my first impression was that he was a thoroughly unpleasant man

neon genesis evangelion (episode twenty one, "he was aware that he was still a child")

This recap and all subsequent TV recaps are for the “director’s cut” versions of these episodes.

Much of this episode is a series of flashbacks, initially narrated to us by Fuyutsuki, that begin to explain to us how, exactly, we got here and how these people came to know each other.¹ Fuyutsuki taught Yui in college and Yui’s creepy, bar-fight-picking boyfriend Gendo tagged along. Yui was involved with a group called “SEELE,” and Fuyutsuki mentions that many people assumed Gendo was using Yui to get to SEELE.

The Second Impact happens and Fuyutsuki is eventually put on a UN committee investigating what exactly occured. He realizes, correctly, that he is the only member of the committee not affiliated with SEELE and that this is a big cover-up. He’s going to go to the press… Except he never does go to the press, he just decides to work for Gendo at “Gehirn,” a …