"Asuka Strikes!" is the eighth episode of the Japanese anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was created by Gainax. The episode, written by Hideaki Anno and Yoji Enokido and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, was first broadcast on TV Tokyo on November 22, 1995. The series is set fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm and is mostly set in the futuristic, fortified city Tokyo-3. The series' protagonist is Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy who is recruited by his father Gendo to the organization Nerv to pilot a gigantic, bio-mechanical mecha named Evangelion into combat with beings called Angels. During the episode, Asuka Langley Soryu, a girl who is designated as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, is introduced; after the attack of Gaghiel, the sixth Angel, Asuka cooperates with Shinji aboard the Eva-02 to defeat the enemy.

Asuka Langley Soryu is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Gainax. She first appears in the original anime series, and also appears in the franchise's animated feature films and related media, including video games, the Rebuild of Evangelion films, and the manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. In Japanese, Yūko Miyamura voices Asuka in all her animated appearances and merchandise. In English, Tiffany Grant voices her in the ADV Films dub and Stephanie McKeon voices her in the Netflix dub.