History Characters / NeonGenesisEvangelion

* AdaptationDyeJob: While she is a redhead in anime, she is strawberry blonde in the manga. Notably, ''Rebuild'' changes it again, and depicts her with auburn hair.

** Not according to Sadamoto: ''Even though he said "do whatever you want", Kaworu is still very kind to give Shinji his bed."'' Kaworu only lived ''nine days'' in the manga. He was purely innocent, moved by confusion and wish to "understand humans," and finally motivated to be loved by Shinji. Anyway, Kaworu in the Anime was supposed to be the "Perfect Shinji", an "ideal human being", that's as far from villain as it goes.

* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Calmly accepts the CrapsackWorld she lives in and the fact she is a ChildSoldier who has to make a HeroicSacrifice against the ElderitchAbomination. In fact [[DeathSeeker she almost looks forward to it.]]

* GoodIsNotNice: Definitely not. She has no problem telling Asuka and Shinji they suck when the need arises, going as far as slapping Shinji [[WhatTheHellHero when he badmouths his father]]. She also ignores Shinji when he's injured fighting the fifth Angel (seeing it as a attempt to gain sympathy,) essentially blackmails him into piloting by saying she'll fight; and most likely die if he doesn't, and when first meeting Asuka basically says the only way they'll be friends is if she's forced to.

* AccidentalPervert: His first actual conversation with Rei starts with this, and is notable for being one of the first major signs that Rei [[CreepyChild isn't normal]].

* AxCrazy: When sufficiently stressed.

* NiceGuy: He's probably one of the most polite characters in the series, though he does do a handful of unintentionally rude things.

* DefrostingIceQueen: She slowly begins opening up to others, particularly Shinji, and even seeks Touji out when she learns he's a pilot, before hesitating to shoot him when she might have before.

* GoodIsNotNice: She has no problem telling Asuka and Shinji they suck when the need arises, going as far as slapping Shinji [[WhatTheHellHero when he badmouths his father]]. She also ignores Shinji when he's injured fighting the fifth Angel (seeing it as a attempt to gain sympathy,) essentially blackmails him into piloting by saying she'll fight; and most likely die if he doesn't, and when first meeting Asuka basically says the only way they'll be friends is if she's forced to.

* AlphaBitch: In the anime, though not in a vindictive way. She mostly reserves her wrath for Shinji, or for Kensuke and Touji when they act like perverts.

** {{Unscrupulous Hero}}ine
* [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Arrogant Kung Fu Chick]]: She uses her overconfidence and AcePilot status to obfuscate just how ''screwed up'' she is.

* BadassAdorable: Always adorable, but the badass fades as the story progresses.

* BreakTheCutie: Her breaking happened a little later than Shinji's but was much harsher and traumatic.

* BrokenBird: She already qualified for this at the start of the show. This being ''Evangelion'', things go horribly wrong and after the MindRape she was almost completely broken.

* DarkActionGirl: Both in and outside an Eva (manga only) where we see her in action outside of Unit 02, and fits the "dark" part with emphasis.

* DefrostingTheIceQueen: There are shades of this immediately following her treatment. She steadily becomes less and less of a JerkAss to Shinji until finally they have an awkward kiss scene. Unfortunately, then things went south when she interpreted his awkward reaction to the kiss as a rejection. Then her jealousy flares back up once he surpasses her as a pilot, and his relationship with Rei grows warmer. Then came the MindRape...

* HotGirlsAreBitches

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Manga version, post her initial appearance in Volume 4.

* TheSnarkKnight

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Kaworu's morality and intentions are one of the most hotly debated topics of the series, it is important to note that, without going any deeper Kaworu's most likely BlueAndOrangeMorality makes it so that defining him as something so broad as "Good" or "Evil" is pretty much impossible.

* NiceGuy: Ignoring AlternateCharacterInterpretation, Kaworu is easily the kindest person Shinji meets in the entire series.

* GoodBadGirl

* SmokingHotSex

* {{Tsundere}}: Type A towards Kaji.

* HiddenHeartOfGold: She expresses displeasure at coming over to visit Misato, but does it anyway, and eats with her, Shinji, and Pen Pen.

* AntiVillain: Arguably, a [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned]] type.

* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Gendo was a pretty epic DeadpanSnarker back in the day, as shown in the flashback episode, but when Yui died she apparently took his funny bone with her.

Ponytailed, PermaStubble-ed, confident, and charismatic, Kaji is half JamesBond and half HandsomeLech -- and he switches back and forth frequently and without warning. Exactly ''whose'' side he's on in the [[GambitPileup wheels-within-wheels]] world of ''Evangelion'' is almost impossible to determine. He seems to be a DoubleAgent at the very least; he may even be working for more than two powerful entities, although his own personal drive to know the truth of Second Impact, the Eva project, and the rest of SEELE and NERV's secrets are his truest motivation.

He and Misato were lovers in college, but by the start of the series have been broken up for several years. Asuka [[ClingyJealousGirl has a crush on him]] and is [[TheGlomp anything but subtle about it]], but to his credit [[ChivalrousPervert he does not take her up on her premature offers]]. It doesn't help that, in some continuities, he's strongly hinted [[{{Squick}} to have been her guardian after her mother's death]]. Much to Misato's chagrin, Kaji flirts with several of the female staff, including Ritsuko and Maya. As the series progresses, Kaji and Misato renew their stormy relationship, and Kaji briefly [[BigBrotherMentor becomes more of a father to Shinji]] than Gendō ever was. Tragically, he digs too deep when he rescues Fuyutsuki from SEELE after they kidnapped the old man shortly after the 14th Angel. SEELE (or NERV) responds by having him assassinated.

* AntiHero

* TheCasanova[=/=]CasanovaWannabe[=/=]TheCharmer[=/=]ChivalrousPervert[=/=]HandsomeLech: Take your pick; however, at least some of this is an act.

** JerkWithAHeartOfGold[=/=]JerkassFacade: As the show goes on.

!!!Voiced by: AkiraIshida (JP), Kyle Sturdivant (EN, series), GregAyres (Director's Cut), Aaron Krohn (Movies), Ernesto Lezama (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Edson Matus (Latin-American Spanish, second dub), Jordi Pons (Spanish), Jordi Naro (Spanish, ''You Are (Not) Alone''), Sergio Mesa (Spanish, ''You Can (Not) Advance'')

* TheOtherDarrin: An eerie case. GregAyres had a role in the original series as Kaworu Nagisa as well!

A geeky, bespectacled computer technician in the command center; he is in love with Misato Katsuragi but is too shy to approach her. She is aware of his feelings and feels no shame about manipulating him to gain information (or to do her laundry), but otherwise she sees him as a friend and contact.

* CrossDressingVoices: Only in the original Japanese. SpikeSpencer voices him in the English dub.

** Or a [[VideoGame/{{Disgaea}} loli-cious demon]], and also a powerful, [[PaperFanOfDoom fan-wielding]], [[PlayingWithFire fire-spell casting]] [[{{Persona 4}} high school student]]. One of the two.

!!!Voiced by: TomokazuSeki (JP), Joe Pisano (EN, eps 3-18), Michael O'Connor (19-20), Brett Weaver (21-26, ''Death and Rebirth'', ''End of Evangelion''), Enrique Medeiros (Latin-American Spanish, first dub), Luis Daniel Ramirez (Latin-American Spanish, second dub), Ángel de Gracia (Spanish)... whew!

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Practically the walking [[IncrediblyLamePun embodiment]] of it. Most of all, with Shinji.

!!!Voiced by: Hiro Yuuki (JP), Matt Greenfield (EN, TV/Director's Cuts), Jason C. Lee & TaliesinJaffe (EN, movies)

* DreadfulMusician: He considers himself as such, but is actually a pretty decent cello player. Case in point: he can play the prelude to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIzKdmDxdD0 Bach's Cello Suite No. 1]], a piece known for requiring a considerable amount of skill, very well. Even ''Asuka'' is impressed.

* LuminescentBlush: Displays this a few times when Shinji is particularly kind to her.

** Ireul (Hebrew Yireuel, "Fear of God") is the angel of terror (the first Angel to penetrate almost every line of defense in the GeoFront, reached closer to Terminal Dogma than any other Angel save Tabris, hacked its way into NERV's database and the MAGI supercomputers with astonishing ease and speed, and was a fraction of a second away from activating NERV's self-destruct system).

** MindRape: ...Arael, the TropeNamer.

* OddOneOut
** Sandalphon is the only one of Adam's Children (minus Tabris) to have his/her name end in "-el" or "-ul."

** The anime pretty heavily implies that Kaworu is the only relationship of Shinji's that has any chance of being functional. Reinforced in ''End'' when Kaworu is the only person that Shinji's happy to see.

* IfItsYouItsOkay: Possibly towards Kaworu. Shinji is most likely straight considering how he expresses attraction to Misato, Asuka, and Rei. However, in the manga at one point he thinks "I was attracted to him (Kaworu) even though I knew I shouldn't like a boy like that." The most [[{{WMG}} common fan theories]] are that [[BiTheWay he's either Bi]] or [[IJustWantToBeLoved just starving for affection]].

* {{Anti-Hero}}

* {{Badass Labcoat}}

* AmbiguouslyBi: Is explicitly attracted to Asuka, Rei and Misato but also has buckets of HoYay with Kaworu which makes it hard to determine his sexual orientation.

** In the manga Shinji is unambiguously attracted to Kaworu with [[http://avocado-slice.tumblr.com/post/50188846866/can-we-start-this-interview-with-the-secret Sadamoto]] stating that Kaworu was the only exception to a no romance rule. Combined with Shinji showing less reaction to girls than in the anime, his attraction to girls is left ambiguous.

* {{Anti-Hero}}ine

* HalfHumanHybrid: A clone of Ikari's mother and Lilith.