MisaKaji

MisaKaji is the het ship between Ryoji Kaji and Misato Katsuragi from the Neon Genesis Evangelion fandom.

Canon
Kaji is first presented in Episode 8. Misato is annoyed to see him as Asuka's guardian, as annoys their as their entanglement ended less than amicably. Kaji however remains friendly and continuously teases her, and her new charge Shinji, about it. They slowly become closer again, as Kaji increasingly flirts with her and says he still loves her, until they rekindle their relationship when in Episode 15. He also becomes a father figure and mentor to Shinji. Kaji dies, assasinated by a Seele agent, in Episode 21, which leaves Misato in great distress, contributing to ther alienation from Shinji and Asuka.

Fanon
Due to its status as one of the very few canon pairings in Evangelion - the other ones are Gendo with Yui, Naoko or Ritsuko at differing times, and almost uniiversally disliked, MisaKaji gets relatively little dedicated fan material, though it is still quite significant, particularly when included with other pairings. However, its general acceptance means that it gets included and talked about in places that are not even dedicated to it, as it has a considerable role in the story. Kaji himself is generally popular even if he is not necessarily a favourite, and Misato herself ranks from 3rd to 5th most popular character of the series. It is also popular with AsuShin shippers due to the close parallels both relationships have with one another, though not as much as ReiShin or KawoShin shippers, even though these don't dislike it too often.

There are detractors, however, who see the relationship as catastrophically dysfunctional, and particularly dissaprove of Kaji's character as a toxic, overly masculine influence on both Misato and Shinji, a criticism common from KawoShin fans but generally absent from ReiShin fans, who instead might point out to the crush Asuka has on Kaji as a better alternative. Some fans also dislike Kaji and see him as dishonest or cowardly, and dissaprove of him flirting with other women, though detractors argue this is done to grab Misato's attention. Some fans also think that Kaji's advances on Misato characterize sexual harassment. Misato and Kaji are implied to, but do not fully consumate a relationship in the second Rebuild movie, so far his only appearence.