Ritsuko Akagi
Name: Ritsuko Akagi
Title: NERV Head of Project E
Age: 30
Birthday: November 21, 1985
Sex: Female
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi is the daughter of Dr. Naoko Akagi, and the NERV Head of Project E. While highly intelligent and devoted to her work, she is somewhat cold and lonely (even referred to as using cats to fill the holes in her own lifethus earning her the distinguished title of 'the crazy cat lady' among fans). She is however among the few people informed of the true nature of the Evangelion Units.
Ritsuko's best friend is arguably NERV Operations Director Misato Katsuragi, whom she met in college. Their friendship however is often strained by Ritsuko's secretive nature and her willingness to sacrifice the lives of the Evangelion pilots, something that Misato is adamantly opposed to. Ritsuko is also friends with Ryoji Kaji, who often flirts with her (though in all fairness Kaji flirts with everyone).
Just as her mother before her, Ritsuko has an affair with NERV Commander Gendo Ikari. And just as her mother, she is ultimately betrayed and discarded by Gendo following the death of Rei Ayanami (Rei-II). As revenge she destroys the Dummy System, and later attempts to stop Gendo from initiating the Third Impact by implanting a self-destruct order into the MAGI Super-Computer System. However her plan fails when Casper, the tertiary MAGI core with the personality profile of her mother as a woman, rejects the order. She is then shot by Gendo as seen in The End of Evangelion.
Analysis
- Rei Ayanami, the First Child
While Rei Ayanami does not express any animosity toward Ritsuko, Ritsuko herself does not see Rei as a person, and feels that Gendo Ikari rejected her in favor of Rei. Her jealousy over losing to a 'thing' eventually turns into hatred towards Rei. She lashes out by destroying the Rei clones towards the end of the series. Evangelion Episode 23: "That's why I'm going to destroy them. Because I hate them. They're not people. They're things shaped like people. But I lost, even to these things! I couldn't win! I only needed to think of him, and I could endure any kind of humiliation! I didn't care what happened to my body! But he... He..."