It was obviously to indicate that they had some romantic history, so it's obvious why she was jealous of attention he showed Ritsuko, but...why Misato's hate for Kaji at first?

From the sounds of Misato's drunken confession, she actually left him, primarily because he reminded her of her father, and didn't want to be abandoned like she was as a kid, neither did she want to cry as much as her mother did.

So....it doesn't sound like she suspected Kaji of cheating, or caught him cheating, or doing other nefarious things.

Then what was it? Why did she hate him so much?

because she, like most of the other characters in the show, has a tendency to push away the people she's close to, or wants to be close to, as a defense mechanism because doing that is easier and safer than letting herself be vulnerable and risking getting hurt by them

It's also implied that their relationship was not exactly the healthiest, so whatever the circumstances of their breakup probably left a bit of a bad taste

She's a tsundere, just like Asuka. Imagine an older Shinji trolling and teasing Asuka as an adult an Asuka being all flustered and angry about it. Thats Misato and Kaji.

Misato doesn't hate Kaji. Just very tsun for him. Its not like the manga where Kaji actually cheated on her (Its been awhile since I read it so I don't remember their relationship) any "Hate" Misato has for Kaji is projections of her hatred towards herself. She saw her father in him, she was ashamed of their sex, she was afraid of intimacy and how much she loved him, she thought he was using her. Misato's father messed her up her ability to connect with others. She was like Shinji, and she ran away. Kaji reminds her of these insecurities, shames, and personal failures. She hates that and herself, not Kaji.

Sefirot Tree Of Life wrote:She's a tsundere, just like Asuka. Imagine an older Shinji trolling and teasing Asuka as an adult an Asuka being all flustered and angry about it. Thats Misato and Kaji.

Misato doesn't hate Kaji. Just very tsun for him. Its not like the manga where Kaji actually cheated on her (Its been awhile since I read it so I don't remember their relationship) any "Hate" Misato has for Kaji is projections of her hatred towards herself. She saw her father in him, she was ashamed of their sex, she was afraid of intimacy and how much she loved him, she thought he was using her. Misato's father messed her up her ability to connect with others. She was like Shinji, and she ran away. Kaji reminds her of these insecurities, shames, and personal failures. She hates that and herself, not Kaji.

That's funny
Isn't it interesting that the 2 most fiery women like the same 2 dudes?

People being bitter towards ex-partners doesn't really need an explanation - especially since she seems to look at him as a "mistake" from when she was "young & stupid".

Or that's what she tells herself, later she is forced to face that she was not emotionally honest about her real reasons for the breakup - cold feet due to self-hate & general commitment issues caused by how her parents' marriage sucked.

Early on she's exaggerating & over-acting her fake reasons to avoid confronting the real ones. She was pretty drunk when she spits out the truth, & booze lowers your inhibitions.

Asunji_Yuko wrote:Isn't it interesting that the 2 most fiery women like the same 2 dudes?

I feel like the parallel was meant to be intentional. The only difference here is that Misato has daddy issues which end up putting a strain on her relationship, while Asuka has imommy issues more than anything
In any case, I agree with Kendrix. Nobody would want to see their exs suddenly returning to their lives like that...

Sefirot Tree Of Life wrote:Imagine an older Shinji trolling and teasing Asuka as an adult an Asuka being all flustered and angry about it. Thats Misato and Kaji.

That would actually be really funny to watch! I would like to see that XD!

I think the reason is quite simple on the wiki and in the information on evangelion's YouTube channels I saw that Misato met Kaji when they were in college and they had a relationship for some reason they ended the first break up and the reason is unknown, maybe because of Kaji's style of being half a soap opera gal, he probably did this with several other girls and maybe due to Misato's somewhat explosive manner at some points she must have gotten angry and then they ended

And this information about them having met before Nerv and during college is official and more clear that even though she is angry with him she is jealous when Kaji is with other women, the scene that becomes clearest, this is from the classic anime and from Rebuild when Kaji hugs Ritsuko and makes his famous soap opera heartthrob jokes

Turismo030650 wrote:I think the reason is quite simple on the wiki and in the information on evangelion's YouTube channels I saw that Misato met Kaji when they were in college and they had a relationship for some reason they ended the first break up and the reason is unknown, maybe because of Kaji's style of being half a soap opera gal, he probably did this with several other girls and maybe due to Misato's somewhat explosive manner at some points she must have gotten angry and then they ended

And this information about them having met before Nerv and during college is official and more clear that even though she is angry with him she is jealous when Kaji is with other women, the scene that becomes clearest, this is from the classic anime and from Rebuild when Kaji hugs Ritsuko and makes his famous soap opera heartthrob jokes

Worse than that, it's true, but I don't know if it's in the manga and in the same way as the anime.