Little Oddities: Running Commentary of NGE (Spoilers)

[SenorSquiid]

I'm reviewing the entire series, and so far (at episode 6) I've already come up with some questions that aren't really worth individual threads, so this is a sort of weird little things thread.

1. Just what was the SSDF doing with a gigantic Eva sized positron rifle? What did they ever think they would need such a thing for? Maybe for Jet Alone?

2. Why did NERV make the pilot dressing area with the ability to see the naked silhouette of the pilot across the room from the pilot changing?

3. GNR + Shamshell. Sexy?

I'll keep this updated as I go.

EDIT 1:

4. Just what do they do with Angel bodies? Drill angel, whose name escapes me at the moment left that big drill just dangling, and it's huge-ass body lying in the middle of the city. It seems like disposing of the bodies would be rather problematic. By episode 6 they already have Shamshell and drill boy to deal with Sachiel was at least decent enough to save them the trouble. In rebuild at least they dissolve, but in the show they just lie around. What must that smell like?

5. Misato starts the morning off with an ice cold 9godawful) Yebisu. Yebisu is not a very good beer. People say American lagers are bad, which is true, but Japanese beer from my experience isn't very good. But is Misato buzzed at work all day or not? I suspect her of hitting up a flask when she tags along with Ritsuko for her smoke breaks. I guess this makes sense, as people used to drink on the job back before Carter was President, and they got shit done, but it seems maybe slightly irresponsible. NERV Intel has almost certainly got her entire house bugged and monitored, so her booze hounding wouldn't be an unknown. Is this bad, or awesome?

6. Why is Jet Alone? Why does it exist? Who thought that was a good idea?

[ran1]

[omnislash]

1. Just what was the SSDF doing with a gigantic Eva sized positron rifle? What did they ever think they would need such a thing for? Maybe for Jet Alone?

To follow Freudian implications, they were compensating for their shortcomings.

2. Why did NERV make the pilot dressing area with the ability to see the naked silhouette of the pilot across the room from the pilot changing?

Fan Service/Encouragement of Rei/Shinji sex romp. Never happened because writers for the following episodes were prudes.

3. GNR + Shamshell. Sexy?

wat is this I don't even

4. Just what do they do with Angel bodies? Drill angel, whose name escapes me at the moment left that big drill just dangling, and it's huge-ass body lying in the middle of the city. It seems like disposing of the bodies would be rather problematic. By episode 6 they already have Shamshell and drill boy to deal with Sachiel was at least decent enough to save them the trouble. In rebuild at least they dissolve, but in the show they just lie around. What must that smell like?

Ritsuko makes mention of it. She notes that they are being taken back to NERV for research.

5. Misato starts the morning off with an ice cold 9godawful) Yebisu. Yebisu is not a very good beer. People say American lagers are bad, which is true, but Japanese beer from my experience isn't very good. But is Misato buzzed at work all day or not? I suspect her of hitting up a flask when she tags along with Ritsuko for her smoke breaks. I guess this makes sense, as people used to drink on the job back before Carter was President, and they got shit done, but it seems maybe slightly irresponsible. NERV Intel has almost certainly got her entire house bugged and monitored, so her booze hounding wouldn't be an unknown. Is this bad, or awesome?

Awesome because Misato=Drunk encourages my pet ship.

6. Why is Jet Alone? Why does it exist? Who thought that was a good idea?

Jet Alone is a past reincarnation of Chuck Palahniuk. [/omnislash]

[SenorSquiid]

[omnislash]


wat is this I don't even

[/omnislash]

I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. You just don't wany anyone to know you've thought about it too, when in fact we probably all have at one point. ;D

Join me you guys!

EDIT:

SECOND IMPACT WAS AN INSIDE JOB!

Second Impact truther movement?

Was Kaworu born in Kenya? LET'S SEE THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE!

6. Jet Alone only failed because certain foxy science ladies were screwing around with it. Still seems safer than an out of control rampaging cloned angel robot monster.

7. How in the high holy hell can you construct an aerplain capable of transporting a skyscraper sized robot monster? Even for the future that's pretty physically unlikely.

8. Why is PenPen not as annoying as he seems like he should be, but is in fact awesome?

9. Eva's look awesome with capes, or cape like things. Almost Bruce Campbell levels of badass.

10. The ending of episode 8 is red for some reason.

11. How well does being an Eva pilot pay? Probably not enough. Shinji never seems to be short of pocket money, but Asuka seems like the type who would be a big spender, but she doesn't. They don't even have a good TV or any video games at Misato's. Misato herself doesn't get paid much from what they say. NERV seems like a pretty lousy place to work.

12. In the scene where Kaji runs into Ritsuko and Misato is glaring at them he says she's in a sad love. I think Gendo brags to Kaji about how he's nailing the hot science lady over the phone.

13. I wonder if Gendo and Fuyutski and Kaji ever party? I bet underneath the cool exterior Gendo is a part monster, and Fuyutski seems like a pretty chill dude.

14. Magma Diver isn't a very good episode at all unless you're an inflation fetishist, in which case I guess you'd really dig it.

15. Magma Diver is a pretty good song though.

16. Does anyone know what the thing on pen Pen's back is? I've always wondered.

[Octahedron]

In the Rebuild atleast they state that the Positron Cannon is actually sopposed to be mobile artillery piece, they just hadn't finished it so they modified it into an Eva-sized sniper rifle.

Jet Alone does seem like an utterly crazy idea tho. We've already established that Angels are pretty much immune to conventional weaponry. Evas can beat them because they can counter the ATF. Jet Alone can't. So if you can't kill it with nuke-equivalents, do you really think punching it with a giant robot would work? A giant, nuclear-powered robot, at that. The moment it gets damaged by an Angel, it's goign to start venting radioactive steam everywhere, or those stupid cooling rods snap off and it suffers a meltdown.

[SenorSquiid]

I really don't think you can say enough bad shit about Jet Alone, but I finished up episode 16 and it's about bed time. I'll have more on Sunday.

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

2. Why did NERV make the pilot dressing area with the ability to see the naked silhouette of the pilot across the room from the pilot changing?

One idea that occurred to me early on—which I've never really been able to shake off—is that originally, Nerv intended or thought that all the Eva pilots would be female. It's just a notion, but I can't seem to dismiss it outright.

3. GNR + Shamshell. Sexy?

"No. There is another."

4. Just what do they do with Angel bodies?

It takes them ages to dispose of Ramiel's (the Drill Angel) body. They're still dismantling it in episode #09!

Finally, I just don't understand why people don;t like both episode #07 and Jet Alone. But we'll save that for the commentary.

[ran1]

Finally, I just don't understand why people don;t like both episode #07 and Jet Alone.

Following my theory on Jet Alone=Chick Palahniuk, being a big nihilistic mechanincal faggot is something that can be off putting. Until you write Fight Club. Then you're just pretentious. Jet Alone just never finished writing Fight Club; therefore he is hated.

One idea that occurred to me early on—which I've never really been able to shake off—is that originally, Nerv intended or thought that all the Eva pilots would be female. It's just a notion, but I can't seem to dismiss it outright.

hmm... Asuka, Rei, Mari, Nadia... where's the male... oh, right, Touji...

[Merridian]

Finally, I just don't understand why people don;t like both episode #07 and Jet Alone. But we'll save that for the commentary.

I think it's because people find it unnecessary. When I last rewatched the series I warmed up to the episode quite a bit, but I'm still long overdue for another complete rewatch. I kinda liked the bureaucratic slant that episode provided.

TBH I dislike the volcano episode more than this one. But even magma diver has its 'redeeming' qualities that make it pretty good.

[Reichu]

GNR + Shamshell. Sexy?

Lucretius can tell you more.

In rebuild at least they dissolve

Sure they dissolve -- but what do you do with all the "blood"?

but in the show they just lie around. What must that smell like?

If they actually decomposed, that entire region of Japan would be completely uninhabitable. For various reasons, I think we're meant to conclude that Angels do not, in fact, undergo rot.

(I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that NGE2 addressed this. If Kaworu is present at the Angel autopsy, he says, "It's not dead, just suspended. They're not like humans. They don't decompose." I assume by "dead" he means "biologically dead".)

[Joseph the PRPD]

Sure they dissolve -- but what do you do with all the "blood"?

Label it as "Fruit Punch" and distribute it throughout Japan?

[Sammaeloo]

Sure they dissolve -- but what do you do with all the "blood"?

Use it in a tampon commercial.

[SenorSquiid]

I'm back from visiting mys sister, sos starting with episode 17. I know I skipped a few, but nothing really popped out at me between Magma Diver and Episode 16. good episodes, just nothign for this thread that caught my mind:

-I really don't care for episode 17 much, but it serves it's purpose. It's sort of necessary filler, but it does an excellent job showing off Anno's directorial techniques and visual answers to verbal questions among other things. It's just not that good for re-watching. Nothing against it really, I like it more than I used to, but it's still not especially thrilling once you know Toji is going to be the pilot, and even when i first saw it I figured it out pretty fast.

- Is it normal or socially acceptable in Japan to go into someone's apartment while they're gone and clean it? Rei doesn't really mind, but Rei's pretty laid back about privacy and intrusion and accidental groping. Seem's kind of weird on Shinji's part being all "She's not home. Well, let's go in and clean anyways."

-Kaji is kind of a sexual predator the way he treats Misato, and in episode 17 poor Maya. At least Misato digs that sort of thing.

-Speaking of Kaji, I've always enjoyed the relationship between him and Shinji. I wish it had been developed a little more like in the manga, but them's the brakes I suppose.

[Defectron]

16. Does anyone know what the thing on pen Pen's back is? I've always wondered.

It can fire missiles. Misato secretly had it made in case someone tried to bump her off. Penpens not just a cute pet, he's her security system. Seele actually tried to kill her five times throught the series, but failed because of penpen. If she'd taken him with her to nerv in eoe, she probably would have survived.

GNR + Shamshell. Sexy?

Oooh! That does sound sexy! Shame Shamsheil died before third impact.

[Sailor Star Dust]

10. The ending of episode 8 is red for some reason.

Same with Episode 9. It's meant to honor Asuka's (and Eva-02's) arrival to the series. Asuka's seiyuu also sings the ending theme for episodes 8 through 10, though weirdly enough, episode 10 is the normal blue color scheme.

[Lui]

Jet Alone does seem like an utterly crazy idea tho. We've already established that Angels are pretty much immune to conventional weaponry. Evas can beat them because they can counter the ATF. Jet Alone can't.

Then what was the point in disabling it? Wouldn't it have been easier and more effective to just allow it to be completely pwned by an angel rather than waste time hacking it?

I also wonder what happened to all the blood from angels.. Does Gendo drink it all? Maybe Nerv use it with the Evangelions in some way.

[skikes]

Jet Alone does seem like an utterly crazy idea tho. We've already established that Angels are pretty much immune to conventional weaponry. Evas can beat them because they can counter the ATF. Jet Alone can't. So if you can't kill it with nuke-equivalents, do you really think punching it with a giant robot would work? A giant, nuclear-powered robot, at that. The moment it gets damaged by an Angel, it's goign to start venting radioactive steam everywhere, or those stupid cooling rods snap off and it suffers a meltdown.

Yes, and Akagi brings up this point, to which the Jet Alone teams responds that they plan on developing the technology to produce an AT field.

As far as it being nuclear powered... yeah thats dumb.

[NemZ]

Power pack for his experimental symbiotic cyberbrain. Also has a fold-out drink tray.

[Reichu]

I also wonder what happened to all the blood from angels..

Are you thinking of the right continuity? If we are indeed talking about NGE, it's the carcasses in general more so that body fluids that are the headache (though body fluids need to be mopped up, too).

If the Angels don't blow up (probably due to their S2 Engines destabilizing as a result of the core being damaged a certain way, or some such), Nerv has teams that go around and dissolve the remains via some mysterious procedure that is never really elaborated upon. Hell... even if the Angel does blow up, they STILL scan the terrain for whatever residue is left (see e.g. Sachiel). They really take this "NO ANGEL LEFT BEHIND" business super-serial.

[Sachi]

Then what was the point in disabling it? Wouldn't it have been easier and more effective to just allow it to be completely pwned by an angel rather than waste time hacking it?

And risk the lives of thousands in proximity to the fight? The nuclear fallout, explosion even, would be devastating to everything within the area and could be prevented by simply sabotaging Jet Alone before it has a chance to make its real debut. I'm not sure if they were planning on having it just stop running after a certain amount of time, or if they had actually planned on having it explode somewhere (presumably devoid of human residence). However, due to Misato's interference, I'm sure they stopped the sabotage and made it look like she saved the day.

[Reichu]

The explanation I've heard is that Nerv hacked JA less out of humanitarian concerns and more out of an interest in preventing further resources from being diverted to Japan Heavy Industries. Make their lousy would-be Eva substitute look bad early on, keep it from eating up funds that Nerv needs for its own endeavors. Seele are always whining about money and Gendo has to spend lots of time traveling around trying to secure more of it, so hacking into Tokita's robot for the sake of yen doesn't seem too off.

Misato "saving the day" wasn't planned, but, hey, so long as it all works out...