Evangelion: Ritsuko Akagi's Downfall (1/2)

[wonderwomanhero]

A while back, some of you may remember this post (Oh what was I thinking with the Plath comment...)

Well, that being said, that post was about the character of Naoko Akagi, mother to scientist Ritsuko Akagi, one of the (sorta) main characters on Evangelion. Ritsuko's case is an interesting one, she's sort of a main character, and she sort of isn't. Obviously the five main characters would be Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato, and Kaworu, and then we have Ritsuko and Gendo. (and now meganeko Mari in the Rebuild franchise)
In 1996, after Evangelion ended, Hideaki Anno started to receive death threats from fans due to the unexpected finale that was episode 25/26. Anno was only able to complete it using the budget they had, and it wasn't helped that a few GAINAX employees were found to be embezzling money...still, Anno created the full length feature film End of Evangelion in 1997. While the final two episodes reflected what went on in the characters subconscious, EoE reflected what went on in the physical world. The film was a success, although shocked many, and the manga version of it I'm afraid, isn't much of a happy stroll through merry land either. This post will focus on Ritsuko Akagi, and her downfall and eventual (you guessed it) death.

Okay so, to set the scene, Ritsuko Akagi was put on trial before SEELE (sorta like a jury, except they appear as large slabs) nude. That's right, nude, and there are some hinted implications that she was raped. She was put on trial in place of Rei Ayanami, who was believed killed in a recent angel attack. (Angels are the bad guys...sorta)

Anyway, surprise! Ritsuko's released and able to work again. But...SURPRISE AGAIN! Rei's alive. Misato (the comic relief of the series) and Shinji Ikari (the protagonist of the series) both arrive at NERV after recieving a call from Ritsuko. She takes them to an underground chamber which houses the skeletal (that's right, skeletal) remains of failed Eva. But that's not all. She takes them to a chamber which houses clones of Rei! All this time, NERV was hiding clones of Rei. Misato and Shinji only have a few minutes to look amazed before this happens.









OH NO SHE DIDN'T! Why is she destroying the clones you ask? Well...let's just say it's retaliation for Gendo being a womanizer...you know, cause he kinda had an affair with her mother...and her. Yes, that's right, he had an affair with mother and daughter. Pretty messed up stuff no?




The text here looks a little strange, but what Misato is saying for those who can't really see it is "Ritsuko! Do you know what you are doing?!" I should point out they used to be BFF's. Not anymore...










Long story short, Ritsuko's mad at Gendo, she goes ballistic and destroys the Rei clones, and because of that, she gets arrested. I'll cover the repercussions of this incident and her role in End of Evangelion in part 2. Please feel free to correct me if I have misinterpreted something. Eva's got a huge and complex storyline, so I may have messed up here and there.

Comments

[eyz]

I used to love Evangelion... I should try catching up with the translated manga they've released since then and the current movies..

[biod]

I here the manga had an incident with a shark and a pair or rocket powered skis.

[brilliantnova]

This series ruined Anime for me.. Why? cause it was so f*%$^win awesome on so many levels I became one of those people that compared most anime ( serious/drama) that I came across to it.
I loved this series so much!

[eyz]

Kinda the same here :P
Well put!

[majingojira]

That almost happened with me.

But I also grew up with a love of B-Movies and Godzilla, so I can like Crap pretty easily ;)

[majingojira]

Oh am I glad to know there's an Evangelion tag . . .

One day, the Eva manga will finish, hopefully before the last Rebuild movie comes out.

[lencannon]

Misato was my favorite character on the show, even though she was the target of 95% of the gross fanservice.

[whitesycamore]

I thought the friendship between Misato and Ritsuko was awesome. Not in a fluffy, bff way, but in the sense that it was a complicated relationship between two women that included mutual admiration, rivalry, irreverent joking, boozy girls' nights out, and conflict over professional issues. PROFESSIONAL ISSUES! Not even over a boy or anything!

God, that show was so amazing and so terrible all at once.

[salinea]

Mine, too!

[whitesycamore]

This plot line really ruined Ritsuko for me. :(

I was just... why? She was so cool, why would she care what a creepy neck-beard like Gendo Ikari thought? When it comes to that, why did so *many* women care about Gendo in this series? My only explanation is that the guy must have had one hell of a magic penis.

Also, I'm happy to say that I never picked up on any rape-vibes during the SEELE trial thing. I thought the nudity was just a (tacky, fanservice-y) metaphor for Ritsuko's entire character being scrutinised.

[shadowpsykie]

eh i only ever paid attention to Shinji and kaworu... what i have thing for white haired.... sexy........

[whitesycamore]

Evangelion is one series that, to me, is really all about the ladies.

I loved how it flirted with the stereotypes of a harem anime, but actually portrayed the women as *more* complex and 3-dimensional than most of the male characters, imo.

[shadowpsykie]

oh i get that... but Kaworu is da sexsh! :D

no seriously i get it. most of the cast was women and they were all varied, and like you said complex. but i ship Kaworu/Kenji

[salinea]

Kenji???


Do you mean Shinji?

[shadowpsykie]

oh teehee yeah, i ship Kaworu and Shinji :D

[arilou_skiff]

To be fair, most harem shows do that.

A piece of cardboard has more personality and dimensions than most male harem protagonists, so it's not hard to do, but still :p

[shadowpsykie]

my friends once did an evangelion marathon. full day straight through... it kinda messed them up for a bit, to this day they still cringe when i ask them about it... its kinda funny :D

[arilou_skiff]

I'm always been kind of interested-yet revulsed by Evangelion. It's so obviously flawed in so many ways, but in a large part that's also what makes it *interesting*. It really feels like it wasn't as much produced as it *grew*.

That's part of why I have no interest in watching the reboots, going back and "fixing" the thing kind of ignores what makes it interesting.

I prefer RahXephon's intricately designed puzzle-plot to EVA's raw psychedelic breakdown, but I don't really care about turning the latter into the former.

[silverzeo]

I think Allen Gregory took Shinji's title of "Biggest Douche Protagonist" in a series...

[arilou_skiff]

*cough* Thomas Covenant *cough*

[darkblade]

Shinji wasn't a douche. Inefectual, yes. Somewhat coardly, debatable but okay. Whiny, oh fuck yes. None to bright, very much so. Still despite that every course of action he ever took was reached by placing others' needs and desires above his own, except for that last one which was a bit of a doozy.

Still I wouldn't call him a douche just a very good pawn in everyone else's game.

[silverzeo]

Most Abridged Series would disagree...

[biod]

I like Evangelion. I don't love it as much as most, I certainly don't hate it as much as some, but I really do like it. I also belong to the select few who actually enjoyed the last two episodes (no I'm not talking about the Nightmare Fuel on a disc that was EoE).
I'm also quite enjoying Rebuild (which is Eva with a bigger budget and on its meds, for those who aren't aware of the movies yet) and it has been responsible for som of my favorite pieces of fanfiction.
So here's to Eva, you crazy bastard, you!