Gendo Ikari
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Neon Genesis Evangelion character | |
| Gendo Ikari | |
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| Age | 48 |
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| Birthday | April 29, 1967 |
| Gender | Male |
| Relation(s) | Wife: Yui Ikari Son: Shinji Ikari Guardian of: Rei Ayanami |
| Seiyū | Fumihiko Tachiki |
| Voice actor | Tristan MacAvery (original), John Swasey (director's cut) |
| List of all Neon Genesis Evangelion characters... | |
Gendo Ikari (碇 ゲンドウ Ikari Gendō?) is a fictional character from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion movie. He is the commander of NERV. All of the English versions romanize his given name as Gendo, while GAINAX's website romanizes it Gendoh, and even further confusing the issue, some fansites romanize his name as "Gendou" instead.
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[edit] Overview
In NERV, Gendo is responsible for the research done on the Evas and the Human Instrumentality Project. He is the father of the Third Child, Shinji Ikari. At the start of the series, he is the only person having an effective connection to Rei Ayanami.
Gendo is a brilliant scientist and politician (the master of puppets in the series) who works diligently for his organization:
"Gendo is the type of person who can see & think about the welfare of an organisation as a whole. In other words, he'd do anything to succeed. He takes drastic and extreme measures, by fair means or foul, or by hook or by crook, in order to accomplish his own purpose. In some ways he's mean, he hardly cares about Shinji."[1]
However, he is an extremely cold and distant father towards his son. His last lines in The End of Evangelion reveal his regret and the true motivations for his ruthless behavior. He intended to use Third Impact to bring his wife Yui Ikari back to life. However, he realizes that his efforts are in vain and that he ignored the real wishes of Yui. She intended to bring about a brighter future for their children, which Gendo has sacrificed in order to bring her back. In essence, Yui's dreams and principles were violated to resurrect her. Shortly after, Unit 01 is shown grasping Gendo in its hand before decapitating him, clearly rejecting Gendo's actions (however, this death sequence is questionable, due to its surreal appearance).
It is worth noting that there are some distinctive similarities in appearance between Gendo and the series' director Hideaki Anno.
[edit] Background
Gendo Ikari was born as Gendo Rokubungi (六分儀, meaning sextant). During study, he met Yui Ikari, with whom he started a relationship. Some people thought that the only reason for this was the organization SEELE, to which she was aligned. However, over the course of the series and The End of Evangelion, it becomes evident that he truly loved Yui. After Yui's "death," Gendo entered into affairs with both Naoko Akagi and her daughter Ritsuko, seemingly casting doubt on his commitment to Yui; however, it is implied that Gendo was simply using them to achieve the means to accomplish Third Impact. Thanks to Yui's connection to SEELE, he also came in contact with the organization and started to help them with their plans for the Second Impact. He later married Yui at the beginning of the 21st century (wherein he changed his surname to Ikari), and in 2001 their son Shinji was born. They both also worked together at GEHIRN, from which Gendo became the leader. After the failed activation test of Unit 01 and Yui's "death" during this event, Gendo became very cold (even towards Shinji -- who he sent to live with a teacher), and now he only tries to bring forth his own version of the Third Impact.
A massive malfunction during the first activation test for Unit 00 caused the Eva to go "berserk." To prevent Rei from being seriously injured, the entry plug was ejected, and Gendo pried the plug's overheated door open with his bare hands to extract Rei. His hands have severe scarring because of this, and he is never shown without wearing gloves.
[edit] Plans
Although Gendo pretends to follow SEELE's orders without question, he has his own agenda and tries to out-manipulate the committee. His final outspoken rebellion towards SEELE comes from his desire to initiate Third Impact under his complete control. He implants Adam's embryo in his hand (only shown on Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, and the Director's Cut Edition) and tries to merge with Rei to achieve this purpose. Other fans speculate that he tried this merging as an attempt to revive his dead wife.
[edit] Shinji Ikari Raising Project
In the manga adaptation of the game, Gendo is shown in a humorous light, much unlike his anime counterpart. During a blackout at NERV, he shines his torch in a scary way, which promptly earned him a smack from Yui.
Also, the perceived "father-son rivalry" between Gendo and Shinji in Evangelion fandom is parodied here, as both men decided to "compete" to see who could pedal the fastest. (The contest was actually a way to generate electricity for NERV HQ, which had been hit by a blackout. The incident also pays homage to the original anime, where Gendo helps in the manual launching of the EVAs against the invading Angel.) Interestingly, both Fuyutsuki and Rei were shown to put in their share of work before dropping out due to fatigue.
[edit] Meme
An Internet meme, specifically an image macro, centred on Gendo exists, created by imageboard 4chan. It involves adding Gendo's signature spectacles and arms to images featuring Evangelion-unrelated content.[citation needed]
Another humorous meme, though not as known, involves a picture of Gendo with the word "GENDOWNED", a play on the popular phrase pwned.[citation needed]
| Neon Genesis Evangelion | |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Hideaki Anno • Yoshiyuki Sadamoto • Gainax |
| TV Series: | Neon Genesis Evangelion |
| Films: | Death and Rebirth • The End of Evangelion • Revival of Evangelion • Rebuild of Evangelion • Untitled Evangelion live action movie |
| Characters: | Asuka • Gendo • Kaworu • Misato • Rei • Ritsuko • Kaji • Shinji • Toji • Yui |
| Glossary: | Eva Units • Angels • Human Instrumentality Project • Timeline |
| Video Games: | Ayanami Raising Project • Girlfriend of Steel • Girlfriend of Steel 2 • Evangelion 64 • Shinji Ikari Raising Project • Shinji and Good Friends • Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 |
| Misc: | List of media and episodes • "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" • "Komm, süsser Tod" • Angelic Days manga • Red Cross Book • ReDeath • Topics |
