New Moderator
*Ryoji Kaji with a line over the o
[Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 9, click to show]Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!/A Heart Once More in an Instant
Stupid stuff involving school happens first. The duo of idiots takes photos of Asuka to sell. Do people actually do that in Japan? Asuka also meets Rei, who says she will be friends 'if ordered to' without any expression. Asuka dubs that she is weird, which is an understatement. Also Kaji makes funny flirts towards Ritsuko, who plays along despite Misato giving I WILL KILL YOU looks.
Suddenly more exciting stuff! An Angel is attacking! Asuka and Shinji are sent out to deal with it. Asuka tells Shinji to cover her, forget working together, and she harpoons it like she came out of Final Fantasy. It gets cut apart, but a copy appears, and the two Angel copies work in sync to thrash the Evas. Somehow get get stuck in the ground, so all you can see is their waists to their legs. Huh? Do the Angels have a sense of humor? Because that seems odd. >_>
NERV staff is highly displeased with this mess up. Misato gets a solution on how to beat the Angel from Kaji. He gives her a music piece and recommends that Shinji and Asuka learn how to move exactly the same with the music. This kind of reminds me of the Card Captor Sakura episode when Syaoran and his cousin had to fight the Twin Card together, except they were so experienced with each other that they didn't need outside help to be in sync.
Asuka moves into Misato's place as well and wastes no time in dumping Shinji's items out of the room. Misato then explains what is going on. Asuka is like BOO HISS and Shinji's like EW NOT HER but Misato's like DO IT OR I WILL EAT YOU so they begin to practice. This leads to some shenanigans when their classmates come over and see them doing everything in sync. Asuka and Shinji try to practice with something similar to DDR, but Asuka is like SHINJI SUCKS SCREW THIS. Misato asks Rei, who is with her, to try in Asuka's place. Shinji and Rei work perfectly together, causing Misato to say, "Maybe Rei should substitute Asuka." That might seem mean, but it was the perfect motivator to get Asuka to suck up her partnership and begin working well with Shinji.
Six days pass, them having that long thanks to an N2 mine blowing up part of the Angel and it having to repair. HOLY COW THE MINE DID SOMETHING. During the last night, Asuka, thinking Shinji is asleep, goes next to him to sleep. He starts to move forward to kiss her, only to here her murmuring, "Mama." Awww. He lets her have his bed and moves aside, thinking she's just a child too. (This was a nice scene for development, IMO.)
The day comes, and Shinji and Asuka play their music while fighting. This is a really cool battle scene; it lasts a bit over fifty seconds, has the music they're listening to playing, and shows them working in sync to wreck the Angel. I liked the change.
Of course, when they do beat it, they wind up landing in a crater on top of each other, and use the phones in their Evas (why are they OUTSIDE the Evas?) to call each other and complain about screwing up while being in ear shot anyway. Cue Gendo's right hand man going I hate kids.
That was probably my favorite episode so far, though six comes close. Good stuff.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
The episode begins with Asuka shopping with Kaji, who she has made clear by this point that she has a crush on. She gets a swimsuit for the upcoming school trip to Okinawa. At this, I began to pray, "Oh please, not a meaningless school episode. PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT THAT!"
Misato, if she wasn't on my awesome list already (she is despite being a slob at home, my OCD goes wild whenever I see her there), jumps there by telling Asuka and Shinji that they cannot go on the trip because they are needed in case an Angel attack. Crisis averted! Asuka is not pleased, but Shinji is resigned. We don't see her tell Rei but I'm sure Rei didn't care in the slightest. Asuka and Shinji watch their classmates fly away in a plane, which is great because now they won't muck things up here either!
I can't recall exactly when in the episode it is shown, but Kaji actually starts kissing Misato in an elevator. She seems ticked off by it, but as Kaji points out, "Your lips weren't saying no." She also talks to Ritsuko about the relationship they previously had. I'm curious to see what happened to split them apart.
Shinji spends his waiting time studying for science while Rei swims in the nearby pool. Asuka gets in her revealing swimsuit before going over to Shinji. (Mini swimsuit rant: I think I am the only girl to wear a one-piece in real life. EVERYONE else wears a two piece. Except in Spain where they swim naked. Yep. Back on track.) Asuka figures out the problems he had on science despite doing badly in school, which is apparently because she can't read the Japanese writing well enough. That's a nice reason for flunking. Usually you get the genius characters who just can't be bothered to work in school. Asuka obviously doesn't care too much, but the fact that she has an actual blockade is a good change from the norm. They talk about thermal expansion in specific so we know that'll come up later.
Apparently, an Angel has been found before it could mature. It is in a volcano, so Misato calls the pilots. Asuka is assigned to retrieve the Angel, Shinji is on back up, and Rei doesn't really get to do anything because her Eva isn't equipped for severe heat. But because of the heat, they have to make special preparations. Asuka gets a plug suit that inflates to make her into a ball for protection, which is rather hilarious looking, and Unit 02 has to wear a space suit get-up of sorts. Since that is, like, totally not fashionable, Asuka says she won't go out like that. Rei volunteers to pilot Unit 02 instead, which causes Asuka to say no way, she's going, First Child is not taking her glory. (We all know the real reason though: Rei is too serious to stick into an inflatable plug suit. The artists shuddered at the idea.)
Asuka is lowered into the volcano with a cage that will capture the Angel, as they want to study this non-mature one. She has to go very deep to do so, to the point that parts of Unit 02 begin to break off from pressure. She also loses her prog knife. (What does prog stand for, if anything?) But she manages to find the Angel in its 'embryo' state and captures it in the cage.
As she is brought up, whoops, the Angel matures, how convenient. It breaks out and Shinji has to throw Asuka his own knife. It barely reaches her in time. She tries to stab it with no success. It tears off Unit 02's leg before Asuka gets an idea at the same time Shinji does; thermal expansion! See I knew it'd show up. She sticks the pipes/cables that pump cooling material into the Angel's mouth and then stabs it in the core. Her cables to the surface get severed, but Shinji jumps down just in time to grab Unit 02's arm. Hurray for Shinji being a hero!
At the end, they get to go to the hot springs, but this is far better than most hot spring appearances because it lasts all of three minutes and doesn't involve Shinji trying to sneak to the girl's side. He does hear Misato and Asuka talking about 'sexy' things, causing the penguin to look at him and notice another case of 'thermal expansion'. Huuuuuuuuur. *Slaps forehead*
But on a more important note, Asuka sees a scar on Misato's chest (REALLY hard to see due to breast censorship) and she explains it came from the Second Impact. Asuka realizes that Misato must know about her past. But the viewers don't because the episode ends!
Another good one overall.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
I wanted to say that first, then I second guessed myself and went, "Wait, it was just Tokyo, right?" I think episode eleven mentions it though so I can check then.
Or Rei meant exactly what she said and she'd pilot Unit 01 and try and solo the angel. Without anyone trying to shield her.
Oh no, I get that, I was joking that she said he didn't have to pilot it, but come meet up where you need to pilot it to pilot it anyway. Not a big deal, just something I kinda lol'd at. >_>
Actually, unless I'm remembering entirely incorrectly, that is played completely realistically. That is exactly what would happen in such a scenario if it were to actually happen in real life. It's the "common" portrayal where the beams have no effect on each other that makes no sense.
Seriously? I never would have guessed. That's pretty cool if so.
Yes, they did. I don't mind telling you this because it's totally unimportant and I don't believe it is ever mentioned again, this episode is as close to filler as it gets for Evangelion. The Misato comment they make is in regards to the fact that they didn't anticipate Misato going out and risking herself like that to stop the thing. In fact, I'd have to rewatch the scene, but I think the implication was that Misato was actually going to fail, but Gendo/Ritsuko interfered when they realized that. But again, I'd have to see, could be way off.
No, I think you're right. Glad I wasn't delusional then. Only thing I'm wondering about now is what happened in the first morning. Shinji left the house, Misato got on the phone and said, "He's all yours" or something, but that never got explained. Probably not important.
Kaji is awesome. I think last time I tried to do character rankings, he was 5th.
*Rubs hands* Excellent. I'm glad my initial reaction was a good one.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Liberal Arts Major
Shortened version of "progressive"
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
New Moderator
Ah. Thanks for clearing that up.
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Editor
yessssssss best comparison
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
New Moderator
<3 Card Captor Sakura.
Another day where I got no TV access. =(
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
[Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 11, click to show]Episode 11: The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still/Within the Stagnant Shadow
So it's another morning at NERV with everyone getting ready to do technical stuff. But they can't show us a normal day because that would be boring, so the power goes out. (If anything happened before this I honestly can't remember because it was the first one I watched.) Misato and Kaji are in an elevator as this happens so of course hilarity ensues. (I loved how he barely managed to get on by throwing his hand in the way, that seems to happen to a lot of people.)
This blackout is certainly odd because NERV had three different power sources to fall on, and there's no way they could all go out at once. What did you expect from the people who had twenty-two steel plates protecting them? But none of those sources are working, so it was a deliberate action to screw NERV over by someone. Who we haven't found out, if they ever tell us (or I just totally missed it). During this time, the vice commander (whose name I don't know yet) basically says, "Oh gee I hope an Angel doesn't attack during this." And gets the response, "Thanks for jinxing us, you jerk, now there's an Angel here!" Okay not really but an Angel does appear right after he says that. And it looks like... a daddy long legs. It's like the people who designed the Angels are TRYING to troll me. At least it isn't another diamond.
Fortunately for NERV, one of their employees is outside while this goes on. He needs a way to get back to NERV and report the Angel. Fortunately, there happens to be a van with a political person trying to promote themselves in a campaign. She does this by driving around and saying she cares enough about the people to even be out during this. Yes, because getting squished by a giant spider thing is going to help you in your campaign, especially when nobody is around to see it. The NERV employee says to himself, "Lucky!" which makes me want to punch him. I hate it when they do that in Engrish. <_< He hitches a ride and drives to NERV while crashing through stuff.
Once the report is made, they realize they need to get the EVA units ready by hand. Even Gendo works to prepare them, which is interesting since he rarely does physical labor. Desperate times, desperate measures and all that. So after a lot of work, the fighting robot squad can be piloted. Only problem is the lack of the pilots.
Through the other half of the episode (the scenes keep switching between these parties), we see that Shinji, Rei, and Asuka are unable to get into NERV due to the electronic locks being down. They take an alternate path that involves a lot of crawling. My question is why Asuka wanted to crawl in front of Shinji both times when she wears a skirt. The second time she calls him out on it when he looks up by accident and kicks him in the face, but wouldn't it be better if she let him go first? Moral of story: girls like Asuka enjoy getting payments from boys who happen to be in the wrong position. Asuka also nearly gets stepped on by the spider but all's well in the end.
After crashing through a ventilation shaft, Asuka and Shinji wind up on the ground and Rei on her feet near the EVA units. They get in to fight the spider. However, when going up the available shaft, it begins to spit orange acid on them. Ew. Shinji barely manages to stop them all from falling so they can retreat to make a plan. Asuka, a bit miffed that she hasn't repaid Shinji for saving her in episode ten, decides to block the acid while Rei retrieves Shinji's rifle and Shinji shoots the spider. The plan is agreed on since they have limited battery life and no time to argue. It is executed perfectly and the daddy long legs goes boom. Thank goodness, I was getting sick of looking at that thing.
The power finally comes up again and all is well. Misato and Kaji wind up falling on each other, causing Ritsuko to question just what they were doing, and I'm left wondering what the heck kind of Angel will come next. If it's a giant squid or something, I told myself, I will throw such a fit.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Not one, but two episodes in this session had English titles that were made up of quotes. What's with that?
It starts off by showing a young Misato being carried by her bleeding and dying father. He seals her into what looks like a plug for EVA units, but could very well be just a protective device that looks similar. He then dies, and Misato comes out of the device after drifting out to sea, holding the cross you always see her wearing. Aha it's character development jewelry! Also there's a huge explosion she watches, way to scar the child for life. Literally too, you see a shot of her scar before she puts on her bra. Development AND fan service in one shot!
Shinji's friends from class show up to be losers again by having to duck into his house because it's raining. Misato comes out and is congratulated by the two boys for having gone up a rank, as shown by the pin on her shirt collar. The EVA pilots get tested on their harmonics after that, with Ritsuko congratulating Shinji on his increase in harmonics. On the ride home, Shinji and Misato agree that they don't care much for the praise they're getting, but the classmates do hold a party in honor of Misato's promotion. At least that gives her a chance to drink even more beer.
The next time they are at NERV, another Angel is reported as being just outside of Earth. We see it and it's... Graham's monster form from Aria of Sorrow, except orange and without ribs. Fantastic. They try to get more of a reading with satellites, and as expected, it blows them up. It has been launching pieces of itself (ew) onto Earth with terrible craters being left behind. Now that it has gotten a feel for how to aim, it will be using its entire body to attack NERV next, which would be catastrophic for a huge distance.
This is rather problematic, seeing as Gendo is gone. So Misato is in charge, and she makes a plan to have the EVA pilots use their AT fields to hold off the monster while stabbing it. Essentially, they have to catch it, and being in the position to do that holds really low odds. Ritsuko is not pleased with the plan and tells Misato she's doing it for revenge against the Angels. Misato says she's in charge. Great logic indeed.
The pilots agree to the plan, after Misato promises a steak dinner for succeeding. Rei agrees because she always does but declines the offer for dinner because she doesn't eat meat. Not... what I expected. Huh. She also lets them write wills if they want, but they all declin. You waited until now to let them write wills? I'd think the first time Shinji got sent out as a pilot would have been a better opportunity!
While Shinji gets ready, he thinks back on what Misato told him last night. Apparently her father was a scientist (NO REALLY) who neglected his wife and children (WHAT A SHOCK) due to being cowardly about family matters. Misato hated him for it (showing why she sympathizes with Shinji's situation with Gendo) and supported her mother divorcing him. But when the Second Impact happened, he gave up his life to save her. Despite having conflicted feelings on whether she loved or hated her father, she decided to do anything she could against the Angels. Aw.
The EVA units are positioned appropriately. The MAGI computers are to help them get started, then they make the decision on where to go. Shinji happens to be closest. He barely manages to get there in time to hold the Angel off while Rei and Asuka join him. Their AT fields keep it at bay and Asuka manages to knife it. Good game Monster Graham rip-off. Gendo finally manages to contact them (he was at the South Pole with no reception thanks to the floating Angel, enjoy asking your phone company to sort out that) and says to Shinji that he did a good job. ...Compassion from this guy? Not buying it.
Since Rei wouldn't eat steak, they go to a ramen shop that Asuka chose and eat up. Shinji says he thinks he is piloting the EVA because he wanted to hear praise like that from his father. Asuka thinks this is stupid because she's basically Andy from Monster Blood this episode. (She actually gave a piloting reason earlier, saying she wanted to be in the limelight. I expect more on that later since it was only really brushed on.)
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
I'm not sure what the English title means here.
We got development on Misato last time, so now it's Ritsuko's turn. A special test is to take place for Shinji, Rei, and Asuka that involves them synchronizing with direct skin contact. So after being washed seventeen times (according to Asuka) and decontaminated, the naked pilots are put into devices that are similar to the EVAs but only used for test purposes. It seems to be going fine and dandy. Not that the viewer will think so after they hear about a small crack in the defenses that needs to be repaired.
Alarms suddenly go off and Rei, for the first time I believe, screams as her simulation device tries to rip itself free to attack. This showing of actual emotion from Rei shocks Ritsuko (or the device being taken over does but I think that was far less surprising!) and she has the pilots ejected. The culprit is an Angel that doesn't appear to have much of a physical body. It's a bunch of particles hacking into their system. So now we can chalk up 'computer virus' onto the list of retarded things Angels are based off of. (I actually liked this scenario, so don't take that comment the wrong way. =P)
There are three MAGI computers that keep things running smoothly. They are often referred to for making important decisions. The Angel begins to hack these and gets the first two, Melchior and Balthasar. Ritsuko is able to halt the process before Casper, the last one, is contaminated. Misato asks Gendo for permission to destroy the computers, because otherwise the three contaminated computers will blow up the entire NERV base with a self-destruct sequence. Now I get it, the T-Virus decided to infect this place, it always causes buildings to blow up! In any case, Ritsuko is against this plan and offers an alternative by installing something that will kill the Angel (by speeding up its evolution to a high degree) into Casper.
While Misato and Ritsuko work on Casper, Ritsuko reveals that her mother made the MAGI. The brain she exposes in Casper, which looks like a human brain, she says is basically her mother's. Squick. (I hate exposed organs, it's why I couldn't pursue becoming a veterinarian.) With one second left, Ritsuko saves the system and purges the Angel.
After getting Casper back in its proper place, Ritsuko tells Misato that the three MAGI resemble parts of her mother: her as a scientist, a mother, and a woman. She hates the woman part, yet that was Casper, who was the one to not be contaminated. Oh the irony. Also the pilots are stranded in a lake while naked. lulz.
These last two episodes were pretty good. I liked the supporting cast getting some attention.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Oh for the love of holy it's one of THESE episodes. You know how anime likes to take an episode up about halfway through to recap all that's happened with old clips? That's what happened here.
The good news is that it was probably the best one I've seen. It's told in the sense of the council (who goes by the name Seele, I finally learn) showing their report on events to Gendo while trying to grind him for information about the Angel that tried to hack them. We finally get the Angel names. In order, we've seen Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel (if that a was an e...), Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matarael, and Sahaquiel. Apparently the hacker virus is Iruel. Thanks Wikipedia! Also, it only takes up half the episode, which is fantastic.
After all that, Seele asks Gendo about the new Angel that tried to hack him. He says no such thing happened and they could look at the MAGI computers for evidence. But they let it go when he says the Dead Sea Scrolls are going according to plan. Hrm.
This episode's test with the pilots is to see if they can synchronize with other units. Misato knows that Asuka won't work with anything but Unit 02, even if she wanted to, so Rei is tried in Unit 01. It is done with a good amount of success even if Unit 00 is a bit better. Before we see Rei in Unit 00, she goes through a long inner monologue that sounds full of wisdom but is baffling to me right now, as it well should be. Also there were a bunch of Rei clones in her mind. Dude what on.
After Rei is done, Shinji tries out Unit 00. He has a lower rate, though it's not really bad. Then he starts to see images of Rei from various points of when he's seen her in other episodes. Until the last one which freaked me the heck out. I know it'll get a lot more creepy later on, but the image of naked Rei coming up with these wide, mad eyes made me go 'holy sweet goodness keep it AWAYYYYY'. Shinji goes nuts in Unit 00 like Rei did several episodes ago. Unit 00 tries to punch through the window where Rei is standing (when she was in Unit 00, it seemed to be aiming for Gendo). They force it to shut down.
Misato wonders if Unit 00 was trying to hit Rei. Ritsuko silently disagrees, thinking it was aiming for her. Which would make more sense because she was there both times Unit 00 attacked the windows, but who knows at this point. Shinji wakes up in a hospital bed and listens to the TV without speaking while it shows a genius dog. Why. Then Gendo talks to his vice commander about how things are going according to plan. Rei is shown using Unit 00 to bring the Lance of Longinus down a tunnel. That is one big stick.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Gendo and his vice commander talk, and Gendo says that a certain man can be left alone for the moment. We quickly realize this is Kaji as he is seen investigating a warehouse. He talks to an old woman who feeds cats to get some more information on NERV.
The rest of the introduction scenes aren't very interesting. Ritsuko asks Misato what she'll wear to a wedding they were invited to, and says they have been invited to so many due to everyone wanting to get married before age thirty. Misato gets a good outfit. Asuka tries to hang out with Kaji during the weekend but can't reach him, so she agrees to go on a blind date. The only thing of any real significance is that Shinji asks Rei what his father is like, since he has to meet his father alone tomorrow for the first time in a while.
When Shinji meets his father, it is at his mother's (and Gendo's wife's) grave. We aren't told how Yui died, but it seems that the last time Shinji was here with Gendo was three years ago and he ran off during it. Yui's body is not actually buried there, and Gendo has not saved any pictures. He leaves shortly and Shinji says he was glad to have been there with him. Gendo's response? "I see." Such an emotional person.
Misato, Ritsuko, and Kaji go to the wedding and make small talk. After it is over, they go to a bar for some drinking. Misato leaves for a bit, giving Kaji and Ritsuko a chance to talk for a bit before she gets back. Due to Misato being drunk, Kaji winds up carrying her most of the way home. She begins to talk about how she never really loved anyone else, but the idea of being in a relationship with a man so much like her father scared her. She hated her father but loves Kaji, and it's confusing. Kaji tells her to stop talking like that, she doesn't, he finally shuts her up by kissing her. DRAMA!
Back at Misato's apartment, Shinji is playing the cello, which is pretty cool. Asuka comes home and says the blind date sucked. She is bored so she offers to kiss Shinji. Shinji is obviously not enthused about the idea but goes along with it after she calls him a wuss. Asuka pinches his nose, kisses him for about an entire minute as he turns different colors from lack of air, and then runs off to use mouthwash after that. This scene is so awkward that the viewer is spared from it by the penguin walking by and the camera focusing on it. Now I know why they included a penguin, they were like, "This kissing scene is going to be horrible if we have to focus on the kissers. I know, let's have a penguin!"
Misato is dropped at home, and the next morning, Kaji starts to access a private area. Misato stops him with a gun to his head. He swipes it open anyway to reveal Adam who is still one ugly guy.
Oh, we also see Rei is absent in class for what is apparently a common trend. Then she is shown in a tube with orange liquid. She opens her eyes, sees Gendo, he smiles at her, she smiles back. I have no idea what that was all about. Nor do I WANT to know. But I'm afraid I'll learn anyway.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Editor
*opens mouth to speak*
...
*closes mouth*
*walks away*
Anyway, yeah, episode 15 is a really ****ing weird episode. I'm sure some people will disagree, but to me that's the most bizarre episode in the series. >_>
</spoiler>
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
New Moderator
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Provisional
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LMAO he ain't my lover I'm not into guys -Tengu
New Moderator
So now I can finally write those thoughts I had on episodes sixteen through twenty. Since they are basically three days later, though, don't expect them to be as accurate or long as usual since I've forgotten some of the minor details. =(
[Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 16, click to show]I guess seeing Adam last time wasn't going to explain much at this point, because Misato and Kaji's scene is not expanded on right now. Instead the pilots get to take some harmonics tests, and Shinji scores the highest. This causes him to feel confident for once. We all know that won't last long.
Soon after, a new Angel appears. It's... a zebra ball. No really, look at that thing, it's a ball with zebra stripes. Someone's going to have to tell me its name.
Shinji, Rei, and Asuka are dispatched to fight it. They decide to make a triple attack once Rei and Asuka are in position. However, the two of them are taking quite a bit of time to reach their places, and Shinji is getting impatient. With the totally valid 'hey I scored best on the test and I'm a man so I can do this on my own' mentality, he charges out to shoot the thing. But the creators of this series can't let Shinji stay sure of himself, so the zebra ball vanishes, and a shadow comes out of the ground to completely swallow the EVA and Shinji. This is actually pretty disturbing to watch, especially with Shinji screaming for help from basically every person he knows. =(
With no visible way to rescue Shinji or fight the shadow, Rei and Asuka are called back. Ritsuko determines that while Shinji can survive for about sixteen hours with life support of his EVA, there's basically no way to save him, so their priority is to take out the Angel. Misato slaps her. Scientist abuse!
Back with Shinji, we see he has turned on his life support while being trapped inside the Angel, but he is going crazy fast (and for good reason, apparently the liquid smells like blood and it's a small space...). He starts to hallucinate about having conversations with himself, and this is actually rather interesting to watch. I wish I could remember all the details, but what I do recall is that when one Shinji was talking to another, a white line across a black screen would signify which it was depending on its direction. Sounds strange, is strange, but I liked it for whatever reason. There was also mention of how there was a Shinji for every person's perspective of him. Wonder if that has any connection to the multiple Rei copies you see earlier.
With life support nearly gone, Shinji is close to giving up and dying. Then he has an image of his mother coming to hug him. Resolve coming in three... two... one...
Outside the Angel, Rei and Asuka are ready to attack when suddenly it begins to spurt blood. The EVA is in berserker mode and it rips apart the Angel from the inside. By the time it is done, it is covered with blood and pretty creepy looking. Everyone watching besides Rei is pretty startled/horrified, and Ritsuko wonders what exactly they have created. Apparently EVAs aren't mechas like one would think watching this show before...
Misato has a happy reunion with Shinji, having been worried sick about him, and that's where the episode wraps up. I can definitely see where the inspiration for Digimon Tamers came now. That Angel's concept was used for the big bad in that series.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
[Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 16, click to show]Episode 16: Splitting of the Breast/In sickness unto death, and...
Since I didn't post that before. Boo and hiss.
</spoiler>
[Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 17, click to show]Episode 17: Fourth Child/The Fourth Candidate
This episode really didn't stick with me. It wasn't bad, per se, it's just that it got sandwiched between a lot of really good episodes. So don't expect much here.
NERV's second branch vanished. People thought it exploded but apparently not, it vanished. This happened while trying to install something called an S2 engine into Unit 04. Unit 04 got vaporized by this, leaving just Unit 03. Certainly lots of people were taken out from it.
Since this was IN AMERICA and Americans in anime are either complete wusses or hardcore blonde guys with flag bandannas, they wanted to get Unit 03 off their front and to the other NERV base. So they drop that off, and guess what, a pilot is needed for it. Cue getting the Fourth Child.
Like heck I remember the rest of this. Basically a ton of hints are dropped that Toji is the pilot being chosen, you see the girl class representative trying to get closer to him by offering to make him lunch, Kensuke tells Shinji about the NERV incident and a Fourth Child being chosen, Asuka sneaks a look on Kaji's computer to see who the Fourth Child is... Toji gets called to the office later and seems glum after the trip, so if you didn't think Toji was going to be the pilot before, HELLO!
This episode displeased me at first because I was like 'ugggggh why are you making Toji important now'. But the next episode makes up for that.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
</spoiler>
[Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 18, click to show]Episode 18: Ambivalence/The Choice of Life
This episode totally justifies the last one by being awesome.
We get a quick shot of Unit 03 being transported by plane to Japan as a cloud settles in on it. This is an Angel, and Epyon tells me its name is Bardiel. This obviously won't end well, especially since Toji is going to try and do a sync test with it today.
A little more drama about Toji being the newest pilot is shown. Apparently his only request for doing it was to have his sister transported to the NERV hospital, so at least he's still being a good older brother. That is the one thing I like about Toji, it's shown that no matter what, he really does care about his sister.
During the sync test, Unit 03 goes crazy. What a shock. Gendo declares it to now be labeled the thirteenth Angel and to destroy it. A lot of the NERV employees are hesitant about this declaration, but they proceed to call in Shinji, Rei, and Asuka to combat it.
Shinji and Asuka are hesitant to battle this Angel, knowing the pilot is inside. Even Rei seems a bit torn about doing so. Asuka gets taken out quickly by the first attack, and while Rei tries to fight back, it grabs her EVA's left arm and begins to contaminate it. Gendo has the arm severed, which hurts Rei like crazy but does save her and the EVA from being taken over. Only Shinji is left to fight.
The Angel grabs Unit 01 and begins to strangle it, with Shinji doing nothing to fight back. Gendo demands to know why Shinji refuses to fight, and Shinji says he would rather be killed than murdering whoever the pilot was. So Gendo has Shinji's control cut off from Unit 01 and has a dummy plug, modeled after Rei, take over. Unit 01 proceeds to completely rip apart the Angel without mercy despite Shinji trying to do everything to stop it. After a total slaughter, it pulls out the plug and crushes it. Well. Nice knowing you, Toji.
All of the witnesses at NERV (besides Gendo) are shocked at what happened while Shinji is left traumatized. He can only watch as the recovery team finds the pilot of Unit 03, who is apparently still alive (THAT IS TOTAL GARBAGE), and he sees them pull out Toji. Cue scream.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Shinji obviously has not been taking Gendo's interference well. He refuses to come out of Unit 01 and even threatens to tear apart NERV to get to Gendo, who he is, to say the least, very angry against. Some of the NERV employees try to convince Shinji that Gendo did the most logical thing; had Unit 03 not been stopped, many deaths would have happened. Shinji does not give a darn about this so they inject something in the liquid of his plug to put him to sleep. Ah drama.
We are shown that Toji is in the hospital with Shinji for a while. Later, Toji wakes up again to see Hikari, who came to visit him out of worry. I'm still rather baffled that Toji lived. There's no way he could have from the plug crush, and since this show's aim seems to be throwing Shinji into angst mode whenever it can, they missed a perfect chance.
In any case, Shinji is led to Gendo, who tells him he has committed many crimes in that last fight. Shinji's reply is that that he never wants to pilot an EVA again. And that he doesn't want to see his father. So he leaves.
Misato helps Shinji to get ready for the train to leave. As he waits, an alarm suddenly goes off, saying that there's an emergency situation. He can soon see the Angel, which has arms made of scotch tape. Epyon reports his name is Zeruel. I prefer scotch-tape Angel myself but okay.
Shinji continues to tell himself that he will never pilot another EVA. He sees Asuka come out to fight the Angel (Rei's EVA is still lacking arm use) and begins to shoot it. A lot. She has a ton of loaded guns next to her on the hill and nearly uses them all up. However, the Angel makes it to her without a problem and decapitates her EVA. NERV barely manages to stop her from being synchronized before she would have suffered the effects of that. (Know how Rei was in so much pain from losing her arm? Shinji too? Imagine if Asuka felt her head going off. OUCH.)
With Asuka down and cursing that she couldn't beat the Angel (she wanted to show up Shinji), Rei comes as back up despite only having one working arm. She has an N2 mine and uses it to blow up the Angel and herself. But the Angel is still going, so things look pretty bad unless Toji suddenly decides to make a miracle recovery and pilot as well. (He doesn't. I'd boycott the bloody show if that happened.)
Shinji, still torn between promising not to pilot but worried for everyone else, meets up with Kaji, who is watering his watermelon patch. I forget which episode it happened in, but earlier on, Kaji showed Shinji that his habit was to keep a watermelon patch. In any case, he's busy doing that, and tells Shinji to do what he won't regret later. Oh and the world will end if this Angel meets Adam in NERV's headquarters, so that kinda sucks.
Shinji runs back to get into Unit 01 and fight. The NERV employees run outside to watch what will happen. Shinji does a good job of fighting the Angel until his battery power runs out. Then it begins to trash him and rips off his left arm. Using its deadly scotch tape arms, the Angel pounds Unit 01's chest until a core is revealed that looks just like the Angel cores. Shinji, now in a panic, pleads to the EVA to activate again, that he has to save everyone no matter what.
This next part nearly made me want to throw up. EVA goes into berserk mode again as it and Shinji get a sync rate of 400%. Its arm regrows... as a human arm. Its teeth become human teeth. It gets a large, green, eerie eye. It annihilates the Angel, and then THIS happens.
Me: Hah it's like it wants to eat the Angel. *Hears noises* ...I WAS JUST KIDDING. WHY ARE YOU ACTUALLY DOING THAT. BLARGH.
So yeah. The EVA eats through the Angel to get its S2 engine. Episode ends, I am scarred by squick.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Well, the Angel is gone, but now a whole new host of problems exist. Fearing what this new EVA could do, it gets put away with several bandages. They of course leave its creepy eye unbandaged to make me squirm. Shinji is completely gone; by going so high with the sync rate, his body has dissolved, leaving his plug suit behind. Misato is ravaged by worry, and when Ritsuko mentions probably being unable to get him back, another slap happens. Or maybe that happened earlier. All I know is Ritsuko got slapped twice by Misato in the last five episodes.
The days begin to be counted by as Ritsuko tries to recover Shinji. Day one, day two, day three, day four, day thirty-WAIT A MINUTE YOU SKIPPED LIKE TWENTY-SIX DAYS! But yeah, Shinji's gone for a month, which is rather extreme. Misato has been very concerned, Asuka seems to feel a bit of worry but is hiding it well if so, and Rei is in a tube or something. She and Gendo go to eat lunch apparently. I don't know, their relation is REALLY confusing me. >_>
By this point, we get a look at what Shinji's been thinking. At one point, he sees a naked version of Misato, and then Asuka, and then Rei asking if he wants to become one with them. ...Yeah. Then he hears a conversation between his mother and father about what to name their child. Gendo says if it's a boy, Shinji, if it's a girl, Rei. Oh ho. Shinji thinks he can hear his mother and goes towards her.
Ritsuko was trying to do an experiment to bring Shinji back, but it ends in failure, and the liquid from the plug is spilled everywhere. Misato grabs the plug suit and begins to cry heavily, when a naked Shinji suddenly appears nearby. That was convenient.
The episode ends with Misato and Kaji having the quietest sex scene ever and then talking about what NERV is trying to accomplish. Whoo.
</spoiler>
I am hoping to watch episodes twenty-one through twenty-four today. After that... Well, I've been recommended to watch End of Evangelion, and THEN watch twenty-five and twenty-six. Any opinions on that?
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Liberal Arts Major
You certainly could do that. I watched the entire series and then EoE, and that'd probably be my recommendation, but it's up to you I suppose.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Provisional
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LMAO he ain't my lover I'm not into guys -Tengu
New Moderator
Watched twenty-one through twenty-four, write-ups in a moment.
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
[Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 21, click to show]Episode 21: He was aware that he was still a child./The Birth of Nerv
Oh boy. From the preview I saw before, I got the impression this would be an incredibly boring episode, but far from it. Lots of backstory information here.
First, we see Kaji calling Misato and apparently leaving a message. This won't come up again until the end of the episode, but it's important, so.
*Copies and pastes name for convenience* Fuyutsuki, the guy who's always helping Gendo, got captured by SEELE and interrogated about what was going on. They were throwing a hissy fit about the EVA unit taking the S2 engine. But we don't see much of that, because most of his time there is spent thinking about previous events in past years. Also, Misato is detained for a while due to her relation with Kaji, who NERV suspects of taking Fuyutsuki.
I can't remember the exact order of memories, but I'll highlight the interesting ones. It seems Fuyutsuki either cared for Yui (Shinji's mother) a lot, or perhaps even loved. It's never outright stated but the implication was there. He met Gendo soon after, and one surprising thing for me is that Gendo actually took Yui's last name.
When the Second Impact happens, Fuyutsuki is recommended to go into scientist work once more. He meets Gendo again, who tells him that he and Yui are married and have a son named Shinji. We actually see Shinji as a young kid too when Yui and Fuyutsuki have a conversation.
Misato is shown to have not talked for the first two years after the Second Impact. Ritsuko and her meet in their teens, as does Kaji to them, and Ritsuko spends quite some time commenting on them to her mother. Akagi works with Gendo on the EVA project. You can see Unit 00 here in its first stages.
Yui brings Shinji to the laboratory one day before doing an important experiment, so she can show her child what a bright future was coming. Then she dies without us learning exactly how so 'nice going parents'. Gendo instantly seems to change after her death, as shown by getting glasses of doom and changing the project. Also Ritsuko catches her mother kissing Gendo (though it seems Akagi wanted to do this mostly for herself, Gendo doesn't really appear to care).
Later on, we see Gendo has a young girl with him, Rei. Around this time, Akagi finishes the Magi and tells Ritsuko about them. Ritsuko leaves shortly after, and Rei comes in. Akagi volunteers to help her get out since she is lost, but Rei calls her an old bag. When Akagi tells her off for it, Rei tells her that is what Gendo always calls her, and that she's useless. Akagi snaps, strangles Rei to death, and then shoots herself. 'Whoa'
It's around this point that we stop seeing flashbacks. Kaji comes in to rescue Fuyutsuki. Kaji knows he will die because of this, so he goes to a place during sunset with a huge rusty fan (if you've watched Monster you'll know what I mean immediately). He turns, smiles, says "You're late," and there's a gunshot.
Misato is then seen at home and looks at the message machine. She has a message and listens to it. Kaji gives her his last remarks, asking her to water his plant and that if he ever sees her again, he will say the words he could not eight years ago. It's about this point I started crying. Kaji was awesome. ;_;
Shinji, seeing Misato breaking down, goes back to his room and laments running away and still being a child. This was a powerful episode and one that really helped to explain some things.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
This is easily one of my favorite episodes. Just getting that out here before I go on.
Asuka has been having some flashbacks at the start. Apparently her mother committed suicide while she was young, and she is at the funeral as a child. She also saw her mother in a bed while cuddling a really creepy doll and talking as if it was Asuka, and saying the 'big girl over there' would laugh if she did not eat her food. Let's get into the disturbing already, no need to wait for the episode to get to the title screen yet.
Back in the present, Asuka's sync rate is dropping to horrible numbers because of her loss to the scotch tape Angel. At home, she doesn't speak to Misato or Shinji unless she has to, and in the bathroom, she drains the water, says she hates everything they used and touched, and then screaming that she hates everyone, naming every person, and then saying that most of all, she hates herself. Yeesh. There was also a scene where she and Rei were in an elevator for like a minute with no change in the scene. As in, one picture for a minute. Wow. Rei tells Asuka that she needs to understand that the EVA has a soul. Asuka says that Rei is just a doll for Gendo and would even die if he told her too. Rei says yes, Asuka slaps her, and leaves in a fury. (Lots of slapping in this series!)
The next day, Asuka's rates are even lower. Too bad for them, because an Angel suddenly appears in orbit. It's a white flying space bird! Arael is its name (they actually show it briefly in twenty-four I believe) and it is out of range of most attacks. Misato decides Unit 00 and Rei will be the lead, with Unit 02 and Asuka backing her up. Asuka says "**** no I'm not getting stood up by HER" and takes the lead. The Angel then attacks.
I am sorry, I could not help but laugh at this part. The Angel's attack is to shine a beam of light on Asuka as "HALLELUJAH!" plays in the background. I started cracking up immediately from the music. This is about the only funny part in the episode so that doesn't ruin it, but good gosh this is Narm to its finest.
The light is revealed to be a mind rape ray or something. Asuka screams at it to get out of her, to stop probing her mind and heart. Then we get to see what Asuka has gone through mentally for quite some time.
Again, this is a hard sequence to remember fully, so I shall bullet point what I can remember:
*Asuka is given a doll (not creepy one) that gets torn. She says she doesn't need dolls now because she is grown up.
*Her younger version, with the non-creepy doll, finds her in a playground and asks her if she's lonely. She says no. The girl says, "Liar," and is revealed to be the creepy doll.
*Four moments of what she did before play again and again: when she introduced herself to the class, calling Shinji stupid, when she was thinking about using Unit 02 in episode eight, and showing her breasts to Kaji to show that she was grown up. Each time that played, she would scream that it wasn't her. Then it would play again. It would seem funny out of context, but in the episode, it was rather disturbing to watch.
*Young Asuka asks her mother to not stop being her mother. Her mother asks her to die with her. Asuka says all right, so long as she does not stop being her mother. The creepy doll is shown being hung.
*Lots of disjointed scenes play due to dramatic colors and words that flash quickly across the screen. The main one I caught was 'mother'.
As her sync rate is totally broken, Asuka is left to sob to Kaji (who isn't there, just to clarify, in this series you never know) that she has been defiled. For the third time: squick.
Gendo does not want to lose Unit 02, so he calls Unit 00 with Rei to get the Lance of Longinus. She pulls it out of Adam and hurls it to pierce the heavens. Kicking reason to the curb, the Angel gets pierced by the lance and destroyed. It then floats away.
At the end, Shinji comes over to Asuka. She says she would have rather died than been rescued by Rei, who she continues to hate. Shinji has no clue what to say, which only makes things worse for Asuka.
So, yeah. I actually want to rewatch this one at some point to see the Asuka scenes again. That's how much I liked it.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
We first see Gendo getting a scolding from SEELE for tossing the Lance of Longinus into outer space. Read that sentence again and marvel that it actually makes sense in context. Gendo uses a phone call about an Angel attack to basically say, "Screw you guys, I have better things to do."
With Asuka in a horrible state, the show decides it is time to screw with Rei. The next Angel to attack is... a glowing white gummy worm. And I thought Ramiel was lazy drawing! Rei is sent to combat it with Asuka as back-up, even though she's really in no state to do anything. Gendo wants to keep Unit 01 out of battle as long as possible.
The glowing gummy worm... okay, its name is Armisael, but anyway. It digs into Rei's EVA and begins to contaminate her. Its attempt to merge with Unit 00 is shown by veins appearing on the EVA and Rei. Rei has an image of talking to herself (probably actually the Angel) and saying there is loneliness in her heart.
Asuka is sent out to save Rei, but her EVA won't work at all. Her confidence is so crushed that no matter what she does to try and move, she can't make the EVA do anything. Asuka is brought back and Shinji is sent out, causing Asuka to feel bitter that Shinji was never sent to help her. Shinji tries to save Rei, but the gummy worm starts to merge with him as well. A fake Rei is seen formed at its end.
Realizing the danger he is in, Rei brings the gummy worm back to her, contains it in her AT field, and then blows up the EVA. The Angel is taken out, and apparently Rei is dead too.
Oh but don't worry, everything's okay, Rei's back and just bandaged up! Hey wait what. Shinji says he is glad she's okay and thanks for saving him. She doesn't know what he means, and says she thinks she is the third one. So yeah. First Rei was the little girl that got strangled to death. Second Rei was the one we knew for most of the show and that died. Third Rei is now here.
When this Rei returns to her home, she picks up Gendo's glasses and nearly crushes them. But then she feels tears coming from her eyes and wonders why she is crying. Aw.
SEELE wants to investigate how Rei survived the incident. Gendo indulges them by sending them Ritsuko instead. They tell her as much, and she seems hurt by it.
Misato has found a data chip that Kaji sent her to help her see the truth. She uses it and confronts Ritsuko as she is going into the top secret area place thing. Ritsuko agrees to show Misato what she wants to see, so long as Shinji can too. She called Shinji earlier and he is here now. They enter to first see, as Shinji calls it, an 'EVA graveyard' where apparently his mother vanished.
This next part gets an A+ for creepiness. The tube that Rei was housed in it surrounded by tank walls that have clones of Rei. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Rei is either based off or directly cloned from Yui, which is why Gendo has such a fixation on her. She keeps coming back to life through new bodies. The clones in these tanks are not people, though they look like Rei and seem to be laughing similarly to her. Ritsuko says that she kept losing to Gendo to Rei, and since these were not people, she doesn't mind destroying them. Then she causes all the Rei bodies to fall apart. This is... pretty disturbing to watch.
Apparently, like mother like daughter, because Ritsuko had tried to love Gendo too but been used just as her mother did. She collapses and begins sobbing as Misato and Shinji watch. And so another tragedy has occurred. Par for the course in this anime.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Liberal Arts Major
Oh, you.
I didn't realize NGE was the topic of choice here. I must now read all this shit!
EDIT: Also, I watched End of Evangelion after finishing the actual series. My impression is that the ending you watch first is the one you like more, so if you want some totally bizarre bullshit optimistic ending, go with episodes 25-26, whereas if you want some totally bizarre violent mindfuck ending, go with End of Evangelion. Then watch the other one.
___
~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Message last edited by Ogordemir99 on 1/28/2010 at 11:07:00 PM
Liberal Arts Major
I like EoE more despite watching it last!
But then, I don't know if some of my interpretations of EoE are common.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
Based on previous discussions I think you have a fairly idiosyncratic view.
[Spoiler for Episodes 1-4, click to show]NERV doesn't stand for anything. They just decided to capitalize it because it looks cooler or whatever. And yes, it means nerve. It's pronounced "nehrf" in German, with the German r of course, but something like "neruf" by the Japanese voice actors and undoubtedly something stupid by the American voice actors. THE MORE YOU KNOW
It's Absolute Terror. The only time this is stated is in the opening credits; it's just AT everywhere else. Later on the name makes more sense maybe. Absolute Territory makes no sense, at any rate.
I assume it [the Rei vision] won't seem as random later.
This is debatable.
There is so much wrong with this that I can't even begin to explain.
Nothing wrong with it at all. Tokyo-3 is a "real" city more or less and there's no good reason to exclude pilots from the school system.
I totally missed anything significant she [Hikari] did.
Her job is to provide us with minutes of delicious filler. She's also kind of a foil for Asuka but she sucks at that.
I swear they spend like an entire minute staring at each other before the episode ends, holy cheese.
I was initially confused by this as well but then I learned to just skip through the multitude of excessive still frames.
</spoiler>
___
~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
New Moderator
This... is a hard episode to describe. I really liked it, and after watching the series, I'd think it's top tier. But try explaining this to someone who hasn't watched it and it'll come off as incredibly random and convoluted. I probably won't do justice to it here, especially since some details will probably be left out. But it's good. Really good. So don't get that wrong.
Asuka learns that Kaji is dead, and she runs away for a week. She is found by some NERV people in an abandoned bathtub, naked and mentally wrecked. They bring her to the hospital and that is where she stays for the rest of the episode.
With Asuka down and out, a new pilot for Unit 02 is needed. They decide to bring in the Fifth Child. Around this point or a bit later, Misato goes home to say goodbye to Pen Pen and send him off with Kensuke's family to keep him safe. Wait this means no more penguin for random scenes to ruin epicness? I approve.
Shinji stands on a beach and contemplates wanting to see someone, as he is lonely. But he can't bring himself to face Rei, and Asuka's in the hospital as a wreck, and his classmates have moved out to get to safety. So he seems stranded until he notices a boy on a rock humming Ode to Joy. Oh well that isn't suspicious.
This boy, who looks fabulous and I want a figure of, I mean dang look at that hair, introduces himself as Kaworu. He explains to Shinji that he is the Fifth Child and is a genuinely kind person to him. Shinji reacts to all this by blushing furiously. Hm. I guess he's bi, or else why would he be seeing naked women in his mental world? (Joke, joke.)
The next morning, Kaworu is seen talking to SEELE members on a rock in the middle of the lake. Apparently he is actually an Angel. They are concerned about Gendo, who Kaworu recalls that Shinji said he hated. Misato watches Kaworu with binoculars, and gets a shock as he seems to look right at her.
During the next sync test, it is revealed that Kaworu matched up to Unit 02's core perfectly despite it being originally for Asuka. The NERV employees marvel at this. When Rei is leaving, Kaworu meets her at the top of the stairs and says that they are the same. So Rei is an Angel too... and based off Yui at the same time. Hm.
Shinji waits on a bench until Kaworu shows up. Kaworu suggests they shower together. Oh man the writers knew they could get females with this! Kaworu observes (while they are both naked in the bath-*Trampled by fangirls*-ow) that Shinji is hesitant to get close to anyone. He then touches Shinji's hand and says he loves him. At least they aren't beating around the bush. When Shinji suggests going to bed, Kaworu asks, "Together?" I laughed. >_>
Shinji actually spends the night at Kaworu's house. Kaworu asks him to talk about what is on his mind, and Shinji finds himself pouring out all his concerns. Considering this is the only person to have really accepted Shinji for who he is and still like him without criticism, I can understand why Shinji felt good around this guy.
Again, I can't recall if this happened now or earlier, but there's one point where Gendo told Yui that it would be done soon. His hand has mutated flesh and an eyeball on it. ...Ew. He said that to Unit 01, I believe, so... FORESHADOWING PLOT POINTS!
The next morning, Kaworu manipulates Unit 02 to follow him down to where Adam is. Since Unit 02's soul was sealed off due to the stuff with Asuka, he was able to freely control it as an Angel. Shinji is sent down to stop him. Shinji grapples with Unit 02 while asking Kaworu frantically why he was doing this. A misguided prog knife stab is stopped by Kaworu's AT field, and he says that everyone has an AT field based around... protecting their heart's emotions, or memories... confound it I need the line again, because I liked it. =/
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears