Asuka is an energetic, proud and enterprising girl with a resolute character. She tends to look down on other people and wants to be constantly at the center of attention. Although she normally shows a stubborn and exuberant attitude, in some moments, she exhibits a kinder, more sensitive and caring side. Her abrupt and impulsive ways often arouse other people's antipathy, since they do not fully understand her real intentions. Unlike fellow pilots Shinji and Rei, she is extremely proud to be a pilot and engages in missions with great enthusiasm, but despite her apparently strong, aggressive and competitive character, Asuka suffers from the same sense of alienation as her companions. She suffers from a masculine protest, a psychological expression that indicates exaggeratedly masculine tendencies in tired and rebellious women who protest against traditional female gender roles. She sees her male peers merely as rivals and spectators of her abilities, and suffers from a marked emotional complex for the male sex, merging a so-called "radical rivalry" and a latent inferiority complex. Her masculine protest is reflected in her strong misandric tendencies, since she is dominated by the need to beat male peers with an obsessive self-affirmation desire.