Characters / Rebuild of Evangelion

The cast of Rebuild of Evangelion. Please only list tropes that apply to the movie series, and not to the other mediums (though recurrent tropes may be listed), and beware of potential spoilers.

Tropes applying to the original TV series counterparts of these characters can be found here.

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The Children

In General

• Ambiguously Human: Something is obviously off about the Children come 3.0. They haven't aged since they started piloting, and at the end of the film Asuka conspicuously calls her WILLE colleagues "Lilim" (the series' term for humanity as a type of Angel) as if that term doesn't also apply to the Children. They are also able to survive unassisted in a place with conditions that are fatal to Lilith-based life. Exactly what they are, though, is yet to be revealed. Kaworu and Rei, meanwhile, are as human-esque as they were in the series—the former is clearly stated to be an angel and the latter is heavily implied to still carry Lilith's soul, though the worldbuilding changes in Rebuild mean their true natures are still mysterious.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Rei is the blonde (well, pale-haired, anyway), Mari is the brunette, and Asuka is the redhead.
• Five Temperament Ensemble: Shinji Ikari (Leukine), Mari Makinami Illustrious (Sanguine), Asuka Shikinami Langley (Choleric), Rei Ayanami (Melancholic), Kaworu Nagisa (Phlegmatic)
• Freudian Trio: Asuka is the Id, Shinji is the Ego, and Rei is the Superego. In 3.0, the new Rei is the Id, Shinji is still the Ego, and Kaworu is the Superego.
• Men Like Dogs, Women Like Cats: Shinji, Asuka, and Mari have this dynamic going on with their Animal Motifs. Shinji, the only male pilot, is thematically associated with dogs, while both Asuka and Mari are associated with cats.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Shinji is the nice one, Asuka is the mean one, and Rei is the in between one. In the third movie, Kaworu is the nice one, the completely detached and alien Rei Q is the mean one, and Shinji is now the in between one.
• Not Growing Up Sucks: In 3.0, it is revealed that the Children are forever stunted at the age they were when they first made contact with an Eva. After 14 years, Asuka, Mari and Kaworu look no different as adults as they did as children, and while this doesn't happen to Shinji and Rei, on account of Shinji being in stasis and Rei being another clone, it's stated that it will.
• Older Than They Look: In 3.0, despite taking place around 14 years later, Asuka, Mari and Kaworu all look exactly the same. While it's not really noticeable on Kaworu and Mari, Asuka certainly acts like a grizzled soldier. Shinji's suspended animation inside of Unit-01 prevented him from mentally aging past 14, but he's clearly stated to be just as affected by it as the others. Since the Rei in 3.0 is a clone, it's hard to tell what exactly her age is, but she's implied to be fairly fresh, thus reversing this trope all together.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: On a Scale from red to blue - Asuka, Mari, Shinji, Kaworu, Rei
• Theme Naming: The girl pilots Ayanami, Makinami and Shikinami.
• Two Girls to a Team: Inverted, while the Children could hardly be considered a team, there are five of them, and Shinji and Kaworu are the only boys. After Kaworu's death in the third movie, Shinji is now the only male among the Children.

Shinji Ikari

Shinji Ikari

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (JP), Ryuunosuke Kamiki (3.0+1.0 timeskip, JP), Spike Spencer (EN), Albert Trifol Segarra (SP), Víctor Ugarte (LA), Fábio Lucindo (BR)

Shinji from Rebuild is subtly different from the original, which is mostly attributed to the movies' different thematic focus.

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• Accidental Pervert:
  • His first actual conversation with Rei starts with this, and is notable for being one of the first major signs that Rei 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.
  • Also with Asuka, who cares significantly more than the last two.
  • Happens again with Rei Q in 3.0, for the sake of Ironic Echo.
• Adaptational Badass: Though he wasn't exactly a pushover in a fight in the original series, Shinji is both much more assertive and powerful this time around. His initiative ironically has unexpected consequences at the climaxes of both 2.0 and 3.0.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: This version of Shinji is more stable and genuinely noble. He causes Earth's devastation by accident instead of on subconscious purpose, his disturbing actions toward Asuka are omitted, and he eventually evolves into an All-Loving Hero.
• All-Loving Hero: Develops into one at the climax of 3.0+1.0. He makes amends with all of the cast, including Misato, Asuka, Kaworu, the original Rei, and even Gendo, his own father, the Arch-Enemy who was responsible for everything wrong that happened to him, the source of all his suffering. He was prepared to sacrifice himself to bring about Neon Genesis and restore the world, but was substituted by his parents who have witnessed him grow up.
• Always Save the Girl:
  • Deconstructed in 2.0. Shinji's quest to save Rei not only ends in failure, but dooms most of humanity as well.
  • Also, in 3.0, he unconsciously activates his EVA to save Asuka from an angel when she screams at him to help her. Or at least it's assumed that was his doing, because all that gets him is being forced to wear a choker that will kill him if he Awakens an EVA again. Perhaps it would be better for him not to try and save his fellow female pilots. However, it's reversed at the conclusion of the film, where Mari saves Shinji from Unit-13. Although this is just as much to save everyone else as well.
• Ambiguously Bi: As in the original and The End of Evangelion, the nature of his attraction to Kaworu has been hotly-debated among the fandom.
• Angst Coma: By the end of 3.33, he's so overwhelmed by despair that he just shuts down.
• Animal Motifs: If Asuka's associated with felines, then Shinji is associated with canines. He is regularly likened to a puppy by other characters, the implication being that he is desperate for attention from his superiors and wants to be recognized by his "pack leader"—that is, his father, and his obedient and meek attitude contrasts with Asuka's violent and brash attitude. For example, new pilot Mari nicknames him "Puppy Boy" as a joke about his meekness.
• Anti-Hero: Much like the original Shinji. However, this version of the character slides further down the scale than his counterpart, and he's less of a loser as well.
• Anti-Villain: A mix between Well-Intentioned and Villain in Name Only variants. In 3.33, while he did cause Third and Fourth Impacts, they were done out of ignorance, desperation, and manipulation from his father rather than malice, and he genuinely wants to save the world—-he says so himself.
• Anti Anti Christ:Shinji's mother willingly gave herself to Eva 01, and set things up so he would be it's true pilot. Gendo manipulated him into piloting Eva 01 as part of a plan to end the world, only for Shinji to defy him and end the story on his own terms.
• Apocalypse Maiden: As one of the potential Impact Triggers with Kaworu.
• The Atoner: In Rebuild 3.0., he tries to be this to make up for causing Third Impact in the last movie. Unfortunately, this is subverted, as it leads to another Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moment. In 3.0+1.0, things go better for him the second time around after taking responsibility for his actions.
• Author Avatar: In 3.0 + 1.01, Shinji's story once again reflects Hideaki Anno's as he made the series. After facing a period of deep depression (which happened to Anno late into the production of 3.0), Shinji accepts help from his friends to recover before finishing the story on his own terms. Said terms involve him, and the people in his world, moving on from all the Evangelions, which reflects Anno's own wish to explore other creative avenues after a long-term commitment with the franchise. In a way, the final scene of him running off with Mari, a character created for this film series, can be seen as a reflection of Anno finding love, which happened after he completed work on the original series.
• Awful Truth: During the course of 3.33, he gets told that Rei Ayanami is dead, something that is hinted when Rei-Q acts differently to the Rei he knew; after some time, it becomes a coping (or Escapism) mechanism to deal with his part on causing Third Impact. It's only when Fuyutsuki tells him the truth that he faces both reality and the magnitude of his actions.
• Being Good Sucks: Shinji's efforts to rescue Rei in 2.0 ultimately cost him everything and everyone that he loves.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's ultimately a shy kid who wants to love and be loved by the people around him. Hurt one of his friends though, and he will become a GOD to annihilate you.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The brunette to light-haired Rei and redhead Asuka.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: After successfully defrosting her, he has this dynamic with Rei in 2.0.
• Byronic Hero: Becomes more so as the series progresses.
• Chick Magnet: As of Rebuild 2.0, it's official. If you've met Shinji, you will want to screw Shinji. No exceptions.
• Classical Anti-Hero: In Rebuild 1.0. He's less of this in Rebuild 2.0 (save the end, where he becomes a full-out Nominal Hero), but he goes back to being this via Trauma Conga Line in Rebuild 3.0.
• Cold Sleep, Cold Future: The post Third Impact world is not pretty...
• Cosmic Plaything: Everything he did at the climax of Rebuild 2.0 was All for Nothing and nearly caused a planetary extinction in the process. His attempt to amend for his actions ends up making the situation worse. The kid needs a hug more than ever now.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: In 3.0, he becomes this for the Big Bad trope. While he is ultimately responsible for causing Near Third Impact and wiping out most of humanity, and is the major force his former friends have to stop, it's made clear that he would never have caused so much damage if anyone had been around to tell him what his initial actions would bring about and if anybody had bothered to tell him his failsafe would be worse than useless. In other words, he's only as screwed up as the rest of the world and becomes a convenient patsy.
• Despair Event Horizon: After he almost triggers Fourth Impact and loses Kaworu, Shinji completely loses his will to live and is left in a catatonic state. He recovers later on, but it takes some effort.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: His life becomes a struggle between piloting EVAs or fleeing. He goes from being a nobody kid into the savior of the world in a manner of hours and he finds out that it's nowhere as cookie-cutter simple as anyone thinks it is. He looks for the approval of a father who does not care for him other than him being a pilot; the problem with him piloting EVAs is the fact that they are so damn powerful and mighty that he causes two apocalyptic events by trying to do the right thing. Needless to say, Shinji is existence's Chew Toy.
• Destructive Saviour: Of the unintentional sort. Shinji inadvertently causes 3rd Impact at the climax of 2.0, which renders much of the world completely wrecked as expected and kills off much of humanity, but if he hadn't done it and therefore killed Zeruel in the process, the angel would have initiated 3rd Impact anyway and with no guarantee that it could be stopped, meaning all of humanity would have died off otherwise.
• Determinator: The major thing that sets him from his anime and manga counterparts. In the second Rebuild film, Shinji WILL save Ayanami, even if he has to initiate Third Impact and to sacrifice the world to do it and in the third film, he will retrieve the spears no matter what. 3.33 goes on to viciously deconstruct this, as Shinji's actions have turned out to have very grave consequences, namely the death of even more of the already diminished human race, leading to him being considered a criminal and pariah by almost everyone he comes across and the last time he attempts to do something, he only makes things go from bad to worse.
• The Dog Bites Back: Given all the crap the universe throws at him it surprisingly happens rarely, but when it does...
• Dogged Nice Guy: Acts this way towards Rei, to a degree.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After three whole movies of being a Cosmic Plaything, 3.0+1.0 sees Shinji not only regaining his will to live and finding closure with his friends and family, but also resetting the world back to its original state, along with possibly being in a relationship with Mari in the new world.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Kaji jokingly(?) flirts with him in Rebuild 2.0, and then there's Kaworu...
• Evil Costume Switch: He trades his white and blue Unit 01 plugsuit for the more ominous looking black and purple EVA-13 one at the climax of 3.0, where he is unwittingly on the bad guy's side.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: In 3.0., Shinji wakes up after being in Eva-01's core for 14 years.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: By the time of 3.0, this is his status with his former friends from NERV ever since Third Impact. While Misato does at least have compassion for Shinji, she and the rest of WILLE are cautious towards him for causing most of humanity to be wiped out. Asuka even calls him a little brat since she's mentally 14 years older than him. The tension between Shinji and WILLE likely had a factor in his eventual instigation of Fourth Impact. In Thrice Upon a Time, however, his old classmates are nothing but kind and supportive to him and the members of WILLE who knew him prior to Third Impact are revealed to be far more concerned for his wellbeing than previously shown.
• Generation Xerox:
  • As the story goes on, it becomes increasingly apparent that Shinji and Gendo really aren't so different, in that both of them are determined to save their loved ones, even if it means wiping out the entirety of humanity. 3.33 has him attempt to reverse course on this after he realizes what his actions led to, but it makes things worse. In 3.0+1.0, it is revealed that Shinji is pretty much just a younger version of Gendo, with Gendo having the exact same problems as Shinji. In fact, Shinji's signature SDAT actually belonged to Gendo before being handed down to him. A young Gendo even looks, from the few shots we see of him, almost completely identical to Shinji. Which in turn makes the adult Shinji at the ending all the more significant in how that resemblance isn't as pronounced anymore.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When Shinji activates Unit-01's Awakening, his eyes are glowing red.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Towards the middle of 3.0, he's confronted with numerous shocking revelations in very short order, the "highlights" being that he inadvertently annihilated the remainder of the biosphere and that he did not actually save "his" Rei. He unravels on the spot.
• Heroic BSoD: He's bad at some point of 3.0, but Kaworu's gruesome death takes the last of Shinji's sanity. Lampshaded by Megumi Ogata, the preview of 4.0 (saying Shinji lost his will to live), and his bonus song "Famously".
• Hero with Bad Publicity: By the time of 3.0, Shinji has become a pariah among his former friends from NERV, as well as Asuka, for his involvement in causing Third Impact.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: His relationship with Kaworu is closer to this than it was in previous iterations of the series, with more screen time given to show off their friendship and trust in each other. The Ho Yay is even more prevalent than ever because of this.
• Hey, You!: Honoring his pledge to "his" Rei about her being unique and irreplaceable to him, Shinji will not refer to the other clone he encounters in 3.0 as "Rei Ayanami" once he finds out the truth. He ends up referring to Rei Q in awkward, roundabout ("the... other pilot."), or indirect ("why aren't we alone?") ways.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Realizing he couldn't save "his" Rei is what pushes him to the border of the Despair Event Horizon.
• The Insomniac: He becomes this in 3.33, starting from the day he was told of what happened 14 years ago; the estimated amount of time he stayed like this varies between a day and a half and three days.
• Instant Expert:
  • While in the original series he had his awesome moments, in Rebuild he is clearly a more than competent pilot even able to fight on par with Asuka who was trained to be a pilot since age 4 and had 14 years of extra experience even though he hadn't slept for days, fought very reluctantly, didn't even have a weapon, and was piloting a very unusual EVA for the first time. And ultimately won when she depleted her battery. Not that it made things better...
  • In 3.0, he learns to play a very basic (but fancy-sounding)^note  Kaworu's part has all the fun stuff, including all the trills, but Shinji's part requires a basic sense of rhythm so as to avoid being put off when the parts diverge from the usual thirds-thirds into thirds (Kaworu) vs fourths/eighths (Shinji). piano-piece in thirty seconds. While the piece is simple, the inflection he gives it is what you'd normally expect of someone who actually knows how to play. It's primarily symbolic of his relationship with Kaworu and not plot-relevant in itself, but it's still weird.
  • The piano scene may appear to be irrelevant at first, but it's later revealed to have been a training for Shinji to learn to synchronize with Kaworu in order to activate EVA-13's special ability to break the seal to Lilith's Chamber. After all, it has been proven scientifically that when musicians play together, their heart-rates and their minds start to synchronize. And Studio Khara has been known to do extensive research on everything EVA-related after all.
  • In the original series Shinji is shown to be an extremely modest but superb cello player. Rebuild-Shinji may have learned the piano in the past (instead) and was being just as modest about his playing ability as he was with the cello. Even if not, a musician always finds it easier to learn a second instrument than someone starting from scratch.
  • Played straight with the RS-Hoopers in the fight in Central Dogma.
  • 3.0+1.0 shows Shinji having a peculiar sense of familiarity with the Minus Space beyond the Doors of Guf, especially the longer he stays in the Golgotha Object. Justified in that this isn't the first time he'd done this, as highlighted by Kaworu.
• Like an Old Married Couple: With Asuka during their time living together with Misato: constantly fighting at each other due to house chores. It's noted by both Kensuke and Touji at school. Both Shinji and Asuka denie this, at the same time.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Rei is his mother's clone.
  • However, this is subverted since Rei is a stoic Warrior Poet with a hidden caring side, while Yui is a manipulative, if possibly well intentioned Mad Scientist. It's implied that he would still have stuck with Rei Q if she had shown signs of still being the same person. The connection with Yui is more a creepy obstacle to their relationship than it is the reason he felt drawn to Rei, as showcased when he proves uninterested in a second Yui clone.
  • The subversion is particularly apparent just before the climax of 2.0, where Rei is willing to risk her life to Shinji can have the normal life she will never have, while Yui refuses to budge unless Shinji pilots Unit-01 again so he can play his role in her plan; both women essentially work towards diametrically opposite goals.
• Love Confession: In 3.0+1.0, Shinji admits to Asuka that he did have romantic feelings towards her, which causes her to blush and be overwhelmed with emotion, hinting that she still has those feelings.
• Must Make Amends: ...for once again causing Third Impact. Unfortunately, his first attempt makes things worse until he somehow gets it right.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's shown naked from behind when he is about to get into the bath, only to be freaked out by Pen Pen. When he comes out, the only thing hiding his crotch is a small box of toothpicks.
• My God, What Have I Done?: At least thrice throughout 3.0. Once after Kaworu shows him the devastation he inadvertently caused, one more, word for word, when it sinks in that he couldn't save Rei after all, and one last time once things Go Horribly Wrong at the end of You Can (Not) Redo.
• Nice Guy: Just like in the original, he's still one of the kindest characters in the series, even to those who don't deserve any kindness.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His storylines in 2.0 and 3.0 can be considered a two-part version of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The Movie. This time around, his attempt to save Rei triggered Third Impact and killed a chunk of the human population. Then he almost triggers Fourth Impact by pulling out the lances despite Kaworu telling him not to.
• Obliviously Evil: In 3.0, with WILLE refusing to tell him anything about what happened after 2.0, he instead ends up going right back to Gendo and SEELE and playing right into their hands to restart Third Impact.
• Parental Abandonment: As in the original series, but this time, he does learn that it was intentional on Yui's part and that she was one of the masterminds behind the Evangelion Project, after which he names her along with Gendo and Misato as people he no longer trusts. After the Time Skip, Gendo will not even talk to him beyond "Pilot the Eva!" even though it was him who got Shinji into that clusterfuck in the first place.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Naturally, it gets deconstructed. Compared to the original series, Shinji is far more decisive with his actions, but this also leads him to do what only he considers immediately right with no regard to how the consequences will affect those around him.
• Rage Breaking Point: When Shinji refuses to fight Bardiel the Ninth Angel, which has taken over Unit-03, for fear of harming Asuka, Gendo activates the Dummy System, making Unit-01 autonomous and enabling her to rip Unit-03 to shreds, crushing its cockpit in her mouth. Upon regaining control of Unit-01, Shinji tries to literally stomp a mudhole through NERV's HQ out of anger at his father's callousness.
• Real Men Cook: In 2.0, his excellent cooking skills cause Asuka and Rei to try to reciprocate.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: In 2.0, Shinji's eyes glow blood red when he enters Berserk Mode to save Rei, and it's the first indication that he's unwittingly starting the Third Impact.
• Redemption Earns Life: Shinji's actions lead to the Third Impact, which killed billions of people. Because of this, is fully willing to sacrifice his own life as an act of atonement that will restore the world, but Yui and Gendo decide to take his place. Shinji is then able to enjoy a life free of Evangelions with his peers after restoring everyone to life in a new world.
• Rip Van Winkle: After defeating Zeruel.
• Rookie Red Ranger: Much like his original counterpart, but his ability to fight on par with an Asuka who has 14 years of extra experience deserves an extra mention. Again, he is not better off for it, as he could only control the immense power he summoned from EVA 01 for a limited amount of time, and paid with 14 years of his life and all that was ever dear to him when its unhindered "return to its original form" once again triggered Third Impact...
• Sanity Slippage: In 3.33, he loses his sanity this time around due to a combination of lack of sleep, learning that he destroyed the biosphere, the truth about Rei and the fact that he didn't save her.
• Self-Made Orphan: In a sense. The climax of the final film has him use the new Spear gifted to him by Misato to destroy EVA 01 and EVA 13. As the former contains his mother and the latter contains his father...
• Skilled, but Naive: As a more competent pilot this time around, this becomes a Fatal Flaw for him, spending the first three films (particularly 3.0) being played like an absolute fiddle by Gendo and SEELE.
• Smells Sexy: According to Mari, though the LCL-perfume apparently helps, at least as far as Mari is concerned.
• Supreme Chef: Even better than in the original series.
• They Died Because of You: After awakening from Unit-01 fourteen years after Third Impact, Misato and Kaworu inform him that he wiped out most of humanity in the aftermath. Shinji doesn't take it well.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Shinji's unwillingness to listen to Sakura's advice causes him to awaken EVA-13. Furthermore, he impulsively retrieves the spears despite Kaworu and Asuka's warnings, resulting in Kaworu's death and Shinji's Heroic BSoD.
• Tragic Mistake: He unintentionally causes Third Impact while trying to rescue Rei.
• Transhuman: If the runes on the DSS Choker are something to go by, he may have become this as a side effect of Eva-01's awakening and deification in 2.0.
• Trauma Conga Line: The result type shifts to a variation of a result D...until the events from 3.0 leads him directly to C again. The sheer amount of breaking he has to endure there makes even ''The End of Evangelion'' look silly.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • He's presented as having a bit more of a backbone and manages to ascend to godhood at the climax of the second movie. Unfortunately, this is harshly deconstructed in 3.0, where his reckless actions proved to have been more harmful than they were worth.
  • He's still subtly presented as this in 3.0, where he's on more even footing with Kaworu in their relationship and manages to gain the upperhand against Asuka, whose had 14 more years of experience than him, in a fight.
  • By 3.0+1.0, Shinji, compared to how his story ended in End of Evangelion, has fully transitioned into the trope in a positive manner by gaining more confidence about himself after being a Cosmic Plaything for so long and truly maturing into a proper adult enough to overcome Gendo simply by talking it out rather than being pushed around to suit others ends, thereby becoming his own man. He even manages to flirt creatively with Mari with his newfound confidence after all is said and done.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: He bears a strong resemblance to his father, which is especially noticeable when they visit Yui's grave and have the exact same expression on their faces.
• Unwitting Pawn: It only takes a few choice words from Gendo for Shinji to manipulate him into causing Third Impact. And when he actually tries to subvert Gendo's plans in 3.0 he ends up playing into SEELE's hands...
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Just like in the original, he craves Gendo's approval despite outwardly seeming to despise his father.
• We Used to Be Friends: This is played with in 3.0. Everyone who even knew him before the time skip, especially Asuka, have already turned on him for inadvertently causing Third Impact. Fortunately, by the time of Thrice Upon a Time, his old classmates are overjoyed to see him, Misato and the portion of WILLE that knew him before Third Impact are shown to not blame him for what happened, and Asuka eventually unthaws around him.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Twice, both on accident.
• Would Hit a Girl: He reluctantly defends himself and Kaworu from Asuka so they could save the world (or so he thought) during the fight in Central. She gave him no choice when she kept attacking them without bothering to explain herself..
• Wrong Side All Along: He waltzes back to NERV only to find out that they're plotting the apocalypse. He gets tricked into nearly destroying the world, twice, the second time while actively trying to save it, having to fight his former allies in the process.
• You Are Number 6: In 3.33, he's labeled as "Subject BM-03" by WILLE's medical staff.

Rei Ayanami

Rei Ayanami

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Brina Palencia (EN, 2009-2016), Amanda Winn-Lee (EN, 2021), Joël Mulachs (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01, Amazon Prime dub), Carmen Ambrós (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22), Circe Luna (LA), Ana Lobo (LA, 3.00), Priscila Concepcion (BR)

Click ^here to see her post-timeskip.

Rei's portrayal in Rebuild appears to blend the anime and manga versions. In the first movie, she is essentially the same as in the anime. In the second movie, she begins to open up to Shinji in a manner similar to the manga, even going as far as to try to host a dinner so that Shinji and Gendo can spend time together. Given the ending of the second movie, it remains to be seen if/how things will change between the two of them and if/how she herself will change in light of her origins in the anime and manga.

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• Action Girl: 2.0 in particular shows us what she's made of, taking on Zeruel all by herself with Mari and Asuka out of commission.
• Back from the Dead: For a given value of "dead": she lost her physical body during the fight with Zeruel and subsequent N3I, but her soul was trapped in Unit-01 during all of 3.0 and most of 3.0 + 1.0. Once Shinji rewrites reality during the Final Impact, Rei returns in the new world, completely well and healthy.
• Betty and Veronica: With Asuka for Shinji in 2.0 and this time she fits better the role of Betty.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The blonde (sort-of) to brunette Shinji and Mari and redhead Asuka.
• Body Backup Drive: The Rei that appears in 3.0 (Rei Q) is a clone. The "original" Rei's soul is stated to still be inside Unit-01.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Has this dynamic with Shinji in 2.0, being a caring soul helping Shinji go through his issues with being a Eva pilot and his relationship with his father.
• Dead All Along: 3.0 implies that Shinji never saved her to begin with, and the Rei he interacts with throughout the movie was someone else entirely. In 3.0+1.0, it's shown that she lost her body, but her soul has been trapped inside Eva-01.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: In 2.0 she warms up considerably towards Shinji.
• Determinator: Demonstrated twice: in the Sahaquiel fight (in which she grabbed its core so that Asuka could get a clean shot); and in the Zeruel fight (where she was ready to sacrifice herself for Shinji).
  Rei: <utterly focused look> "AT Field - max level. I can do this. For him. So he never - has to pilot-"
  <cut to Shinji's SDAT Player, at her waist>
  Rei: "- Again!"
• Deuteragonist: She is the secondary protagonist in 2.0, learning how to be more open with others, particularly with Shinji, and doing everything she can to ensure that Shinji will never have to pilot an Eva again.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Thinking he just saved her, Shinji pulls her into a close embrace after yanking her soul out of Zeruel and into Unit-01. Unfortunately, it ends up being the last time he ever sees her, until they are reunited for real in 3.0+1.0.
• Emotionless Girl: Subverted. She is actually very curious; she goes from inert to merely stoic (believe it, that's a giant step for someone like her).
• Expendable Clone: Just like the original Rei, she says, and seems to earnestly believe, she can be replaced if she dies. Shinji doesn't accept this at all, tells her during her "rescue" that she's the one and only Rei, and refuses to consider the clone that appears in 3.0 "his" Ayanami.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Averted; the cooking idea only occurs to her because Shinji cooked for her first and Gendo frequently took her out to dinner, and regardless of her gender, it still takes her a while to manage it without cutting up her fingers, as you'd expect it of a spartan Child Soldier.
• Generation Xerox: Becomes this in 3.0, when you realize that just like Yui, she has become the light in Shinji's heart (the same way Yui was to Gendo, to the point where both troubled, brooding anti-social father and son respectively would even be willing to forsake the world just to be with them), which speaks volumes of just how broken Shinji would be without her presence, the same way Gendo was. She's also trapped in Unit 01 with Yui in the third movie.
• The Gwen Stacy: Shinji goes berserk trying to save her, and has a Despair Event Horizon upon realizing he failed.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Attempted for Shinji's sake numerous times. Never quite played straight.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Just like in the original series, her reaction to Shinji walking in on her naked, falling on top of her, and accidentally groping her was limited to politely asking him to move.
• Insistent Terminology: In 3.0, she in particular is referred to as "a person" by Asuka; other Ayanamis are just clones from the Ayanami Series; meaning, she wasn't just another clone.
• Last-Name Basis: Most prominently in the Japanese version, she and Shinji addresses each other by their last names.
• The Lost Lenore: She becomes one to Shinji after he realizes he failed to save her in 3.0. Subverted though: She's not exactly dead, merely trapped inside Unit-01, which is where Shinji finds her in 3.0 + 1.0).
• Love Interest: More overtly so for Shinji than in the original series, unfortunately comes with an added dose of Love Makes You Crazy when Shinji unwittingly destroys most the world trying to save her life.
• Meaningful Name: With 3.33 as a retroactive example. Because she's cloned from Shinji's mother and Gendo's wife, maiden name Yui Ayanami, and the fact that Rei means spirit/ghost (or nothing using different kanji), her name means the spirit of Ayanami, or nothing, signifying Gendo's obsession with using Rei as a Replacement Goldfish for Yui, yet recognizing that she's nothing like his Yui.
• Mix-and-Match Man: Like in the original series, she's made from the remaining genetic pattern left by Yui when she disappeared plus genes from Lilith; as such, she's a composite copy of Yui and Lilith.
• Ms. Fanservice: Even moreso than the original. Read the list on the other page for why she qualifies. If anything Rei here is portrayed less for Fan Disservice and has considerably more warmth to go with her other traits.
• Mystical Waif: As in the original Evangelion, there's something not-quite human about her.
• Never Found the Body: In 3.0, when Shinji is extracted, Rei is nowhere to be found... but the tape player Shinji had left with her is. While most everyone believes she's dead and gone, Shinji adamantly refuses to believe she's really gone, especially when Rei suddenly appears to make him escape from the AAA Wunder(even if she doesn't behaves as usual). At least until Fuyutsuki reveals to him that she's still trapped inside EVA-01 alongside Yui, and that the Rei that rescued him earlier is a clone.
• Nice Girl: Just like in the series, Rei is seen to be generally polite and friendly.
• No Social Skills: Comes from being an expendable clone raised as a Replacement Goldfish.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She says "Good morning" when walking into class one day. Her classmates freak out. She also actually sees the Eva 3 fight for herself and is horrified, suggesting Ritsuko's hinting that This Is Unforgivable! and beforehand when disaster hits and NERV picks her up her reaction screams, "Shit."
• Present Absence: In 3.0, although not physically present, she gets mentioned in every other scene and Shinji's ill-fated attempt to save and reunite with her prove crucial to the plot.
• Replacement Goldfish: For Gendo, in a sense since Rei is his wife's clone. In 3.0 it's revealed that the maiden name of Shinji's mom was Yui Ayanami.
• Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: She has a bob haircut like in the original series until 3.0+1.0, where it's revealed that her hair has grown to her waist as a result of being trapped in the Eva 01 for 14 years.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Her suicide run against Zeruel not only fails to stop the Angel, it gets herself and Unit-00 devoured, unintentionally making it the final catalyst for Third Impact when Shinji goes Unstoppable Rage to try to save her, destroying most of what's left of the planet in the process.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Moreso than in the original series, but she also defrosts quicker.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Rei II did a Heroic Suicide against Armisael, while Rei III merged with Lilith and presumably died when Lilith fell apart in The End of Evangelion. In 3.0+1.0, it's revealed that Rei's (aka Rei II) soul was inside Eva 01 trying to prevent Shinji to pilot again. Additionally, when Shinji initiates the Final Impact to recreate a universe without Angels or Evas, Rei is shown to be alive and well in that reality, interacting with Kaworu at the train station.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She generally only shows the "sugar" part to Shinji and Gendo - although in 2.0, the classroom scene and the last act of the movie indicate that the latter might since have lost that privilege.
• Swallowed Whole: Zeruel swallows the cockpit of Eva 00, with her still inside.
• 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.
• Unknowingly in Love: When Asuka asks her how she feels about Shinji, Rei says she doesn't know but she feels "warm" when he is with her and wants him to feel the same way. Asuka figures out right away that Rei is in love with Shinji.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Gendo in regards to his manipulation of his son, Shinji. In fact, it's revealed in 3.0 + 1.0 that the Ayanami clone line is specifically designed to make Shinji instinctivly care about them.
• Victory by Endurance: Played with. She is the Rei clone that has lived the longest bar Rei Q, who was awakened sometime between the 14 years since the Third Impact; this makes her the "main" Rei and the drive for most of the series. 3.0 + 1.0 hammers this down with Rei Q dying from Clone Degeneration in front of Shinji, but later shows this Rei (now with long hair) waiting for Shinji to enter back into Unit 01's cockpit and save the day. She even gets to live in the new world Shinji created at the end of the film.
• When She Smiles: Like in the original series, Rei is a stoic frowner, always focused to complete the mission and not caring if she dies or not. This all changed when she interacts with Shinji and gradually opens up to him, culiminating into a beautiful smile when he opens the cockpit door at the end of 1.0.

Asuka Shikinami Langley

Asuka Shikinami Langley

Voiced by: Yuko Miyamura (JP), Tiffany Grant (EN), Graciela Molina (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22), Ana Pallejá (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 3.33, Amazon Prime dub), Georgina "Gina" Sánchez (LA), Fernanda Bullara (BR)

Click ^here
to see her post-timeskip

The Rebuild version of Asuka differs quite a bit from the depiction in the original anime. Her last name is changed from Soryu 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 histrionic. 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, if not befriend, at least accept 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.

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• Action Girl: Just like her previous adaptations, she kicks various amounts of tail in her EVA.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Here, Asuka's hair is more consistently strawberry-blonde rather than dark auburn like most of her scenes in the original show.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Her last name was changed from Soryu to Shikinami. For 1.0 tie-in merchandise and video games, she still appeared as "Soryu" due to the fact that her role in the Rebuild continuity hadn't been established yet. Word of God is that Asuka and Rei both having -nami in their surnames is a hint to something important.
  • Although according to Japanese naming customs the order of her name and surname are the same for both versions of the character with the Japanese-origin surname first (Soryu/Shikinami Asuka Langley), Khara states that the English spelling of her name is officially Asuka Shikinami Langley with the Japanese-origin surname in the middle, compare with the original one spelled Asuka Langley Soryu.
  • Why the name change? 3.0+1.0 reveals that in this continuity, Asuka is a clone from a series of clones called the Shikinami-type, just as Rei is an Ayanami-type clone.
• Adaptation Species Change: Somewhat. Asuka Langley Soryu was a natural-born human, even if she was essentially a "designer baby". Asuka Shikinami Langley is a cloned human from a batch of identical clones, hence the shared Theme Naming with Rei and Mari.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Related to the above, this Asuka is part of a series of clones rather than a naturally-born person.
• Adaptational Badass: While not as extreme an example as Shinji, original series Asuka became less and less competent as the series went on and the Angels' power level increased and she became more mentally unstable herself, and was eventually the main target of The Worf Effect. Here, Asuka defeats an Angel solo in her introductory battle, her role of getting Worfed in the Zeruel battle is passed over to Mari,^note who herself puts up more of a fight than the original Asuka did, and she recovers from the Ninth Angel incident to become much tougher and more hardened by the time of 3.33. Taken further in 3.0 + 1.0, where she plows her way through a sea of EvaInfinities, then transforms herself into an Angel, neutralizes her own Eva's AT Field and very nearly succeeds in shutting down Unit-13 for good if not for a misunderstanding of its structure.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Compared to her old version, who entered the picture as a class superstar and struck a close friendship with Hikari pretty quickly, this version of Asuka is substantially more asocial and reserved, emphasized by her prefering to be alone and quietly playing with her WonderSwan while everybody else is chatting. On the other hand, her Character Development is substantially sped-up and makes her get closer to Shinji and Rei faster than in the series. The third movie, however, then shows the most aggressive Asuka of the franchise by a wide margin, if due to the new context.
• Ambiguously Human: Not only is she a clone, as of 3.0 she might be something even stranger, due to having the power of the Ninth Angel permanently sealed within her. Not only did she stop aging, she also no longer needs to eat or sleep. How much of this is caused by being a clone, being part-Angel, or just long term effects of being an Eva pilot in general, is ambiguous. She only calls it "the Curse of Eva" and refuses to elaborate.
• Anger Born of Worry:
  • Asuka greets Shinji with a proverbial punch to the face on 3.0. 14 years after he caused a bona-fide apocalypse for the sake of Rei he is still obliviously asking for her, eager to see her again; later, Mari teases her about going to Shinji just to see him again and she lashes at the suggestion, still visibly mad about the encounter.
  • Asuka runs to Shinji's plug to check on him in 3.33; after having a somewhat cruel (one-sided) conversation with him, she nearly leaves him, only to pick him up because she refuses to let him give up on life.
  • In 3.0+1.0, Asuka angrily and violently force feeds Shinji ration bars when he refuses to eat due to his depression. While she rationalizes that Shinji doesn't deserve death to run away from his problems, it's rather clear she doesn't want him starving to death.
• Animal-Eared Headband: Her kitty-eared hat from 3.0, which is now available for sale.
• Animal Motifs: Cats. She wears both a hat and a helmet with cat ears, and Unit-02's upgraded Beast mode resembles a saber-toothed tiger.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: She's just as prideful of her skills and aggressive as her TV series counterpart, but apparently she lacks Soryu's screwed-up backstory, so she's not a deconstruction of the trope.
• Badass Adorable: As usual, she's a cute tsundere girl who's also one of the most accomplished and capable Eva pilots upon her introduction.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Rei's Betty for Shinji's Archie in 2.0.
• Blemished Beauty: She is missing an eye post Time Skip, which does not take away from her beauty.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The redhead to light-haired Rei and brunette Shinji and Mari.
• Breakout Character: When Asuka appears in 2.0, she plays second fiddle to Rei and is less important to the narrative than she was in the TV series, but her popularity in both the show and in the movies has led her to get a larger role with each new entry, solidifying herself as a main character in 3.0+1.0.
• Broken Bird: In 3.0, years of living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland under near-constant combat appear to have made her bitter. Her voice-actress even compares her to an embittered mercenary.
• The Captain: She's a European Air Force Captain.
• Character Development: Asuka starts off as a cocky, jerkass loner and eventually starts to enjoy other people's company, eventually feeling her first true bit of happiness in the movie by doing a favor for Rei. Thanks to the Ninth Angel, it doesn't last. Fortunately, 3.0+1.0 has her slowly gain some development again.
• Character Exaggeration: The tsundere aspect, where she shows more of a "dere" (soft) side.
• Clone Angst: 3.0+1.0 reveals that she is a clone like Rei, specifically the last of the Shikinami-types, which were deemed failures and not put into production like the Ayanamis, with the existing Shikinami being forced to kill off the rest.
• Cruel to Be Kind: In 3.0, as cruel as her words may be, she still cares for Shinji; however, this doesn't mean that she's going to make things easier for him.
• A Day in the Limelight: Gets more focus than other Eva characters for the "Godzilla vs. Evangelion" promotion; for example, she got her own line of merchandise depicting her partially mutated into the King of Monsters, and the April Fools' Day movie trailer for the promotion has a random moment at the end where a red Mechagodzilla comes out of nowhere, accompanied by Asuka's signature battle cry (implying that she's piloting it).
• Deadly Upgrade: 3.0+1.0 reveals that she has the remnants of the ninth Angel in her left eye. Taking out the miniature Angel-sealing pillar in her eye allows her to merge with it and become an Angel herself, but at the cost of her humanity. Played even straighter in that she's wearing a DSS choker that's seemingly meant just for this situation. Something she tries to invoke to her original self before she gets used to trigger fifth impact. Sadly, it doesn't work as her original just pulls her away from it.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She actually gets to become a better human being. However, she becomes even colder than before after the Time Skip.
• Demoted to Extra: While she is a major character in this continuity, her role is heavily reduced in 2.22 compared to that of the original series, where she's a prominent supporting character instead of one of the leads. The subsequent movies avert this by giving her more to do, being the Tritagonist in 3.33 (after Shinji and Kaworu), and an even larger role in 3.0 + 1.01, with more exploration on her own background and motivations.
• Didn't Think This Through: Sure Asuka, go ahead an attack Shinji in Unit-13 in Central Dogma without explaining yourself, knowing he is trying restore world and knowing he is being manipulated and you could solve this merely by explaining everything to him - including the important things you and WILLE left out last time you met. What could possibly go wrong? Truth be told, this is a very consistent theme with Asuka.
• Disney Death: Like The End of Evangelion, she gets killed to advance the plans of the antagonists. Also like The End of Evangelion, her soul gets taken into and out of Instrumentality.
• Dramatic Irony: In 3.0 + 1.01, part of her annoyance with Shinji, Rei and the world at large is the fact that, like Rei, she's part of a series of clones, and just like Rei, her emotions may have been programmed into her, including her own attraction to Shinji. Even with all her self-determination, Asuka is closer to Rei than she'd care to admit, a fact that annoys her to no end.
• Eyepatch of Power: In 3.0 she wears an eyepatch over her left eye, which makes her, implied disfigurement notwithstanding, even cuter, at least in the rare occasions where she isn't scowling in rage. God save us from the tsundere that is to be unleashed. 3.0+1.0 reveals her left eye socket now houses the remnants of the ninth angel as well as a miniature angel sealing pillar to keep it under control. Taking the seal off allows her to be fully infected, turning into an angel herself.
• Eye Scream: In Rebuild 2.0, the Eva she is piloting is infected by Bardiel and ripped apart by Unit-01, who chomps down on the plug with her still inside it. 3.0 shows her with an Eyepatch of Power which contains what remains of ''Bardiel itself''..
• Explosive Leash: Is revealed to be wearing a DSS Choker in 3.0 + 1.01. It's later revealed that this is because she still has remnants of the ninth Angel in her left eye that she can unseal at will, the collar being a failsafe for this.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: When she starts developing feelings for Shinji, she starts teaching herself how to cook to be more attractive to him, cutting and burning her hands in the process. The way she realizes that Rei loves Shinji too is that she sees the same injuries on Rei's hands.
• Fiery Redhead: Much like the original, her loud manner of speaking and aggressive personality give her a demeanour as fiery as her hair.
• First-Name Basis: With Shinji; granted, it's only in the lines of "Idiot Shinji" and "Brat Shinji".
• Foreshadowing: Unlike the original series, Asuka lacks mommy and daddy issues. 3.0+1.0 reveals that since she's a clone, she doesn't have parents.
• Game Face: When she gets angry or when her Evangelion unit enters Beast mode in 3.0, her eyes glow blue, and the latter gets the addition of her teeth lengthening into fangs. The latter's effects disappear if she ejects out of her EVA unit or if she gets out of Beast mode.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: When she finds a catatonic Shinji at the end of 3.0, she shoves him, calls him a brat, grabs his face, and physically drags him across the desert because she absolutely refuses to let him run away from his problems again.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her eyes (including, you know, the one with the eyepatch) glow blue when she gets mad that Shinji leaves with Rei Q or when she activates Unit-02's Beast Mode.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She is clearly not happy at seeing Shinji and Rei getting along at first. However, she eventually realises he is better off with Rei.
• Godzilla Threshold: After 2.0, she now has the remnants of the Ninth Angel in her eye, only held back by a miniature Angel-sealing pillar. In a worse-case scenario, she can invoke "Code 999" to unseal her eye, at the cost of becoming an Angel herself. She's eventually forced to do so when trying to stop Unit-13 from activating, when New Unit-02's own AT field prevents it from stabbing the former, using her own AT field as an angel to break through. Sadly, this plays into Gendo's trap, causing Unit-13 to activate and consume her.
• 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. Though it also now seems possible that fourteen extra years of time to cope with the concept have left that part of her original backstory rather moot.
  • As ultimately revealed by 3.0+1.0, her backstory is very different. She is the last of the Shikinami-types, meaning she is also suffering from Clone Angst as much as Rei.
• Handicapped Badass: In 3.0, where she sports an Eyepatch of Power due to the Eye Scream incident.
• Hypocrite: Let's just say Asuka's the last person you'd expect to give a What the Hell, Hero? to Shinji on his supposed selfishness (at least from her view) and escaping from reality when she herself is very much guilty of it.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: As shown in 3.0+1.01, Asuka craves very fundamental aspects of a normal child's life, like being praised, loved and coddled. She gets some of it when Shinji admits that he has feelings for her, and she realizes that Kensuke is able to provide a different kind of love as the guardian figure that she never had growing up.
• I 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. In 3.0+1.0, she confesses to him that she loved him back in the day (and still does as implied by her reaction towards Shinji's own confession), and he in turn admits he did the same. Presumably, her reason for claiming to have moved on in her confession was so Shinji can live without her being an anchor to him on the certainty that she wouldn't return from the final battle.
• I Will Wait for You: Played with. In 3.0 Asuka waited 14 years to give Shinji a wallop for almost destroying the world, but adding insult to injury, the first thing that Shinji begins asking Asuka for is whether Rei is okay. Of course, this further irritates Asuka against him. However, the 3.0 (-120 min) prequel manga does show that she genuinely missed him and longed for his return to her life.
• I Work Alone: Her attitude towards the other pilots, although after the timeskip she and Mari are frequently sortied together.
• Iconic Outfit: This version of Asuka is heavily associated with her Eyepatch of Power, given that she spends more screentime with it^note two movies than without,^note one movie, but it also provides a significant visual difference from her TV series self.
• Image Song: Asuka already had a few from the original series, but a Rebuild pachinko game gave her two more: a cover of the original series song "Kokoro no Genshi ni Modore", and a new song, "Shiawase no Betsumei".
• Insistent Terminology:
  • In 3.0, Asuka refers to the disappeared Rei in 2.0 as "a person" (albeit rather angrily); other Ayanamis are just clones from the Ayanami Series; meaning, she was not just another clone to Asuka.
  • She won't refer to Shinji in any other way than "Baka Shinji" ^note Idiot Shinji; he gets an upgrade in 3.0 by getting called "Gaki Shinji" ^note Brat Shinji. Later in 3.0+1.0, she reverts back to calling him "Baka Shinji".
• Improbable Age: Becoming a European Air Force captain at 14. Lampshaded by Kensuke. Justified in 3.0+1.0, as it is revealed that she is a clone of the Shikinami series like Rei, and was created and raised to be an Eva pilot
• It's Personal: In 3.0, Asuka gives Shinji a less than warm welcome at the Wunder's brig. Though she's pissed at him for almost destroying the world like everybody else is, it's further implied that Asuka is particularly mad at the fact that Shinji pulled off all that shit for another girl (Rei), and on top of that, for showing concern for said girl in Asuka's presence.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Much moreso than in the original anime. Shikinami Asuka Langley has a genuinely considerate, caring and kind-hearted side that qualifies her as a more traditional and well-balanced tsundere as opposed to a character mainly defined by being a jerkass.
• Just a Kid: This is her attitude toward Shinji following the timeskip. She drops this upon noticing his growth in 3.0+1.0.
• Knight in Sour Armor: In 3.0.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Although she isn't seen with one (except in some promotional art), the movies heavily imply that Asuka is fond of cats. Both her hat and her plugsuit helmet are designed to resemble cat ears, and in 3.0 Unit 02 gains a tiger-like "beast mode". The "kind-hearted" aspect is mostly downplayed, as she's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and only briefly becomes truly kind-hearted (not her fault, though).
• Lady of War: Her introductory battle has her performing all sorts of graceful acrobatic maneuvers in EVA-02.
• Last of Her Kind: 3.0+1.0 confirms that Asuka is the last surviving clone in the Shikinami line, after NERV deemed it not meeting their standards.
• Like an Old Married Couple: With Shinji during their time living together with Misato.
• Love Confession: In 3.0+1.0, shortly before the final battle, Asuka admits to Shinji that she once had a crush on him before the incident with Unit-03. However, her flustered reaction towards Shinji's later admission of returning her supposedly former feelings indicates that she never moved on from them despite everything.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to Shinji's Feminine Boy.
• The McCoy: To Shinji's Kirk and Rei's Spock, and to Rei Q's Spock and Mari's Kirk.
• Meaningful Name: Just like her TV series incarnation, she's the only one among the _nami-named characters whose name uses a different first kanji from her namesake warship (式 instead of 敷), and indeed the only Rebuild character aside from Ritsuko Akagi whose surname only phonetically matches their namesake. Unlike her classic incarnation, however, the "fakeness" is significantly downplayed, as she seems to lack her prideful facade hiding abysmal self-esteem and instead trades it for being an apparent jerk who is actually kind and benevolent. In 3.0, she then trades that for being an adult in a teenager's body.
• Mind Rape: Implied during the Bardiel incident, she seems to have gotten over it in 3.33.
• Ms. Fanservice: Though Mari, Misato and Rei still have their moments, Asuka gets the lion's-share of sexy scenes and shots in the Rebuild film series. She even spends the entire first half of 3.0 + 1.01 wearing nothing except for her underwear, a military jacket and her eyepatch and nerve plugs.
• The Nicknamer: Gives nicknames to her fellow pilots. In 2.0 Shinji was "Coatails" and Rei was "Commander's Pet." In 3.0 and 3.0+1.01, she calls Mari "Four-Eyed Crony", and in 3.0+1.01, she calls Kensuke "Ken-Ken".
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: When she activates Unit-02's Beast Mode, her teeth lengthen into fangs.
• Not Growing Up Sucks: In 3.0 it's revealed she stopped aging when she was 14. She isn't particularly thrilled with this situation. This is made especially ironic, given that in the original series, she complained about having her periods and growing older.
• Not So Stoic: In 3.0+1.01, despite her pretensions of adulthood, Asuka is clearly flattered and overjoyed by Shinji's admittance that, yes, he liked her. Girl's been waiting 14 years for him to say that in the Rebuild timeline, and since 1995 in all Evangelion'' media.
• Older and Wiser: Subverted. Although she lived longer after the time skip, it is clearly shown that she has not grown both physically and emotionally. She is a more cynical and angrier version of herself before the time skip. Also, her "greeting" of Shinji at the beginning of 3.0 and completely unnecessary assault at terminal dogma (in which she lost to Shinji — who is supposedly still a rookie compared to her) implies both emotional instability and inability to see past herself.
• One-Winged Angel: A half-literal example. To deactivate Unit-13 for good and neutralize EVA-02's AT field, she unseals the remnants of the Ninth Angel in her left eye, turning herself part-Angel and giving herself glowing rainbow hair and matching Tron Lines. It doesn't work as she stabs EVA-13 in the wrong place, but props for trying.
• Overshadowedby Awesome: Is stated to be a European Air Force pilot and the pilot of Unit-2, but is consistently outperformed by Shinji in both 2.0 and 3.0 in achievments. In 3.0., she is not only saved by him while he is in a coma, but also beaten by him rather profoundly when she has been fighting a war for the past 14 years and he has been in suspended animation. The fact that his EVA unit was designed to piloted by two people, was experimental and not truly designed for combat, had not AT field and he was not actualy trying to hurt her speaks volumes of the difference in their respective abilities. Yeah, Asuka cannot catch a break.
• Older Than She Looks: In 3.0., she's actually 28 years old, but hasn't physically aged due to piloting the Evangelion stilting her growth in some way. The epilogue of 3.0+1.01 finally shows her in her twenties.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In 2.22, 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 Eva while Unit 02 is sealed off. Misato thinks otherwise.)
  • Even after she Took a Level in Jerkass, she still seems to care for Shinji (although not in a healthy way perhaps) given that she apparently ran to Shinji's plug when she found it to check on him and she outright refuses to let him run away from his problems. Afterward, she refuses to let him die during his depression, even as the others have trouble looking after him.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's able to crack the glass in the interrogation room with a punch from her fist in 3.0. (Although we don't know if it was simple glass or security glass, if it's the later case then it's this trope)
• Psychological Projection: In 3.0 she refers to Shinji as a "brat", supposedly because she perceives him to be immature and selfish after the 14 years she was stuck not growing up and he was in suspended animation. However, she has very little emotional control, acts incredibly bratty and is implied to not have grown much both in mentaly and emotionaly and in fact seems quite stuck in the past. This was a characteristic with her in the original series as well.
• Red Is Heroic: Slightly flanderized from the original series; she has strawberry blonde hair (a type of "red"), wears a red plugsuit and pilots a red EVA unit, but this time around she actually demonstrates that red is her favorite color when talking about EVA-03's paint job and the color of the test plugsuit she has to use. She's also the most consistently heroic Evangelion pilot this time around, even if she can be a bit of a jerk about it - Mari's a mystery, Shinji undergoes a temporary Face–Heel Turn, and the situation of Rei and her clones is as complicated as ever.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: 3.0+1.01 reveals that she has been containing the Ninth Angel inside her left eye ever since her encounter with it. She breaks the seal and releases the Ninth Angel in an attempt to destroy Unit-13.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: 3.0+1.01 shows a dark take. Asuka's completely ceased to care if anyone sees her in a state of undress, and spends most of her time only wearing panties and an open military jacket. Also, unlike in 2.0 when she gave Shinji a flying kick to the face for accidentally seeing her naked, when Shinji walks into the room after she's just come out of the shower, she faces him and chides him for being so lost in himself that her nakedness doesn't even register to him.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: By the time 3.0 rolls around, she, along with the rest of WILLE, spent a good 14 years fighting NERV, and when she gets to see Shinji again, she doesn't really munch her words on him.
• Single-Target Sexuality: In this continuity, Shinji is the only person she shows interest in. Which may be imprinted in her due to being a clone; however, this is doubtful due to the Shikinami series predating the Ayanami series by a considerable amount of time. Even after everything that's happened between them over the course of the series, she finds herself happy when he finally admits he returns her feelings.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Asuka famously died a gruesome death in End of Evangelion, but is instead captured and assimilated by EVA-13 in Thrice Upon a Time. This time, Shinji manages to save her and reconstitute her body within one of EVA-13's entry plugs.
• Stripperiffic: When given a translucent test plug suit to pilot Eva-03, Asuka complains about how revealing it is.
• Through His Stomach: Misato catches her trying to cook something for Shinji. Asuka quickly denies it and says it's for Hikari.
• Too Dumb to Live: Her bullheadedness and attack on Shinji in Terminal Dogma without explaining herself to him is what partially drove him to remove the spears and cause the Near-Fourth Impact. Really makes you wonder how she survived 14 years of post apocalyptic war.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: After the Time Skip, years of living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland under near-constant combat turned her into what is essentially an embittered mercenary. This being said, it doesn't undo her Character Development in 2.0 that made her better as a person so much as it made her more cynical.
• Transhuman: As with Shinji, however, in her case it's subtly shown in a Freeze-Frame Bonus way when her eyes glow blue and the angel sealing runes appear in her eyepatch.
• Tyke Bomb: She entered the European Air Force and reached the rank of Captain at 14.
• Tsundere: As per tradition, Asuka is a tsundere. However, in this film series, she does clearly show more of a good side. That is, until she loses her "dere" side by the time of 3.0. Although, her "dere" side somewhat resurfaces later in 3.0 + 1.0 after seeing Shinji's growth prior to the final battle against NERV.
• Ungrateful Bitch: In the opening of 3.0, she calls out for Shinji to do something to help her when the Nemesis Series is roasting her alive. Shinji apparently wakes up EVA-01 to save her life yet she does not care one bit.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In 3.0 + 1.0, Asuka turning herself into an Angel is the catalyst for Gendo's plan to enact Human Instrumentality by having Unit-13 eat her in that form.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Gendo. Like everyone else in 3.0, aside from Fuyutsuki.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Apparently with Mari in 3.0. They have very good teamwork after working together for 14 years, but Asuka constantly belittles Mari as a "four-eyed favorite" and Mari disparages Asuka as a "princess".
• Vocal Evolution:
  • By the time the dub of the second film was announced in 2010, fourteen years in real life had passed since Tiffany Grant first voiced Asuka. As a result, Asuka sounds older, more subdued and less histrionic due to Grant's aging.
  • In Japanese, aside from the passage of time affecting Yuko Miyamura in the same way, Asuka's voice becomes deeper and more adult-like post-Time Skip. This fits with her her chronological and mental age but not so much her unchanged physical form.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Her partner Mari even responds to her insults and demands by calling her "princess".
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Even if she wasn't truly a friend of hers, her way of referring to Rei in 3.0 shows signs of this, it might justified for the fact in the Time Skip she came to know her secret, that the Rei she's referring to is a different one from the Rei in 2.0, and is implied to have fought with her "spares" more than once.
  • This is more obvious in Shinji's case. It's downright painful how he's so damn happy and relieved when he finds her alive, and, unlike the audience absolutely doesn't see that punch coming, however, it seems to be Zigzagged given that she's not going to let him die or run away from his problems again, as well as being affected by the fact that, during their fight in Central Dogma, he slaps her Eva. Also not helping are the implications that underneath her embittered demeanor she still retains her feelings for him in 3.0 + 1.0 and the 3.0 (-120 min) prequel manga.
  • Heavily implied with Misato post time skip. She refers to her as "colonel Katsuragi", sarcastically asks her to confirm that a single person is worth nothing post-Third Impact, and the two are implied to have only a professional relationship. This is inline with the original series, in which, near the end, Asuka felt abandoned by Misato, and the latter did little to dispel this notion.
• When She Smiles: Not to the degree of Rei, mind you, but at one point in 2.0 before everything goes to Hell, she gives a very relaxed, genuine one, and it's beautiful.
• Wolverine Publicity: While her role in the story proper had been reduced in 2.0 (yet rectified for the following movies), her role in marketing had not, resulting in this trope. This got to the point that Asuka (still named "Soryu") was advertised as a major character in the 1.0 video game.
• Would Hurt a Child: Even if the child in question is reduced to a catatonic wreck, and all threat from him was all but neutralized. And then she has the gall to complain that he would attack a female opponent who, unlike him, had training and battle experience.
• You Are What You Hate: Asuka is a clone of the "Shikinami" Series, just like Rei is one of the "Ayanami" Series. This irks her to no end, as it implies that she's just one of many and that she's not special, even when Asuka is brimming with personality (unlike Rei).

Mari Makinami Illustrious

Mari Makinami Illustrious

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (JP), Trina Nishimura (EN, 2010-2016), Deneen Melody (EN, 2021), Marta Barbará (SP), Mireya Mendoza (LA), Maitê Antunes da Cunha (BR), Jennifer Weiß (DE)

"The smell of LCL... My favorite smell in the world."

A new character from the Rebuild continuity, Mari Makinami is the designated pilot of Unit-05 and the 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, and Rei, she's shown to genuinely enjoy piloting, taking pleasure in killing the Angels and describing it as "fun." Also in contrast with the rest of the main cast, she appears to be a relatively sane person — outside of battle, at least.

Her personality has a few feral aspects, such as her fixation on scent and her 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.
• Age-Gap Romance: Her flirty teasing of Shinji and the interpretation of her possibly getting romantically involved with him would be this as it's revealed in the final film that she's at least Yui and Gendo's contemporary, so she's actually old enough to be his mother.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Ultimately, almost everything related to her character are open questions: what was her original faction, why was she deployed in Japan, why did she join WILLE, what was her relationship with Yui and the older cast, and last but not least, what does exactly imply her apparently real name, Mary Iscariot. Going by Anno's comments, at least part of this lack of background is meta-narratively deliberate.
  • Anno claimed that Asuka's surname change from Soryu to Shikinami had its own meaning, which come 3.0+1.0 seems to be the fact that this Asuka is a clone from a line named Shikinami, analogue to Rei's own Ayanami line. Given that Maki also has a surname ending in -nami, it's unknown whether this was also deliberate and what does it mean for Mari's background in that case.
• Ascended Extra: Word of God indicated in an interview that she was originally going to have a much smaller role in 2.0. Viewer response to her brief appearance in 1.0's post-movie trailer changed that.
• Animal Motifs: It's less obvious than Asuka, but Mari does seem to have a subtle cat theme, given her kitty-eared helmet and her tendency to insert "nya" into her sentences.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Her default strategy, although she can retreat if needed.
• 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.
• Barefoot Loon: The official poster for 3.0+1.0 has the cast standing on a beach, with Mari being the only who has removed her shoes.
• The Berserker: And how! She makes Asuka look controlled, especially at the end of 2.0.
• Big-Breast Pride: She describes herself to Shinji as the "girl with glasses and big boobs", all while hugging him from behind while pressing said big boobs on his back.
• Big Damn Heroes: Seems to have a fondness for this kind of entry. She loves to make an entrance, pulls her shots until the last possible second and generally does what she can to make her screen time memorable. She even manages to put an end to Fourth Impact when it seems like all hope is lost by tackling a mecha god in mid-air and forcing Shinji to eject.
• The Big Girl: She replaces Toji as a pilot in Rebuild. Her personality and fighting style certainly give leverage to this, as well.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The brunette to light-haired Rei and redhead Asuka.
• Blood Knight: When up against the Angels, there is nothing she loves more than enjoying the thrill of piloting an Evangelion. And good Lord, she takes this to crazy levels. Even after having her Eva's arm, an eye, and a good chunk of brain knocked off by Zeruel (and feeling all the pain from the injuries), she asks Shinji why he doesn't fight, because fighting is so much fun.
• But Not Too Foreign: Half Japanese, half British, according to the pamphlet included in the 2.0 Blu-Ray.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Both Shinji and the camera take notice of her busty figure, such as when she jiggles her boobs enthusiastically upon getting a plugsuit that fits her.
• Canon Immigrant: Mari appears in the epilogue of the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga as a college friend of Yui's in 1998, meaning that she predates the characters that are her fellow pilots in Rebuild. 3.0+1.0 confirms this is true in the Rebuild continuity as well.
• Cat Girl: As close to one of these as the setting and premise of Evangelion allow for. Her plugsuit helmet sports a pair of cat-ear-shaped protrusions, and she regularly ends her sentences with meowing noises. In the comedy spinoff manga Evangelion ANIMA, it's a lot more obvious, since she's drawn with cat ears, fangs, and a tail.
• Cloudcuckoolander:
  • She's pretty perky for an Eva pilot, retaining her cheerful, aloof outlook on life even in the face of gruesome pain and impending apocalypse.
  • Not to mention charging into her battle with Unit-05 against the bone Angel while singing a jaunty little tune.
  • With the exception of Sakura, she's also the only member of WILLE who seems to have any cheer left after Near Third Impact.
• Crash-Into Hello: She crashes into poor Shinji with a parachute. Chest first.
• Crazy Cat Lady: One of the discarded plans for her in the second movie was that she would have owned a bunch of cats at home. While this seems to have been left out of the main show, she's still very much crazy.
• Creepy Child: In almost the exact opposite way that Rei and Kaworu are. She's extremely perky, cheerful and energetic even in situations where she definitely shouldn't be which, compared to the much more human reactions of the rest of the cast makes her come off as... off. The fact that she's absolutely ruthless in an Eva also adds to this.
• Cute and Psycho: Her meganekko look is subverted by the Slasher Smile she sports whenever a good fight starts.
• D-Cup Distress: She complains her breasts make it hard to find fitting clothes.
• Deadpan Snarker: "Things just seem to work out for him, huh?"
• Dissonant Serenity: She reacts extremely casually to the prospect of Fourth Impact especially when compared to, well, every other character. While in general,she's not just noticeably more mentally stable, but also seems remarkably accepting of her predicament. Given how 3.0+1.0 heavily implies that Mari's much older than the other Children, thus had more time to come to grips with herself, it's not too surprising.
• Double Agent: Possibly. Her sneaking into Japanese territory via parachute indicates she's up to something, as does her line "I don't really feel comfortable bringing adults into my affairs." Plus, jacking Unit 02 without official approval isn't exactly standard NERV procedure.
  • As of 3.0 it seems a moot point, as any organization she was working for has long since been disbanded or killed off after Near Third Impact. Now she works full time for WILLE along with most of the previous NERV staff.
  • In an interview, Maaya Sakamoto says Mari is a simple, straightforward person with no hidden agenda.
  • Seemingly confirmed in 3.0 + 1.0, in which Mari is confirmed to have met and worked with NERV before the creation of the Evas, being a contemporary of Yuri, Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Further driven home by how her real name is Mary Iscariot.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Mari's first name was revealed in, of all things, Petit Eva. She appeared in her original outfit from 1.0's trailer.
• Flat Character: Mari has an interesting relationship with characterization, to say the least. This has an explanation both in-universe and out of it:
  • In-Universe: As she's the same age-range as Yui and Gendo, she's had many many years to muddle through her issues that the kids of the cast are trying to puzzle through, and grow up emotionally, if not physically.
  • Out-of-Universe: Anno specifically avoided giving her many of the deep neuroses that affects the original cast, as it would have made her too "close" to Evangelion to be able to "destroy" it.
  • Regardless, Mari as a result is the one cheerful constant in a world that quite literally nearly ended twice, and as a result feels off or superfluous to some viewers.
• Foil: Possibly one to Kaworu. The two of them are gorgeous, nice and maintain a mostly positive attitude given their world, while actively caring about Shinji's well-being as a main concern even when he screws up, and somehow know more about their world than any of the other Children. They also are mysteriously off-putting to most other people yet are interested in Shinji, and express it in vague ways. Both also associated in some way with cats in their original concepts— Kaworu was originally planned to own a cat that would be the actual Angel, while Mari's first draft had her as a Crazy Cat Lady. The difference is that Kaworu is an Angel that relies more on his natural-born gifts, and Mari is more of an Evangelion geek that's exceptionally good at what she does because she dedicated her life, talents, and effort into living her dream of piloting an Eva.
• Foreshadowing: Why Shinji, Asuka, and Mari didn't age in the timeskip between 2.0 and 3.0 is because of the Curse of Eva, which is when prolongued exposure to LCL prevents the subject from biologically aging. Mari turns out to be at least as old as Yui, also presumably because of this, given she's been with NERV for a while.
• Friendly Sniper: In 3.0., Mari specializes in powerful long ranged rifles, putting her in this territory.
• 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. She loses them as an older woman, however, though not her penchant for pink.
• Glowing Eyes: When she activates Beast Mode on Unit 02. Check out the picture in the description for Slasher Smile in this section. Oddly, her eyes glow green.
• Girly Bruiser: Don't be deceived by all the pink, she is very much capable of instant headshots.
• Good Is Not Soft: When not piloting an Eva, she's one of the nicest characters in the movies.
• Gorgeous Gaijin: She's a part-British girl with a noticeably large bust, her limited screen time in the second movie includes Shinji having his head stuck in her generously sized bosom after a Suggestive Collision and her deliberately bouncing her breasts after getting into her pink plugsuit for the battle against Zeruel, she gets another breast jiggle right after Kaworu dies in the third movie, and she quickly joined Asuka and Rei when it comes to the Evangelion merchandise milking her fanservice potential.
• Gratuitous English: Often speaks out in English while piloting. Justified in that she comes from Nerv's U.S. branch.
• 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.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Very strongly implied. She is remarkably intelligent, perceptive and intuitive. It's shown that she can see people's true intentions, whether they're lying, and can arrive to conclusions faster than other characters.
  • In 3.0+1.0, it's revealed that her real name is Mary Iscariot, strongly hinting she's a descendant of the biblical Judas.
• Hot-Blooded: People are calling her a 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 ape-man from the Wrath circle of Hell.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Or not so innocent, it's hard to tell with her.
• I Work Alone: Lampshaded by Misato. In contrast to Asuka, however, she will not hesitate to cooperate with Rei if it becomes necessary. She ends up as Asuka's frequent partner in 3.0, showing she got over this.
• The Kirk: To Rei's Spock and Asuka's McCoy.
• Last Girl Wins: Out of Shinji's four love interests, Mari, who was introduced into the franchise last and interacted with him the least, is implied to be his lover at the end of the film series, or at least a very good friend who is openly flirtatious with him.
• Marshmallow Hell: After she parachutes onto Shinji, his head ends up in her cleavage. He noticeably appears to have been unable to breathe properly until her breasts were removed from his face.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Asuka eventually comes to call Mari a "Four-Eyed Crony", referring to her penchant for reading books and a peculiarly mature streak that seems to clash with her more upbeat, youthful personality. Given she's as old as Yui, if not older, Asuka's more correct than she ever realized.
  • 3.0+1.0 reveals that Mari's true name is Mary Iscariot. Nor only does it hint to a potential connection to Judas, but it also befits someone who's betrayed those she'd been close with. In this case, Gendo and Fuyutsuki.
    • Mari's actual first name should not be discounted either. Mary is more than likely a direct reference to Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus's followers, who was mentioned more than any of the Apostles and was present for Jesus's Death and Resurrection. Just like Mary Magdalene, Mari was present for Shinji's apparent death at the end of 2.0 and she was the last person there for him at the end of 3.0+1.0.
• Ms. Fanservice: She doesn't get that much fanservice in the movies themselves, at least compared to other characters of both sexes, but she didn't take much time before rising to stand alongside Rei and Asuka when it came to the merchandise ramping the hell out of their fanservice-iness.
• Nice Girl: Her actions toward Shinji in 2.0 seem like this.
  • She's also one of the few characters in 3.0 which doesn't want to kill/use Shinji and be done with him, although this time it's less out of kindness and mainly because she doesn't actually have a problem with the world post-Near Third Impact so long as she still gets to pilot Eva.
• The Nicknamer: Seems to prefer referring to people with nicknames than their real ones, in particular she mockingly calls Asuka "Princess" and Shinji "Puppy-boy."
• Nightmare Fetishist: She seems, uh, awfully fond of LCL. While it remains to be seen what role LCL will play in Rebuild, 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).
• No Name Given: Outside of supplementary materials, her full name is not said in her own debut film (not directly to the viewer, at least - it's extremely difficult to hear, but the support crew does use her full name when they're switching Unit 02's core configuration) with the exception of the credits and preview of 3.0.
• No Sense of Personal Space: To Shinji.
• Not Growing Up Sucks: In 3.0. 3.0+1.0 reveals that this has actually been the case since her first appearance in 2.0. Unlike Asuka, however, she's much less bothered by it, having had her predicament for much longer.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: For all her playfulness, she has a bit of a mature streak befitting someone much older. She's the only one in WILLE that realizes that Gendo had played them out and catches up to what he and SEELE planned to do.
• Oh, Crap!: She realizes what Gendo's plan is and drops the Cloudcuckoolander act for a bit after Eva-13 absorbs Lilith.
• Older Than They Look: She doesn't physically age between 2.0 and 3.0 due to piloting the Evangelion stunting her growth in some way, though she doesn't really make a big deal about it like Asuka does. 3.0+1.0 reveals that she's as old as Yui, if not older.
• Only Sane Woman: Despite her bloodlust, she's the only well-adjusted child in the movies compared to the other four children despite the horrific situation surrounding her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Eva-13 awakens, she actually is worried and doesn't joke around.
  • She calls Asuka by her name, instead of her usual "princess" or "highness," when the former is consumed by Unit-13.
  • Whenever anything to do with Gendo is happening, she noticeably becomes much more dour.
• Parody Sue: One possible interpretation of her name and the unexpected introduction of her character is that she's an allusion to characters created by the fandom, specifically, a generally brave, well-adjusted and sane protagonist of a typical Evangelion Fix Fic. Turns out, determination of The Pollyanna is not enough to turn the plot on its head... and moreover, the movie demonstrates how such Genki Girl demeanor in Evangelion's setting would actually come across as unrealistic and creepy. In other words: She's a Deconstructive Parody of the average Evangelion OC.
• Perverted Sniffing: Subverted/Played with. While she does enjoy the scent of LCL, Shinji's pheromones or some combination thereof and reacts with a blush, checking for residual LCL scent is actually a valid method to spot a fellow EVA pilot, and she seemed completely oblivious to any more sexual implications of her actions and the discomfort/awkwardness this was causing Shinji. Though the ending scene of 3.0+1.0 shows that she genuinely likes his scent.
• Psycho for Hire: When she's piloting an EVA unit.
• Psycho Pink: She wears a pink plugsuit and pilots a pink EVA Unit. She's also the most bloodthirsty and violent of the EVA Pilots.
• Precision F-Strike Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "Just... fucking... die!!"
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Asuka's Blue in combat, and blue to Asuka's red outside of combat, evidenced by her interaction with Shinji just before the showdown in Antarctica.
• Riddle for the Ages: A bunch of her backstory — and particularly an explanation for why she's as old as Yui, if not older — is left completely vague.
• The Rival: Mari's development in 2.0 was intended to make her come across as one for Asuka, to the point of "usurping her" in piloting Unit-02. And then in 3.0, they become this and long-time teammates.
• Shipper on Deck: Seemingly of Shinji/Asuka if her comments on Shinji helping Asuka are anything to go by as she pulls him out of Eva-13.
  • Her conversation with Asuka earlier in the movie has shades of this as well.
  Mari: So how is the puppy boy? Is he obediently staying still?
  Asuka: Nothing has changed about him! He still has that sorry face!
  Mari: Ohh, so you went to see his face?
  Asuka: No!
  • It seems that she may have also been one for Gendo and Yui, back when they were students under Fuyutsuki.
• Slasher Smile: She bears one as she enters Beast Mode inside her Eva in the midst of combat.
• Suggestive Collision: Her first meeting with Shinji was via her parachuting onto his school's rooftop and crashing into him in the process, ending with her on top of him and his head stuck in her chest. Unlike most examples, however, she's completely nonchalant about the whole situation, the only thing making her flustered is when she notices that her glasses had fallen off.
• Transfer Student Uniforms: She wears a different, more conventional school uniform than the Tokyo-3 girls.
• Troll: A lot Mari's interactions with Asuka in 3.0 have her annoying Asuka For the Lulz.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Pre-timeskip. By 3.0 she has become an extremely effective sharpshooter.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Gendo. Just like Kaworu, she seemed to realize what his plan is - and much like Kaworu, she's not pleased to sit around and let it happen.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Apparently with Asuka in 3.0. They have very good teamwork after working together for 14 years, but Asuka constantly belittles Mari as a "four-eyed favorite" and Mari disparages Asuka as a "princess."
• Warrior Therapist: As the only cast member without major psychological issues, she was critical in preventing the other pilots from making the same mistakes as before. It was Mari who urged Asuka and Shinji to untangle their complicated feelings towards each other while serving as the blue oni to Asuka's red. She constantly helped the characters develop and progress, and in a way, she existed partially to help them gain a grip on themselves. In the final film, Shinji ends up with her because she was the fresh start he needed. While both Rei and Asuka symbolized Shinji's need to run back to comfort or throw himself into work (respectively), Mari symbolized his growth from a traumatized young boy to a stable adult.
• We Used to Be Friends: 3.0+1.0 reveals that Mari used to be close to Gendo and Fuyutsuki, alongside Yui. That said, while those ties had already long eroded by the time of 2.0, she still has enough respect for her old professor to sympathize with what he and Gendo are trying to do, even if she'd rather that they don't drag humanity down with them.

Kaworu Nagisa

Kaworu Nagisa

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (JP), Jerry Jewell (EN, 2010-2016), Daman Mills (EN, 2021) Jordi Naro (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01), Sergio Mesa (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22), David Jenner (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 3.33, Amazon Prime dub), Ernesto Lezama (LA), Yuri Chesman (BR)

The time has come, Ikari Shinji-kun. This time, I'll bring you happiness.

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• The Ace: In Shinji's own words "You can do anything!", and indeed, Kaworu proves to be even more talented than he was established to have been. Ultimately subverted in the most brutal way possible, in that during the final battle Kaworu is completely outfoxed by Gendo and is rendered incapable of doing anything to stop Shinji from causing Fourth Impact.
• Adaptational Heroism: There's nary a trace of antagonism found in this particular Kaworu, in stark contrast to the technical villainy and open jerkassery his original television and manga counterparts respectively. It's implied that after several iterations of the cycle, he's genuinely come to be benevolent.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. He retains superhuman abilities in this version, such as walking around without a suit in space or in contaminated zones or using technopathy. However, he sticks to piloting, and never does anything as spectacular as psychically controlling an Evangelion, levitating around or deploying a top tier AT field himself.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Heavily implied to be his central problem. As an Angel, humanity views him as a monster and either shun him out of fear or attempt to control him (the DSS Choker put on Asuka and Mari was originally built for Kaworu). His few "allies" use him as a means to an end and rarely, if ever, interact with him directly. His fast friendship with Shinji is built around the fact that they are the only one the other has, especially in Shinji's case by the time of 3.0.
• All-Powerful Bystander: During the final battle of 3.0, Kaworu does almost nothing beyond talk to himself and freak out while Shinji struggles to fight Asuka. Justified in that he realizes that he has no reason to fight her, unlike Shinji and it's heavily implied that there were greater events taking place at the time that only Kaworu was aware of.
• Ambiguously Gay: Much like in the original series and the manga, Kaworu's feelings toward Shinji are hotly debated by the fanbase. While he never tells Shinji that he loves him in this version, there is a lot of soulmate imagery in the movie and his actions come off as more overtly romantic.
• Ambiguous Situation: In his first appearance in 2.0, he calls Gendo "dad", possibly implying he was created or raised in some way by Gendo in this version, but if this is the case, it is never clarified.
• Anti Anti Christ: Like Shinji, he is manipulated by Gendo to trigger the Fourth Impact, but his personality and religious symbolism is closer to a Messianic Archetype.
• Apocalypse Maiden: As one of the potential Impact Triggers with Shinji.
• Art Evolution: By the time of his "official" debut in 3.0, Kaworu's hair has become shorter and spikier and his features softer and more friendly compared to in the previous movies. Interestingly, his previous appearances had him looking closer to his manga counterpart.
• Ascended Extra: His role is greatly expanded in Rebuild 3.0. compared to the original anime, where he's essentially the main character alongside Shinji.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: In Rebuild he's shown on the moon without a spacesuit. Or any clothing for that matter. 3.0 shows him walking through gale force winds without so much as flinching, even as Shinji tries to keep up wearing a pressurized breathing suit.
• Brutal Honesty: Shinji asked for the truth and Kaworu told him exactly what he did in 2.0. Oh yes, it is brutal.
• Chessmaster Sidekick: Kaworu is clearly both more powerful and aware of the situation than Shinji is, however in their partnership he's more than happy to let Shinji take the lead. This may or may not be due to his well-established goal of bringing Shinji happiness.
• Dark Is Not Evil: This time, despite his rather foreboding appearances in the first two movies and both of his plugsuits being primarily black and purple (featuring the numbers six and thirteen on them), Kaworu proves to be completely well intentioned and very kind to Shinji.
• Death Is Cheap: "We'll meet again, Shinji-kun." Unlike the other angels' deaths, there was no rainbow in Kaworu's demise and a ghostly apparition of him flashes briefly before the Fourth Impact ends. Without bringing up what Kaworu really is, it's obvious it won't be the last time we'll see him. In 3.0+1.0, it's shown that his soul is trapped inside Eva-13.
• Deuteragonist: In 3.0.
• Duet Bonding: He and Shinji become closer through playing piano duets. Justified in that it's clearly the only remotely normal thing in Shinji's life at the time, and is revealed to be a way of subconciously preparing them to pilot EVA-13.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Before Kaworu dies, he gets Eva-13 to impal itself with the Spears of Longinus, which weakens Eva-13 and helps to prevent the Fourth Impact in 3.0.
• Didn't See That Coming: He didn't know that he would be the Thirteenth Angel in Rebuild. He only knew that he was the First.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The first Rebuild movie has him in a scene at the very end.
• Foil: His dynamic with Shinji is played up as this even more than in the original series due to his extended screen time allowing for their differences to become more emphasized.
• Four Is Death: To prevent the Fourth Impact, he performs a Heroic Sacrifice.
• God Was My Copilot: Seems to want to use his power to tip the scales in Shinji's favor. Taken literally later on, in that Kaworu co-pilots EVA-13 with Shinji.
• The Heart: In 3.0 he makes every effort to make Shinji happy and is the only person that doesn't lie or hiss at him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: This time, Kaworu kills himself with Shinji's Explosive Leash in order to prevent Fourth Impact. It weakens Eva-13 enough to make it lose some power and starts falling from the sky, letting Mari ejecting Shinji from Eva-13 to end it completely.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Unlike in the original series, Kaworu and Shinji are presented as a more equal partnership in the Rebuild movies and both are shown to both admire and trust the other tremendously, making them come closer to this than they did in earlier incarnations. If anything, it increases the Ho Yay between them.
• Hope Spot: Kaworu delivers several of these to Shinji. Sadly, as hard as he might have tried, he never lives up to any of them.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Seems to be this way in 3.0.
• Leitmotif: No, not Ode to Joy this time, but Thème Q and its variants (though Ode to Joy does make an appearance.).
• Living Emotional Crutch: Becomes this to Shinji in 3.0. His death sends Shinji over the Despair Event Horizon.
• Love Martyr: Not just for Shinji as a person, but also for how he feels for the lilin that is implied to fear/hate him.
• Magical Barefooter: Is without shoes as well as without a shirt when he is spotted by Fuyutsuki and Gendo in the Moon.
• Messianic Archetype: A crown of thorn analogue, Mark 06 Bible reference, walking on water (the game spin offs of Rebuild), literally carrying Shinji's sin and representing the hope for salvation and redemption. There's a song of Shinji's mindset that compares our protagonist to Judas hilariously.
• Meta Guy: Makes some comments (like the quote above) that imply some knowledge of the series' version of events. It's initially ambiguous whether he's in some sort of "Groundhog Day" Loop or a Fourth-Wall Observer or it's just a metafictional Mythology Gag for the viewer, until 3.0+1.0 reveals it's the first one.
• More Hero than Thou: Shinji regrets this. Deeply. Famously... Famously...
• Mr. Fanservice: Cameos in the first move fully naked, second movie topless and then in the third movie, he gets a shitload of Ho Yay with Shinji as well as far more screen time than he did in the original Anime.
• Mystical White Hair: Downplayed. His hair is more of a grayish color.
• Mysterious Past: He's still as mysterious as ever, though we discover he developed a friendship with Kaji during the timeskip between 2.0 and 3.0.
• Mythology Gag: In reverse. When he contemplates on what are the spears lodged in Lilith before making any action, he stands(?) completely motionless for over a minute, not talking.
• Naked on Arrival: He cameos in the first movie devoid of all clothing. In the next, he adds pants.
• Nice Guy: Ridiculously nice, polite and shown to be very caring. And unlike in the original series, it's genuine from the get-go instead of him Becoming the Mask. This is played up in the game Evangelion: Battlefields, which takes place during the movie continuity, where a lot of his interactions with Shinji are him comforting him.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Downplayed, but still present. He's a lot more respectful of Shinji's personal space this time around, but there are a couple of times he gets closer to Shinji than the latter is (initially) comfortable with.
• Not Quite Dead: While he still dies, it's later revealed that his soul remains trapped inside Unit-13 and because of this, Shinji is still able to revive him in the end.
• Obliviously Evil: He, like Shinji, has no idea he's being manipulated into apocalyptic villainy, though unlike Shinji, he realizes something is wrong.
• Oh, Crap!: In Rebuild 3.0., he has one of these moments when he realizes that he and Shinji have been manipulated into wiping out the rest of humanity. Though he realized when they got there that something was wrong, he was unable to stop Shinji from pulling out the lances.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Kaworu figures out he's been duped by Gendo all along, he has a Heroic BSoD.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted, as he is one of the few people who's actually nice, even after Third Impact.
• Satellite Character: Somehow even more than in the original show despite his screentime being expanded. His sole motivation through the movies revolves around making Shinji happy, and he has almost no other characterization besides that. He also doesn't interact with anyone but Shinji (except in the final scene of 1.0 where he talks to SEELE-01 on the Moon, or in 2.0 when he looks at Gendo from afar). In 3.0 + 1.0, Shinji's wish for a world without Evas finally allowed him to have a life of his own as a normal human.]]
• Screw Destiny: He wanted to go against Gendo's plans for Instrumentality. He failed, because Gendo outgambitted him first.
• Shirtless Scene: In Rebuild 2.0, he gets a brief one on his first appearance, sitting there half naked on the Moon.
• Spared by the Adaptation: By virtue of being Not Quite Dead and having his soul trapped inside Unit-13. Whereas in the original series Kaworu is at most a posthumous apparition during the events of Third Impact and doesn't actually come back, this time around Shinji is able to save his soul and revive him so that he gets to live a normal life in the end.
• Technopath: How he was able to remove the DSS choker, and most probably how he fixed Shinji's SDAT.
• Token Good Teammate: In 3.0 to NERV. We have no reason to doubt that Kaworu was trying to help Shinji.
• Time Abyss: In 3.0+1.0, Kaworu reveals that he's been around for so long that he's lost count of how many iterations of the cycle it's been. By his own admission, only cosmic decay can really kill him, though Shinji's rewriting of reality allows him to finally live as a normal human being.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Shinji, for some as of yet unexplained reason. It's Shinji who (accidentally) betrays Kaworu this time around, not vice-versa.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Gendo, though he's the only one, besides Mari, who realizes it.
• Worf Had the Flu: It is implied through his lines and almost sickly body language that getting "cast down to the thirteenth angel" had some sort of negative effect on Kaworu's powers, thus rendering him incapable of stopping Fourth Impact until it was already well underway.
• You Don't Look Like You: Downplayed. While he’s still recognizable as Kaworu Nagisa that debuted in the original anime, his design has been changed the most of all the Children, featuring a spikier haircut, a different shade of hair color and more "sincere" facials.
• Your Head Asplode: In 3.0, he kills himself with Shinji's Explosive Leash in order to prevent Fourth Impact.

Rei Q / Rei (provisional name) (Spoilers for 3.0)

"Rei Q"

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Brina Palencia (EN, 2016), Amanda Winn-Lee (EN, 2021), Carmen Ambrós (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Joël Mulachs (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Ana Lobo (LA), Priscila Concépcion (BR)

"What is "liked"?"

A different Rei seen in Rebuild 3.0. She's completely emotionless and submissive, lacking the original Rei's hidden caring side. Shinji dislikes her for being so different from "his" Rei, yet so identical in appearance.

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• Be Yourself: Eventually, Rei-Q is told that she should do what she thinks she should, not what the original Rei would do, by Asuka nonetheless.
• Character Development: Very minor towards the end but its a start. 3.0+1.0 has her becoming more open and human as she becomes curious with the world around her. Though she dies early on in 3.0+1.0 due to Clone Degeneration, her interactions with Shinji help in his recovery from Despair Event Horizon.
• Clone Angst: She is one of many clones of Yui and she is constantly compared to the second Rei, the one from the previous two movies. This sends her into an existential crisis.
• Clone Degeneration: She must regularly bathe in LCL otherwise she explodes into a puddle of it, as what happens early on in 3.0+1.0.
• Constantly Curious: She spends most of her screentime in the fourth movie asking questions and learning more about the outside world, which she never got to experience in NERV HQ.
• Decomposite Character: Rei III's story attributes are split between her and the "original" Rei in the Rebuild series, with Rei Q largely taking from Rei III's emptiness after the original's death but coming to grow out of her submissiveness.
• Decoy Protagonist: The first half of 3.0 + 1.0 focuses more on Rei Q than on any other character, including Shinji, implying that she'll become the "new" Rei especially when she starts to assume the Ayanami name. Then she is Killed Off for Real via Clone Degeneration, with the original Rei reclaiming her old role near the end.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Right before dying, she tells Shinji that she likes him, and wishes she could've stayed with him forever.
• Emotionless Girl: Rei Q is mechanical and seems to have less understanding of emotions than even the original Rei. She's even implied to be soulless, or at least that her soul is different than that of a normal human. But is subverted towards the end as she shows visual confusion on Shinji's declarations that she's "not Ayanami" and finds herself wondering just who she is, her confusion becoming more and more apparent as time goes on.
• Extreme Doormat: Rei Q is completely submissive and just follows orders. In fact, she literally won't do anything except wait unless ordered.
• Friend to All Children: She becomes very fond of Toji and Hikari's baby Tsubame, and also gets along well with a little girl she meets in the village. In her final moments of life, Rei-Q even says that she wishes she could've gotten to hold Tsubame more.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Played with; she is not only innocent in the traditional sense, but also because she is almost completely blank compared to the original Rei. Whereas there was an ever growing personality with Rei, Rei Q is back to the first square; as such, her naked encounter with Shinji is not as eventful as the one he had with the original.
• Intergenerational Friendship: While staying in Village 3, she is befriended by a group of old ladies who dote on her.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: She seems to develop an attachment to a cat in Village 3.
• Loss of Identity: Rei Q enters an existential crisis after Shinji refuses to acknowledge her as "his" Ayanami. In 3.0+1.0, after spending more time around normal humans, she develops an identity of her own and asks Shinji to give her a name rather than continue calling her a "lookalike", and by that point, he's okay with calling her "Ayanami" too.
• Meaningful Name: Once Shinji realizes who she really is, the name Rei Ayanami, which is given to her by Shinji, makes even more sense. Because Rei can be interpreted as "nothing", this clone is nothing like Shinji's version of Rei, and is treated as such, just like how all the clones are treated by Gendo when compared to Yui. Hell, Shinji and Kaworu both comment that she has no soul, unlike the Rei that's currently trapped in Unit-01.
• Nice Girl: Just as much as the original Rei Ayanami, this Rei is polite and friendly to those she meets, even if emotionless, as evidenced by her interactions with others in the village, and how she says to Shinji how much she likes him and wanted to spend more time with him.
• No Name Given: Shinji is the only one who calls her "Ayanami" ("Rei" in the English dub), and stops doing it after learning that she's not the same Rei than the one he knew... until 3.0+1.0. Everyone else refers to her by indirect ways, such as "Lilin imitation" (Kaworu), "SEELE's fill-in pilot" (Mari) or "Ayanami Type" (Asuka). The closest she have to an official name, according to the theatrical booklet, is "Tentative Name: Rei Ayanami".
• No Social Skills: Even moreso than the original Rei.
• Our Souls Are Different: One interpretation of Kaworu's comment that the "placement of her soul" is different than of other humans. For another interpretation, see Soulless Shell below.
• Replacement Goldfish: Averted. Shinji proceeds to throw the new Rei clone from 3.0 into an existential crisis by outright telling her that he doesn't consider her "his" Ayanami.
• Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Like the original Rei, she bears this haircut which ironically distinguishes her from the "main" Rei in 3.0 + 0.1, who has grown long hair until Shinji helps her remember herself.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She storms out the moment Asuka tells her to stop wondering what the original Rei would do. Mere seconds later, EVA 02 blows itself up with the Vessel of Adam, who Rei Q was piloting.
• Soulless Shell: Implied by Kaworu to be a soulless entity, while Rei's soul is still stuck in Eva Unit-01.
• Sucksessor: For Shinji.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Twice over. First, she attacks the Wunder fleet and takes Shinji before Wille can bring him up to speed, kicking off a chain of events that leads to him piloting Eva 13 with Kaworu. Then, she decapitates the Mark.06 on Gendo's orders, which frees the 12th Angel, awakens Eva 13 and starts Fourth Impact.
• Walking Spoiler: She is one of many Reis and doesn't do much; still, her presence is enough to sway Shinji away from WILLE.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: She doesn't even know what it means to "like" something.
• What Would X Do?: What would Rei Ayanami do?

NERV Staff

Misato Katsuragi

Misato Katsuragi

Click ^here
to see her post-timeskip.

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (JP), Allison Keith (EN), Carmen Calvell (SP, Selecta Visión dub), María Moscardó (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Yanelly Sandoval (LA, 1.01 and 2.22), Vivian Magos (LA, 3.33), Laurence Bréheret (European French), Priscila Franco (BR)

In the Rebuild movies, she starts as a Lt. Colonel and the Second Impact looks quite different.

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• Anger Born of Worry: This is invoked in 3.0. Misato is too bitter about how horribly her mentorship of Shinji ended to explain anything to him. She won't talk to him, but does want him to be safe and ultimately finds herself unable to kill him when he flees to NERV.
• Anti-Hero: Scales all the way to around Unscrupulous Hero by 3.0.
• The Atoner: For indirectly causing Third Impact, she decides to make amends for these misdeeds by performing a Heroic Sacrifice for Shinji's sake.
• Awful Truth: A part of her knows that she partially influenced Shinji into causing Third Impact. The final film has her accept this.
• Big Good: Despite all the unpleasant things Misato has become, she's still the closest thing in "3.0".
• Broken Bird: Even moreso in Rebuild 3.0. than before. Thanks to being there when Shiji almost caused the Third Impact, feel betrayed by Gendo when she knew his real plan, losing Kaji when the real Third Impact happened and having to leave her son turned her into a more bitter person.
• The Captain: She becomes captain of her own Cool Ship in 3.0.
• Character Development: In 3.0+1.0, she admits responsibility for causing Third Impact and she thanks Shinji for saving the world back then, noting that though Shinji's actions did cost many lives, they might all be dead if he'd done nothing.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Gets really angry when she sees Kaji flirting with Ritsuko. Though, her anger towards him doing that maybe because she knows he is trying to piss her off and she wants him gone.
• Colonel Badass: She starts off as a Lieutenant Colonel before becoming a full Colonel in Rebuild. In 3.0, she gets to be the Captain of a gargantuan flying battleship.
• Curious Qualms of Conscience: Several possible hints in 3.0, her hesitating and ultimately failing to activate Shinji's explosive collar is possibly the most clear example. She fully makes amends with Shinji in 3.0+1.0, allowing him to pilot his EVA one last time and even Taking the Bullet for him when two crewmates rebel against the decision.
• Death Glare: Her default expression as of 3.0. This dissolves over the course of 3.0+1.0. She's all smiles by the time she has her final conversation with Shinji.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Subverted. The circumstances vary, but Rebuild follows the trend of the original manga and The End by having Misato perform one final Heroic Sacrifice for Shinji's sake, and promptly dying in a firey explosion.
• Dirty Business: Ever since the Third Impact all her actions can be seen as ambiguous at best, acting very much as Gendo, but unlike him, she doesn't want to destroy the world. She does what she thinks is necessary, and that includes putting an explosive collar on Shinji, in case he decides to pilot an Evangelion again. When a moment arrives where she can detonate it, she clearly doesn't like the idea.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: Verbally towards Shinji and literally to prevent him from leaving her ship when Rei Q comes to take him away, but when Shinji refuses and she then has no choice, Misato just can't bring herself to do it.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: From long, wavy hair with parted bangs to a strict knot that takes away much of her warmth.
  • Happens again in 3.0 + 1.0. Having finally admitted the she feels guilt for Near 3rd Impact and resolving to to take command of the AAA Wunder to give the final holy spear to Shinji, she removes her cap and her hair tie, returning her hairstyle to what it was years ago, showing that underneath her tough facade, the Misato from 2.0 that fully supported Shinji was still there.
• Fallen Hero: Type A in 3.33. This is ultimately subverted: She still means well and is still fighting for a just cause. But her methods, means and overall attitude are all sour, and she acts similarly to Gendo in some respects. 3.0+1.01 shows her redeeming herself and playing a major part in Shinji's restoration of the world.
• Good Counterpart: After the Time Skip, Misato has become eerily similar to Gendo, but her goals as leader of WILLE are considerably more heroic than his
• Generation Xerox:Much like how her father was responsible for helping bring about Second Impact, Misato's actions were just as much what nearly brought about the Third.
• Heroic Sacrifice: in 3.0+1.0, in order to help Shinji stop Instrumentality, she kamikazes Wunder into Eva Imaginary to create the Lance of Gaius, the spear of will - a spear that would help him to restore the world.
• History Repeats: Just like her own father was towards her, Misato was absent in her son's life partially due to her work.
• Hypocrite: In 3.33, she comes off as disdainful towards Shinji for inadvertently causing Third Impact when he tried to save Rei, in spite of having encouraged him to do exactly that. 3.0+1.01 subverts this by revealing that she feels guilty over her part in the Third Impact and the death of Kaji, and ultimately moves to reconcile with her adopted son.
• I Have No Son!: No biological one, but she is cold and aloof toward Shinji after Third Impact. Fully subverted in 3.0+1.0, where Kensuke tells Shinji that she never really stopped caring about him at all, and she herself confirms this by taking a bullet for him (and her own life shortly after).
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: Downplayed. In 3.0 + 1.0, the audience finds out retroactively she was carrying a child sometime toward the end of the second film. The baby's father dies in a successful attempt to stop the Third Impact, meaning she would have been pregnant as early as Zeruel's attack on NERV.
• Iron Lady: Minor shades in the first two movie, but come the 3rd...
• Just Giving Orders: She appears to blame Shinji for causing Third Impact, even though she's his commanding officer and sent him on the mission where he did this. Subverted in 3.0+1.0, where it's clarified that she's only ever blamed herself for what happened.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Subverted. It's her duty to prevent Fourth Impact and keep an Impact Trigger out of Nerv's hands, but Misato cannot bring herself to kill Shinji. Even while Fourth Impact is going on, she tries to stop Eva 13 directly rather than use the DSS Choker.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Again in 3.0. She genuinely seeks to bring an end to NERV and the whole Instrumentality affair once and for all, but the circumstances, as well as her guilt in encouraging Shinji over Third Impact, force to bury her old personality under a cold, ruthless veneer. That finally breaks in 3.0+1.0, when she finally makes amends with him, and atones for her actions.
• Mirror Character: After the Time Skip, she's become one to Gendo. She leads WILLE which is made up of former NERV members, she's become a stoic Ice Queen, and she hides her expression behind Cool Shades. 3.0 + 1.0 takes it further by revealing she abandoned her son because she wasn't sure how to connect with him, just like how Gendo abandoned Shinji. Her last words are asking for her son's forgiveness, just like how Gendo's final words in The End Of Evangelion were asking for Shinji's.
• Ms. Fanservice: 2.0 has a scene where she gets up in the bath, giving the audience a generous shot of her naked behind. Her previous promises of fanservice seem to have finally been delivered.
• My Greatest Failure: She considered Third Impact to be this. In 3.0+1.0, it's revealed that the reason why she became a hardended stoic was because Ryoji Kaji, her lover whom she was impregnated with, sacrificed himself to stop Third Impact. Because Shinji/Eva 01's ascension destroyed NERV HQ and Tokyo 3, they were left defenceless when Mark.06 took over Lilith and initiated the real Third Impact. Kaji had to die in order to stop an event that she thinks partially happened as a result of her misguided encouragement.
• Necessarily Evil: One way to view her in the 3rd movie due to her sudden change in personality and responsibility.
• Nice Girl: Just like in the TV series, Misato is one of the most friendly and kindhearted characters in the story who always tries her best to look out for Shinji and even Asuka. She becomes colder in the 3rd movie due to the Near Third Impact, but eventually makes up with Shinji at the end, even after taking a bullet for him, and helps support his decision to pilot Unit-01 and fight Gendo.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She urges Shinji to follow his heart at the end of 2.0, inadvertently leading to him kicking off Third Impact. If that weren't bad enough, her harsh attitude towards Shinji leads to the latter being played right into Gendo's hands and causing the Fourth Impact.
• Out-Gambitted: In the beginning of 3.0, she focuses on protecting Unit-01 from NERV while Gendo simply takes Shinji from Wunder back to NERV headquarters. This failure is especially egregious since she and WILLE handed Shinji to him on a silver plater while knowing he could be used as an impact trigger. Also, Gendo predicts her actions exactly and plans accordingly and by the end of 3.0 has played her like a fiddle.
• Parental Abandonment: In a literal sense when it's revealed she had conceived a child with Kaji, and left him behind to put her efforts into defeating NERV.
• Parental Neglect: In a figurative sense when Shinji, her ward, wakes up after 14 years inside EVA-01's core in 3.0, and her behavior toward him is curiously similar to Gendo's.
• Parental Substitute: Just like in the original series, Misato is the closest thing to a mother Shinji has first two movies. She tries hard to be a maternal/big-sister figure to Shinji and to guide him, with limited success. This shows signs of falling apart in 3.0 - she's too consumed by pain at the effects of Third Impact to be anything but cold towards him for his actions (not least because she encouraged him before learning just what he'd bring about). Subverted in 3.0+1.0, which gradually makes clear that she truly views him as a son to protect.
• Pet the Dog: Despite her cold, pragmatic demeanor in 3.0, she still can't bring herself to activate the choker when Eva. Mark 09 takes Shinji from the Wunder. 3.0+1.0 also provides some of these: She doesn't force another collar on Shinji when he gets back to the Wunder and the two have a genuinely warm final conversation that ends in a hug.
• Revenge: She wants to avenge her father, as in the original. Then, the harshness of the post-Impact world did much to cultivate her already present, but moderate Captain-Ahab-tendencies. This is subverted in 3.0+1.0, wherein she was actually working to stop the plans of her father, revealed to be the cultist madman who initiated Second Impact. Her real reason is in order to avenge her lover, Ryoji Kaji, who died stopping Third Impact.
• Revenge Before Reason: Ritsuko calls her out on this during the 8th Angel's attack. After the timeskip, Ritsuko has become her vice-captain and right hand, acting as a voice of reason to balance Misato's impulsiveness.
• Shadow Archetype: Misato was an adult Shinji, which means she becomes another Gendo; she becomes the cold, distant leader of an organization, becomes fiercely dedicated to her work, has a Number Two who serves as their voice of reason, wears face-hiding glasses, become distant parental figures to Shinji/their own child because they see themselves, their lost lenore, and their fears of failure in them.
• She Who Fights Monsters: Misato is the leader of the resistance against NERV in 3.0; after years of near-constant combat, she has gained traits that are much like Gendo Ikari's, the very man she is trying to defeat.
• Slipknot-Hairknot: It comes off when the Wunder is attacked by the Mark 09, but, more realistically, doesn't completely unravel, but just 'decays' into the sideways ponytail it was "made of."
  • Happens again in 3.0+1.0, but this time, her hair fully unravels, returning to her hairstyle from before the timeskip.
• Statuesque Stunner: Stands at 173 cm.
• Take Care of the Kids: Before sacrificing herself, she asks Shinji to take care of her son, Ryoji.
• Taking the Bullet: Just like in End of Evangelion, Misato takes a bullet that was intended for Shinji. Although, she doesn’t die of her injuries this time.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: She takes this trope to a great extent in 3.0 upon meeting Shinji again, although this is later subverted. Although she's bitter towards Shinji, she says she will ensure his safety and ultimately can't bring herself to kill him when given the opportunity. There are also several later scenes that show that she's not as cold as she appears. When unable to reach the Awakened Unit-13, instead of worrying about the world, she explicitly worries about Shinji. This is fully done away with in 3.0+1.0: she doesn't hesitate to tell Midori and Sakura that Shinji doesn't deserve condemnation for his actions and ends her relationship with Shinji on a hug.
• Tragic Mistake: By urging Shinji to follow his heart and rescue Rei, she unintentionally aids the former in instigating Third Impact.
• Tsundere: She has had a longtime on-off relationship with Kaji. She considers him a person that makes her self-destructive and tries to keep away from him as much as she can; the problem is that she turns into jelly when she's with him. Since she insists that she wants nothing to do with him, Kaji has very little qualms in flirting with anyone he comes across, which only serves to incense Misato. Regardless, they never rekindle their relationship in this continuity. However, in 3.0+1.0, it's revealed that not only did they have a child together before Kaji's death, Ritsuko implies that Kaji kept Misato from sacrificing herself to stop Third Impact alongside him because of their relationship and said child.
• The Unfettered: She's mostly become this by 3.0, but not quite to the extent of Gendo. 3.0+1.0, averts this however, revealing that despite her cold veneer and cynicism, she still has lines that she'd never cross.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She sows the seeds for said doom in 2.22 by imploring Shinji to rescue Rei during their battle at the end of the film. Shinji further unleashes the doom by causing Third Impact seconds later; as a result, humanity is driven to near-extinction.
• Unwitting Pawn: She becomes one to Gendo in 2.22 and 3.33, and it implied that she's partially aware of this.
• We Have Reserves: Her 3.0 self. As Asuka puts it, "Prioritize the objective and expede human life is the Captain's Motto after all!" While this is realistic development, it marks a drastic departure from her pre-Time Skip self who was the most likely person to consider human lives, in contrast to Ritsuko or Gendo. Although this is later inferred to be an act that she can't commit to, as she has no problem sparing Shinji's life when he escapes the Wunder, despite the fact that killing him at that moment arguably would've been the more pragmatic and objective focused choice.
• We Used to Be Friends: What ultimately stays Misato's hand. Though he presents a huge danger in NERV's hands and causes two Impacts, Misato still cares about Shinji in some capacity and cannot bring herself to kill him. As of 3.0+1.0, they go back to being friends.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: In 3.0, she's willing to kill Shinji but ultimately can't bring herself to do it, thus showing she hasn't lost her old feelings for him along with her own better judgement.
• You Are What You Hate: She shows anger towards Shinji for almost destroying the planet despite initially encouraging him to do so. When you get right down to it, most of the mistakes Shinji has made have been because she (albeit indirectly) put him in the position to make those mistakes. Shinji is the embodiment of all of her failures. Misato might appear to treat him with disdain but it's likely the person she really hates is herself. She painfully acknowledges this to Shinji in the finale.

Dr. Ritsuko Akagi

Ritsuko Akagi

Click ^here
to see her post-timeskip.

Voiced by: Yuriko Yamaguchi (JP), Colleen Clinkenbeard (EN, 2010-2016), Mary Faber (EN, 2021), Rosa Guillén (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Maribel Pomar (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Maru Guerrero (LA), Silvia Suzy (BR)

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• Adaptational Heroism: By virtue of the movies not really adapting the original series past the fight with Zeruel, and subsequently not her Sanity Slippage, most of her more cruel and morally ambiguous actions, like destroying Rei's backup bodies and taunting Misato over her dissolving family unit, are omitted.
• Adapted Out: Her relationship with Gendo and her issues with her mother are cut from the films.
• Boyish Short Hair: Post-Timeskip. There´s a tradition among Japanese women to cut their hair after a break-up.
• Demoted to Extra: In the first two films, in comparison to the original series. She does have a somewhat expanded role in the third movie, though.
• Foil: In 3.0, out of all people, she becomes the Fuyutsuki to Misato's Gendo.
• Number Two: By the time of 3.0, she serves as Misato's second-in-command in WILLE.
• Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Following the Time Skip that occurs between 2.0 and 3.0.
• Spared by the Adaptation: She was shot and killed by Gendo in End of Evangelion, but in Thrice Upon a Time, she survives when she and the other Wunder crew members evacuate the ship.
• Statuesque Stunner: Stands at 173 cm.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Moreso than in the original. This is further underscored in 3.0+1.0, where she eventually chides Misato for how she's just using her cold veneer to mask her genuine empathy for Shinji, and that her emotions might wind up being the end of them.
• Would Hurt a Child: She is the one who urges Misato to kill Shinji before Nerv can get his hands on him. While this looks utterly monstrous at first, it doesn't seem nearly so when Shinji unleashes Fourth Impact.

Gendo Ikari

Gendo Ikari

Click ^here
to see him post-timeskip and ^here as the Final Angel.

Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki (JP), John Swasey (EN), Joan Massotkleiner (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01 and 2.22), Domenech Farell (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 3.33), Juan Carlos Gustems (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Humberto Solórzano (LA), Fábio Moura (BR)

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• Adaptational Badass: For all of his intelligence and connections, the original Gendo was a Non-Action Big Bad, a fundamentally little man who learned too late that he was dealing with too much for his own good. This Gendo is more successful, acts more proactive, outmaneuvers SEELE completely, and finally fuses with Unit 13 and fights all the cast at once. Furthermore, he actually fights his son to a stalemate in terms of physical combat, and only "loses" after he's talked sense into.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the original series, he treated Shinji with cold distance because he was afraid that he would hurt Shinji if he got too close, not realizing he already was hurting him in the process. In the manga, while he was more of a blatant jerk, he came around to repenting when he died. None of those redeeming qualities are present here. At least not until 3.0+1.01, where something similar to both happens.
• Adaptational Villainy: In a way. By 3.0, he becomes the sole antagonist of the series and a much clearer Starscream, with SEELE's members dying without knowing that he promptly overwrote all of their plans. This contrasts to The End of Evangelion, where SEELE disappear satisfied with the events caused by him.
• Adaptation Name Change: In the series, his birth name was Gendo Rokubungi, and he took on Yui's surname, Ikari, when they got married. In Rebuild, Ikari was always his surname, with Yui's maiden name being Yui Ayanami.
• Archnemesis Dad: He's this to Shinji, and arguably even worse than before.
• The Bad Guy Wins: He accomplishes his goal of finally reuniting with Yui. The good news? He does so without ending the world, saves his son's life, and allows him to recreate the world instead.
• Big Bad: Becomes this at the end of 3.0, thanks to him betraying and killing SEELE-01. 3.0+1.0 goes all in, with him being the Final Boss for the entire franchise.
• The Chessmaster: He's very good at setting people up to act as he needs them and unlike the original series' Gendo, he's willing to even go so far as to make Shinji think he actually wants a relationship with him to further his goals. He cements this in 3.0 when he plays everyone, from SEELE to the resident God in Human Form, Kaworu to get what he wants.
• Dragon-in-Chief: He's employed by SEELE but with all of his scientific knowledge and expert manipulation skills, he's clearly the only reason their goals have any hope of coming to fruition. SEELE is also a group of Dark Lord on Life Support men relying on Gendo or the other branches of NERV to accomplish anything. As a result, he kills them off to take the position of main villain in name, in 3.0.
• Evil Counterpart: To his son. Particularly pronounced in 3.0+1.01, where it's all but outright stated that Shinji would have become Gendo had it not been his effort to make connections with others, and that Gendo distancing himself from his son when he was most vulnerable created many of Shinji's problems.
• Face Death with Dignity: Shinji was going to sacrifice his own life to recreate the world without Evangelions, but Gendo takes his place, allowing him to die with Yui.
• Freudian Excuse: In his childhood he never experienced parental love, causing him to become a miserable loner all of his life, who feared any form of connection and whose only escapism were studying and the piano. That was, until he met Yui, who accepted him for who he was, and introduced him to idea that indeed, human socialization is worthwhile. This was why Yui's death was so devastating to him; he never developed the means to cope with the pain of loss, he never developed the means to move on, hence him becoming an obsessive genocidal monster ready to destroy the world and kill God just to get his reason to live back. Beneath the ruthless and hardened stoicism, he's basically a Yandere Shinji. In the end, surrendering thanks to Shinji's forgiveness and Misato's sacrifice, he even admitted that his own son, whom he rejected yet developed the capacity to move on through his experiences, became the grownup instead of him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: 3.0+1.0 shows just where he came from, and compared to where he ended up, it turns out he was more pitiful than anything. He went from just a depressed and socially-withdrawn young man unsure what to do with his life to one of the world's biggest monsters, all because he wanted to bring his wife back, and rule the world as a God.
• Happily Married: Dramatically deconstructed. Meeting Yui was the first positive emotional connection Gendo had made in his entire life, and his relationship with her helped pull him out of his depression and introversion. Then Yui died, and Gendo was faced with such unbearable emotional agony that he shut himself off from everyone else out of fear of being hurt again and became single-mindedly obsessed with bringing her back, to the point of destroying the world.
• Heel Realization: In 3.0+1.0, just after finishing a grueling battle against his son, Shinji is able to break through to his closed off heart and make him realize that he always had Yui with him all along through their son. This motivates him to pull a Heroic Sacrifice, alongside Yui inside Unit-01, to help Shinji end Instrumentality and reset the universe to a better one without Evangelion out of renewed love for his son.
• Hope Crusher: His killing of Rei in 3.1+1.0 is meant to push Shinji across the Despair Event Horizon. It works, for a while.
• Humanoid Abomination: Is revealed in 3.0+1.0 that he has turned into this at some point during the timeskip, having fused with Nebuchadnezzar's Key to become a hollowed-out being with Angel powers, completely forsaking his humanity in the process.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He acts like a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, as while he is reluctant to bond with his son at first he makes more of an effort to as Rei opens up as a person. The big twist of 2.0 is that Gendo is a villain in all but name. 3.0 backs this up — he was merely getting Shinji and Rei together as part of a plot to awaken Unit-01. By the end of 3.0 + 1.0, it's more clear that he did have a Hidden Heart of Gold anyway, with Shinji getting him to openly admit it.
• Kick the Dog: He breaks Shinji in 3.0 to ensure his goal is fulfilled. Yep, still the same Gendo we know and loathe.
  • Later, in 3.0 + 1.0 he allows Rei Q to dissolve into LCL so that Shinji would feel the same pain he felt losing Yui. While Shinji is deeply distraught, he ends up growing as a result.
• Large Ham: Only in the closing moments of 3.0 + 1.0, to show both he's no longer a Non-Action Big Bad and to serve as further Foil to Shinji's impulsive anger before his Character Development by being just as impulsively driven to see his vision of Instrumentality through.
• Like Father, Like Son: Just like Shinji he (nearly) screws over the safety of the world to get back the one he loves, although unlike Shinji, Gendo is perfectly willing to do it all intentionally if it means bringing Yui back.
• Love Makes You Evil: Yui's "death" clearly did a number on his grasp of morality. He became a genocidal maniac out to remake humanity in his own image.
• Manipulative Bastard: Par the norm, but he establishes himself as being worse than the original in 3.0.
  • In detail: he managed to make Shinji, Kaworu and WILLE to do what he wanted without having to do anything, relying entirely on the fact that the crew of WILLE would be too emotionally damaged to be anything close to civil towards Shinji.
• Mirror Character: What the narrative in 3.0+1.0 boils down to: He was an anti-social introvert for most of his life until Yui came to his life. He becomes a husband and a loving father, but after she passed away, he went back into the man he used to be. He leaves Shinji because he thinks him being around his son would hurt him, not realizing he was already doing it. Shinji ends up developing the same kind of problems he did, and it doesn't take until he starts to talk to Shinji that he realizes what he did wrong. All it took is one conversation with his son is that he's not that different from him, and they mend their broken relationship.
• Non-Action Big Bad: He's neither an Eva pilot nor possessive of expert combat skills like Misato. Instead, Gendo stays in the background and plots to see his schemes come to fruition. Completely demolishes this position by 3.0+1.0, directly possessing Unit-13 to kickstart his version of Instrumentality and fighting the entire cast, Shinji especially, until the very end.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants to forcefully ascend humanity in Instrumentality to create a peaceful utopia, justifying it in the name of peace and equality, a world without rich, poor, discrimination, racism, abuse, pain or sorrow, "a world without hatred". But in the end it's just to get back at Yui.
• One-Way Visor: He has a cybernetic visor installed in his head as of 3.0. It hides the fact that he is essentially a hollowed-out, human-shaped shell.
• Not So Stoic: While confronting Shinji in the Golgotha object Gendo begins breaking down as her frantically searches for his dead Yui, shouting her name and needing the son he pushed away to bring him back from the brink of insanity.
• Pet the Dog: This version of Gendo seems to care considerably more about Rei and Shinji, especially in 2.0. Turns out to be subverted trope by 3.0, where it's shown he only did it to advance his plans. And then Double Subverted in 3.0+1.0, when it turns out he really did love them, but couldn't show it due to his fears, insecurities, and grief. He also ultimately has a Heel Realization after his fight with Shinji, and pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to save him and the world.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: He gives a long one to the whole council of SEELE while Fuyutsuki shuts them down, one by one.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Reveals himself as such to Shinji in 3.0+1.01. He admits his attempts to bring about Instrumentality were all an elaborate plan to return to his beloved Yui, commenting he just wants to hide in the warmth of her breasts.
• Rage Against the Heavens: Wherein he differs with SEELE. While SEELE wanted to use Instrumentality to convert humanity and themselves into a species that possessed the Fruit of Life in exchange of losing the Fruit of Knowledge (a plan that still submitted to God) Gendo hijacked Instrumentality to reach Eva Imaginary, wherein he can make his wish come true: to kill God and unify all of humanity as one, into an unsullied paradise. A Paradise wherein he can rest with Yui in happiness forever.
• Satanic Archetype: He tempts and manipulates people (especially Shinji, and even Kaworu) to get what he wants while they suffer. He brings the Apocalypse, reduces the entire world into a Hellish landscape, and wants to kill/become God in order to take His place. Kaworu even calls him the "Lilin King" and from Jewish mythology, Lilim were demons (Although in the original series, Lilim referred to humanity) The Devil was referred to as King of the World, and Gendo fits that when he takes over the planet in full after killing off SEELE.
• Shadow Archetype: He is in many ways a dark mirror of what Shinji could grow into. This is outright spelled out in 3.0+1.0 when they finally have a heartfelt talk.
• 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: Upon meeting Gendo in 3.0+1.0, Ritsuko immediately shoots him in the head. However, this doesn’t kill him since he has already forsaken his humanity and fused with Nebuchadnezzar's Key to gain Angel powers. He’s even shown picking up pieces of his brain to put back into his head.
• Together in Death: At the end of 3.0+1.01, he and Yui sacrifice themselves to save Shinji and avert Instrumentality. The audience is even shown an image of the two embracing one another as they're impaled by the Spear of Gaius.
• Took a Level in Badass: Not only is he a more successful schemer this time around, Gendo becomes a Humanoid Abomination and pilots Unit 13 and curb-stomps the entire cast sans Shinji, whom he goes toe-to-toe with.
• Transhuman: The actual function of his visor is to hide the fact that he used the Key of Nebuchadnezzar to become an Angelic being.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance:
  • He looks like an older, bearded, angrier version of Shinji, who never found true love. This is especially noticeable when they visit Yui's grave and the two of them have the exact same expression while looking at different directions.
  • In 3.0+1.0, Shinji and Gendo begin to talk after their duel inside the Golgotha Object. During their conversation, shots of a younger, teenage Gendo appear. Though they don't last long, Gendo bears an almost alarming resemblance to Shinji.
• The Unfettered: Just like in the original series. Even moreso, as Gendo willingly throws away his humanity to better access the golgotha object.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: He wanted to create a world free of lies, free of discrimination, racism, betrayal, class conflict and all of humanity's wars.
• Villain's Dying Grace: His decision to stay behind and die with Yui while allowing his son to restore, recreate, and return to the world, instead of remaking it in his own image, or letting his son sacrifice his own life to restore the world, is a sort of redemptive moment after his years of failing Shinji as a father and years of manipulating others.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: As spelled out in 3.0+1.0, beneath all the scheming, he's a pathetic wreck of a human being crumbling under the weight of his own despair at having lost his wife, his first and strongest emotional connection.
• Yandere: What Gendo essentially is. He was a lonely man who loved no one but Yui over all in the world, but when he lost her, he was willing to commit genocide, destroy the entire world and attempt to become a God.

Dr. Kozo Fuyutsuki

Kozo Fuyutsuki

Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa (JP), Kent Williams (EN, 2009-2016), Michael Ross (EN, 2021), Antonio García Moral (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01), Ricky Coello (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22), Santi Lorenz (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 3.33), Jordi Ribes (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Jesse Conde (LA)

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• Adaptational Badass: In the original series, he seemed to be mostly a consultant and never did much of military tasks himself other than serving as Gendo's right hand. The last Rebuild movie turns him downright into The Strategist, being even explicitly described by WILLE as brilliant in this field, and he ultimately trumps Misato herself in battle before Shinji's intervention changes the tide.
• Affably Evil: As much as he wants to save Yui, he honestly would prefer to make Shinji cooperate with him and Gendo than manipulating him into doing so. He also gives clarity to Shinji about what's happened even though it isn't to the advantage of himself or Gendo.
• Anti-Villain: Fuyutsuki isn't so much evil as he is completely amoral. He's aiding Gendo without any of the spite of anger found in the latter but will do anything to see a world where Yui can come back no matter the cost.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Shows signs of this by 3.0. He also wishes to save Yui, but he clearly does not like breaking Shinji the way he did and wants both Shinji and Gendo to interact with each other.
• Break Them by Talking: Does this to Shinji in 3.0.
• Brutal Honesty: He reveals the truth behind Rei, Yui, and what Gendo is willing to do to achieve his goal. Unlike Kaworu this was meant to manipulate Shinji.
• The Chessmaster: Getting much more time in focus than his original, Fuyutsuki is the one who masterminds Shinji's manipulation to see him activate Unit-13 for his and Gendo's plans.
• Death Seeker: Implied by 3.0+1.0. Although the NERV battleships were designed to be unmanned, he still chooses to confront WILLE onboard one of them. He later admits to Mari that doing so was reckless, putting himself on borrowed time before bursting into LCL.
• The Dragon: To Gendo, as his most loyal follower and the only NERV operative to remain with him after the timeskip. Fuyutsuki provides the engineering for their pilotless Eva army and commands them for Gendo when WILLE attacks NERV.
• Dragon with an Agenda: As the films go on, it becomes apparent Fuyutsuki's loyalty is to Yui rather than Gendo. He aids his boss for the chance to see some semblance of the woman he loves being brought back.
• Frontline General: In 3.0+1.0 Fuyutsuki confront the WILLE commanding his Eva Infinity force on a battleship intended to operate unmanned. He admits to Mari he's perhaps wishing to lose his life in the conflict and as a result is directly overseeing the combat up close to respond and direct his machines personally.
• Face Death with Dignity: By 3.0+1.0 Fuyutsuki has become ready to accept any outcome of events and when he's confronted by Mari just calmly reveals the truth to her, leaves the options open so she may beat Gendo and quietly allows himself to be reduced to LCL.
• Graceful Loser: He not only all but concedes defeat to Mari in 3.0+1.0, but goes so far as to hand her everything she needs to help Shinji before his imminent demise, believing that this may be what Yui wanted all along.
• Heel–Face Turn: In 3.0+1.0, Fuyutsuki does not seem to agree with Gendo allowing Rei Q to die in front of Shinji in order to force him to experience the same pain he felt losing Yui. During the final battle, while Fuyutsuki does provide token resistance against WILLE's assault, he ultimately provides Mari with all of the tools she needs to rescue Shinji.
• Kick the Dog: There's no other way to describe how he tells the truth behind Rei and Yui to Shinji to manipulate him. His line afterwards implies he knew this would greatly wound Shinji's mind but he did it anyway.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The main reason he sees through Gendo's plans is for the sake of Yui; he points out that he is there to fulfill Yui's wishes regarding Shinji, which Gendo seems not to take into consideration.
• Manipulative Bastard: Not as much as Gendo, but he also helps manipulate Shinji and helps to break him by revealing the truth behind Yui and Rei.
• My Greatest Failure: It's hinted that he considered himself at fault for failing to prevent Yui's "death."
• Only Sane Man: He's decidedly more measured and sane compared to much of the cast. Even when he and Gendo go rogue, Fuyutsuki remains calm, collected and begrudging towards his boss' more brutal decisions and ultimately chooses to betray Gendo to give mankind hope for a future in a remade reality.
• Secret-Keeper: He's one of the only people left who know of Mari's true identity.
• Smart People Play Chess: Shogi is a hobby of his and he uses it as a means to converse with Shinji.
• The Social Expert: With Gendo's increased brutality and coldness making him more troubled for dealing with Shinji, it ends up being Fuyutsuki who manipulates him into trying to initiate Fourth Impact by playing to his desire to learn the truth.

Ryoji Kaji

Ryoji Kaji

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (JP), J. Michael Tatum (EN, 2011), Sean Burgos (EN, 2021), Eduard Itchart (SP), Luis Tenorio (LA), Fábio Azevedo (BR), Anatole de Bodinat (FR)

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• Ambiguously Bi: Flirts with Shinji, although he might be just teasing him.
• Ambiguous Situation: In the second movie, he clearly works for someone other than NERV, presumably Gendo, and at the same time is implied to be on cahoots with Mari, but his true alignement and loyalties, or lack thereof, are left unclear for the rest of the tetralogy. Ultimately, though, he acts to stop the Third Impact and oppose Gendo.
• Big Good: As the founder of WILLE, it's thanks to him for humanity's continued survival after Third Impact. He is also strongly implied to have helped in swaying Kaworu firmly to humanity's side. That said, considering WILLE's methods after his passing, handing Gendo Nebuchadnezzar's Key knowing it was the key to Human Instrumentality and his failure to actually stop Third Impact, like Misato he was far from ideal.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the original series, Kaji's espionage activities were discovered by SEELE, and he was subsequently cornered and executed by their agents. In Rebuild, he dies in a Heroic Sacrifice to stop the Near Third Impact Shinji unwittingly triggered, leaving WILLE to carry out his will after his passing.
• Engrish: Kaji's attempts to speak to Americans in Rebuild 2.0. Everyone else who speaks English in the film is 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 Narminess of his accent almost completely ruins the tension.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Kaji sacrificed himself to stop Near Third Impact, with Kensuke saying "someone had to be sacrificed to stop it". Why Near Third Impact required a human sacrifice to be stopped or how Kaji did it is unknown.
• Killed Offscreen: Kaji's Heroic Sacrifice is never shown on screen. It is mentioned several times, but we never actually get to see what he did to prevent Third Impact, other than that he probably launched himself in a VTOL. The 3.333 re-release alters the VTOL seen in Terminal Dogma to have the same tail markings as the VTOL he's seen taking off in in 3.0 + 1.0.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Handed Gendo Nebuchadnezzar's Key as means of infilitrating NERV's conspiracy, fully knowing it was what Gendo needed for human instrumentality. To say this was beyond stupid and reckless (indeed, if not for Shinji it would have been fatal for the human race) is putting it mildly.
• Not Quite Dead: His soul is shown in 3.0+1.0 conversing with Kaworu, suggesting to him that they leave the rest up to Shinji.
• Posthumous Character: For the entire back half of the series. He ends up co-founding WILLE and sacrificing his life to stop the Third Impact from completely destroying the world.
• Someone to Remember Him By: Before he died, he got Misato pregnant. The fact that she was expecting is part of the reason why he sacrificed his life to stop the Third Impact instead of letting her die in his place.

Maya Ibuki

Maya Ibuki

Click ^here
to see her post-timeskip.

Voiced by: Miki Nagasawa (JP), Caitlin Glass (EN, 2009-2016), Amy Seeley (EN, 2021), Nuria Trifol (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01 and 2.22, Amazon Prime dub of 3.0+1.0), Ana Valeiras (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 3.33), Nerea Alfonso (SP, Amazon Prime dub from 1.11 to 3.33), Mariana Ortiz (LA), Maria de Fatima Noya (BR)

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• Does Not Like Men: Young men to be specific.
• Eyepatch After Time Skip: A curious inversion of sorts in 3.33. Whereas Misato, Ritsuko, Hyuga, and Aoba's character design have all have seen various minor changes, most prominently all of them looking older to reflect the Time Skip, Maya not only doesn't seem to have aged a day, she even still looks exactly the same as she did pre-timeskip.
• Ironic Echo: Starting in the third movie, her voicing her distaste for young men becomes something of a Running Gag. During the final battle of Thrice Upon a Time, she once again says "This is the problem with young men," only this time it's out of pride when she sees how the crewmen who work under her are willing to risk their lives to help create the Spear of Gaius for Shinji.
• Spared by the Adaptation: She got reduced to LCL in End of Evangelion, but is among the WILLE members who evacuate the Wunder here.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: During the Time Skip, she went from a kind and naive young woman to a harsher and more abrasive officer as part of WILLE. Downplayed in that she's more of Jerk with a Heart of Gold.

Makoto Hyūga

Makoto Hyūga

Voiced by: Hiro Yuki (JP), Mike McFarland (EN, 2009-2016), Joe Fria (EN, 2021), Aleix Estadella (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01 and 3.33, Amazon Prime dub), Ángel de Gracia (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22), Enzo Fortuny (LA), Alfredo Rollo (BR)

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• Spared by the Adaptation: He got reduced to LCL in End of Evangelion, but is among the WILLE members who evacuate the Wunder here.

Shigeru Aoba

Shigeru Aoba

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (JP), Phil Parsons (EN, 2009-2016), Jason C. Lee (EN, 2021), Dani Albiac (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01 and 2.22), Jordi Nogueras (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 3.33), Álex Meseguer (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Héctor Moreno (LA), Wellington de Lima (BR)

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• Spared by the Adaptation: He got reduced to LCL in End of Evangelion, but is among the WILLE members who evacuate the Wunder here.

WILLE Staff (Spoilers)

Sakura Suzuhara

Sakura Suzuhara

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (JP), Felecia Angelle (EN), Ariadna Jiménez (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Carla Mercader (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Susana Romero (LA)

Thank you for being friends with my brother. I'm his younger sister, Sakura.

Click ^here
to see her post-timeskip.

Touji's younger sister. She was injured badly in the first battle between Eva-01 and Sachiel, and is hospitalized for a long period of time as a result. Her injury is what angers Touji about Shinji at first, leading to him punching Shinji out (though she later scolds Touji for this, saying that Shinji protected them all with Eva-01, and didn't deserve that). Later, when Touji is offered to become the pilot of Eva-03, he agrees on the sole condition that she be transferred to NERV's medical facilities for improved treatment.

In Rebuild, her name is revealed to be Sakura, and in 2.0., she is discharged from the hospital shortly before the Eva-03 incident. In 3.0., she appears as an adult, now a Second Lieutenant in WILLE. She is the one responsible for watching over Shinji in the brief time he spends there.

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• Alliterative Name: Sakura Suzuhara.
• Anger Born of Worry: In 4.0, she slaps Shinji for going against her orders not to pilot any more Evas, then breaks down crying.
• Ascended Extra: In 2.0., she goes from The Ghost to The Cameo, and in 3.0., she's an officer for WILLE.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: She gives Shinji the time of day because he was Toji's friend, which is the least she can do considering she's alive because of him (though incidentally also much in spite of him).
• Beware the Nice Ones: She is, for the most part, a Nice Girl who is even willing to show kindness to Shinji in spite of all he’s done. That doesn’t stop her from trying to shoot Shinji to stop him from getting into an Eva.
• Break the Cutie: She goes through this in 3.0+1.0. Initially, she’s merely angry that Shinji went against her orders by getting into an Eva and unleashing Fourth Impact. However, when it's clear that Shinji is going to pilot an Eva again, Sakura tries desperately to shoot Shinji to prevent him from going through with it. It is only after accidentally shooting Misato and realizing Shinji is the only one that can save the world does Sakura fully break down crying.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Reappears as a minor character in 3.0.
• The Ghost: In the original series and manga, but averted in Rebuild. To be precise, she's been mentioned (and not by name) since 1995.
• Nice Girl: Mostly, although like most characters she isn't so nice to Shinji. Even so, she's still the only person in WILLE to treat him with a decent amount of kindness and care during his initial stay with them.
• No Name Given: In all media up until Rebuild.
• She Is All Grown Up: In 3.0. she is at the very least between her late teens to early 20's. She's even older than Shinji and he points out that he thought that she's Toji's older sister.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Her brother was a Jerk Jock with an honest nice side, she, on the other side, well, refer to below.
• Skewed Priorities: Tries to stop Shinji from piloting an EVA at gunpoint, even though at this point it's pretty much the only option left and can hardly make things worse.
• Stepford Smiler: Subverted. She is putting on her best behavior with Shinji because she wants to remember him as the protector of Tokyo-3 and Toji's friend rather than the cause of Near Third Impact and the death of her father. She chooses to try to forgive him and care for him rather than see the worst in him.
• Strong Family Resemblance: A notable aversion. While other related characters in the series have similar character designs (i.e. Shinji actually looking like a perfect blend between his mother and father), Sakura has remarkably little-to-no resemblance to her brother.
• Walking Spoiler: There's no way to justify her appearance in 3.0 without mentioning the 14 year Time Skip.

Sumire Nagara

Sumire Nagara

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Krishna Smitha (EN, 2016), Rebeka Thomas (EN, 2021), Graciela Molina (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Estel Tort (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Karla Vega (LA)

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• Ambiguously Brown: She has a Japanese name, but is significantly darker than the rest of the cast. It's unknown if she's mixed race or just very tan.
• Theme Naming: Like many of the women in Evangelion, her surname is a reference to a Japanese naval vessel.
• Undying Loyalty: When the rest of the Wunder crew is being evacuated before Misato's suicide charge, Sumire tries to get out of her seatbelt to retake her place as the ship's helmswoman. However, Kouji tells her that now their job is to survive, as Misato wants them to live.

Hideki Tama

Hideki Tama

Voiced by: Anri Katsu (JP), Aaron Roberts (EN, 2016), Cesc Martínez (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Masumi Mutsuda (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Hugo Núñez (LA), Fábio Campos (PT-BR)

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• Bookworm: A bunch of books are lying around him in his introduction.

Midori Kitakami

Midori Kitakami

Voiced by: Mariya Ise (JP), Tia Ballard (EN, 2016), Bijou Vann (EN, 2021), Maribel Pomar (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Roser Vilches (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Vanessa Olea (LA), Giulia de Brito (BR)

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• Bratty Half-Pint: Her immaturity compared to the more experienced soldiers is Played for Laughs.
• Kill Him Already!: She's not happy at all when Shinji's brought back to the Wunder, questioning Misato's decision to keep him alive after the Fourth Impact. Her hatred of him ultimately gets the best of her and she tries to kill him herself, only being stopped by Misato using herself as a Human Shield.
• Locked into Strangeness: Her pink hair is revealed to be a result of getting splattered with blood from a Failure of Infinity (one of the headless EVAs spawned by Near-Third Impact) not long after the events of the second film.
• Misplaced Retribution: She blames Shinji for her family's death and tries to kill him alongside Sakura. Unlike the latter, who is very conflicted over doing this, Midori only feels remorse over hurting Misato.
• Relative Button: 3.0+1.0 reveals eventually that she hates Shinji's guts for his involvement in the Near-Third Impact that killed all of her family.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Her remarkably full lips (Sumire is drawn with lips too, but not to this degree) and bright pink hair (Misato might have purple hair, but that could be justified as being stylized black, and Rei might have blue hair, but that was clearly a result of her otherworldly origins), makes her stand out quite a bit.

Other characters

Yui Ikari

Yui Ikari (née Ayanami)

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Stephanie Young (EN, 2009-2016), Amanda Winn-Lee (EN, 2021) Carmen Ambrós (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Ariadna Ollé (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Desirée Sandoval(LA)

Shinji's mother and Gendo's wife. She died before the events of the series.

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• Adaptation Name Change: Her maiden name was Ayanami in Rebuild, whereas in the series it was Ikari all along, and it was rather Gendo (born Gendo Rokubungi) who decided to take on her surname upon their marriage.
• Big Good: Of the franchise as a whole, just like in the original series. As ever, she was always with Shinji, being part of the Unit-01, and was always protecting him from any peril. At the end of the final movie, she sacrifies herself along with Gendo to accomplish Shinji's final wish to reset the world.
• Death by Adaptation: In End of Evangelion Yui's soul survived inside EVA 01 after it was rendered inert, serving as an eternal reminder of mankind's existence. In Thrice Upon a Time, she and Gendo instead sacrifice themselves to destroy all Evangelions and ultimately avert Instrumentality.
• Demoted to Extra: In the original series, Yui was effectively a Minor Major Character whose very substantial influence on and involvement with the plot only became graudually appearent in the latter parts of the series, where it was eventually revealed that she was still very much an active player in the story, despite supposedly being "dead". Conversely, both her presence and importance for the plot of Rebuild instead ends up graudually dropping off as the story progresses. Since Shinji comes to the conclusion that life is worth living, even if you will be hurt, before the final battle this time, she doesn't have a large role to play in the ending. Shinji only gets a look at her without talking before he returns to the real world. The end result is that Yui essentially ends up being treated as an afterthought by Rebuild's story and her influrence remains firmly contained to the backstory.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: It's never been made clear neither in the main series nor in the Rebuild movies why Yui subjected herself to be assimilated into EVA 01, what was her degree of involvement with SEELE or Gendo's agenda, or whether her motivations were egalitarian (though the main impression that the situation gives is that she was genuinely trying to save the world). If Gendo is vague (and that guy is vague), Yui is droves worse.
• The Lost Lenore: To Gendo and Fuyutsuki.
• Mad Scientist: In 3.0 Fuyutsuki reveals that Yui was the one that came up with the entry plug system and she subjected herself to test it, disappearing in the process.
• Maiden Name Debate: Averted with the revelation that her maiden name was Yui Ayanami.
• Mama Bear: She (as EVA 01) goes feral when something threatens Shinji. This comes into collation in 3.0 when Wille is able to procure EVA 01 to power the battleship Wunder by threatening to decapitate Shinji with an explosive DSS choker at the slightest sign of non-cooperation.
• Meaningful Rename: In 3.0, because her maiden name was actually Ayanami, it ties into how Gendo is still obsessed with her through Rei and how the latter is a ghost/shell of her presence that is really nothing like her, as seen in the kanji for Rei's own Meaningful Name above.
• Missing Mom: Similar to the original series, she disappeared years ago and is now inside Unit-01.
• Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: She has pretty much the exact same haircut as Rei.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Partially carried over from the original series, her soul is Eva Unit-01's OS, and is willing to Curb-Stomp Battle anything that threatens her son - however, unlike in the original series, where she is quite explicitly the soul in the Eva, she is now described as the operating system, indicating a very different mechanic for the Eva's operation.
• Together in Death: At the end of Thrice Upon a Time, she and Gendo sacrifice themselves to prevent Shinji from having to do so.

Unidentified woman

Unidentified woman

An anonymous but significant-looking coworker of Yui who appears in a old photo owned by Fuyutsuki.

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• Adaptation Name Change: Being Kyoko would imply her full name is now Kyoko Zeppelin Shikinami, but this is actually anybody's best guess.
• Ambiguous Situation: Her identity. With her long brown hair and red hair clip, she looks enough like a grown-up version of Asuka to be believably the Rebuild version of Kyoko, but as the latter is never clearly seen in the original series and doesn't appear in any other instance of Rebuild, it is impossible to be sure. On the other hand, her red glasses also evoke Mari, who is revealed to have been in college with Gendo and Yui due to the Curse of Eva, but the woman doesn't match Mari's appearance in Gendo's flashbacks, where Mari has the exact same hairstyle and headband as in present time, and doesn't look quite like Mari's adult version as seen in 3.0+1.0's epilogue either. Ultimately, who is she is not revealed.
• Identical Stranger: As compared here◊, her hair shape and style are almost identical to those of Asuka, while her red glasses bring Mari to mind. Interestingly, Shinji doesn't seem to recognize her or find her similar to anyone he knows, or if he does, he doesn't ask about it.
• Minor Major Character: Having a defined character design and visually resembling both Asuka and Mari imply there is something about this character that the viewer should find meaningful, but what exactly is never explained.
• Missing Mom: If she's Kyoko — although with the twist that in this continuity, she would not be Asuka's mother, but presumably the person of which Asuka and the Shikinami line are cloned from, just like the Ayanami line comes from Yui.
• Posthumous Character: Not appearing in the series despite her apparent importance hints this is the case. Even more if she's Kyoko, as Asuka in her childhood flashbacks in 3.0+1.0 certainly doesn't act as if the originator of the Shikinami line was still around.
• Unknown Character: She was clearly an important player in the Evangelion project, given her presence in its brain tank, but nothing is revealed about her. Shinji doesn't comment on her when Fuyutsuki shows him the photo, and Fuyuki doesn't talk about her either.

SEELE

SEELE

SEELE-01 voiced by: Mugihito (JP), Bill Jenkins (EN, 2009-2016), Tom Booker (EN, 2021), Javier Roldán (SP, Selecta Visión dub), Francesc Belda (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Carlos Becerril (LA)

The Omniscient Council of Vagueness behind all the events of Evangelion, and Gendo's superiors.

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• Adaptational Wimp: In the original series, they were The Chessmaster and the events of the show were All According to Plan. Here, they're more of a Non-Action Big Bad and relegate most of the planning to Gendo. They're also eventually usurped by Gendo, something that never happened in the original series.
• The Ageless: Thanks to having given up their physical bodies, they now existed as monoliths.
• All There in the Manual: In this series, he's never referred to by name, and only appears as his monolith, but he's still named Keel (later, Kiel) Lorenz by the credits of 2.0, and is voiced by Keel's seiyu from the original series
• Ancient Astronauts: They were actually Aliens or Advanced Ancient Humans who gave Humanity Civilization, steering them for thousands of years into advancement wherein they have the technology to enact Instrumentality (this show of monoliths giving civilization is also a shoutout to 2001: A Space Odyssey).
• Big Bad Wannabe: Set up as the Big Bad, working from behind the scenes but when Gendo betrays them, they're utterly helpless to stop their former subordinate as he gives all of SEELE a "Reason You Suck" Speech while shutting down all their monoliths.
• Crazy-Prepared: Designed EVA-13 with a dual entry plug system not only to break the seal to Lilith's Chamber, but also to have Shinji as a back-up Impact Trigger in case something happens to Kaworu (or vice-versa). On top of that, they installed a backdoor program in Mark.09 to make it go into Super Mode and hack the AAA Wunder, to prevent WILLE from interfering with Fourth Impact.
• Demoted to Extra: A lot less time is devoted to thei scheming than it was in the show and The End of Evangelion. Mainly because Gendo takes their place as the ultimate antagonist of the story.
• Didn't See That Coming: The only thing they didn't plan was for Kaworu to betray them because the Spear of Cassius in Lilith's Chamber was actually a Longinus (by Gendo's doing somehow), making him unable to repair the world and make Shinji happy and thus forcing him to sacrifice himself to weaken EVA-13 so Mari would stop Fourth Impact.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Begins in their original Big Bad role from the original series, but they're outplayed and thoroughly usurped by Gendo by the end of 3.0.
• Goal-Oriented Evolution: Their actual objective. Beings with the Fruit of Knowledge are inevitably doomed by death, so they plan to enact Instrumentality so that they can sacrifice this in exchange for taking the Angels' place as immortal beings with the Fruit of Life.
• Graceful Loser: Is not remotely upset as Gendo shuts down their monoliths, simply wanting Human Instrumentality to continue on even if he is not the one controlling it.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Of The Voice variety. Unlike the original television series, the members of SEELE are now represented solely by monoliths. The ending of 3.0' all but confirms that they are the Monoliths.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The leader's name was initially spelled "Keel Lorenz" in the closing credits; this is changed to "Kiel" by the second film. This in fact corrects a spelling error carried from the original series, since the German word for "Keel" (The backbone of a boat or ship) is "Kiel", maintaining both the nautical theme in his name and linguistic accuracy.
• Logical Weakness: As living monoliths, they're immortal and can't die by natural causes. And yet they're also completely immobile since their bodies are literally just slabs of stones. This makes killing them as easy as walking into a room and flipping off the power switch.
• Out-Gambitted: Even though Gendo overthrows him and the rest of SEELE, he and the rest of SEELE were still thinking that Gendo was continuing to follow their scenario for Instrumentality for all living beings, killing them as part of the ritual to ascend as beings with the Fruit of Life. He and the others died never realizing that Gendo double-crossed them and set up events so Fourth Impact would be stopped before Instrumentality is set in motion.

Touji Suzuhara

Touji Suzuhara

Click ^here to see him post-timeskip.

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Justin Cook (EN, 2009-2011), Brett Weaver (EN, 2021), Ángel de Gracia (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01), Carlos Lladó (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22, Amazon Prime dub), Jesús Barrero (LA)

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• The Atoner: In Thrice Upon a Time, he claims that he had to do terrible things to survive in the post-apocalyptic Hell the world became during the Time Skip between You Can (Not) Advance and You Can (Not) Redo. He views his work as a doctor as a form of penance, trying to help others as a way of making up for the harm he caused.
• Babies Ever After: 3.0+1.0 reveals not only is he Happily Married with Hikari, but they have a baby named Tsubame.
• Demoted to Extra: His part in the story was given to Asuka in Rebuild, turning him and Kensuke into just Those Two Guys.
  • Subverted in 3.0 + 1.0, with his role being even larger than ever, being a resident of one of the remaining survivor villages, and to boot he is the place's good doctor, and helping the pilots to settle good in a moment of peace.
• Mythology Gag: In Rebuild, 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 mutters, "Damn, I didn't get it." He's talking about a giveaway contest. In the Funimation dub, this becomes "These things never last," turning it into Fauxshadowing. In the Amazon Prime Dub it's now straight up "Man, not this time!"
• Parental Substitute: After the Time Skip Touji gets the weirdly unique job of acting as a father figure to Shinji.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Instead of his Eva being possessed by Bardiel and subsequently getting him badly injured/killed by the Eva-01's dummy system, his place is taken by Asuka.

Kensuke Aida

Kensuke Aida

Click ^here to see him post-timeskip.

Voiced by: Tetsuya Iwanaga (JP), Greg Ayres (EN, 2009-2011), Alejandro Saab (EN, 2021), Carlos Lladó (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01), Óscar Redondo (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22), Claudi Domingo (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Eduardo Aranda (LA), Raphael Rosa Ferreira (BR)

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• Demoted to Extra: The format of the movies left far less time to give his character.
  • Subverted in 3.0 + 1.0, with his role being even larger than ever, being a resident of one of the remaining survivor villages, showing he leads a good life with his survivor training, helping here and there in maintaining of the place, and helping the pilots to settle good in a moment of peace, specially with his new parent role to Asuka.
• Hero of Another Story: Touji mentions in 3.0 + 1.0 that his survavalist knowledge helped him and other survivors cope while looking for shelter when Near Third Impact took place.
• Parental Substitute: In 3.0+1.0, it's revealed that he's become this for Asuka during the timeskip.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Implied to be the case with Asuka. Neither he nor she demonstrate any romantic interest in one another (with Shinji being the only character she admits to feeling anything for), although she does give him a nickname and seems oddly comfortable being around him in varying levels of undress. It's later established that she sees him as something of a parental figure that she never had.

Hikari Horaki

Hikari Horaki

Click ^here to see her post-timeskip.

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Voiced by: Junko Iwao (JP), Leah Clark (EN, 2009-2011), Kimberly Yates (EN, 2021), Carmen Ambrós (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 1.01), Marta Estrada (SP, Selecta Visión dub of 2.22), Laura Monedero (SP, Amazon Prime dub), Desirée Sandoval (LA)

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• Babies Ever After: 3.0+1.0 reveals not only is she Happily Married with Toji, but they have a baby named Tsubame.
• Demoted to Extra: Receives far less screen time than in the original show, where she befriended Asuka and became something of a confidant to her.
  • Subverted in 3.0 + 1.01, with her role being even larger than ever, being a resident of one of the remaining survivor villages, showing her Happily Married with Toji and having children, and helping in Toji's clinic and with the other elder women of the place, and helping the pilots to settle good in a moment of peace, specially with Rei Q.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Has this aesthetic in 3.0+1.01, befitting of her role as a wife and mother.

Pen-Pen

Pen-Pen

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Monica Rial (EN, 2009-2011)

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• Shoo Out the Clowns: As in the original series, he once again becomes less prominent as 2.22 reaches its climax, and he is entirely absent from 3.33. He ends up returning along with a whole bunch of penguins (implied to be his offspring) in 3.0+1.01.
• Team Pet: As usual.

"Ryoji Kaji" (Spoilers for 3.0+1.0)

Ryoji Kaji

Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama (JP), Raúl Rodríguez (SP),

The teenage son of Misato and Kaji who resides in the village.

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• Dead Guy Junior: He's named after his father, who died shortly after the Third Impact.
• History Repeats: One of Ryoji's parents died when he was young and the other was absent from his life due to their own parenting issues and being Married to the Job, similar to his mother Misato and new friend Shinji.
• Morality Pet: Shinji gives Misato a photo of him and Ryoji at the village, which Misato looks at before sacrificing herself.
• Parental Abandonment: Kaji died when Misato was still pregnant with Ryoji or when Ryoji was a baby, and Misato is uninvolved in his life to the point that Ryoji doesn't even know who his parents are.
• Someone to Remember Him By: He's old enough that it's likely Misato was pregnant with him at the end of 2.0 or that he was conceived shortly after, as Kaji died in the Third Impact or its aftermath. Sadly, Misato chose to be absent in his life.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He has Kaji's hair, eyebrows, and jaw, and he has Misato's eyes, nose, mouth, and other facial features.
• Wham Line: "My name is Kaji. Ryoji Kaji. What's your name?", followed by a shot of Ryoji's nametag reading "R. Kaji".

The Angels

The Angels

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• Adaptational Badass: Several of the returning Angels from the original series were reworked and made significantly more dangerous opponents.
  • In Rebuild not only can Ramiel freely shift its form to deal with evolving situations, it can dial up the strength of its particle beam to Wave-Motion Gun levels of power. It also survives being hit with the initial blast from the positron rifle and regenerates the damage, requiring a second shot to put it down for good.
  • Sahaquiel was an Angel that fell to the Earth, got stabbed in the eye and died. Its Rebuild incarnation ends up putting up a much greater fight against the Evas, producing a humanoid form to confront Unit-01 directly and a mobile core that is nigh untouchable, it takes Rei grabbing the core with Unit-00's bare hands before Asuka is able to even hit it.
  • Zeruel was already the most powerful Angel, at least in terms of brute strength, by far and the Rebuild version improves on all of its abilities. In the original series, its beam penetrated fourteen levels of Geofront armor in one blast while this one got through all twenty seven. It also handily defeats an (artifically-induced) berserking Evangelion, something no Angel from the original series has accomplished before, and its AT field proves so powerful Rei couldn't actually get through it on her own and needed support from the damaged Unit 02 to pull off her N² mine Suicide Attack.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Most prominently Sahaquiel, who goes from "bright orange with creepy eye designs" to "pulsating black-striped rainbow."
• Adapted Out: All of the Angels between Ramiel and Bardiel (besides Sahaquiel) and after Zeruel are absent or have their aspects composited into other Angels. The primary exception being Kaworu and possibly the Twelfth Angel, which shares enough traits in form and function that it very could be Armisael.
• Alien Geometries: Ramiel, which reconstructs its body to prepare for various combat events.
• Angelic Abomination: Just like the original series. Then, there's the Wunder, which originally belonged to the Adams and they can override WILLE's control of it.
• Artificial Human: Mark-04A and Mark-04B at the beginning of 3.0. There also appears to be the Nemesis series as a whole. One attacks the Wunder and Misato uses it to test the power of Wunder.
• Composite Character: There are only 13 angels this time around including Kaworu and Lilith, so a few angels are condensed, starting with the second movie - which condenses roughly sixteen episodes of the original series into a two hour film. The unnamed 7th angel condenses Gaghiel and Matarael, while Sandalphon and Israfel are roughly condensed into the battle with Sahaqiuel, as the film's only tag team battle featuring all three original pilots. Bardiel takes on characteristics of Ireul and Arael, while Zeruel takes on characteristics of Leliel, Armisael, and eventually Lilith.
• Disc-One Final Boss : Zeruel is the last angel faced by NERV in Tokyo-3, who in this adaptation also condenses elements from Leliel and Armisael, leaves Mari powerless to defeat it, and devours Rei II whole, fusing with Lilith and beginning Third Impact, but not before Shinji's Unstoppable Rage has a say in the matter!
• Energy Being: The four Giants of Light known as the Adams shown during 2nd Impact.
• Healing Factor: While it is currently a corpse, Lilith's body regenerated its missing legs in the past.
• Holy Halo: Wunder has two and uses them to fly. Both the 3rd Angel and Sachiel also use one when they are floating.
• Knight of Cerebus: Zeruel sends everything From Bad to Worse when it attacks, killing Rei and becoming the catalyst for Third Impact, leaving the world absolutely devastated by the time 3.0 rolls around.
• Losing Your Head: Lilith's head is removed during the timeskip.
• Making a Splash: The Seventh Angel shown after the prologue to 2.22 is able to freeze small areas of seawater to form a walking surface and can attack by generating enormous geysers.
• No Name Given: None of the numbered Angels besides Kaworu and Lilith are named in this continuity, though many of them are close enough to their original counterparts that fans refer to them by the original names out of convenience. Even beyond that, the 3rd, 7th and 12th Angels are distinct enough from any single angel that there's no official name fans can point to to use.
• Power Floats: The 3rd Angel does this in order to escape the base in 2.0. In 3.0, Wunder is not only able to fly itself, but it can make all ships in WILLE's fleet float alongside it.
• Rain of Blood: 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.
  • Lilith's head does this when it explodes in front of Gendo.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The 12th Angel of Rebuild is sealed inside Mark-06 during the timeskip.
• Shaped Like Itself: The Twelfth Angel has a full body core, meaning its entire body is its core. Mark 09 as an Adams' Vessel is also a full body core.
• Stance System: The Rebuild incarnation of Ramiel, while retaining its typical octahedron appearance, is able to modify its shape into new and seemingly spontaneous configurations to adapt its offense and defense to the constantly changing requirements of the battlefield. For example, it turns into a sphere and a set of cuboids in an hourglass formation to fire its cross-shaped beam, then into a massive five-pointed star to use its most powerful attack.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Zeruel appears to do a version of this in Rebuild. After Shinji forces Unit-01 into activation, Zeruel rushes forward and attempts to use its Death Ray that has destroyed everything it has been used on so far, but 01 blocks it with an AT Field without flinching. 01's previously cut off arm then regenerates as pure energy and 01 prepares to use it to blast Zeruel away. Zeruel's reaction to having it pointed in its face before firing is to lean back and whimper.
• Unknown Character: The Eleventh Angel. While nearly every other angel is at least seen or fought, the Eleventh is never even mentioned, making its appearance a complete mystery.
• Tears of Blood: Lilith's head looks as if it's crying with a smile on its face.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Ramiel's energy attack, at its maximum setting, can melt through a mountain.
• White Mask of Doom: Present on nearly every Angel, including Lilith.

The Evangelions

The Evangelions

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• Adaptational Badass: In the series, the Evas essentially do a total of five things: Punch, stab, shoot giant man-made guns, project AT fields, and cause the extinction of humanity. Shinji, of all people, greatly adds to that list by the end of the second movie.
• Arm Cannon: The rebuilt Unit-02 has a fully cybernetic limb that can be swapped out for one of these.
• Attack Drone:
  • The Evangelion Mark.04 series are automated attack units.
  • Unit-13 comes with four RS Hopper drones, capable of generating AT Fields.
  • Eva-44A resemble these, though the presence of AT Fields make it ambiguous whether or not they have souls.
• Badass Cape: Mark.09 has one that also functions as a rocket.
• The Berserker:
  • Downplayed with Unit 01 compared to the original series; it only goes berserk once, during the fight with Sachiel. And while its fight with Zeruel plays out similarly to the original series, with it reactivating after running out of internal power, it's not because it goes berserk, but because it awakens to its true power.
  • Unit 02 is capable of entering a more controlled berserk state, which is used by both Mari and Asuka at various points.
• Convenient Color Change:
  • The green parts on Unit-01 glow red when she enters God Mode in 2.0. Mark.09 turns Red and Black and Evil All Over during 4th Impact to go along with its role as the Vessel of the Adams.
  • Unit 13's green parts also briefly turn red after it eats the Twelfth Angel and right before it enters its fully awakened state.
• Combat Tentacles: Mark.09 is initially equipped with some attached to her jetpack.
  • Eva-4444C also has four, used for movement and grabbing Unit-08.
• Cyber Cyclops: Along with Unit-00, the Mark.09, Mark.10, Mark.11 and Mark.12.
• Demonic Possession: Mark.09 is hijacked by SEELE in order to ensure it fulfils it programming.
• Energy Being: Unit-01 almost becomes one at the end of 02. Eva-13 follows its example in 3.0.
• Eye Beams: Unit-01 gains these when she becomes a Physical God at the end of 2.0, and uses them to pull a Big Damn Heroes at the beginning of 3.0 by dicing up an artificial Angel that was roasting Asuka.
• Extra Eyes: Along with Unit-02, Mark 08, and Eva-13. Mark 09's regrown head also has twelve glowing red eyes.
• Flawed Prototype: Unit-05 is 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 as its mechanical pincers can't hold anything else. On the other hand, Unit 05's ass is a rocket it uses for Flight.
• Flying Saucer: The Mark.04 units consists of a saucer-shaped core block with Evangelion shoulder pylons attached to the outside.
• Four Is Death: Unit-04 took out all of Nevada when its prototype S2 Engine exploded in 2.0, and the Attack Drones that appear after the timeskip are called Evangelion Mark.04s or Evangelion Mark.44s. Taken quite literally with Evangelion Mark.4444C, which is composed of four Evangelions.
• Fusion Dance: The Final teaser at the end of 3.33 features "Unit-08+02", which is formed from parts of Unit-02 being grafted onto a partially repainted Unit 08. It doesn't happen in ''3.0+1.0''.
  • An "overlap" compatibility is mentioned in 3.0+1.0 which implies this and is outright confirmed when Mari causes Unit-08 to undergo a Fusion Dance with Evangelions Mark.09 to Mark.12.
• Gatling Good: Unit-01 uses one in 1.0, and Unit-02 is equipped with one by 3.0+1.0.
• Heroic RRoD: Shinji forces Unit 01 to do this against Zeruel. The consequences are very grave...
• High-Pressure Blood:
  • Zeruel causes this 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.
  • After Zeruel eats most of it, Unit-00's severed lower legs release an impressive spray of blood.
• Healing Factor: Mark-09 grows a new head after it is no longer controlled by Rei Q.
• Hive Mind: Eva-44A are mentioned by Ritsuko to be able to form colonies.
• Holy Halo: Unit-01, Unit-06, Mark.09 and Eva-13 gets two during Fourth Impact.
• Humanoid Abomination: With the "Abomination" part highlighted by Unit-02's Beast Mode and Unit-01's and Eva-13's God Mode. Several of the Evas are also Adams.
• Light Is Not Good: When an Eva becomes a Giant of Light it means an Impact is underway, and that said Eva is also an Adam.
• Lucky Seven: Asuka uses Code 777 to activate the Beast Mode. Less lucky once you decrease every digit by one and realize what it represents...
• Jousting Lance: Unit-05 uses one to pierce AT-Fields. Said lance is actually an "Anti-Angel Extermination Weapon Spear of Longinus Basic Type (Pseudo-Restoration)."
• Living Battery: Eva-01 acts as the Wunder's battery and allows it to fly.
• Living Ship: The Wunder and its sister ships Erlösung, Erbsünde and Gebet have as their source of energy the Evangelion units (it's explicity said that for the Wunder the energy comes from the Eva-1, and before that was the Mark 09).
• Losing Your Head: Mark 09 loses it early on but is still able to function fine during the rest of 3.0. Mark-06 loses its own head thanks to Mark 09 to unleash the Twelfth Angel. Unit 2 bites off Mark 9's regrown head while in Beast Mode, but it regenerates and returns the favor.
• MacGyvering: Both Unit-01 and Unit-08 demonstrate this as WILLE doesn't have the same resources as NERV to keep them well maintained. By 3.0+1.0, both have had their extremities replaced with mechanical parts. Unit-02, in particular, is now mostly machine by the final battle.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Unit 01, Unit-02, Unit-03, Unit-08, Mark.09 and Eva-13 all sport gaping maws full of sharp teeth during their rampages.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous:
  • Unit-03 after Bardiel takes control of it, which grows two extra limbs in 2.0 to hold Eva-01 back as it chokes her.
  • Eva-13 in 3.0 has four arms, making it especially deadly in melee combat.
  • Similar to Unit-03, New Unit-02 develops this in 3.0+1.0 after Asuka unseals remnants the ninth angel in her eye and pumps the unit full of angel blood.
• Panthera Awesome: The rebuilt Unit-02's Beast Mode has a feline appearance, complete with paws, elongated canine teeth, and a tail.
• Power Floats:
  • Mark.06 descends from the moon this way.
  • Unit-01 and Unit-13 both start to hover in their Awakened form.
• Purple Is Powerful: Along with Unit-01, Eva-13 in 3.0.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Eva-13 eyes turn from Gold to Red when Kaworu's controls are shut off.
• Ret-Gone: In 3.0 + 1.0, when Shinji reverts Instrumentality, he wishes for a world without the Evas, effectively erasing them from existence and preventing the events of the series.
• Sealed Badass in a Can: Unit-01 is stuck in a tesseract-shaped cocoon at the beginning of 3.0 and still manages to annihilate an Angel.
• Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Mark.06 is put inside Lilith's headless corpse during the timeskip.
  • Mark.09 is referred to and revealed to be a "Vessel of the Adams", as are Mark.10, Mark.11 and Mark.12
• SkeleBot 9000: Mark.07 has this look, complete with a head that appears to be its exposed skull.
• Sinister Scythe: Mark-09 wields one when assisting Unit-13.
• Sniper Rifle:
  • As in the original, a positron rifle was used by Unit-01 against Ramiel
  • Eva-08 has one as one of its main weapons.
• Super Prototype: The Mark.06, which used to have the potential to become a True Evangelion... until it was turned into the can for the 12th Angel during the timeskip. The 3.0+1.0 preview implies it might be the basis for the local equivalent of the MP Evas, though they never appear in the movie proper.
• Taking You with Me: Asuka does this in 3.0 by having 2.0 detonate in order to destroy the Mark.09. She succeeds and survives along with most of Unit-02.
• Throat Light: Unit-01's mouth glows red during her fight against Zeruel.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Positron Rifle like in the original series.
  • The Eva-4444C is armed with one and, with the support of a horde of Eva-44B, it is capable of unleashing a beam that decimates WILLE's fleet.

Video Games

Kotone Suzunami

^{Click here to see Kotone in her plugsuit}

Voiced by: Megumi Han (JP)

An Evangelion pilot that debuted in the mobile game Evangelion Battlefields.

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• Idol Singer: She has an online streaming career that involves singing and performing original dance choreography, and has earned enough popularity to be titled an "internet idol".
• In-Universe Nickname: Asuka nicknames her Chameleon, mostly because the redhead, true to form since Girlfriend of Steel, catches on immediately to the fact that Kotone is spying on them (albeit unintentionally).
• Naïve Newcomer: She's rather naive, suspecting but not quite realizing that Gendo is using her to spy on the others.
• New Meat: She's a rookie Eva pilot that NERV recently hired from an orphanage.
• Parental Abandonment: Kotone never met either of her parents, though she believes that they're alive and hopes that she'll be able to find them during the course of her duties.
• Plucky Girl: Her sync ratio is really bad, but she keeps trying because she wants to be accepted by the others as a peer, rather than be a burden slowing the others down.
• Shrinking Violet: She's not very confident, and gets submissive very quickly when Asuka displays her usual attitude.

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