GENDO IKARI
GI
Shinji's father. NERV Commander. Had not spoken to his son in years before using the end of the world as the occasion to call him back to pilot. Everything Gendo does across twenty-six episodes serves a plan the show reveals in careful pieces, and each piece makes the man harder to assess cleanly. Cold is not accurate. Cold implies the absence of feeling. Gendo has feeling. He has aimed it entirely at a singular purpose that does not include his son, and he is aware of the cost to Shinji, and he proceeds anyway. The most comprehensively damaging father in anime. The show earns that completely.
GENDO THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
STORY & EPISODE GUIDE //
Open page →Shinji reaches Tokyo-3 expecting to meet the father who abandoned him and instead finds a city under attack. Gendo's first meaningful request is that Shinji pilot Unit-01.
The series does not wait for Shinji to become brave. He agrees while frightened, untrained and angry because the alternative is watching an injured Rei be sent in his place.
The series does not wait for Shinji to become brave. He agrees while frightened, untrained and angry because the alternative is watching an injured Rei be sent in his place.
Why it matters
The central fact about Shinji is not that he refuses to pilot. It is that he keeps piloting under conditions that give him very little reason to trust the adults asking him to do it.
Shinji will not attack Unit-03 while another pilot may be trapped inside. Gendo responds by activating the Dummy Plug and makes Unit-01 destroy the infected Eva anyway.
The pilot is Toji.
The pilot is Toji.
Why it matters
Shinji learns that refusing to act does not remove him from the consequences. NERV can use his Eva without his consent, and his friend can still be the person crushed under its hands.
