In the early design stages of "Neon Genesis Evangelion", director Hideaki Anno proposed including a girl similar to Asuka as the protagonist of the anime. Character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto proved reluctant to accept the idea of a female character in the lead role after Gainax' previous works like "Gunbuster" and ""; he said: "A robot should be piloted by a trained person, whether it is a woman or not makes no difference, but I cannot understand why a girl should pilot a robot." Sadamoto asked the director to use a boy in the role of main character, downgrading Asuka to the role of female co-protagonist. Sadamoto modeled the relationship between Asuka and the male protagonist Shinji Ikari based on Nadia and Jean from "The Secret of Blue Water". Asuka should have represented "[Shinji's] desire for the female sex", as opposed to Rei Ayanami's "motherhood", and should have been the idol of "Neon Genesis Evangelion". Anno also asked him to represent her as Nadia Arwol from "The Secret of Blue Water" with a different hairstyle. In the initial project, she was described as "a determined girl" who adapts to the situation in which she finds herself, passionate about video games and "aspires to become like Ryoji Kaji". In the nineteenth episode, she would have had to be seriously injured in her attempt to protect Shinji, who would have thus "proved his worth" trying to save her.