Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Zusuchan » Sat Sep 25, 2021 2:02 am

UrsusArctos wrote:That's because Tines has consistently commented on one episode every day (barring wiki outages) and has thus managed to cover the remainder of the entire series. Perhaps you could try something similar, or stick to 2-3 scenes per episode per day? It may take a couple of months, but it should all be covered by the end.

I knew Tines was doing that, but it still came off as surprisingly quick, but maybe that's just me. As for your suggestion, that's probably a good idea, yes. I'll try to do something like that and be more active with my comments from now on.

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Luigi shinji » Sat Sep 25, 2021 5:37 am

SPOILER: Show
View Original PostUrsusArctos wrote:@dzzthink: Thank you for such excellent comments, please continue!

@LuigiShinji: By the way, this comment of yours below does not fit the cut number and episode you mentioned. Where does this one go?

View Original PostLuigi Shinji wrote:Episode 17

cut 017: This is probably pointed out by a lot of people already but I just recently realized that Kensuke is the closest representation of the viewers. He is want to be a pilot becouse he is a fan of the EVA's and he want to be a part of the team of our favourite characters just like the fans of the show would want to.


Oh sorry it meant to be for episode 18 cut 017

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby UrsusArctos » Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:54 am

Zusuchan - yes, that way you too could be done with this surprisingly quickly.

Luigi Shinji - comment added in its correct place. Thank you!
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Mr. Tines » Sun Sep 26, 2021 4:05 pm

View Original PostZusuchan wrote:I knew Tines was doing that, but it still came off as surprisingly quick, but maybe that's just me. As for your suggestion, that's probably a good idea, yes. I'll try to do something like that and be more active with my comments from now on.
Just tucking myself up in bed with a laptop each evening and working through an episode, free-associating as I went.

BTW I found my old dinosaur/prehistoric creatures book; and https://wiki.evageeks.org/images/5/52/26_C223l.jpg is a diplocaulus (an amphibian).
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby UrsusArctos » Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:33 pm

View Original PostMr. Tines wrote:BTW I found my old dinosaur/prehistoric creatures book; and https://wiki.evageeks.org/images/5/52/26_C223l.jpg is a diplocaulus (an amphibian).


Wow, no kidding! And I thought it was some weird hammerhead shark/lizard mashup instead of a real lifeform. Stupid me. -o-;
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Frogatr » Tue Sep 28, 2021 5:21 pm

Hi~ i'll help out with this due to my abundant free time and desire for the commentary to be more fleshed out ☆

Hopefully i can describe my thoughts well enough. ^_^

Episode 10-
015- PenPen isn't wearing his backpack here. A rare sight. (Finally PenPen fanservice!!)

029 - ..And his backpack is on again. I wonder how he puts it on.

104- So Sandalphon and Adam have embryonic stages, i wonder what the other angels embryonic forms looked like, or if some of them appear fully formed right from birth.

275- What a gastly mouth Sandalphon has for such a cute outward appearance. (In my opinion of course,lookit his googly eyes!)

293- NEVER!!

298- This keyboard must be a pain to operate. No labeling? Come on!

332- Now why is PenPen wearing his backpack for this bath but not the one earlier? Is PenPen less comfortable in a public bath? Maybe just around Shinji? Who knows,PenPen continues to be Evangelions most mysterious character.
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby UrsusArctos » Tue Sep 28, 2021 9:19 pm

Comments added! Feel free to comment on as many other episodes as you want. Please remember that Episode 19 has a fully translated script, so we're doing the comments for that one in its own dedicated thread.
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby dzzthink » Fri Oct 01, 2021 4:52 pm

Reading the Commentary is really interesting each week. Really nice format and descriptions. Thanks a lot to Ursus and the others for managing the commentary! Episode 14 is the recap episode but I thought it provides some context and insight to the underlying questions in the story, so I added some thoughts.

EP 14

245: Previously, we had Toji, Hikari, and Kensuke providing narration to the first few episodes. Really gives you a feel from an outsider's perspective, what the events seem to be like. Having these kaiju-like monsters appearing every other week must be quite the disturbance!

007: These flowers seem to represent Rei's view of herself and her clones, in the way she mentions they are abundant and unnecessary. The association of water with commander Ikari seems to suggest she is dependent on Gendo for survival. The poem is definitely filled with Rei's perspectives on many things, I think the Evageeks wiki has a page on this but I feel there is still a lot of mysteries.

025: The fact that Gendo is last in this lineup of people and that he is represented by a pair of glasses, seems to suggest unfamiliarity, despite their history.

075: Very interesting that Asuka mentions the mother's womb out of nowhere.

120: Oh, seems like this is referenced in Rebuild 3.33 later. Didn't notice before.

130: Rei descending to work on an operation involving Adam and the Lance of Longinus?
"Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive." - 1 Corinthians 10:23

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby UrsusArctos » Fri Oct 01, 2021 7:10 pm

Added, thank you for the kind compliments! To respond to the comment for Cut 007, we do have a page about Rei's Monologue although it could do with some improvements and maybe a better visual presentation.
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Frogatr » Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:46 am

Hey! I've done a couple of the episodes here- i didn't have enough to say in any episode in particular so i compiled them all here.
And good work everyone! its fascinating reading some of your thoguhts, some of which i've had myself. ^_^

Episode 11

258 - Taking a good look at our "Daddy LongLegs" angel, The closest species i could find resembling Matarael is of the Leiobunum genus of Harvest men.
295- This is why Matarael is known as "The Angel of Rain"
187- I wonder if these eyes within triangles have sparked any crazy Illuminati theories.
227- Falling on top of eachother in an awkward manner seems to be a recurring theme in this episode. (Cuts 294 and 345 )

Episode 12

087- I agree, If you listen to the chatter, it sounds like PenPen is having an awful time.
103- ...the Spear of Loooooonginus, then?
120- It's interesting that Ritsuko isn't wearing her usual lipstick.I wonder if that has anything to do with Commander Ikari being absent?
167- Is this one of Misatos bizarre ways of motivating the pilots? Very morbid.
168- The way Rei says she "has no need" for a will is telling.

Episode 15

262- The fine is in dollars here and not yen. How odd.

Episode 16

124- Asuka is pretty good at improvising here, very quick thinking.
195- Asking someone to trust you without looking them in the eyes seems untrustworthy.
258- Looks like an angels core.


Episode 18
018-This episode has a lot of inconsistancy with Kensukes freckles..
110A- As per usual, Amercians in anime depicted with blonde hair. I guess it is an easy visual signifier.
191- The veins protruding on Eva-00 will come up again soon. Poor Rei..
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby UrsusArctos » Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:33 am

Comments added, keep 'em coming!

View Original PostFrogatr wrote:120- It's interesting that Ritsuko isn't wearing her usual lipstick.I wonder if that has anything to do with Commander Ikari being absent?


That's an interesting observation, I never noticed that she doesn't wear her lipstick throughout the episode!

I checked up on Episode 07 when Gendo is explicitly not around, and she wears her lipstick as usual. Apart from the odd animation error where her lipstick is missing, she usually seems to wear it at Nerv. I get the impression she uses it more to look "professional" more often than "sexy". From what I can make out, she doesn't wear it when she's on casual occasions with Misato and Kaji, like Episode 05, and earlier in Episode 12. She even wears it when she picks up her laundry in Episode 11.
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Dr. Nick » Tue Oct 05, 2021 2:36 pm

Episode 9:

010 (additional commentary, replying to Zusuchan):
It's probably not a particularly hot take to say that Evangelion's super weird, super deconstructive reputation is largely the reputation of its final two episodes, but when evaluating its impact, it's also instructive to keep in mind what the mecha anime landscape looked like in the mid-1990s. The genre was bifurcated: on the OVA side, the older fans were spoiled with really high production value serious business titles like Giant Robo the Animation, Macross Plus and UC Gundam OVAs, whereas on the television side mecha was dominated by the child-friendly Yuusha and Eldran franchises. The Gundam and Macross juggernauts were experimenting on television, but in their case that meant going unabashedly cheesy (G Gundam, Macross 7) or a wizard-did-it levels of fantastical (Gundam Wing). So the time was definitely ripe for some dark, psychologically fucky genre disruption.

082:
[Ursus, I popped in my Platinum 02 disc to confirm this, and Studio Fantasia is credited as one of the cel painting studios of this very episode. According to the ANN encyclopedia, they did cel painting on episodes 8, 9 and 11, so this probably counts as self-destruction. Plus, Studio Fantasia did animation work on EoE as well. Depending on how old your current comment is, you might want to amend it accordingly. I do want to make a follow-up comment here though:]

This sort of cheeky studio self-destruction also comes in other, related forms. If you're into 1990s anime, keep your eyes peeled for the always-crashing Sunrise Air Lines.

097:
This splitting ability is a classic monster of the week gimmick, seen for example in Tadao Nagahama's super robot shows, although the monsters in those tend to be mechanical rather than meaty. I'm a bit disappointed we don't get to see any of the usual sandwiching action here, but of course, the following quick off-screen defeat is probably funnier.

104:
The James Bond of mecha himself, Banjo Haran, once ended up in this pathetic position, but at least he managed to piledrive his enemy to the ground with him.

111 (replying to Ursus):
Since this is a very super-roboty episode, that probably wouldn't work. Genre conventions dictate that a monster of the week must be defeated by the hero robot's finisher attack, so Israfel is likely plot-shielded against anything else. Or, to put it in SRW gameplay terms, the angel has high levels of Potential/Prevail.

156:
You're a harem anime protagonist now, Shinji. Just wait till Mana moves in as well, then there will truly be hijinks!

162:
I wonder, did Nerv commission this piece of music, or did they just pick a pre-existing song with suitable musical patterns?

182:
Note also that despite her talk, the error indicator shows that it was Asuka who messed up.

346 (replying to Ursus):
[Ursus, I have to disagree about the frog-like thing; Israfel's clearly not using their muscles for that jump.]

Israfel pulls the same nearly-levitating AT Field slow jump as Sachiel.

371:
For many fans, this sequence is probably the single most memorable sequence of the action arc.

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby UrsusArctos » Tue Oct 05, 2021 7:31 pm

Added your comments.

View Original PostDr. Nick wrote:082:
[Ursus, I popped in my Platinum 02 disc to confirm this, and Studio Fantasia is credited as one of the cel painting studios of this very episode. According to the ANN encyclopedia, they did cel painting on episodes 8, 9 and 11, so this probably counts as self-destruction. Plus, Studio Fantasia did animation work on EoE as well. Depending on how old your current comment is, you might want to amend it accordingly. I do want to make a follow-up comment here though:]

This sort of cheeky studio self-destruction also comes in other, related forms. If you're into 1990s anime, keep your eyes peeled for the always-crashing Sunrise Air Lines.



This was an oversight on my part, and I've posted a modified version of the comment in pink as a way of acknowledging this. I'm not perfect and I can slip up in things like this; however, I have no shame in being called out for a genuine boo-boo.

346 (replying to Ursus):
[Ursus, I have to disagree about the frog-like thing; Israfel's clearly not using their muscles for that jump.]


Edited my comment in response to make it a little more clear what I meant. Somehow Israfel's movements remind me of a frog, even though, as you've correctly pointed out, its muscle usage is flat zero.
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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Dr. Nick » Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:31 am

Episode 10:

031:
Asuka lampshades a super robot trope that's as old as the genre itself: the good guys have a strong tendency to just rely on turtling even though the baddies never send more than one monster at them at a time. This is usually explained away by having the enemy advance base being hidden on the far side of the Moon or somewhere similar, with the end boss residing in a different solar system altogether.

040:
There goes our chance for a Gunbuster crossover episode.

116:
The kids are displaying surprisingly little intellectual curiosity in this scene when faced with the creepily humanoid embryo. If the Angels are all supposed to be of the same species, I'd be interested to hear why the adult inviduals are morphologically so staggeringly different. Are they just naturally-occuring creatures that are being modified by some villain faction? Are they modified people? If the base forms are so human-like, why don't the Angel attacks look more like this? Shinji voices some questions in the next episode, but they're fairly generic though.

123:
Truly, we are entering the age of Fatso now. If by being red and fat Asuka can channel the powers of Mazinger Z's Boss, she's going to gain a comic relief plot armor stronger than any A.T. Field.

135:
Notice the implication that Rei might be able to pilot Unit-02 in the first place.

Title2:
EPISODE 10: Asuka LANGLEY SORYU DIES IN MAGMA

Explanation [could this be put below the fold?]

A reference to the highly memetic title of episode 6 of the Mazinkaiser OVA, Kouji Kabuto Dies In Magma, which is a bit of false advertising since Kouji Kabuto does not in fact die in magma. The villains do dump him into an active volcano, but since the titular mech is such a brick shithouse of defense, Kouji is mostly worried that he might starve to death while being trapped within molten rock.

209 (replying to Ursus):
That's quite possible, considering how Gumbuster's final episode culminates with the main characters similarly braving extremely high-pressure depths within the core of the said bomb.

266 (replying to Ursus):
The Renewal/Platinum remasters were still a huge improvement, and being able to somewhat decently see what's happening in the action climax of this episode was such a nice thing back in the day. The picture quality of the original release was murky to say the least.

324 (replying to Tines):
Besides, Shinji is probably toughened a bit, having been boiled once already inside the entry plug.

332 (replying to Frogatr):
Pen Pen was originally meant to be the true final boss of the series. Hence the vaguely bird-like nature of the angel face design which is subtly mirrored in the design of Pen Pen's backpack; the beak-like noses of several of the Human Instrumentality Committee members; the Black and White Moons being referred to as eggs; the headless, winged statue associated with Kaworu being a poultry reference, etc.

Edit: expanded cut 116 comment.
Last edited by Dr. Nick on Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Dr. Nick » Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:42 pm

Episode 11:

061:
A pretty cold reminder of how high the stakes are.

082:
Cuts 081-082: Editing is used here to essentially spell out "Kaji is the saboteur". What remains an open question is whether he also planned his elevator encounter with Misato. Was he hiding in his pocket a remote control to trigger the blackout?

083:
I'm going to assume the candles come from a well-stocked occult rituals room.

087:
So, what presumably happened off-screen is that upon sensing the blackout, Matarael quick-morphed from an Adam-like humanoid into a stealthy spider in order to take advantage of the situation. This hints towards the Angels having different personalities, with others being more strategic and calculating whereas others simply try to brute-force their way down to Terminal Dogma.

103:
Asuka might seem overtly entitled here, being the newcomer of the pilot trio, but as elaborated in the After the End audio drama, Asuka's genre logic is faultless: "Of course, the leader has to be the one wearing red, the color of justice."

118:
Even if there's no third rail to be worried about, Makoto is really tempting fate by walking on the tracks like that.

119A:
Local politician literally saves the entire human race.

193:
The proper anime nomenclature for the dilemma Shinji is facing here is Color Wars.

178:
I doubt the kids have been properly underground yet, considering they could see a glimpse of the campaign van through the pipe maze in cut 162.

187:
The eye itself is likely a Nadia reference, but the triangle does give it that Illuminati flavor. Somewhat relatedly, another famous conspiracy organization Majestic 12 gets cheekily referenced in the spin-off game Girlfriend of Steel 2.


324 (replying to Ursus):
Indeed. This episode features several useful pieces of Eva equipment (extra pylon batteries, these boosters) that weirdly don't get much screentime elsewhere. The boosters especially could be life-saving, as firing them point-blank at your enemy when being pinned down is a classic mecha trope.

337:
Matarael was too smart for its own good. But the pilots were also lucky because the Angel was apparently constantly synthesizing its acid instead of having some sort of giant bladder full of it, as there was no gigantic acid flood when its body got perforated.

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Dr. Nick » Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:50 pm

Episode 12:

001:
Just a year after the events of Godmars.

021:
Here's one of those redesign things that you cannot unsee once you've seen it: Misato's necklace has its hole placed differently in the movie. [Proper wiki-quality screenshot upload of this is needed!]

036:
Toji, you literally ran a business based on people wanting to see her changing clothes.

059:
Notice the implication here: "lowering the graph depth" is achieved by physically lowering Unit-01's entry plug closer to the core where the Eva's soul resides.

067:
Poor Asuka. She can't compete with metaphysical nepotism.

107:
Important lore base loading, as Gendo succintly explains The Fruit of Knowledge. We'll learn about The Fruit of Life a bit later when S2 starts to get referenced.

121:
Setting aside the probable retcons relating to Angel motivations, Sahaquiel is rather unique personality-wise as it seemingly wishes to deny humanity access to a progenitor entity even at the cost of its own life. Assuming Gendo hasn't yet grafted the Adam embryo onto his hand and is keeping it in a safe in Tokyo-3 as an Angel bait, Sahaquiel could have theoretically vaporized Adam's body, Lilith's body and Lilith's soul container all at once.

Of course, in the very next episode Ireul tries to blow up the headquarters as well, but it's unclear to me whether that would've been a legit suicide attack.

146:
At this point, Misato has seen enough of Yui's soul magic tricks to know these numbers are essentially meaningless.

168:
I'm surprised this wasn't brought up in episode 6 when Shinji and Rei were against a sure-kill sniper, protected only by a jerry-rigged shield that can last maybe 17 seconds.

201 (replying to Ursus):
Well, if the supposed liquid is never normally depicted as such after the start-up sequence, what's the harm? But it bears repeating that the way LCL behaves as a plug-filler medium is one of the most nonsensical things in the whole show. It's Futurama-levels of whacked.

274:
This is one of the few places where the A.T. Field's normally invisible utility is made more concretely understandable: the Angel's field couldn't be sliced open like this if not for the Evangelions' fields counteracting it.

279 (replying to Ursus):
Oh, the wonders of cell-animation era crunch. This is quite possibly the biggest animation blooper in the original TV series proper that doesn't get creatively retconned.


Edit: expanded cut 121 comment.

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Dr. Nick » Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:21 pm

Episode 13:

014:
That's one huge mecha cliche that NGE avoids: there's no gaudy mid-series upgrade, not even an armor upgrade à la Tekkaman Blade's blaster form.

018 (replying to Ursus):
I would assume Asuka forced Shinji to walk through the corridor first, without any backward glances.

024:
What with the simulation bodies and artificial brains, this episode is also a showcase of unnerving low-key body horror.

080:
Recycled cut from episode 5? And astonishingly enough, Nerv still hasn't retrofitted the test room observation windows with armored shutters.

111:
Insert your Chernobyl jokes here.

113 (replying to Ursus):
Indeed. If they were referring to the actual Adam embryo, relocating it to a safe place would be extremely easy. Just pocket it and go.

121:
Apparently Kaji can still snoop around unescorted even after the whole blackout episode.

181:
Going back to the previous episode, we can assume Sahaquiel wanted to straight-up annihilate Lilith/Adam's body since it turned all of itself into a kinetic kill impactor, but is Iruel being equally suicidal? Being a cluster of micro-entities, it could hide some part of itself away from the blast zone, and by adjusting the self-destruct yield it could simply cork the Terminal Dogma open and slide in afterwards.

223 (replying to Ursus):
The bulkhead-closing action in this episode is also very Yamato-esque.
Of course, whenever Nerv's strategy meetings make use of those huge floor displays, that's likely referencing the original Mobile Suit Gundam instead.

308:
Misato spent episode 11 uselessly trapped in an elevator. Now it was the kids' turn.

311:
Interestingly, considering cut 307, the entry plugs seem to have been ejected in the lake at the bottom of Geofront, so perhaps the pond defense destroyer Nerv keeps there got to be useful for once.

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby dzzthink » Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:24 pm

Ep 13

039 Much like the religious references, this scientific mumbo jumbo is appreciated by those familiar with the terms but also sounds excessive and confusing. These biological terms all seem to describe the genetic material and structure of bacteria. A Pribnow box is a section of the bacterial DNA where proteins can bind and transcribe DNA into RNA, which can be used to encode different proteins. The sigma unit or 'sigma factor' is one of the proteins that bind to DNA to make RNA. Genetic change or mutations is the main precursor to evolution, especially for diseases and pathogens wanting to evade their host's immune response. This is all similar to what Ireul does later on in a very pathogenic way. Given the variants we are facing during Covid-19, this episode is quite relevant.

040 It is quite puzzling how the angels appear out of nowhere, even materialising from the walls in a relatively secure base. Maybe the Angel already targeted the site before and introduced itself as a contaminant during the construction of B Wing.

042 The composition of Ireul is quite different compared to the organic angels we see in the series, and I suspect it might be made out of a highly coordinated system of nanobots, or some kind of hybrid of biological and computerised material. Frames 209 and 210 calls these things micro-machines.

093 It doesn't seem very safe to have an aquarium-like testing facility given Nerv's history with berserk Evas. Would have been better just to install cameras and stay as far away as possible.

121 Kaji seems to be up to some suspicious activities, snooping around Nerv's back alleys.

128 I haven't read andromeda strain, although I saw some scenes of the tv show. Anyway, I've never heard of organisms preferring carbon dioxide over oxygen as it's usually the reverse unless we are talking about plants and algae.

141 These patterns almost resemble the ridges of a brain and there are images of neural networks, making the Angel seem like a biosynthetic organism with cyber-capabilities.

157 These look a little like genetic sequence patterns.

219 Misatos suggestions seem pretty outlandish and bullheaded (not even bothering to consider any other suggestions). It seems like the last possible option would be to destroy Magi, considering its importance to running everything.

244 Huh, interesting that Naoko left a scribble cursing Ikari. Seems like their relationship was quite tenuous at times, with Naoko hiding many grievances and bitterness.

259 I'm curious how they managed to upload her personality at all into a machine. Before there was the matrix, this concept of the brain in a vat seems to be brought up in Evangelion. The method of destroying the Angel is also similar to the ending of Matrix 3 and Agent Smith.

317 Just as a background, the Magi were Biblical figures that presented gifts to the newly born Jesus - Caspar (frankincense), Melchior (gold), and Balthasar (myrrh). “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage” (Matthew 2:2)

322 Indeed, it seems like Caspar connected with Ritsuko on a spiritual level in this episode yet led to Ritsuko's demise later on.
"Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive." - 1 Corinthians 10:23

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Mbryo » Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:57 am

EP 16

184: That's a LOT of N2 mines. Wouldn't that be enough to obliterate the entire city? Even just one N2 bomb rivals a nuke in explosive power. The Rebuild mentions that trying to break through the 6th Angel's A.T. Field by dropping N2 aerial bombs on it would require so many bombs that it would destroy the NERV HQ in the process, and I imagine something similar would have happened if they had gone forth with this 'operation'.

277: An interesting note is that Leliel's namesake, the angel "Lailah(לַיְלָה)" in Jewish mythology, is the angel of conception who watches over unborn babies until their birth. Hence the violent 'birth' analogy in this scene. Another side note is that Lailah shares the roots of her name with Lilith, both stemming from the Hebrew word for "night", possibly referencing the fact that Unit 01 is a being 'born' from Lilith.

EP 20

002: It's only natural that the old men of Seele are shocked. Their own attempts to artificially install an S2 engine on Unit 04 was a complete failure, so who would've thought that it could be accomplished with a method as simple as plain old ingestion?

003: While there were minor disagreements between Seele and Gendo in the previous episodes as well, this is where Seele begins to really question Gendo's ulterior motives. This is also the last time that the members of Seele appear on-screen as the Human Instrumentality Committee; after this episode, they are replaced by the more familiar 'sound only' monoliths.

015: I'm guessing that Yui let herself be captured, or just shut down on her own after she was done with all the screaming. She did the same thing in Episode 02 and 16. Yui is in control of the Evangelion's actions so despite how animalistic she may appear to be, she has no reason to be hostile towards humanity.

EP 21

307: The dialogue mentions DNA fusing('diving' is the expression used in the original dub) with Adam. This is probably the point when Tabris was 'conceived', though it isn't stated outright anywhere in the anime itself. The manga adaptation is much more blunt about it though, stating that the Lilin DNA used on Adam led to the birth of a new Angel with the appearance of a human. The donor of the DNA is left in mystery, with no clear answer is given. Why they would attempt to do do this is even more of a mystery. Ritsuko's dialogue in Episode 23 hints that this was part of an attempt to use Adam's power, but it's rather strange that the Katsuragi team believed that they could control an alien giant by inserting human DNA into it.

309: Here the Door of Guf(ガフの扉) is mentioned for the first time in the series. The term itself is borrowed from Judaic lore, referring to the 'resting place' or 'treasury' of souls known as Guf, meaning "body" in Hebrew. Guf is mentioned again later in the series, and seems to represent the same thing in the NGE universe as well. It's also worth noting that in Jewish mythology, Guf is merely a place that the soul resides in until it is conceived; the actual source of souls is the Tree of Life, which is also directly referenced in EOE when Unit 01 herself becomes the Tree by fusing with the Spear of Longinus. This particular dialogue seems to imply that Adam is capable of opening the Door of Guf just like Lilith, which is natural since he's a progenitor of life, as well as the one who bestowed souls upon his children, the Angels.

019: The Human Instrumentality Committee and Seele are basically one and the same, the former merely being the 'official' designation that Seele uses for more public activities. The fact that they appeared before Fuyutsuki as Seele implies that they are here for more ominous purposes.

038: Seele seems to know that Unit 01 already possessed the Fruit of Knowledge, which is why they are so alarmed about her gaining the Fruit of Life through the incident in Episode 19; they know that she's now capable of achieving a level of existence equal to that of god by having both Fruits. Which raises a question: why does Unit 01 have the Fruit of Knowledge in the first place? The fact that Seele had no qualms about installing the S2 Engine in Unit 04 or the MP Evas shows that 'normal' Eva units, the ones cloned from Adam, do not normally possess both fruits. This implies that simply possessing the soul of a Lilin is not enough to grant an Evangelion the Fruit of Knowledge. So where did Unit 01 gain hers? Did she inherit one from Lilith?

040: Seele seems to truly detest the idea of man creating a new god, which is only natural considering their implied roots as a heavily religious organization. Speaking of which, the term 'god' is used to represent various different concepts in the Evangelion franchise, but in this particular case, they are referring to a being that possesses both the Furit of Life and Knowledge. Even Adam, who is the being 'closest to god' according to CI, isn't an actual god in this respect.

041: It should be pretty apparent to them by now that Gendo isn't trustworthy, but they have no alternative until the Angels are defeated.

060: According to CI, Yui is the daughter of a prominent member of Seele, which is why she was so deeply involved with them. Assuming that is canon AND assuming that Seele's members hadn't changed since then, this would imply that Shinji's grandpa is behind one of those Seele monoliths.

097: Raises questions about how Misato survived and was rescued. Adam's explosion supposedly equaled billions of tons of TNT in explosive power(https://wiki.evageeks.org/Second_Impact), enough to level a whole continent, not to mention the LCL-ifying Anti AT Field. So how did Misato survive all that by floating off in an escape pod? and who saved her in the midst of all the chaos?

109: The entire lower half of Keel's body is revealed to be machinery in EOE, but in this photo, he appears to be a man normal enough to walk around in public. Did his health deteriorate so rapidly that most of his body needed to be replaced?

328: At this point, the true identity of the giant in Terminal Dogma is unrevealed to the viewers. But the fact that are two identical Geofront structures in both Antarctica and Hakone implies that Adam is not the only mysterious giant found by man; that there are more than one such being.

145: The helmet design seen here is similar to that of Unit 00, since Unit 00 is the prototype. Except for the multiple eyes-makes one wonder if they were actually planning to grow multiple eyes on the planned Eva unit, seeing how Unit 02 has actual four eyes.

172: Yui's intentions always baffled me. She knew fully well that she was going to be absorbed by the Eva in the Contact Experiment, so how does that qualify as showing her son the 'bright future'? She should have known that it was going to be a traumatic experience for Shinji. Did she intend that as well?

245: Rei-1's personality shows what Lilith's personality was originally like before her experience as Rei Ayanami; innocent but cruel at the same time. Not the stereotypical personality you'd expect the mother of all living beings to have. It reflects the fact that Lilith was originally represented as a demoness in mythology. Also interesting to note that her personality bears significant similarities with Kaworu's personality in Sadamoto's manga adaptation.
FUS roh Duh.

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Re: Commentary: General (Episodes 09-18;20-26)

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Postby Dr. Nick » Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:30 pm

Episode 14:


132:
Considering what a wobbly production this show was, I'm lowkey amazed there's only half an episode of recap filler.

168:
So, whom is this report intended for since it astroturfs the whole berserker incident? That once-mentioned city council, perhaps?

374:
Okay, why would Gendo even try this particular strategy? To confuse Seele about the number of remaining angels so that he can sneakily start his particular 3I scenario ahead of the cabal's schedule? Considering how badly his deception seems to be working, why such an opportunistic move since his side holds "all the trump cards"?

016:
Even though Rei has the soul of a progenitor superbeing, it's no wonder why she's so confused about what she actually is. She's gone through soul-splitting once, and furthermore, the mechanism by which her soul is transferred from one clone body to the next is implied to be pretty gruesome corpse-grinding affair as well, so there is a lot trauma and existential horror to go around.

028:
Further reason for Rei's confusion: she has Lilith's soul, and Unit-01 is the one special Lilith-derived Evangelion (Unit-00 presumably being made of the standard Adam putty), so during this test her soul is once again inside her original flesh.

098:
Still no armored shutters installed. At this point, Nerv is just asking for trouble.

104:
Lore implication: a soul split can be undone.

108:
During the classic era of theorycrafting on western fan forums, when the details of the applied metaphysics and soul manipulation hadn't yet been hashed out, the soul of Unit-00 was one of the biggest topics of discussion. In hindsight and with the benefit of a lot more translated materials it might seem obvious that it's Rei I in there, but the Naoko camp latched onto this particular line as evidence supporting their position, and completely pointless amounts of digital ink got spilled as a result.

130:
Here we are also getting into those lore parts that have always remained quite murky, i.e. what are the exact "recipes" for the 3I scenarios desired by Gendo and Seele, and how do they differ in specifics. We know that the spears are security devices for subduing progenitor entities, but that's about it. So what purpose does it serve to have Rei skewer Lilith's soulless body at this juncture?


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