She is still Asuna but with a lot more depth and personality. The original SAOs Asuna barely had any character development despite her abundant screen time, so she was more of a perfect girl cutout. Here, she has flaws and quirks, banters with Kirito, and is nowhere near perfect (aside from the cringey moments Kirito praises the shit out of her in his head).

I will never understand why Kirito keeps praising all his allies, saying they might surpass him one day, when they clearly never will... Alicization is full of that crap.