AnimeNfo

[Curious (#139364)]

 Gendo Ikari--do you hate him or pity him? Major Spoilers!!

[Ken Hayashi (#52012)]

I've added a spoiler tag so you guys don't have to worry about blocking off your text now.

Anyway, coming back to the question. I'm kinda neutral. I don't particularly hate the guy. In fact I hated Shinji more than I hated his old man. Now, it's been a many years since I last saw NGE, but I don't recall being overcome with revulsion everytime I saw him manipulating the kids and whatnot. He's caught in a bad situation, and had to do what he could.

[Shinka (#128364)]

I think he is just a selfish, selfish man. He maniulated everyone, excpet Fuyutsuki, in order to meet his love again (who sort of rejected him later, lol). I dont know if I hated him or pity him, I just think he is a man with his own reasons who doesnt need to answer to anyone, and he'll do anything to achive his goal, even prey on his own child.

His abandoning of Shinji was also for his selfish reasons, Shinji reminded him too much of Yui. That is actually something very common in people who have gone through that kind of situation, if your love one has died you might find yourself having trouble looking at your kids eyes cause they have their mothers or fathers eyes, and that sort if thing.

In a certain way Gendo is worthy of both, hatered and pitty. You hate him because of what he does, but you pitty him because of the reasons he does why he does.

[Veleon (#124559)]

Gendo could've done a lot of things "better." One example was when he took control of Unit-01 with the dummy plug and destroyed the possessed Unit-03 with Touji inside it. He could've explained to Shinji that by systematically breaking all the limbs of Unit-03 and forcibly ejecting the entry plug you could easily save Touji. However better is in quote because Gendo obviously had his plans. And that whole situation was all apart of his plans. Anything and everything he did was so he could be reunited with Yui.

So in the end he had justification for everything he did. And it wasn't really a bad reason. Many people would kill another human being to save the life of their spouse. Gendo was just trying to reunite himself with Yui (who is alive inside Unit-01) the only way he knew how.

I wouldn't say I hate or pity him either. But once you understand his reason it comes down to whether you think his justification of what he did is good enough for you also.

[Curious (#139364)]

Yeah, well, from that point of view I can tell you that I don't think Gendo's case was justified. Yui loved Shinji and wanted him to be happy and safe, and if Gendo really loved Yui as much as he thought he did, then he would see that. He must have been really ignorant to think that Yui would be happy to see him again in light of how he abandoned Shinji.

[Shinka (#128364)]

[Ken Hayashi (#52012)]

[Veleon (#124559)]

[Last Exile (#35342)]

Gendo is simply a character in it for himself and doesn't care who or what is consumed in his selfish desire to get what he wants. A character made to be hated and who utterly deserves it. Regardless of whether you can understand why he did what he did, it doesn't justify it at all. Really, he's Shinji without the surface emo. Any major character in that show was desperate for affiliation once everything came to a climax. It's just amusing that Gendo always loses the ability to choose what happens. The man who was always in control loses it at the critical moment.

Screwing over the whole planet just to be reunited with your partner is justified....sure...Yes, putting one life ahead of several billion is ever so admirable and self-righteous...

Face the facts. Yui made her choice and her intentions clear. She could've chosen to live and let Shinji die, but she didn't. She made the ultimate sacrifice and chose death so Shinji would live. Gendo couldn't hack it without her and goes renegade to bring her back. How about what Yui wanted? If anything, End of Evangelion proved that Yui didn't want to be brought back to life and made Gendo pay for it. Gendo chose to dishonor every single moment and memory of Yui and chase the chance to bring her back as a shell of what she was in life. He chose to do the complete anti of what Yui did. I daresay Yui would have been utterly disappointed in him for doing so. For her sacrifice to have been for nothing and utterly dishonored and defiled...that really is the ultimate insult to what Yui was and whatg she stood for. If anything, Gendo commited the ultimate betrayl with his course of action. Yui wanted him to live on and to protect Shinji. Instead, he chases a memory of a dead person and ignores reality/the living.

There is nothing admirable in Gendo's actions. He's a traitor to humanity and to the woman he loved. He deserves to be hated.

[Shinka (#128364)]

[Elias (#139835)]

[Rutlawski (#141432)]

Gendo? I guess I van only pity him.

At first he looks like an emotionless robot, who is making use of poor Shinji but through the story we get to know him better, especially from Fuyutsuki's memories.

We see a bastard, who got out from a fight. He seems like a bastard himself, but we cannot help pity him, as he says that everyone picks on him for no reason at all. He also says about how people never loved him, he is rather made to be hated. Of course in this state of mind, even if someone loved him, he wouldn't believe it. Even Yui loved him, but Ikari's definition of love was to be with somebody and make use of him. He wanted probably some power, and wanted to be noticed in the world.

Or maybe he was scared of the reality he lived in, and that's why he began the Human Instrumentality Project. To bulid himself a better and easier life.

Yui was the only person, Ikari was bonded to. In manga, he explains to Shinji that he never loved the boy, he was just jealous of him. He wanted Yui all to himself, is that love?

Off course, when Yui was no longer there to comfort him, he gave Shinji to his uncle and made Rei to have a shadow of Yui.

Like you said he made something opposite of love - Yui sacrificd herself and watched over Shinji ever since, Gendo justy wanted to keep someone he used. He also used Risuko and her mother in a cruel way. Although the two woman were quite cold, their anger was awakened by him.

A the end, he got what he wanted. Rei abandoned him. He then saw Kaworu's and Yui's souls and understood what was he doing wrong. He had his punishment.

Did Gendo ever love someone? No. He didn't know how to love, and he daren't ask someone to love him. But that's no reason to hate him.

[cranston (#84421)]

A question from someone who hasn't (and has no intention of ever) watching NGE: What actions did Gendo take in order to fulfill his goal that earned people on the internet refer to him as a master manipulator?