In anime and manga, the most popular and discussable characters tend to be ones from the protagonist side or heroes. However, only “shadows” can make “light”,” shining bright.
Episode 10 of “Enemy Characters Retsuden: What is aestheticesthetics about them?”, which focuses on enemy characters, will approach the charm of Ikari Gendou from “Rebuild of Evangelion”.
“Rebuild of Evangelion” had finished the story of Evangelion.
Why was it so surprisingly perfect and complete? Is it because all the mysteries have been solved? However, there are still many small mysteries, such as how to use Nebuchadnezzar’s Key.
Despite the various mysteries left behind, the reason why many people consider this work as “complete” is probably because of how the battle of the main character, Shinji Ikari, was settled. This work is considered as finished because during Shinji’s battle with his lost father, he completely overcame his father, who was impossible before.
In that sense, Ikari Gendou was the driving force behind the completion of Evangelion. Since in this work, he confronted Shinji head-on and was defeated properly as the enemy role tells him to do.
Evangelion is athe story about killing father. From the moment Shinji and Gendou reunited in episode 1 of the TV series and Shinji was ordered to ride Eva, the confrontation between Shinji and Gendou was clear. The story of Eva absorbed various elements, but the first one is the conflict between father and son.
However, in the so-called old drama version “Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion”, the confrontation between father and son did not come to a clear conclusion. Ikari Gendou melted away saying, “I’m sorry, Shinji” without knowing Shinji’s knowledge, so there was no opponent to overcome for the main character. In other words, Gendou left without being able to fulfill his role as an enemy in the old drama.
There are many stories of a son killing his father in human history. Patricide has been repeated in various masterpieces such as Greek mythology “Oedipus Rex”, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, books of Dostoevsky, and “Star Wars”. The “father”‘s figure in these stories is a metaphor for the ruler, so when son or daughter kills their father, it means escaping the oppression of rule and establishing an ego, a rite of passage for growth. By killing and overcoming the father, who is dominated by the old values, the child will be able to live a different life from the father.
Introverted boy Ikari Shinji finds out in this work that Ikari Gendou is afraid of others just as he does. He realized for the first time that he was dominated by his father’s values and personality. Units 01 and 13 have similar designs, but the sequence in which Shinji and Gendou board and fight will show that they are exactly like each other.
In this work, the battle between the two was settled by discussion rather than by fighting. Shinji, who received the spear from Misato, came to accepting others’ feelings. That’s something Gendou couldn’t do. At last, Shinji was able to take a different path from hisher father. In the inner world, Shinji remains on the train as the opposite to Gendou who gets off the train, and stays close to the hearts of the Eva pilots. A boy who could only think of himself becomes able to capture others’ feelings and show the way of salvation.
In addition,And the fact that the adult Shinji had a completely different personality from Gendou may indicate that he had chosen a different life path from his father.
Misato says to Shinji, who is heading for a confrontation with his father, “The only thing a son can do to a father is either fighting next to him or kill him”. But in that case, what should the fatherfather do to the sonson?
It may just be to stand up as an enemy to overcome and be killed. Ikari Gendou brilliantly served as an enemy who lost in the old movie and became a source of growth for the main character. While Shinji played a role in growing up as the main character, Gendou also played his role. That is why “Rebuild of Evangelion” finished so well.was finished so great.
