Asuka Shikinami Langley
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| Asuka Shikinami Langley | |
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| 式波・アスカ・ラングレー | |
| Rank / Title | Second Girl; Captain (of the European Airforce) |
|---|---|
| Affiliation(s) | Nerv |
| National Heritage | Germany is her country of origin, according to the official website. [1] |
| Seiyū | Yuko Miyamura |
| Voice Actor | English: Tiffany Grant |
Asuka Shikinami Langley (式波・アスカ・ラングレー) debuts in Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance as designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-02 and Captain of the European Air Force. While adapted from Asuka Langley Soryu of the original series, her Japanese surname is different, and as a character she is different in many ways.
Profile
Her appearance is essentially unchanged from the TV series (although her haircolor is auburn brown instead of red), but her character and personality are noticeably different. Most notably, she talks to and plays with a hand puppet (while Asuka Soryu had a deep hatred of dolls) when in low spirits (her first night at Misato's). She's even seen cooking to try to impress Shinji after learning of Rei's dinner party plans for Gendo and Shinji. She does not express any interest in Kaji and becomes jealous when Shinji pays attention to Rei.
Asuka is once shown in this continuity eating lunch with Hikari, but does not become good friends with the class representative. Shikinami is also shown to be a loner, playing her Wonderswan game console to block out the world similarly to Shinji's use of his SDAT.
She considers both Rei and Shinji to be rivals in Eva piloting (additionally, Rei as a romantic rival, although Rei makes no acknowledgment of this), but gradually warms up to them over the course of the film. In Shinji's case, Asuka allows Shinji to call her by her first name (although she refers to him "stupid Shinji" in place of "Daddy's boy"). In Rei's case (who Shikinami refers to as "Commander's pet" during the film), Asuka decides to be the test pilot for the ill-fated Eva-03 so Rei can hold her dinner party in an effort to bring Shinji and Gendo closer.
Asuka eventually confides in Misato that she's never needed friends and prefers being alone. But, through her interactions with the others, she's started to realize that being with people is a good thing. Upon sitting in the Eva-03 entry plug during the start-up sequence, Asuka realizes that she's smiling. The 9th Angel proceeds to infect Eva-03 and is ripped apart by the Dummy System controlled Eva-01. Eva-03's entry plug is crushed in Eva-01's mouth. Asuka is later seen still alive and under heavy life support; Ritsuko calls her a "valuable sample". However, Shinji is too angered over Gendo's decision of using the Dummy Plug to hear about her condition (and Rei's) from Misato before he temporarily quits Nerv.
Asuka's fate at the end of the movie is unknown, although the preview for 3.0 implies that she will return, with an eyepatch over her left eye.
Production History
Evangelion 2.0 Complete Records Collection states that Asuka being the pilot of Eva-03 was planned early on. There were various storyboards of her fate (such as Kaworu's voice speaking to Asuka as her face peels away inside the 9th Angel/Eva-03, as well as a scene of Shinji reacting to her removal from the entry plug) that were ultimately unused.
Another unused concept was Asuka sitting unconscious in the Eva-02 entry plug during the 10th Angel battle instead of Mari's hijacking Eva-02.
Anno made a note for Asuka to have a "cat-like smile" for her appearance in the 3.0 Preview.
Name
The Shikinami is a World War II era Japanese destroyer whose name literally means "Spreading Waves" (it is pronounced "Shkee-nami" instead of "Sheeky-nami").
It is unknown why Asuka's Japanese surname was changed from Soryu to Shikinami for the new movie adaptation; Yuko Miyamura has stated that it is a secret.[Source needed] [[2]] Miyamura also stated that Shikinami is played as a different character from Asuka Soryu. Given that the newly introduced character Mari has the Japanese surname Makinami, and the other female Eva pilot is Rei Ayanami, the change to Shikinami establishes the three female pilots as a triad. It remains to be seen if this theme naming implies a more significant in-universe connection between Rei, Asuka, and Mari or not.
| Characters |
| Main characters: Shinji Ikari | Rei Ayanami | Asuka Langley Soryu |
| Nerv staff: Misato Katsuragi | Gendo Ikari | Ritsuko Akagi | Kozo Fuyutsuki | Ryoji Kaji | Maya Ibuki | Makoto Hyuga | Shigeru Aoba |
| Classmates: Toji Suzuhara | Kensuke Aida | Hikari Horaki |
| Other characters: Kaworu Nagisa | Yui Ikari | Naoko Akagi | Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | Dr. Katsuragi | Mr. Langley | Keel Lorenz | Pen Pen |
| Rebuild of Evangelion: Asuka Shikinami Langley | Mari Makinami Illustrious | Sakura Suzuhara | Ryoji Kaji (Jr) |
| Miscellaneous: Minor Characters | Minor Characters (Rebuild) | Extracanonical Characters |
| Theory and Analysis: Name Origins (Warships) | Designs | Relationships | Profiles |
| Resources: 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji |
