Best pilot

[evils_death]

Most people seem to comment on how Asuka is the best pilot assuming the eva is not beserk; but I do not see how they came to this conclusion. Sure, her synch ratio is the highest (not including kaworu) but other than that she seems to me to be far too rash and did very little in the angel fights. With the exception of the easy fight with Matarael, she pretty much sucked.

I believe Rei is the best pilot among the three main pilots. She has very little showing and actually did get owned quite often. However, keeping in mind that she cannot synch with it as well as the others, she is fairly good (of course, its also very possible that unit-00 is fairly bad compared to other units). I believe this is shown through the dummy system, where a Rei clone used unit-01 to a better potential than Shinji.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Kaworu is the best.

Asuka comes second. When she's at her prime that is.

Shinji gets his butt saved by his Mom too many times but he has potential.

Rei is....well....she's probably a better pilot than Toji.

[Guyver Spawn]

I go with Rei since she is know what she is doing and always does what she is told.

[Timstuff]

After the Blitzkrieg scene, I'd have to say Asuka. I mean, at her peak she kicked unbelievable amounts of ass!

[BrikHaus]

Rei is....well....she's probably a better pilot than Toji.

At least Toji lasted longer than whoever was piloting Eva-04.

[Timstuff]

"Oh man this is going to be so awesome, I'm going to get to pilot a giant robot! Huh? WHAT THE FU--"

*boom*

[Baz]

The pilot was just a dummy, anyway. No great loss.

[Taumiel]

Ok, let's check every pilot's score, based on their kills. I'm making every angel 12 points worth, so that they may be evenly divided in all cases. I'm absolutely SURE this has been done before in the forum, I'm just too lazy to search:
[code:1]
Pilots: Rei Asuka Shinji

Angels:

3rd - - - (Berserker EVA-01)
4th - - 12
5th 6 - 6
6th - 6 6
7th - 6 6
8th - 12 -
9th 4 4 4
10th 4 4 4
11th - - - (Ritsuko Akagi)
12th - - - (Berserker EVA-01)
13th - - - (Dummy Plug System)
14th - - - (Berserker EVA-01)
15th 12 - -
16th 12 - -
17th 6 - 6

Total: 44 32 44
[/code:1]
I'm awarding no points to Shinji for angels that were killed by his berserker EVA; but maybe he deserves some in the case of Zeruel.

I'm awarding no points to Asuka for her fight with the MP EVAs; she made a lot of kills at the moment, but none of them were real due to her opponents' regenerative powers. Again, maybe she deserves some.

Although she wasn't a pilot at that moment, I'm awarding Rei one half of Tabris' points because she helped to defeat him by cancelling the angel's AT-field, allowing Shinji to catch him.

And, if we consider Yui a sort of a pilot, her score is still higher than Asuka's - 36 points (!)

Finally, all these scores are quite pointless

Anyway, discuss and enjoy!

[Timstuff]

I don't think it's fair not to give Asuka any points for the MP Eva battle. SHe kicked all their asses, and the only reason she lost when they came back was because her Eva ran out of juice.

[Reichu]

she made a lot of kills at the moment, but none of them were real due to her opponents' regenerative powers.

She made zero kills, due to the simple fact that you have to critically damage or destroy an Eva's core to kill her. Also, contrary to the remarkably popular belief, the harpies never, ever "regenerated".

SHe kicked all their asses

The battle was a bit on the contrived side, to be honest. Some of the harpies just played possum after receiving a fairly small (for them) amount of damage, and waited until Eva-02 was down to reactivate. THEN they demonstrated simultaneous team coordination and ferocity -- hey, where was that before, when they were actually INTACT?

They could have just skewered Eva-02 from the air, then brutally mobbed her, at the very beginning. But obviously the script was going for a "cool" battle sequence with cannon fodder baddies and lots of gore, where "Asuka gets to kick ass", and if it's effective people won't think about how little sense it makes.

I never quite understood the allure of arguing over "who's the most skilled at manipulating an enslaved god through the medium of their mom's/etc. soul?" Quite tasteless, really...

[Baz]

I never quite understood the allure of arguing over "who's the most skilled at manipulating an enslaved god through the medium of their mom's/etc. soul?" Quite tasteless, really...

Spare some sympathy for all the poor innocent angels who were turned into statistics?

[Reichu]

Spare some sympathy for all the poor innocent angels who were massacred too, eh?

Need more references to Nerv's "genocide operations" and the "slaughtering of innocent children"? I guess I can do that...

[oOoOoOo]

There was an episode where the pilots competed against each other in MORTAL KOMBAT to determine the ULTIMATE CHAMPION? Or did that just happen in the manga. I haven't read the manga yet.

But seriously, Reichu is right on the money here. We're talking about a bunch of child soldiers (some of which are not entirely human) who are piloting pseudo-human-god-something-creatures. With each battle being unique, and emotions and the apocalypse involved, can we really use mathematics to determine this? A peer-reviewed journal would never publish this thread. ^_~

To speculate, whoever has the most open heart would be the best pilot, wouldn't they?

[Gamer_2k4]

Kaworu is the best because of how closely he can synch with the Evas (he could control Unit 02 without even being in it, after all).

Asuka comes second from a talent perspective. Both her intro battle against Gaghiel and her fight with the MP evas prove that.

Shinji is third just from sheer determination. His victories aren't pretty (see the fight against Shamshel), but through a mix of following orders and personal initiative, he comes out on top most of the time.

Rei doesn't really do anything noteworthy, in my opinion. She's mostly in support roles, and there's nothing special about her control of an eva or her tactics.

[Reichu]

Kaworu is the best because of how closely he can synch with the Evas (he could control Unit 02 without even being in it, after all).

I think his control over Eva-02 relied in part on how emo Kyoko was at the time.

where a Rei clone used unit-01 to a better potential than Shinji.

No clone, just personality data. See one of the psychotic dummy plug/system threads if you're confused.

[Holy Diver]

Asuka is the best pilot because she was training for combat for years before she entered the series. I think she knew what she was doing in episode 8.

However, Shinji was able to destroy Sachiel with no experience at all. I think he also claimed the most lives (but I might be wrong). He must have had the gods by his side considering how unwarlike he was.

[Reichu]

However, Shinji was able to destroy Sachiel with no experience at all.

More like Shinji's overprotective mom.

[Gamer_2k4]

However, Shinji was able to destroy Sachiel with no experience at all.

More like Shinji's overprotective mom.

Yeah, Shinji totally took a back seat on that one. He took a step, fell down, and essentially curled up in the fetal position while Sachiel kicked him around.

[Joseph the PRPD]

Who is the best Evangelion pilot?

At least one of the 18th angels.

[Alaska Slim]

At least one of the 18th angels.

Meh, that orbish-storm one was crap.

If we can include Rebuild performances, I'd definitely say Asuka.