Get in the Simulwatch - Neon Genesis Evangelion [End of Eva - 21/7]

I really don't want to deviate too much from the thread topic so I'll just give some final thoughts:

I'm certainly not the kind of person who is easily offended, as hard as it may be for you to believe 😛
I actually do come from a time when we weren't looking under every rock with intent to find something to take offence at. I'm simply implying that you don't have to necessarily agree with or feel comfortable with everything that you see in fictional entertainment (or real life, for that matter). I'm certainly capable of perspective, and of being able to separate the two, but some things in fiction can be representative of things that occur in real life (or are influenced by real life scenarios), albeit in an exaggerated manner. It's entirely possible to still respect the creative freedom of the artist, even if you don't like certain aspects of their creations, and I'm certainly not the kind of person who would suggest that any creative "should never have made that". I'm also not one of those people who feels that just because I have a problem with something, that every one else should therefore have a problem with it as well.

Personally I think it's a positive thing that artists can push boundaries because in my opinion, you'd have to be a pretty emotionless machine to not react to anything. I don't mean react as in "I must take my relatively disproportionate, passive-agressive rant to social media to inform the masses about how deeply offended I am", I simply mean reacting in a real and human way. Allowing yourself to empathize with characters, and become invested in their stories -people can really feel connected to specific characters, because "he or she has been through a similar situation".

Entertainment can be pretty jarring too; it's certainly not all sunshine and rainbows. Some things are meant to shock and surprise, and that needn't be a bad thing. I personally think it's acceptable to raise eyebrows and question things, as opposed to, (at least in this example), soley accepting the things that transpire as the bi-product of a warped mind. It's possible to do so without it resulting in twisted knickers 😛

I respect the fact that we are very different in terms of our attitudes, and thus have different outlooks on things, and these are just my personal thoughts and opinions. I totally see where you're coming from, but I can't fundamentally agree on the basis that I have too much awareness and emotional intelligence.

Actual intelligence on the other hand...

😒😩
 
Episode 11

Man has always feared the darkness, so he scrapes away at its edges with fire. He creates life by diminishing the darkness.

The quote above surprisingly belongs to Rei. 😯
Other than her relaying a mission schedule to Shinji in episode 6, this is surely the most words she's ever strung together in one go, so it has extra significance and impact.

This is another really interesting and unusual episode, exploring what happens to NERV HQ when the power goes out. Ritsuko's assertion to Shinji that Gendo believed in the three young pilots enough to prepare the Evas for their arrival — as well, no doubt, as the sight of Gendo putting his back into the manual labour involved — perhaps goes some way to repairing the damage done to Shinji's perception of his estranged father done in the previous episode (where it was revealed that it was he who gave the order to obliterate everything and everyone on-site in the case of the capture operation going wrong).

The design of the Angel here is wonderfully freaky, and there's some nifty new equipment for the Evas to use, in the form of battery packs attached to their shoulder pillars. The choreography of Asuka's plan of attack is really neat, too.

And the identity of the culprit behind this episode's piece of sabotage is—hmmmff!

Too early to reveal. 😉
 
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Episode 11

Really interesting to see Gendo working hard and putting a shift in when the chips are down. We know he can be cold as ice demonstrated early in the episode when Shinji is left deflated at his father's rejection for bothering him with trivial school stuff. We see though that Gendo really only has the big picture in mind personal relationships be damned.

Shinji being taken aback that his father trusted he would make it to pilot the Eva was a nice touch too.

Poor Misato she just can't catch a break at the moment relegated to the duty of comic relief this time around with the grimey kaji.

It was nice to see Asuka not lose heart at constantly making the wrong choice but when they had to get it right she came up with a good plan. It worked and she didnt need to make the killing blow for once.

Seeing the kids relaxing on the hillside as the lights came back on in the city was a really nice note to end the episode on.
 
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Episode 12

Your duty? You must be kidding. This is for your own sake, isn't it? This is just your revenge against the Angels!

Ahh, this mission is one of my very favourites in Rebuild, where it appears in a very track-and-field-inspired expanded form. The sight of the towering Evas sprinting and hurdling power lines is thrilling stuff. The ADV subtitles have Misato saying "Evas, start your engines", but "on your marks" would've been more fitting. The Rebuild version adds the triple-jump to the roster, too.

On the subject of Misato, we get some more glimpses into her backstory here as she and Ritsuko butt heads, and, on the design front, there's a second consecutive Angel with an eye motif defining its appearance.

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Neil.T said:
And the identity of the culprit behind this episode's piece of sabotage is . . .
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thedoctor2016 said:
It’s never clearly stated is it?
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It's probably not, now I think more about it. This is only the second time I'm watching the series, so I'm probably getting that mixed up with either something in the Essential Evangelion Chronicle books (a pair of guidebooks covering the series and End of Eva) or possibly something I once read on Evageeks, that being either informed speculation or an apparent fact culled from some piece of supplementary Eva material, possibly from a Japanese source. 🤔
 
Episode 10

It's over this next few episodes that I think Evangelion seems most like a conventional action/sci-fi series, but I don't mean that in a bad way. I imagine that's intentional, building a false sense of security. Certainly this one feels a lot like it's harking back to the old kaiju films - having to dive into a volcano to confront the angel feels very Godzilla-esque.

The shot with the beer can WMD pointed out was a nice touch, but I also thought it was noticeable that Misato seems quite maternal in this one, pulling Shinji and Asuka up on their test scores, before showing no apparent remorse at putting Asuka in grave danger from the atmospheric pressure. In her own way, she's every bit as driven as Gendo.

I don't think there's any great significance to it, but the ED has changed back to having a blue sky in the background, after having been red for the previous couple of eps, too.

Episode 11

Again, not one I particularly remembered, but I thought this one was genuinely really funny. Perhaps it's the mundanity of the introduction with the NERV team doing their laundry, but the deadpan tone of this episode reminded me a lot of Patlabor - Gendo with his feet in the fire bucket? I am ded.

Aside from that, there's some interesting tidbits on the running of Tokyo-3. The fact that it is effectively governed by the majority decision of three supercomputers is something that went completely over my head before. We even get a little bit of insight into Hyuga and Aoba, the two recurring male computer techs. Aoba less so, although the fact that we see him with a guitar case, as opposed to just playing the air guitar, confirms that he is an actual musician, rather than just a fan, while Hyuga is quick witted enough to commandeer the electioneering wagon. He washes Misato's uniform for her too...

For anyone watching the Netflix version with the translated episode titles, it's worth mentioning too that the original English title explicitly namechecks classic US sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still - not too hard to see that as another probable influence on the show in general.


Also I watched ep11 with the original ADV dub. Don't @ me.

Neil.T said:
And the identity of the culprit behind this episode's piece of sabotage is—hmmmff!
Click to expand...

Maybe I shouldn't be asking, as I have thought about reading it at some stage, but is this something that's picked up on more in the manga? It wouldn't be unheard of (strangely, I keep thinking of the original film version of The Big Sleep, in which an unseen gunman's identity famously was not even known to Raymond Chandler himself), but it seems a significant detail to just leave entirely to the viewer's imagination.
 
Professor Irony said:
Maybe I shouldn't be asking, as I have thought about reading it at some stage, but is this something that's picked up on more in the manga?
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I haven't actually read the manga yet, so I couldn't say first-hand.

I did some online digging, though, and managed to unearth the Evageeks article I came across once before, along with another article of relevance. Here we go.

SPOILERS OF LATER EPISODES FOLLOW!!! You have been warned, folks. 😉

• Relating to the NERV power outage in episode 11:
"It is never explained who exactly sabotaged the power supply in Tokyo-3, and this remains an unanswered mystery of the series."
Episode 11 - EvaWiki - An Evangelion Wiki - EvaGeeks.org

• Contrast the above with this article on an officially licensed Evangelion PlayStation game, though:
"The game borrows a few things from the Evangelion manga and tweaks them slightly to fit better with the anime:
· For instance . . .
. . . In the scene of the power going out at Nerv, it's implied that Kaji was responsible for this."
Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 - EvaWiki - An Evangelion Wiki - EvaGeeks.org

(This is admittedly specific to the game, however, as that section describes other plot elements which directly contradict the anime. Hideaki Anno, however, "was heavily interviewed for the Classified Information files*, and is also credited for the Events engine in the game.")

*Page contains major spoilers for the series
 
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Episodes 9-12
Monster of the week show with comedy noodlings!
Most of the psychological stuff seem to revolve around sexual tension: the non-kiss, Asuka in her swim suit and Shinji giving PenPen a poke in the eye 😏 in the onsen (no doubt imagining the ladies being naked on the other side of the fence). Other things of note on that side of the show Shinji being really happy at being praised by Gendo and in all the debate over the non-kiss I don't think anyone mentioned Asuka's cry for her mother!

Manga time
The first attack is the same.
After that though Shinji and Asuka are put in a twin room within NERV itself with a camera so Misato (and Ryoji) can watch. We still get the arguing and training, it seems a bit longer, Rei being perfect and Asuka storming off. There is no nearly kiss, although appears in a different form during the events of episode 11, but we do get the cry for mother from Asuka in her sleep.
In a moment alone Ryoji goes to kiss Misato and she gives him a slap!
The second battle is much the same.

The two seem to diverge a fair amount from here. There's nothing from episode 10 and then the events from 12 turn up before some parts of 11 mixed in with a load of new scenes either completely new or from later episodes which I won't know till I get to watch them.

Ryoji doing spy stuff.
Asuku moves in.
Party for promotion and Asuka moving in. Only missing person is Ritsuko.
Who is with Rei who is being tested in 01 and has a dream where she meets a mysterious creature.
Back at the party Misato is drunk and Ryoji takes her outside where they have a heart to heart and she tells him about her father with the flashback. They almost kiss, Asuka finds them and is pissed.
Hikari gives Shinji some school work to give to Rei. They talk a little and Rei tells Shinji he should tell his dad how he feels.
He tries to call to tell him about the anniversary of his mother's death, but like in episode 11 he can't get the words out.
However they meet the next day at the memorial marker for her and Gendo gives Shinji some advice.
Angel shows up, battle pretty much the same.
Antarctica. Gendo is informed about the Angel, which is called the 7th (I think there's been 10 so far in the anime), and says "5 remain"
They obtained a spear! It's shown in the show, but it isn't mentioned what it is.

The pilots are back from the battle. Shinji nearly screwed something up so Misato wants to see him. She enters the lift with Ryoji who was already there. The lift stops.
The pilots are plunged into darkness. Rei guides them to the tactics room. Asuka learns Misato and Ryoji are missing and were last seen together. She drags poor Shinji with her to look for them.
Misato and Ryoji are having another heart to heart in the lift, meanwhile Asuka asks Shinji if he's kissed Rei. She then dares him to kiss her whilst the same scene of Ryoji and Misato trying to escape plays out, but instead of Ritsuko finding them when the door opens it Shinji and Asuka nearly kissing.
Ritsuko makes the same point about someone wanting to see how they re-establish power and then disgusses with Misato the fact it might be an inside job.
Asuku tells Shinji to go to NERV instead of school to explain to Ryoji what happened. He uses the same manual entry to get in.
Extra spoiler warning: inside he spots Misato who's on a mission. He follows.
Ryoji is up to something. Misato pulls a gun on him and asks him to explain. He says Gendo knows what he really is and is useful to him.
He shows Misato stuff that Gendo and Ritsuko have hidden from her: ADAM!
Shinji also sees the first Angel.
Misato tells Shinji to forget what they saw, but at a harmonics test (like the one shown in episode 12) he's distracted.
Rei talks to him about his father again, Asuka interrupts and Shinji leaves.
As he walks home he tells himself to stop thinking about his father. Then Ryoji offers him a lift and says he wants a chat.
He tells him about NERV and its secrets. He also reminds him about his mum. She died testing the EVA she helped create and Shinji was there to witness it, but had suppressed the memory of it!
Meanwhile Gendo and his number 2 discus the blackout and the Adam project as we see Rei in her EVA plunge the Spear of Longinus into the First Angel!
 
D1tchd1gger said:
Gendo is informed about the Angel, which is called the 7th (I think there's been 10 so far in the anime), and says "5 remain"
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Wow, so the number of Angels in the manga is the same as Rebuild? 😯
Sounds like Anno's been taking tips from Sadamoto-sensei on how to restructure the story into a more compact form. 😉

(For anyone not reading that last inline spoiler there, I promise you it doesn't read "acid again". 😛)
 
Hmm, I dunno. Speculation regarding the power outage:

As I said before, my memory of Kaji's character isn't the clearest, but sleazy though he may be, having him behind such a potentially catastrophic event like that seems as if it would be a major plot point. Whoever crippled Tokyo-3's power would be aware that it would leave not just NERV, but the entire city with its substantial civillian population, wide open to an angel attack. It's less petty sabotage and spying than (presumably state or corporate-sponsored) terrorism.

Is Kaji really a terrorist? Of all the main characters, I think we get the least insight into him as a person, outside of his relationship with Misato. Him being capable of something truly fearsome would certainly make him far more interesting, but this seems like an element the show would address more openly, if it were intended to be the case.

Looking at it another way, I suppose it could be that's how he was originally written, but the writers backed away from that in later drafts, maybe due to time constraints, or a feeling that the story was already dense enough without this subplot.

Of course, the less romantic explanation would be that it's just a gaff that wasn't caught in time. Anno suggesting it's Kaji could just be a sop to shut the fans up. Any author of a work like this must face no end of questions that they're fed up hearing...

Episode 12

After seeing her callous and driven in the Magma Diver episode, it feels like we're now seeing a pained, fragile side of Misato that she's quick to cover up behind her bluster and bonhomie. Her situation isn't so very different from Shinji, but I think we're reminded of how different things are for both of them when she promises the pilots a steak dinner. Much as they try to humour her, it doesn't mean anything to them and I think Shinji's comment about the 'second impact generation' is a neat detail - it's not hard to imagine Anno and his contemporaries in their youth, failing to comprehend stories about hardship and rationing from the generation before them.

Given how often complicated paternal relationships seem to be coming up in the story, it would be interesting to know what Anno's relationship with his own father was/is like.

I mean, the one he has with his spirit dad is definitely something...

66057665_10100305866193922_4692611113613787136_n.jpg65776364_10100305866208892_6176616399935373312_n.jpg
 
Professor Irony said:
Is Kaji really a terrorist? Of all the main characters, I think we get the least insight into him as a person, outside of his relationship with Misato. Him being capable of something truly fearsome would certainly make him far more interesting, but this seems like an element the show would address more openly, if it were intended to be the case.
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Professor Irony said:
Maybe I shouldn't be asking, as I have thought about reading it at some stage, but is this something that's picked up on more in the manga?
Click to expand...
To chip in with both of those questions at once:
SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!
"Unlike the anime, which is silent about Kaji's past before he met Misato, Sadamoto's Manga has a Kaji backstory chapter, in which we learn that he was in a post Second Impact gang of looters, and when captured he betrayed his friends to their deaths."
Ryoji Kaji - EvaWiki - An Evangelion Wiki - EvaGeeks.org
 
Professor Irony said:
I mean, the one he has with his spirit dad is definitely something...

66057665_10100305866193922_4692611113613787136_n.jpg65776364_10100305866208892_6176616399935373312_n.jpg
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The relationship and history between Anno and Miyazaki would need a whole thread all of its own! 😅😆

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Episode 13

The end of evolution is self-destruction. Death itself.

This is another unusual episode with an unusual Angel, and another of my very favourites. Hyuga and Aoba's VAs deliver their lines with an actual life-or-death urgency as the MAGI supercomputers come under attack. Absolutely astounding performances, both.

This is the first Angel to be defeated without the use of an Eva, and we gain a lot of insight into Ritsuko as a character.

"Lilliputian Hitcher" is a hell of an episode title, though, innit! 😅
 
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Episode 12

The Flash back scenes are stunning with the red tint. One from the destruction and one from the sunset. Beauty and horror!

Shinjis realisation that hes piloting the Eva because hes seeking his father's approval and he wants to hear it is interesting (especially as he only figures it out after Gendo praises him for the first time). And it was very Asuka that she calls him an idiot for that being his reason!

Misatos story is great. We've only really seen the fun or determined side to her. Sure we've also seen her angry but here we discover theres a real rage burning under the surface for her father and the angels. How it all interplays into Shinjis story is also really well structured.
 
Episode 13

Really good episode this. Seeing the adults sort out an angel attack for once made a nice change of pace. Also the composition of this angel is so interesting. The interplay of evolutionary tactics, biological verses scientific, and who will get there first: humanity or angels is great distillation of the entire show!

Learning about Ritsuko was really nice too. She's always been very stoic but kinda secondary. So having her in the spotlight while also learning a but about the Magi system and the geofront was really cool. And yet another complicated parent relationship!

Loved the circuit design of the angel as well!
 
WMD said:
Kaji is the absolute worst!
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I like him in Rebuild (for the modest amount of screen time he's had), because he's voiced in Japanese by Kouichi Yamadera, who's one of my absolute favourite VAs. In the original series, though...

Well, he's a rat, isn't he? "Roguish charm" only stretches so far. 😕
 
Someone needs to make a band called Lilliputian Hitcher.

Episode 13

Well, I was bound to enjoy this one (the clue’s in the avatar). There’s something a little bit ‘90s hacker movie’ about seeing it all come down to speed coding to save the day, but it’s nice to get such a change of pace with the nature of the angel attack this time - kind of underscores the difficulty for NERV in trying to prepare for what they could be faced with.

There’s an interesting bit of symmetry in how Misato becomes hypnotised by the corrupted Eva attacking the glass partition, leading to Ritsuko having to pull her away, before the two repeat the situation later on with the roles reversed, but this is very much Ritsuko’s show. The reveal that the magi computers all represent aspects of her mother is quite a psychological bomb to drop, compounded by the weirdly literal moment of ‘reading her thoughts’ when Ritsuko crawls inside the machine to find all the little post-it notes. There’s a fair old bit of foreshadowing here that I probably shouldn’t go into yet, but it suddenly occurs to me to wonder if Ritsuko appearing without lipstick in the previous episode is due to Gendo’s absence.
 
Professor Irony said:
when Ritsuko crawls inside the machine to find all the little post-it notes.
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I loved that the only translated bit on the notes was the scrawl saying 'Ikari you jerk!' Was that written by Ritsuko or her mother?! Has her Gendo hang up been handed down from her mum or what that her venting her frustrations to what remains of her mum?
 
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