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 their last entanglement, years ago in college, ended less than amicably. Kaji however remains friendly and continuously teases her, and her new charge Shinji, about it. Kaji works as a "Special Investigator" at Nerv, arousing Misato's suspicions. He is also friends with Ritsuko, another friend of Misato she first met in college, and flirts with her, causing Misato to feel jealous.

They slowly become closer again, as Kaji increasingly flirts with her and says he still loves her. Asuka, now under Misato's care, feels resentful of both of them, as she has a teenage crush on him. This is also a motivation for her getting closer to Shinji. Kaji and Misato go out with Ritsuko to attend a friend's wedding. Misato gets drunk and reminisces on feeling alone. Carrying her home, Misato has a breakdown, and admits the reason she broke up with him was because she kept seeing her father, who gave his life to save her, in Kaji himself, also the reason she felt initially drawn to him. She starts berating herself, which Kaji stops by kissing her.

After this point, Kaji and Misato rekindle their relationship and start to go out again. He also becomes a father figure and mentor to Shinji, together with Misato as his guardian and mother figure. However, he is unable to escape his role in the plot's conspiracies, and is eventually assasinated by a Seele agent in Episode 21, which leaves Misato in great distress. This contributes to her alienation from Shinji and Asuka, as she becomes single-minded in her pursuit of avenging his death, similarly to her father.

Misato is killed later in the JSSDF invasion of Nerv, trying to protect Shinji. Quantum Rei is briefly shown helping as Misato, on her dying breath, asks "Kaji, my love, did I do the right thing?". It is presumed Rei took the form of Kaji, as she did for other characters as their transition guides. During Instrumentality, Shinji gains access to Misato's memories of having sex with Kaji in college and converses with her, Asuka and Rei. Misato and Kaji's souls are both now contained within Instrumentality, but because Shinji has given people the choice to leave it, they might return to the real world, like Shinji and Asuka have.

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 universally disliked, MisaKaji gets considerably less dedicated fan and official 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. Nonetheless, it might not get shipped per se, because unlike with other pairings, it doesn't need to be argued for or defended as much. It also means that works, particularly fanfics, dedicated exclusively to this pairing are the minority even among Misakaji works themselves. Kaji himself is generally popular even if he is not necessarily a favorite, and Misato herself ranks from 3rd to 5th most popular character of the series. Misakaji's supporters usually like this pairing's writing and characterization and its role in the show as having a very interesting arc and subplot in the series. Some fans gravitate towards analyzing Kaji and Misato in a gender role reversal prism, despite their outward appearances. It is also popular with AsuShin shippers due to the close parallels both relationships have with one another, as they might even argue Kaji played "matchmaker" for them, often being featured in fanfics that are primarily Asushin, though it is not popular as with ReiShin or KawoShin shippers, even though those don't dislike it too often.

There are detractors, however, who see the relationship as catastrophically dysfunctional, and particularly disapprove 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 also see Kaji as dishonest or cowardly, and disapprove of him flirting with other women, though supporters argue that this is done only to grab Misato's attention. Some fans also think that Kaji's advances on Misato characterize sexual harassment or psychological torture. In keeping with Eva's Freudian themes, Misato feels drawn to Kaji by virtue of him reminding her of her father, by her own admission, and some fans consider this an unhealthy motivator for a relationship. Misato and Kaji are initially implied to, but do not fully rekindle a relationship in the second Rebuild movie, so far his only appearance

Fandom
FANFICS


 * Kaji Ryouji/Katsuragi Misatotag on AO3
 * Kaji Ryouji/Katsuragi Misatotag on FanFiction.net
 * Ghosts of Evangelion by Bagheera

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