Shinji Ikari - While still an infant, Shinji witnessed the death of his mother, Yui Ikari, during an experiment for the Evangelion project. After her death, he was abandoned by his father, Gendo Ikari, and found himself in the care of his teacher. These losses left him emotionally uncertain, insecure, and frightened of himself and his world. At the age of fourteen, Shinji was summoned by his father to become the third Evangelion pilot(The Third Child). He always keeps a quiet and withdrawn demeanor, but he's very gentle and caring inside. However he's introverted, and often awkward in expressing himself and communicating with others. Shinji is usually reluctant to fulfill his role as the pilot of Eva Unit 01, probably because he's had many horrendous experiences in it. As the son of the most powerful man in the world, Shinji is a boy lost in loneliness. But he finds reasons to continue being an Eva pilot, such as protecting others and gaining praise and respect from his father.

Rei Ayanami - A stoic young girl of fourteen, Rei was the first individual(The First Child) chosen for participation in the Evangelion project and is the pilot of prototype Eva Unit 00. Her resemblance to Yui Ikari is due to the fact that her body was partially created from the salvaged remains of Yui after her death during an early Eva project experiment. She has died twice, only to have her soul re-installed in a clone body created for this purpose. Enigmatic, isolated and yet strangely gentle, Rei is the product if one man's struggle to govern the evolution of his species. Rei embraces his cause, and the man, Gendo Ikari, as the validation for her existence. But the knowledge that she is a substitute for something, for someone, whispers to her from the void of her missing soul. She is the First Child - the future incarnate.

Askua Langley Sorhyu - Asuka, the pilot of Eva Unit 02, was the second indivudual(The Second Child) chosen to operate an Eva. Her mother, Sorhyu Kyoko Zeppelin, suffered a complete mental collapse after an accident during an experiment. Feeling that her husband didn't care for her, and guilt that she hadn't been a good mother to Asuka, her hold on reality became lost, and she mistakenly believed that the rag doll she clutched to her breast to be Asuka - often calling it by name. Her decent into insanity, and subsequent suicide left deep emotional scars on Asuka. Because of her mother's severe mental illness and suicide, and her father's ensuing abandonment, Asuka developed an extremely independent and driven personality - one that resulted in her graduation from college at the age of fourteen, as well as her agressive and competative relationship with Shinji and Rei. Being 3/4ths German, Asuka finds certain Japanese customs quite irritating, such as sleeping on the floor and sliding doors without locks.

Asuka is a troubled girl whose flaming red hair is a sign of her burning anger. But her explosive emotional character masks an internal fragility. The ghosts of her past haunt her, driving her from the silence of memory into the raging turmoil of the present. With Eva Unit 02, she fights to quiet the voices.

Misato Katsuragi - Responsible for the strategic command of the Evas, NERV's Operations Cheif Misato Katsuragi is a vibrant soul. As a child, she despised her father for constantly abandoning her and her mother. But when she accompanied her father's Antartica research expedition, which resulted in the cataclysm known as Second Impact, Misato was saved by her father and was the expedition's sole survivor. The horror that she saw during Second Impact left her mute for a few years. During college, she became good friends with Ritsuko and fell in love with Kaji. Drinking and making love with Kaji may show Misato's dirty and indulgent side, but she's a competent commander and has a really good and caring heart. She shares an apartment with Shinji and Asuka and acts as their guardian.

Misato wages a private war on doubt and terror. To give herself a set goal, she swore to avengence herself against the Angels. In the awful confusion of the battles against them, she is NERV's unsung weapon. It is her courage, her sense of duty, and, ultimately, her humanity that holds together the battered minds and souls that defend mankind.

Gendo Ikari - Gendo is Shinji's father and commander of NERV. Prior to his appointment he was the Chief of Research at the U.N Artificial Evolution Labratories. Upon the death of his wife Yui, Gendo completely devoted himself to the Human Instrumentality Project - a plan to force the next step in human evolution using knowledge gained from the Angels. Though the project has the support of SEELE, Gendo's motives for pursuing it are different from SEELE's. His relationship with Shinji is extremely strained and formal, and the two have shared only a handful of words since their reunion.

Gendo is one man at war with God. His heart is a vacuum inhospitiable to the humanity he drives methodically from those around him. Divine judgement is at hand, and the visionary Gendo will not rest until man is no longer subject to Sacred Law. NERV is the club in his raised fist.

Pen Pen - Pen Pen is an unusual breed of Erect-Crested "hot water spring" penguin with enhanced intelligence, genetically adapted to warm water activity. He lives in Misato's apartment in a specially made cooler unit(that looks like a refrigerator), complete with a light that stays on while the door is closed. Pen Pen was part of an experiment at Misato's last place of employment, but when the experiment was concluded, Misato decided to take him home with her. Pen Pen has a habit of drinking beer with his meals - a predilection that may have been learned from his owner. He rivals Misato not only in his capacity to eat curry and drink beer, but possibly also in intelligence! One always has the feeling that Pen Pen knows more about the Angels and what's going on than any penguin has the right to know!

Ritsuko Akagi - The 30 year old Ritsuko is the daughter of Dr. Naoko Akagi - the creator of the Magi super-computer that serves as the brain of NERV and bears her transplanted personality within its operating system. The three parts of the Magi represent three facets of Dr. Akagi's life: herself as a mother, herself as a scientist, and herself as a woman.

Ritsuko is the head of the Evangelion project for NERV and is an accomplished scientist. Like her now deceased mother, she has been romantically involved with NERV's commander, Gendo Ikari. She has also been good friends with Misato since the two met in college.

Maintaining the facade of a cold and cynical scientist, Ritsuko seeks to compartmentalize, classify and dismiss emotions that frighten her and threaten to shatter her self-image. As the daughter of a brilliant scientist, Ritsuko vies with the ghost of her mother in a never-ending battle - a battle she cannot and will never confess. Misato once said of Ritsuko; she "uses cats to fill the gaps in her own life."

Kaji Ryoji - Although employed in the Special Inspections Division of NERV, Kaji was secretly spying on NERV's operations for the SEELE organization at the same time - a positon that resulted in his murder. The results of his investigation were entrusted to his lover Misato, with whom he shares a complex and somewhat turbulent history. He was also responsible for transporting the Adam embryo from Germany to Japan.

Though he acts as a double agent, Kaji doesn't belong to any single organization but works to serve his own ends. However, he has an unquenchable thirst for the truth. He respects and honors those who are willing to fight for their own futures. Where is the truth that he's looking for? And, when he finally finds it, will his thirst for answers be sated at last?

Toji Suzuhara - At times a bit of a hot-head, Toji is one of Shinji's classmates and is frequently seen in the company of Kensuke. Toji initially blamed Shinji and the Evangelions for the critical injury which befel his younger sister during the third Angel's attack. However, after he witnessed the turmoil that Shinji goes through while piloting, they became close friends. Perhaps in order to ensure top quality medical attention for his sister, Toji became the pilot of Eva Unit 03. Unfortunately, the thirteenth Angel invaded and took over Toji's Eva, which had to be destroyed by Unit 01. Toji survived the destruction of Unit 03, though he was severly wounded in the attack.

Brash and self-confident, Toji would be a perfect match for Asuka if they didn't hate each other so much! It is hard to say who was most surprised when Toji was chosen to be the Fourth Child.

Kensuke Aida - Kensuke is in the same school class as the Evangelion pilots and is best friends with Toji. He is enarmored with all manner of military hardware and knowledge. He was overjoyed by the chance to join Shinji on the deck of a U.N aircraft carrier while the fleet was transporting Eva Unit 02 to Neo Tokyo-3. Though he is one of Shinji's closest friends, Kensuke cannot understand Shinji's reluctance to pilot an advanced weapon like Eva Unit 01.

From giant mecha combat to daring covert operations, Kensuke's imagination is a playground like no other. To the outside world though, he's an average boy, perhaps a bit more perceptive than his classmates, but simply average. With the dramatic arrival of the Angels, the outside world begins to look a lot more like Kensuke's dreams, and piloting an Eva becomes the boy's one desire.

Hikari Horaki - Hikari is a bright, intelligent girl in the same school class as the Evangelion pilots. Despite her bossy nature and self-assurance as Class Representative, she is shy and uncertain when it comes to dealing with her feelings for Toji, whom she has a crush on. After Asuka's arrival in Tokyo-3, they became close friends and routinely gang up on Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke, whom they call the "Three Stooges."

The Neon Genesis Story | Weapons Systems | Technical Details | Cast of Characters | EVA's | Angels