her and her EVA are swallowed by Armaros' Sphere of Longinus.
- The Ace: She's shown to be just a good a pilot as Asuka to the point where she's thought to suceed even Rei No. Deux, the original pilot of Unit-00.
- Big Little Sister: Younger than all the other Reis aside from Six, she is also the tallest of her 'sisters'.
- Cool Big Sis: She develops into this role with Rei Six.
- Four Is Death: Played With. While she isn't the fourth Rei clone created, she is the fourth teenaged Rei clone.
- Generation Xerox: Oddly enough to the clone of Rei Shinji first met and befriended when he arrived in Tokyo-3.
Rei Six
Rei Six
Evangelion: Evangelion Unit-00 [Six]
The Sixth Clone
One of the clones of Rei Ayanami. Initially without any unique characteristics or traits like that of the previous clones such as Rei No. Trois or Rei No. Deux, mental contamination caused her and her fellow clones to develop their own unique personalities.Physically, she is the youngest of the clones. In contrast to Rei Cinq, Rei Six's personality is somewhat unstable. This instability in her personality is balanced with her brother-sister relationship with Toji Suzuhara and her friendship with Mari.
- Animal Lover: She adores animals of any kind, which causes her to develop a friendship with Mari, an Artificial Human who claims to be made from animal parts.
- Good Counterpart: to Rei Une/I. While not really "evil", Rei I was unsettling and offputting, owing to her being raised solely by Gendo. By contrast, Six is cheerful and friendly, and probably the best adjusted of all her sisters.
- Little Miss Badass: Physically speaking, she is the youngest of Rei's clones, but she can kick just as much ass as the rest of the EVA pilots.
- Token Mini-Moe: Among both her sisters and the rest of NERV Japan.
Mari
Mari
Evangelion: US Evangelion/Wolfpac
The Wild Child
An Artificial Human created by the US Branch of NERV who claims that she is made from various animal parts, providing some explanation behind her cat-like features. This, along with her age, makes her close friends with Rei Six, who adores animals.Not to be confused with Mari Makinami Illustrious from the Rebuild of Evangelion continuity.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In Rebuild, Mari was one of Yui's colleagues and worked for an unknown group before the events of the Near Third Impact made everything go to hell. Here, she's an Artificial Human and part of the NERV Us Branch.
- Artificial Human: An unusual variant in that, while she's undoubtedly human, she was also made using animal genetics, hence why she has fangs and slit-like pupils.
- Badass Adorable: She looks like a child, but she's an Evangelion pilot.
- Hellhound: In terms of appearance, her EVA Wolfpac certainly has the look-down pat once she's in the pilot seat.
- Little Bit Beastly: She has fangs and slit-like pupils, which come from her animal genetics. Unusually, this also applies to her EVA, which looks more like an animal than human.
NERV Japan Branch
Misato Katsuragi
Misato Katsuragi
Commander of NERV Japan
Originally a Major of NERV, the events of SEELE's assault and the reformation of the organization as NERV Japan led to Misato becoming a Major General and Commander of the new branch.- You Are in Command Now: After Gendo's disappearance and the dissolution and reformation of NERV, Misato ended up being put in charge of the newly created NERV Japan branch on top of being promoted to Major General.
Maya Ibuki
Maya Ibuki
NERV Japan's Chief of Science and Engineering
One of the original three Bridge Bunnies and assistant/protégé under Dr Akagi, with Dr Akagi's disappearance since SEELE's attack three years ago, Maya has been promoted to the new Chief of Science and Engineering for NERV Japan.- Took In A Level Of Cynic: After having lost her mentor and much-admired senpai, as well as being made to quickly fill her shoes as head of science and engineering, Maya has lost much of her enthusiasm and cheerfulness, becoming much more no-nonsense and jaded.
Shigeru Aoba
Makoto Hyuga
Kensuke Aida
Kensuke Aida
Although unable to fulfill his lifelong passion of piloting an Eva, Kensuke eventually joined with NERV Japan as a member of its Intelligence Department. He currently works with Ryoji Kaji.- Adaptational Jerkass: In comparison to his middle school days, Kensuke is a lot more bitter and jaded due to not being able to pilot an Eva, causing him to be jealous of his former friends while also willing to sell them out in exchange for advancing his career. He is responsible for leaking information about the Ark to other countries and is indirectly responsible for Hikari being brainwashed.
Ryoji Kaji
Ryoji Kaji
A member of NERV Japan. His survival and role in stopping the Third Impact are ultimately what sets the story of ANIMA in motion.- Demonic Possession: He's possessed by SEELE after putting on Keel's visor.
- Manly Facial Hair: His chin stubble has grown into a rather impressive beard by the present day of ANIMA.
- Spanner in the Works: His survival throws a huge wrench in both SEELE and Gendo's respective plans by informing NERV about the impending attempt for the Third Impact well ahead of time.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In most adaptations, Kaji is killed off after SEELE and/or Gendo deems him no longer useful. In ANIMA, his survival is what kicks off the light novel.
Antagonists (Unmarked Spoilers)
Armaros
Armaros
Evangelion: ??? Evangelion Unit-01
The God of EVAs
A mysterious black Evangelion that appears shortly after the defeat of the Angel Carrier at the hands of Shinji Ikari and his Super Evangelion with the intent of destroying humanity for the failure of Human Instrumentality. Whether Armaros has a pilot or Armaros itself is a sentient Evangelion is unknown.- Alternate Self: He's revealed to be a Shinji whose Asuka and Rei both died in the battle against the MP Evas.
- Ambiguously Evil: It declares that it will destroy humanity after Human Instrumentality fails, but for some reason it's still providing power to the QR Signum of the Angel Carrier that was taken by NERV Japan. Whether or not this is intentional or Armaros can't shut the flow of power off after he provides it to the QR Signum is unknown. It's later revealed that Armaros is unable to do so because it doesn't fall in line with his programming; Noah explains that Armaros' only directive is to wipe out humanity and restart the cycle. It's revealed that Armaros is actually an alternate version of Shinji who lost his Asuka and Rei to the MP Evas and became a monster as a result, further throwing his morality into ambiguity.
- Dark Is Evil: Is entirely jet-black and is determined to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth.
- The Dragon: Explained to follow its own thought pattern but being devoid of freewill and is used by SEELE as part of their plan to restart the Human Instrumentality Project. Though given it's a Fallen Hero version of Shinji, it's possible he wanted to destroy SEELE as well, to avenge Asuka and Rei.
- Fallen Hero: It's revealed that Armaros is actually an alternate version of Shinji who lost his Asuka and Rei to the Mass Production Evas and became a monster as a result.
- Hero Killer: It seemingly kills Rei Cinq by dragging her and her Unit-00 [Cinq] into the Sphere of Longinus.
- Legacy Immortality: Although Shinji and NERV manage to kill Armaros, they quickly learn that it can revive through the one that slays it, essentially reincarnating into its killer.
- Love Makes You Evil: He's a version of Shinji who lost his Asuka and Rei. As a result of this, he wants to eliminate humanity from all timelines.
- Meaningful Name: "Armaros" comes from the Book of Enoch, referring to one of the leaders of a group of 200 fallen angels. Armaros also means "cursed one" or "accursed one."
- Physical God: It isn't known as the "God of Evangelions" without reason as it was able to hold off both Rei Cinq and Asuka, one thought to be as good a pilot as Rei No. Deux (i.e. the Rei Shinji first met when he arrived in Tokyo-3) and the other being considered The Ace and can "reshape" the Lance of Longinus, a weapon that can destroy an AT Field easily and put either Lilith or Adam to sleep, into a Sphere that seemingly kills Rei Cinq.
- Shadow Archetype: The reveal that Armaros is an alternate Shinji who lost his Asuka and Rei and became an Omnicidal Maniac as a result means that he's one to most incarnations of Shinji. Armaros is essentially what Shinji would have became if he didn't abort Third Impact.
- Walking Spoiler: He has marked spoilers in an area for unmarked spoilers. That should tell something.
SEELE
SEELE
The council restored after Kaji winds up donning Keel Lorenz's visor, they return as a gestalt of minds combined with Kaji's own, plotting once more to enact their Human Instrumentality Plan after purposefully leaking their initial plot to Kaji three years ago.- Big Bad: As usual, the council are the ones seeking to end the world and return humanity to a Hive Mind state, something no one wants and they don't particularly care about.
- Faux Affably Evil: Being mixed with Kaji's personality gives the SEELE vessel a relaxed, mocking demeanor as he tells the cast how hopeless they are to stop his schemes to reset the world.
- Hive Mind: The SEELE seen here is a gestalt of all the previous consciousnesses of prior SEELE members held in Keel's visor, combined with Kaji's own personality when he dons it.
- The Man Behind the Man: Armaros is the most direct physical threat but once SEELE returns to the scene, they reveal their own plot to use the black giant to attempt Instrumentality once more.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Smug, cruel, and mocking as the Kaji-SEELE being is, it's made clear by the narrative their goal does come from a place of benevolence, they just don't care about the feeling/sacrifices of individual humans in the scope of their plot.
