Asuka Vs Rei – Who Is Evangelion’s Best Girl?

Both Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Sohryu are memorable anime characters, but who is actually Evangelion’s Best Girl?

Few debates in the Neon Genesis Evangelion fanbase get as intense as the constant dispute between Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Sohryu over who is better. In their own right, both personalities are noteworthy, but which is the better pilot? Who do you think is the most interesting character? Which one is more suitable for Shinji?

The answers to these debates are ultimately a question of personal preference. When assessing the objective advantages and disadvantages of each character, however, the data clearly favors one girl over the other.

Rei & Asuka’s Opposing Personalities

Asuka and Rei have diametrically opposed personalities. Asuka compares Rei’s aloof demeanor to that of a doll. Many people believe Rei lacks emotional variety, but the truth is that she just lacks the ability to express feelings. As a result, the protagonist develops a weirdly aloof demeanor while gradually learning how to communicate with others. Rei’s emotional spectrum is overt and obvious by Episode 23.

Asuka, on the other hand, is hot-headed, noisy, and confrontational toward those around her, all the while asserting her own superiority to anybody who comes within hearing distance. Of course, Asuka’s arrogance is undermined by her insecurity, which lurks just under the surface. In the face of her own apparent inadequacy, she suffers from terrible anxiety. This battle between arrogance and insecurity results in a figure that is both multifaceted and dynamic, shifting from scene to scene. She’s generally seen as hesitant to communicate her true feelings, especially to Shinji.

This is the big question for fans: do you desire a lot of individuality or a lot of personality suppression? In this scenario, it’s evident that Asuka is the far more engaging character in terms of personality, whereas Rei’s attractiveness is overly focused on her enigmatic nature. There isn’t much left of Rei once the questions concerning her are answered.

Does Rei Or Asuka Have Better Character Design?

The character designs of Rei and Asuka are among the most memorable in anime. When creating their own characters, several artists have emulated Rei’s short blue hair and diminutive stature, as well as Asuka’s twin tail and furious scarlet hair. Yuki Nagato, from Haruhi Suzumiya’s Melancholy, is practically a carbon copy of Rei Ayanami. Part of this is due to the popularity of Evangelion. It doesn’t help that Asuka and Rei’s outfits mirror their yin-yang opposite characteristics. Asuka has red hair and blue eyes, whereas Rei has blue hair and blue eyes. Asuka has long hair, while Rei has short hair. They are the polar opposites of one another.

Rei’s iconic visage, on the other hand, is certainly more disturbing and memorable than Asuka’s more realistic appearance. Asuka appears to be a normal person, but Rei is both weirdly ethereal and adorable, prompting hordes of fans to buy every new miniature of her that hits store shelves. Rei is, in the end, a better-designed character.

Rei & Asuka’s Tragic Backstories

In Evangelion, every character has a tragic backstory. Rei is the second of her type, one of countless of clones formed from Yui Ikari’s and the Angel Lilith’s genetic DNA. She was developed by Gendo in order to bring about Third Impact and Human Instrumentality. She is, in essence, the key to the apocalypse, and hence the most significant character in his view, even more significant than his own son.

Asuka’s mother, on the other hand, went insane after a piece of her soul was grafted onto Evangelion Unit-02. As a result, her mother developed a peculiar delusion: Asuka was a doll. While Asuka’s mother was going insane, her father had an affair with Asuka’s mother’s nurse, which led to their remarriage. Asuka’s mother hanged herself next to the doll she thought was her daughter the day Asuka became a pilot. Asuka has the upper hand due to the tragedy of her circumstances.

Rei Vs. Asuka: Pilot Skills

Both Asuka and Rei show off their piloting abilities. Rei kills two Angels, making it three if you consider the Dummy Plug, who is based on her personality. Asuka, on the other hand, manages to destroy four of them, with a fifth getting killed as a result of her approach. Both pilots have trouble managing their Evas, with Asuka’s Synch Rate worsening as her anxiousness breaks her spirits, and Rei’s Evangelion seeming to go insane.

When comparing the two, though, Asuka is definitely the superior pilot. Until the end, her synch rate is constantly higher than Rei’s, and Asuka manages to annihilate the Mass Production Evangelion, nine against one, at the End of Evangelion.Rei is talented, but Asuka simply is in a league of her own.

Does Rei Or Asuka Have Better Character Development?

Ultimately, the question is: who is the more engaging character? Finally, we must observe where these characters’ emotions take them. Asuka’s arc culminates in a pay-off of plenty of preceding set-up, with her insecurities crushing her, only to be inverted at the last second when Asuka realizes that her mother, due to her soul being trapped inside Unit-02 the entire time, has always loved her, making her do a 180. During Instrumentality, she finally tells Shinji what’s on her mind in a severe and succinct manner. She is one of only two characters who has survived the Third Impact.

By her self-sacrifice in Episode 23, Rei’s storyline comes to a natural conclusion, however this is immediately eclipsed by her replacement with Rei III. Rei III is similar to Rei II in appearance, yet she is essentially a different individual with the same soul. Rei III is uninterested in Gendo, whereas Rei II adored him. This means that Rei III is either a separate character in part or entirely.

Beyond a broad sense, nothing Rei III accomplishes in End of Evangelion is informed by Rei’s character development up to this point. She is, in the end, a plot device whose presence makes Rei’s story more about her alienation than any discernible emotional growth.

Asuka Langley Sohryu makes up for her lack of design with fantastic character development. Rei is simply incomparable.