[EVA] Gendou - man or monster?

[Rachel K. Clark]

RJN wrote:

> I think Yui has redeemable aspects & believe her nature was not evil, just 
> misguided.

There is a lot of ambiguity to her character and her actions, and I think 
that makes her very intriguing. It's difficult to judge her in a very 
"decisive" manner, IMO, because of the lack of information and the 
convoluted nature of the back-story. Certainly, I think the way she is often 
simplified into a "bitch", or along those lines, is a mistake, and fails to 
take much into consideration.

If there's any action of hers that I particularly wonder about, it's the 
decision to have a child. Depending on what her "future plans" looked like 
at the time, she may have had every intention of being around for Shinji, 
and the contact experiment was something she was effectively forced into due 
to being blacklisted by Seele. (Better to be around in the Eva than not at 
all.) Gendo could not be informed about this, since he was on Seele's good 
side, etc., and this would complicate the issue of ensuring that Shinji 
would be taken care of in her "absence"... But, then, it would probably be 
considered irresponsible for a woman involved in something as dangerous as 
countermeasures against Seele to ever become a mother in the first place.

Or things may have been even more complicated than this, and she may have 
had a good, albeit controversial, reason to mother a child. Very hard to 
say.

 > It is a shame that Gendou's background is not peered into, even briefly.

Quite. I doubt it was anything especially pleasant, whatever the case.

> If there is a single endearing thing about him, its his concern for Rei. 
> His "rescue" from 00s tube, shows there is warmth deep there.  His smileof 
> happy relief seeing Rei was OK, & expression talking to her, shows he has 
> feelings.  Those were not just man & lab rat relations.

The rare moments when he lets his protective barrier down?

> I believe that Gendou wanted a daughter & not a son. Yui wanted either, 
> but Gendou hoped for a daughter.  Also probably Rei reminds him of Yui, & 
> also how Yui might have looked as a child.  Shinji might remind him of how 
> he was, & Gendou's self-dislike might extend to disliking Shinji for that 
> reason.

Interesting. I'm not sure that Gendo *dislikes* Shinji per se, even though 
his superficial behavior isn't very friendly. At the very least, Shinji 
might create enough discomfort, for the reason you posit, to influence 
Gendo's 'decision' to physically and emotionally distance himself.

> Misato had a similar problem trying not to be like her mother IMO, so her 
> father would not reject her.  Perhaps a reason she went along on the 
> Katsuragi expedition that led to 2I.

Given her sour relationship with Daddy, I suspect he's the one who dragged 
her down to Antarctica. The idea of Misato somehow wanting to be at a 
miserable place like a shady research base at the butt-bottom of the world 
where the stuff that has so heavily "distracted" her father (Science^TM) is 
constantly rubbed into her face sounds a little dubious.

Of course, the show and every single source remotely connected to it DO 
leave the matter frustratingly untouched-upon...

> Of course she's not 100% fooling herself really - I liked the 
> introspective speech added for Rebuild

Which speech, specifically?

> Thinking of [Kaji], its...troubling..to speculate if the "whodunnit" will 
> be shown resolved, or better clue given, in 3.01.

Anno has stated that it was done by a lackey of one of Kaji's "other" 
employers, although Seele, in one of their cryptic conferences, drop a hint 
that they, specifically, did it to fire a warning shot past Gendo.


colin tate wrote:

> I for one consider Gendo a monster.  To me a monster is a person or a 
> thing
> which operates outside the societal norm.  The magnitude of monster can be
> defined by just how far someone operates beyond what the group or
> individuals baseline view of "acceptable" is.

Wait... Does that make me a monster, too? ;_;

> Is Gendo a monster?  Yes.  Hell yes.  Both in how he treated Shinji, and 
> how
> he treated humanity in his attempt to reunite with Yui.

His commonly stated reason for pursuing HIP is indeed beyond selfish. 
There's a lot of room to ask questions, though, like whether or not this was 
REALLY his only motive. There are a number of hints throughout the show that 
it may not have been.


Will Kenzuko:

> adversity it may seem, but your statement is a bit contradictory, your
> saying that someone's moral opinion is invalid, then stating that unbiased
> moral opinions are valid. No moral opinion is unbiased.

Oh, yes, this is definitely true. I probably didn't get my ideas across as 
well as I'd hoped. I don't think there is a problem with including moral 
opinions in these conversations. I just think that things should be looked 
at from as many angles as possible. Carl's opinings gave me the impression 
that he was emphasizing moral judgment of Gendo's character at the expense 
of all else.


All the reply I can manage for now.

-Reichu