Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episodes 7-12
Written by Hideaki Anno, Yōji Enokido, Akio Satsukawa, and Seiji Mizushima
Directed by Keiichi Sugiyama, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Tsuyoshi Kaga, Hiroyuki Ishidō, and Tetsuya Watanabe
Here are my thoughts on the first six episodes of Evangelion
My feelings on this next batch of six episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion are far more positive than the first six. The first six were not terrible, but these are diving just a bit more beneath the surface of the back story, and some characters are introduced that add some much-needed conflict & new personalities to the series.
Episode 7 immediately caught my attention because it changed the setting and formula. We don’t have an Angel to fight in this episode. Instead, Shinji and Misato attend a conference between NERV and a rival security org to discuss future action against the Angels. The org reveals they have been building an alternative to the Evas, and wouldn’t you know it, it all goes wrong. Shinji and Misato are made to team up as the out-of-control giant robot is wreaking havoc.
This episode raises some questions that have been on the surface since the show started. Just what the hell are the Evas? They seem alive. They rest in a giant vat of some nutritive liquid. When Shinji took damage earlier in the series, they hinted at organic components. My personal theory is that the cores they remove from the fallen angels are part of growing or creating Evas. By telling the story through the eyes of Shenji, an outsider, they keep the audience at just enough arms’ length so we only get occasional hints.
This episode isn’t about internal angst either – just a straightforward action story that showcases how well two characters work together and how the NERV program is doing work far above their rivals. The closest we get to this is Shinji solidifying his view of Misato, an immature wild card, to develop a more nuanced understanding of her through her actions in stopping the rogue robot. The episode’s conclusion shows that this was not all an accident; it was planned, and Gendo, the mind behind NERV, was fully aware the whole time.
Episode 8 – I’m going to guess that Asuka has a solid sub-fan base within the Evangelion fandom? She certainly seems like that sort of character. I loved her being added to the series; her personality feels closer to how real teenagers act than Rei’s silent angst and Shinji’s constant mix of horny-awkward. I do find the show’s obsession with near-nude teenage girls or underwear shots to be eye-rolling unnecessary. I know there’s some argument about tropes or other bullshit, but it’s very fetishy and gross. This will not be my last comment on this element.
I loved the angel fight in this episode & it seems the showrunners understand punching and shooting in the middle of the city can’t be every fight. Asuka’s jumps across the naval fleet were well-done and fun to watch. In the Godzilla vs. King Kong movie, they ripped this sequence off, where Kong jumps across battleships and aircraft carriers as Godzilla swims beneath.
Do I understand why Shinji’s two school friends are allowed to come along? Not at all. The jury is still out on those guys for me. I can see what they add to the show; I’m not enjoying them all that much. I did like that we got more of Misato’s backstory with the introduction of Ryoji. Some other bits during this run of episodes reveal Misato’s life, which is tied to the Angels, going back to her childhood. They showed her father was some sort of scientist. Does that mean she works as a foil to Shinji? I hope that it develops more.
Episode 9: This episode’s dance/fight sequence was the highlight for me. Usually, I don’t care for something like that but it was done wonderfully. It’s a great example of how to insert a silly, hyper-stylized moment into a story like this and make it work. There was a similar vibe to how Scott Pilgrim vs. The World can do ridiculous, cheesy things, yet it never loses the sense of being a “cool” story.
Aside from that, this episode spends a lot of time developing the relationship between Shinji and Asuka. An aside, the photo kid at school – Aida? Yeah, he’s creepy. The way he ogles and takes photos of Asuka is so over the top that it’s more comical than offensive, but once again, there’s this weird thing going on with adolescent minors in the show. She’s not the only new person in town as Ryoji turns out to be dating Ritsuko? Misato takes this as well as you could imagine, but I can tell this will be part of a larger arc throughout the series.
Asuka’s personality is fascinating. She’s the youngest of the pilots, 13 going on 14? Yet, she possesses some of the most intense arrogance. It’s a combination that interests me to see how her personality develops. I don’t imagine she’ll remain so cartoonishly arrogant from now until the final episodes, which leads me to think she’ll go through an experience that teaches her humility and respect for other NERV members. I don’t really see her as a love interest for Shinji, more that their dynamic would work better as older brother & little sister – a real Arthur/DW situation.
Episode 10: The series continues to shine the spotlight on Asuka, which I am all for because she’s a more fun character to follow than Rei. This time, we get some insight into where Angels come from….sort of…kind of. There’s an embryonic angel at the bottom of a volcano, and Asuka gets sent down in a slightly modified Eva to snuff it out before it becomes a problem. That leads to a very entertaining & tense action sequence because you know it won’t be easy.
This angel is also linked to fire, and Episode 8 was in the water. We had an angel previously who drilled into the Earth. Does that count? There’s the appearance of the Tree of Life diagram in the opening credits, and I know there’s apparently a lot of imagery that feeds into the Kabbalah. When I’ve watched the whole thing, I’ll do the deep dive into all of that, but my brain is too tired right now.
I saw a person commenting on Reddit that they liked how reticent adults are to talk in detail to the kids about Second Impact and what happened to start all of this. The commenter compared it to how Japanese young people post-WWII couldn’t get much out of their elders regarding the war years and the atomic bombing. It was seen as so unpleasant & challenging to deal with that people who knew of it wanted to just move past it and forget it. Reminds me a lot of the mindset of many Americans regarding COVID. But as the saying goes, those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.
There was a comparison online of the three pilots representing the three parts of the human psyche – id (Asuka), ego (Shinji), and superego (Rei), which is pretty accurate.
Episode 11: They bring up the Magi again, the supercomputer AI collective that makes much of the decisions for NERV. Were they what the drilling angel was after a few episodes back? We get more information that the Magi have been handed control of this operation, which feels like a set-up for some significant disaster later. Or were the Magi built using the cores of dead angels and thus enacting a plan to help the angels long term? Or I’m completely off on this one. Just thinking of the typical tropes you see in fictional worlds where AI has been allowed to have control of the direction of society.
I still feel very perplexed about Gendo and Shinji’s relationship up to this point. Maybe I’m a lousy viewer and need to pay better attention, but why were they apart? Gendo’s work? I think Shinji’s DNA is incorporated into the Eva, which would explain why it works only for him. This relationship arc will likely be the most consequential one in the series, so it makes sense why it feels like such a slow burn in these early episodes.
The appearance of the angels was never what anyone would consider “normal,” but they certainly seem to be becoming weirder with each iteration. With its spider-like body covered in eyes, this ninth angel felt the most overtly symbolic of something from an esoteric religion or cult. Strong Illuminati pyramid vibes. The fact that angel DNA and human genetic material seem compatible makes me think that while we might assume angels are extraterrestrial, they result from some mad scientist’s experiment on humans gone awry. Perhaps the angels are manifested by some humans turned into godlike figures due to this weird science.
The manual insertion scene is up there with the dance/fight. It’s a neat variation on something we’ve seen already and shows the showrunners are aware they have to keep things exciting or the series gets boring. This is also the first time we have seen all three pilots together, which will happen more often now. Maybe a fight between the Evas when things go south in the future?
Episode 12: Our brief glimpse of the South Pole in this timeline was illuminating. Second Impact had a devastating effect. The destruction of a polar ice cap explains the flooded Tokyo we saw in Episode 7.
The design of the angel in this one was similar to the last episode. I was surprised to see it attacking from orbit, which again begs the question: Where do these angels come from? Twelve episodes in, I wonder how much stranger the designs will get. We are already in bizarro territory, which I love. It seems like the angels adapt based on the failures of the last fight. By the show’s end, we should have encountered some angels that defy the genre tropes. An angel that is a microscopic virus might fare better than these city destroyers.
PopCult Reviews 
2 thoughts on “TV Review – Neon Genesis Evangelion Episodes 7 thru 12”