WiC Watches: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Episode 11: “The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still”

Once again, we get a fairly light-hearted episode. After three episodes that focused on the discrete charms of Asuka Langley Soryu, “The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still” is all about how the three Eva pilots work together. When a blackout strikes the city, the trio have to make their way to NERV headquarters so they can save the day. What’s their chemistry like?

Unsurprisingly, Asuka volunteers to lead the group. It’s particularly funny to see her try and break through Rei’s stoicism, although she’s destined to be unsuccessful. ‘So are you the favorite?’ Askua asks. ‘Do you get special treatment?’ ‘She’s a holier-than-thou type.’ Throw whatever you want at Rei, Asuka; she’s not budging. It’s good for some laughs here at home, though.

Eventually, the three successfully breach NERV headquarters and fight a new Angel — a multi-legged, acid-spewing behemoth — in yet another clever battle: they have to beat this thing from the depths of a mile-high shaft in the city surface. Asuka, always eager to throw herself onto the front lines, takes the brunt of the damage while Rei retrieves a dropped gun on the floor and Shinji blows the Angel full of holes. At the end of the episode, the three of them observe Tokyo-3 from a hilltop, just three teenagers enjoying some down time and talking about everything and nothing.

It’s down-to-earth moments like this that provide the yin to the show’s monster-fighting yang, although this monster was a good one. The Angel in “Magma Diver” was pretty standard, but this one is back to being delightfully bonkers.

There’s some good stuff apart from the kids, too. We get a closer look at Shinji’s horrible relationship with his distant father, and learn that the power outage was (likely) caused not by the Angel but by other people — probably the people who built Jet Alone, if I had to guess. NERV has competition in the Angel-killing business.