Having most recently tasked our heroes with mastering Dance Dance Revolution in order to defeat an angel in a dance-off, followed by wrestling in a volcano while wearing a fat suit, it should be clear at this point that Evangelion’s reputation as a grim and self-serious production is perhaps a touch overstated. While we’ve already run through episodes that grapple frankly with topics like social isolation, anxiety, and depression, the arrival of Asuka has heralded our entrance into the middle act of Neon Genesis Evangelion, where it most closely resembles a conventional episodic giant robot show. Shinji has gained friends and allies, the full NERV team has been established, and the stage is properly set for a menagerie of bizarre angels to attack NERV. But all of that is not to say that this stretch of episodes is lacking in aesthetic craft or distinctive personality – on the contrary, episode eleven’s pacing and directorial style offer one of the most clearly defined and energetic personalities of the show so far.
Tag Archives: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 10
After being forced to share the stage with that idiot Shinji during both her grand debut and her first official mission, Asuka Langley Soryu at last enjoys the full spotlight in Neon Genesis Evangelion’s tenth episode. No collaborating with wimpy boys, no interference from that creepy Rei Ayanami, no one at all to stop Asuka from demonstrating her brilliance as the greatest of Eva pilots, a hero with the talent, beauty, and courage necessary to inspire humanity’s future. Stand back and secure those dropped jaws, folks. Asuka has arrived.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 9
While Neon Genesis Evangelion’s eighth episode served as Shinji and Asuka’s formal introduction, any camaraderie they might have developed during that adventure was more or less necessitated by circumstance. In the wake of that explosive field trip, their initial impressions seem stable: Shinji finds Asuka mean and terrifying, while Asuka considers Shinji weak and childish. Their ability to work as a team outside of any but the most desperate of circumstances is basically negligible; thus we enter Evangelion’s ninth episode, an episode famous for being the most ridiculous, farcical, and unabashedly Super Robot-influenced episode of all Evangelion. Get ready folks, it’s time to dance like you want to win.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 8
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a terrific work of art, but it’d be a stretch to describe it as a generally “fun” show. Instead of embracing the sense of exhilaration, freedom, and power that you might expect would come with piloting a giant robot, Evangelion instead emphasizes the great terror of that experience, and the sense of shame that would compel a depressed young boy to pilot such a thing. Given that general tone, Evangelion’s eighth episode stands as a stark break from our prior journeys through anxiety and isolation and depression and betrayal. For the first time, Evangelion proposes that maybe, just maybe, action could be fun? Could be cool? Could be genuinely validating?
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 7
Throughout its early episodes, Neon Genesis Evangelion has taken care to impress upon us the scale of this conflict, and the necessity of an organization like NERV. As I’ve previously discussed, apocalyptic scifi like this can have a tendency to feel pretty myopic in its scale – there are these heroes and these villains, but the concept of a greater world hanging in the balance can feel dramatically distant. Through conceits like the army’s initial failure in episode one, and the collaborative efforts of all Japan in six, Evangelion has consistently reminded us that humanity has truly been pushed to the edge, and that NERV really is our last line of defense. And here in episode seven, we receive the most stark indicator yet that NERV is truly humanity’s final barricade – as they scramble to defend that title, in light of a direct challenge by professional rivals.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 6
Neon Genesis Evangelion’s fifth and sixth episodes collectively form a neatly contained arc, as the battle against the show’s third angelic antagonist is contrasted against Rei Ayanami’s formal introduction. In spite of being present and even dramatically central throughout all of Evangelion’s early episodes, our understanding of this girl has mirrored Shinji’s – that is to say, we have no clue. She has been a cipher, with even sequences like Shinji’s intrusion into her apartment only enhancing her sense of mystery. In a show that’s so fully and thoughtfully attuned to the emotional experiences of its characters, Rei has stood as a strange outlier, accepting her duties with a blank stare at every turn.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 5
Neon Genesis Evangelion’s first several episodes all essentially slot into their own two episode arcs, each centered on their own emotional conflict, and each with a unique Angel used to better illustrate those conflicts. The first two episodes centered on Shinji’s introduction to NERV, and being introduced to both his new caretakers and the threat he would be facing. The second pair center on his feelings of depression, and his slow process of coming to terms with living in Tokyo 3. And here in our third mini-arc, we at last find ourselves with enough grounding to expand our focus outside of Shinji Ikari. In this third arc, we focus for the first time on the mysterious Rei Ayanami.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 4
A great part of it is the rain, or rather, the felt sensation of perpetual rain. It pours down at all times, holding us up in bus stations or entryways or lonely stairwells, forcing us to relive old failures again and again. It’s cold and damp, and it makes us feel cold and damp in turn, unclean, ashamed of our clammy skin. It steals color from our surroundings, painting everything in a somber gray, draining the vitality of the landscape just as it drains our passion for the things we love. Others seem not to notice the rain, but simply emulating their behavior doesn’t make it go away. Whether you ignore it or acknowledge it, the rain doesn’t care – in the malaise of depression, it will remain your only true companion.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 3
After barreling out of the gate with what was essentially a two-part opening episode, Evangelion’s third episode sees us slowing down for a moment, and adopting what you could theoretically call the show’s “neutral mode.” Evangelion’s narrative builds over time, but its episodic angel attacks echo many of its giant robot predecessors, with Shinji as the not-so-gallant hero defending Tokyo-3 from an inventive range of new horrors. Episode three does indeed ramp up to a new angel attack, but this episode isn’t really about that fight, or rather, the fight is just one final illustration of the points it makes all throughout. This episode is about Shinji’s own personal alienation, and its illustration of Shinji’s headspace is as tense and immediate as any terrible monster could be.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 2
I’ve always loved Neon Genesis Evangelion’s inventive and gleefully melodramatic episode titles, and none more so than the iconic “Unfamiliar Ceiling/THE BEAST.” Like so many of Eva’s narrative devices, the concept of an unfamiliar ceiling has become an anime trope unto itself, but here in its original incarnation, that title card feels like the essence of Eva in miniature. The first half’s title embodies Evangelion’s careful capturing of specific and alienating lived moments; the second half is the roar of violence lurking just beneath those moments’ surface. Eva doesn’t do pre-OP cold opens – it introduces its new drama directly, and its punctuation for that drama comes in the form of thunderous title drops. So much of Evangelion’s dramatic strength is a result of its utter confidence in its own tone, and these striking white-on-black mini-poems contribute greatly to that sense of solemnity and impact.