Character · Neon Genesis Evangelion
Gendo Ikari
Gloved hands steepled in front of the mouth, orange glasses, and roughly one line of dialogue every three episodes.
In Otakana the clue reads: Commander who steeples his gloved hands
- Type
- Character
- Series
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Letters
- 5 · Normal
Gendo Ikari commands NERV, the agency that fields the Evangelion units, from a desk in an enormous office with a diagram of the Tree of Life spread across the ceiling. He sent his son away as a child, ignored him for years, then summoned him back the day a giant hostile thing walked into Tokyo-3 and told him to get in the robot.
The pose is the character. Elbows on the desk, hands folded, face half hidden, repeated until it works as a signature and fans copy it in photographs. Underneath it is a man running a secret programme for an even more secret committee while pursuing something personal he does not explain to a single colleague.
Anno wrote him as a study in refusal. Gendo declines to talk to his son, declines to explain himself, and will not stop, and the series lets that stand for a long time without softening it. He also wears gloves indoors in every scene. The reason is one of the details the show holds back and then spends.
Spelling GENDO
GENDO is the given name and Ikari is the family name, so the game wants the front half. The Japanese is ゲンドウ, Gendou, ending in a long O that English releases print as a plain one. Five letters and no U on the tiles. The N in the middle is its own kana and never doubles.