Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu
| Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | |
| |
| 惣流・キョウコ・ツェッペリン | |
| Age | 31 |
|---|---|
| Birthday | 1974 (exact date unknown) |
| Seiyū | Maria Kawamura |
Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu (惣流・キョウコ・ツェッペリン) is the mother of Asuka Langley Soryu. She appears in Episodes 22, 25, and 25'.
She was a researcher involved with Project E at Gehirn's German branch. However, she served as the test subject for a Contact Experiment with Eva-02, which trapped the maternal component of her soul inside the Evangelion's core.* Kyoko developed a severe psychological illness as a result and needed to be institutionalized.
Kyoko became unable to recognize Asuka as her daughter, while rag dolls (which she alternated between treating tenderly and violently) became surrogate "Asuka-chan"s. One doll was decapitated; Asuka acquired the head and carried it with her as she watched her mother through the hospital glass. Kyoko throttled another, and, ultimately, used it to commit a "double suicide", hanging both herself and the doll-Asuka -- a spectacle the real Asuka had the misfortune of seeing.
While Kyoko was confined at the hospital, her husband (Langley) began to carry out an affair with her doctor. Little discretion was taken from the start, as the two engaged in sexual acts in the room adjacent to Kyoko's; and, by the time of the funeral, they were already married. Individuals attending Kyoko's funeral provided insinuations that Langley's infidelity was the ultimate driving force behind the suicide itself.
Although Kyoko physically died, the maternal component of her soul, at the very least, continues to survive within Eva-02. It is also possible that the remainder was salvaged into Eva-02 following the suicide, as well: In flashbacks to Episode 22 and Episode 25, we hear the insane Kyoko begging Asuka, "Please die with me!" Also, in the Episode 25' scene where Asuka finds her mother within Eva-02, Kyoko repeats, "You mustn't die! You must live! You're alive!", several times. However, the familiar "Please die with me!" is mixed in twice among her inspirational words, thus suggesting that the insane Kyoko and the maternal Kyoko might have been incorporated together.*
Asuka only learns that "[Mama] was always watching over" her and "protecting" her shortly before the two of them do at last die together: Kyoko, as Eva-02, is ravaged and killed by the Mass Production Evangelions, taking Asuka with her.
- See Soul Divisibility for more details of this phenomenon.
Kyoko in Other Media
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"Making something... Nurturing something is really great. You can see and learn so many things from the process." |
Kyoko appears as a character in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga.
Manga Adaptation
In Sadamoto's manga, Kyoko is seen more clearly in Asuka's Arael-induced flashbacks, although her design is completely different from that in the anime.
Kyoko conceived Asuka with donor sperm, but later married. During her hospitalization for mental illness, Asuka was able to gain access to her, and Kyoko throttled her, an event Asuka later reenacts with Shinji.
Notes
- The "z" in "Zeppelin" is pronounced like the English "ts".
- Kyoko, like her daughter Asuka, is named after two Aircraft Carriers. To reflect her part-Japanese, part-German origins, she is named for the Aircraft Carrier Soryu, a participant in the Pearl Harbor attack and sunk during the Battle of Midway, and the Graf Zeppelin, built by Nazi Germany but canceled when ninety-five percent complete, taken as a floating hulk by the Soviet Union, and sunk.
| 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 | 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 |
