Asuka in the TV series

First Appearance:  Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 8: ASUKASTRIKES
Last Appearance:  Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 26:  Take care of yourself

BASIC  FIRST HALF OF THE SERIES

Asuka appeared in genesis 0:4, episode 8, ASUKASTRIKES.  She was introduced as a young woman who seemed relatively normal.  She hates perverts and has a crush on an older guy she knows she probably won't be able to get but would get in a bad mood if he ever went out with someone other than her, and she has a attitude and doesn't like to follow orders and obey other people's every whim.  With an amazing display of piloting and the destruction of the 6th Angel Gahgiel, Asuka Langley Sohryu made her entrance into the world of Evangelion with a bang.  This entrance either made people hate her or love her (not necessarily THAT kind of love!) and showed her attitude toward life and others very well.  In the next episode, Both of you Dance like you want to Win, episode 9, genesis 0:5, Asuka made her debut battle in Japan, a team up with Shinji Ikari.  After cleanly slicing the Angel in half, each half attacked one eva, and she lost her first battle, embarassing her greatly in the process and making her rather annoyed with Shinji Ikari.  In another joint battle, using music given to Operations Director Misato Katsuragi by Rouji Kaji, she and Shinji defeated the Angel, Israfel.  In the next episode, MAGMADIVER, number 10, Asuka was sent on a solo mission to capture an Angel in embryo form inside a volcano so those from NERV could analyze it.  However, the Angel was in its later stages of growth and the mission was aborted and changed. Her new mission was to defeat the Angel, which was carried out quite well.  Shinji Ikari inside Evangelion Unit-01 rescued Asuka and Unit-02 after the cable holding her broke from an Angel's attack.  The next episode, The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still, in genesis 0:6, was the episode where everyone in Evangelion was at the height of their attitudes. Much character development was accomplished, etc.  In this, Asuka showed her great potential as an Operations Director when, unable to speak to Misato in Central Dogma, Asuka gave orders to both Rei and Shinji, and the mission was carried out and succeeded, the next Angel, Matariel, was dead.  In genesis 0:7, episodes 13 and 14, Asuka wasn't really very present.  In the first episode she stayed inside the entry plug the entire time while an Angel that the EVAs could not fight attacked NERV, and the next episode was merely review and a synch test.

BASIC SECOND HALF OF THE SERIES

The second half of the series tends to be the part that is labled as "the depressing part".  Kaji and Misato are getting together again, which inevitably makes Asuka rather pissed off.  Shinji rises above her in synch ratio, and because of this Shinji feels far too sure of himself and ends up becoming swallowed up by Leliel, the 12th Angel.  Asuka is devastated but covers up her anger and depression with put downs, declaring that Shinji was showing off and being an idiot, and that he got what was coming to him.  In the next tape, genesis 0:9, episodes 17 and 18, Asuka, Rei, and Shinji are pitched in battle against Bardiel, the 13th Angel, and both Rei and Asuka were defeated by the Angel.  The target was eventually destroyed by Evangelion Unit-01 using the dummy plug.  In the 10th genesis Asuka is shown, injured after the attack, though not badly.  After Shinji quit NERV, NERV headquarters is attacked by the 14th Angel, Zeruel.  Asuka is easily defeated by this Angel, after Unit-02's arms and head are cut cleanly off.  The entry plug was ejected.  Rei was defeated as well, and Evangelion Unit-01 devoured the Angel after Shinji returned to pilot once more and the EVA berserked.  In the 11th Genesis the viewer finds out about Asuka's past.  In the next episode, the Angel Arael, number 15, attacks.  By now, Asuka's synch ratio has been slowly declining because of her slowly awakening memories of her traumatic past, and because Evangelion Unit-01 has been placed in cryostatis, Asuka in Unit-02 is sent out to defeat it, using a long range gun.  She is struck by the Angel's attack before she is able to use the weapon effectively, and her mind is severely attacked by Arael, to the extent of which it can be called a "mind-rape".  After the battle she and Unit-02 are placed in solitary confinement because of contamination.  Asuka's synch ratio has plummeted to zero.  In Genesis 0:12, Asuka runs away from Misato's apartment and stays with Hikari for some time, before being discovered lying naked in a bathtub in an abandoned building.  When the 16th Angel attacks, Unit-02 and Asuka are sent out to fight it, but because of low synch ratio she is pulled out quickly.  She falls unconscious between episode 23 and 24.  Asuka is not present in episode 24 and reappears again in episodes 25 and 26, where she speaks to Shinji as the Human Instrumentality Project takes place (also known as the Human Complement Project).