Rei Ayanami is the pilot of the Unit 00 Prototype model is the first person to pilot an Eva. She cannot relate properly to other people emotions for she does not even understand them herself. She has made no friends in her school since she was enrolled which shows how poor she relates to others. She is only relatively normal with Gendou and yet you might remember her answering Asuka when she stood in her way and said that Gendou favours her and she says "I am not favoured, I know it well". It would seem to me that she knows a bit about what she was all along (Note: The history of Rei is very sketchy and there are many theories about her origins). A few have other reasons (which i will not say) on why Rei was more open towards Shinji but I think it was because Shinji (like Gendou) showed that she was important when he opened the hot entry plug to check if she was okay, it probably meant a lot to her as it would seem to her that her life is a totally false one.

Shinji Ikari is the main character in the unfolding story. He does not really want the responsibilty of piloting the Unit 01 Test model but Rei's condition caused him to change his mind. He is very insecure and has to tell himself not to run away from things which is something that he frequently does to escape from reality and resposibilty. You might notice that he listens to his walkman when he wants to get away from things. It would seem that Shinji really has a crush on Asuka... (there's this particular scene... and the noises... which seem to imply... err)

Asuka Langley pilots Unit 02 which is the first production model. She is very preoccupied with her own self image and her self worth is entirely dependant on how she pilots her Eva. I really like the part where she slapped Tohji for looking up her skirt even though all he wanted was his cap. I also liked the part when she and Shinji had to syncronise with each other to defeat the cheapskate angel that could split into two, especially right after when she accused him of trying to kiss her and then getting a shock to know that Shinji almost actually did it. This picture to the left doesn't really do her justice as it shows her more serious side.

Tohji Suzuhara is not really such a major player in the show but I felt that I should include him in this section as he is the pilot of Unit 03, albeit only for a short period of time. Tohji really cares about his sister (you don't see her at all in the show I think) and visits her constantly in hospital after she was wounded during the first battle of Unit 01 which was the reason that he had struck Shinji that first day of school, something that he regretted later. Tohji faded into obscurity after the time Unit 01 destroyed Unit 03. I think they could have shown a bit more about the character of Tohji and Hikari but I think it was about this point in time that everything seemed to get a bit haywire with Evangelion suddenly becoming so bloody and all. Part of the idiot trio as Asuka and Hikari would have it, he is good friends with Kensuke and Shinji.

Misato Katsuragi is the guardian of Shinji, although whether she is actually qualified to be his guardian is under question =). Anyway you would find that she is very outgoing and open with people but it took some time for her to become such. She was the only survivor of the expedition team to Antarctica as she was saved by her father when he put her in a protective container just before the second impact occured.

Kaji Ryoji was Misato's boyfriend in college. Kaji, Misato and Ritsuko used to go out together while they were in college. He is the spy sent by the Japanese government to find out what was going on in Nerv.

Ritsuko Akagi is the technical supervisor for the project and knows much about what the Evangelions are, more that she is telling Misato anyway.

Naoko Akagi is Ritsuko's mother and was the one that constructed the three magi, Casper, Melachior and Belthazar which represents much of the internel struggle going on in herself. She was very much in love with Gendou. She commited suicide after she strangled Rei who led her to realise that she was only being used by Gendou all along.

Gendou Ikari is the person who initiated the whole Evangelion project and it would seem that he keeps a lot of its secrets to himself. He doesn't really appear to care for his son Shinji even though he most probably cared a lot about him. He is very harsh to the people around him and doesn't really care about the feelings of others. Perhaps this is the result of the loss of his wife Yui because of the accident (some people speculate that it was akin to the one in which Shinji was dissolved into the LCL).

Yui Ikari is the mother of Shinji. She was involved in an accident one day testing a Evangelion, something that Gendou never forgave himself for, and was the reason why Gendou kept on clinging onto the importance of Unit 01.

Fuyutsuki Kouzou is the sub-commander and second only to Gendoh.

Maya Ibuki is Ritsuko's protege. She is one of the three main Nerv operators working under Misato.

Keel Lorenz is the chairman of the Human Instrumentality Project. There is precious little information on him and the committee, Seele. His German name however might explain the names Seele which means Soul in german and Nerv which means Nerve.

PenPen is the penguin that lives in Misato's refrigerator. I really wish I had a nice pic of the guy(?).