Neon Genesis Evangelion has been a cornerstone of the anime media empire since it was first released in the 1990s. Twenty years later, a whole new generation of fans has discovered the infamous anime that gave viewers all the mind-bending and body horror even the most hardcore otaku could appreciate. The recent release of the last film in the recent trilogy has spurred yet another Evangelion Renaissance, with modern anime now complementing an equally complex storyline.
One of the most appealing features of the show is the characters themselves, which seems odd given the special effects, convoluted storyline, and many subverted expectations that overshadow more conventional parts of the show. Asuka is the Eva pilot of the fearsome Unit 002 and she's often the face of the series on merchandise and publicity. As one of the anime world's most endearing and memorable tsundere anime characters, there are a lot of other things about Asuka Langley Sohryu that make her great.
6 Speaks Several Languages
It's actually hard to pin down how many, given her nationality and upbringing. Asuka was born and raised in Germany, where Unit 002 was built, but her official nationality is American, so it's assumed that she speaks English even though the audience only sees her speak German and Japanese.
When Asuka and Shinji decide to take Unit 002 out for a spin in the same episode that introduces her, they initially try to speak German to Eva, but this fails because Shinji can't speak German. Unit 002 won't work unless everyone in the cockpit is speaking the same language, so she changes the input to Japanese, and they're off to fight the weekly monster.
5 Has A University Degree
When Asuka is first introduced on the show, she's 14 years old, the standard age for an Eva pilot. By that time she already has a university degree, acquired during her training, and enrolling in Shinji's middle school was actually a downgrade for her. It's never specified what subject she studied, but there are hints that it was something related to math or engineering.
Shinji finds out that Asuka has already studied some advanced math formulas, mainly because she helps him with his homework. She explains it's a subject that she's already studied at the post-secondary level, and the only reason she scored low on the school placement test was that she had trouble understanding the Japanese instructions. They were written in kanji characters, and although she could speak Japanese fluently, it wasn't as easy for her to write or read.
4 A Complex Character
Without giving away any spoilers, Asuka isn't just a child prodigy. She's also a survivor of some gruesome childhood trauma which includes a caring but aloof stepmother who never bonded with her. They're on friendly terms, as an amicable telephone conversation with her during an episode of the original show suggests, but the superficial tone explains the relationship isn't a close one.
Unlike Shinji and Ayanami, Asuka was chosen as an Eva pilot when she was only four years old. It's impressive to think that she's been training for her whole life with little personal guidance, which might explain some of the more selfish or aggressive aspects of her personality. This also explains why her failure to synch up with the Eva later in the series is so devastating to her pysche because it's something she's been able to do since early childhood.
3 Her Manga Incarnation Is A Martial Arts Master
The introduction of Asuka in the anime happens on an aircraft carrier that's transporting Unit 002 to Japan from Europe, and Misato already knows her, so there's no mystery about her identity to Shinji. In the manga, however, he meets her in an arcade after she single-handedly beats down a gang of thugs.
Shinji doesn't know who she is until they meet at school later that afternoon when her true identity is revealed. There is a similar scene in the anime when Asuka appears in Shinji's class, but he's only surprised that she's in the same school and already knows who she is. It's assumed that Asuka has martial arts training in the anime too, but it's only in the manga that she actually shows it.
2 Anno's Favorite
Hideaki Anno, the director of the series, had something to do with her design on-screen and the way the character was presented to the audience. Perhaps not this prolific director's favorite character of all time, but certainly the one from this show. Asuka's signature line to Shinji, translated in English as "What are you, stupid?" was his idea, and he thought it brought her character to life.
Anno confessed that he liked Asuka because she was "cute" but also described her as a strong woman. He likened her more to Misato than Rei, both important women in the series but with very different personalities.
1 Named After Two Aircraft Carriers
Both of Asuka's surnames, Langley and Sohryu, are taken from early incarnations of aircraft carriers. The USS Langely dates from 1920 and started out as a converted cargo barge, and wasn't just the Navy's first aircraft carrier but also their first turbo-electric powered ship. The ship itself was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American anstronomer and physicist who also made strides in the field of aviation.
The Sōryū, which means Green or Blue Dragon in English, was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was launched in 1935 and had a long and notorious history in the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific theater of World War 2 until it was scuttled during the Battle of Midway in June of 1942.