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* UndignifiedDeath: In marked contrast to the calm Instrumentation the other characters get, he goes out hiding under a table and shrieking in terror.
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* UndignifiedDeath: In marked contrast to the calm Instrumentation the other characters get, he goes out hiding under a table and shrieking in terror. That said, whereas everyne else had a loved one come for them, he had a bizarre chain of naked Rei's with full understanding of what is happening.
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* InformedAttribute: Misato's true reason for breaking up with up Kaji was that he reminded her too much of her father. However, the way Kaji behaves doesn't really match her description of her father's personality (a weak and frail workaholic who was outright afraid of interpersonal commitments). Perhaps there is a normally unseen side to Kaji only she has discovered.
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* InformedAttribute: Misato's true reason for breaking up with up Kaji was that he reminded her too much of her father. However, the way Kaji behaves doesn't really match her description of her father's personality (a weak and frail workaholic who was outright afraid of interpersonal commitments). Perhaps there The fact that Misato thinks the "warmth" she found with Kaji is a normally unseen side to Kaji only father complex shows how screwed up she has discovered.is.
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* CatSmile: His default facial expression (downplayed because it doesn't look like a typical anime one), most likely to throw people off to believe that he [[DissonantSerenity can't take anything]] [[SmugSnake seriously]]. It's probably the biggest reason that Misato exploded the way she did after he outed her sleeping habits to a room full of teenagers when they reunited in his first appearance.
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* PlayfulCatSmile: A common facial expression of his is a mischievous cat smile (downplayed because it doesn't look like a typical anime one), most likely to throw people off to believe that he [[DissonantSerenity can't take anything seriously]]. It's probably the biggest reason that Misato exploded the way she did after he outed her sleeping habits to a room full of teenagers when they reunited in his first appearance.
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* SingleTargetSexuality: He loves Yui and only Yui. He's perfectly fine with sleeping with other women if he can use them to further his goals, but he harbors no actual attraction to them. This raises further implications in his relationship with Rei, who looks remarkably like Yui.
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* SingleTargetSexuality: He loves Yui and only ''only'' Yui. He's After Yui's "death", he is perfectly fine with sleeping with other women if he can use them to further his goals, but he harbors no actual attraction to them. This raises further implications in his relationship with Rei, who looks remarkably like Yui.
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!!Commander Gendō Ikari
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* WeakBossStrongUnderlings: Due to NERV's military-like hierarchy, this trope comes in layers and could be seen as an {{inver|ted}}sion of RankScalesWithAsskicking. First, we have the Children: teenagers with no military training who synchronize with and pilot {{Humongous Mecha}}s known as Evas -- the Evas are kind of sentient and contain the souls of the Children's [[MamaBear mothers]] and that's why only the kids can control them. Then we have Major Misato, the children's [[TheStrategist tactical commander]] in battle and the ParentalSubstitute of two of them as well as an accomplished ActionGirl. So, she is only stronger than the kids when they aren't piloting the Evas. Above them are NERV Commander [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGendoIkari Gendō]] and his Deputy Fuyutsuki; neither of them is an action guy and their strength lies on respectively being TheChessmaster and TheProfessor. Finally, there's SEELE, the shady global organization funding and overseeing NERV. SEELE's CosmopolitanCouncil comprises regular politicians with a penchant for theatrics.
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* WeakBossStrongUnderlings: Due to NERV's military-like hierarchy, this trope comes in layers and could be seen as an {{inver|ted}}sion of RankScalesWithAsskicking. First, we have the Children: teenagers with no military training who synchronize with and pilot {{Humongous Mecha}}s known as Evas -- the Evas are kind of sentient and contain the souls of the Children's [[MamaBear mothers]] and that's why only the kids can control them. Then we have Major Misato, the children's [[TheStrategist tactical commander]] in battle and the ParentalSubstitute of two of them as well as an accomplished ActionGirl. So, she is only stronger than the kids when they aren't piloting the Evas. Above them are NERV Commander [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGendoIkari Gendō]] Gendō and his Deputy Fuyutsuki; neither of them is an action guy and their strength lies on respectively being TheChessmaster and TheProfessor. Finally, there's SEELE, the shady global organization funding and overseeing NERV. SEELE's CosmopolitanCouncil comprises regular politicians with a penchant for theatrics.
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[[folder:NERV Commander Gendō Ikari]]
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[[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionTheChildren The Children]] ([[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionShinjiIkari Shinji Ikari]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionAsukaLangleySoryu Asuka Langley Soryu]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionKaworuNagisa Kaworu Nagisa]]) | '''NERV Staff''' | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGEHIRNStaff GEHIRN Staff]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionExtracanonicalCharacters Extracanonical Characters]]]]-]]]
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[[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionTheChildren The Children]] ([[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionShinjiIkari Shinji Ikari]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionAsukaLangleySoryu ([[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionAsukaLangleySoryu Asuka Langley Soryu]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionKaworuNagisa Kaworu Nagisa]]) Soryu]]) | '''NERV Staff''' | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGEHIRNStaff GEHIRN Staff]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionExtracanonicalCharacters Extracanonical Characters]]]]-]]]
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discussion.Changed line(s) 9,10 (click to see context) from:
[[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionTheChildren The Children]] ([[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionShinjiIkari Shinji Ikari]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionAsukaLangleySoryu Asuka Langley Soryu]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionKaworuNagisa Kaworu Nagisa]]) | '''NERV Staff''' ([[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGendoIkari Gendō Ikari]]) | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGEHIRNStaff GEHIRN Staff]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionExtracanonicalCharacters Extracanonical Characters]]]]-]]]
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[[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionTheChildren The Children]] ([[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionShinjiIkari Shinji Ikari]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionAsukaLangleySoryu Asuka Langley Soryu]], [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionKaworuNagisa Kaworu Nagisa]]) | '''NERV Staff''' ([[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGendoIkari Gendō Ikari]]) | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGEHIRNStaff GEHIRN Staff]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionExtracanonicalCharacters Extracanonical Characters]]]]-]]]
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* [[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelionGendoIkari Gendō Ikari]]
[[folder:Doctor Kozo Fuyutsuki]]
!!Deputy Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MotomuKiyokawa (Japanese); Guil Lunde [ADV, series], Michael Ross [movies], John Paul "JP" Karliak [VSI] (English)[[note]]'''Other languages:''' Creator/JesseConde [Locomotion, VSI], Rolando de Castro [Animax] (Latin American Spanish); Jordi Ribes [TV series and films], Luis Fernando Ríos [VSI] (European Spanish); João Batista [Locomotion], Sidney Lima [Animax], Carlos Campanile [Netflix] (Brazilian Portuguese), Creator/StellaMusy (Italian)[[/note]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_kozo.png]]
[[folder:Doctor Kozo Fuyutsuki]]
!!Deputy Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MotomuKiyokawa (Japanese); Guil Lunde [ADV, series], Michael Ross [movies], John Paul "JP" Karliak [VSI] (English)[[note]]'''Other languages:''' Creator/JesseConde [Locomotion, VSI], Rolando de Castro [Animax] (Latin American Spanish); Jordi Ribes [TV series and films], Luis Fernando Ríos [VSI] (European Spanish); João Batista [Locomotion], Sidney Lima [Animax], Carlos Campanile [Netflix] (Brazilian Portuguese), Creator/StellaMusy (Italian)[[/note]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_kozo.png]]
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->"''As long as one soul still exists, it will be eternal proof that Mankind once existed.''"
Dr. Fuyutsuki is the Deputy Commander of NERV, Gendō Ikari's [[TheLancer right-hand man]], and is as close to [[TheConsigliere a confidante]] as Gendō will allow. In his life before NERV, he was a college professor at Tokyo University, teaching in the somewhat obscure field of [[OurSoulsAreDifferent metaphysical biology]]. Yui Ikari was one of his interns, and he carried a torch for her for some time. He never acted on his feelings, but was shocked when Yui told him that she was marrying Gendō. Years later, Fuyutsuki discovered the truth of Second Impact and confronted Gendō, but was persuaded by Gendō to assist him with the Eva project rather than exposing the coverup.
Fuyutsuki is far more ethical and a much more decent human being than Gendō, but he has allowed himself to be carried along by events until it is too late to act on his ever-growing misgivings. His being TheStoic (and in comedic situations, TheComicallySerious) doesn't exactly help.
Dr. Fuyutsuki is the Deputy Commander of NERV, Gendō Ikari's [[TheLancer right-hand man]], and is as close to [[TheConsigliere a confidante]] as Gendō will allow. In his life before NERV, he was a college professor at Tokyo University, teaching in the somewhat obscure field of [[OurSoulsAreDifferent metaphysical biology]]. Yui Ikari was one of his interns, and he carried a torch for her for some time. He never acted on his feelings, but was shocked when Yui told him that she was marrying Gendō. Years later, Fuyutsuki discovered the truth of Second Impact and confronted Gendō, but was persuaded by Gendō to assist him with the Eva project rather than exposing the coverup.
Fuyutsuki is far more ethical and a much more decent human being than Gendō, but he has allowed himself to be carried along by events until it is too late to act on his ever-growing misgivings. His being TheStoic (and in comedic situations, TheComicallySerious) doesn't exactly help.
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[[folder:NERV Commander Gendō Ikari]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/FumihikoTachiki ([[UsefulNotes/JapaneseLanguage Japanese]]); Tristan [=MacAvery=] [ADV], Creator/JohnSwasey [Director's Cut], Creator/RayChase [VSI] ([[UsefulNotes/AmericanEnglish English]])[[note]]'''Other languages:''' Creator/HumbertoSolorzano [Locomotion, Animax], Creator/IdziDutkiewicz [VSI] ([[UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica Latin American]] Spanish); Juan Carlos Gustems [TV series], Joan Massotkleiner [{{film}}s], Luis Bajo [VSI] (UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}an Spanish); Fábio Moura (Brazilian Portuguese)[[/note]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gendo-profile2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-"Forgetting is what lets people go on living.\\
But there are some things we must never forget.\\
That's an important lession that Yui taught me."-]]]
->"''There is no one else who can pilot the Evas. As long as
Yet, for all of this, the series gradually makes clear that Gendo's primary motivation for all of his bastardry is, in fact, {{love|MakesYouEvil}}. In college, he
Fuyutsuki is far more ethical and
For some, Gendō [[TheCasanova appears to be
Gendo's abandonment of Shinji shortly after Yui's death is one of the key factors behind Shinji's emotional problems, and over the course of the series, Gendo does little to bridge that gap. Indeed, Gendō and Shinji spend as much time opposing each other as they do fighting the Angels. He is merciless where Shinji is kind, confident where Shinji is fearful, calculating where Shinji is hopelessly naive. He is Shinji's twisted and sinister [[ShadowArchetype mirror image]], and it's obvious that on some level there is an [[UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex Oedipal conflict]] taking place. What the story doesn't
Gendo's depiction in the {{manga}} differs somewhat from the original. His villainous traits are more emphasized, while the glimpses behind his harsh façade are downplayed, to the point where his character has a hint of madness and willful cruelty to it, rather than emotional distance and calculating pragmatism, especially when it comes to his ultimate goal, which, as it turns out, is not quite the same as in the {{anime}}.
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* AbusiveDad:
** On both ends no less. He's emotionally neglectful and abusive to Shinji, being absent for most of his life and the times they do interact, it's cold and aloof, leaving Shinji wanting to please his dad while being mad at him. In a bit of cold {{Irony}}, he tried to distance himself from Shinji out of fear of hurting him and his final words before death was apologizing to Shinji for hurting him. Furthermore, it's implied that his parents were little better, which could explain why he was an emotional mess and why he took his wife's last name in marriage. In the manga, he is more openly abusive, both verbally and emotionally.
** Even Rei is not exempt. It is implied that Gendo in some ways sees her as a daughter ("Rei" is, after all, the name he told Yui he wanted to give their child if it turned out to be a girl), but he clearly doesn't want to get too emotionally attached to her and as such he is highly negligent towards her most of the time and evidently goes to some lengths to keep her out of sight and mind. This becomes even more evident as time goes on. He orders Unit-00's Angel-infected arm explosively amputated while her neural synch was still turned on, and his usage of her as a ephemeral vessel for Adam and Lilith at ''End of Evangelion'' implies he was willing to sacrifice her as a means to an end.
* AdaptationalJerkass: In the manga, Gendo's already-sparse PetTheDog moments towards Shinji are completely absent. He is also more verbally abusive towards Shinji and shows no regrets for mistreating him as he does in the anime, and in his last scene with his son he gives a him a combined BreakingSpeech and MotiveRant that paints him as a borderline StrawNihilist with a god complex, during which he admits up front that he outright hates Shinji for taking Yui's attention and affection. However, he ultimately does have a HeelRealization and DeathEqualsRedemption.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In several spin-off manga, other than Sadamoto's, he often is seen in a much better light, complete with smiles and laughter with his son. This can partially be attributed to his wife still being around, and like the rest of the cast, being much less depressive. ''Manga/ShinjiIkariRaisingProject'' outright portrays him as a well-intentioned but somewhat awkward BumblingDad.
* AllForNothing: In the end, Gendo's years of effort come out to nothing. While Human Instrumentality is commenced, it's not to his plans, and it turns out his wife had been there, possessing the first EVA, and in exchange humanity has been devastated even worse than Second Impact and will likely take decades to recover.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: At the beginning it is unclear whether he does care about Shinji or is just an evil jackass. The fight against Bardiel seems to cement him as the latter to both Shinji and the audience, but his final confession in ''The End of Evangelion'' makes it clear that things are more complex than that.
* AntiVillain: An absolutely wretched human being and [[AbusiveParents abusive parent]] out of his [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds absolutely inhuman, unbearable grief]] and desire to be [[TheLostLenore with his wife.]]
* BeardOfSorrow: The fact that flashbacks show that Gendo was always clean-shaven while Yui was still around and that he by all appearances grew his beard shortly after her "death", strongly indicate that is the case.
* BeneathTheMask: ''End of Evangelion'' reveals his cold exterior is really just that; behind it is a lonely, sad, and ultimately fearful man who is filled with self-loathing and believes he is unworthy of being loved and deserves to die in agony for all the bad things he has done.
* BodyHorror:
** In the anime, he has fused the embryonic Adam to the palm of his right hand. It has a large, exposed eyeball, and seems to be also ''growing outwards''.
** In the manga, he actually ''swallows'' Adam, which eventually manifests as an eyeball in the middle of his left hand from which he can project an AT field.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: In the flashbacks describing the birth of Nerv, Gendo was introduced as a {{Jerkass}} failure in life who kept getting into trouble. For example, when Fuyutsuki first met him, it was to bail him out of jail, as Gendo Rokubungi was a recluse and habitual drunk with a penchant for getting into bar fights. Fuyutsuki could not comprehend why such a beautiful genius as Yui would be paired with such a failure in life as Gendo. To boot, Gendo then said that he was used to being hated by everybody else. He needed Yui as a philosopher to teach him how to live and socialize like every other human being. As a result, after Yui sacrificed herself to be absorbed in Unit-01, Gendo became TheStoic whose only purpose is to bring her back from the dead.
* ByronicHero: He certainly fulfills several of the list, even if calling him a hero is questionable, being a very intelligent, ambitious, brooding and ruthless man who does whatever he deems necessary for his goals, revolving around love. Furthermore, he is quite popular with the ladies despite having only one woman he ever loved. Then there's the mess of a relationship he has with his son.
* TheCasanova: Gendo was not only able to earn Yui's genuine love, but landed both Akagis as lovers after Yui's death, although for the latter two it was solely to use them for their scientific knowledge.
* TheChessmaster: He's technically subordinate to SEELE, but he constantly makes moves to mess up their plans while advancing his own goals.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Gendo's usual outfit is that of a black uniform jacket with a dark-orange turtleneck sweater underneath it. This makes it the inverse of Shinji's standard outfit of a white school-uniform shirt over a blue t-shirt, to underscore that he is a dark mirror image of his son.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Overlaps with FakeNationality. His character design, although not character overall, is based ''heavily'' off of Ed Bishop in his starring role as Ed Straker on the British television show ''Series/UFO1970''.
* CreepyShadowedUndereyes: He has a hint of this, thought is not as noticable for most of the series, as it mostly hidden behind his glasses. But it was especially noticable when he was young, and it certainly lends his gace quite a bit of intensity.
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Deconstructed. Where previous entries in the mecha genre show the scientist father who abandons the protagonist to build a giant robot [[SavingTheWorld as heroic]], ''NGE'' delves into what a father who [[ParentalAbandonment abandons their child]] only to call them back [[ChildSoldiers to fight alien horrors]] is [[AbusiveParent actually like]]. Needless to say, his actual reasons for abandoning Shinji when he was five were not that noble, if understandable for his mindset: his plan is not to [[SavingTheWorld save the world]], but [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt to basically bring about Armageddon so he could reunite with his wife and Shinji's mother, Yui,]] and he abandoned Shinji simply because he came to the conclusion that he'd be a terrible father and Shinji would be better off without him. After seeing what Gendo's like when he becomes a part of Shinji's life again, he [[JerkassHasAPoint was probably right about the latter point.]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: The finer details before he met Yui are unknown, but he states he is used to being hated. {{alternate universe}} works portray him as having had a rough childhood and adolescence, and his only comment about his past seems to hint at it being the case in the series too. Though Yui's death definitely sent him off the edge, he was already there before he met her. It does go a long way to explaining his emotional issues, his devotion to Yui (to where he took her last name) and perhaps his fears behind parenting Shinji.
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Done in the manga, where he finally has a HeelRealization before he dies thanks to Yui, remembers that he used to love Shinji and thus wishes that Shinji will live on and lead a better life than the one he did.
* DeathSeeker: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but Gendo's hope that his plan will reunite him with Yui is clearly very much the only thing keeping him from giving completely up on life, and even then he shows himself to be at least passively self-destructive at several points, frequently placing himself at the frontlines of dangerous situations unnecesarily and without regard for his own health and safety. The most prominent example of this is him standing around to watch the fight between Unit-01 and Zeruel up close, and it ends up being down to pure blind luck that he doesn't ended up getting crushed.
* DefrostingIceKing: Appeared to have been something like this with Yui. As a young man he was a recluse and a bit of a delinquent, but she saw the softer side of him and he, in turn, opened up to her. Completely undone after Yui's death, to a point where he's probably incapable of ever defrosting again.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like with Shinji]], this is Gendo's main struggle in life. For Gendo though, this is compounded by SingleTargetSexuality; he has essentially convinced himself than no one but Yui will ever be able to look past his failings and problems and accept him with flaws and all, and he therefore wholeheartedly believes that she is the only one who can ever give him the affection he craves, which is why he is so desperate to bring her back at any and all costs.
* DiabolicalMastermind: In a sense. He's the true head of NERV, which is deeply corrupt, and controls the entirety of Tokyo-3.
* DirtyCoward: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but in direct contrast to his son's CowardlyLion status, he's this. It's easy to miss, because he's the commander of NERV, not a frontline soldier. Gendo spends most of the series hiding from most of the problems he creates or sending others to suffer something intended for him. The glasses and finger-tenting he always does hides his expression from those in front of him. Gendo admits to running away from Shinji out of fear of screwing up his life more than before. Rei I only dies because Gendo didn't have the guts to break things off with Naoko in person and didn't realize (or care) how unhinged Naoko had become. SEELE wants to interrogate Rei II? He sends Ritsuko to suffer being stripped, shamed, and interrogated by SEELE rather than facing them himself. Finally, he is absoutely frightened of having an honest and open conversation with his own son, even though it would probably help to clear up a lot of the conflicts and misunderstandings between the two of them.
* DirtyOldMan: {{Fanon}} and Alternative universe spinoffs sometimes imply he is one because of his creepy attachment to Rei. In canon, he was married to Yui Ikari (10 years younger than him), [[spoiler:referred to his lover Naoko Akagi (probably only a few years older than him) as an "old hag"]] and [[spoiler:has an affair with Ritsuko Akagi (18 years younger than him)]].
* DidntSeeThatComing: He is caught completely off-guard by Rei turning against him in the 11th hour. Likewise in the manga, Ritsuko living long enough to shoot him dead was a nasty surprise.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Gendo may be the head of NERV and a part of SEELE, but his ultimate loyalty is to himself and to his plan to subvert Instrumentality for his own goals. In ''End of Evangelion'', Rei has to defy him so that Shinji will have the power to disrupt the whole plan.
* EmptyShell: Yui's death has shattered him so completely he essentially has nothing left but his desperate wish to get her back through the hijacking of the Instrumentality project, no matter the cost or whatever might stand in his way.
* EternalEmployee: Implied. In contrast to the other NERV employees, the audience never sees Gendo being off the clock or at home in any regard, and he appears to be spending the vast majority of his time in an official capacity at NERV HQ. The closest thing we are shown that he has to some kind of "off-time", is when he has the occasional philosophical conversation or [[SmartPeoplePlayChess plays shogi]] with Fuyutsuki, and these things are either done in his office or when the two of them are travelling between destinations for work. It is indicated that he is so utterly subsumed by his quest to be reunited with Yui that any kind of personal life he might have had is now pretty much non-existent, and it is ultimately ambigious if he even actually has a home somewhere that he occasionally goes back to or if he literally sleeps at work.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It isn't clear until ''The End of Evangelion'', but despite his abusiveness, Gendo genuinely loves Shinji in his own twisted way.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Gendo was quite a DeadpanSnarker back in the day, as shown in the flashback episode, but when Yui "died" she apparently took his funny bone with her.
-->'''Fuyutsuki:''' You said it was luck you left the day before but you took all your files with you... even though the expedition wasn't over!\\
'''Gendo:''' Those weren't shredded? How careless.\\
'''Fuyutski:''' And I've been looking into your finances as well, quite a sum for a college professor!\\
'''Gendo:''' Remarkable, are you now teaching economics as well?
** However, he is not entirely above it during the series proper either, such as during a discussion with Fuyutsuki about the whole debacle surrounding Unit-04 and the Second Branch's disappearance. While Fuyutsuki is quietly horrified about the loss of life, Gendo sees it fit to crack a very dry joke:
--->'''Fuyutsuki:''' But the Committee is in a panic!\\
'''Gendo:''' *''matter-of-factly''* Of course, it was an unscheduled accident.\\
'''Fuyutsuki:''' *''[[ActuallyPrettyFunny clearly amused, in spite of himself]]''* SEELE must also be frantically adjusting the schedule...\\
'''Gendo:''' Incidents not depicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls can occur. This ought to teach the old men a lesson.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: It is somewhat subtle, but at least part of of his motivation for sending Shinji away from him and going to some lengths to keep his involvement in son's life to an absolute minimum, can be read as him fearing (perhaps not incorrectly, but a terrible mistake anyway) that he would only be a bad influence on Shinji.
* EvilSoundsDeep: He's a villain and the UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese, English, and [[UsefulNotes/SpanishAccentsAndDialects Spanish]] versions give him a deep, charismatic voice.
* ExcessiveMourning: He was so torn up by losing his wife that he abandoned their son and spent years devising a plan to reunite with Yui by bringing the apocalypse.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: In ''End of Evangelion'', after realizing he's going to [[spoiler: be killed by Unit-01 instead of being absorbed into Instrumentality,]] Gendo finally talks through his many, ''many'' issues, and when [[spoiler: Unit-01 is about to devour him]], he simply [[spoiler: apologizes to Shinji]].
* FallenHero: Yes, really. The flashback episode makes it clear that he and Yui were planning to try to prevent the Third Impact after all of the Angels were defeated. After her absorption into Unit-01, he decides to change plans and plot out his own version of the Impact so they can be reunited.
* FingerTenting: TropeCodifier; Gendo spends a great deal of time in this pose, so much so that it received memetic status in the fanbase and became known as [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-gendo-pose "the Gendo pose"]].
* {{Foil}}: Ends up serving for this for his own wife. Both are manipulative [[TheChessmaster chessmasters]] who are willing to go to [[TheUnfettered pretty much any means to achieve their goals]], but Yui represents the most persevering though [[AntiHero profoundly cruel]] ideal of [[HopeBringer hope]] and [[AntiNihilist free will]], whereas Gendo represents the absolute pit of [[StrawNihilist despair]] and [[AbusiveParents control.]]
* FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen: Three words. [[LastWords "Forgive me, Shinji."]]
* FormerTeenRebel: Gives the impression that he might have been one during the first meeting with Fuyutsuki. He still has hints of it, in that he's in flagrant breach of regulation by always wearing his uniform in an unzipped state, and frequently displays a lowkey devil-may-care attitude to his superiors, though that's also been seen as a sign that he is only focused on his quest and has pretty much moved beyond caring about what the world thinks of him.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: [[SinisterShades Okay, so they're more like sunglasses.]] It still counts.
* FreudianExcuse: {{Implied|Trope}}. It's strongly suggested he had a decidedly less than pleasant childhood.
* GenerationXerox:
** It is implied a few times, especially in ''End of Evangelion'', that Gendo shares most of his character traits with Shinji.
** [[http://imgur.com/u04fFcd Shinji's seen briefly wearing Gendo's old glasses in episode 5.]] [[http://imgur.com/jtOPXWg A young Gendo appears without his trademark beard or glasses in the flashbacks of episode 21]]. Comparing the two... yeah, Shinji ''strongly'' resembles his old man, both inside and out.
* GodhoodSeeker: His true objective in the manga is becoming the new Adam and triggering the Third Impact with Rei so he can recreate the world and reunite with Yui. It fails because Rei rejects him and leaves the recreation of the world to Shinji instead.
* HappilyMarried: To Yui before her "death". The event utterly ''broke'' him.
* HatesSmallTalk: While never stated outright, it is quite evident that Gendo treats having to say anything more than what he feels he absolutely needs to like having a tooth pulled. The only people he appears comfortable enough around to talk casually to are Fuyutsuki and Rei, and the case of the latter, they are usually very token attempts.
-->'''Gendo:''' How is school?\\
'''Rei:''' No problems, Sir.\\
'''Gendo:''' I see. That's good.
* HenpeckedHusband: In the {{Alternate Continuit|y}}ies where Yui is alive, she tends to be the one in the charge of the household while Gendo just quietly follows her lead. It is a DownplayedTrope most of the time, though, as the relationship tends not to be portrayed as overtly negative, and for his part, Gendo seems to be just fine with the arrangement.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Light on the badass side, but very heavy on the heartbroken side.
* HiddenDisdainReveal: In the manga, while he initially seems distant like his anime counterpart, he finally tells Shinji that he saw him as competition for Yui's attention and genuinely despised him for that.
* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Like with Shinji, his extreme self-hatred and subconscious fear that he is not worthy of being loved is really what is at the root of most of his problems.
* TheHeavy: As the chief agent of SEELE, Gendo is directly responsible for triggering the events of Second Impact and organizing the global push towards [[AssimilationPlot Human Instrumentality.]]
* HiddenHeartOfGold: Yui certainly thought so, telling an incredulous Fuyutsuki that Gendo is "quite a sweet person. It's just that no one knows it." We also get glimpses of it through Yui's recollection, mostly notably from a moment after Shinji's birth, where an audibly worried Gendo questions if his child will even have much of a future to look forward to in the ruined Post-Second Impact world. It becomes more clear in ''The End of Evangelion'', where it is explained that he truly does care about Shinji, and his dismissive attitude towards him stems from the fact that he sees ''himself'' as a bad influence and feared hurting his son. And, finally, in his dying moments he regrets everything he's done to Shinji. Largely averted in the manga, though, where he is pretty much every bit as horrible as he appears to be.
* InconsistentSpelling: Depending on the romanization the translator uses, his name can be rendered as Gendo (or more properly, Gendō) or Gendou, with the former being more popular.
%%* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: In the manga. Far more ambiguous in the anime.
* ItsAllAboutMe: A shared trait with [[LikeFatherLikeSon his son.]] While both are profoundly self-loathing, they are also incredibly selfish. It's made explicit at the end of the series that Yui didn't want this whatsoever to begin with (not to mention she initiated the plot to begin with) and is disgusted by his actions, granting him a KarmicDeath though still giving him time to come to terms with himself.
* IWasQuiteALooker: In his youth, Gendo was much more ruggedly handsome and conventionally attractive (and actually strongly resembles an older version of Shinji, who was himself designed to be a {{Bishonen}}). He's not bad looking at all at his current age, but looks are clearly the least of his priorities.
* JadeColoredGlasses: Gendo used to be a more open and humorous person when Yui was alive. Once she died, he lost all these traits and became the monster he is now.
* JealousParent: Towards the end of the manga, Gendō admits to Shinji that he never loved him as a son. Instead, he's greatly jealous of Shinji for "taking all of Yui's love for himself".
* JerkassHasAPoint: Activating the Dummy Plug system that causes Toji to become crippled (or to die in the manga) was harsh, but the alternative was Third Impact. Asuka and Rei had already been defeated by Bardiel, and Shinji refused to do anything, so there really was no other way even if he wasn't a ruthless jerk.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: His relationship with Rei indicates a much kinder side to him, and while he does love her to an extent, she's ultimately still created to play a role as an emotional substitute for Yui and a puppet for his ultimate goal that will ultimately involve her sacrificing herself (Which she rejects to recognize herself with individual will and to go along with Yui's plan instead).
* KavorkaMan: Whether Gendo is attractive or not is completely up to the viewer, but as it stands he's a perpetually scowling recluse in his late forties with absolutely no social skills, a general disregard for other people and blatant mental issues. Despite this, he manages to win over Yui and both of the Akagi women with relative ease. Each of these can be at least partially explained by the fact that they took root while he was younger and more dashing and mentally stable.
* KarmicDeath: In ''End of Evangelion'', unlike everyone else who got to be embraced by images of their loved ones before turning into [=LCL=], Gendo is picked up by Unit-01 (which has his beloved wife's soul in it) and bitten in two, AFTER Rei slices his left arm off. He deserved a good metaphorical smacking from the cosmos, his death drips of poetic justice, and in his LastWords he states that he's ''perfectly aware of this''.
* KarmicNod: As he is about to be devoured by a demonic Unit-01 during Instrumentality, he accepts it as a fair punishment for everything he has done.
* KickTheDog: He has a few more moments in later Angel battles, usually through negligence like abandoning Asuka to her fate when Arael attacked or everything he does to Rei until her betrayal in ''End.'' Also the Dummy Plug incident, in which he has the new autopilot for EVA-01 tear apart EVA-03 while the pilot is still trapped inside. Initially this sounds like ShootTheDog, but that smile on his face as Bardiel dies and Shinji is begging him to shut the thing off says otherwise.
* KubrickStare: One of the three "ingredients" of his signature pose.
* LargeAndInCharge: He's one of the tallest characters in the series, and the head of NERV.
* LaserGuidedKarma: At one point, Gendo has EVA-00's arm severed, ostensibly to prevent the Angel Bardiel from infecting it, but without severing Rei's connection first so she has to feel the agony. Fast forward to ''End of Evangelion'', Rei's next clone returns the favor by tearing Gendo's arm off herself.
* LeanAndMean: While it isn't too noticeable in the show proper due to his bulky jacket, the art book ''Evangelion Chronicle'' has him shown without said jacket, revealing that he is actually quite slender of frame (a trait Shinji has clearly inherited) to the point where he wears both a belt and suspenders.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: DeconstructedTrope. He takes the phrase "you're worth the world to me" to its (ridiculously) logical conclusion. He tries to bring about the apocalypse, in fervent belief that this will reunite his mind and soul with that of his wife, Yui. Technically, while the plan actually began working, Yui's soul ''rejected'' Gendo's at the climax, due to the untold suffering he brought, especially to their son. The moment is best summed up when the Eva her soul is in bites Gendo and Gendo's last words are an apology to his son.
* LoveRedeems: Zigzagged. Before he met Yui, he had few friends and was a pretty bitter man. Though it is implied he might have sought Yui out initially because of her connections to SEELE, he genuinely fell deeply in love with her, and actually became a somewhat decent and caring guy. Then Yui "died", and he did a full 180 into LoveMakesYouEvil territory and spent the rest of his life trying to find a way to bring her back... and was willing to destroy the entire human civilization to do so.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: In his last moments, it becomes clear that Gendo and Shinji are quite alike, and that Gendo's actions, from his obsession with Yui to his neglect of Shinji, were born of his own Hedgehog's Dilemma.
* ManipulativeBastard: In every continuity. Though it's somewhat notable that he's almost always a ManipulativeBastard by accident. To paraphrase the man himself, he just isn't good at interacting with other humans. However, he does have access to psychological profiles on most of the main cast, so make of that what you will.
* MaskOfSanity: He's publicly the leader of the heroic organization fighting to prevent the end of the world. The truth of the matter is far more complicated as he's plotting to cause it himself instead in a mad quest to be reunited with his long-dead wife.
* TheMole: Before Gendo took command of NERV, he worked as an auditor on the Katsuragi Expedition. Him and his team conviently left the expedition's laboritory the day before Second Impact, the implication being that SEELE planted him there with orders to manipulate Dr. Katsuragi and his team into triggering the event. SEELE later has him inserted into the official UN investigation of the Second Impact. His orders are again somewhat ambigious, but Fuyutsuki strongly suspects that he was ordered to muddle up the results and make sure that SEELE's "freak meteor strike" cover-story is the only version of events that ends up being told to the public.
* MoreThanMindControl: Gives the impression of having this over Rei and Ritsuko, and they both break it by the end of the series. Same goes for Shinji.
* MotiveDecay: Flashbacks indicate he initially participated in Yui's plan to subvert SEELE for her purpose of making Instrumentality reversible, but after her "death", he became profoundly stricken with grief and now only really cares about reuniting with her, with that motivation being tertiary at best.
* MotiveMisidentification: On the receiving end of this from another villain. Keel and SEELE believe that his motivation is a hunger for power and that he wants to take control over Instrumentality for himself and become a god. In reality, his motivation is love, and all Gendo really wants is to be reunited with Yui. Averted in the manga, where SEELE actually are right about his plan.
* {{Necromantic}}: He still thinks of Unit-01 as Yui, and speaks to it often.
* NervesOfSteel: Does not flinch even when he gets splattered with blood from Unit-01 and Zeruel brawling right in front of him.
* NeverBeHurtAgain: Ultimately, this what is at the core of Gendo's general attitude of detachment from, well, ''everything''. Yui was the only person who ever managed to get emotionally close to him, and her "death" utterly ''broke'' him to a point where he is effectively pathologically unable to ever dare trying to be close to anyone again. It is, again, one of the strongest implications that whatever happened back in his childhood and adolescence had to be something really terrible to make him that way in the first place.
* NoodleIncident: His past prior to meeting Yui. He was a known rebel and drunk who was prone to getting into bar fights at his university, and nonchalantly told Fuyutsuki that he was "used to being hated" when reprimanded by him. While this suggests that he has a DarkAndTroubledPast outside of his relationships with his wife and son, the audience never learns anything more about it.
* NoSocialSkills: Between his curt way of speaking, which betrays an obvious dislike for saying anything more than he feels he absolutely needs to, regularly making the effort to hide his face behind his glasses and hands so it is hard to get a read on him, and being quite the recluse in private, with Fuyutsuki and Rei probably being the closest he has to a friend and family respectively, it is evident that Gendo is ''not'' a people person. [[NotSoDifferentRemark This is underlined by Ritsuko and other characters stating that Shinji and him are actually rather similar at this field.]]
* NotSoStoic: He has his moments, with many of them notably happening around Rei. This is especially evident with her betrayal in ''End of Evangelion'' which makes his true agony start to leak out, culminating with his final apology to his son. He also becomes noticeably agitated and irritated with Shinji in the fight against Bardiel, both during the battle and after when he's dressing down Shinji for his actions.
* OhCrap: In the manga, when Shinji tries to assault him after Touji's death. Albeit very brief (it only lasts one frame) this is the only time that Gendo is seen genuinely shocked.
* ParentalFavoritism: In a manner of speaking: while Rei isn't really his daughter, it's clear he sees her as one, and he clearly favors her over Shinji, treating her with unusual warmth while he largely ignores and is disappointed in Shinji. Played for Drama in that it's implied that this is because he sees her as an emotional substitute for Yui, and downplayed in that, even though he cares for Rei to an extent, she's still ultimately expendable to him.
* ParentalIncest: His relationship with Rei is ''profoundly'' possessive and creepy, reaching it's apex where he directly touches her naked breast in ''End of Evangelion'' (non-sexually, but still), and numerous statements indicate that he more or less views her as his daughter even if he's not directly genetically related to her. This is ultimately a downplayed example, as despite him clearly having some uncomfortable feelings towards her and her being completely subservient to him, there is absolutely no indication he actually does anything sexually inappropriate with her otherwise.
* PerpetualFrowner:
** While he shows off the occasional triumphant smirk when something goes JustAsPlanned, he spends most of the series with a downcast scowl on his face. His only truly warm smiles tends to happen when he is around Rei.
** Notably, the flashback episode shows that the younger Gendo tended to default to a confident smirk for his standard expression. After losing Yui, the frown that his older self will be known for appeared and was there to stay.
* PetTheDog:
** The two occasions when he treats Shinji well, and his dying words in ''End of Evangelion'': "Forgive me, Shinji."
** He saves Rei a few times over the course of the series, but the later episodes prove she is expendable to him. Still, he's horrified when she's injured during the EVA-00 incident. The implication is he sees her as Yui.
* ThePhilosopher: Comments a great deal on science, scientists and the state of humanity.
* PsychoticSmirk: Whenever something goes AllAccordingToPlan for him. It's usually hidden behind his hands. Chillingly, when he sees that the Dummy Plug is actually working during the Bardiel incident, he does it openly.
* TheQuietOne: He usually speaks little, and when he does he never says a single word more than he has to.
* ScarsAreForever: His hands are covered with burn scars, as a result of forcibly opening Rei's entry plug to rescue her after the failed activation of Unit-00. His scars are much worse in the manga, too.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Former TropeNamer and so iconic that this coupled with his [[FingerTenting signature pose]] have long been the subject of [[MemeticMutation meme]] and ShoutOut.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In his final (and only) soliloquy he states that the reason he abandoned Shinji was because he was afraid of hurting him and convinced his son would be better off without him in his life. Unfortunately, this act ended up being the root of all of Shinji's problems; Gendo realizes this painful truth just before his death.
* ShadowArchetype: Of Shinji. It's very noted that the two are not so different in their personality and appearances and indeed, Gendo appears to be what could happen to Shinji if he underwent similar circumstances.
* SingleTargetSexuality: He loves Yui and only Yui. He's perfectly fine with sleeping with other women if he can use them to further his goals, but he harbors no actual attraction to them. This raises further implications in his relationship with Rei, who looks remarkably like Yui.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: He is shown to occasionally play TabletopGame/{{Shogi}} with Fuyutsuki.
* SmugSmiler: As a young man, before crossing the DespairEventHorizon, his standard expression was a cocky, defiant smirk. The fact that he's a PerpetualFrowner in the present shows just how different he became after losing Yui.
* SourOutsideSadInside: The scary, cold and mysterious façade he projects hides that he is more or less like his son underneath it all: someone with an exceptionally low opinion of himself, who fails to connect with other people due to being deeply afraid of hurting and being hurt by others.
* TheStarscream: He's only going along with SEELE to hijack their Human Instrumentality Project so that he can reunite with his dead wife and attempts to betray them in ''End of Evangelion''.
* TheStoic: His default facial expression hardly ever changes.
* StrawNihilist: It's gradually revealed that his motivation is a result of his absolute grief and sorrow for Yui's death, and that he has no independent will to live and doesn't find any meaning in life. Ironically, Yui herself is an AntiNihilist.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: The flashbacks we see of him where he doesn't have his beard show that he is basically just Shinji with a longer face. Design sketches of him without his bulky jacket also reveals that he actually has a very slender build and that Shinji has clearly inherited this trait from him.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: '''Very''' icy, with the sugar only showing up around Rei and Yui.
* SunglassesAtNight: More like colored glasses [[HollywoodDarkness in various poorly lit rooms]] in an ElaborateUndergroundBase. It is even justified; Gendo's normal glasses broke prior to the beginning of the series, his orange-tinted sunglasses are by all appearences the only pair of prescription glasses he has left, and it is implied that his private life is so utterly non-existent that he simply cannot muster up the motivation to go out and buy himself a new pair.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: He is one of the tallest characters of the cast, dresses like one of TheMenInBlack and he has a pretty dry wit. He was snarky in a more standard way when he was younger, too.
* TeethClenchedTeamWork: Though he seems to hold Fuyutsuki in a slightly higher regard than he does most people, their partnership is based on the mutual understanding that their goals align, not any actual friendship.
* TerseTalker: Gendo prefers answering in monosyllabic words, and he by and large clearly dislikes saying any more than what he feels he absolutely needs to. The only exceptions is when he discusses philosophy with Fuyutsuki or talks with Rei. It actually gets justified when it becomes clear how similar he and Shinji actually are to each other at their core. This manner of speaking is actually a strong hint towards the fact that Gendo might be just as socially awkward as his son and that the two of them have largely the same difficulties with small talk; Gendo is just better at hiding them.
* ThemeNaming: Even Gendo's original last name, Rokubungi, continues the show's trend of using naval-themed names, as "Rokubungi" means sextant.
* TogetherInDeath: Although he wasn't inducted into Instrumentality, Shinji's statement in the manga's penultimate chapter implies that like Yui, his soul was left inside the petrified Unit 01.
* TooMuchAlike: He and Shinji are so very much alike, it's painful. Both of them are brooding, introverted, quiet people who have evident difficulty with the concepts of interpersonal relationships and small talk, and ultimately they are revealed to have the same {{Fatal Flaw}}s, namely an immense sense of self-loathing and a subconscious belief that they are unworthy of being loved. They also have quite a strong willpower beneath their unassuming exterior, given how Shinji's berserk drive and Gendo's cold determination are not different (especially since Gendo implied he was more brash in his youth). Gendo's decision to abandon Shinji being driven by his fear of being a bad parent also mirrors Shinji's tendency to isolate himself from others out of fear that he will only be a burden to them. Especially the later is why the two of them find it so impossibly hard to communicate earnestly with each other.
* TookTheWifesName: Gendo taking Yui's surname when he married her is the first sign that his love for her is no act. Furthermore, WordOfGod says that Yui was the only daughter of a SEELE member, and therefore [[UptownGirl of high social status]]. It also serves to reinforce the implications that Gendo had a very troubled childhood and adolescence and [[ShedTheFamilyName may have taken Yui's surname to cut all ties with his family]].
* TroubledAbuser: His rather horrible treatment of Shinji is strongly implied to be at least partly be a result of his own childhood and adolescence being miserable. As he himself says in an off-hand comment, he is "used to being hated."
* TheUnfettered: Lets absolutely nothing get in the way of his plans. Not the fact that his son is a puppet, not the fact that the closest he has to a daughter is a puppet, not common decency or sense, not thinking his wife may be horrified at all of this ''if'' it works, '''nothing'''.
* VillainousBreakdown: In ''End of Evangelion'', he completely loses his composure when Rei takes his arm and abandons him in favor of helping Shinji, being reduced to a frightened, screaming mess, as he desperatedly begs Rei not to leave him. He does, however, gain some dignity in his last moments, [[spoiler:apologizing to Shinji just before he's killed]].
-->'''Gendo:''' ''"I beg you! Wait, Rei!"''
* VillainousCheekbones: His somewhat prominent cheekbones serves as one of the few physical traits he doesn't share with the more soft-faced Shinji.
* WardrobeFlawOfCharacterization: Unlike the more proper and prim Fuyutsuki, Gendo wears his uniform's jacket always open, lampshading his latent rebellion against his superiors.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Zigzagged. We don't have a great idea of what his goals were before Yui's contact experiment, but he seemed to be firmly on her side. After the contact experiment, he merely wants to be with his wife again and doesn't seem to care much what happens to everyone else.
* WhiteGloves: First used to hide the burn scars he got from the incident with Unit-00 prior to the series' beginning. Later used to hide the embryonic Adam, [[BodyHorror which has either been fused with his hand or is actually looking out from his hand, in the anime and manga respectively]].
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds:
** In ''End of Evangelion'', the implications that Gendo's a lot like Shinji become flat-out stated, with him having tried as desperately as possible to revive the one woman he cared about, at the cost of his empathy, all his friends, and, as part of the endgame, all of humanity. Gendo's shown to be a hollow shell of a man, and even admits outright that he was so [[AbusiveParents terrible toward Shinji]] because he genuinely didn't believe he (Gendo) deserved love and thought he would only hurt Shinji if he were near him, only to hurt him anyways. Gendo's just as much of a mentally-ill mess as his son; he's just better at pretending he's not, and keeps himself calm long enough to play TheChessmaster.
** Definitely in the manga, which shows exactly how broken he was before falling in love with Yui. Losing her (who was his MoralityChain) and her starting to love Shinji more than him were both factors for his "father of the year" attitude.
* WouldHurtAChild: Not directly himself but the Eva program [[PoweredByAForsakenChild runs off of children]], he has no problem risking Toji getting killed to test the Dummy Plug (all he does [[PsychoticSmirk is grin]] when he see that the Plug actually works), and in one instance he has the staff apply extra pressure to Shinji's plug to choke him out for daring to question his methods (the aforementioned Dummy Plug "test").
* {{Yandere}}: Initially, he appears to be an aloof, collected leader. But as it turns out, he's greatly obsessed with his dead wife. He's willing to initiate TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt to get her back. Plus, given that she's not so much dead as trapped inside the Eva-01 mecha, part of his plan to "reunite with her" involves getting his son to "ride inside her cockpit" unknowingly. ''And'' he takes a particular liking to his wife's fourteen-year-old clone, Rei Ayanami. It is taken up a notch in the manga, where he declares open resentment for Shinji for getting "preferential treatment" from her. No, he is not a very sane individual; why do you ask?
* ZenSurvivor: Absurd as he eventually is revealed to be under it all, he explains to his son that his "meh" attitude towards everything is a survival mechanism when they meet at Yui's grave for her anniversary.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Doctor Kozo Fuyutsuki]]
!!Deputy Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MotomuKiyokawa (Japanese); Guil Lunde [ADV, series], Michael Ross [movies], John Paul "JP" Karliak [VSI] (English)[[note]]'''Other languages:''' Creator/JesseConde [Locomotion, VSI], Rolando de Castro [Animax] (Latin American Spanish); Jordi Ribes [TV series and films], Luis Fernando Ríos [VSI] (European Spanish); João Batista [Locomotion], Sidney Lima [Animax], Carlos Campanile [Netflix] (Brazilian Portuguese), Creator/StellaMusy (Italian)[[/note]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_kozo.png]]
%%
->"''As long as one soul still exists, it will be eternal proof that Mankind once existed.''"
Dr. Fuyutsuki is the Deputy Commander of NERV, Gendō Ikari's [[TheLancer right-hand man]], and is as close to [[TheConsigliere a confidante]] as Gendō will allow. In his life before NERV, he was a college professor at Tokyo University, teaching in the somewhat obscure field of [[OurSoulsAreDifferent metaphysical biology]]. Yui Ikari was one of his interns, and he carried a torch for her for some time. He never acted on his feelings, but was shocked when Yui told him that she was marrying Gendō. Years later, Fuyutsuki discovered the truth of Second Impact and confronted Gendō, but was persuaded by Gendō to assist him with the Eva project rather than exposing the coverup.
Fuyutsuki is far more ethical and a much more decent human being than Gendō, but he has allowed himself to be carried along by events until it is too late to act on his ever-growing misgivings. His being TheStoic (and in comedic situations, TheComicallySerious) doesn't exactly help.
----
** On both ends no less. He's emotionally neglectful and abusive to Shinji, being absent for most of his life and the times they do interact, it's cold and aloof, leaving Shinji wanting to please his dad while being mad at him. In a bit of cold {{Irony}}, he tried to distance himself from Shinji out of fear of hurting him and his final words before death was apologizing to Shinji for hurting him. Furthermore, it's implied that his parents were little better, which could explain why he was an emotional mess and why he took his wife's last name in marriage. In the manga, he is more openly abusive, both verbally and emotionally.
** Even Rei is not exempt. It is implied that Gendo in some ways sees her as a daughter ("Rei" is, after all, the name he told Yui he wanted to give their child if it turned out to be a girl), but he clearly doesn't want to get too emotionally attached to her and as such he is highly negligent towards her most of the time and evidently goes to some lengths to keep her out of sight and mind. This becomes even more evident as time goes on. He orders Unit-00's Angel-infected arm explosively amputated while her neural synch was still turned on, and his usage of her as a ephemeral vessel for Adam and Lilith at ''End of Evangelion'' implies he was willing to sacrifice her as a means to an end.
* AdaptationalJerkass: In the manga, Gendo's already-sparse PetTheDog moments towards Shinji are completely absent. He is also more verbally abusive towards Shinji and shows no regrets for mistreating him as he does in the anime, and in his last scene with his son he gives a him a combined BreakingSpeech and MotiveRant that paints him as a borderline StrawNihilist with a god complex, during which he admits up front that he outright hates Shinji for taking Yui's attention and affection. However, he ultimately does have a HeelRealization and DeathEqualsRedemption.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In several spin-off manga, other than Sadamoto's, he often is seen in a much better light, complete with smiles and laughter with his son. This can partially be attributed to his wife still being around, and like the rest of the cast, being much less depressive. ''Manga/ShinjiIkariRaisingProject'' outright portrays him as a well-intentioned but somewhat awkward BumblingDad.
* AllForNothing: In the end, Gendo's years of effort come out to nothing. While Human Instrumentality is commenced, it's not to his plans, and it turns out his wife had been there, possessing the first EVA, and in exchange humanity has been devastated even worse than Second Impact and will likely take decades to recover.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: At the beginning it is unclear whether he does care about Shinji or is just an evil jackass. The fight against Bardiel seems to cement him as the latter to both Shinji and the audience, but his final confession in ''The End of Evangelion'' makes it clear that things are more complex than that.
* AntiVillain: An absolutely wretched human being and [[AbusiveParents abusive parent]] out of his [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds absolutely inhuman, unbearable grief]] and desire to be [[TheLostLenore with his wife.]]
* BeardOfSorrow: The fact that flashbacks show that Gendo was always clean-shaven while Yui was still around and that he by all appearances grew his beard shortly after her "death", strongly indicate that is the case.
* BeneathTheMask: ''End of Evangelion'' reveals his cold exterior is really just that; behind it is a lonely, sad, and ultimately fearful man who is filled with self-loathing and believes he is unworthy of being loved and deserves to die in agony for all the bad things he has done.
* BodyHorror:
** In the anime, he has fused the embryonic Adam to the palm of his right hand. It has a large, exposed eyeball, and seems to be also ''growing outwards''.
** In the manga, he actually ''swallows'' Adam, which eventually manifests as an eyeball in the middle of his left hand from which he can project an AT field.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: In the flashbacks describing the birth of Nerv, Gendo was introduced as a {{Jerkass}} failure in life who kept getting into trouble. For example, when Fuyutsuki first met him, it was to bail him out of jail, as Gendo Rokubungi was a recluse and habitual drunk with a penchant for getting into bar fights. Fuyutsuki could not comprehend why such a beautiful genius as Yui would be paired with such a failure in life as Gendo. To boot, Gendo then said that he was used to being hated by everybody else. He needed Yui as a philosopher to teach him how to live and socialize like every other human being. As a result, after Yui sacrificed herself to be absorbed in Unit-01, Gendo became TheStoic whose only purpose is to bring her back from the dead.
* ByronicHero: He certainly fulfills several of the list, even if calling him a hero is questionable, being a very intelligent, ambitious, brooding and ruthless man who does whatever he deems necessary for his goals, revolving around love. Furthermore, he is quite popular with the ladies despite having only one woman he ever loved. Then there's the mess of a relationship he has with his son.
* TheCasanova: Gendo was not only able to earn Yui's genuine love, but landed both Akagis as lovers after Yui's death, although for the latter two it was solely to use them for their scientific knowledge.
* TheChessmaster: He's technically subordinate to SEELE, but he constantly makes moves to mess up their plans while advancing his own goals.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Gendo's usual outfit is that of a black uniform jacket with a dark-orange turtleneck sweater underneath it. This makes it the inverse of Shinji's standard outfit of a white school-uniform shirt over a blue t-shirt, to underscore that he is a dark mirror image of his son.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Overlaps with FakeNationality. His character design, although not character overall, is based ''heavily'' off of Ed Bishop in his starring role as Ed Straker on the British television show ''Series/UFO1970''.
* CreepyShadowedUndereyes: He has a hint of this, thought is not as noticable for most of the series, as it mostly hidden behind his glasses. But it was especially noticable when he was young, and it certainly lends his gace quite a bit of intensity.
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Deconstructed. Where previous entries in the mecha genre show the scientist father who abandons the protagonist to build a giant robot [[SavingTheWorld as heroic]], ''NGE'' delves into what a father who [[ParentalAbandonment abandons their child]] only to call them back [[ChildSoldiers to fight alien horrors]] is [[AbusiveParent actually like]]. Needless to say, his actual reasons for abandoning Shinji when he was five were not that noble, if understandable for his mindset: his plan is not to [[SavingTheWorld save the world]], but [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt to basically bring about Armageddon so he could reunite with his wife and Shinji's mother, Yui,]] and he abandoned Shinji simply because he came to the conclusion that he'd be a terrible father and Shinji would be better off without him. After seeing what Gendo's like when he becomes a part of Shinji's life again, he [[JerkassHasAPoint was probably right about the latter point.]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: The finer details before he met Yui are unknown, but he states he is used to being hated. {{alternate universe}} works portray him as having had a rough childhood and adolescence, and his only comment about his past seems to hint at it being the case in the series too. Though Yui's death definitely sent him off the edge, he was already there before he met her. It does go a long way to explaining his emotional issues, his devotion to Yui (to where he took her last name) and perhaps his fears behind parenting Shinji.
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Done in the manga, where he finally has a HeelRealization before he dies thanks to Yui, remembers that he used to love Shinji and thus wishes that Shinji will live on and lead a better life than the one he did.
* DeathSeeker: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but Gendo's hope that his plan will reunite him with Yui is clearly very much the only thing keeping him from giving completely up on life, and even then he shows himself to be at least passively self-destructive at several points, frequently placing himself at the frontlines of dangerous situations unnecesarily and without regard for his own health and safety. The most prominent example of this is him standing around to watch the fight between Unit-01 and Zeruel up close, and it ends up being down to pure blind luck that he doesn't ended up getting crushed.
* DefrostingIceKing: Appeared to have been something like this with Yui. As a young man he was a recluse and a bit of a delinquent, but she saw the softer side of him and he, in turn, opened up to her. Completely undone after Yui's death, to a point where he's probably incapable of ever defrosting again.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like with Shinji]], this is Gendo's main struggle in life. For Gendo though, this is compounded by SingleTargetSexuality; he has essentially convinced himself than no one but Yui will ever be able to look past his failings and problems and accept him with flaws and all, and he therefore wholeheartedly believes that she is the only one who can ever give him the affection he craves, which is why he is so desperate to bring her back at any and all costs.
* DiabolicalMastermind: In a sense. He's the true head of NERV, which is deeply corrupt, and controls the entirety of Tokyo-3.
* DirtyCoward: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but in direct contrast to his son's CowardlyLion status, he's this. It's easy to miss, because he's the commander of NERV, not a frontline soldier. Gendo spends most of the series hiding from most of the problems he creates or sending others to suffer something intended for him. The glasses and finger-tenting he always does hides his expression from those in front of him. Gendo admits to running away from Shinji out of fear of screwing up his life more than before. Rei I only dies because Gendo didn't have the guts to break things off with Naoko in person and didn't realize (or care) how unhinged Naoko had become. SEELE wants to interrogate Rei II? He sends Ritsuko to suffer being stripped, shamed, and interrogated by SEELE rather than facing them himself. Finally, he is absoutely frightened of having an honest and open conversation with his own son, even though it would probably help to clear up a lot of the conflicts and misunderstandings between the two of them.
* DirtyOldMan: {{Fanon}} and Alternative universe spinoffs sometimes imply he is one because of his creepy attachment to Rei. In canon, he was married to Yui Ikari (10 years younger than him), [[spoiler:referred to his lover Naoko Akagi (probably only a few years older than him) as an "old hag"]] and [[spoiler:has an affair with Ritsuko Akagi (18 years younger than him)]].
* DidntSeeThatComing: He is caught completely off-guard by Rei turning against him in the 11th hour. Likewise in the manga, Ritsuko living long enough to shoot him dead was a nasty surprise.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Gendo may be the head of NERV and a part of SEELE, but his ultimate loyalty is to himself and to his plan to subvert Instrumentality for his own goals. In ''End of Evangelion'', Rei has to defy him so that Shinji will have the power to disrupt the whole plan.
* EmptyShell: Yui's death has shattered him so completely he essentially has nothing left but his desperate wish to get her back through the hijacking of the Instrumentality project, no matter the cost or whatever might stand in his way.
* EternalEmployee: Implied. In contrast to the other NERV employees, the audience never sees Gendo being off the clock or at home in any regard, and he appears to be spending the vast majority of his time in an official capacity at NERV HQ. The closest thing we are shown that he has to some kind of "off-time", is when he has the occasional philosophical conversation or [[SmartPeoplePlayChess plays shogi]] with Fuyutsuki, and these things are either done in his office or when the two of them are travelling between destinations for work. It is indicated that he is so utterly subsumed by his quest to be reunited with Yui that any kind of personal life he might have had is now pretty much non-existent, and it is ultimately ambigious if he even actually has a home somewhere that he occasionally goes back to or if he literally sleeps at work.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It isn't clear until ''The End of Evangelion'', but despite his abusiveness, Gendo genuinely loves Shinji in his own twisted way.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Gendo was quite a DeadpanSnarker back in the day, as shown in the flashback episode, but when Yui "died" she apparently took his funny bone with her.
-->'''Fuyutsuki:''' You said it was luck you left the day before but you took all your files with you... even though the expedition wasn't over!\\
'''Gendo:''' Those weren't shredded? How careless.\\
'''Fuyutski:''' And I've been looking into your finances as well, quite a sum for a college professor!\\
'''Gendo:''' Remarkable, are you now teaching economics as well?
** However, he is not entirely above it during the series proper either, such as during a discussion with Fuyutsuki about the whole debacle surrounding Unit-04 and the Second Branch's disappearance. While Fuyutsuki is quietly horrified about the loss of life, Gendo sees it fit to crack a very dry joke:
--->'''Fuyutsuki:''' But the Committee is in a panic!\\
'''Gendo:''' *''matter-of-factly''* Of course, it was an unscheduled accident.\\
'''Fuyutsuki:''' *''[[ActuallyPrettyFunny clearly amused, in spite of himself]]''* SEELE must also be frantically adjusting the schedule...\\
'''Gendo:''' Incidents not depicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls can occur. This ought to teach the old men a lesson.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: It is somewhat subtle, but at least part of of his motivation for sending Shinji away from him and going to some lengths to keep his involvement in son's life to an absolute minimum, can be read as him fearing (perhaps not incorrectly, but a terrible mistake anyway) that he would only be a bad influence on Shinji.
* EvilSoundsDeep: He's a villain and the UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese, English, and [[UsefulNotes/SpanishAccentsAndDialects Spanish]] versions give him a deep, charismatic voice.
* ExcessiveMourning: He was so torn up by losing his wife that he abandoned their son and spent years devising a plan to reunite with Yui by bringing the apocalypse.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: In ''End of Evangelion'', after realizing he's going to [[spoiler: be killed by Unit-01 instead of being absorbed into Instrumentality,]] Gendo finally talks through his many, ''many'' issues, and when [[spoiler: Unit-01 is about to devour him]], he simply [[spoiler: apologizes to Shinji]].
* FallenHero: Yes, really. The flashback episode makes it clear that he and Yui were planning to try to prevent the Third Impact after all of the Angels were defeated. After her absorption into Unit-01, he decides to change plans and plot out his own version of the Impact so they can be reunited.
* FingerTenting: TropeCodifier; Gendo spends a great deal of time in this pose, so much so that it received memetic status in the fanbase and became known as [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-gendo-pose "the Gendo pose"]].
* {{Foil}}: Ends up serving for this for his own wife. Both are manipulative [[TheChessmaster chessmasters]] who are willing to go to [[TheUnfettered pretty much any means to achieve their goals]], but Yui represents the most persevering though [[AntiHero profoundly cruel]] ideal of [[HopeBringer hope]] and [[AntiNihilist free will]], whereas Gendo represents the absolute pit of [[StrawNihilist despair]] and [[AbusiveParents control.]]
* FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen: Three words. [[LastWords "Forgive me, Shinji."]]
* FormerTeenRebel: Gives the impression that he might have been one during the first meeting with Fuyutsuki. He still has hints of it, in that he's in flagrant breach of regulation by always wearing his uniform in an unzipped state, and frequently displays a lowkey devil-may-care attitude to his superiors, though that's also been seen as a sign that he is only focused on his quest and has pretty much moved beyond caring about what the world thinks of him.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: [[SinisterShades Okay, so they're more like sunglasses.]] It still counts.
* FreudianExcuse: {{Implied|Trope}}. It's strongly suggested he had a decidedly less than pleasant childhood.
* GenerationXerox:
** It is implied a few times, especially in ''End of Evangelion'', that Gendo shares most of his character traits with Shinji.
** [[http://imgur.com/u04fFcd Shinji's seen briefly wearing Gendo's old glasses in episode 5.]] [[http://imgur.com/jtOPXWg A young Gendo appears without his trademark beard or glasses in the flashbacks of episode 21]]. Comparing the two... yeah, Shinji ''strongly'' resembles his old man, both inside and out.
* GodhoodSeeker: His true objective in the manga is becoming the new Adam and triggering the Third Impact with Rei so he can recreate the world and reunite with Yui. It fails because Rei rejects him and leaves the recreation of the world to Shinji instead.
* HappilyMarried: To Yui before her "death". The event utterly ''broke'' him.
* HatesSmallTalk: While never stated outright, it is quite evident that Gendo treats having to say anything more than what he feels he absolutely needs to like having a tooth pulled. The only people he appears comfortable enough around to talk casually to are Fuyutsuki and Rei, and the case of the latter, they are usually very token attempts.
-->'''Gendo:''' How is school?\\
'''Rei:''' No problems, Sir.\\
'''Gendo:''' I see. That's good.
* HenpeckedHusband: In the {{Alternate Continuit|y}}ies where Yui is alive, she tends to be the one in the charge of the household while Gendo just quietly follows her lead. It is a DownplayedTrope most of the time, though, as the relationship tends not to be portrayed as overtly negative, and for his part, Gendo seems to be just fine with the arrangement.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Light on the badass side, but very heavy on the heartbroken side.
* HiddenDisdainReveal: In the manga, while he initially seems distant like his anime counterpart, he finally tells Shinji that he saw him as competition for Yui's attention and genuinely despised him for that.
* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Like with Shinji, his extreme self-hatred and subconscious fear that he is not worthy of being loved is really what is at the root of most of his problems.
* TheHeavy: As the chief agent of SEELE, Gendo is directly responsible for triggering the events of Second Impact and organizing the global push towards [[AssimilationPlot Human Instrumentality.]]
* HiddenHeartOfGold: Yui certainly thought so, telling an incredulous Fuyutsuki that Gendo is "quite a sweet person. It's just that no one knows it." We also get glimpses of it through Yui's recollection, mostly notably from a moment after Shinji's birth, where an audibly worried Gendo questions if his child will even have much of a future to look forward to in the ruined Post-Second Impact world. It becomes more clear in ''The End of Evangelion'', where it is explained that he truly does care about Shinji, and his dismissive attitude towards him stems from the fact that he sees ''himself'' as a bad influence and feared hurting his son. And, finally, in his dying moments he regrets everything he's done to Shinji. Largely averted in the manga, though, where he is pretty much every bit as horrible as he appears to be.
* InconsistentSpelling: Depending on the romanization the translator uses, his name can be rendered as Gendo (or more properly, Gendō) or Gendou, with the former being more popular.
%%* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: In the manga. Far more ambiguous in the anime.
* ItsAllAboutMe: A shared trait with [[LikeFatherLikeSon his son.]] While both are profoundly self-loathing, they are also incredibly selfish. It's made explicit at the end of the series that Yui didn't want this whatsoever to begin with (not to mention she initiated the plot to begin with) and is disgusted by his actions, granting him a KarmicDeath though still giving him time to come to terms with himself.
* IWasQuiteALooker: In his youth, Gendo was much more ruggedly handsome and conventionally attractive (and actually strongly resembles an older version of Shinji, who was himself designed to be a {{Bishonen}}). He's not bad looking at all at his current age, but looks are clearly the least of his priorities.
* JadeColoredGlasses: Gendo used to be a more open and humorous person when Yui was alive. Once she died, he lost all these traits and became the monster he is now.
* JealousParent: Towards the end of the manga, Gendō admits to Shinji that he never loved him as a son. Instead, he's greatly jealous of Shinji for "taking all of Yui's love for himself".
* JerkassHasAPoint: Activating the Dummy Plug system that causes Toji to become crippled (or to die in the manga) was harsh, but the alternative was Third Impact. Asuka and Rei had already been defeated by Bardiel, and Shinji refused to do anything, so there really was no other way even if he wasn't a ruthless jerk.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: His relationship with Rei indicates a much kinder side to him, and while he does love her to an extent, she's ultimately still created to play a role as an emotional substitute for Yui and a puppet for his ultimate goal that will ultimately involve her sacrificing herself (Which she rejects to recognize herself with individual will and to go along with Yui's plan instead).
* KavorkaMan: Whether Gendo is attractive or not is completely up to the viewer, but as it stands he's a perpetually scowling recluse in his late forties with absolutely no social skills, a general disregard for other people and blatant mental issues. Despite this, he manages to win over Yui and both of the Akagi women with relative ease. Each of these can be at least partially explained by the fact that they took root while he was younger and more dashing and mentally stable.
* KarmicDeath: In ''End of Evangelion'', unlike everyone else who got to be embraced by images of their loved ones before turning into [=LCL=], Gendo is picked up by Unit-01 (which has his beloved wife's soul in it) and bitten in two, AFTER Rei slices his left arm off. He deserved a good metaphorical smacking from the cosmos, his death drips of poetic justice, and in his LastWords he states that he's ''perfectly aware of this''.
* KarmicNod: As he is about to be devoured by a demonic Unit-01 during Instrumentality, he accepts it as a fair punishment for everything he has done.
* KickTheDog: He has a few more moments in later Angel battles, usually through negligence like abandoning Asuka to her fate when Arael attacked or everything he does to Rei until her betrayal in ''End.'' Also the Dummy Plug incident, in which he has the new autopilot for EVA-01 tear apart EVA-03 while the pilot is still trapped inside. Initially this sounds like ShootTheDog, but that smile on his face as Bardiel dies and Shinji is begging him to shut the thing off says otherwise.
* KubrickStare: One of the three "ingredients" of his signature pose.
* LargeAndInCharge: He's one of the tallest characters in the series, and the head of NERV.
* LaserGuidedKarma: At one point, Gendo has EVA-00's arm severed, ostensibly to prevent the Angel Bardiel from infecting it, but without severing Rei's connection first so she has to feel the agony. Fast forward to ''End of Evangelion'', Rei's next clone returns the favor by tearing Gendo's arm off herself.
* LeanAndMean: While it isn't too noticeable in the show proper due to his bulky jacket, the art book ''Evangelion Chronicle'' has him shown without said jacket, revealing that he is actually quite slender of frame (a trait Shinji has clearly inherited) to the point where he wears both a belt and suspenders.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: DeconstructedTrope. He takes the phrase "you're worth the world to me" to its (ridiculously) logical conclusion. He tries to bring about the apocalypse, in fervent belief that this will reunite his mind and soul with that of his wife, Yui. Technically, while the plan actually began working, Yui's soul ''rejected'' Gendo's at the climax, due to the untold suffering he brought, especially to their son. The moment is best summed up when the Eva her soul is in bites Gendo and Gendo's last words are an apology to his son.
* LoveRedeems: Zigzagged. Before he met Yui, he had few friends and was a pretty bitter man. Though it is implied he might have sought Yui out initially because of her connections to SEELE, he genuinely fell deeply in love with her, and actually became a somewhat decent and caring guy. Then Yui "died", and he did a full 180 into LoveMakesYouEvil territory and spent the rest of his life trying to find a way to bring her back... and was willing to destroy the entire human civilization to do so.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: In his last moments, it becomes clear that Gendo and Shinji are quite alike, and that Gendo's actions, from his obsession with Yui to his neglect of Shinji, were born of his own Hedgehog's Dilemma.
* ManipulativeBastard: In every continuity. Though it's somewhat notable that he's almost always a ManipulativeBastard by accident. To paraphrase the man himself, he just isn't good at interacting with other humans. However, he does have access to psychological profiles on most of the main cast, so make of that what you will.
* MaskOfSanity: He's publicly the leader of the heroic organization fighting to prevent the end of the world. The truth of the matter is far more complicated as he's plotting to cause it himself instead in a mad quest to be reunited with his long-dead wife.
* TheMole: Before Gendo took command of NERV, he worked as an auditor on the Katsuragi Expedition. Him and his team conviently left the expedition's laboritory the day before Second Impact, the implication being that SEELE planted him there with orders to manipulate Dr. Katsuragi and his team into triggering the event. SEELE later has him inserted into the official UN investigation of the Second Impact. His orders are again somewhat ambigious, but Fuyutsuki strongly suspects that he was ordered to muddle up the results and make sure that SEELE's "freak meteor strike" cover-story is the only version of events that ends up being told to the public.
* MoreThanMindControl: Gives the impression of having this over Rei and Ritsuko, and they both break it by the end of the series. Same goes for Shinji.
* MotiveDecay: Flashbacks indicate he initially participated in Yui's plan to subvert SEELE for her purpose of making Instrumentality reversible, but after her "death", he became profoundly stricken with grief and now only really cares about reuniting with her, with that motivation being tertiary at best.
* MotiveMisidentification: On the receiving end of this from another villain. Keel and SEELE believe that his motivation is a hunger for power and that he wants to take control over Instrumentality for himself and become a god. In reality, his motivation is love, and all Gendo really wants is to be reunited with Yui. Averted in the manga, where SEELE actually are right about his plan.
* {{Necromantic}}: He still thinks of Unit-01 as Yui, and speaks to it often.
* NervesOfSteel: Does not flinch even when he gets splattered with blood from Unit-01 and Zeruel brawling right in front of him.
* NeverBeHurtAgain: Ultimately, this what is at the core of Gendo's general attitude of detachment from, well, ''everything''. Yui was the only person who ever managed to get emotionally close to him, and her "death" utterly ''broke'' him to a point where he is effectively pathologically unable to ever dare trying to be close to anyone again. It is, again, one of the strongest implications that whatever happened back in his childhood and adolescence had to be something really terrible to make him that way in the first place.
* NoodleIncident: His past prior to meeting Yui. He was a known rebel and drunk who was prone to getting into bar fights at his university, and nonchalantly told Fuyutsuki that he was "used to being hated" when reprimanded by him. While this suggests that he has a DarkAndTroubledPast outside of his relationships with his wife and son, the audience never learns anything more about it.
* NoSocialSkills: Between his curt way of speaking, which betrays an obvious dislike for saying anything more than he feels he absolutely needs to, regularly making the effort to hide his face behind his glasses and hands so it is hard to get a read on him, and being quite the recluse in private, with Fuyutsuki and Rei probably being the closest he has to a friend and family respectively, it is evident that Gendo is ''not'' a people person. [[NotSoDifferentRemark This is underlined by Ritsuko and other characters stating that Shinji and him are actually rather similar at this field.]]
* NotSoStoic: He has his moments, with many of them notably happening around Rei. This is especially evident with her betrayal in ''End of Evangelion'' which makes his true agony start to leak out, culminating with his final apology to his son. He also becomes noticeably agitated and irritated with Shinji in the fight against Bardiel, both during the battle and after when he's dressing down Shinji for his actions.
* OhCrap: In the manga, when Shinji tries to assault him after Touji's death. Albeit very brief (it only lasts one frame) this is the only time that Gendo is seen genuinely shocked.
* ParentalFavoritism: In a manner of speaking: while Rei isn't really his daughter, it's clear he sees her as one, and he clearly favors her over Shinji, treating her with unusual warmth while he largely ignores and is disappointed in Shinji. Played for Drama in that it's implied that this is because he sees her as an emotional substitute for Yui, and downplayed in that, even though he cares for Rei to an extent, she's still ultimately expendable to him.
* ParentalIncest: His relationship with Rei is ''profoundly'' possessive and creepy, reaching it's apex where he directly touches her naked breast in ''End of Evangelion'' (non-sexually, but still), and numerous statements indicate that he more or less views her as his daughter even if he's not directly genetically related to her. This is ultimately a downplayed example, as despite him clearly having some uncomfortable feelings towards her and her being completely subservient to him, there is absolutely no indication he actually does anything sexually inappropriate with her otherwise.
* PerpetualFrowner:
** While he shows off the occasional triumphant smirk when something goes JustAsPlanned, he spends most of the series with a downcast scowl on his face. His only truly warm smiles tends to happen when he is around Rei.
** Notably, the flashback episode shows that the younger Gendo tended to default to a confident smirk for his standard expression. After losing Yui, the frown that his older self will be known for appeared and was there to stay.
* PetTheDog:
** The two occasions when he treats Shinji well, and his dying words in ''End of Evangelion'': "Forgive me, Shinji."
** He saves Rei a few times over the course of the series, but the later episodes prove she is expendable to him. Still, he's horrified when she's injured during the EVA-00 incident. The implication is he sees her as Yui.
* ThePhilosopher: Comments a great deal on science, scientists and the state of humanity.
* PsychoticSmirk: Whenever something goes AllAccordingToPlan for him. It's usually hidden behind his hands. Chillingly, when he sees that the Dummy Plug is actually working during the Bardiel incident, he does it openly.
* TheQuietOne: He usually speaks little, and when he does he never says a single word more than he has to.
* ScarsAreForever: His hands are covered with burn scars, as a result of forcibly opening Rei's entry plug to rescue her after the failed activation of Unit-00. His scars are much worse in the manga, too.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Former TropeNamer and so iconic that this coupled with his [[FingerTenting signature pose]] have long been the subject of [[MemeticMutation meme]] and ShoutOut.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In his final (and only) soliloquy he states that the reason he abandoned Shinji was because he was afraid of hurting him and convinced his son would be better off without him in his life. Unfortunately, this act ended up being the root of all of Shinji's problems; Gendo realizes this painful truth just before his death.
* ShadowArchetype: Of Shinji. It's very noted that the two are not so different in their personality and appearances and indeed, Gendo appears to be what could happen to Shinji if he underwent similar circumstances.
* SingleTargetSexuality: He loves Yui and only Yui. He's perfectly fine with sleeping with other women if he can use them to further his goals, but he harbors no actual attraction to them. This raises further implications in his relationship with Rei, who looks remarkably like Yui.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: He is shown to occasionally play TabletopGame/{{Shogi}} with Fuyutsuki.
* SmugSmiler: As a young man, before crossing the DespairEventHorizon, his standard expression was a cocky, defiant smirk. The fact that he's a PerpetualFrowner in the present shows just how different he became after losing Yui.
* SourOutsideSadInside: The scary, cold and mysterious façade he projects hides that he is more or less like his son underneath it all: someone with an exceptionally low opinion of himself, who fails to connect with other people due to being deeply afraid of hurting and being hurt by others.
* TheStarscream: He's only going along with SEELE to hijack their Human Instrumentality Project so that he can reunite with his dead wife and attempts to betray them in ''End of Evangelion''.
* TheStoic: His default facial expression hardly ever changes.
* StrawNihilist: It's gradually revealed that his motivation is a result of his absolute grief and sorrow for Yui's death, and that he has no independent will to live and doesn't find any meaning in life. Ironically, Yui herself is an AntiNihilist.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: The flashbacks we see of him where he doesn't have his beard show that he is basically just Shinji with a longer face. Design sketches of him without his bulky jacket also reveals that he actually has a very slender build and that Shinji has clearly inherited this trait from him.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: '''Very''' icy, with the sugar only showing up around Rei and Yui.
* SunglassesAtNight: More like colored glasses [[HollywoodDarkness in various poorly lit rooms]] in an ElaborateUndergroundBase. It is even justified; Gendo's normal glasses broke prior to the beginning of the series, his orange-tinted sunglasses are by all appearences the only pair of prescription glasses he has left, and it is implied that his private life is so utterly non-existent that he simply cannot muster up the motivation to go out and buy himself a new pair.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: He is one of the tallest characters of the cast, dresses like one of TheMenInBlack and he has a pretty dry wit. He was snarky in a more standard way when he was younger, too.
* TeethClenchedTeamWork: Though he seems to hold Fuyutsuki in a slightly higher regard than he does most people, their partnership is based on the mutual understanding that their goals align, not any actual friendship.
* TerseTalker: Gendo prefers answering in monosyllabic words, and he by and large clearly dislikes saying any more than what he feels he absolutely needs to. The only exceptions is when he discusses philosophy with Fuyutsuki or talks with Rei. It actually gets justified when it becomes clear how similar he and Shinji actually are to each other at their core. This manner of speaking is actually a strong hint towards the fact that Gendo might be just as socially awkward as his son and that the two of them have largely the same difficulties with small talk; Gendo is just better at hiding them.
* ThemeNaming: Even Gendo's original last name, Rokubungi, continues the show's trend of using naval-themed names, as "Rokubungi" means sextant.
* TogetherInDeath: Although he wasn't inducted into Instrumentality, Shinji's statement in the manga's penultimate chapter implies that like Yui, his soul was left inside the petrified Unit 01.
* TooMuchAlike: He and Shinji are so very much alike, it's painful. Both of them are brooding, introverted, quiet people who have evident difficulty with the concepts of interpersonal relationships and small talk, and ultimately they are revealed to have the same {{Fatal Flaw}}s, namely an immense sense of self-loathing and a subconscious belief that they are unworthy of being loved. They also have quite a strong willpower beneath their unassuming exterior, given how Shinji's berserk drive and Gendo's cold determination are not different (especially since Gendo implied he was more brash in his youth). Gendo's decision to abandon Shinji being driven by his fear of being a bad parent also mirrors Shinji's tendency to isolate himself from others out of fear that he will only be a burden to them. Especially the later is why the two of them find it so impossibly hard to communicate earnestly with each other.
* TookTheWifesName: Gendo taking Yui's surname when he married her is the first sign that his love for her is no act. Furthermore, WordOfGod says that Yui was the only daughter of a SEELE member, and therefore [[UptownGirl of high social status]]. It also serves to reinforce the implications that Gendo had a very troubled childhood and adolescence and [[ShedTheFamilyName may have taken Yui's surname to cut all ties with his family]].
* TroubledAbuser: His rather horrible treatment of Shinji is strongly implied to be at least partly be a result of his own childhood and adolescence being miserable. As he himself says in an off-hand comment, he is "used to being hated."
* TheUnfettered: Lets absolutely nothing get in the way of his plans. Not the fact that his son is a puppet, not the fact that the closest he has to a daughter is a puppet, not common decency or sense, not thinking his wife may be horrified at all of this ''if'' it works, '''nothing'''.
* VillainousBreakdown: In ''End of Evangelion'', he completely loses his composure when Rei takes his arm and abandons him in favor of helping Shinji, being reduced to a frightened, screaming mess, as he desperatedly begs Rei not to leave him. He does, however, gain some dignity in his last moments, [[spoiler:apologizing to Shinji just before he's killed]].
-->'''Gendo:''' ''"I beg you! Wait, Rei!"''
* VillainousCheekbones: His somewhat prominent cheekbones serves as one of the few physical traits he doesn't share with the more soft-faced Shinji.
* WardrobeFlawOfCharacterization: Unlike the more proper and prim Fuyutsuki, Gendo wears his uniform's jacket always open, lampshading his latent rebellion against his superiors.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Zigzagged. We don't have a great idea of what his goals were before Yui's contact experiment, but he seemed to be firmly on her side. After the contact experiment, he merely wants to be with his wife again and doesn't seem to care much what happens to everyone else.
* WhiteGloves: First used to hide the burn scars he got from the incident with Unit-00 prior to the series' beginning. Later used to hide the embryonic Adam, [[BodyHorror which has either been fused with his hand or is actually looking out from his hand, in the anime and manga respectively]].
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds:
** In ''End of Evangelion'', the implications that Gendo's a lot like Shinji become flat-out stated, with him having tried as desperately as possible to revive the one woman he cared about, at the cost of his empathy, all his friends, and, as part of the endgame, all of humanity. Gendo's shown to be a hollow shell of a man, and even admits outright that he was so [[AbusiveParents terrible toward Shinji]] because he genuinely didn't believe he (Gendo) deserved love and thought he would only hurt Shinji if he were near him, only to hurt him anyways. Gendo's just as much of a mentally-ill mess as his son; he's just better at pretending he's not, and keeps himself calm long enough to play TheChessmaster.
** Definitely in the manga, which shows exactly how broken he was before falling in love with Yui. Losing her (who was his MoralityChain) and her starting to love Shinji more than him were both factors for his "father of the year" attitude.
* WouldHurtAChild: Not directly himself but the Eva program [[PoweredByAForsakenChild runs off of children]], he has no problem risking Toji getting killed to test the Dummy Plug (all he does [[PsychoticSmirk is grin]] when he see that the Plug actually works), and in one instance he has the staff apply extra pressure to Shinji's plug to choke him out for daring to question his methods (the aforementioned Dummy Plug "test").
* {{Yandere}}: Initially, he appears to be an aloof, collected leader. But as it turns out, he's greatly obsessed with his dead wife. He's willing to initiate TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt to get her back. Plus, given that she's not so much dead as trapped inside the Eva-01 mecha, part of his plan to "reunite with her" involves getting his son to "ride inside her cockpit" unknowingly. ''And'' he takes a particular liking to his wife's fourteen-year-old clone, Rei Ayanami. It is taken up a notch in the manga, where he declares open resentment for Shinji for getting "preferential treatment" from her. No, he is not a very sane individual; why do you ask?
* ZenSurvivor: Absurd as he eventually is revealed to be under it all, he explains to his son that his "meh" attitude towards everything is a survival mechanism when they meet at Yui's grave for her anniversary.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Doctor Kozo Fuyutsuki]]
!!Deputy Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MotomuKiyokawa (Japanese); Guil Lunde [ADV, series], Michael Ross [movies], John Paul "JP" Karliak [VSI] (English)[[note]]'''Other languages:''' Creator/JesseConde [Locomotion, VSI], Rolando de Castro [Animax] (Latin American Spanish); Jordi Ribes [TV series and films], Luis Fernando Ríos [VSI] (European Spanish); João Batista [Locomotion], Sidney Lima [Animax], Carlos Campanile [Netflix] (Brazilian Portuguese), Creator/StellaMusy (Italian)[[/note]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_kozo.png]]
%%
->"''As long as one soul still exists, it will be eternal proof that Mankind once existed.''"
Dr. Fuyutsuki is the Deputy Commander of NERV, Gendō Ikari's [[TheLancer right-hand man]], and is as close to [[TheConsigliere a confidante]] as Gendō will allow. In his life before NERV, he was a college professor at Tokyo University, teaching in the somewhat obscure field of [[OurSoulsAreDifferent metaphysical biology]]. Yui Ikari was one of his interns, and he carried a torch for her for some time. He never acted on his feelings, but was shocked when Yui told him that she was marrying Gendō. Years later, Fuyutsuki discovered the truth of Second Impact and confronted Gendō, but was persuaded by Gendō to assist him with the Eva project rather than exposing the coverup.
Fuyutsuki is far more ethical and a much more decent human being than Gendō, but he has allowed himself to be carried along by events until it is too late to act on his ever-growing misgivings. His being TheStoic (and in comedic situations, TheComicallySerious) doesn't exactly help.
----
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* AdaptationalJerkass: Her treatment regarding [[spoiler:Rei]]. In the anime, [[spoiler:while Ritsuko still dislikes Rei enough to destroy all of the Dummy clones, she is at least never shown to be mean to Rei herself, whether physically or verbally, and keeps a professional if cold attitude toward her.]] However, in the manga, [[spoiler:Ritsuko at one point mocks Rei before immediately strangling her, although she at least regrets her action afterward.]]
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* AdaptationalJerkass: Her treatment regarding [[spoiler:Rei]]. In the anime, [[spoiler:while Ritsuko still dislikes Rei enough to destroy all of the Dummy clones, she is at least never shown to be mean to Rei herself, whether physically or verbally, and keeps a professional if cold attitude toward her.]] However, in the manga, [[spoiler:Ritsuko at one point mocks Rei before immediately strangling attempting to strangle her in a fit of rage, when Rei makes a surprisingly cutting remark back at her, although she at least regrets her action afterward.]]
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* DeadpanSnarker: She has a rather dry speaking manner and often lets Misato suffer her remarks. While this is PlayedForLaugh at the beginning, after episode 16, it seems Ritsuko starts meaning every insult to Misato at this point, who gladly reciprocates.
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* DeadpanSnarker: She has a rather dry speaking manner and often lets Misato suffer her remarks. While this is PlayedForLaugh PlayedForLaughs at the beginning, after episode 16, it seems Ritsuko starts meaning every insult to Misato at this point, who gladly reciprocates.
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* AdaptationalJerkass: Her treatment regarding [[spoiler:Rei]]. In the anime, [[spoiler:while Ritsuko still dislikes Rei enough to destroy all of the Dummy clones, she is at least never shown to be mean to Rei herself, whether physically or verbally, and keeps a professional if cold attitude toward her.]] However, in the manga, [[spoiler:Ritsuko at one point mocks Rei before immediately strangling her, although she at least regrets her action afterward.]]
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%%* DeadpanSnarker: Very much so, usually at Misato's expense.
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* CharacterCatchphrase: When she's describing something as slight, she uses ''chocchi'' instead of the conventional ''chotto''.
