Disaster strikes on all fronts. A new Eva pilot is chosen, leading Asuka to
fear she might be replaced. But when
that pilot becomes trapped in an Angel controlled Eva, Gendo will go to extreme
lengths to put it down, forcing Shinji to do so as well. As if that were not enough, the most powerful
Angel to date attacks NERV head on, smashing it’s way past Rei and Asuka and
Shinji is nowhere to be found. Can this
Angel possibly be the one that accomplishes what all other Angels have failed
to do…commence Third Impact?
And here…we…go. We
finally made it to the point of Evangelion where, following the end of the last
set which revealed the target of the Angels is right in NERV’s basement, the
series seems to either do a 180 or finally pull back the curtain on it’s true
self. This set of episodes is the exact
opposite from the previous ones. Just
when you think mankind has a chance at surviving the Angels, everything from
personal drama to allegiance shifts to some horrifying twists of fate appears
to sucker punch everyone. And if you
need more proof tell me what you're first thoughts are of that image of
Evangelion Unit 01 above...be afraid, be very afraid.
And when I say horrifying, man did these episodes get
gruesome. It’s practically raining blood
several times when Evangelion Unit 01 clashes with all three presented
Angels. On one occasion it literally tears
one to pieces (poor Toji btw but we’ll get to him in a moment) and in another
it…eats another Angel. Now to be a tad
fair, the Angel in Episode 19 does prove to be an unstoppable challenge that
quickly disables both Asuka and Rei, and eventually pushing Unit 01 to use up
all of it’s power before it “awakens” (as Ritsuko puts it). But becoming the main course for a rabid
Eva’s dinner is chilling to the core.
This is the weapon that’s supposed to be humanity’s salvation right? The heroic robot we’re supposed to be rooting
for? It doesn’t look like that’s the
case anymore as, to borrow from Del Toro’s Pacific Rim, “in order to fight
monsters, humanity created monsters of its own.”
And how does all of this action affect the cast? In a lot of ways. Shinji has the most understandable
overreaction after realizing how far his father would go to get the job
done. Poor Toji though. He finally gets his moment in the spotlight
to be an Eva pilot and he ends up not only trapped in an Angel possessed Evangelion
Unit 03 but also crushed by the vicious auto piloted Eva Unit 01 that Shinji
could not control thanks to his father.
Helluva way to deal with a rather comic relief character who was hit and
miss with his moments. Anyway, after
that kind of ordeal Shinji has every right to not want to pilot and Eva but
after seeing an Angel ruthlessly come so close to killing his friends, he gets
right back into it. It would have been
neat if we did get to see more of NERV without Shinji but we’ve seen how that
goes earlier in the series and man was it boring. So it’s not bad that he got thrown right back
into the saddle again…only to have us discover that Shinji’s inner monologue’s
are an even worse place to be than real world Shinji. From rapid paced dialogue to Shinji
essentially screaming for ten minutes straight he doesn’t want to feel pain
anymore to his kind of creepy fantasies of getting it on with Misato, Asuka and
Rei, it’s safe to say that mentally…Shinji is pretty F’ed up and nothing at
NERV, be it the Angels, the Evas or his father are helping matters.
Thankfully the moments when we are not neck deep in
mentally distorted Shinji-ville, and focusing on what’s happening outside of
that messed world are far more fascinating.
Rei’s beginning to act more like a girl with a soul and stand up for Shinji
as opposed to Asuka who begins to feel pushed aside and useless. And Misato, man are the revelations she’s
been getting pushing her. Her
“friendship” with Ritsuko is strained more than ever and the good Doctor even
takes operational control away from her on one occasion due to Misato not
wanting to sacrifice Shinji. Speaking of
which, the importance of Unit 01 is highlighted several times and im not just
talking about it’s berserker fits of rage.
Gendo and Ritsuko as well as the mysterious SEELE have a particular
interest in preserving the Eva no matter the cost. Between that and Adam, a serious endgame is
set to begin. Gendo even remarks that
seeing the unleashed Unit 01 that “this is the beginning”
Before I close I should mention that from episode 16
onwards we do also get into another one of Evangelions more infamous
aspects. Some of you may remember when I
reviewed Record of Lodoss War I noted the use of still images with army
clashing sound effects and their over usage.
Well in Evangelion, I distinctly remember one interrogation scene that
lasted about three minutes with one character in the spotlight, not moving or
anything, while dialogue was exchanged.
There are several examples of this in these five episodes to the point
where you get the feeling they really were tight on the budget by this point
and that so much work was put into the action (epic as it may be) that they
forgot everything else. So they just
decided to front load plenty of existential/expositional writing into scenes with
maybe one or two shifts in picture focus.
Don’t get me wrong, when the action is good, it’s good, the money is
being saved for those special moments.
But we could use some more movement in other areas to keep us from
falling asleep.
Sure enough, we are approaching the home stretch (though
I may have to rethink my strategy for reviewing the rest of the series) and
there is no going back for every character on this show. The “we’re winning” feeling from before is
long past and everyone is in danger from Angels, Gendo and SEELE. Even Kaji manages to make love to Misato for
what he feels might be the last time.
What will become of Unit 01 now that it’s real form has been
revealed? Can Shinji recover? Will Asuka fall apart on everyone? What’s Rei’s role in Gendo’s endgame? How long before Misato confronts the powers
that be about NERV’s true intentions? So
many questions. But they’re nail biting
ones and they’re the reasons Evangelion is still such a beloved Anime.
The end begins next, see ya then
No comments:
Post a Comment