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samasmith23 · 1 year

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Evangelion: You Can (Not) Marathon — (Part 11)

Neon Genesis Evangelion, “Episode 11: In the Still Darkness/The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still”

Continuing my Evangelion re-watch marathon with NGE, “Episode 11: In the Still Darkness/The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still”! For my thoughts on the previous episode, click the link to the post below:

So here’s some very interesting trivia about Episode 11! The animation for this episode was actually produced primarily by Studio Ghibli instead of Gainax. I couldn’t find much information about why exactly Studio Ghibli were guest animators for this episode specifically, but if I had to haphazard a guess I’d say it was probably due to a combination of both Studio Gainax’s rapidly declining financial resources during the early & mid-1990s which heavily impacted NGE’s budget and production going forward, as well as the fact that Studio Ghibli’s founder, the famed Hayao Miyazaki, was a former mentor for and is good friends with NGE’s director Hideaki Anno. And Ghibli’s fingerprints are definitely visible in this episode as not only does the art style in the animation stand out as a bit more wonky and overly expressive than in previous episodes of the series due to differences in animation director Toshio Kawagushi’s graphic rendering style, but Episode 11 includes multiple humorous gags that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Ghibli movie!

The booklets for the original Platinum Collection DVD boxset provide some further in trivia regarding Studio Ghibli’s involvement in the predation of this episode, including some background Easter-Eggs: “The animation for this episode was handled by Studio Ghibli, known for their work on such films as ‘My Neighbor Totoro.’, Nozomu (written as ‘peek’) Takahashi, the city assembly electoral candidate, who only appears as a name is a twist on the producer of Ghibli, Nozomu (written as ‘aspire’)” Takahashi. [Blooper here, since the name of the guy in the episode is pronounced ‘Nozoku’.]”

Similarly, the Oguru Commentary #44 elaborates: “Studio Ghibli is in charge of the original drawings. Takahashi Nozomi, a city council candidate who appears in the play, is named after Ghibli producer Nozomu Takahashi at the time. Mr. Takahashi used to be an editor of Animage, and Dr. He was in charge of the serialized article "Video Lab" under the name Nozomu. Some readers may remember him. Although it has nothing to do with Ghibli, the poet Hideaki Antani appears in the "My Resume" section of the newspaper Fuyutsuki was reading.”

But with all of that out of the way, let's finally dig into the episode itself!

Lol! I love how the episode opens with Aoba getting a UCC Coffee can out of a vending machine at his local laundry mat! I guess the first two Rebuild movies weren’t the only times Evangelion plugged that particular bit of product placement!

So this introductory scene of Ritsuko, Maya & Aoba at the laundry mat before meeting Professor Fuyutsuki on the subway is incredibly intriguing on multiple levels. Similar to the previous scene from Episode 10 showing the NERV Staff relaxing during a non-chaotic situation, this allows us to get a further glimpse into the daily lives of NERV’s personnel outside of their usual military industrial setting. It makes these characters feel a lot more human and three-dimensional in that regard. It’s also interesting to see how while Ritsuko is very casual in her interactions with Fuyutsuki, Maya & Aoba still address him as their commanding officer even when off-duty.

But even more importantly, the subway scene further fleshes out the world-building of Tokyo-3 as a fictional setting, as Anno reveals some rather interesting details about the city’s political structures and institutions. Specifically, Fuyutsuki & Ritsuko reveal to Maya & Aoba that the city’s official council are largely just figureheads despite politicians still holding elected positions of power, and that in actuality the majority of the Tokyo-3’s decision-making process is relegated to the Magi supercomputer system down in NERV HQ’s Central Dogma. While Maya makes an off handed remark about this system still being “democratic,” I can’t help but find the idea of restricting policy-making to three sentient AI programs to be rather authoritarian and undemocratic in actuality. Like, the idea is that humans are inherently distrustful and incapable of being trusted with making important political decisions is not only an incredibly nihilistic perspective, but you are still restricting power to three “superior” authorities rather than giving power to the people themselves.

It’s honestly a rather fascistic system of government when you stop and think about it, and I can’t help but view it as an intentional choice on Anno’s part given that EVA takes a lot of inspiration from the themes of Ryu Murakami’s novel Fascism of Love and Illusion, which according to the EVA Geeks Wiki, focuses on “the ‘activities’ of the ‘Hunting Company,’ a political association that thoroughly rejects the weak and weak democracy and aims to establish a dictatorial and fascist society. The story is set in Japan, which is in the midst of a crisis of global depression and a sense of extreme stagnation, and the political organization ‘Hunting Company’ engages in both open and closed conspiracy, violence, and terrorism.”

In that regard, there are actually quite a few parallels between Murakami’s “Hunting Company” and both NERV and its parent organization SEELE in EVA, the latter two of which are depicted in increasingly negative and vilified lights as the series progresses.

Even Aoba somewhat addresses my concerns about the authoritarian nature of a supercomputer administrated government by not only dismissing Ritsuko, Maya & Fuyutsuki as “technophiles!” Furthermore, his his comment also correlates with the second episode’s title “The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still” being an overt reference to the classic sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still, since both stories explore the implications of humanity’s relationship with and over-reliance on technology.

Again, I can’t help but wonder if this was also meant to serve as some kind of critique against fascistic authoritarianism in-relation, only in this case through placing total authority onto science & technology instead of a traditional human dictator?

Lol! I love the expressionless look on Misato’s face as she casually tries to shut the elevator doors as soon as she see’s Kaji rushing towards the doors, only for her facial expressions to immediately shift to cartoonish annoyance as soon as Kaji stops the doors from closing and gets inside with her!

Sigh… poor Shinji… I can’t help but feel incredibly bad for him here as Gendo coldly and rudely dismisses his own son when he tries to call about parental approval for a vocational education form, demanding that Shinji never call him on that phone line ever again. Have I mentioned before how much I absolutely despise Gendo’s guts?

Also, I don’t think I’ve given Spike Spencer’s voice acting as Shinji enough credit during this marathon. While Spencer’s delivery does start off pretty rough in places during the first few episodes of the series, you can really see him grow more naturally accustomed to the role as the show progresses. Spencer conveys Shinji’s feelings of anxiety, confusion, and rejection during this pay phone interaction so well!

Oh boy! It’s during this scene where Shinji’s being scolded on the phone by Gendo that crap truly starts to go down in this episode! Not only does Shinji randomly lose his father’s signal during their call all of a sudden, but at the exact same moment the power completely goes out in NERV HQ, trapping Misato & Kaji in the elevator in the process! Even all of the emergency back-up generators have completely shut down, therefore rendering NERV and all of Tokyo-3 completely without electricity. Additionally, Fuyutsuki orders that all little remaining power be completely redirected towards operating the Magi, even if it means completely cutting off NERV’s life-support systems (again, reinforcing the inherent authoritarianism behind relegating all political power to 3 supercomputers).

Like dang! This entire scenario of NERV and the city of Tokyo-3 experiencing a mass blackout not only makes for an incredibly entertaining premise for the episode, but from a thematic perspective it effectively conveys why putting all of our faith and trust in technology to administer our lives and daily routines has its serious drawbacks and risks!

Wait, why does the street have “EVA Socket” written across the left lane in big orange letters? That seems like a random detail…

Asuka continues to demonstrate a similar type of toxic patriarchal attitude that I previously discussed with Misato back in Episode 4, wherein she mocks Shinji for “not acting like a man [and] letting everything get under his skin.” Not only is this reflective of how attitudes of toxic masculinity and patriarchy so systemically interwoven into societal institutions that they can influence of women to uphold said traditionalist perspectives and not just men, but it also highlights a particular characteristic of Asuka’s character specifically. Namely, “masculine protest,” which according the Wikipedia article for this episode, is “a psychological term for a form of rebellion identifiable in women who are tired of the role stereotypically associated with the female gender. [In this regard] Asuka acts as if she is trying to prove herself and surpass the male gender, fusing an inferiority complex and radical rivalry.”

Not only does masculine protest inform Asuka’s egotism and competitive behavior with Shinji during the previous three episodes she’s appeared in so far, but it’s particularly on display here in Episode 11 as the trio of pilots are forced to infiltrate navigate NERV’s maze-like network of during the middle of the blackout.

Asuka’s “masculine protest” also serves as an interesting contrast to Shinji’s behavior being more feminine coded at times, highlighting how her rivalry with Shinji is largely artificial, a byproduct of not only her own deep-seated psychological trauma, but also her unwittingly playing into toxic societal expectations and gender stereotypes despite actively trying to rebel against them. In essence, Asuka wants to prove her own “superiority” to Shinji, but at the same time she tries to force expectations of toxic masculinity onto him in order to inflate said-competition! This also ties into the episode’s underlying themes regarding the fallacies of authoritarianism, since Asuka repeatedly tries to reinforce her own singular authority upon her fellow EVA pilots whom she perceives as being inferior to herself, only for the majority of said-efforts to be undermined by her peers, thereby demonstrating just how inefficient authoritarianism actually is.

And to cap off this scene, I love the subtle look Rei gives as Asuka is emasculating Shinji. As if to indicate that she’s beginning to question pre-programmed societal and gender expectations? That wouldn’t surprise me considering that Rei’s overall character arc is all about gradually questioning and later defying Gendo’s abusive gaslighting and expectations in order to achieve independence by discovering her own individual sense of self. In a sense, while Rei was designed as a cog in NERV’s authoritarian machine in order to fulfill Gendo’s patriarchal ambitions to resurrect his wife Yui Ikari (due to Rei’s nature as a clone of Yui artificially created in a lab), she’s beginning to question the expectations and norms imposed upon her since birth!

So this episode actually introduces one of several unanswered mysteries which EVA fans have continued to speculate & debate about in the decades since the series’ release: who exactly was responsible for the blackout in Tokyo-3?

Misato & Gendo both come to the realization that the blackout must be a deliberate act of sabotage since they state that it’s impossible for all three of the generators which supply NERV HQ and the city above with electricity to simultaneously shut down. Despite the episode raising the question of who exactly cut the power, the culprit’s identity is never confirmed either here or later on the series. While some fans have speculated that it was either a random terrorist, or agents of SEELE who caused the blackout, I’ve personally also believed to Kaji be a likely suspect due to him being a double/triple agent for both NERV and SEELE who’s true allegiances are similarly left incredibly vague!

If Kaji is indeed the culprit, then him rushing to get on the elevator only for them to get conveniently stuck inside during the blackout definitely wasn’t just an excuse to continue making flirtatious advances towards Misato then!

Lol! The dramatic irony here! Just as soon as Fuyutsuki states that he hopes an Angel doesn’t show up to attack Tokyo-3 during the blackout when NERV is defenseless, the scene immediately cuts to the JSSFD detecting the Ninth Angel, Matarael, slowly approaching Tokyo-3 on radar!

All that’s missing here is the “wa wa wa” trombone sound-effect!

I love the brief montage of Misato, Aoba, and Rei each realizing that the emergency phone lines are down as well! Great editing on Gainax & Ghibli’s part there!

Asuka immediately taking on the self-assigned role of “group leader” the moment she, Rei & Shinji realize that they need to break into NERV HQ themselves in order to assess whether or not anybody inside is in danger. While this is definitely both funny and perfectly in-character for her, it’s also further reflective of her inflated sense of pride and competitive streak while also correlating with her artificiality of her “masculine protest.”

Not only does Asuka bring up the idea of a group leader when it wasn’t even suggested by Shinji or Rei, but she quickly assigns said-role to herself while asking if the two have “any objections?”, in essence forcing them to go along with her games that are designed to validate her own pride. It really does demonstrate how despite Asuka’s constant attempts to frame herself as a “mature grown-up” in the eyes of both her peers and commanding officers, in reality she is acting incredibly childish and immature by doing so. Brilliant screenwriting and characterization on Anno’s part!

Lol! And Rei immediately partially exposes in the inherent childishness of Asuka’s “masculine protest” by pointing out that the emergency entrance to NERV HQ is behind Asuka just as she boasts about leading the way ahead of Rei & Shinji!

Yup… more toxic reinforcement of gender stereotypes on Asuka’s part. She immediately defers to Shinji manually opening the door, essentially ordering him to do all of the heavy-lifting despite her desire to prove her “superiority” simply because she thinks heavy-lifting is “man’s work.”

Interestingly, this scene of Shinji doing the “heavy-lifting” for Asuka is juxtaposed against Hyuga delivering Misato’s laundry for her just as soon as he hears a JSSFD plane overhead warning about the approaching Angel. It seems that while Misato has at least somewhat worked through her previous attitudes concerning toxic patriarchal expectations of men when it comes to Shinji, she’s still actively engaging in such attitudes when it comes to having her subordinate Hyuga basically act as her secretary…

Lol! The Studio Ghibli animation is definitely noticeable in this scene where Kaji suggests that Misato “take off her shirt” when she’s dying of sweat in the elevator…

No joke, when I first saw this scene several years ago of Maya telling Ritsuko that the commanders were “still cool and in control” despite the growing heat and lack of air conditioning, only for it to then cut to Fuyutsuki’s bare feet in a bucket of water behind the desk and to have him tell Gendo, “It’s hot…,” I immediately burst out laughing!

I think it was the combination of the contrast of Maya’s impression of Fuyutski’s professionalism against the silly image of his bare feet in water, as well as VA Guil Lunde’s dry delivery of Fuyutsuki’s line that made me laugh so hard! Haters like to say that EVA is nothing but depressing psychoanalysis, but scenes like this prove that EVA can actually be incredibly funny whenever it wants to be!

Another funny moment! Hyuga basically just carjacked a news van in order to not only warn people about the rapidly approaching Angel, but also to break through the barricades to NERV HQ! Feel sorry for the poor news anchors he dragged into this though…

Fuyutski & Ritsuko’s theory about someone deliberately sabatoging NERV’s power systems in order to get a complete read-out of the headquarters and the system’s layouts definitely provides credence to the fan theory that this was all part of SEELE’s plans to later launch an all out invasion during The End of Evangelion, especially since Episode 7 previously established that NERV was also facing severe budget cuts for their defense program! Anno is very efficient in subtly foreshadowing and planting the seeds for future payoffs incredibly early on! Kudos!

Also, Gendo’s line about “mankind’s greatest enemy [being] man himself” after Fuyutsuki expresses frustration about the first being to truly infiltrate NERV HQ being “a member of [their] own species.” This highlights how despite the looming apocalyptic threat that the Angels represent to humanity, at the end of the day the principle antagonist of the Evangelion franchise is ultimately humanity itself! A sentiment which will later be reflected by Misato & Hyuga during a similar exchange in The End of Evangelion!

Lol! Looking at this image of Asuka, Shinji & Rei marching single file through NERV’s dark tunnels, combined with Asuka’s own childish games of “leadership,” I can’t help but think that Asuka would fit in perfectly with John, Michael and the Lost Boys of Neverland from Disney’s Peter Pan!

Actually… considering that John and the Lost Boys were similarly playing in childish games of “hunting Indians” (yeah… some casual 1950s colonialist racism on Disney’s part there… classy…) while including anti-Indigenous slurs in their “Following the Leader” song, while also dismissing Peter and Wendy visiting the Neverland’s mermaids as “girls stuff” in a misogynistic manner, the Peter Pan reference is actually more apt than I originally thought considering that those are similar authoritarian & gender-essentialist societal “norms” that this episode is criticizing Asuka for actively engaging in...

As funny as it is to see Asuka immediately defer to Rei leading them to the shortcut after the overhear Hyuga overhead warning about the Angel despite still proclaiming to be the leader, it does feel a bit out of character for Asuka considering how much she hates Rei especially for reminding her about the parts about her past that she hates about herself. Or is this Anno deliberately conveying subconscious cracks in Asuka’s armor?

Oh boy, Shinji finally asked one of the biggest questions a lot of fans were probably having by this point in the series (myself included when I first watched it): “What exactly are the Angels and why are they attacking us? Aren’t they supposed to be messengers from God?”

And of course Asuka does little to answer his questions by shutting him down with her, “What are you, stupid?”, catchphrase before giving him the reductive answer of, “Who cares? They attacked us first? And when someone’s attacking you, you attack back.”

It’s definitely reflective of Asuka’s narrow-minded and immature mindset…

Holy crap! The scene where the trio makes a wrong turn (once again due to Asuka’s childish egotism), only for her to open a door back to the surface with the 9th Angel, Matarael, lurching across the city and stopping to stare directly back at her, leading to Asuka to quickly shut the door in an understandable panic, is still legitimately terrifying and chilling! The soundtrack “Angel Attack III” certainly helps emphasize the fear in tension on display here!

Returning to Matarael specifically though, I do quite dig this Angel’s design here. Not only does Matarael have this unique arachnid-like aesthetic, with its giant lumbering legs making it strongly resemble a daddy long-legs spider (which make the Angel’s movements feel simultaneously slow yet menacing) but also the multiple Illuminati-pyramid eyes that are spread out all across its body! While some fans have obviously connected the pyramid eyes to SEELE considering the organization’s similarities to Illuminati conspiracy theories, I can’t help but be reminded of Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls every time I now look at Matarael’s eyes!

Are we sure Matarael is actually an Angel and not just a relative of Bill Cipher’s from the Weirdmaggedon dimension? It’s certainly possible considering that not only is inter-dimensional travel a firmly established precedent in Gravity Falls, but the series finale of that show also references a lot of visual imagery from EVA!

Being serious again though, in regards to this Angel’s name, Wikipedia states that, “The name Matarael (Hebrew: מטראל) also comes from the Book of Enoch, where he is described as the angel of rain. The name of Evangelion's Matarael refers to its offensive strategy and its powerful, corrosive acid, which it rains on its enemies.”

Lol! The image of a Hyuga driving a news van directly into Central Dogma is in-and-of-itself a hilarious image!

Despite my open and justified disdain for Gendo Ikari, I do have to begrudgingly give him some credit for having the ingenuity and foresight for the possibility of having to launch the Evangelions manually if the power ever completely ran out (despite all the aforementioned failsafes), even having a back-up diesel generator on stand-by for such an emergency.

It pains me to say it but… kudos Gendo? No, it I still feel dirty saying that!

Oh boy… I love this heavy and intense confrontation between Asuka & Rei as the latter once again tries to properly guide the trio to Central Dogma after Asuka’s previous multiple failed attempts. Seeing this as the third strike Rei has inflicted upon Asuka’s pride (Strikes 1 & 2 occured back in Episodes 9 & 10), Asuka is seriously beginning to make some serious negative presumptions about Rei’s character, not only projecting her own sense of inflated superiority onto Rei, but even expressing jealousy over the fact that Gendo seems to be playing favoritism with Rei.

And I love how Rei immediately counters Asuka’s accusations about “not feeling superior or being favorited by anyone,” stating that, “I am treated no better than anyone else here.” Is Rei slowly starting to realize that Gendo’s treatment of her is actually incredibly toxic and abusive?

Asuka telling Shinji, “First Child is definitely aggressive, and I’ll bet she’ll do anything to stay number one! Some people just think that they’re better than others!” Yup, definitely some hypocritical projection on Asuka’s part…

Geez! Even imagining just how unbelievably heavy manually inserting that Entry-Plug into Unit-01 via a rope-&-pulley system must be, even with Gendo and half-a-dozen other people doing so, just hurts to even think about! I bet all of their muscles are incredibly sore for the rest of the day…

Lol! I love how while Shinji & Asuka fall out of the air vent and land on top of each other in, Rei instead gently drops herself down in a composed and graceful manner! A great method of visual contrast and characterization!

So this is the first of two scenes in which Shinji starts to develop a false sense of hope that his father is finally starting to appreciate and value his existence. Shinji is shocked to hear from Ritsuko that his father personally helped prepare EVA Unit-01’s Entry-Plug, with her stating that Gendo “believed in him,” before Shinji looks up to see Gendo still pulling on the rope to lift the plug.

While Ritsuko’s words feel rather unhelpful and hollow due to what an abusive piece of crap Gendo actually is, considering that The End of Evangelion later reveals that Gendo does secretly love Shinji but has always purposefully neglected his son out of fear of hurting him due to his own self-loathing, I can’t help but wonder if there’s actually some truth to Ritsuko’s words here? I mean… its certainly possible considering that its also later revealed that Ritsuko is sleeping with Gendo (again… gross!).

It’s actually pretty neat seeing the NERV staff being forced to prepare the Evangelions for launch manually and without electricity, unlocking all of the heavy machinery locks either by hand or with what limited power that the diesel generator provides them, as well as the fact that the pilots themselves have to use their EVA Units to push the walls locking them in place as well! It certainly creates a visually distinct and unique variation of the traditional EVA launch sequence! I love it!

Lol! The image of Units-00 through 02 crawling through the giant air vents with giant battery-packs on their backs just looks so silly! But still… again I love it

Shifting away from silly imagery though… Matarael oozing acid directly out of its eyeball to burn its way down into the GeoFront is simultaneously incredibly disgusting & disturbing, further emphasizing the EVA’s Angels as these eldritch alien monstrosities!

Alright! So Asuka’s actually demonstrating some legitimate leadership skills during the Angel fight of this episode! While this is still another veiled egotistical effort to prove her own “superiority” as part of her “masculine protest,” her strategy of having her Unit-02 act a living shield to protect Shinji & Rei’s respective units from Matarael’s acid as the two try to retrieve their dropped rifles at the bottom of the vertical shaft, with Shinji Unit-01 acting as an offense to whom Rei’s Unit-00 will serve as backup to by throwing the rifle up the shaft towards, thereby allowing the Shinji’s offensive EVA unit to fire a barrage of gunfire at the Angel above as the Asuka’s defensive EVA unit gets out of the way, destroying the Angel!

Like, this is actually some mature and calculated planning on Asuka’s part! A definite contrast to her previous immature boasting and lack of sense of direction while navigating NERV HQ during the rest of the episode. Asuka actually is capable of showing emotional maturity when the time is necessary!

Although from a motivation perspective, Asuka’s strategic planning is still rooted in her misguided sense of pride, since she not only immediately interjects Rei’s offer to serve as defense against Matarael’s acid by demanding to take her place, but tells Shinji that it’s her time to save him so that she doesn’t owe him any favors after he previously rescued her after the fight with Sandalphon in the previous episode!

Also, Rei being assigned the role of backup instead of offensive further illustrates that Asuka holds Rei in even lower regard than she does Shinji…

In addition to being such clever strategic planning on Asuka’s part, the actual execution of Asuka’s strategy is incredibly epic as well! I especially love the quick choreography of seeing the units drop down and prop themselves against the walls of the vent in rapid succession, with Asuka blocking Matarel’s acid, Rei using her Units booster jets to descend to the bottom of the pit, and Shinji firing a rapid volley of gunfire upwards which kills the Angel! Badass!

So… was Kaji actually looking up Misato’s dress like she speculated as she was up on his shoulders desperately trying to open the elevator roof while dying from a bursting bladder? Or was he just trying to look at her opening the door? Because if it’s the former, then that’s rather creepy on Kaji’s part…

Lol! If the Fuyutsuki with bare feet in a bucket of water scene is my favorite gag in this episode, then this right here is easily my second favorite! Just as Misato & Kaji are trying to open the elevator roof door, the power suddenly comes back on and the two lose their balance as the elevator starts to move again and reach its intended floor! Only for the door to open to reveal Ritsuko, Maya & Hyuga on the other side, and the three see sweaty and exhausted Misato & Kaji lying on top of each other in the floor! And given that Misato has her jacket off combined with her & Kaji’s exhaustion, sweat and unfortunate positioning, the three immediately assume the absolute worst, with Maya coldly commenting in response, “Sex fiends…”

Absolutely priceless!

As gorgeous as this closing scene of Shinji, Asuka & Rei gazing up at the starry night as Toyko-3’s power comes back on is, it does raise some very interesting philosophical questions. While Shinji can’t help but appreciate the beauty of the night sky with he absence of light pollution, discovering the beauty which technology and electricity makes us forget, Asuka can’t help but state that she feels much safer and more comfortable with the artificial light that electricity provides, stating that it makes her feel closer to humans.

Not only does this harken back to the Hedgehog’s Dilemma in which people will pursue empty and hollow relationships out of fear of hurting each other, but it also argues that it is primarily due to humanity’s over reliance on technology that they are able to obtain the power that they possess. This is further reinforced by Rei’s comments about “Man [fearing] the darkness, and so he skirts away at the edges of it with fire,” which insinuates that technological advancement is derived from a desire for power, and that a desire for power is derived from fear of the dark, of the unknown.

It’s this desire for power & control, and fearing of the unknown & the other which is sadly the source of humanity’s sins and crimes throughout real-life, especially considering that the countries at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution were also the ones who perpetuated centuries upon centuries of colonialism, slavery, and genocide upon those that they othered and exploited for their technological advancements. It’s honestly a rather insightful critique about the correlation between over reliance on technological advancement and the adherence to fascistic authoritarianism which I alluded to at the start of the episode concerning Tokyo-3 utilizing the Magi supercomputer system to make all of the important political decisions in the place of an actual democratically elected government.

Also, the fact that Shinji then speculates over whether or not this “fear of the dark” and technological advancement is not only “what makes mankind a special species,” but also the reason that the Angels want to destroy them, implying that what makes humanity “special” it’s sins and flaws, and that the Angels are therefore passing divine judgement upon them. It also harkens back to Gendo’s previous words of “Mankind greatest enemy is man himself.” Some strong thematic writing on Anno’s part there!

And of course, the episode ends with Asuka demonstrating that despite her growth during the fight with Matarael, she still has a LLLOOONNNGGG way to go as she once again falling back on her old childish habits by dismissing Rei & Shinji’s philosophical questions with, “What are you? Stupid?! Who knows what [the Angels] think?”

So that was NGE, “Episode 11: In the Still Darkness/The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still,” and overall it was another incredibly strong entry into the series! In addition to further emphasizing Asuka's flawed superiority complex through the lens of her "masculine protest" all throughout this episode, I especially loved the thematic and philosophical questions it raises about the dichotomy between technology, nature, humanity, & power, which is definitely a correlation with the kinds of elements found in the anime films directed by Anno's good friend Miyazaki. In that regard, it's actually kind of fitting that Studio Ghibli served as the guest-animators for this episode. Additionally this episode not only enhances the overall intrigue and ambiguity surrounding the shows mysteries through the unknown culprit behind the NERV and Tokyo-3 blackout, the fight with Matarael was another banger Angel fight, and this episode features some the absolute funniest moments in the entire series (special thanks to Fuyutsuki and Maya! Your comedic bits were most definitely appreciated)!

Next time it’s gonna be Episode 12!

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