Author: Amanda Wells
Source: Noise In My Brain
Dated: Circa March 2, 2003
People look at you funny if you admit hatred for a nonexistent entity, but my feelings towards Gendou Ikari of Neon Genesis Evangelion come pretty damn close. I realize he is a complex character that, in some cases, has reasons for being so thoroughly unlikable, but don't care. In some ways, he is still the most unlikable, disgusting S.O.B. ever to grace a story...personal opinion, of course.
I have the surface (and I'd imagine standard) reasons for disliking Gendou Ikari. He's almost relentessly harsh, and treats people as tools. This is especially appaling when he does it to Shinji, his own son and one of my favorite characters (I'll leave it to you to decide what justifies my dislike more). Furthermore, Gendou wanted to cause Third Impact to re-unite with his wife, Yui and eventually suceeded. In doing this, Gendou commited a phenominally selfish act: starting an apocalypse just to please himself. While these reasons are more than enough, there are deeper reasons for my dislike of Gendou.
I despise Gendou for his weakness as much as his selfishness. When he saw Yui in End of Evangelion, he expressed remorse for his treatment of Shinji, saying he didn't believe others loved him and it was "better to do nothing". Also when (I think!) characters experienced the Third Impact, they saw images of what was foremost in their minds. Gendou's vision was of EVA Unit 01 (technically Yui) biting him in half. I took this to mean Gendou wanted to be punished by Yui. In other words, he felt remorse, but never did anything about it. Gendou desired punishment over change, perhaps becuase he wasn't strong enough to change.
Also, Gendou apparently has no reason for being this way. With characters like Shinji, Asuka, and Misato, the audience knows of trauma and rejection that might "justify" their actions, or at least make them symapthetic. We do know Gendou mentally shut himself away in his grief over Yui in episode 21's big flashback. However, beforehand, there's something indefinably nasty about him, and Gendou seems to have resigned himself to this persona, telling Fuyutski, "I'm not used to being liked, Professor, but I'm quite used to being hated,". Perhaps this is a further indication of Gendou's icapacity to change. Fuyutski also notes it's assumed Gendou was having a relationship with Yui only because of her talent in bioengineering. Though it's obvious Gendou had deeper feelings, this assumption says things about Gendou's reputation before Yui "died". No reason is shown as to why Gendou is this way, and without understanding, the possibilty of sympathy becomes even more remote.
Because he was portrayed as selfish, weak, harsh, and a people-user, Gendou Ikari is one of my least favorite characters of all time. Redeeming factors are overwhelmed by so much else, including the small, fleeting nature of said redeeming factors.