Yui Ikari
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"Making something... Nurturing something is really great. You can see and learn so many things from the process." |
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"When Aoba called B Wing's construction sloppy he hadn't seen anything like THIS!" |
| Yui Ikari | |
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| 碇ユイ | |
| Age | 27 (at time of "death") |
|---|---|
| Birthday | 03/30/1977 |
| Seiyū | Megumi Hayashibara |
Profile
Yui Ikari, the mother of Shinji Ikari and the wife of Gendo Ikari, was a brilliant bioengineer who worked for Project E at Gehirn. Additionally, she is the daughter of a prominent member of Seele — and, consequently, a member herself [CI]. She physically died in 2004 as a result of her Contact Experiment with Eva-01, but lives on within the Eva as eternal proof of humanity's existence.
Though she is little seen in Lilim form, Yui Ikari is one of the more powerful presences in the series. When she is seen as a human, Yui is shown to be kind, optimistic, and motherly. But the most striking part of her personality is her faith in humanity and belief that it is worth preserving and remembering.
Yui at college
Yui was a bioengineering student, known on the "grapevine" for having Seele's support, at Kyoto University. It was there that she met her "sensei", Kozo Fuyutsuki. The nature of their academic relationship is unknown — as Fuyutsuki's specialty was metaphysical biology, which has little to nothing to do with what Yui was officially studying — although the two were close and she regarded him as a friend and confidant.
Yui and Gendo
Yui became romantically involved with a mysterious man, several years older than herself, named Gendo Rokubungi, who was constantly the source of shady rumors — among them that Gendo had approached Yui for nothing but her talent and her affiliation with Seele. Regardless, in Yui's own words, he was "quite a sweet person. It's just that no one knows it."
After Yui (presumably) graduated, she married Gendo, and the latter took on her surname due to Yui's higher social status (if not for personal reasons, as well). He became involved with Seele, joining the Katsuragi Expedition to serve as an auditor [CI], although it's not said what Yui was doing during this time. After Gendo returned, they had a child together, Shinji — who, if a girl, would have been named Rei.
Yui at Gehirn
Yui took up work at the Artificial Evolution Laboratory in Hakone, Japan, which was really a front for Seele's secret research organization, Gehirn. Her skills in bioengineering went towards the "Adam Revival Project", more commonly called "Project E". In 2004, Yui volunteered herself as the test subject for the Contact Experiment with the incomplete Eva-01 (a decision she had made by autumn of the previous year). She brought the 4-year-old Shinji to the site of the experiment so that she could "show [him] the bright future". The experiment, ostensibly, was part of Gehirn's research into the creation of artificial souls [CI], but it resulted in a "freak accident" instead, wherein her soul was absorbed into the Eva's core and her body reverted to LCL. Gendo subsequently undertook a "Salvage Operation" that attempted to recreate Yui's body and fix her soul back into it, but this failed, instead resulting in the creation of the first Rei Ayanami.[1]
Yui as Eva-01
Yui remained inside of Unit-01 throughout the series, with her son Shinji piloting it to defeat the Angels. She first manifested herself in Episode 02, taking control of the Eva after it ran out of power and defeating Sachiel. In episode 16, she made contact with him in his desperation against the 12th Angel, Leliel. After that, she appeared again against the 14th Angel, Zeruel (Episode 19). This time, in addition to taking control over the Evangelion and quickly defeating the Angel, she also ingested it's S2 Engine in the process.[2]
When Third Impact arrived and Rei III rejected Gendo, control of Third Impact was given to Shinji and, ultimately, Yui. After Shinji's choice of humanity's reincarnation back into human form, Yui took the Spear of Longinus and floated out towards space, becoming an eternal testament to humanities existence, as Evangelion Unit-01, despite the loneliness that she will end up enduring.[3]
Agenda
Yui had her own agenda, different from Seele's, and ultimately different from Gendo's as well. Much , but not all of her agenda is knowable from the evidence presented in the series. See Theory and Analysis: Yui's Agenda for details.
Yui's Legacy
A quote of hers is that if one has the will to live, anywhere can be heaven, and being alive means that one will always have the chance to find happiness. It is the lesson that is passed on to Shinji, first in his returning to the world in Episode 20, and his choice to be "alive" (existing as a recognizable human) over the false happiness of Instrumentality.[4] This belief might also be found in Yui’s relationship with Gendo, someone who apparently showed a side to himself that he had never shown anyone else, as she described him once as, "...quite a sweet person. It's just that no one knows it." [5]
But perhaps the greatest evidence of Yui Ikari’s love of humanity is that she ended up becoming an eternal testament to its existence, as Evangelion Unit-01, despite the loneliness that she will end up enduring. (Episode 26')
Notes
- As has been noted on Gendo Ikari's page, Yui must be of higher social status for him to adopt her surname. That aside, being the daughter of a Seele member is made explicit only in the CI, and not within the show itself.
References
| 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 |
