Games - Yui Ikari

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Yui Ikari (碇ユイ Ikari Yui) is a fictional character from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion movie. She is Gendo's wife and Shinji's mother.

Yui's background is not covered in the series, but according to the "Neon Genesis Evangelion 2" PS2 game, her father was a powerful member of SEELE, which explains why she had the backing of this powerful organization. She was a student of metaphysical biology at Kyoto University, where she met her future husband Gendou and her mentor and trusted friend Kouzou Fuyutsuki. Afterwards, she joined GEHIRN's Artificial Evolution Laboratory in Hakone, Japan, and played an integral role in Project E.

Despite Fuyutsuki's misgivings, Yui served as the test subject for the Contact Experiment of EVA-01 in 2004, saying that "everything happens as it must." She invited her son Shinji to GEHIRN to watch what would be her final moments: Yui "disappeared" during testing — leaving no body behind — and was proclaimed dead that same year after efforts to recover her failed. Although GEHIRN considered it an accident, it is clear that what happened was Yui's intention. Living on within the Eva, she continues to ensure a "bright future" for Shinji and the rest of humanity, seeing to it personally that SEELE's scenario is never entirely fulfilled.

Interpretation

While Yui is not exactly an important character on her own, it is her relationships with those around her that make her key to the entire series.

Gendou's love for her is his entire motivation for going through with SEELE's Instrumentality Project. He misses her so longingly that he goes through with SEELE's plan in the hopes that, after being implemented, he would be able to be one with Yui again.

Shinji is equally affected by his mother. Her absence and Gendou's subsequent abandonment of Shinji is the reason behind his anti-social, non-confrontational nature. At the same time, her maternal protectiveness of Shinji as the soul of his Unit 01 is solely responsible for EVA-01's being the formidable fighter it is. Also, many have noted that Shinji's relationship to his Eva is a physical manifestation of the Freudian Oedipus Complex: he longs for contact with his mother to the point that he wants to be inside her, and acts aggressively toward his father for trying to take his mother away from him. Shinji's entire character is shaped by his desire to be with his mother again.

Manga version

In the manga, Yui plays a bigger part than what she did in the anime. In the aftermath of the fight with the Angel Zeruel, her deranged (some would say selfish) self tried to convince Shinji to remain in Unit 01 with her. This is manifested by her appearing before Shinji (both were naked) and telling him that she's inside the Unit as well.

Initially, it seems to be working well: Shinji refused to come out, forcing the contents of the Dummy Plug to spill out. But when Rei started to pray for Shinji's return, Yui's face peels away to reveal her true self in the Unit: A badly disfigured being, still within the suit she wore on her last experiment in 01.

Upon seeing his mother's true self, a shocked Shinji then asked her to back off. A short struggle results. Then, a female form is seen leaving the disfigured body. Later, Shinji sees a scene from the past: His parents were under a tree, and Yui was breastfeeding an infant Shinji. After a short conversation with Gendo, Yui then notices her grown son and asks him to to join her. Surprisingly, Shinji was unable to move, despite his desire to get close to his mother. Yui then convinces Shinji to leave the confines of 01 and go back to the world.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Yui Ikari ]

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