Episode 04

Episode Information
Episode #04
Title 1: {{{japanese_title_k}}} {{{japanese_title_r}}} {{{japanese_title_e}}} Title 2: {{{english_title}}}
Written By	Akio Satsukawa
Directed By	Tsuyoshi Kaga
First Aired	10-25-1995
Video Release Date	{{{video_release}}}
Angel Appearances	none
Episode chronology
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"Episode 3"	"Episode 5"

Overview

Misato is upset with Shinji for ignoring her orders in the last Angel battle, and he is so overcome by the stress of being an Eva pilot that he runs away. After wandering around Tokyo-3 for several days, Shinji is faced with the choice of quitting or staying in his new home.

Synopsis

It's been five days since the battle with Shamshel, and Shinji still hasn't returned to school. Misato knocks on his bedroom door and tries to persuade him, only to find that he has run away. Concerned about his absence, Toji and Kensuke come to visit. Misato lies and tells them he is training at headquarters.

Shinji boards a local train and rides it all day, repeatedly listening to tracks 25 & 26 on his SDAT, leaving only when the train is taken out of service for the night. He tells himself, "I've got to go back", but instead attends a late-night showing of a movie about Second Impact. The few other people there seem to be either sleeping or making out. He spends the night in the theater's lobby. The next morning he leaves the theater, but hallucinates that the buildings are closing in on him. Thus he flees to the countryside.

Back at Nerv headquarters, Ritsuko is examing Rei. Misato is there and we learn that Shinji left after she upbraided him for disobeying her retreat order in episode 3.

Meanwhile, in a violation of the law of incredible coincidence, Shinji meets Kensuke, who is in the wilderness playing survivalist. Kensuke reveals that he is jealous, both because Shinji is living with a beautiful woman, and because he is an Eva pilot. When Kensuke expresses a desire to be a pilot as well, Shinji admonishes him that his mother would be worried. Kensuke reveals that like Shinji, he has none. Shinji camps out with Kensuke that night. The next morning, several men in black from Nerv arrive and take Shinji into custody. Back at school, Toji upbraids Kensuke for not doing anything about it (as if he could have).

Back at Nerv headquarters Misato confronts Shinji, telling him they don't need a pilot with his attitude. Shinji elects to resign. Gendo orders Unit-01 reconfigured for Rei. Two men in black take Shinji to the train station, where Toji and Kensuke see him off, as they have so many of their other classmates. Toji insists that Shinji hit him to make up for the beating he gave Shinji in Ep. 3. Shinji hits him surprisingly hard for Shinji. As he is being lead away, Shinji shouts that he (Shinji) is the one who should be hit, for being so weak and cowardly.

Misato finally realizes that the reason that Shinji agreed to live with her was because he was looking for a family, and rushes to the station, seemingly too late. But Shinji hasn't boarded the train. They greet each other with "I'm home", "welcome home".

Notes

• This is the only episode that series creator Hideaki Anno did not write (or co-write). At one point during production, this episode was removed and what is now Episode 5 would have immediately followed Episode 3. However, it was later decided that time needed to be devoted to establishing Shinji's character and relationships, so the episode was added back in. The result was that this episode was written after what is now Episode 5 was already finished, and Anno did not take a direct role in developing either the plot or script.
• Kensuke reveals to Shinji that his mother is dead, just like Shinji's mother. Last episode, Toji also seemed to imply that his mother was dead.
• First episode in which an Angel does not appear.
• Timeline-wise, at the beginning of this episode Misato says that Shinji has not been in school for 5 days, which he left to fight the Angel Shamshel, and then he runs away. Misato later says that he ran away for two days (Shinji spent the first night sleeping in a movie theater, and the second night at Kensuke's camp). Shinji then prepares to leave on a train the day after that. Thus, about 7-8 days pass between the fight against Shamshel and the final scene of this episode.
• Kensuke points out to Shinji the noise the cicadas are making outdoors. After Second Impact, the result, drastic global environmental shifts occurred, and the immediate affect on Japan is that the country now exists in a state of perpetual summer-weather, year-round. In effect Japan has experienced nothing but summer weather for the past 15 years, and no longer has seasons. A weather girl on a TV playing in the background in this episode also points out there there are no longer four seasons in Japan. A convention used as a subtle hint of this throughout the series is that any time a scene takes place outdoors, no matter the date, cicadas are always heard in the backround: in Japan, cicadas normally only appear during summer.
• NERV apparently makes or contracts out for production its own merchandise and accessories for its employees (like many real world large organizations). In this episode we that Misato has an alarm clock with the NERV logo printed on the face.
• In Episode 2, Misato taped a paper sign to Shinji's room in her apartment indicating it as Shinji's. By this episode, Misato has replaced it with a somewhat inappropriate pink heart-shaped plaque that says "Shinji's Room" on it (original Japanese: "Shin-chan no heya")
• In an example of economy in casting, several of the regular Seiyuu appear in this episode as train announcers, public announcers, movie cast members, etc. Including:
  • Yuko Miyamura (Asuka) as Movie Theater Woman, Public Announcer Right, Girl A, and Station Announcer Left.
  • Megumi Hayashibara (Rei, Yui, Pen Pen) as Train Announcer, Public Announcer Left, Station Announcer, and (in the movie) Woman.
  • Kotono Mitsuishi (Misato) as Girl B.
  • Yuriko Yamaguchi (Ritsuko) as Girl C.
  • Fumihiko Tachiki (Gendo) as Station Announcer and (in the movie) Doctor.
  • Tetsuya Iwanaga (Kensuke) as Assistant A (movie).
  • Tomokazu Seki (Toji) as Assistant B (movie).

Analysis

• Did Misato go out of her way to buy a heart-shaped pink name plaque for the door to Shinji's room (clearly meant for a girl), or was it her own plaque which she had buried in one of her moving boxes (many of which remain unpacked), then found and arbitrarily hung on Shinji's door?

Quotes

This article bears the unpleasant designation of "Stub." This is a Bad Thing. Provide a great service to NGE fan-geeks everywhere by making it awesomer!