RITSUKO AKAGI
Seiyuu: Yuriko Yamaguchi
Kaji: "You must be enduring an unrequited love."
Ritsuko: "How . . . did you know?"
Kaji: "Because a woman with a mole in the pathway of her tears is destined for a life full of them."
Technically, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, Chairperson of Project E, Technical Department, Division 1 of NERV, is the fourth in the chain of command, though she is not truly a part of the military hierarchy. However, she has the power to assume command of operations when she thinks Misato is not acting within the best interests of NERV.
Commander Gendou Ikari depends on her to maintain the Magi System. She has ultimate command of a keyboard and is about the only living person who can truly control the computer system created by her mother. When the power is cut to NERV HQ and to Tokyo 03, she discusses with Ikari and Fuyutsuki a viable plan to keep the facility from being mapped. And Ikari tells her he will leave the implementation to her.
When the Magi are hacked into, she, along with her mother's notes, is the only one who can defeat the invasion from five different computers. Her skill is phenomenal and unparalleled. She is better than her brilliant mother was -- despite the betrayals of Caspar.
Ritsuko: "If we concentrate enough explosive power into the same microsecond, we might destroy the Angel along with the Dirac Sea that makes up its body."
Misato: "But the damage to the EVA would be . . . . Shinji wouldn't . . . . What kind of rescue operation is this?"
Ritsuko: "This operation's priority is to recover the EVA itself. That the body may be severely damaged or destroyed in the process has no bearing."
Misato: "Now wait a second!"
Ritsuko: "The pilot's life is not our concern. . . . . I'm taking command of this entire operation."
Misato and Ritsuko are often pitted against each other over what issues they consider to be most important, despite the fact that they were once good friends. Love and friendship are trivial matters to the smooth operation of NERV, because to those in charge seemingly larger matters than human relations are at stake.
For example, Ritsuko doesn't mind delving into Misato's love life, yet she is unwilling to speak very deeply about herself to anyone.
When both Misato and Kaji could lend a sympathetic ear for her unrequited love, she turns away from probably the only two people who truly are for her and would understand her situation.
Maya, who does love and admire her, is an innocent and could never deal truthfully with Ritsuko's desire for Commander Ikari or her jealousy of Rei Ayanami.
Ritsuko is like her mother in many ways. Dr. Naoko Akagi worked underground on the Magi computer system, nearly to the exclusion of everyone. Dr. Akagi admitted that she was a bad mother and a horrible person. Dr. Akagi wanted Yui Ikari to die. Dr. Akagi strangled Rei.
Ritsuko has similar problems. For her, it is sometimes necessary to destroy a child or two to get to the desired result.
She's jealous of Rei and Misato. She hates her mother. And she is most definitely suffering from an unrequited love. Perhaps Kaji knew something more than he revealed about Ritsuko's personal life and about the tears she is destined to shed. Not that Commander Gendou Ikari cares.
Ikari (with a gun pointed at Ritsuko, Rei behind him) mouths: "I loved you once."
Ritsuko: "Liar." (He shoots a now willing target.)
