Who Killed Ryoji Kaji? :: 9th September 2001

You would not believe how much this topic has been debated. When Kaji was mysteriously shot in episode 21, everybody was dying to know who did it. Many said it was Misato. Others said it was SEELE. A few said it was Gendou Ikari himself. I, for one, do not believe that Misato did it. I personally feel that someone from SEELE shot Kaji. Below I will discuss the reasons why either Misato, SEELE or Gendou Ikari would kill Kaji, and my personal thoughts on it.

Gendou Ikari
I personally can see no real reason why Gendou would want to kill Kaji. I know that Kaji had kinda leaked information about the real workings of NERV to Misato, but Kaji had also been a valuable tool for Gendou. Also, even though it was thought that SEELE had sent Kaji to be a "bell" around Ikari's neck, Kaji seemed to work more closely with Gendou and NERV. In other words, he was a double agent. The only motive I see Gendou Ikari to have for killing Kaji is that he got tired and annoyed with him, and didn't have time to include him in his plans anymore. Even so, I don't think Gendou would have wasted his time killing someone off with a gun. He would have either sent someone to do it for him, or if he was doing it himself, be more creative.

Misato Katsuragi
No!!! Misato did not kill Kaji!!! I have argued this case so many times until I'm blue in the face that I just don't bother sometimes anymore. But seriously, why would Misato kill him? He was her main source of information!!! If she killed him, she would have severed all links to learning more about what caused the Second Impact, and wasn't learning more about the Second Impact her ultimate goal? For that reason, I don't believe Misato killed Kaji. But, someone argues, Kaji caused her so much trouble. *rolls eyes* How so? How did Kaji cause Misato trouble? He was a womanizer? He was immature? So what?! Misato isn't some insane ex-girlfriend who kills someone just because he looks at another woman! And as I recall, she dumped him, not the other way round. So it was her choice to leave Kaji, and move on into adulthood without him. When he returned into her life 8 years later, he was still immature, but he had also learned a lot more. And he helped Misato in everyway he could, trying to make up for his stupidity when he was younger.

Ok, the person says, why did Kaji look so happy to see the person who had arrived to kill him then? That's just the type of person Kaji is. He would stay in good humor until his very last breath, and acting so happy may actually patronize his killer. Just because he smiled and said "hi" does not necessarily mean that that person was his friend. But, someone argues again, why did Misato look so upset when she returned home right after Kaji was killed? Well, there are many reasons, her killing somebody NOT being one of them. Firstly, I believe it was because she had had a hard day at work. She was confined to the isolation ward in the dark (which she hates) for the whole day!!! That would be enough to put anybody in a bad mood. Also, when she heard Kaji's message telling her to carry on his findings of the truth, she wept bitterly and openly for him. Some people say that this is because she regretted killing him, but I don't think so. I think she was genuinely mourning his loss, because by the way he spoke, she sensed that she would not ever see him again alive. What makes me even more convinced is that later, when Shinji is hiding under his pillow, you can still hear Misato's cries, and one of the things she says is, "It's not fair!" This clearly shows that Misato did not want him to be dead.

The final clue that truly convinces me that Misato did not kill Kaji is the ending segment of episode 20. At the very end, we hear Kaji say to Misato, "The first time in eight years. And maybe the last." Kaji already knew he was going to be killed soon, because what he was intending to do would not go well with some people. Misato did not kill him because why would he say that to her? Nobody goes to their future killer and says, "after this, you're going to kill me." It's ridiculous!! Thus, Kaji didn't think Misato would kill him, because she never intended to and never did!! Now, if this doesn't convince you, I don't know what will. ^_^

SEELE
Now here's some people who I think have real reasons to kill Kaji! Firstly, he was the "bell that did not ring." Meaning, they planted him in NERV to keep an eye on Gendou Ikari, but he did not report anything back to them simply because he was a double agent. Secondly, he rescued Commander Fuyutsuki from them. As he was untying the ropes from Fuyutsuki's hands, Fuyutsuki says, "they're going to kill you for this, you know." Fuyutsuki specifically used they word "they", meaning more than one person. Another reason why I think that the men at SEELE did it is because it just seems like the sort of thing they do. Write off people once they have no use for them anymore. Everyone else is expendable except them. They care for the Evangelions more than the Children that pilot it!

So there's my two cents. All evidence points mainly to SEELE. However, if you want to insist that Misato did it, the best reason you can have is that SEELE planned to kill Kaji and Kaji knew it, but Misato killed him before SEELE could. That's the most reasonable scenario for Misato-kill-Kaji. But, there's still a flaw in that. If Kaji had really expected SEELE to kill him, shouldn't he have acted surprised and hurt to see Misato arriving to kill him? Instead he seemed to expect the person to be who it was, and acted really calm about it all. Therefore it had to be SEELE!!! This is just my opinion anyway. Don't feel pressured into agreeing with it or anything, please! ^_~