Manga / Evangelion 303

Now with adult pilots, war planes replacing Super Robots, set in America and with a new brand of angst!

Evangelion 303 — or Eva 303 — imagines an alternate universe where the characters of Neon Genesis Evangelion are defending our modern world in a post-September 11th age.

Seele, a secret organization that has been manipulating world politics over the centuries, has been trying to undermine America's influence throughout the world, supporting anti-American terrorist groups to target what they believed to be an unrestrained imperial war machine and an overbearing international police organization. After its latest failure, they supplied the North Korean regime with nuclear weapons, funds and military equipment and put in motion Third Impact, Seele's ultimate plan to deal with the USA once and for all.

However, Seele ex-member Gendo Ikari left the organization after his wife's death and fled to the United States with his son, determined to stop Seele. Gendo made contact with the American government and secured funding for his organization, Nerv, and the Evangelion Project, a project aimed to defeat Seele and prevent Third Impact.

In order to prevent the cataclysmic Third Impact, the United States entered a partnership with Japan and South Korea. The United States would provide the machinery, Japan would provide the pilots, and South Korea would provide a platform for the invasion of North Korea. And so it was built the F-14E, the Evangelion, the most advanced warplane in existence, and started the training of the pilots to save millions of innocent lives.

The story begins when twenty-year-old Shinji Ikari, appointed Third Child, reports to Distler Air Force Base (home of Black Project Evangelion) for Eva training. He befriends several of his pilot partners, particularly Kaworu Nagisa, but the resident top pilot, a twenty-year-old woman called Asuka Langley Sohryu is NOT happy with his arrival, and as soon as he lands, she challenges him to a dog fight...

Evangelion 303 is a Neon Genesis Evangelion Doujin that is essentially the love child of Evangelion and Top Gun (or Area 88). It takes the characters, elements, and themes while changing the setting, replaces the Super Robot Genre features with Military and Warfare fiction tropes and injects a dose of realism. In the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, this doujin sits firmly on the centre, featuring troubled characters that struggle to overcome their inner conflicts. It tends to be a grounded speculative science fiction: the technology used in the Evas is nonexistent but feasible.

It also has nudity, mature themes and it is NSFW (keep in mind that all pilots in this story are adults).

The comic's DeviantArt page offers tons of extra fanart, teasers and download links (Note: His "Evangelion" Gallery only has a fraction of his Evangelion fanart).

Compare with RE-TAKE — the most famous Eva doujinshi — and Aki-chan's Life.

Please move or place the Character Tropes in the Character Sheet.

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Tropes:

A-C

• A Father to His Men: Captain Misato Katsuragi is the commanding officer of the "Evangelion" squadron. Although she gets angry and is not afraid of reprimanding her pilots when it is necessary, she cares greatly for all of them. She even suggested Shinji move in with her while Asuka was in a coma.
• Above the Influence: Subverted. In chapter 5 Asuka has had it with holding her emotions back and decides to have sex with Shinji after asking him if he trusts her to not be impaired by ego or alcohol. Shinji refuses at the beginning, arguing that she has had several beers that night so that he can't be sure that she is not still drunk. Asuka argues back that she is completely sober (and she might be) and very serious. Shinji still resists but she insists a lot, and he finally gives in. Neither of them regret it the next morning, although they are still very hesitant about their relationship.
• Accidental Pervert: In chapter 4 Shinji goes in the bathroom and walks in on Asuka right when she is leaving the shower.
• Ace Pilot: The Children and their wingmen are young but accomplished pilots. The best in the base are Asuka and Shinji (and possibly Kaworu). Asuka is mostly a steamroller, and Shinji is a bushwhacker type.
• Action Girl: All female pilots, due to the fact that they are trained soldiers.
• A-Cup Angst: Inverted. In chapter 15 Asuka teases Kelly about her -Kelly's- chest being too big to play rugby properly.
• Adaptational Badass: Several characters are more badass than their canon counterparts:
  • Shinji is an adult, seasoned soldier in contrast to his untrained teen pilot canon self.
  • Touji, Hikari and Kensuke are jet fighter pilots rather than average teenagers.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Asuka and Kaworu show up in the first scene of the first chapter. In canon they appeared in chapter 8 and chapter 24, respectively.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Gendo...barely. He's still up to something and probably gunning for revenge against SEELE, but here, at least he's working to knowingly save lives instead of turning everyone into orange juice.
  • Kaworu and Rei are a bit straighter of an example. Instead of being Angels, they're all flesh-and-blood humans and genuinely desire to use the Evangelion project for good.
• Adapted Out: Characters like Naoko Akagi, Ryoji Kaji, Pen-pen... were taken out because Grummancat could not think of a way to fit them in the story. Ultimately averted with Kaji in Chapter 19.
• Adaptation Species Change: Rei and Kaworu are humans in this story instead of Humanoid Abominations.
• After-Action Healing Drama: After Unit-04 crashed, Misato drove Shinji to the hospital. Shinji kept watch over Asuka while NERV's higher-ups tried to ascertain what had happened to her.
• Age Lift: Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Kaworu, and Mari are all 18 or above. This affects their characterizations too, and is how the story differentiates from its source material. They drink, drive, have sex lives (or develop one), and are generally more worldly and independent than their teen counterparts.
• Aggressive Submissive: Shinji is quiet, shy and non-confrontational. Asuka is hot-tempered, stubborn and domineering. Still when they make love, Asuka always wants him taking the initiative and being assertive and dominant, and during the Las Vegas trip she will teach him how to be a dom.
• Air Jousting: Asuka and Mari's duel in chapter 15 was a blend of Old School Dog Fight (where each one tried to strike from behind) and this (where both flew at and strafed each other). Reinforced by the chapter's title: "Joust!"◊.
• All There in the Manual: Grummancat often gives extra information in the comic's DeviantArt page about the story, characters and backstory, clarifies doubts and explains how he came up with some concepts (such like Asuka's Cool Bike).
• Alternate Universe: In this world Second Impact did not happen, Seele does not plan an Assimilation Plot, there are no Humongous Mecha or Angels, Kaworu is a human being, apparently Rei is unrelated to Shinji…
• Alternate Universe Fic: This fic takes the Eva characters and places them in an universe similar to the real world where Second Impact did not happen and there are no giant robots or alien monsters. Seele is a secret society that has been manipulating world politics for centuries, Nerv is located in America, the Children are at least twenty years old, the Evas are war planes, Rei and Kaworu are not Angels...
• Always Save the Girl: In chapter 10 Gendo chided his son for neglecting his duties and to be so fully focused on a pretty girl◊ that he does not care what happens to the rest of the world.◊
  Gendo: You disappoint me… Letting your emotional ties to a pretty girl blind you to the crying needs of the entire civilized world… You would turn your back on every innocent soul on the planet because you can’t see past your infatuation.
• Ancient Conspiracy: Seele has been manipulating world politics for centuries in order to try to keep a power balance between countries, consistently supporting the military or political underdog.
• Angrish: In chapter 12, an exceptionally furious Asuka gave us the next example: "HRGGGG..."
• Anguished Declaration of Love:
  • In chapter 13 Shinji confessed to Asuka while trying to talk her into staying with him. He tried to choose his words carefully because otherwise she would leave forever.
  • In chapter 14, after months of self-denial, angst, self-recriminations, doubts, fights, separations and reconciliations, Asuka finally managed to gather her courage and confessing:
  Asuka: I kinda… love you. […] Damn it, I love you!
• Anti-Role Model: Invoked and played for laughs. When the female pilots throw a bachelorette party (which includes a trip to a strip club), their commanding officer Misato goes with her subordinates. As Misato hoots, drinks heavily and goes wild, Asuka asks what kind of example is she setting there.
• Apologises a Lot: This trope was present in the original, so this doujin plays the gag where Shinji apologizes and Asuka replies "You're not sorry!!◊" or "Quit apologizing!◊"
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: In chapter 5 Asuka strips off her clothes, climbs on Shinji's bed and throws herself at him. When Shinji refuses she gets angry and upset.
• Armor-Piercing Question: In chapter 12 Asuka is arguing heatedly with her subconscious:
  Asuka: Nobody understands what I’m going through!
  Asuka: Do YOU understand?
• Art Evolution: After several years drawing, Grummancat’s art has greatly improved. In 2013 he uploaded a pic that showed how much his style had changed.
• Artifact Title: Although this is an Evangelion fic it has NO Evangelions anywhere.
• Aside Glance: Shinji does this at least twice:
  • In chapter 3: after Asuka says she'll be keeping an eye on him, Shinji throws an aside glance and wonders: "Why can't a normal, well-adjusted girl ever say that to me...?"
  • In chapter 17: during his friend's bachelor party, Shinji does this while he thinks that it's as if Las Vegas exists to piss off certain specific groups of people.
• Attention Whore: Asuka needed to be the best because she liked to be valued, and she went to great lengths to crush any rival that threatened her top place. However, while she was going through a rough patch, she wished to find a place where nobody knew about her. When she recovered from her breakdown she again enjoyed being the center of attention, but she did not need it so badly.
• Author Appeal: Grummancat really likes planes and redheads.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After several chapters of fights, dog fights, arguments and paranoid behaviour between Shinji and Asuka, you had this simple, sweet kiss between both.
  • You had constant arguments and fights between them in the first chapters (before becoming lovers) and later when Asuka's life was falling apart... and then you had moments like these where you can see how much they care about each other.
• Badass Biker: Asuka drives a bike.
• Badass Creed: The Evangelion pilots' motto -chosen by themselves- is:
  Forget the taxpayer,
  We got Hell to pay.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Averted. The author draws naked bodies keeping all the interesting bits.
  • Page 171 is a rare example of the author playing the trope straight.
• Batman Gambit: Asuka was threatening to commit suicide. In order to come close enough to tear her gun out of her hands, Shinji promised that he would not try to stop her if she let him sit beside her. Fortunately she bought it.
• Battle Couple:
  • Shinji and Asuka (reinforced since their engagement). Misato even commented that both are hyper-aggressive.
  • Kaworu and Saburo when they were dating.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Asuka wanted to get the B-1C assignment. After doing a bit of soul-searching and bonding with Shinji she managed to become the chief test pilot for the experimental jet.. and she is not happy because Shinji got to leave for one week as she got to stay to take part in the program. And during the assignment she had to put up with a harsh (albeit well-meaning) drill instructor and wearing an embarrassing suit.
  • When Asuka was in a coma for several months Shinji desperately wished for her to wake up. When she did, her behaviour had changed radically and she became angry and spiteful, lashing out at him constantly. Sometimes Shinji asked if this was what he had been wishing for. Fortunately she got better.
• Beautiful Dreamer:
  • In chapter 3 Asuka climbs into Shinji's bed. Shinji is unable to get any sleep that night, but he blushes as he stares at her sleeping.
  • In chapter 14 Shinji wakes up and realizes Asuka has been watching him as he slept.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Shinji and Asuka fought and argued several times during the three first chapters. Asuka was angry at the rookie who had arrived, threatening her top pilot position and managing to beat her; however she was strongly attracted to him, too. And Shinji did not know what to think of the beautiful woman that first beams at him and later punches him (or climbs into his bed shortly after declaring that she wants to destroy him). In chapter 4 they began to get along and in chapter 5 they became lovers.
  Kensuke◊: “For getting beat up by women this much, shouldn’t you be sleeping with at least one of them?”
• Beneath the Mask: When Shinji met Asuka she came across as an arrogant, short-tempered woman. When they started living together, though, he realized that she was hiding a softer, more vulnerable side. Later on, Asuka said that Shinji was the only one who had seen her real self beneath the mask.
• Benevolent Boss:
  • Misato is stern, but she's also fair and cares about her subordinates.
  • Gendo actually looks reasonable compared with his canon counterpart.
• Berserk Button:
  • Asuka has several of them. It is NOT a good idea to pull a suicidal stunt during a friendly duel and nearly getting her killed, mock her, flirt with Shinji or hurt someone she cares greatly about.
  • Rei is usually calm but she does not like it when someone endangers her Eva.
• Beta Couple: Rei and Kaworu. Hikari and Touji, too.
• Big Bad: Seele, an ancient secret society that is plotting to launch a nuclear strike against USA and other countries.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Between Kaworu and Rei at the end of chapter 16.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Asuka seems obnoxiously arrogant and prideful, but in reality she's a very insecure person with trust issues (and it's implied that she attempted to kill herself before the beginning of the story). In a scene Misato tells that Asuka can look strong, but she's very fragile.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Subverted. According Asuka, Shinji's size is pretty average. Their First Time was a pretty awkward affair because they had no idea what they were doing, and they started off with intercourse straightaway. Nonetheless, their lovemaking improved after a bit of "practice" and their sex life became very fulfilling.
• Big "NO!": By Asuka several times after Jessika told her that she could not be with her yet.◊
• Blood Knight: Asuka and Mari are elite jet fighter pilots that really enjoying flying their war planes and fighting. Especially Mari. She sings as she fights.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: In chapter 4, Shinji talks to Asuka about his parental issues: he tells her how his mother died when he was a little child, his father foisted him on a caretaker, alleging that he was protecting him, and he doesn't get along well with his father's girlfriend. After hearing his history, Asuka reflects that they're not that different after all.
• Bonus Material: The comic's DeviantArt page includes tons of bonus material, including extra pictures, fanservice drawings, characters' profiles and additional explanations.
• Break the Cutie: Shinji was a pretty nice, considerate guy. However when he was a little kid his mother died and his father entrusted his care to another person and later sent him away to school. When the story begins he makes new friends and finds his life's love. And then her girlfriend's life -and his- went to Hell: Asuka's war plane crashes and she falls into a coma for several months. He spends most that time by her bedside, praying for her to wake up. When she does, she is so unstable and wrecked with survivor guilt that she abuses him and herself. When she can't stand it anymore she tries to commit suicide. He stops her but she runs away straight after, intending to leave his life forever. Fortunately things got better for both from that point onward.
• Break the Haughty: At the start of the story Asuka is the top pilot on the base, she knows it, and ensures -loudly- that everyone else also knows it. However her performance has been slipping and she lost a coveted assignment to another pilot. Then she challenged the newcomer pilot to a duel and she lost. Her conflicting feelings towards Shinji got her distracted and she botched a mission. Her self-image was collapsing◊ but she got better after she sorted her feelings out and Shinji and she consummated their relationship. But shortly afterwards the war plane that she was piloting crashed and she spent several months in a coma. When she woke up she blamed herself for it and her best friend's death. Later she had to fly another prototype and it also crashed. With her self-confidence and self-esteem shattered she saw herself as a pathetic failure. She was so affected that she tried to tried to kill herself and when Shinji stopped her, she ran away.
• The Bridge: It is not a spaceship, but the Distler Air Force Base has a bridge that fits all characteristics: elevated seats for the commander, Bridge Bunnies sitting at workstations in front of him, and a large, ample stage between the commander and the workers at the workstations.
• Bridge Bunnies: The commanding center in the Distler Base is managed by a bunch of technicians. Maya Ibuki is the most prominent of them, and Makoto and Shigeru seldom show up, but most of them are not given names, distinctive faces or personalities.
• Bring My Red Jacket: Asuka wears a red pilot suit. Her experimental jet fighter crashed and she spent several months in a coma. She is also the only main character who has been seen hurt, wounded and bleeding in the first arcs.
• Broken Record: In chapter 12, while she's arguing with herself, Asuka yells out loud: "SHUT UP!!! Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up SHUT UP!!!"
• Broken Tears: Shinji and Asuka often cried when they were under enormous emotional distress:
  • Shinji◊ after seeing Asuka's war plane crashing down.
  • Shinji◊ after seeing that Asuka survived the crashing.
  • Shinji returns to his home◊ after spending several whole days keeping watch over a comatose Asuka, not knowing whether she will wake up. When he notes how dark, empty and quiet the place is now without her, he breaks down crying.
  • Asuka has them◊ after her dead friend tells her that she cannot reunite with her yet when Asuka is trying to find her again.
  • Asuka also cried◊ after failing another mission and she was falling completely apart.
  • After several months of immense emotional distress, Asuka breaks down and cries when Shinji proposes marriage to her.
• But Not Too Foreign: In this doujin set in America, Asuka is half-German and half-Japanese, and Mari is half-British and half-Japanese. Shinji is full-blooded Japanese, but he has lived in the USA as long as he can remember and it feels like his home to him.
• But We Used a Condom!: Inverted by Shinji and Asuka. The first time they have sex, Asuka says no condom is needed because she's taking birth control - but the end of the chapter reveals that she actually wasn't. On a much later occasion, she reminds Shinji she hadn't been taking contraception during a medical recovery and jokingly threatens to hit him if he doesn't pull out, but they don't stop or use any other form of protection. No pregnancies or scares result.
• Calling the Old Man Out: In chapter 10, Gendo meets his son for first time in ten years… and he starts lecturing him about his neglected duties and being more worried about a comatose, pretty girl than about all the people in the world. Naturally, Shinji was less than impressed:
  Gendo: You disappoint me […]
  Shinji: YOU disappoint me! You think that duty is the ability to deny your own feelings? To pretend that you were never vulnerable to love? You know what I’m feeling… You were in love once in your life!
• Canon Immigrant: Smith Torren looks like, shares the name and military background Smith, Noriko's Love interest in Gunbuster.
• Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Since they met Shinji and Asuka had became very co-dependent on each other. However, when Asuka started to fall apart their relationship became very abusive for several weeks. And still, even though Asuka claimed that she hated everything and Shinji got emotionally hurt constantly, neither of them ever thought of breaking up. Put simply, neither of them thinks they they can possibly being happy without each other.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Asuka kept her real feelings for Shinji secret. She finally managed to spit it out after getting engaged, but even then she was still frightened to say it out loud.
• The Captain: Misato is the commanding officer of the "Evangelion" squad. She leads and trains the Children and chews them out when it is needed.
• The Chains of Commanding:
  • Misato wants to have a very familiar and close relationship with her pilots, but when she is on duty she has to be stern, severe and chew them out when they screw up. In chapter 15 she told her best friend sometimes she hates her job.
  • Colonel Nagato has to put up with a lot of crap from his pilots only because he is trying to teach them and he has such "ridiculous" rules like "not drinking or consuming mind-altering substances as you are learning to fly an experimental jet fighter".
• Chaste Hero: In chapter 5 Asuka is trying to seduce Shinji but he hesitates because she has been giving him mixed signals since they met and she drank several beers that afternoon (although Asuka claimed that she was perfectly sober and aware of her actions). After a short argument she lies down beside him and says: "Last chance: Do you want to do this or not?". He takes her up on her offer.
  • Bonus points for both Shinji and Asuka being virgins up to that point.
• Chekhov's Gun: On page 35 of chapter 11 Shinji mentions to Asuka that they had not celebrated her birthday yet and he would like to throw her a party. Then they fight and the birthday issue becomes forgotten... until page 46 of chapter 12 -almost two-hundred pages later and published three months later- when Shinji reveals that he had actually bought her a birthday gift -an engagement ring- (and suddenly you realize that he was thinking about moving towards the future right before bringing the birthday matter up).
  • A more literal example occurs in chapter 3 when Shinji mentions to Asuka where he keeps his gun. She would later use it during her attempted suicide in chapter 12.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Before the Unit-04 flight test Asuka and Jessika wore huge predatory grins. They were quite scary.
• Child Soldiers: Averted. The fic does not keep the pilots' canon ages, and all of them are at least twenty years old.
• Chippendales Dancers: In chapter 17 the squad's female members throw a bachelorette party for Hikari and go to a male strip club called "The Green Dragon".
• Cleavage Window: In chapter 16 Rei slowly starts to emerge from her shell and tries different things, including wearing a dress with a circle-shaped cut above her breasts. Here's a preview.
• Colonel Kilgore: Asuka is a heroic example. Although she can be abrasive and rude, she is not a bad person... but she genuinely likes fighting and showing off her superiority.
• Color-Coded Characters: Each Child has their own color, except Jessika (who never had her own Eva and was meant to be Asuka's replacement):
  • Shinji: White
  • Asuka: Red
  • Rei: Blue
  • Kaworu: Black
  • Mari: Pink
• Companion Cube: Before starting her B-1C assignment Asuka said goodbye to her Unit-02, reassuring it that “It would be only for a little while”.
• Convenient Coma: After surviving a plane crash, Asuka was in a coma for several months. Shinji kept watch over her the whole time and finally realized that he’d fallen for her.
• Converse with the Unconscious: In chapter 10 while Shinji is keeping watch over a comatose Asuka, her doctor advised him try and talking to her to give her some direction to go in.
• Cool Bike: Asuka owns a very cool-looking red bike. It resembles a cross between the bike of Kaneda and Priss Asagiri's, but it is also based on this figure.
• Cool Car: Shinji owns a 1963 Corvette red convertible.
• Cool Plane: In this doujin the main characters pilot war planes called F-14E -or "Evangelion"-, a variant of the F-14 model and the most advanced war plane built. Among other things they are fitted with an anti-targetting field capable of rendering them invisible to radar systems and deflecting projectiles.
• Covers Always Lie: Chapter 13's title is The Death of Asuka Langley Sohryu. No, it does not come to pass. It turns out that the title was symbolic: The "old" Asuka died and was replaced by a "new" Asuka. Or Asuka Sohryu "died" because she became Asuka Ikari.
• Crazy Enough to Work: During their dog fight Asuka was chasing Shinji and coming on his heels. Then Shinji abruptly braked and flew backwards. Asuka got frightened and swerved to dodge him, allowing Shinji to tag her.
• Cruel to Be Kind: When Asuka attempted suicide she believed that she was doing a favor to everybody by ending their suffering.
• Crush Blush: The author used it very extensively in scenes featuring couples. Some examples:
  • Asuka blushes while she tries to find a way to tell Shinji that she wants to spend more time with him.
  • Rei's face after Kaworu kissed her hand.
  • And here she thinks that he is going to kiss her.
  • Shinji and Asuka talking to each other.
• Cue the Sun: Chapter fifteen's cover features Asuka watching the rising Sun right before taking off. There are several symbols present in the image: it is the start of both a new chapter and Part III of the doujin: Asuka is about to leave for a mission and fight her newest rival; and after hitting rock-bottom during Part II, she has fully recovered and it is a new dawn for her.

D-F

• Deadpan Snarker: Several characters snark occasionally. Main offenders are:
  • Shinji -mainly in the first chapters-:
    Asuka: Ya know... You'd be a pretty good pilot if you knew how to control yourself...
    Shinji: Weirdest way of conceeding I've ever heard...
  • Asuka:
    Misato: Now I want all of you out on the flightline at 1400 hours to greet him.
    Asuka: Will this be an official buttkissing, or can we blow sunshine at our own leisure? I think I'm getting my nails done this afternoon...
  • Jessika:
    Jessika (after Asuka has spent a long while complaining about "idiot Shinji"): Hey Asuka... What's the German word for boyfriend?
    Asuka: Depends... Could be "fester freund"... or simply "freund" if you were introducing him.
    Jessika: Hmmm... I thought maybe "idiot" was the German word for it...
  • Ritsuko is the biggest offender of this series:
    Misato: There are times when I really hate this job...
    Ritsuko: The better question is: Are there any times when you don't hate your job?
  • Misato also has some good lines every so often:
    Misato: Alright kids, listen up. I got news!
    (She excitedly tells them the news. Neither of them reacts or pretends to care)
    Misato: On the edge of your seats, clearly.
• Death Glare:
  • In chapter 15 Asuka hurls at Mari a "Keep your filthy claws away from MY man!" scary glare
  • On the other hand, this example is not humorous at all.
• Death Is Dramatic: Jessika died in chapter 7 when the war plane that Asuka and she were piloting crashed. Her death cast a dark shadow over the whole Part II and especially affected Asuka, who blamed herself for it.
• Death Seeker:
  • Deconstructed. During pillow talk Shinji tells Asuka that he has never cared about living or dying. Asuka replied that was a dumb attitude since no one can live without a need for self-preservation, she could never go into combat with someone who will not even fight to save his own life, and there were people -including her- that depended on him to live.
  • Ironically, after her best friend's death Asuka was so depressed and guilt-ridden that she wanted to die to meet Jessika again. She nearly did it, but Jessika's spirit stopped her, telling her that it was not her time yet and sent her back.
• Defrosting Ice Queen:
  • When Shinji met Asuka she was a sullen, dour person who was not good with people, had few friends and had never had a boyfriend. Shinji beat her in a duel she got interested in -or obsessed with- him. They started spending more time together and bonding. She realized Shinji could see her real confusion and insecurity through her bad moods and anger, and they were not so different at all. After a short while she got fed up with holding back her growing attraction and seduced him.
  • Rei had been rendered emotionless after a plane crash. Kaworu stuck by her side trying helping her to recover. In the process Rei fell in love with him and started acting somewhat warmer.
• Determinator:
  • When Asuka ran away, Shinji finally gave up on her? No way! He searched and found a lead, drove one whole day –even though he had no reasons to think that she would remain in one place for so long-, and despite her stubborn refusals to return, he proposed marriage to her.
  • Deconstructed with Rei. During a practice she entered a bad flat spin, and she ejected too low because she refused to give up. She got brain damage because of it.
• Determined Defeatist: When Asuka ran away, Shinji thought he'd never find her, or he'd find her but she wouldn't listen. Nonetheless, he looked for her, he found her, and he talked her into getting back together.
• Devoted to You: In Shinji's words, Asuka is the only woman he'll probably ever love. When he proposed to her and Asuka asked if he could promise to be true to her for as long as he lives, he said yes.
• Didn't See That Coming: Expecting to prove to everybody that she was the top pilot on the Base, Asuka challenged Shinji to a duel. She thought she could easily beat him, since there was no way that rookie could get as much out of his ship as she could, and no trick of his could surprise her. Then he flew backwards in midair while she was chasing him and flying right behind him. Everybody's faces show that NOBODY saw that coming.
• Disappeared Dad:
  • Shinji's father sent him away when he was a little kid, allegedly to protect him. When the story begins, Shinji is twenty and he has not talked to his father in ten years.
  • In fact, no character in this manga EVEN mentions his or her father. And they NEVER show up, not even when one of the pilots has been badly hurt. They are virtually nonexistent. And since Asuka has the same issues from canon, it would not be strange that her father stopped caring about her.
  • Jessika's father, though, is officially dead. His grave showed up in chapter 13.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Variant. In chapter 3 they were supposed to perform a flight test, but Asuka was so busy on inquiring about Shinji’s sex life that she forgot about it and botched the mission.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In this scene Asuka is bending over and saying: "Get it while it's hot!". Shinji's gaze focused on her butt suggests that he is thinking of doing exactly that.
• Domestic Abuse: After Jessika’s death, Asuka was wrecked with survivor guilt and self-loathing and angry with herself and everybody. Unable to control her temper, she lashed out against everybody, especially Shinji. She spent several weeks abusing him psychologically and occasionally physically. She got better, but then she felt horribly guilty and ran away, thinking that Shinji would be better off without her.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
  • Asuka is a variant. She does not want to be pitied because she thinks that people are wasting their compassion on her.
  • Shinji played it straighter when she was in a coma. He did not want pity because he believed that no one really meant it.
• Doomed by Canon: If you watched the series, you just knew that something would go wrong with Unit-04.
• Dope Slap: In chapter 6 Asuka flicked the top of Shinji's head after he said that he did not care much whether he lived or died. Then she angrily said that she could never go into combat with someone who would not fight to save his own life and reminded him that there were people like herself that depended on him to live.
• Double Entendre:
  • In chapter 3:
    Asuka(while bending over):"Get it while it's hot!"
  • In chapter 17:
    Asuka:"You're making it really hard for me to get in the mood!"
    Shinji:"You're making it HARD ON me!"
    Asuka:"Double entendre? Kinda advanced for you..."
• Downplayed Trope: Downplays Megaton Punch. In chapter 2 a very angry Asuka punches Shinji hard; but instead of putting him in orbit as usual in this trope, her punch just sent him stumbling backwards and his nose bleeding.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Colonel Toshiro Nagato is Asuka and Jessika's commanding officer during their B1C training. Both women complained about him being stern, stiff and angry the whole time and drilling the word "discipline" into their heads endlessly. Still he was not a rude person. He was just doing his job -train them hard- and he really valued them and appreciated them.
• Driven to Suicide: Subverted. After her failure with the NF-14 Asuka was so angry with herself that she decided to shoot herself. However she was ultimately unable to go through with it.
  • A line in chapter 12 suggests that she has attempted to commit suicide before the beginning of the story.
• Drowning My Sorrows: In chapter 10 Shinji has spent several months keeping watch over his comatose girlfriend Asuka, not knowing whether she will ever wake up or not and his father -whom he has not seen in years- shows up to lecture him about -supposedly- neglecting his duties because he is infatuated with a pretty face. So, feeling even more angry and depressed, Shinji went to a bar to drown his sorrows in alcohol.
• Dysfunction Junction: Nearly all the main characters suffer from some kind of dysfunction. Shinji is half-orphan, his father has neglected him for nearly twenty years, and he had no expectations for the future or even any regard for his own life until he met Asuka. Asuka is full of neuroses, insecurities, regrets and even though she seems strong she is very fragile and is prone to falling apart things get hard. Rei is an Emotionless Girl due to brain damage. Misato is getting constantly agnsty about her pilots and rebounding of a difficult previous relationship. Saburo is so full of tensions and frustrations that he is almost an emo...
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The history seems to be going for this. The characters suffer traumas and have to learn to overcome them.
  • Shinji and Asuka's relationship goes through many troubles while they try to figure it out. Right when it looks that it is getting somewhere, some disaster happens and it gets worse. However they ultimately manage to solve their troubles, connect with each other and get engaged.
  • Commented by Kaworu in one scene. He told Shinji that everyone goes through trials in order to achieve happiness.
• Eating the Eye Candy:
  • As soon as they met Shinji took note of Asuka's beauty and hotness. During the party in chapter 3 he could not help to appreciate her backside and legs.
  • Even though they broke up, Kaworu still blushed when he saw Saburo's naked body. Kaworu felt mortified about it because he wanted to put that relationship behind him.
• Elevator Going Down: In chapter 17 Shinji and Asuka got into the hotel's elevator. Shinji pressed the "stop" button as Asuka gave him a blowjob. When they walked out of it, Shinji's shirt and trousers were rumpled and Asuka was wiping her lips.
• Ethical Slut:
  • After hooking up with Shinji Asuka becomes more uninhibited and she even reveals to him she is into bondage and she is a sub. At the same time, before meeting Shinji she was a virgin, and he is both the first man she has been with and the only one she will be with.
  • Kelly is pretty kinky and she has had a threesome with her boyfriend and another man, but she has lines she will not cross, such as cheating.
• Everyone Can See It: The only ones who did not realize what was going between Shinji and Asuka were Shinji and Asuka themselves.
• Exact Words: Chapter 13 is titled "The Death of Asuka Langley Soryu". She accepts Shinji's marriage proposal, meaning she will change her name.
• Exhausted Eye Bags:
  • Asuka has eye bags after waking up from a coma because she isn't sleeping well since nightmares are plaguing her.
  • Shinji and Asuka have huge eye bags in chapters 13 and 14 because they haven't slept in nearly twenty-four hours (the latter because she was running away; the former because he was looking for her to talk her into returning home).
• Face Palm: Misato pulls it several times:
  • In chapter 3, after Asuka has botched a mission because she was too busy inquiring about Shinji's sex life to focus on performing her task.
  • In chapter 11, Asuka has been ordered to test a prototype war plane despite not being psychologically stable. The test goes awry, and Misato -who had talked against putting Asuka in that plane-, facepalmed as wearing a "I knew it" expression.
  • In chapter 14 Misato had been complaining about missing pilots. And then new pilots arrive and she realizes that they are guaranteed to make trouble. So she facepalms in irritation.
• Fan Art: Grummancat draws pictures of his own fancomic and has also done a crapton of fanart of Evangelion, Kim Possible and other works.
• Female Gaze: Although the author is male, the male characters provide plenty of fanservice (though not as much as the female characters).
• Finger-Tenting: Gendo does it in some scenes, such like this or this. The different camera angle and more casual clothes of the former give him a focused air rather a creepy one, though.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: Discussed. In chapter 13 Asuka tries -and fails- to convince Shinji to break up arguing that he is attached to her because she is the first woman that he has ever been with, and men often become attached to their first sexual relationship.
• First Kiss:
  • Shinji and Asuka got their first kiss straight after their first time. Asuka was teasing Shinji, and when he took her seriously, she laughed, told him "chill out" and kissed him.
  • And Rei and Kaworu in chapter 16 after she angrily demanded that he make up his mind.
• Foreign Cuss Word: Asuka uses them every so often. "Scheisse" is a popular one, although she used a variant in chapter 3 (Heilige Scheisse).
• Four Is Death: Unit-04. During a trial flight one of its engines exploded and the Unit crashed and blew up. One of its two pilots died and the another nearly did, spending several months in a coma.
• Freudian Slip: Asuka slips several times in chapter 5:
  Jessika: What about this new guy? Shinji?
  Asuka: He’s the worst of them! He’s reckless… And can’t even do what he is told… I told him to call as soon as he got to Nevada. And that was this morning!
  Jessika (thinking): Boyfriend: Found.
  Asuka: Ungrateful idiot Shinji… I’m gracious enough to worry about him and he doesn’t even notice! I hope he doesn’t expect me keep the house clean while he’s gone!
  Jessika: Whoa Whoa Whoa! You’re staying in this “idiot’s” home?
  Asuka: Well, yeah… It’s bigger than my apartment. And it’s got a more comfortable bed.
  Jessika (thinking): Aaaand she’s sleeping in his bed.
• From Bad to Worse: Invoked by Shinji at one point when he says that sometimes you think that things can’t get worse and then they do. Ironically, things would start to get better in the next chapter.

G-I

• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In chapter 8 Shinji flips out after seeing Asuka’s war plane crashing down and he loses control of his own plane. Gendo’s reaction was quoting the line almost verbatim.
• Girlish Pigtails:
  • Hikari wears her hair in pigtails. They make her seem younger than she really is (she is twenty).
  • Reinforced with Asuka. She also wore them (although they were less noticeable). After recovering from her break-down she stopped wearing her hair in pigtails because she wanted to seem more mature.
• GIS Syndrome: The man's perfectly capable of drawing backgrounds, so this mostly crops up for large-scale backgrounds like the desert and city scenes.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger:
  • Asuka to Shinji in episode 5 when she warns him against going to a certain club.
  • And Asuka to Mari in episode 15 when she is gloating about her -pyrrhic- victory.
• Go into the Light: Asuka wanted to do it in chapter 11, but Jessika did not let her, stating that it was not her time yet.
• Goodbye, Cruel World!: In the chapter 12 Asuka's depression and self-loathing hit rock-bottom and she decided to kill herself, leaving a goodbye note for Shinji.
• Gratuitous German: Asuka often slips in her mother tongue, using German expressions such like: "Guten Tag", "Heilige Scheisse", "Scheiße!", "Schnell!", "Sheibe" or "Gott".
• Gratuitous Japanese: Averted most of time, but the author used it once to give a shout-out to the original material:
  Asuka: Anta baka? You really tried hard to piss me off today!
• Grave-Marking Scene: In chapter 13 Asuka visited Jessika's grave and spent a long while talking to her and geting all what was hurting her off her chest. In the last scene, while Shinji and Asuka were leaving the graveyard, she said goodbye to her friend.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • A while before Asuka and Shinji got together the thought of other women getting near Shinji was enough to get her mad. A while later, when they were already engaged, Mari realized and flirted with Shinji exclusively because she loved messing with Asuka. Needless to say, Asuka was NOT amused.
  • Saburo was jealous of Rei because Kaworu a long time for her bedside when she fell into a coma. He dumped Kaworu in a fit of jealousy, but when Kaworu and Rei started to hang together his jealousy increased and he started to lash out at Rei.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Although initially the story pits a group of brave soldiers putting their lives in line to save the world and a shadowy terrorist organization, Grummancat warned that his story was going to be this. So, even though the Children are clearly heroic, Gendo is up to something, and Grummancat has hinted that things in Nerv are not as innocent as they seem. And Seele conspires against the USA because they regard it as a -literally- World Class bully... but they do not care for the loss of billions of lives and the collapse of the world economy that would come as a result of the downfall of the "evil Empire".
• Groin Attack:
  • After Their First Time Asuka warns Shinji that if he tells anyone about it, she'll cut his balls off.
  • During the Las Vegas trip, Asuka warns Shinji that if he ever cheats on her, his punishment will involve electricity and testicles.
• Guile Hero: Gendo and Fuyutsuki –especially the latter- spend most their time negotiating with politicians and bureaucrats in Washington. They find it very tiresome and distressing.
• Guilt Complex: After a short-lived time period where she blamed everyone else, Asuka started to blame herself for everything in the second arc: Unit 04 blew up due to circumstances completely out of her control? Her fault because she was responsible for carrying out the mission successfully, even if she hadn't made any mistakes. Her best friend died in the crash? Her fault because she was responsible for carrying out the mission successfully, even if it was not her fault and her friend's ghost personally absolved her. the NF-14 disaster? Her fault even though her superiors knew that she was very unstable and should not have been put in that war plane and some of them even hoped that she would crash it. The program is facing hardships? Her fault for existing.
• Happily Failed Suicide: In chapter 12, Shinji manages to stop Asuka's Survivor Guilt driven suicide and give her a lecture about how she's the one that taught him about actually having something to live for (and suggesting they go make dinner to lighten the mood) which ends in her giving her first actual smile since she got out of her coma. Then it gets subverted in the next chapter when she runs off to Jessika's grave with the intention of leaving forever. It takes Shinji proposing to her for her to finally be able to lay her inner demons to rest.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Misato -unsurprisingly, given the original material- and Asuka drink a lot in parties. Asuka, though, does not follow all usual associated traits, since she hardly gets drunk and she is Shinji Ikari's partner.
• Hauled Before A Senate Subcommittee: The Black Project Evangelion is overseen by a Senate committee. Gendo and Fuyutsuki often appear before the committee to report about the progress and state of the project, answer queries or assuage concerns, since the committee's members are always complaining about funding, the state of the program… and some of them would love an excuse for shutting it down (although to be fair, their concerns are not without merit).
• Hegemonic Empire: This is how Seele sees the USA: an unrestrained imperial war machine and an overbearing international police organization that rules over the world like the only and unchallenged superpower. The Black Project Evangelion is started to prevent its plan to finish with what they call "the American Empire" once and for all.
• Held Gaze: Between Shinji and Asuka in this scene, shortly after a fight and kind-of-reconciliation.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Shinji went through one in chapters 7 and 8 when Unit-04 crashed as Asuka was piloting it.
  • Asuka went through hers after waking up from her coma and hearing that Jessika was dead.
• High-Altitude Battle: As was to be expected since the main characters are pilots of experimental jet fighters, every battle so far has been a high-altitude duel. Asuka lost one, won another and drew a third fight.
• Holding Hands:
  • One of the most heart-warming moments of the comic happened in chapter 13 when Shinji and Asuka held hands right after he popped the question.
  • And then this scene in chapter 12, when after going through a very harsh time Asuka attempted to commit suicide, but Shinji talked her out of it, offered his hand... and Asuka took it.
• Home Base: The Distler Air Force Base, a secret military base in the Mojave Desert of California that houses Black Project Evangelion.
• Hope Spot:
  • After several fights and disagreements Asuka and Shinji got together. They were still confused about their feelings and their relationship, and they still had arguments, but they were happy. Then in chapter 7 the plane Asuka was piloting crashed. She survived but she spent several months in a coma and when she woke up, she was a different, angrier person.
  • Later Shinji managed to stop her from committing suicide, and it looked like if he had finally reached her and they could start to repair their relationship. The next day she ran away.
• Hot-Blooded: Asuka is passionate, temperamental, emotional and blunt. It often gets her in trouble.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: When she does not wear her hair tied back with her hair clips, Asuka's sideburns are very noticeable. They can be seen in this scene, and they are every bit so big and fiery as Kouji Kabuto's, Ryoma Nagare or Kenichi Go.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Asuka mocks Shinji for being a virgin. Later, during their first time, Shinji finds out that she is a virgin, too.
  • Kelly mocks Mari for being sex-crazed. Mari reminds Kelly that she had a threesome with her boyfriend and another man a few days ago.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Asuka has ice-blue, piercing eyes. When she gets pissed off their icy stare is very scary.
• Idealized Sex: Subverted. When Shinji and Asuka had sex for first time, it was painfully obvious that they were twenty-year-old virgins and they had no idea what they were doing. Shinji unintentionally hurt her when he entered her, and the whole experience was pretty awkward for both. Fortunately they got better at it.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: During their dates Kaworu unintentionally does many things (such like smiling or kissing her hand) that unintentionally get Rei flustered and even aroused.
• The "I Love You" Stigma:
  • Asuka was afraid of saying "I love you" to Shinji for a long while. She did not dare to spit it out until they were engaged, even though they had been lovers for months (and the relationship was actually her idea). Until then she had kept it secret (her "biggest secret", she called it).
  • Shinji is not much better. He told her out loud he loved her for the first time when he was popping the question. Asuka was shocked and surprised when she heard it because she didn't expect it at all.
• I Kiss Your Hand: At the end of a date in chapter 9, Kaworu kissed Rei's hand.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: After a plane crash Asuka spends a long time in a coma and when she wakes up she is completely changed, behaves like a different person and goes through a severe break-down as Shinji tries to help her. At one point she attempts to commit suicide but is unable to go through with it, and Shinji tells her that is because her old self is still somewhere in there, fighting.
• I Miss Mom: During a conversation in chapter 4, Shinji reveals to Asuka that his mother died and he misses her.
  Shinji: Now I have to wait the rest of my life to see her...
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Shinji has very clear, bright blue eyes. He is also a shy, good-natured, well-meaning young man.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
  • Jessika liked Asuka, but she never told her because she knew that Asuka liked Shinji (presumably she did not want to cheat on her girlfriend, either).
  • Shinji tried to talk Asuka into returning to Distler and getting together again, but he also intended to respect her choice if going away was what would make her happy.
  • Averted with Saburo. He knows that his relationship with Kaworu is over and that he should leave Kaworu alone, but he is unable to do it.
• I'm Standing Right Here: In chapter 11, a bunch of senators spend several pages grumbling about Gendo Ikari and wondering about his true intentions and goals until Fuyutsuki suggests that they address Commander Ikari directly, since he IS in the same room (and looking pissed off at being ignored).
• Imaginary Love Triangle: Subverted. Saburo thinks that he is in a Love Triangle with Kaworu and Rei, since Kaworu spent a long time watching over Rei when she was into a coma and because later they often went out together. However Kaworu saw Rei like a friend, and their "dates" were mostly two friends hanging together. Ironically, Saburo's actions -breaking up with Kaworu out of jealousy and later stalking him are pushing Kaworu towards Rei.
• Inner Monologue: Many characters have inner discussions with themselves. To reinforce the effect of it being a stream-thought, often the background fades and only their thoughts are seen.
  • Asuka's inner monologue often gets depicted as two Asukas arguing with each other.
• Insane Troll Logic: In chapter 7 Saburo berated Kaworu for taking Rei to a restaurant and warned him against wasting his forgiveness. Kaworu could not believe his ears:
  Kaworu: Forgiveness? You dumped me in a fit of jealousy fanned by the flames of your own imagination. There never was anything to forgive.
• Insult of Endearment: At the beginning of their relationship, Asuka called Shinji "idiot" or "dummy" with scorn. After a while and several Relationship Upgrades she called him "dummy" lovingly.
• Interrupted Suicide: In chapter 12 Asuka tried to commit suicide. However, Shinji found her Just in Time and managed to stop her. Subverted since, even though she had decided to kill herself, she had spent the last five hours unable to go through with it. In fact, her choice of words in her suicide note (specifically, ending it with "auf wiedersehen", which means "until we meet again") suggested that she wanted him to stop her. But she might have eventually shot herself if he had not showed up or if he left.

J-L

• The Lad-ette:
  • Misato is the commanding officer of the "Evangelion" Air Force squad. She is an experienced soldier and an Ace Pilot. She is also a slob who likes partying (sometimes with her subordinates), drinking heavily and having sex.
  • Kelly Wallis is a soldier who likes war planes, drinking, playing rough sports (such like rugby) and is pretty sexually active.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: If someone checks Grummancat's page before reading all chapters in order, that person will get spoiled that: Jessika was in love with Asuka, Unit-04 crashes and Jessika dies, Asuka falls into a coma but it only lasts several months, Asuka's suicide attempt fails, Shinji and Asuka got engaged and Mari Makinami is the Sixth Child.
• Latex Space Suit: The Eva pilot plug-suits are especial skin-tight suits. They do not wear anything more for protection since the whole crew compartment is supposed to eject in case of emergency.
  • Averted when they have to carry out a mission that requires flying too high or far away. Then they wear normal space suits. See Rei here and Asuka here.
• Leg Focus: During a moving party in chapter 3, Shinji constantly ogles to Asuka's legs.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared with the original series. In this Alternate Universe the main characters are still full of issues, but since they are older, they are somewhat more mature and better at dealing with them.
• Like an Old Married Couple: As soon as they met Shinji and Asuka bickered. They were attracted each other, argued constantly, opened up each other and talked about personal issues... and as soon as Shinji moved in the base Asuka started to spend her whole free time in his home, sleeping in his bed, using his shower... and Shinji cooked for her. When he left for a week Asuka stayed the whole time in his home... and that was BEFORE they got together and long before they got engaged.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Since their relationship's beginning, Shinji and Asuka gradually become this for each other, in such a way that when one of them fell apart, the other also did.
  • Later, when Asuka became completely unstable and abusive due to the Unit-04's crash and Jessika's death and Shinji does not know what to do, Kaworu tells him what Asuka really needs is for Shinji to be strong for her because she'll eventually hit rock-bottom and then she will need Shinji's help. And Kaworu was right.
  • Grummancat said that Shinji would not dump her because he is now too co-dependent to live without her. In another scene, Shinji said that he can not cut her off anymore that he can cut off his own leg.
• Living Is More than Surviving: A while after meeting Shinji, Asuka finds out that he thinks his life is empty and he's satisfied with merely existing. Quickly she tells him that mindset is stupid, and the minute you stop trying to live -as opposed to merely surviving- you're no longer human.
• Love Confession: After spending several months being lovers and getting engaged Asuka was able to bring herself to tell Shinji that she loved him.
• Love Dodecahedron: Let's begin: Asuka loves Shinji. Shinji and Jessika love Asuka. Mandy loves Jessika and Jessika loves her, too. Hikari and Toji love each other. Rei and Saburo love Kaworu. Kaworu may have feelings for rei and he no longer loves Saburo. Misato is dating Shinji's ex-wingmate, and her ex-boyfriend Kaji is about to show up in the doujin. Gendo and Ritsuko are lovers and it is unknown if Gendo's marriage to his deceased wife Yui will disrupt their relationship.
• Love Epiphany: Shinji realizes he loves Asuka when she was in a coma. Asuka realized she loved Shinji when he proposed to her.
• Love Hurts: Asuka was the first and only woman Shinji had loved. Before meeting her he had no drive to live on. Then they got together, were happy for a while... and Asuka's experimental jet fighter crashed down. She was in a coma for several months. Shinji refused to leave her side during that whole time. When she woke up she was a nearly completely different, ever-angry person. For several months Shinji had to see her self-destroying gradually as he put up with her abuse, having no idea of how to help her. Later she got better after trying to kill herself and then running away and she admitted it hurt her remembering how she treated him during that time.
• Love Revelation Epiphany: In chapter 5 Jessika often teases Asuka about her liking Shinji. At the beginning Asuka denies it vehemently and refuses to admit it to herself, but due to her friend's prolonged teasing she starts to second-guess herself and realizes she really likes Shinji.
• Love Triangle:
  • Asuka and Shinji love each other. Jessika is Asuka's best friend and is secretly in love with her. However she never said anything.
  • And then you have Asuka/Jessika/Mandy. Mandy was Jessika's girlfriend and hated Asuka because she thought that Jessika had been unfaithful. However Jessika never cheated, and Asuka never knew of her friend's real feelings.
  • Rei/Kaworu/Saburo. Kaworu and Rei like spending time together, and Rei likes Kaworu but she is uncertain of what kind of relationship Kaworu wants. Saburo is Kaworu's ex-boyfriend. He broke up with Kaworu because he felt ignored and was jealous of Kaworu's relationship with Rei. He wants Kaworu back, but Kaworu wants nothing with him now; ironically, Kaworu and Rei became closer after Saburo dumped Kaworu.
• Lovely Angels: The Evas are two-seaters aircrafts. Asuka is Unit-02's pilot and Hikari is her weapons officer, and both fight together. Same thing with Mari and Kelly.
• Luminescent Blush: A lot of characters have one constantly. Shinji and Asuka have at least one for each conversation of theirs.
  • Here is an example.
  • And here.
  • Or here.

M-O

• Madness Mantra: In chapter 12, while Asuka is arguing with herself during a breakdown, she yells out loud: "SHUT UP!!! Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up SHUT UP!!!"
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: In chapter 17 Asuka gave Shinji a blowjob in the hotel's lift.
• Male Gaze: The female characters provide plenty of eye candy, especially Asuka.
• Manipulative Bastard: Judging by this scene in chapter 11, this version of Gendo also has a secret agenda and is manipulating everybody in order to achieve it.
• Manly Tears: Men never cry? Feh! In this story Shinji joins Kouji Kabuto and Kenshiro in showing that the HELL they don’t! He sheds them often: after finding out that Asuka survived the Unit-04's crash, while retorting Gendo's lecture, during his marriage proposal to Asuka... And nobody ever suggests that he is somehow less masculine for it.
• Married to the Job: After his mother's death, Ritsuko became Shinji's caretaker and kind of step-mother. However she was too busy with her job to raise him properly. As a result of it, Shinji barely saw his father's girlfriend and he does not really like her.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Shinji is a House Husband and he is calm, sensitive, shy and soft-spoken; Asuka is a Fiery Redhead Action Girl and she is Hot-Blooded, short-tempered, abrasive, prideful and the best Ace Pilot in the base.
• The Masochism Tango: Shinji went through this in chapters 11 and 12. After waking up from her several-month-long coma Asuka blamed herself for the failure of the mission, the destruction of the aircraft and her best friend's death, saw herself as a pathetic failure and was permanently angry at herself and everybody. For several months she treated Shinji with silence and utter disdain or hit him and insulted him cruelly. Shinji did not know how to help her but he would not dump her either because he had became too co-dependent to live without her. Finally Shinji managed to help her and she got better slowly, but she felt so guilty for her atrocious behavior that she ran away. When he found her and proposed marriage to her Asuka could not believe it and she asked him: "You're in love with a woman who tried kill herself — and take you with her? What's wrong with you?"
• Mecha Show: Although there are no Humongous Mecha, war planes are very prominent.
• Megaton Punch: Deconstructed. Asuka gives one to Shinji after their dog fight. She got a very severe reprimand from Misato, who warned her that that behavior was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
• Mildly Military: Played with. On the one hand the Evangelion squad members are allowed to grow long hair, their commanding officer insists on them calling her Misato at all times, and some of them are dating despite of being members of the same unit. On the other hand their commanders expect obedience and demand discipline from them, Misato chews them out when they step out of line, and some officers think allowing relationships between members of the same squad is a bad idea.
• Military Science Fiction: Although it leans firmly on the military side, the sci-fi elements are still present.
• Mistaken for Cheating: When Mandy perused her girlfriend's Secret Diary she read many entries where Jessika revealed that she had a crush on her teammate Asuka and described what kind of things she wanted to do with -and to- the red-headed girl. Mandy thought Jessika had been unfaithful and she even accused Asuka of being a home-wrecker, but Jessika never cheated, and those diary entries were merely her fantasies.
• My Parents Are Dead: In chapter 4, Asuka asks Shinji about his past, and he answers that he barely remembers his homeland or his mother. When she asks if his mother died and Shinji confirms it, she feels embarrassed.
  Asuka: So your mother...
  Shinji: Died.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One of the plug suit designs is modeled after the ones from Rebuild of Evangelion.
  • In this scene Shinji tells "Sorry" and Asuka gets angry with him because she does not believe he is sorry at all.
  • Rei slaps Shinji as she did in episode 5 of the series.
• Naughty Birdwatching: Some of the military men spy on the girls with binoculars while they're sunbathing.
• Never My Fault: Asuka suffered a minor case of this in third chapter when she complained that she was being blamed for hitting Shinji even though he had got her nearly killed (forgetting that Misato clearly told her that getting angry and shouting at him was reasonable but hitting a fellow pilot was utterly unacceptable and THAT was what she was being scolded for) and for botching the latest mission (which was completely her fault). In her favor, she was under much distress at the moment and not thinking clearly, and she got over that attitude shortly after.
• No Range Like Point-Blank Range: During her aerial duel against Shinji, Asuka got extremely close to him to shoot him down. This is because he was tremendously slippery and she did not want to miss.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Shinji has mentioned twice that he served in the Black Aces on the Nimitz, but he has not told why he was in the Black Aces or what he did over there.
  • In this scene Asuka's inner self is accusing herself of again resorting to a cabinet full of narcotics to run away from her troubles. It has not been explained what "again" meant.
• No Seat Belts: The original series used this trope so that Grummancat made a conscious effort to avert it and include seatbelts in the war planes.
• No Social Skills:
  • Asuka comes across as abrasive and irritating due to her poor social skills. She is not good at socializing or relating to other people. In one scene she admits that she is not good at getting used to new people.
  • Shinji is not much better. Due to growing up without parents and moving continuously he is not good at interacting with other people or making friends, and sometimes he does not even realize when he is getting someone mad.
• "Not So Different" Remark: After Shinji has told her about his childhood, his mother’s death, his uneasy relationship with his father and his father’s lover and how little he likes being around Dr. Akagi, Asuka reflects that they are not very different:
  Asuka: We’re not that different after all.
• Nuke 'em: At least one of the members of the Senate Subcommittee overseeing the Black Project Evangelion maintains that the best way to deal with Seele was nuking the whole country where they were hiding in lieu of building Evangelions to launch a pre-emptive targeted raid.
• Oblivious to Love: Asuka never noticed her best friend Jessika had a huge crush on her. Jessika never wanted her to know either, because she knew Asuka was in love with Shinji and would not love her back anyway.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The group of politicians tasked with overseeing the Evangelion project is always complaining about funding, the march of the program… and some of them would love an excuse to shut it down. To be fair, their concerns are not without merit:
  ”Ernie, could you stop being a politician for one fucking minute? We don’t have time for this kind of back and forth wishy-washy spend-then-cancel bureaucracy!”
  “You’ve been using that bullshit for over a year now! You think you’re not a politician? We were put here to do the bidding of those who elected us! Why are you guys so obsessed with spending money we don’t have?”
• Odd Friendship: Asuka and Hikari are a combat unit. Asuka is abrassive, proud, hot-tempered, emotional and confrontational. Hikari is kind, tranquil, rational and understanding. Still they are two good friends and fight together.
• Off the Table: Saburo felt ignored by Kaworu so that broke up with him. Later he realized that he still loved him so he offered to "forgive" his ex-boyfriend and take him back, but Kaworu had realized that he enjoyed being single and he did not want Saburo back.
• Official Kiss: In chapter 5, Shinji and Asuka completed their Relationship Upgrade with their first kiss: a sweet, short smooch.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Asuka's blanched and terrified face after Hikari tells her that they are screwing up the test flight is positively beautiful.
  • Asuka’s face when she sees that the plane that she is chasing is charging at her.
• Old-School Dogfight: There are several dog fights -in chapter 2, 5 and 15- between Ace Pilot Asuka and other pilots. They were training duels, though.
• The One That Got Away: Invoked by Shinji in chapter 13 when he is trying to talk Asuka into remaining together and thinks that if he fails she -the only woman that he has ever loved and will probably ever love- will vanish from his life forever.
• Original Character: Jessika Ryan and Kelly Wallis.
• Orphan's Ordeal: In chapter 4 Shinji talked Asuka about his childhood. He revealed that he lost his mother when he was a baby, and his father sent him away afterwards. He changed schools constantly, barely made friends and developed little social skills. Although he is older than his canon self and is clearly better at dealing with it, it is clear losing his mother still haunts him.

P-R

• Parental Abandonment: Shinji's mother died when he was a little child, and shortly after her death he became estranged from his father. By the start of the doujin, he's hasn't seen Gendo in ten years. Nothing is known about the parents of the other pilots, but given Asuka's reaction to Shinji's history about his parents and what happened to her in the original canon, it is likely that she is also an orphan and/or does not get along with her parents.
  • Jessika is buried together with her father, so she had also lost at least one of her parents.
• Parental Neglect: Gendo's less of an bastard in this fic, but his relationship with his son is pretty much the same: Nonexistent. The death of his wife hit him pretty hard, and he distanced himself from Shinji after they moved to America. He left Shinji in the care of Ritsuko, and pretty much spent all his time away from home; Ritsuko also wasn't much Parental Substitute either since she spent more time with Gendo than with Shinji. Shinji himself barely remembers his mother, nor can he recall ever living with his dad; He grew up thinking Gendo was ashamed of him. Thankfully, Adult Shinji has (mostly) grown past the "Well Done, Son" Guy troubles that plagued his counterpart in the NGE 'verse, but his father is still a sore subject for him.
  Shinji: I don't remember how [mom died]... [Father] doesn't talk about it. Or her... Now I have to wait the rest of my life to see her... And I have to wait that long to see my Father for that matter...
  • This moment from chapter 10 marks the first time they've had a face-to-face conversation in almost a decade... and it largely consisted of a lecture from Gendo about focusing on your duties instead of grieving. Shinji was not amused.
• Parental Substitute: Ritsuko took care of Shinji for a short while when his father sent him away after his mother's death. However Ritsuko seemed to always be with his father, and Shinji did not like her very much. When the story starts he is twenty and he has been used to taking care of himself for a long time.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: In chapter 4 Shinji goes to the bathroom... not knowing that Asuka has not left his home yet, and she is taking a shower. He walks on her right when she is towelling herself, and her reaction is... predictable.
• Pitbull Dates Puppy: Asuka is a very aggressive, hot-headed woman and Shinji is a non-confrontational, quiet, shy man. Asuka always claimed she wanted to someone confident, determined and muscular and she was not interested in scrawny boys. Still, she fell in love with Shinji and after seducing him they are unable to live without each other.
• The Plan: The events of the story are due to Seele's plan -known as "Third Impact", a large-scale nuclear attack- to end the USA's global influence. At the same time, the Black Project Evangelion is Gendo's plan to stop them.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: In chapter 13 Asuka ran away and Shinji followed her to plead with her to not leave him.
• Porn with Plot: Although this doujin has sex scenes they are not the point of the story, they are relatively rare and they are always used for character development or examination.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: The characters in this series deliver several ones:
  Asuka (before dueling with Shinji): Stick around for lunch... I hear they are having chicken nuggets...^note "Nugget" is aviator speak for a noobie pilot.
  Shinji (in reply to the former): I think we're having "saurkraut" for lunch today...
  Asuka (before a practice duel with Kaworu): I want to smoke him like a cigarrette!
• The Promise: In chapter 13 Shinji pops the question, and Asuka answers she will only accept that engagement ring if he can promise he'll love her and be faithful to her for as long as he lives:
  Asuka:IF you REALLY want to tie yourself down to that for the rest of your life... IF you can really PROMISE to be true to that— true to ME— for as long as you live... Then I will... accept this.
  Shinji:I promise. Asuka.
  Asuka:Think about it— That's a long time! Can you imagine keeping a promise for sixty or seventy more years!
  Shinji:YES, I promise!
  Asuka:And if you should waiver in the slightest...
  Shinji:I know! I know! I really do promise, Asuka!
  Asuka(blushing):... You're either a fool... or a liar. And I don't think you are a liar.
• Prophecy Twist: One of the chapters is titled "The Death of Asuka Langley Sohryu." However, the title never said it was referring to Asuka Langley Sohryu the person. It turns out Asuka Langley Sohryu the name dies, as Asuka accepts Shinji's marriage proposal and becomes Asuka Ikari.
• Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Asuka and Jessika were best friends. They shared the same tastes and were constantly together. When Jessika died Asuka got absolutely devastated, blamed herself and almost got herself killed trying to see her again.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In chapter 17 Rei asks what the Hikari's bachelorette party will consist of. Asuka explains it this way:
  Asuka: "Nude. Male. Review. Best in town."
• Pyrrhic Victory: Asuka won her duel against Mari... but Mari shot her down a few seconds later. In a real battle she would be dead. Moreover, their little duel earned her another severe reprimand from Misato. Still Asuka was gloating later to Mari she she won. Mari laughed and called her a "kamikaze".
  Asuka: Your combat telemetry died a whopping 3.5 seconds before mine! You died first! I won!
• Race for Your Love: In chapter 13 Asuka's depression hit rock-bottom. Thinking that everyone would be better off without her and feeling ashamed of abusing Shinji for several weeks, she decided to disappear. Having a hunch that Asuka would go to see her best friend's grave first of all, Shinji drove hundreds of miles at night, without resting, even though he was not sure that he would find her there. He found her and he tried to convince her to return. When she refused, he proposed marriage to her. She said yes.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Asuka gave one to herself in chapter 12:
  Asuka: Nobody understands what I’m going through!
  Asuka: Do YOU understand?
  Asuka: ?!
  Asuka: Do you see what you are doing? What you’ve been doing ever since you woke up? You wrap yourself up in this warm blanket of hate because it makes you feel powerful! It’s the only way you can feel powerful again without the help of others! But it’s only a drug. A quick chemical that hides your troubles! Meanwhile they’re still there GETTING WORSE. So, once again, the great Asuka Langley Sohryu is retreating from her troubles armed with a medicine cabinet of powerful looking narcotics! My, how self-reliant you are!
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Asuka is the Red Oni -she is hot-tempered, hot-headed, loud, boisterous, proud and impulsive-, and Shinji is the Blue Oni -calm, modest, quiet, patient, wary, understanding-. They are a Battle Couple.
• Relationship Upgrade: Shinji and Asuka became lovers in chapter 5, and in chapter 13 they got engaged.
• The Rival:
  • Shinji to Asuka. Several characters comment on it.
  • Later Mari becomes Asuka's rival. Word of God states that Asuka needs a rival because she is fiercely competitive.
• Romantic Runner-Up: Saburo was inmature, sometimes overbearing, a borderline stalker and he did many dumb things and hurt people as he tried and failed to get Kaworu back... but he was not a bad person. He was just unable to control his emotions and let the past go. He also thought he was protecting Kaworu from heartbreak by interfering between Rei and him. When he realized that was not the case he finally gave up.
• Rule of Three: This is often used, such like relationships between characters (love triangles and characters with two close friends abound), and even in the story structure (it is split into three parts).

S-U

• Safe, Sane, and Consensual: In chapter 17 twenty-years-old Shinji and Asuka explore their relationship's sexual dynamics further. Asuka wants to try bondage games. When Shinji asks if she is REALLY, ABSOLUTELY sure that she wants getting tied and spanked by him she retorts she is and he better does so now. Later, when he says he is surprised at her being a sub, she explains THAT is the point of fantasy. During the chapter Shinji reflects Asuka had probably fantasized about it for a long time but before him she had never met someone she trusted enough to try it, and she wanted to be sure she could share her secret fantasies with him before their wedding.
• Sailor Earth:
  • Jessika joined the "Evangelion Squad" like one of the Children.
  • Kelly joined the cast like weapons officers of the canonical Eva pilots.
• Sailor Fuku: Although Asuka wears an army uniform it is based on the marine-blue-and-white fuku of the anime.
• Sarashi: When Asuka asks Kelly how she can play rugby with a chest like hers, Kelly explains that she wears a wrap around her chest when she plays so that her breasts do not hinder her.
• Say My Name: In chapter 12 Shinji screamed Asuka's name several times while he searched for her after finding her suicide note.
• Secret Relationship: Played for laughs. Straight after becoming lovers Asuka warned Shinji against telling anyone that they were sleeping together. After several days she stopped caring about people knowing but she forgot to tell him, so Shinji was still denying everything to his friends and trying to keep it secret at the same time that her friends pried everything out of her.
• Security Cling: In chapter 6, Asuka clings to Shinji because she's frightened of losing him when they engage the enemy, since he doesn't value his own life.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: After surviving a failed mission, Asuka suffered from Survivor Guilt. She was full of anger, hatred and self-loathing, and anything made her snap. And she stopped laughing or having fun. She did not even want to have fun. After a second failure she tried to shoot her brains off, but Shinji stopped her. From that point he helped her to get better.
• Ship Sinking: Mari initially seemed interested in Shinji, but as soon as she found out that Shinji and Asuka were together she stopped seeing him as "possible boyfriend" and started to see him as a "way to get Asuka deliciously angry".
• Ship Tease: There was plenty of teasing, mainly between Shinji and Asuka in the earlier chapters (such like Shinji staring at her bottom when she wore tight short pants or Asuka making excuses for sleeping in his bed) and between Rei and Kaworu later.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Jessika shipped Shinji and Asuka together despite being in love with Asuka.
  • Gendo also ships Shinji and Asuka... or at least he is not willing to interfere with his son's love life (as long as it does not interfere with his plans, at least).
• Shipping Torpedo: When Shinji and Asuka got together, most people in the Distler Air Base were neutral or supportive... but Ritsuko, was against it, arguing that their relationship was very volatile and if they broke up it might mess up the pilots' teamwork. However, she was told that she should let them make their own choices, so she stopped trying to keep them apart.
• Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: During her aerial duels against Shinji, Kaworu and Mari, Asuka got extremely close, even though her Eva was equipped with long-range missiles. Justified, since they were dog-fight training duels, and getting close is the point of them.
• Shout-Out: It has its own page now. Examples must be added in it.
• Shower of Angst: This comic has many, the first of them happening in the second chapter. Usually Asuka takes one when she gets distraught, upset or angry (and she often feels like that in this story).
• Shower of Awkward: In chapter 4, Shinji walks in on Asuka right when she's just taken a shower and is towelling herself dry.
• Shower of Love: Asuka tried to do this with Shinji in chapter 14 but it ended up getting subverted since they both felt too awkward due to the past few months of Asuka's Survivor's Guilt driven anger. It's especially depressing since they had gotten engaged less than a day earlier and things still haven't gone back to how they used to be between them (that doesn't happen until after they get out of the shower).
• Sixth Ranger: Mari Makinami joined the "Evangelion" squad at the end of the Part 2, and during her debut onscreen fight Mari matched skills with Asuka, the top pilot of the squad.
• Skyward Scream: In chapter 12, while she is breaking down completely, Asuka screams she can't take it anymore and she hates everybody before throwing back her head and yelling: "AND I HATE MYSELF!!"
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Shinji and Asuka were pretty snarky at the beginning of the history. During those chapters they were still in their Belligerent Sexual Tension phase, so that their conversations and arguments often turned into this. For example, in chapter 3:
  Shinji: The debauchery in there is staggering...
  Asuka: You're one to talk! How many beers did I see you knock back?
  Shinji: You too! You're not 21 either, right?
  Asuka: Hmph! I'm too busy to keep track of stupid, prudish American laws!
  Shinji: I think we made a bigger mess than we cleaned up...
  Asuka: It was a moving party! It's not supposed to be clean.
  [...]
  Asuka: Ya know... You'd be a pretty good pilot if you knew how to control yourself...
  Shinji: Weirdest way of conceeding I've ever heard...
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Asuka initially came across as abrasive, rude and arrogant, but in reality she has very low self-esteem and little self-confidence, and she pushed people away because she was frightened of them.
• Speculative Science: This story makes a deliberate effort to be realistic. The science and engineering used is mostly plausible. Some of the technology (such like the anti-targeting field) is nonexistent but feasible.
• The Squad: Commanding Officer Misato and the young pilots form the "Evangelion Squad".
• Super Prototype: The F-14E "Evangelions" (which in this alternate universe are experimental jet fighters rather than giant robots). The first models are more powerful and have a better output than the latter ones. There were also talks to mass-produce them, but the Committee overseeing the project decided that it would be too expensive and the prototypes are good enough.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Asuka often thinks that all in the base but her -and some few people such like Shinji, Hikari or Jessika- are idiots or weirdoes. In the chapter 15, as she is putting up with the Mari and Kelly's antics, she thinks: "Idiots. Idiots both of them..."
• Survivor Guilt: When Unit 04 crashed down, Asuka survived but her co-pilot Jessika did not. Even though it was not her fault AT ALL, she blamed herself nonetheless. For a long time she was wracked with pain, guilt and self-hatred.
• Talking in Bed:
  • Shinji and Asuka do this a lot throughout the history, even before getting together:
    • In chapter 3 when she climbed into his bed alleging the couch was uncomfortable.
    • In chapter 4 Asuka tells Shinji he better come back from Nevada soon and keep himself far from seedy establishments.
    • In chapter 5 she seduces him and afterwards they talk about Their First Time being a very awkward ordeal.
    • In chapter 6 they talk about Shinji's lack of self-preservation instinct and Asuka's need of him.
    • In chapter 13 Asuka warns Shinji against telling someone else of her attempted suicide.
    • In chapter 14 they argue about their renewed relationship's status and where they stand now.
    • In chapter 17 they have several pillow talks where they discuss their relationship's next step.
  • Kaworu and Saburo had a talk when Saburo was trying to convincing Kaworu into getting back together.
  • Kaworu and Rei in chapter 18 when she tells she does not want him holding his feelings back.
• Talking to the Dead: In chapter 13 Asuka was talking to the grave of Jessika for hours to get the hurt off her chest, explaining everything that had happened after her death and why she was running away.
• Talking to Themself: Asuka's inner turmoil and conversations are shown like two Asukas talking to each other. Usually her common sense is lecturing her -constantly on display- emotional side. It can be seen in chapters 4, 12 and 14. Here is an example.
• Take My Hand!: In chapter 12, after a fight Shinji manages to cheer Asuka up. Then he offers his hand to help her to stand up. And she takes it.
• Taking You with Me: In chapter 15 Asuka resorted to this tactic to win her and Mari's "friendly" duel. Asuka's plane was about to fall down and she decided she only needed to survive long enough to shoot Mari's down, so she performed a suicidal attack to take Mari with her.
• Tears of Joy: Asuka was crying in happiness after managing to tell Shinji that she loved him.
• Tears of Remorse: Asuka shed them several times when she thought about how many people she had hurt, especially the person that she loved, like in this scene.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Asuka and Jessika were tasked with testing Unit-04 the next day. And Asuka told that tomorrow would be perfect. She should really, really have closed her mouth because Unit-04 crashed. Asuka survived but Jessika did not.
  • And before leaving for Distler Air Base, Jessika reassured her gilrfriend Mandy that it would be only for a little while and that they would soon be together again. Mandy never saw her alive again.
• Tender Tears: Both Shinji and Asuka shed them while he proposed marriage to her.
• Thanks for the Mammary: In chapter 12 Toji and Hikari are talking about the troubles that Shinji and Asuka are facing when out of nowhere Toji gropes her. Hikari was not amused, but her disgust did not last long...
• That Didn't Happen: Subverted. After sleeping together for first time Shinji wakes up and notes Asuka is not in the bedroom. He thinks Asuka has left his home and she is going to pretend nothing has happened but he is wrong on both counts.
• That Was Not a Dream: In chapter 14 Shinji wakes up in a hotel room and asks Asuka whether she really said yes when he proposed to her or it was all a dream. In answer she asks "What do you think?" and she kisses him.
• Their First Time: In chapter 5, after several weeks of Belligerent Sexual Tension, Asuka decides she can not hold it back anymore and tries to seduce Shinji very bluntly and awkwardly. Shinji tries to argue that they barely know each other, but she manages to seduce him.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In chapter 4, during an Old School Dog Fight Asuka ordered Hikari doubling the dose of missiles when she shot because she WANTED THEM DEAD!. One of her rivals complained that was WAY overkill.
• Thinking Out Loud: In chapter 12 Asuka gets a long, bitter argument with herself during which she claimed to hate herself and her other self accused her of lying to herself. Shortly later Asuka is pondering her life, recalls that argument, and screams out loud "You think you are so smart? Do you want to see how much I hate myself?"
• Think Unsexy Thoughts: Female variant. In chapter 17 the female cast is holding a bachelorette party in a male strip club, and Asuka is trying to think of something else in order to not get too horny and do something stupid... so she starts thinking of her best friend getting married to "that monkey-faced brute" Touji Suzuhara (whom she cannot stand).
• This Is Unforgivable!: Minor example. In chapter 3, after being beaten by Shinji and messing up a mission, Asuka is extremely distraught and paranoid -due to several weeks of disappointments and frustrations- and she is starting to wonder if Shinji is actually trying to sabotage her. Then she angrily thinks: "This is unforgivable."
• Three-Act Structure: The history has three parts: in the first arc (1-5) the main characters and their relationships were established; in the second arc (6-13) the main characters and their relationships go through several obstacles and several ongoing subplots are hinted or started out; and the third arc (14-onward) will be the final confrontation, revealing the truth behind the Project Eva.
• The Three Faces of Eve: The three female pilots:
  • Asuka is the Wife: she is intelligent, competent and dependable (when she is emotionally stable).
  • Mari is the Seductress: She is sexy, she knows it, she flaunts it (her weapons officer states she shoots off hormones like they were lasers) and she is willing to flirt and using her charms to get what she wants (even if what she wants is merely messing with someone else's head)
  • Rei is the Child: she is naive, innocent and insecure.
• Title by Number: Evangelion-303.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: In chapter 6 Asuka braided her hair in a ponytail. It made her look more masculine and more aggressive.
• Tonight, Someone Dies: Chapter 13 is titled "The Death of Asuka Langley Soryu", they had already attempted suicide in the previous chapter, and Shinji's narration says it was the last time he saw them. She doesn't die, but her name does since Shinji proposes to her and she accepts.
• Too Dumb to Live: After Shinji pulled a suicidal move to win his and Asuka's dog fight Ritsuko reminded him how stupid was performing a maneuver that could have killed him, Asuka, and their co-pilots during a training/friendly duel.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Asuka goes through several phases of depression and recovery. Every time she overcomes her issues she becomes stronger and a better pilot.
  • According to Kaworu, after recovering from her accident Rei became a better fighter pilot than she was before.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness:
  • Asuka goes through this several times: at the beginning she was very distressed and glum because her performance was slipping. Then she met Shinji, after a while -and several fights- they got together and her mood got sunnier to the point that everybody commented on it. Later she fell on very hard times and she became angrier, loathful and depressed. After getting over her issues she became again happier and bolder.
  • Rei became emotionless after an accident and had a hard time reconnecting with her squad mates (and everybody else). After the Love Triangle tangling Kaworu, Saburo and herself up got resolved, she started to smile more often.
• Took a Level in Idealism: At the beginning of the story Shinji hardly cared for anything, including his own life. After meeting Asuka he learns the importance of valuing your own life and he even begins to believe he was destined to meet Asuka.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Getting together with Shinji worked wonders on Asuka's brittle temper. She calmed down -a bit- and started being nicer to people she previously declared she could not stand like Rei or Kaworu. Several characters note that she has changed and is kinder: after finding out Shinji and Asuka are iving together Misato mutters "Oh. So that is because she is nicer now". Shortly after Asuka praises Rei's performance during a volleybal match and Rei gets flustered and shocked.
• Too Much Information: In chapter 15, Mari and Kelly are taunting each other about their sex lives as having some drinks in Pancho's. Quickly their conversation enters "I did NOT want to know about it" territory, and Earl thinks: "Boy — If I had a dollar for every bit of info I had to 'forget' around here…".
• Trash of the Titans: Misato's house seems a war zone. There are all sorts of trash (food leftovers, pizza boxes, crushed beer cans, plastic bottles, dishes, books, CDs…) scattered over tables and floor.
• Trespassing to Talk: In chapter 7 Kaworu returned to his home late and discovered that his ex-boyfriend had done this. Kaworu's reaction to Saburo saying "You're late" was: "What do you care and what are you doing in my home?"
• Tron Lines: The plug-suits used in chapter 7 feature areas and lines that glow. Justified, since it is built so that the red portions of the suit can light up at night if the pilot needs to be rescued in wilderness.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Asuka assumed this pose at the end of chapter 12 after Shinji stopped her from committing suicide.
• True Companions: The members of the "Evangelion" Squadron are slowly developing into a tight-knit group of soldiers who fight together and value each other through marriage, friendship or rivalry.
• True Love is Exceptional: In chapter 3 Asuka tells Shinji that she will be keeping an eye on him, and Shinji wonders why can't a normal, well-adjusted girl say that to him. In chapter 5 Asuka screams that Shinji is not her boyfriend, and her ideal boyfriend is completely different from Shinji: her perfect man is manly, confident, beefy, always acts carefully and thinks with lightning speed. Shinji and Asuka got together at the end of that episode and got engaged in chapter 13.
• Undying Loyalty: In chapter 13 Shinji pops the question to Asuka. She asks if he really wants to tie himself to a nutcase like her and if he can promise he will be true to her for the rest of his life. He does.
• Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: In chapter 3, Nerv wanted to use a new, experimental aircraft to perform a reconnaissance mission. Maya pointed out that war plane had not even flown once, and they were expecting it fleeing to the other side of the world and back at nearly mach 4. Ritsuko admitted that she agreed, but they had no time to test it properly.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: The sexual tension between Shinji and Asuka was pretty intense in the early chapters. Shinji could not help peeping at her constantly, and Asuka did not know how to deal with her growing attraction, resorting in her climbing into his bed using a stupid excuse. The situation resolved itself in chapter 5 when they got together.
• Unwitting Pawn: Although Gendo seems less abusive than his canon self, he has a secret agenda and he’s using everyone –including his son and his son’s fiancée- to carry it out.

V-Z

• Vitriolic Best Buds: Misato and Ritsuko have this relationship. They often enjoy poking fun at each other.
• Virgin-Shaming: In episode 3 Asuka questions Shinji about his sex life and mocks him for being a virgin. Gender Flipped when Shinji finds out that she is also a virgin and she feels ashamed about it.
• Viva Las Vegas!: In chapters 17 and 18 the cast takes a trip to Las Vegas before their deployment. Bachelor and bachelorette parties are had, two soon-to-be-married characters further explore their sex life and other two characters get married.
• Wall Bang Her: In chapter 17, Shinji and Asuka try this position, but Asuka gets pinned against their hotel room's large windowpane.
• The War Room: The Senate committee overseeing the Black Project Evangelion has a war room of the "dark, large, with a central table and a row of seats surrounding it" kind.
• Was It All a Lie?: During an argument with Kaworu after their breaking-up, Saburo grumbles:
  Saburo: All those pretty things you used to say... They were all lies, weren't they?
  • And Kaworu's reply was alongside the lines of: "No, they were not. YOU broke up with ME, and I moved on. That's all."
• Was Too Hard on Him: Misato chews Asuka and Mari out for starting a private duel during an important training mission. Although the berating were deserved, Asuka's self-confidence is very fragile, -it shattered once after another reprimand- and Misato wondered later if she had not been too hard on the girl and if she should smooth things over with her.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Asuka and Shinji's relationship played like this during the first chapters before getting together. She would snark and he would snark back, usually in a milder way. Or she would insist that he was now part of the elite so that he should act like it, and he would snark. Or she would be rude due to being upset, and he would snark...
• Wham Episode: Chapter 7: Something went wrong during the Unit-04 test and the plane crashed with Jessika and Asuka inside.
• What If?: Alternate universe where Second Impact never happened, the Children are adult soldiers who pilot experimental jet fighters, and SEELE is a terrorist organization.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Several examples, and Asuka and Shinji were recipients of most of them:
  • In chapter 2 Asuka punched Shinji because during a training duel because he had pulled a suicidal move and he had got her nearly killed. Misato yelled at Asuka that even if Shinji's actions were wrong and punishment-worthy, striking a fellow pilot was completely unacceptable and it would not be brooked.
  • Meanwhile Ritsuko lectured Shinji that pulling suicidal moves during a friendly duel or training, only because you are determined to win, may be a stupid way to waste your life.
  • In chapter 6 Shinji says during pillow talk that he has no reason to live, rather he just "exists". Asuka angrily retorts that no one can live without self-preservation instinct, she could never go into combat with someone that will not try to fight for his life, and there are a lot of other people -such like herself- that depends on him to live.
  • Saburo felt ignored by Kaworu and broke up with him due to a fit of jealousy. Kaworu moved on but Saburo did not, and he resented that Kaworu went out with other people. In chapter 7 he warned Kaworu against wasting his "forgiveness". Kaworu was not amused:
    Kaworu: Forgiveness? You dumped me in a fit of jealousy fanned by the flames of your own imagination. There never was anything to forgive.
  • In chapter ten Gendo lectures Shinji about spending his entire free time watching over a comatose Asuka, and reprimands him for neglecting his duties and being more concerned with Asuka than with saving millions of innocent lives. Shinji replied that he knew nothing about "duty".
  • After Unit-04's crash and spending several months in a coma Asuka blamed herself for the failure of the mission and her friend's death, and she hated herself. To cope with her pain, she started to lash out at everyone, especially Shinji. In chapter 12 she is going through an inner turmoil and her rational side lectures her harshly about her actions:
    Asuka: Nobody understands what I’m going through!
    Asuka: Do YOU understand?
    Asuka: ?!
    Asuka: Do you see what you are doing? What you’ve been doing ever since you woke up? You wrap yourself up in this warm blanket of hate because it makes you feel powerful! It’s the only way you can feel powerful again without the help of others! But it’s only a drug. A quick chemical that hides your troubles! Meanwhile they’re still there GETTING WORSE. So, once again, the great Asuka Langley Sohryu is retreating from her troubles armed with a medicine cabinet of powerful looking narcotics! My, how self-reliant you are!
  • In chapter 15 Asuka and Mari were supposed to take part in a training. However they started dog-fighting. Misato chewed them out, stating that she had no use for pilots that still have to prove that can do their jobs.
• Wicked Stepmother: Subverted with Ritsuko. Shinji does not like his father's lover, he hates when she orders him around, and some of his comments imply that she barely took care of him. However he never said that she intentionally abused him.

• Wingding Eyes: Here, when Asuka learns Jessika likes Rammstein.
• With This Ring: In chapter 13, after Asuka runs away, Shinji finds her and in order to convince her to not break up and stay with him, he pulls out an engagement ring and pops the question. When he believes that she has rejected him, he is going to take it back, but she angrily replies that "You'll get it back when you pull it off my cold, lifeless finger".
• Working with the Ex: Kaworu and Saburo work together and used to be a couple before the start of the fic. There is still tension between them due to the fact that Kaworu moved on but Saburo did not (even though Saburo was the one broke off their relationship). It does not help that the two of them are needed to pilot their war plane (it is a two-seater), so they have to sit together during trainings, tests, missions, battles...
• Worth It: Shinji and Asuka got together in chapter 5. In chapter 6 Shinji reflects about the undefined and ambiguous status of their relationship and how sometimes he gets exasperated and fed up with Asuka's bossy, temperamental attitude... and he concludes it is more than worth and he would not trade it for anything in the world.
• Worth Living For: Asuka became this for Shinji. Before meeting her, he didn't care about his own life. She taught him to value his life and showed him that many people depended on him to live. Gradually Shinji understood he lived for her now.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Much to her chagrin, Asuka ended up seeing Shinji like her greatest challenge after their first meetings.
  • Mari sees Asuka like this. She realizes that the red-haired girl is at her level and finds her exciting, like a really challenging summit that she wants to climb. Asuka is not impressed, though, and she only wants to beat Mari.
• Wronski Feint: Shinji Ikari did this in chapter 2, using himself as an obstacle during his duel with Asuka Langley Sohryu. As she was chasing after him, he abruptly braked in midair, forcing her to dodge him and letting him tag her jet fighter.
• Xanatos Gambit: Gendo ordered that Asuka tested the NF-14 model, thinking that: if she recovered, they would have four pilots operational again; and if the aircraft crashed, it should return Instrumentality to schedule.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In chapter 12, after Shinji stopped her suicide attempt, Asuka reveals that she had spent five hours trying to find a way to do it, but she had been unable to go through with it. Then she grumbles that she is not only a failure but also a weakling because she was too weak to pull the trigger and spare herself and everyone else more pain. Shinji angrily replied that is not weakness, and she was the only person that he has ever known who had the courage to NOT kill herself after going through what she had been through.
• You Are Not Alone: While Asuka went through a severe breakdown Shinji told her several times she is not alone, nobody is really alone, and he was there for her.
• You Need to Get Laid: When Misato finds out that Asuka's moved in with Shinji, her reaction was along the lines of “Oh. So THAT'S why she's been in such a good mood lately.”

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You know, this is a pretty critical time for you. You need a wingman if you are gonna get your life together in time.

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