Within the franchise, Asuka is designated as the Second Child and the fiery pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit-02 to fight against enemies known as Angels for the special agency Nerv.

In the early design stages of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, creator and director Hideaki Anno proposed including a girl similar to Asuka as the protagonist.

Asuka's story reflected the changes: although she had been introduced in an essentially positive role, her character became increasingly dramatic and introverted, going against the expectations and the pleasure principle of anime fans.

[21][22] In the twenty-second episode, Anno focused on Asuka's emotional situation, harassed by her first menstrual cycle, but not considering himself capable of exploring such a feminine theme, he condensed everything into a single scene.

[25] The original segment focused on a normal day of Asuka, who would wake up in an apartment after drinking and spend the night with Tōji Suzuhara, with whom she would embark on a sexual and sentimental relationship.

When the man stopped squeezing her neck, the woman regained a cold attitude,[42] speaking the words that Asuka would have said to Shinji in the original script: "I can't stand the idea of being killed by someone like you" (あんたなんかに殺されるのは真っ平よ).

[43][44] Dissatisfied with Miyamura's interpretation of the original last line, Anno asked her to imagine a stranger sneaking into her room, who could rape her at any time, but who prefers to masturbate by watching her sleep.

[45] Further difficulties arose during the dubbing sessions for the film Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), the third installment of the Rebuild saga, set fourteen years after the previous movies.

[60] Shocked and traumatized by her mother's suicide, Asuka adopts self-affirmation as the only reason to be, participating in training sessions to become a pilot and meet other people's expectations.

However, following a series of Angel battles where Shinji outperforms her, she grows increasingly unable to continue to suppress her traumatized psyche, drastically lowering her pilot skills.

[75][76] In the movie The End of Evangelion (1997), as the Japanese Strategic Self-Defense Force invades Nerv headquarters, Asuka is placed inside Unit 02, which is then submerged in a lake for her protection.

[86][87] During the production phase, screenwriter Yōji Enokido added a night scene in which Asuka, feeling alone, enters her colleague's room without permission, sleeping next to him.

[91] In Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), Asuka is initially part of the rescue operation for Eva-01, which is stranded in space, working together with Mari for an organization named Wille, which is dedicated to destroying Nerv.

[93] Shikinami eventually forces Shinji, completely helpless and no longer wanting to continue living, to eat by forcibly stuffing food into his mouth.

[97] In the next battle, Asuka and Shinji fight, as in the classic series, against Angel Israfel together; Sadamoto conceived their dance training as akin to a "kiss", underlining their psychological connection.

[110] The simulation game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ayanami Raising Project includes an expansion in its PlayStation 2 version that allows the player to take on the role of Asuka's guardian instead of Rei's.

[166] In one scene from The End of Evangelion movie, Asuka is seen on a bed while she speaks with an angry expression, interpreted by writers Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster as a representation of Shinji's libido.

[204] Furthermore, for Japanese philosopher and cultural critic Hiroki Azuma, she is the "symbol of the outside" in the world of Evangelion, taking Shinji away from his comfort zone in the "Nerv family"; in contrast to Rei, who'd play an "imaginary healing" role, Asuka would be an independent person in reality.

[21] Mizobe described her and Shinji as "communicationally disabled", a feature that allowed contemporary Japanese youth to identify with them even twenty-six years after the original series's airing.

[215] The Anime Café's Japanese critic Akio Nagatomi, noting how other characters in Evangelion bear similarities with others from Gunbuster, a previous work by Gainax and Anno, described Asuka as a counterpart to Jung Freud.

[216] Engineer Yumiko Yano also compared Asuka's dull gaze in the final episodes, locked up in a hospital room after a psychic and emotional breakdown, to the dolls of artist Katan Amano.

[224][225] In 1996 she ranked third among the "most popular female characters of the moment" in the Anime Grand Prix survey by Animage magazine, behind Rei Ayanami and Hikaru Shido from Magic Knight Rayearth.

[239] In a Newtype poll in March 2010, she was voted the third most popular female anime character from the 1990s, immediately after Rei Ayanami and Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon.

[261] Slant Magazine's Simon Abrams, reviewing Evangelion: 2.0, responded negatively to Shinji and Asuka's new relationship, "which is unfortunate because that bond should have the opportunity to grow in its own time".

[263] The Fandom Post found the character neglected by Anno's script, given the lesser space devoted to her and Mari's introduction,[264] while Renan Fontes from Comic Book Resources judged Asuka Shikinami significantly less interesting than Langley.

[275] According to Japanese writer Kazuhisa Fujie, Evangelion-related household items with the image of Asuka or other female characters of the series have become so popular that they have been put back on the market with a second edition.

[282][283] Lai Pin-yu, a Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party and Legislative Yuan member, held election rallies cosplaying Asuka, gaining popularity.

Kotaku writer Richard Eisenbeins listed her as an example of the tsundere stereotype,[285] a term used to indicate grumpy, assertive and authoritarian characters that nonetheless possess a more gentle, empathetic and insecure side, hidden due to a stormy past or traumatic experiences.

Anthony Gramuglia from Comic Book Resources identified her as one of the most popular and influential tsundere characters, comparing Asuna Yūki from Sword Art Online, Rin Tōsaka from Fate/stay night, Kyō Sōma from Fruits Basket and Taiga Aisaka from Toradora!

[291] Further references have been identified in other Japanese animated series, including Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Gurren Lagann, and Sword Art Online, in which a scene of her and Rei in an elevator from the twenty-second episode is parodied.