WiC Watches: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Image: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Episode 14: “Seele, the Seat of the Soul”

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a clip show.

So clip shows don’t cost a lot of money to make and are usually meant to pad out the length of a series. And indeed, not a lot happens in “Seele, the Seat of the Soul.” But this episode is far from a complete waste. For one thing, we get a closer look at SEELE, the shadowy organization that pulls the strings at NERV…or so its members likes to think. Gendo would have us believe that he holds all the cards. It’s fun to see a little more of how he spends his day-to-day. Evangelion is a show with a lot layers — action anime fun, pubescent character drama, and now high-stakes political jockeying. There’s room for everyone.

There’s still a lot about SEELE we don’t know, but I’m intrigued by what I see. It looks like it’s headed for a clash with NERV.

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Obviously, the clips themselves cover stuff we already know, but it’s good to have a refresher on the stakes, and it highlights how many mysteries from those older episodes remain unsolved. Why did Unit-01 go berserk when fighting the Third Angel? Why does Unit-00 freak out later, much as it did when Rei was inside it before she sustained her injuries? Just what the hell are the Evas anyway? They’re can’t just be robots; robots don’t get that bloodthirsty. And just what is Rei’s deal? Her hallucinogenic monologue, where she talks about god and identity and blood over trippy images new and old, is the highlight of the episode.

And what is the Spear of Longinus, and what is Rei doing with it? Just what in the world do the Dead Sea Scrolls have to do with this? Why is Unit-02 not compatible with anyone else but Rei and Shinji can apparently hop between Units 00 and 01 (mostly) without incident? “Seele, the Seat of the Soul” presents way more questions than answers, and isn’t complete by itself, but that’s part of the fun of a serialized show. Now that we’re in the second half of the series, it’ll be satisfying to get some payoff to the longer-term setups.

WE’LL BE BACK WITH MORE EPISODES SOON!

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