{OOC} Character Profile
Name/Handle: Slan
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Timezone: CST, GMT +6
Personal LJ: shotshooter
E-Mail: yue.katou@gmail.com
AIM/other: ebonlucifer @ aim, sephiroth0668@hotmail.com @ msn
Is English your primary language?: Yes
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Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Series' Medium: Anime/Manga (I’m taking Asuka from the anime)
Character: Asuka Langley Soryu
Age: 14;14
Sex/Gender: Female
Canon Role: Secondary protagonist
"Real" Name: Lorelei Adler
Please give us a personal history of your character's life and explain to us in detail how they grow and develop over the course of their canon:
Asuka was born in Germany to Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, while her father’s name is unknown. Her mother was a scientist working at Gehirn (before being renamed NERV) under the Evangelion project. She was selected for an experiment, similar to the contact experiment conducted by Shinji’s mother Yui Ikari, when Asuka was very young. Unlike the Ikari experiment, Kyoko did not assimilate fully into the Evangelion; however, she ended up mentally damaged and was institutionalized to a mental hospital. Plagued by her lack of love she showed to Asuka while she worked at Gehirn, Kyoko began to mistake her child for a redheaded doll. She pampered it like a daughter and completely ignored Asuka when she would come to visit her mother, only referring to Asuka as “that girl over there”. At one point, alluded to in the anime series, her mother tries to strangle her so that they can die together.
When Asuka was selected as a candidate to pilot an Evangelion as the “Second Child’, she ran to her mother to express the good news. Happy with all this new attention from staff, Asuka hoped her accomplishment would also help to focus her mother’s attention on her instead of the doll. But when Asuka found her mother, she was hanging from the ceiling, “[looking] so happy”, and the doll was decapitated on the ground.
Her father remarried a doctor he had been having an affair with, but Asuka did not reciprocate any love to her. She was guarded and defensive, doing her best to be impenetrable, self-sufficient, and mature. She is unusually smart for her age and received a degree from college before the age of fourteen. Not much is known about the middle years of her life, except that her guardian during her training as an Evangelion pilot was Kaji, whom she developed an infatuation with. She meets Shinji, the main protagonist of the series, and Misato, his guardian, while aboard a naval fleet, transporting Unit 002 to Japan. During the trip, they are attacked by the sixth angel Gaghiel and Asuka happily exploits this situation to show her battle prowess to Shinji. However, as the fight turns into a maritime battle, it leaves Unit 002 at a great disadvantage. Both Shinji and Asuka must combine forces to harmonize their synch ratio in order to control Unit 002 and exterminate the angel.
After Unit 002 is unloaded at Japan’s branch of NERV, Asuka joins Shinji’s junior high class and quickly becomes the most popular girl in school. To his horror, Shinji also discovers Misato has become her legal guardian and she now lives with him as well.
Asuka continually struggles to outmatch Shinji during succeeding angel attacks. She is unable to defeat the seventh angel Israfel on her own, after taunting Shinji about his less than aggressive strategy. After the completion of a synchronized attack developed between them over a week of training from Misato, they defeat the angel together. Asuka is then picked for a mission to capture the eighth angel in its embryonic state inside a volcano. Unfortunately, the angel morphs and Asuka exterminates it, but not before the angel severs the line between her and the surface and Shinji must rescue her before she sinks.
By the next angel attack, Asuka shows a surprising act of selflessness to return the favor after Shinji saved her. By positioning herself in the defensive position, she takes the brunt of the ninth angel’s attack while Rei, the First Child picked to be an Evangelion pilot, retrieves their fallen weapons and Shinji fires and destroys the angel.
Her exceptional skill as an Evangelion pilot begins to deteriorate after Unit 002 is dismembered and decapitated by the tenth angel. Threatened by Shinji’s skill, her self-consciousness begins to pervade her concentration, decisions, and her synch ratio, which she had held in such high esteem, begins to deteriorate and fall below Shinji’s, only fueling her frustration and lack of focus.
She tries to prove herself in the next battle, disobeying orders when she is assigned back-up to Rei and assaults the eleventh angel head on. She is quickly incapacitated and the angel’s special attack penetrates her mind, forcing her to relive the painful memories of her childhood. She runs away from Misato’s apartment and stays with a schoolmate while she dwells on her impotence. Asuka is found days later sitting in a broken bathtub in a collapsed house, catatonic. She is sent to the NERV infirmary where she stays debilitated for the remainder of the series.
In the End of Evangelion, she is placed in her Evangelion for safety sake and launched into a nearby lake and hopefully out of harm’s way. Eventually the military units trying to infiltrate NERV headquarters locate her and drop N2 mines on her to destroy Unit 002. In her sudden zeal for life, she finally understands the construction of the Evangelion after the feeling the presence of her mother within the entry plug. She destroys the offending military naval fleet and helicopters, but with only five minutes left of battery life in her Evangelion, she is not strong enough to destroy her second enemy, the remaining Evangelion units that have been completed. Unit 002 is literally dismembered and digested before ultimately being impaled by a mysterious NERV artifact called the Lance of Longinus and she is silenced until the end of the movie.
What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's and why?:
I am taking Asuka from the moments after the tenth angel dismembers her Evangelion.
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality:
Without a mother to love her, Asuka grew up relying on herself. She strives to be self-sufficient and mature. At the age of four or five, she already behaves like an adult and her stepmother finds it hard to like her new daughter since she is no longer willing to open herself up to others. Because she grew up faster than other children and was born with exceptional intelligence, she is impatient and callous towards kids her own age. She ditches a boy on a date after dinner and explains to Shinji that he was too boring and expresses her hormonal infatuation with older men like her former guardian Kaji. What few friendships she does form with her peers seem to be created for “convenience” sake, which she explains to the First Child when they make their introductions at school. Though, she has one mutual relationship with her class rep. They are tied to the hip at school, and Asuka will run to her for support and show her vulnerability to the class rep; she even cries to her about the loss of her synch ratio after the eleventh angel battle. She also shares supportive advice when her friend needs it and takes advice, letting her friend set her up on dates with mutual acquaintances even if Asuka doesn’t really want to.
She is a girl who charges into battle headfirst and readily berates Shinji for his more passive efforts in combat and in real life. He allows others to direct his life and Asuka finds it more than irritating. She shows the most hostility towards Rei, who allows her life to be dictated by the whims and instruction of the NERV staff also, and openly mocks her when they are in close quarters with each other. Their behavior reminds her of a doll and she is disgusted at how they get through life, following the easiest and least painful path.
While she is outwardly autonomous and confident, Asuka lacks true self-esteem and self worth. Her behavior is aggressive and defensive, many times calling Shinji “stupid” or emasculating him in front of others. She even criticizes Misato’s strength as a woman while she ignores her own demons. Her identity is defined by her ability to pilot an Evangelion and without it she has no purpose thus everything in life is a competition or a means to prove her existence to others. During the seventh angel attack, she justifies her actions of “putting Misato and Rei to shame” as a “matter of pride/honor” so that she may reclaim her self-respect after a prior inability to properly collaborate with Shinji. When backed into her corner, her most common reaction is hostility, telling those that have offended her that she hates them, that she “hates everything”.
By the end of the series, much of her impenetrable wall has been chipped away, leaving her nerves raw against outside criticism. She is no longer so confident and witty against her attackers. Asuka reacts with ugly words and violence, having pushed Rei during one of their arguments, to try and hide her inner pain and weakness.
Please give us a physical description of your character:
At 14 years old, Asuka probably stands at an average height of 5’0”. Her bright red hair falls around a heart-shaped face and blue eyes, her usual expression is a proud smile on her lips. She is a very lithe and thin girl with no blemishes or marks on her pale European skin.
What kinds of otherwordly abilities does your character have, if any?:
Unless she has her Evangelion unit, she doesn’t have any worldly abilities.
If present, how do you plan to tweak these powers to make your character appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?:
Keep the mecha awaaaay!
Does your character have any non-otherworldy abilities/training that surpass the norm?:
At fourteen, Asuka is fluent in German and Japanese (and possibly English since she is considered in the anime/manga to be technically American), showing the possibility that she is very talented in linguistics and can pick up foreign languages more easily than others. She also graduated from college with a degree not specified anywhere canonically, and in the series she shows significant intelligence in mathematics and sciences when helping Shinji with his homework. In this way, it could be gathered that Asuka has advantages statistically and possibly even tactically in certain situations.
Also, as a pilot, Asuka is in great physical condition in terms of endurance and strength (physically and, at one point, mentally). Since she controls an evangelion, it could be argued that she has some experience with basic engineering, mechanical work, and so forth which would help maintaining and caring for her robot.
She may also have some combat experience outside of piloting, but the series never touches upon this and I don’t think I can make a logical argument for knowledge of hand-to-hand combat or the use of firearms for her.
What do you see your character doing in the scope of the game and how do you plan to use the setting of Landel's Institute to develop them and affect their psychology in a unique, interesting way?:
The last thing Asuka would ever want is to be in a mental institution, taken away from her responsibilities at NERV and following the same path as her neglectful mother. In the beginning, Asuka would put up a stiff front of bravado, assuming Nerv had just made a mistake in assigning her to this institution. Once she has proven her competence and sanity, Asuka would believe that she would be released soon after. However, at some point the oppressive atmosphere in Landel’s will surely begin to crumble her long-standing defenses because her identity as an evangelion pilot is not recognized in the institution, where even the uniforms represent a certain level of equality for all inmates. Asuka does not wish to be equal, and her confidence will plumet along with her disappearing identity. She is a very strong girl, but not the type to bend, only to break when finally pushed to the limit. In her desperation to leave Landel’s and to reclaim her identity, she will become more aggressive with staff and begin to collaborate more willingly with the patients in order to help them so she can help herself when the time comes.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?:
Mmmm >__> I think she’ll be quite fine in a horror-filled environment XD While all her power comes from her Evangelion, she still has the strength of will to fight against the stacked odds, if only to earn the appreciation of others.
Third-Person Sample:
“This stinks!” Hikari’s usual southern Honshu accent was clipped as she fought for air, running briskly behind Asuka. She was the class representative and the only reliable friend the second chil had since she had moved to Japan.
She slowed her steady pace across the school’s athletic track to match Hikari who seemed to be having trouble with her endurance already. “Why’re… ya always… so good at… gym?” Hikari asked through wheezing breathes of air.
Asuka’s ego flushed with the compliment, but she kept her face neutral as they turned a corner of the track. Hikari was her friend, she looked up to the eva pilot, there was no need to project her hubris further. “Well… if you trained… every day… you could… do this. As an evangelion pilot…” She started, her usual self-assured tone dripping off her words. “… I must be in peak physical condition!” Looking back at her friend, she smiled light-heartedly.
Her friend smiled back dryly before huffing again. “I hate physicals day. Why can’t we… jes play dodge ball or somethin’… easy like that? Standin’ around is much… easier…”
Asuka shrugged, keeping quiet. Frankly, she enjoyed the rigorous workout of a fitness physical. It was something she surpassed the other girls at and that was reason enough to like it. She hated the childish games they usually played in gym. Everyone just stood around socializing, which was all well and good, but she would rather be excelling at something. Was that so wrong? “I’ll wait for you… in the locker, okay?”
“Wait Asuka--!” Without listening to her friend’s reply, Asuka sprinted for the finish line so she could hurry up and end this little charade. She wanted to shower and get changed before the stink of her perspiration penetrated the layers of her skin. Being smelly was not becoming for a lady.
Ugh. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea to ditch Hikari on the track. The locker room was quiet and empty with the exception of two students. Asuka and Rei stood at opposite ends of the locker room, changing out of their gym uniforms and back into their school jumpers. The second child did her best to act as if she never noticed her fellow pilot’s presence, but in truth it gnawed at her like a void in the pit of her stomach every damn time. As she clipped on the light green jumper, her blue eyes were fixed on Rei’s back, like she was keeping stock of a predator’s whereabouts.
No! Not a predator! The very thought was laughable! Actually, it was downright contemptible! Asuka, afraid of a ragdoll? She would rather gouge her eyes out than ever show weakness in front of this blue-haired mannequin. Not that she really had any weakness to show. Why was she still thinking about this?! This was so stupid! Cursing under her breath, she turned her eyes away to focus very, very hard on buttoning her blouse. Eventually, Rei slipped out of the locker room quietly and the tension that was as thick and heavy as a weight on her shoulders lifted. Hikari finally came in too.
“Christ, you took awhile…!” Asuka grumbled as she finished tucking the white cotton of her blouse into her jumper.
“Ah-I’m sorry, I jes got really tired at the end…” Her friend’s timid voice left Asuka feeling guilty for snapping at her and frustrated that she could let Rei rile her up so easily! They hadn’t even said anything to each other!
“… It’s okay. C’mon! Let’s walk home together!”
First-Person Sample:
This is so stupid! How am I supposed to get out of this place if none of the doctors will listen? And of all the names to give me, Lorelei? Couldn’t they have found a better German name? So stupid. And the other children-ugh! I’m going to have to do this on my own. The things those kids talk about, so weird!
One loopy boy was talking about how he was “so sure he died last night.” Am I the only sane person here?! What an idiot! Another reason I cannot rely on these retarded people! I hate this! I hate this place, all these people! I want to go home!