Gender

Omake: Angel Genders

Author: Reichu

Do Angels have sexes? Or how about genders, since according to sociological premises they are technically different things?

Well, strictly speaking, it doesn't really matter. But once you see Sachiel and Shamshel making love in a cute little comic drawn by their designer Yoshitoh Asari, you start to at least wonder: If the Angels did have sexes (genders, whatever), what would they be? A silly thread was created at AnimeNation years and years ago, and here are the results~! By no means a consensus; this is just for fun.

(Oftentimes, these classifications are based on “classical” male/female associations; you can get a general briefer here.)

Angel	M/F?	Why?
Sachiel	♂	Because Yoshitoh Asari made it so. Also, Sachiel just seems kind of like, well, a guy. We get to know his personality better than most Angels, and that's precisely the impression he leaves.
Shamshel	♀	Again, because Yoshitoh Asari made it so. Also, Shammy's design includes two heart ♥ shapes, and, as we ALL know, ♥ is derived from the shape of the female buttocks (well, if anthropologist Desmond Morris is to be believed, anyway). And if you (like many, many others) can't get past the phallic body, consider the words of the great Mister Data: “There once was a lady from Venus, whose body was shaped like a…” Shamshel is actually the Angel of the Day, and Day is associated with the male principle, but Asari's deranged mind obviously overrides this. ^_^ UPDATE: Shamshel's Rebuild design overhaul essentially turns the "phallic" Angel into a huge vaginal sleeve by hollowing out the abdomen from the bottom up. Why hasn't Khara pounced on the merchandising potential yet?
Ramiel	♀	Okay, most people see Rami, and they think, “Drill = male”. But, aha!, if you think long things that go into other things are solely the territory of males, I recommend investigating the various arthropod females that plunge their (sometimes quite lengthy) ovipositors into the ground (or flowers, or your living flesh!!!) to lay their eggs. Hence, while we could give the “penetration” of another body the benefit of being phallic*, and thus masculine, the “penetration” of the Earth** — what Ramiel does — could be considered feminine. More to the point, Ramiel ends up ♀ primarily because of the weird “singing” she's doing when she shows up… Sure, some guys sing in that range, but they're in the minority. ;;> …putting aside the fact that ovipositors are often used for piercing/stinging purposes. …also putting aside the fact that the Earth is associated with the female principle, ergo “penetrating” it would be… yeah. Well, at least we have something to cancel out the observation in the first footnote. ^_^ UPDATE: The Rebuild version of Ramiel not only maintains the "singing", but it also screams like a girl, upholding the original decision.
Gaghiel	♂	Gaghiel is named for the Angel of Fish, and, while fish are often associated with women :coughs politely:, woman's intuition tells me that Gaghiel is male. No particularly sound reason for it, but I don't think anyone would object.
Israfel	♀ ♂	The Yin-Yang symbol present in vis singular form clearly implies “both”. When split, the gold one (Kou, or “Target A”) is male, the silver (Otsu, “Target B”) is female. According to certain traditions, such as those of Eastern-based religions, alchemy, and “new age” practices like witchcraft and astrology, Yin is associated with the female principle, the Moon, and silver, and Yang is associated with the male principle, the Sun, and gold.
Sandalphon	♂	I don't think anyone was particularly committal on this one. Sandy mostly ended up being male just to balance things out a little. I suppose if we really wanted to, we could associate volcanoes (Sandy was born in one, after all) with masculinity (you know… the eruption of a warm liquid…). There's also the Greek god Hephaestus, from whose Roman name, Vulcan, the word “volcano” was ultimately derived.
Matarael	♂	I honestly don't feel especially committal either way. Matarael does seem kind of ditzy/wussy… I mean, the only weapon we get to see are acid tears. And ve gets so preoccupied crying vis way through Tokyo-3 that ve is caught with vis A.T. Field down when the rain of bullets flies up from below. (Hah hah! Loser!) ANFer Kaworu_Asuka, who vouched for “female”, said, “(Matarael)'s the angel of rain and there's an old belief that rain is a sign of fertility”. However, the rain-fertility connection is pretty unisex, if the deities of cultures across the world are any indication. I say Matarael should be male, if for no other reason than to (as with Sandalphon) balance out the roster a little.
Sahaquiel	♀	My initial thoughts were, “I get a vague sense of ‘ditziness’ from Sahaquiel… It decided to fling itself down towards Earth when it could have accomplished the exact same thing in a far less ‘suicidal’ manner. (Sort of like how the harpies could have circled overhead until Kyoko's juice ran out, but, well…) Though does “ditzy” necessarily equate to ‘feminine’?” Dr. Nick added, “I'd say Sahaquiel is a female, like a really huge and weird-looking granny or something. ‘Tokyo-3, give me a biiiig hug!’ And its coloring would be kind of gay for a male angel, too.” UPDATE: Sahaquiel's makeover in Eva 2.0 establishes the Angel as not only more gay than ever before -- it glows with all the colors of the rainbow -- but also more of a girl than ever before, since it grows a humanoid appendage from its eye that has a gigantic vulva on its chest and a clitoris-looking stripe on its snout.
Ireul	♀	Dr. Nick: “If I had to form an opinion about Ireul, I'd say it was a female: A) It attacked in a very intelligent way, and B), it was very possessive. You can see it as a battle of wills, Angel vs. Geek-Queen Naoko's personality (and Ritsuko's typing skills). It's also worth pointing out that some of the greatest real-life computer geeks are women, but since I don't remember any actual names, just think of Angelina Jolie in the movie ‘Hackers’. I mean, how 1337 was that?” Hell, better than anything I could ever come up with!
Leliel	♀	Named after the Angel of Night — and Conception. Firstly, Night is associated with the female principle. As far as “Conception” goes, the symbolism is pretty loose, but it's there: Leliel takes EVA-01 into herself (and a lot of other things, for that matter…), and, later, Yui-sama bursts from the black womb in a bloody reenactment of birth (apparently doing her best impersonation of a Chestburster Alien). Also, if it's at all relevant, the English title of Leliel's episode is called “The Splitting of the Breast”. Need any more be said?
Bardiel	♂	Uh... male with transgender issues? Eva-03 is essentially “raped”; “rape” is even flashed on the screen multiple times during Eva-03's “introduction” in DEATH. Yeah, Kyoko-sama and Asuka are “mind-raped” by Arael, and Eva-00 is “raped” by Armisael, and those two still come out as “female” — but the white (well… actually purplish-grey, but who's checking?), invasive ooze associated with Bardi seals the deal for me… :shudder:
Zeruel	♂...?	The guy oozes machismo. Is any explanation really needed? UPDATE: Zeruel's Rebuild makeover might throw the earlier ruling into question, considering it is redesigned to have a core protected by the mother of all vagina dentatas, and later becomes capable of doing the Gainax Khairax Bounce. If you know what I mean.
Arael	♀	I always just sorta thought Arael seemed female, although Starmorpher/Lord Kuroishi (@ANF) gave what I felt was an appropriate reason: “It seemed like she had an interest in people's thoughts and emotions” — and I suppose that sort of thing is more heavily associated with wimmin.
Armisael	♀	Well, who ever said chicks couldn't be tentacle rapists? (In fact, according to Urotsukidoji, the archetypal violent Japanese cartoon porno, women are just as qualified to tentacle-rape as men.) Armisael was named after the Angel of the Womb, and, hopefully, the umbilical cord and pregnancy symbolism she provides EVA-00 don't completely go over people's heads… If that isn't enough for you, consider the fact that she associates herself with Rei and proceeds to deliver plenty of creepy Hayashibara giggling/shrieking.
Tabris	♂	Tabris is just Adam's soul in a human body, so he really doesn't qualify as an “Angel” by the definition we're employing here… But probably obviously a guy, even though, like many other men, he's a woman, deep down. (...in b4 fem-Kaworu)