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Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu (惣流・キョウコ・ツェッペリン, Sōryū Kyōko Tsepperin?) is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.
Profile[]
She is Asuka's mother, was a key scientist in the German division of Gehirn (what would later become NERV's Third Branch) and the development of Unit-02, the first Production Type (the second and third of which were later produced by the two American branches of NERV). She has short reddish hair.
History[]
Neon Genesis Evangelion[]
She was the subject of the Contact Experiment with Unit-02, but during the experiment her soul bonded with the EVA, causing severe mental damage to Kyoko. She became mentally unstable, believing that one of Asuka's dolls was her daughter rather than Asuka.[1] She was admitted to a mental institution shortly after the experiment. Her husband entered an affair with Kyoko's own doctor, which eventually prompted Kyoko's suicide in 2005.
One of the dolls that Kyoko was carrying was decapitated; Asuka acquired the head and carried it with her as she watched her mother through the hospital glass. Kyoko throttled another, and, ultimately, used it to commit a "double suicide", hanging both herself and the doll-Asuka — a spectacle the real Asuka had the misfortune of seeing.[2]
While Kyoko was confined at the hospital, her husband began to carry out an affair with her doctor. Little discretion was taken from the start, as the two engaged in sexual acts in the room adjacent to Kyoko's; and, by the time of the funeral, they were already married. Individuals attending Kyoko's funeral provided insinuations that Langley's infidelity was the ultimate driving force behind the suicide itself.
Although Kyoko physically died, the maternal component of her soul, at the very least, continues to survive within Unit-02. Evidence suggests that the remainder was salvaged into Unit-02 following the suicide, as well: In flashbacks to Episode 22 and Episode 25, we hear the insane Kyoko begging Asuka, "Please die with me!"
Also, in the Episode 25' scene where Asuka finds her mother within Unit-02, Kyoko repeats, "You mustn't die! You must live! You're alive!", several times. However, the familiar "Please die with me!" is mixed in twice among her inspirational words, thus suggesting that the insane Kyoko and the maternal Kyoko were incorporated together.
Asuka only learns that "[Mama] was always watching over" her and "protecting" her shortly before the two of them do at last die together: Kyoko, as Unit-02, is ravaged and killed by the Mass Production Evangelions, taking Asuka with her.
In Other Media[]
Neon Genesis Evangelion manga[]
Kyoko illustrated by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.
In the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, Asuka visits her mother bringing in news that she was picked up as a pilot of Evangelion only to be ignored by Kyoko.[3]
Kyoko is seen more clearly in Asuka's Arael-induced flashbacks, although her design is different from that in the anime, featuring long blonde hair. In the manga. Unlike in the anime, Asuka and Mr. Langley were unable to conceive, leading eventually to his affair. He re-married and had a daughter with a tall, glasses-wearing woman referred to Asuka by Kyoko as "that woman", and "that girl". Asuka herself was instead conceived sometime later as test tube baby with Kyoko seeking an "elite" sperm bank. Later, Kyoko, still heartbroken by her ex-husband's infidelity, edges a toddler Asuka on to "be better than woman's child", telling her she was made to be special.[4] Her Contact Experiment was proposed by Kyoko herself, and her later suicide is clearly implied to be motivated by Langley's affair. During her hospitalization, when Asuka tries to talk to her, Kyoko reacts violently and attempts to strangle her, an even she later re-enacts with Shinji. After Kyoko's death, the woman shows sympathy towards Asuka. She and Langley decide to adopt her, but because she has no blood relations to Langley in the manga, "the woman" is her adoptive mother, and "the girl" is her adoptive sister.[5]
Mr. Langley's new wife, and their daughter, Asuka's adoptive mother and sister in the manga.
According to Kaworu as he goes to the Central Dogma, Unit-02's soul had shut herself away.[6] Asuka, after entering a catatonic state, is sent inside Unit-02 inside the Lake for the safety of herself and Unit-02, upon being attacked with depth charges, screams that she doesn't want to die and calls for her mother. She then has a vision hugging Kyoko in a sunflower field. Asuka and Unit-02 finally activates as the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force continue the attack.[7]
Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga[]
Illustration by Osamu Takahashi.
Kyoko also appears in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga, she shares her design with Sadamoto's manga. Here, she is characterized as somewhat clumsy, and easily falls asleep (such as when she sleeps through an evacuation order). She also embarrasses Asuka frequently by imagining Asuka and Shinji married someday.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days[]
She's also mentioned in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days, as well as Mr. Langley. It's implied they're both alive and well, have good relationships with their daughter, and probably are still married in this series.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku[]
Langley and Kyoko visit Asuka in Campus Apocalypse.
She was a member of the organization alongside Mr. Langley.[8]
Inside the virtual world made by Ireul, Asuka falls into a trap and reencounters her parents, however those are visions that accuse her of killing them. She tells them that she became a Shemhazai just like them. The virtual Kyoko picks up one of Asuka's dolls and chastise Asuka of not treating it well, being a bad girl in her eyes.
Asuka reveals that both her parents were Shemhazai, so her birth was part of a larger experiment in order to compare natural children and artificially created ones in their potential as Shemhazai. Asuka's order was to not lose to something artificial and become the greatest Shemhazai. Asuka killed her parents after they became Angels themselves. After almost giving up, Asuka is saved by Shinji, who encourages her to fight against the Angel that caused this situation, Ireul.[9]
During the fight against Ireul, in a flashback scene when they were still alive, Kyoko finds Asuka moping, saying that she couldn't win against the other children, and they can be better than her. Kyoko hugs her and say that she doesn't want this situation to happen, and she would take her place if she could, but that is all they can do as parents to protect Asuka, they want to train her to be strong and be able the defeat her foes in the future. Kyoko tells her that Asuka will not be alone, that she will be helped by her allies too, and to her to have more faith in herself and be confident about her talent.[10]
Voice Actors[]
- Japanese: Maria Kawamura
- English: Yvonne Aquire, Kimberly Yates
- French:
- Italian:
- Portuguese (Brazil): Raquel Marinho, Adriana Pissardini, Sandra Mara Azevedo (Netflix)
- Russian:
- Spanish (Spain):
- Spanish (Latin America):
- Catalan:
- German:
- Hindi:
- Korean:
- Chinese (Simplified):
- Chinese (Traditional):
Trivia[]
- Like Asuka's, Kyoko's name comes from a character in a manga by Shinji WadaWP. Zeppelin comes from Graf Zeppelin warship, and Sohryu comes from a Japanese ship. Both were aircraft carriers.[11]
- The "z" in "Zeppelin" is pronounced like the English "ts".
- The name "Zeppelin" was possibly taken from the German General and inventor of the Zeppelin airship, Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von ZeppelinWP and also from nearly completed Nazi German aircraft carrier Graf ZeppelinWP.[citation needed]
- Kyoko's madness and assuming a doll as her daughter may have been inspired by Kushana's mother from Nausicaa of the Valley of the WindWP manga by Hayao MiyazakiWP, which Anno worked on the film adaptation.[citation needed]
References[]
- ↑ Episode 22 ("Don't Be", February 28, 1996)
- ↑ In “Episode 22 "At Least, Be Human,” “doll” is a motif, and the word and the figure of a doll appear many times. Asuka's mother thinks the doll is her child, and her father says there is a fine line between human and doll. The father says that there is a fine line between human beings and dolls, and the woman doctor with whom he is having an affair says that human beings may also be dolls made in the image of God. - Oguro Staff Commentary #55
- ↑ Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 9 - Stage 57
- ↑ Both of these characters bear a strong visual similarity to Mari Makinami from the manga's bonus chapter, leading many fans to assume one of them was the same character as Mari Makinami Illustrious from the Rebuild of Evangelion films or somehow had links to her, with another theory being that Mari was Asuka's adoptive sister, impossible as the manga's Mari was already 16 years old in 1998, whereas Asuka's adoptive sister is still a child in 2005. Additionally, this chapter was written before the launch of even Evangelion: 1.0, many years before Mari was so much as conceptualized, and her later appearance in the bonus chapter almost ten years later was denied as being purely fanservice, as Sadamoto had no involvement with Mari's character besides her design, said he "couldn't use her in the manga", and has repeatedly denied links between the manga and the Rebuild movies. Thus, Asuka's adoptive mother and sister in the manga are entirely different characters, and not Mari.
- ↑ Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 9 - Stage 60
- ↑ Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 11 - Stage 72
- ↑ Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 12 - Stage 80
- ↑ Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku Volume 2, Chapter 08
- ↑ Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku Volume 3 Chapter 16
- ↑ Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku Volume 4 Chapter 18
- ↑ Character Name Origins