It feels like I’ve been writing too much recently, I made 9 posts in three days, scheduling them out over the course of the month and it’s pretty difficult to do when nearly all of them are over 1000 words long. That’s not really a problem though as I’m really enjoying this process and it makes me feel like I’m actually doing something worthwhile instead of wasting too much time on video games. Yes I’ve been playing five video games recently but I’m going to be writing a post about each one individually so I’m not sure how much I should count that, especially when you see what I have to say about the games!
Enough bragging about how much I can write in a short period of time let’s talk about Evangelion. And may I first say that I’m really starting to enjoy watching these episodes more ever since I started eating mars bars through them! If you don’t like the show I highly recommend you follow this advice! If you don’t want to be fat and you dislike evangelion try carrots instead.
There’s already a lot of stuff in this episode to unpack so I should probably get right too it. Asuka has Shinji’s friends (whose names I should know) as stalkers. These people are called Suzuhara and Aida and it’s funny how they seemed to spend a lot of their time taking photos of Asuka who they apparently don’t like, I guess so they can sell them. It’s funny that these characters are spending a lot more time around her and it’s funny that I never took the time to find out their names until now. And speaking of forgetting names in the last episode I forgot one very important name even though I wrote it down: Kaji. Yes I wrote it quite a bit as Keji so that mistake will be fixed from now on.
Seeing Asuka at school is really interesting because she’s actually popular and has enough interesting stuff about her character that school is now worth showing. The other characters would simply study then go home but not Asuka. One of the first things she does is stomp on her many love letters – she likes doing that doesn’t she? It shows that she’s not really looking to date anyone, or anyone who would send her a card instead of talking to her at least. Another funny quirk about Asuka was when she addressed herself as “gorgeous” because it’s just rare for me to hear people do it sincerely.
Asuka approaches Rei saying that they should be friends but Rei immediately shoots her down. Rei doesn’t think human relationships are important. This is actually quite useful for telling us more about Rei since she seems to be alone by choice rather than with others. It’s still not great for her but it’s a lot better that she doesn’t want to try instead of the other way around. I don’t exactly mean better objectively, I’m only really saying this about her mental state not anything else. Rei says they will only be friends if she’s told too and that’s pretty funny. She’s not opposed to being with Asuka more she would just rather be on her own.
Despite the brilliant teamwork between Shinji and Asuka in the previous episode they get utterly demolished due to their lack of teamwork and they both end upside down in a hole in separate locations which doesn’t look good. It instead looks funny. I was sadly unable to take this situation seriously because of its humour. I think the teamwork malfunction was more Asuka’s fault than Shinji’s because she’s more likely to do what she wants without listening to the orders given. She also told Shinji that she didn’t want his help and moved away before he could do much without telling her to follow her unlike later claims.
Due to this error it seems like Misato was nearly fired and honestly I’m surprised it took this long. Luckily for her Kaji bails her out and see seems ok with only a thousand kilograms of paperwork to get through all talking about the exact same failure.
Asuka is now moving into the same place as Shinji and Misato so there are boxes everywhere. These seem to vanish almost instantly but I just assume they’re piled up somewhere. It’s not too difficult to see why Shinji is unhappy with this. While this episode is about teamwork the main problem of the series is ironically made worse at the start when the two work together, which made them on even worse terms. I’m sure it hurts Asuka’s pride a lot more than Shinji’s to be found upside down so I can imagine her deeper resentment rising from that while Shinji’s rising due to an opposition towards it. While I really like Asuka as a character she can behave in a really bad way on occasion.
Moving in with each other is meant to strengthen their bond so they can solve the problem together. It’s funny when the classmates open the door to find the pair dressed in the exact same way and also saying the exact same thing at once despite wearing headphones to reduce hearing.
One of my favourite parts of the episode was when the two were playing some kind of twister teamwork game and Asuka was complaining because she was so much better at it than Shinji. Then Rei switches with Shinji and they synch immediately. It’s not only a really funny thing but it makes Asuka reconsider her position and decide to become in synch. We are then treated to this really cool montage of them actually learning to behave better. It’s funny because they will still get angry at each other occasionally and it’s for not doing what they did. With that level of scolding going on every day it’s not too hard to see how they can get along so well so fast.
At the end of this trip Asuka somehow stumbles into Shinji’s bed facing him on the floor. Shinji then leans into try and kiss her before he’s stopped when she says “moma” and realises what he’s doing. To be honest it’s very easy to see how the two might develop feelings for each other after spending so long with each other focusing on every single thing they do but I find it surprising that Shinji doesn’t recognise she’s asleep or maybe doesn’t care. It’s pretty shocking to see this shy guy suddenly do something like that and it’s a really nice character progression. In the end he still respects that she’s asleep and moves to his own spot on the floor out of nervousness.
I wonder if Asuka is having trouble with her family or has lost them based on the fact that she said “moma” quite sadly. Since this is evangelion it looks like this might be her internal conflict which she hides through a confident shell. Only time will tell.
Kaji and Misato end up kissing and it’s confirmed that they did date instead of massively implying it. None of them are really over each other but Misato doesn’t really want much to do with Kaji whereas for Kaji it’s the opposite. It’s clear to see that Misato is torn about this predicament and she really does say things that contradict her lips. She still loves Kaji but remembers the bad stuff about him and is put off by it.
The now fully synched pair of Shinji and Asuka team up to fight against the angels. And it’s very fun to watch as they do everything together perfectly in synch. It’s so strange and hard to believe that it’s funny. They set a timer for how long it will take them to beat and it kill it at the exact right time together! It’s brilliant!
The only issue is that they fall on to each other after the explosion and have another embarrassing argument. So while they’re very compatible they’ve still got a bit of work to do!
My Brain Is Completely Empty 
I had a feeling while watching this episode that Asuka was actually worse than it than Shinji was (and only said she was better at it to cover up her mistakes). Indeed, the EvaGeeks wiki confirms that Asuka’s the one stuffing up the synchronicity of the Twister game if you watch very closely, so it’s interesting to see you didn’t notice such a thing when you normally pick up on other things of this nature.
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Well it was kind of obvious that Asuka was worse when Rei switched with her and could do it fine. I didn’t really put my opinion into that section but the idea of Asuka reconsidering her position also happened to me. I think this is the part you were talking about:
“Asuka was complaining because she was so much better at it than Shinji. Then Rei switches with Shinji and they synch immediately. It’s not only a really funny thing but it makes Asuka reconsider her position…”
The idea of reconsidering her position was her attitude towards being the best. Anyway I could have made that point clearer.
It’s cool that you notice the kind of things I pick up on, and that I have a reputation of being detailed!
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