FGC:Episode 01 Scene 04

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Screenshots	Cut #	Description/Dialogue	Commentary
	133	Misato's car enters the car train from the station. The doors close behind it, and the mark of Nerv appears. Woman (Voice Recording):“The gates are now closing. Please stand clear.” Shinji (OFF):“The special agency Nerv?” Woman (Voice Recording):“We are now departing.” Misato (OFF):“Right. It's a private organization under the direct supervision of the UN.” Woman (Voice Recording):“This train is…”	Dr. Nick: “It's Nerv or nothing!” Reichu: I was so upset when I saw ReDeath* for the first time. Up until then, I thought I had been so clever to come up with this joke on my own. Oh well — I suppose anyone who deludes herself that she is the first to think of something deserves to get cut down later. HeWhoPostsStuff: Well, to make that joke work, they have to pronounce "Nerv" incorrectly, which wouldn't bother me if more Eva fans actually knew how to pronounce it the right way, along with the multitude of other oft-mispronounced things in the show. Reichu: Well, not necessarily. You could theoretically pronounce Nerv correctly and people would still get the joke (assuming they have the required familiarity with both Nerf's advertisements and NGE). Although, yeah, they mispronounce it as “nurf” in ReDeath — which is, actually, slightly better than ADV's take (“nurv”), which has effectively disillusioned NGE fans everywhere. And then there's the Japanese seiyuu, who technically do better than both of them by pronouncing it NERUFU (literally, the closest one can get to capturing the German pronunciation with Japanese syllables). But since you (the reader) are probably not Japanese, do yourself a favor and pronounce the bloody thing correctly; “nairf” is a decent phonetic approximation.
	134	missing number
	135	Woman (Voice Recording):“…the C-22 special express. The main line merges directly into G-3.” Shinji:“That's where my father is, right?” Misato:“Well, yeah. Do you know what he does?”
	136	Woman (Voice Recording):“All stations on the way will be bypassed. Please be careful.” Shinji knits his brows. Shinji:“I heard from my teacher that his job is important for protecting the human race.”	thewayneiac: He doesn't act like that impresses him too much. Keisuke-kun: How does his teacher know this? HeWhoPostsStuff: Maybe that's what Gendo told him to tell Shinji if he ever asked? Hexon.Arq: I wonder if Shinji really thought that that story was total bullshit. The way he reacts here, he seems to be pondering that everything he was told is actually looking to be true. OMF: The first mention of Shinji's mysterious "sensei". We never get much information about this person. We never see them. We don't know age or gender. We can surmise that they were Shinji's guardian, but beyond that we know almost nothing. You think such a person would have been discussed a little more. Perhaps Shinji wasn't very fond of him/her. Additional Commentary   Kendrix: Note how Shinji speaks of Gendo: "Someone else told me big abstract things". On one hand, it goes to show that they're practically strangers, all he knows is what people told him, but on the other, he is regurgitating someone else's opinion here, and thereby hinding his own. Under his resigned exterior, Shinji always had that unpredictable core of anger, his real opinion of Gendo is something less flattering than "He's a savior of our world", but here, he goes with what he should reply, not with what he actually wants to see. Until now, he's been freely chatting with Misato (as close as he gets to that), but now that an uncomfortable topic has been mentioned, he's building a wall. He averts his eyes to hide that nervous expression, he's breaking eye contact with her...
	137	For the first time, we can see Commander Ikari clearly. The sound of a phone being put down. Man(OFF):“Opinion report from the right command center. Authorize as soon as there is a need to make rearrangements.”	Keisuke-kun: In this scene it's not that apparent, but you can see that Gendo isn't wearing his uniform properly, even before his superiors in the JSSDF.
	138	Officer C:“From this point forward, command of this operation is entrusted to you.” Woman (OFF):“Let data management file No. 6 bypass the N filter and input to MAGI. Please hurry.”
	139	Officer C:“Show us that you're capable.” Ikari:“Yes, Sir.” Officer A:“Ikari-kun, we must admit that our weapons have no effect on the target.” Woman (OFF):“Please lock the first copy of the current operation into the 37th base.”	MDWigs: First time watching, it took me until this point (duh me) to figure out that Gendo is Shinji's father (“Ikari-kun”). On the other hand, some people I've watched it with said “Shinji's father!” as soon as we saw Gendo, when we were given no real hints at all.
	140	Officer C:“However, are you certain you can defeat it?” Man (OFF):“The current lockout on block B-27 will remain. Gate 7 will open after two minutes.”	HeWhoPostsStuff: I wonder if the “hands folded pose” is obligated to be passed along from person to person along with the command of the operation?
	141	Ikari:“Nerv exists for that very purpose.” Woman (OFF):“Pasting Melchior's 54782 data.”	tv33: I love when Gendo responds like this. Rather than saying “Yes” or “No”, he make a statement implying that it will be done because Nerv exists. The idea that he will not succeed does not even cross his mind, regardless of the fact that they don't have a pilot for EVA-01 yet and she has never even been activated. It will be done because it has to be; there is no other option. Reichu: I also like the attention to detail, namely, Gendo's little “pushing-glasses-up-bridge-of-nose” gesture. As someone who wears glasses (due to the fact that I'm rather adverse to sticking things in my eyes), I myself must do this type of “routine maintance” several times a day. Hexon.Arq: It's also a great way for a glasses-wearer to punctuate an obvious response without quite so much smartassery. “…dumbass.”
	142	Officer C:“We expect much from you.” The officers' table drops down. Woman A (OFF):“No change yet in target.” Hyuga (OFF):“Currently, our intercept system is only 7.5% effective.”	HeWhoPostsStuff: Well, thanks for playing ‘Defenders of Humanity’, your parting gifts are backstage. Be sure to tune in next week, same Nerv time, same Nerv channel!” thewayneiac: Why do they disappear into a hole in the floor? Where does it go? Reichu: An even better question is why they leave at all! Any man with an Abraham Lincoln beard, Mickey Mouse gloves, and red-tinted glasses is no man to be trusted! Sharp-kun: “Currently, our intercept system is only 7.5% effective.” Of course, even when 100% complete Nerv's “intercept system” has utterly no effect on the Angels (and later against the JSSDF). You have to wonder why they even built the thing. Shin-seiki: Having all that (useless) firepower is consistent with Nerv's ostensible purpose of fighting the Angels, and serves to camouflage its true purpose (initiating HIP). Additional Commentary   Sharp-kun: Not really. As soon as they fought Sachiel, everyone knew they had the Evas and that conventional weapons were useless. They could have had just as good a cover without the intercept system. Shin-seiki: Well, this is (on the surface, at any rate) an action-oriented anime; one can never have too many guns, missiles, and explosions… Reichu: Notice how the Nerv mark is on the wall behind the command chair. This logo is just ALL over the place. Mr. Browning's estate must be getting some big-ass royalties.
	143	Fuyutsuki turns to Ikari. Fuyutsuki:“Even the UN army has been brought to its knees. What are you going to do?” Woman (OFF):“Call received from the 2nd Optical Measurement Station. A number of changes have been discerned in the magnetic field of the Fujinosawa area.”	Reichu: There's that topographical map again… There's a Fujisawa located in Kanagawa Prefecture, but I haven't been able to find any Fujinosawa. Hmm…
	144	Ikari brims with self-confidence. Ikari:“I will activate EVA-01.”
	145	Fuyutsuki is slightly surprised. Fuyutsuki:“EVA-01? But we have no pilot.” Man (OFF):“Reply to the 2nd Optical Measurement Station. Resume observation. Report on the situation as occasion demands.”
	146	Ikari:“No problem. Another spare will be arriving.” Woman (OFF):“Direct force on standby in its current position until a pseudonym is created.”	thewayneiac: Gee, who can he mean? Reichu: I'm surprised Fuyutsuki was in the dark about Shinji, considering how chummy he and Gendo are most of the time. Not to mention Fuyutsuki is one of the few characters who really knows what's going on. MDWigs: I think this is probably just one of those continuity gaffs. Fuyutsuki should have known that Shinji would be the eventual pilot (since he knows who is in EVA-01), but they needed someone to ask the question. Hexon.Arq: Maybe Gendo just forgot to inform Fuyutsuki that the kid would be arriving that very day. OMF: Or perhaps Shinji is simply NOT a topic for discussion with Gendo. Kendrix: That Fuyutsuki didn't know yet goes well with my theory that calling Shinji was a last-moment ultima ratio type of decision. He turns away from Fuyutsuki before the latter can guess who it is... and so, he becomes opaque to the audience, we can't see his face, so we can't guess what he's thinking. As for what Gendo himself was thinking here, he probably doesn't want to talk about it/would prefer if Fuyu wouldn't confront him about it/ask further questions.
	147	Shinji:“Are we going to my father after this?”	Dream: I wonder if Shinji was secretly trying to get Misato to be warm and gentle to him (he never had a mother after all), or he was secretly hoping she would reassure his feelings towars his father, whichever they might be? But i'm pretty sure that he didn't expect the answer he got, so much for a subtle/sneaky approach. Kendrix: He certainly is. That's something he does, try and look like a victim so people will "hug him". It's not really a willful deception or anything, but something he does need to get called out on. See here.
	148	Misato is purposely brusque (trying to avoid the subject). Misato:“Yes. Yes we are.”	Reichu: I do wonder why Misato is so unwilling to talk to Shinji about this. Doesn't want to start getting emotionally involved, I suppose. HeWhoPostsStuff: Or perhaps she is having uncomfortable premonitions about just why Gendo would have wanted him there…
	149	Shinji's face grows intense as he recalls an unpleasant memory.	OMF: It's interesting to watch Shinji's growing anxiety about his impending encounter with his father. I think it's obvious to the audience at this point that they have a less than perfect relationship.
	150	Flashback: A large bag.	Kendrix: Cool to begin the flashback with such a detail shot. Also, look how this bag resembles the one he brought with him - Even if it's not the same one, there is a "bookend-ish" quality to it, for him to carry such a thing when he's left by his father and when he's called back.
	151	Flashback: Shinji around 4 or 5 years old, crying on a train station platform. Shinji (OFF):“Father.”	Reichu: This image first turned up in the OP (OP C-066), but its full significance won't be apparent until the second half of the series. Additional Commentary   Kendrix: Ah, that one cut. We'll see it quite a lot. The first thing we're supposed to gather from this, is, of course, that Shinji was abandoned, he's bawling his eyes out, there's lots of empty space around him, and there's a bag, presumably filled with his things. there is no need to even say he was abandoned, the picture speaks clearly.
	152	The car train passes through an above ground station.	Hexon.Arq: For the longest time, I had thought that this shot of the train speeding by was part of the flashback.
	153	Shinji lost in remembrance until he hears Misato. Misato:“Ah, right. ♥ Didn't you get an ID from your father?”	OMF: Shinji's anxiety is replaced with a determined look at the beginning of this shot. Why, we won't find out until episode #20. (So just be patient!)
	154	Shinji:“Yeah.” Shinji looks for his bag. He hands a document over to Misato. Shinji:“Here you go.”
	155	Misato accepts the document. Misato:“Thanks.”
	156	A document with Ikari's signature.	Reichu: Apparently, Shinji didn't take too well to hearing from his father again. Shin-seiki: I actually laughed my ass off the first time I noticed (only after watching this episode several times) that Shinji had ripped up the letter from his dad, then taped the pieces back together. Keisuke-kun: Why is that stuff all scratched out in black? Shin-seiki: My take is that Gendo's secretary or someone had prolly typed up a polite, over-elaborate form letter, and Gendo blacked out the text and just wrote with a marker, “COME!- Gendo Ikari.” Reichu: So succinct. Typical Gendo. (BTW, koi is the imperative form of kuru, "come".) OMF: I love how Shinji furiously scribbled over Gendou's handwriting, as well. Shin-seiki: It was Misato's photo that seemed to have changed Shinji's mind about coming, hence the necessity of taping up Gendo's letter…
	157	Shinji watches Misato intently. Misato (OFF):“Here, read this.” She presents a book wrapped in a seal.
	158	Nerv pamphlet. The cover says, “Welcome to Nerv.” Shinji (OFF):“Nerv…”	Reichu: I wonder how much those pamphlets go for on Yahoo! Japan. ;;> Hexon.Arq: Waitaminit, didn't he already have that with him? (109) Are you telling me he never got curious and peeked inside this whole time?
	159	Shinji raises his eyebrows. Shinji (MONO):“My father's work…” Shinji (ON):“Is there something there for me to do?”
	160	Misato:“…”
	161	Inside the car train. Misato's car is the only freight. Shinji (OFF):“Of course. He wouldn't have sent me a letter unless he needed me for something.” Misato (OFF):“I see… You're not too fond of your father.”
	162	missing number
	163A	Misato:“… It's the same with me.”	thewayneiac: She's trying to sound casual here, but she's plainly concerned. Keisuke-kun: Misato seems to be talking as if her dad is alive. I actually find this common with people dealing with dead relatives. They usually don't bring up the subject of their death unless they have to. Sharp-kun: From personal experience, that is common. It's a subject I try to avoid as it often makes the other person uncomfortable for bringing it up. Perhaps Misato was trying to avoid Shinji feeling bad, when he's already going to meet his dearest father?
	163B	Shinji looks at Misato.	HeWhoPostsStuff: Shinji seems surprised after he hears Misato say this. Perhaps he thinks that all people who have a bad relationship with their parents end up depressed and antisocial like him. I think he's caught off guard by Misato's revelation about her father, since he's seen her so cheerful up to this point, maybe it makes him reconsider his own actions for a moment… Hexon.Arq: I always interpreted his reaction as being a sort of a slight recoil to the possibility that she's either going to start talking about herself or expect him to do the same. Presenting commonalities with such cryptic remarks is usually done for this reason. He's probably just waiting for her to continue speaking, or he's suddenly uncomfortable at the prospect that she'll try to subtly dig into him. Sephizim: It seems to me that this is the moment that marks the beginning of Shinji's shift into being less able to be open with Misato. Funny that it happens after she brings up something they actually have in common. When she was a nebulous unknown entity, she was approachable. Now that he know something about her, suddenly he doesn't know what to do.
	164	BGM START: C-7 [TOKYO-3] They emerge from the long tunnel. A group of buildings hanging from the ceiling come into view.	Reichu: These ceiling buildings always confused the hell out of me… But I'll deliver that rant later.
	165	Shinji leans forward in surprise. Shinji:“Awesome!”	Sephizim: Maybe it's just me, but it's strange to see Shinji so excited about something like this. Makes you realize just how much setting foot into the EVA even one time really affected the poor kid... Kendrix: Brooding as he may be, Shinji is still a teenaged boy and as such impressed by shiny technology. We see this again in episode 2, when he reacts to the retractable sky-scrapers.
	166	The Geofront and Nerv Headquarters stretch out below. Shinji (OFF):“It's a real Geofront!” Misato (OFF):“That's right.”	Reichu: A tidbit from LTP's Wada-kun: 'Geofront' is English word which was made in Japan. It means underground space which the people can use for living, manufacturing, etc. Because Japan is small, the development plan of underground space is studied.
	167	Misato:“This is our secret base, Nerv Headquarters.”
	168	The Geofront, bathed in the colors of the setting sun. Misato (OFF):“The key to rebuilding the world, this place has become a fortress for the human race.”	MDWigs: The Geofront is a sphere with a diameter of 13.75 km). However, 89% of it is buried and only the top part (900 m high and 6 km across) is open. I'm not sure if those figures are internally consistent; using geometry, you can work out if a sphere with a diameter of 13.75 km can be intersected to produce a top section 6 km across and 900 m high, and that could also be checked with the 89% figure. Mr. Tines: The figures aren't at all consistent, I'm afraid. See More.
	EYECATCH A	EYECATCH BGM END: C-7 [TOKYO-3]	Hexon.Arq: I always found the silent Eyecatch thing to be a bit creepy. Reichu: And yet another tidbit from the mysterious “Shinji Takase” about NGE's unused BGM: F-0/F-1: The unused Eyecatch pieces. F-0 would have been Eyecatch Out(to commercial break), F-1 would have been Eyecatch In(back to the show). For some reason, the idea of hearing a Japanese person shout (or sing) “EVANGELION!” to a cheesy fanfare at every eyecatch makes me a tad queasy. Magami no ER: The closest we get is in the Spanish dub included on the original Collection DVDs: There's a guy (who sounds like he does a voice on every cartoon Spanish dub on Telemudo) who says "Evan-Ge-lion!" But I like the dead silence; very creepy, which is good. Dr. Nick: But the fanfare worked perfectly well in Gunbuster. And hey, let's not forget those monks chanting “Es-ca-flow-nayyyy!!!” I bet they could have made it work in NGE too. Reichu: Methinks that an NGE scored by Yoko Kanno with performances by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir would have been a very different series. But, hey, you never know! HeWhoPostsStuff: Well, Gunbuster was a COMPLETELY different kind of anime than Eva, so methinks attempting to use a cornball musical catchphrase as some kind of bridge between the two wouldn't have been a very successful venture. And seriously, the shameless promises of “More Fan Service, Too!” at the end of every episode are more than enough of that type of “marketing strategy” for my tastes.

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