Episode 23: Rei III-Tears
In the first scene with Misato listening to Kaji's voicemail over and over we can see that she owns a skateboard. I can't remember if we've seen that before and I commented on it then, but I find Misato skateboarding hard to picture. Between that, the poster of a sportscar over her desk, and the general messiness of her room I guess the takeaway is supposed to be that she's ultimately an immature person and isn't equipped to deal with this situation.
I guess everybody's having a terrible time. Asuka is depressed, Hikari has to deal with the awkwardness of having Asuka impose on her, nobody's around to talk to Shinji, and Ritsuko's cat died. This is all on-theme with the episode, I suppose. :V
Seele's like "Gendo, the things you have done recently are too bold" and he just ignores them to answer his phone and ends the conference. Bold indeed. Either he thinks he's too important for them to actually touch, or he already knows he's going to get End Of Evangelioned and he knows he's fucked regardless.
I've basically already said everything I have to say about Armisael. It's part of the trend of the Angels becoming increasingly literally biblical. It's also arguably the strongest Angel being the only one to successfully kill an Evangelion and a pilot. It continues the spiral/DNA theme that's been popping up a lot lately, giving a hint to the true nature of the relationship between Angels and each-other, and Angels and humans.
This episode also has one of the most significant additions from the director's cut in my opinion, or at least one of the most often discussed. Toward the end of the fight (if you can even call it that) between Unit 00 and Armisael, Unit 00 begins to mutate and this weird growth sprouts out of its back that contains elements of all of the dead Angels up to this point. Fandom has dubbed it the "Angel tower". It's a much more direct hint to the aforementioned relationship between the Angels, and also possibly indicates that the reason Armisael wanted to make contact with Unit 00 was that it was trying to deal with its own loneliness by trying to recreate another Angel somehow to be with.
It occurs to me that Rei II's death sort of parallels Asuka's death, with both of them and their Evas reaching up toward the sky in the last moment before they die. But Rei is reaching toward a vision of Gendo in a loving way, whereas Asuka is reaching out toward the Mass Production Evas trying to kill them.
Is the brief scene where Unit 00 briefly mutates into a giant naked white Rei with a halo for a moment right before it explodes new to the director's cut? I don't remember that at all. It's weird and I'm not completely sure what the point of it is. Does it indicate a connection to Quantum Rei somehow, or is it a result of Armisael's power?
I just noticed the full implications of the episode's title. It's the third numbered episode named after Rei following episodes 5 and 6, but it's also the introduction of the character Rei III. Interesting.
The scene of Ritsuko finding Rei's body is chilling. Ritsuko doesn't talk about her like she was a person at all, but whether that's professional detachment, a psychological defense mechanism, her own personal dislike of Rei, or a genuine belief that what she is isn't human is unclear.
Is the song Shinji's listening to on his tape deck the Gunbuster theme song? It's hard to make out, but it sounds very similar if it isn't.
That device with the glass tube and the metal brain that we see Rei hooked up to periodically is for backing up her mind, isn't it? I think I wondered earlier what it was for, but that seems pretty clear to me now. It stores Rei's memories in case a new one has to be put into use, so Rei III's memory goes up to the last time Rei was put into that thing. I can't remember when the last time we saw her in it was, although I'm not sure if we should assume that that was the last time it was used or if it's possible it was used since then and we just didn't see it.
There are STILL construction sounds outside of Rei's apartment. I suppose that's because the construction never stops in a city that's constantly being destroyed by monster attacks. This seems like a weird time to bring this up, but how long has it been since we first saw this place, anyway? Obviously it's impossible to tell exactly how long of a period of time Eva takes place over because the season never changes and we rarely get specific dates for current events, but I think general consensus is usually that the whole series takes place over around a year. I guess that means the first time we saw Rei's apartment was about a year ago, since we see it early on and there's not much in-universe time left before the end of the series. Even though Rei has changed some, her room has not changed almost at all. The only thing that's different is the lack of blood on her pillow.
And yet another thing that I'm realizing for the first time is the implication of Rei III's line "Are these tears? I'm seeing these for the first time, but it doesn't seem to me to be the first time". I think she's indicating that she has some of the memories Rei II had right before she died that shouldn't have been able to be saved. Whether this is because they share a soul (do they even share a soul? Or parts of one fragmented soul maybe? If the widely held "Unit 00's soul is Rei I" theory is true they should each have distinct souls, but maybe they're linked because of their shared origin) or because of something to do with Quantum Rei and that weird giant halo Rei I don't know, but it seems likely that that's what she's talking about here.
The Rei Factory scene is important for a lot of reasons. There's the obvious plot significance of revealing approximately who and what Rei is, but also the fact that Ritsuko continues to conflate Adam and Lilith in this scene, when she has no reason to lie. This indicates that she doesn't seem to know about Adam at all, and possibly never will. I've wondered a few times what Ritsuko does and doesn't know, and to me this seems to indicate that she knows less than I though maybe she did. If Gendo kept Adam from her then she doesn't know the full implications of his plan. There's also the much rumored but seldom seen alternate cut of this scene on the Japanese laser disc, which is the one cut of Evangelion I don't own and have never seen. I've been looking for it for years, but it tends to go for $300+ and I don't own a laser disc player.
Before now I had never even seen this scene, but I looked around a little further this time and found it on Youtube. So here it is, the rare missing footage from the Japanese laser disc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKLyrhgNiVAIn the real version those images are visible in the background of the scene with all of the creepy floating Rei clones. I'm not going to take the time to try to figure each one of them out at this point since that seems like it would take too long, but it looks like a rough summary of the events of episode 21.
Episode 24: The Final Messenger
Aaaaah I don't want to watch that scene with little Asuka again, don't show me that again! Christ! Although this time I noticed she says something about not being lonely anymore "Even though I don't have a papa", so I guess that answers my question about where her dad is and whether or not the male voice talking over this scene the first time is him. I don't remember if she said that the first time, I don't think she did, but maybe I missed it.
The scene of Asuka in the bathtub is controversial, in the sense that it's unclear if she was trying to kill herself or if she was just laying there thinking. Due to the visual juxtaposition with her mother's suicide I think we are supposed to understand that she's attempting suicide. That also explains the fact that she's literally comatose at the beginning of End Of Evangelion a little bit more than assuming that she was just so despondent that stopped responding.
First appearance of Kaworu. I don't really have particularly strong feelings one way or another about him. He certainly leaves a lasting impact on the series for how briefly he's in it, but we don't learn almost anything about him. Was his life similar to Rei's, growing up in a lab? He seems to be better at talking to people and he seems to know what's going on far more than arguably anyone else in the series, so I'm inclined to think it wasn't. Based on the way he talks to Seele and the amount of information he has my headcanon is that they raised him more like an actual child, or at least had him raised that way by someone and had a lot of contact with him. He seems to be a partner to them or even one of them, rather than being a human tool like Rei.
I will forever associate Ode To Joy with this episode.
I notice that the sub I'm watching spells Kaworu's name "Kaoru". I've seen it spelled both ways, but the former more than the latter, and I believe the former is the one the official subs use.
I always forget how explicit the homosexual understones between Kaworu and Shinji are. These things are so often a product of fanon that it's easy for me to forget and assume that here, but no, Kaworu is very clearly making advances on Shinji. I don't see that much room for an argument that the intention is anything else. So retroactively I suppose that means the parallel between Kaworu taking Shinji's hand and Misato doing the same thing earlier probably implies impure intentions on Misato's part. Which is consistent with End Of Evangelion, of course. Whether that means that Shinji is attracted to Kaworu or is just flattered/shocked is a little more up for debate, but hey, who am I to deny the dreams of a million fangirls (and plenty of fanboys too I'm sure)?
I mentioned much, much earlier that I've always disliked Pen Pen because I don't think he fits well into the tone or aesthetic of Eva, but that there's one scene that sort of justifies his existence to me. The scene with Misato saying goodbye to him before she gives me to Hikari's family is that scene. It's not much, but Pen Pen is something for Misato to be able to give up to indicate that something serious is about to go down, and that she intends to get serious and follow through on the opportunity Kaji gave her. Maybe the same effect could have been achieved with her just thinking out loud or something, but I like this scene.
This is a weird observation and probably completely meaningless, but the scene with Kaworu talking to the monoliths at the lake opens with some shots of rubble seen through a web of downed power lines, and the shapes and color palette gave me a very strong impression of, once again, Gunbuster. I think it's more Anno's visual style than any kind of direct reference, but I see a lot of similarities between the composition of that shot and organic-mechanical metal bones and organs that are occasionally visible under Gunbuster's outer skin.
The scene with the monoliths at the lake is yet another controversial thing about this episode. Maybe it's an animation error or maybe it's a confounding element of the plot that I just don't understand the significance of, but there are 15 monoliths (including one numbered "SEELE 15 Sound Only") when there are only 14 members of Seele. What does that mean? I have no fucking clue.
The shot of Misato spying on Kaworu seems to indicate that the monoliths weren't visible to her. Unless she just spotted him the moment they disappeared, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Weird.
Hyuga sort of reveals his feelings for Misato, believing that he's going to have to self destruct the geofront at any moment, and she says "Thank you". I wonder, did she know he loved her this whole time? I imagine she probably did and just didn't care much, but by her own admission she's so desperate to have contact with anyone at this point that she would probably be happy to give him a chance now if she had the opportunity. I wonder if they would actually get along?
The fact that Rei was able to get down to Terminal Dogma that quickly on foot suggests to me that she can use her AT Field like Kaworu does now and just flew down there. Maybe not, since the bridge detected Kaworu's AT Field but didn't notice hers until the last moment, and Eva isn't ever terribly concerned with geography or the amount of time it takes people to get from place to place, but she clearly has some super powers now.
This episode's minute-long static shot (actually 57 or 58 seconds) is probably the absolute single most iconic image from Eva in my opinion. I think the only other contender is upcoming, and both of them are certainly referenced and parodied often. This shot was the desktop wallpaper on my computer for several years.
There's another brief shot of a power line, this time in silhouette, that looks strikingly organic to me. It's like a nerve cluster or something. Classic Anno visuals, it's really interesting and effective.
The director's cut interestingly replaces the original next episode preview, which has images from episode 25, with a preview for the first half of End Of Evangelion. A bit telling, maybe?
Taken by themselves I don't like either of these episodes quite as much as 23 and 24. Obviously they're absolutely essential and the series doesn't work without them, and there's no question that they're great, but I think they're just a little bit too occupied with tying up loose ends and covering story ground to quite work as stories themselves. The flow of them is a little weird.
The retrieval team finds something in her Entry Plug, but Ritsuko orders to keep the findings a secret and to destroy every related thing. Is there something in the Director's Cut that elaborates on what they found here? I imagine something Rei clone related. Oh right I just remembered, the 'Angel Tree' is also only in the Director's Cut edition isn't it? I forget what context that appears in.
I'm pretty sure they just found Rei's body. Possibly it was mutated from contact with Armisael, but I don't think so. Pretty sure Ritsuko's reaction just had to do with the fact that she knew Gendo was going to get another body ready, so she had to cover up Rei II's body to keep people from realizing what was going on.
We get Rei III. And apparently the committee doesn't know about the Rei clones because Fuyutsuki says her 'being alive' might cause trouble with them. Either that, or it's the same as before when Shinji was contacted by Leliel and they wanted to interrogate him about that too. Because if they have Kaworu clones, then it wouldn't make sense for them not to know that Rei clones may also exist. Unless they don't know that she has the soul of Lilith. Which, how'd they get that again? They got the soul of Adam from Second Impact, how'd Gendo get Liliths?
The main thing about the Adam/Lilith confusion and subterfuge that I'm still not clear on it what Seele does and doesn't know. Do they know that Adam and Lilith are separate things? They know that Gendo has something in his basement, and they don't seem to know about the Adam embryo. The fact that Kaworu is surprised to find Lilith instead of Adam in Terminal Dogma makes me think Seele thought Lilith was Adam just like Misato and Ritsuko do, but where do they think Gendo got it from?
As for where Gendo got Lilith's soul, I'm guessing he used whatever was learned from Second Impact plus the principle Kaworu talks about by which he can synchronize with anything that doesn't have a soul to forcibly syphon bits of Lilith's soul off into waiting vessels. Or maybe her entire soul, that much is unclear.
So Ritsuko's little story about mankind finding god was pretty interesting. It would almost seem like they found a god before Adam, and then tried to resurrect it which became Adam. Gendo did say they called the Giant of Light Adam, which means that there was some other being before it? Shinji asks if the Evas are humans which surprisingly enough is answered with a 'yes' from Ritsuko. Which is odd, but ok.
I think the god she's talking about is Adam.
As to what she means by saying the Evas are human, I'm guessing she's referring to their human souls. Or she mistakenly believes that the Angels and the humans are all products of Adam, since she seemingly isn't aware of the difference between Adam and Lilith.
Has to be pulled from somewhere. Some... Room of Guf? Is that what it is? I remember Kaworu saying something about closing the doors of Guf in the 3rd Rebuild movie.
The doors of Guf/chamber of Guf was mentioned in that director's cut scene of the security footage of second impact, and will be mentioned again in End Of Evangelion (I believe the doors of Guf are literally Quantum Rei's hand vaginas, which suck up all of the human souls from the Earth). If I'm not mistaken "Guf" is a concept in Kabbalah that refers to the place where unborn souls reside before they enter human bodies and are born on Earth. Or something like that. I believe it's also featured a couple of times in Rebuild but I don't remember the specifics.
So Kaworu may be my favorite character, or at least the favorite of the children.
Interesting. Shinji is definitely by far my favorite this time around, but I've just never really given Kaworu that much thought because of how little screen time he gets.
I believe there was some controversy about what Seele wanted to do with sending in Kaworu. From the TV version, it seems like they wanted to get the Angel defeating business over with already and sent him in to Nerv to get defeated. I vaguely remember there being more ambiguity with Seele's intentions with their conversation with Kaworu in the Director's Cut edition.
In their conversation in the director's cut the Seele council members talk about how Gendo is planning to "open Pandora's box" just like Seele themselves are planning to, but unlike them he intends to close it before Hope can come out. So to take them at face value, they seem to know that Gendo has some kind of apocalyptic plan, but they don't believe he has the best interest of humanity at heart like they do so they have to stop him from enacting his vision.
Kaworu reveals that everyone has an AT Field, which must have been a bit reveal for real time viewers. Then later says that he wanted Shinji to stop Unit-01 because otherwise it might have "lived on with her"? ? ? ? ? Who living on with whom?? Unit-02 and Asuka? Unit-02 and her mother? Her mother and Asuka?
I interpreted that as "he will use her to go on and live" rather than "he will live on alongside her". I think he's saying that he's glad Shinji defeated Unit 02 because now he can't use it as a tool to defend himself.
I wonder what's special about the Angels when they contact Adam that differs from Evas (Unit-00) coming in contact with Adam that doesn't cause Third Impact? Although... 'Adam' is actually Lilith, which could be why Unit-00 contacting Lilith doesn't do anything. So if Unit-01, based on Lilith I believe? comes in contact with Lilith, would that cause something? Would be funny if it could cause a Third Impact for the Angels that wipes them all out, as opposed to a Third Impact for humans which wipes out all Lilith-based life.
My tenuous understanding of this is that all of the Evas are made from Lilith to varying degrees, but Unit 01 more than the others (I don't know if that means Unit 01 has more flesh and less machine, or more similar DNA or what). Remember that an Eva coming in contact with Lilith does indeed cause Third Impact in End Of Evangelion, although I think the Eva has to be awoken at the time or the restraints on it prevent the contact.
As for Angel Third Impact versus human Third Impact, my understanding of that is that Third Impact is for all beings except the initiator, so in theory it should effect all Angels and all humans except whoever comes in contact with whatever to trigger it in the first place.