Misato Katsuragi

Misato Katsuragi
葛城 ミサト
Age	29
Birthday	12-08-1986
Seiyū	Kotono Mitsuishi

Misato Katsuragi (葛城ミサト) is a Captain, and later a Major, at Nerv. She is in command of Nerv HQ's Tactical Operations branch, responsible for coordinating the Evangelions in actual combat (as opposed to the Science Division, headed by Misato's longtime friend Dr. Ritsuko Akagi). She is the daughter of Dr. Katsuragi, and the sole survivor of his expedition, otherwise wiped out as a result of Second Impact. As an adult, Misato is transfered to Tokyo-3 shortly before the Angels reappear. She takes Shinji Ikari, and later Asuka Langley Soryu, into her home. She has a pet "hot springs penguin" named Pen Pen.

Profile

Misato is described by Hideaki Anno as someone who "lives life so lightly as to barely allow the possibility of a human touch. She protects herself by having surface level relationships, and running away" (see author link for full text). Misato does ceratinly seem to fear committment, responsibility, and emotional disclosure.

The Misato first seen in the series appears to have two sides to her personality: at work she is a tough, competent Tactical Operations director, and at home she is a goofy, uninhibited person who likes skimpy clothing and knocking back beer after beer in her messy apartment.

But the real Misato is a deeply troubled woman, with unresolved family and social issues. Part of this is due to trauma from being on the site of Second Impact but it has as much to do with her family life.

Young Misato being kept under observation following Second Impact

According to her, Misato’s father was very much like Gendo Ikari in that he buried himself in work and shrunk from human contact, but also like Shinji in that he was described as fragile and weak. Misato thought she hated her father, but then he saved her life during the Second Impact by placing her in an escape pod. With Dr. Katsuragi dead and no chance to explore what she saw as a sudden turn in their relationship, Misato was left extremely ambivalent.

Misato transfered from the Nerv Branch in Germany back to Japan in 2003.

When she met Ryoji Kaji in college, Misato was at first happy with him, but later admitted to herself that Kaji reminded her too much of her father, and fearing the implications of this, Misato fled from him (the Kaji seen in the series doesn’t seem to relate to Misato’s descriptions of her father--perhaps this is an unseen side of Kaji). In Episode 15 Misato specifically says that she was afraid of her maturity. It is also implied in Episode 25 that Misato was afraid of the pleasure she felt with Kaji, because she did not feel she deserved it.

And yet, in Episode 25 Misato also says that though she first wanted to be a "good child" so no one would hate her, she grew sick of that, and wanted to stain herself and her reputation. She is asked if that’s why she slept with "that man" (presumably Kaji), but is unable to sort out her feelings. The other characters in Instrumentality call her disgusting, and Misato has said that of herself often enough, using sex as an escape from reality and loneliness.

Both Misato’s love of drink and her joking about flirting with Shinji take darker turns as the series progresses. She drinks alcohol to get the confidence to confess to Kaji the reason why she broke up with him, suggesting alcoholic tendencies (so do the mountains of empty liquor bottles in her apartment). And in Episode 23 Misato attempts to offer Shinji comfort via sex (and in doing so escape her own loneliness), and kisses Shinji deeply before dying in Episode 25', promising to "do the rest" when Shinji returned.

But before this, Misato seems to care deeply for Shinji, being extremely distressed whenever he disappears (Episodes 16, 20). Misato has said that she wanted to be a mother to Shinji but could not, and indeed, though she often gives Shinji good advice, Misato keeps him at a distance, and later doesn’t even try to "parent" him, perhaps having understood that she’s not much better than he is when it comes to dealing maturely with her emotions.

Before he died, Misato's father passed a pendant in the shape of a Greek cross on to Misato. No elaboration whatsoever is provided as to what this object meant to its original owner, or what it meant to Misato (e.g., if either Katsuragi was a practicing Christian or if the cross was just a good luck charm, or if Misato herself just kept it because it was her father's), although it functions as a versatile symbol throughout the course of the series. When Zeruel crashes through the Commander Center wall and comes face to face with Misato and the Nerv command staff, Misato does clutch at her cross pendant as if to ward off evil.

Notes

• Misato's ID card is fully visible in episode 25 Her age is listed as 29. Her blood type is AO (both the genotype "AA" and "AO" are indistinguishable as the "type A" phenotype). Her height is listed as 1.63m (5'4"). Her bust is 83cm. Her waist, 59cm. Her hip measurment is listed as 82cm. Her weight is 47kg (7st5lb).

• Misato only calls Kaji by his given name once, when she catches him sneaking into the LCL Production Plant, and even then, only because she is addressing him formally by his full name and title.

• Misato is named after the Aircraft Carrier Katsuragi, which was built too late to enter World War Two and scrapped before construction was complete.

• Her personal name is a homage to Misato Izumi, the heroine of Minako Narita’s manga Aitsu

• By Episode 23, Misato had switched from drinking beer to apparently equal amounts of canned coffee.

Characters

Main characters: Shinji Ikari | Rei Ayanami | Asuka Langley Soryu

Nerv staff: Misato Katsuragi | Gendo Ikari | Ritsuko Akagi | Kozo Fuyutsuki | Ryoji Kaji | Maya Ibuki | Makoto Hyuga | Shigeru Aoba

Classmates: Toji Suzuhara | Kensuke Aida | Hikari Horaki

Other characters: Kaworu Nagisa | Yui Ikari | Naoko Akagi | Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | Dr. Katsuragi | Mr. Langley | Keel Lorenz | Pen Pen

Rebuild of Evangelion: Asuka Shikinami Langley | Mari Makinami Illustrious | Sakura Suzuhara | Ryoji Kaji (Jr)

Miscellaneous: Minor Characters | Minor Characters (Rebuild) | Extracanonical Characters

Theory and Analysis: Name Origins (Warships) | Designs | Relationships | Profiles

Resources: 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji