Misato Katsuragi
Encyclopedia
is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise
created by Hideaki Anno
. She is the operations director at Nerv, initially with the rank of captain; she is later promoted to major. In Rebuild of Evangelion
Misato's rank is lieutenant colonel
. Her duties at Nerv include acting as a field commander for the Eva pilots, issuing orders and relaying battle strategies as well as processing input from Ritsuko Akagi and the technicians monitoring the Evas. She also handles many bureaucratic aspects of Nerv's operations.
At the beginning of the series, Misato first brings Shinji Ikari
to Nerv and is able to convince him to pilot the Eva Unit 01. She then chooses to have Shinji move in with her rather than live alone, and later takes in Asuka Langley Soryu
. As the series progresses, through her former lover Ryoji Kaji she learns the truth behind the Human Instrumentality Project and the depths of deception that Nerv and Seele have gone to keep the Project secret, even from her.
" who was also in the military. He wished to have Misato be a fashionable character, changing her clothes constantly, but found that his own lack of fashion sense made him unable to show this. Furthermore, he envisaged Misato as a "loser girl" who would be promiscuous and not take things seriously.
Director Hideaki Anno described Misato as "...a woman, twenty-nine, who lives life so lightly as to barely allow the possibility of human touch. She protects herself by keeping relationships on the surface, and by running away." He has also described her as an adult Tsukino Usagi, with whom she shares a voice actress
as well as hair design. The disparity between her professionalism on the job and her slovenliness at home, as well as her issues in her relationships with her father and Kaji and the ambiguous nature of her relationship with Shinji, ties into her psychological issues. While grateful to her father for saving her life, she also admits to hating him, as he devoted his life to his work and neglected her and her mother. Her reason for joining Nerv (and later, her drive to fight the Angels) is related to her issues with her father. Kaji implies in one discussion that Misato suffers from nightmares about her past, as he describes her as "sleeping uncomfortably." Also, Misato admits "seeking her father in Kaji's embrace."
Like many characters in Evangelion, Misato was named for a ship: the Katsuragi
, an Unryū class WWII Japanese aircraft carrier. Her given name is from a heroine in Minako Narita's manga Aitsu.
Misato drives a bright blue Renault Alpine A310. She is a devotee of this particular marque of car, as on her bedroom wall she has a poster of an earlier Alpine A110
shot from the back during a race. She also carries an Heckler & Koch USP
as a sidearm. It is only seen a few times throughout the series, but she is revealed to be a crack shot with it.
to the ruins of Antarctica two years after Second Impact. After seeing her in her room, Fuyutsuki was told that she had not spoken since the incident. Her mutism
went away when she began to attend college
, and she became more social and talkative, so much so that Ritsuko, while reminiscing about her friendship with Misato and Kaji, says in college Misato was making up for lost time. Misato's job(s) before being employed at Nerv are not specified, but in the manga, her last job involved genetic experimentation on animals, as Pen Pen was a result of one such experiment. She chose to keep Pen Pen as a pet rather than let him be euthanized
, and converted a refrigerator into a heated sleeping area for him.
, Misato saves Shinji's life by killing three JSSDF soldiers. She drags him into her car and rushes Shinji towards the door of Unit 01's launch bay. However, Misato is mortally wounded in the process. She persuades Shinji to pilot Unit 01 one more time before giving an adult kiss. Shortly before dying, Misato wonders if Kaji believes she has done the right thing. Her body is destroyed by JSSDF demolition teams. Just moments before the explosion, an image of Rei is shown above her body.
. Her first appearance in this continuity is in Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
, where she appears to be almost identical to her anime counterpart apart from some minor differences. In Rebuild, Misato appears to be more involved in what is going on at Nerv and her rank is Lieutenant-Colonel. Because of that, she actually knows about their possession of Lilith. In Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, Misato encourages Shinji to get closer to his father and also brings Asuka into her household in hopes of establishing camaraderie between the two pilots. She plays more of a big sister role towards Asuka and also does not restart her romantic relationship with Kaji. In a flashback regarding Second Impact, Misato is shown to have been awake and seen her father die before her eyes in this continuity. After her Renault Alpine is damaged during Asuka's arrival, she drives a first generation Mazda Cosmo
.
, including the manga adaptation
of the anime by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
. She also appears in various video games based on the franchise, including the popular cross-over series Super Robot Wars
. In the Super Robot Wars games featuring Evangelion and Gundam (UC timeline), Misato develops a crush on ace pilot Amuro Ray
, alluding to their seiyuus' other famous anime roles as Sailor Moon
and Tuxedo Kamen
respectively. She also makes some Sailor Moon comments when admiring the Nobel Gundam from Mobile Fighter G Gundam
on Super Robot Wars MX
, and points out similarities in voice with Vega from Gear Fighter Dendoh
and Murrue Ramius from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
(two other characters voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi).
Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise
The franchise is an umbrella of Japanese media properties generally owned by the anime studio Gainax. It has grossed over 150 billion yen since 1995. The central works of the franchise feature an apocalyptic mecha action story which revolves around the efforts by the paramilitary organization...
created by Hideaki Anno
Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...
. She is the operations director at Nerv, initially with the rank of captain; she is later promoted to major. In Rebuild of Evangelion
Rebuild of Evangelion
Rebuild of Evangelion, known in Japan as , is a Japanese animated film series and a remake of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series. It is being produced by Studio Khara and KlockWorx in partnership with Gainax...
Misato's rank is lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
. Her duties at Nerv include acting as a field commander for the Eva pilots, issuing orders and relaying battle strategies as well as processing input from Ritsuko Akagi and the technicians monitoring the Evas. She also handles many bureaucratic aspects of Nerv's operations.
At the beginning of the series, Misato first brings Shinji Ikari
Shinji Ikari
is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. The protagonist of the series , he is the Third Child and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01...
to Nerv and is able to convince him to pilot the Eva Unit 01. She then chooses to have Shinji move in with her rather than live alone, and later takes in Asuka Langley Soryu
Asuka Langley Soryu
is a 14-year old fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. Within the series, she is designated as the Second Child and the pilot of the Evangelion Unit 02...
. As the series progresses, through her former lover Ryoji Kaji she learns the truth behind the Human Instrumentality Project and the depths of deception that Nerv and Seele have gone to keep the Project secret, even from her.
Conception
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto found Misato's design the most difficult - conceiving her as an older "girl next doorGirl next door
The cultural and sexual stereotype of the girl next door or the All-American girl is invoked in American contexts to indicate wholesome, unassuming femininity, as opposed to the culture's other female stereotypes such as the tomboy, the valley girl, the femme fatale, girly girl, or the slut. The...
" who was also in the military. He wished to have Misato be a fashionable character, changing her clothes constantly, but found that his own lack of fashion sense made him unable to show this. Furthermore, he envisaged Misato as a "loser girl" who would be promiscuous and not take things seriously.
Director Hideaki Anno described Misato as "...a woman, twenty-nine, who lives life so lightly as to barely allow the possibility of human touch. She protects herself by keeping relationships on the surface, and by running away." He has also described her as an adult Tsukino Usagi, with whom she shares a voice actress
Kotono Mitsuishi
is a prolific Japanese voice actor from Tokyo. As a young girl, Mitsuishi lived in Nagareyama, Chiba. Mitsuishi graduated from high school in 1986, and entered the Katsuta Voice Actor's Academy. While attending the academy, she began working part time as an elevator girl in the Sunshine 60 building...
as well as hair design. The disparity between her professionalism on the job and her slovenliness at home, as well as her issues in her relationships with her father and Kaji and the ambiguous nature of her relationship with Shinji, ties into her psychological issues. While grateful to her father for saving her life, she also admits to hating him, as he devoted his life to his work and neglected her and her mother. Her reason for joining Nerv (and later, her drive to fight the Angels) is related to her issues with her father. Kaji implies in one discussion that Misato suffers from nightmares about her past, as he describes her as "sleeping uncomfortably." Also, Misato admits "seeking her father in Kaji's embrace."
Like many characters in Evangelion, Misato was named for a ship: the Katsuragi
Japanese aircraft carrier Katsuragi
was a of the Imperial Japanese Navy built during World War II. Named after Mount Katsuragi, and completed late in the war; she never embarked her complement of aircraft and did not participate in any battles. The ship was badly damaged in a July 1945 airstrike by American carrier aircraft on Kure...
, an Unryū class WWII Japanese aircraft carrier. Her given name is from a heroine in Minako Narita's manga Aitsu.
Misato drives a bright blue Renault Alpine A310. She is a devotee of this particular marque of car, as on her bedroom wall she has a poster of an earlier Alpine A110
Alpine A110
The Alpine A110, also known as the "Berlinette", was a sports car produced by the French manufacturer Alpine from 1961 to 1977. The A110 was powered by various Renault engines....
shot from the back during a race. She also carries an Heckler & Koch USP
Heckler & Koch USP
The USP is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch GmbH of Oberndorf am Neckar as a replacement for the P7 series of handguns.-History:...
as a sidearm. It is only seen a few times throughout the series, but she is revealed to be a crack shot with it.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
A flashback reveals when Misato was 14, she accompanied her father, Dr. Katsuragi (the leader of the Katsuragi Expedition) to Antarctica. She was seriously injured as the Second Impact was beginning, but her father placed her in a protective capsule (resembling an Entry Plug) just before he was killed. The capsule saved her life, but her injuries left a large scar on her chest. Another flashback reveals that she was aboard the ship which brought Kozo Fuyutsuki and Gendo IkariGendo Ikari
is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is the commander of Nerv. While all of the English versions romanize his given name as Gendo, Gainax's website romanizes it Gendoh, and some fansites romanize his name as "Gendou"....
to the ruins of Antarctica two years after Second Impact. After seeing her in her room, Fuyutsuki was told that she had not spoken since the incident. Her mutism
Selective mutism
Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder in which a person, most often a child, who is normally capable of speech is unable to speak in given situations, or to specific people...
went away when she began to attend college
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, and she became more social and talkative, so much so that Ritsuko, while reminiscing about her friendship with Misato and Kaji, says in college Misato was making up for lost time. Misato's job(s) before being employed at Nerv are not specified, but in the manga, her last job involved genetic experimentation on animals, as Pen Pen was a result of one such experiment. She chose to keep Pen Pen as a pet rather than let him be euthanized
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...
, and converted a refrigerator into a heated sleeping area for him.
The End of Evangelion
In The End of EvangelionThe End of Evangelion
is a 1997 Japanese animated science fiction film written and directed by Hideaki Anno along with Kazuya Tsurumaki; it ended the anime releases in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy remakes were announced in 2006....
, Misato saves Shinji's life by killing three JSSDF soldiers. She drags him into her car and rushes Shinji towards the door of Unit 01's launch bay. However, Misato is mortally wounded in the process. She persuades Shinji to pilot Unit 01 one more time before giving an adult kiss. Shortly before dying, Misato wonders if Kaji believes she has done the right thing. Her body is destroyed by JSSDF demolition teams. Just moments before the explosion, an image of Rei is shown above her body.
Rebuild of Evangelion
Misato returns as a central character in Rebuild of EvangelionRebuild of Evangelion
Rebuild of Evangelion, known in Japan as , is a Japanese animated film series and a remake of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series. It is being produced by Studio Khara and KlockWorx in partnership with Gainax...
. Her first appearance in this continuity is in Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
is a 2007 Japanese animated film written and chief directed by Hideaki Anno. It is the first of four films released in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy based on the original anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was produced and co-distributed by Anno's Studio Khara in partnership with Gainax...
, where she appears to be almost identical to her anime counterpart apart from some minor differences. In Rebuild, Misato appears to be more involved in what is going on at Nerv and her rank is Lieutenant-Colonel. Because of that, she actually knows about their possession of Lilith. In Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, Misato encourages Shinji to get closer to his father and also brings Asuka into her household in hopes of establishing camaraderie between the two pilots. She plays more of a big sister role towards Asuka and also does not restart her romantic relationship with Kaji. In a flashback regarding Second Impact, Misato is shown to have been awake and seen her father die before her eyes in this continuity. After her Renault Alpine is damaged during Asuka's arrival, she drives a first generation Mazda Cosmo
Mazda Cosmo
There have been four generations of Mazda automobiles which went by the name of Cosmo, although they are not all particularly related. All were Grand tourers, with the first proving a successful launch for the Mazda Wankel engine and acting as a "halo" vehicle for the new Mazda brand...
.
In other media
Misato appears in many media based on Neon Genesis EvangelionNeon Genesis Evangelion
, commonly referred to as Evangelion, is a commercially and critically successful Japanese anime series that began airing in October 1995. The series was highly influential, and launched the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It garnered several major animation awards...
, including the manga adaptation
Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga)
is a long-running manga series by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and published by Kadokawa Shoten. It began in the February issue of Shōnen Ace in December 1994. It consists of 13 volumes, each composed of several "stages" or chapters...
of the anime by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
is a Japanese character designer, manga artist, and one of the founding members of the Gainax anime studio. Before the studio was founded under the official name , he served as animator on the second animated project, the Daicon IV opening animation...
. She also appears in various video games based on the franchise, including the popular cross-over series Super Robot Wars
Super Robot Wars
is a series of tactical role-playing video games produced by Banpresto, which is now a Japanese division of Namco Bandai. The main feature of the franchise is having a story that crosses over several popular mecha anime, manga and video games, allowing characters and mecha from different titles to...
. In the Super Robot Wars games featuring Evangelion and Gundam (UC timeline), Misato develops a crush on ace pilot Amuro Ray
Amuro Ray
is a fictional character from the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam and its sequels, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Char's Counterattack, voiced by Tōru Furuya , Brad Swaile , Michael Lindsay and Matthew Erickson is a fictional character from the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam and its sequels, Mobile...
, alluding to their seiyuus' other famous anime roles as Sailor Moon
Usagi Tsukino
is a fictional character in the Sailor Moon metaseries and the main protagonist of the franchise, as well as its title character. Her civilian name, , becomes Serena Tsukino in the English-language versions...
and Tuxedo Kamen
Mamoru Chiba
is a fictional character and one of the primary protagonists of the children's Sailor Moon metaseries. Named , he disguises himself in order to support the series' central heroines, the Sailor Senshi...
respectively. She also makes some Sailor Moon comments when admiring the Nobel Gundam from Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Mobile Fighter G Gundam, known in Japan as , is a Japanese animated television series directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa . Created to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the franchise in 1994, it is the first of the Gundam series to be set in an alternate continuity from the original "Universal Century"...
on Super Robot Wars MX
Super Robot Wars MX
is a video game for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the Super Robot Wars series by Banpresto, a division of Bandai, and was released on May 27, 2004...
, and points out similarities in voice with Vega from Gear Fighter Dendoh
Gear Fighter Dendoh
is an anime series that aired in Japan. It ran for 38 episodes, from October 4, 2000 to June 27, 2001, on the TV Tokyo network and its affiliates.-Overview:...
and Murrue Ramius from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
is an anime series developed by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. As with other series from the Gundam franchise, Gundam SEED takes place in a parallel timeline, in this case the Cosmic Era, the first to do so...
(two other characters voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi).