FGC:Episode 02 Scene 07b

The Beast (Part 2)

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Screenshots	Cut #	Description/Dialogue	Commentary
	267	Fuyutsuki:“——— It looks like we've won.”	Reichu: What a great one-liner to stick halfway through a heated battle scene. I love it. tv33: Almost makes it sound like they were counting on her going berserk. Sharp-kun: Given the fact that 01's jaw armour can open, it seems so. Reichu: So Gendo anticipated the fact that EVA-01 would eventually want to use her chompers on the enemy? Sharp-kun: More a case of anticipated 01 would go nutty. He and Fuyutsuki aren't surprised in the least; they anticipated this. I wouldn't be surprised if the head was designed with that in mind. Reichu: BTW, this shot the same as C-333 from episode #01, just with a different background. Have we mentioned that NGE involves lots of recycling? Keisuke-kun: I never really noticed Eva's recycling. I guess compared to an anime like Gundam Wing (good show nonetheless), NGE's recycling is nonexistent.
	268	The Eva running, her appearance like that of a wild beast.	Incisivis: The short sequence of EVA-01 charging was parodied in the Invader Zim episode "Hamstergeddon" (#9B) (see here). If the connection looks dubious (I know it did to me, at first), the audio commentary said it was an NGE ref, and this is the only time the series uses speed lines. No one specified which scene IZ parodied, but this episode #02 sequence seems the most likely.
	269	EVA-01 charging. Sachiel straightens his body out. The Eva hits a wall of light!	Reichu: If you watch the animation here closely, you'll see that EVA-01 is actually caught inside Sachiel's Field as it initially manifests and is abruptly pushed out. ("This is MY personal space, you big purple biznatch!") And, of course, the first thing she does is bring her one working hand back into the fray…
	270a	Ritsuko:“An A.T. Field!?”	Sharp-kun: Have to wonder why she's so surprised… Reichu: We first heard about the ATF back in episode #01, although, even here, they don't bother explaining it at all. As the hapless audience, I suppose we're expected to just nod our heads, hang on for the ride, and hope the strange jargon that's thrown our way is somehow elaborated on later. I should point out that "A.T. Field" is used throughout the series as shorthand for what is technically a defensive/offensive emanation of the A.T. Field. (You'd be surprised how much confusion this creates!) The ATF itself is an invisible force. This really isn't cleared up until #24 -- and, even then, a lot of people still don't get it (understandably).
	270b	Sachiel spreading his Field.	Reichu: Octagons seem to be the polygon of choice for most of the A.T. Fields we encounter in the show. Finally, we can see the damage that EVA-01 dealt back in C-264 to Sachi's face — she ripped half of its top layer off. But more on that shortly.
	270c	Misato:“It's no use!! As long as that A.T. Field is up…”
	270d	Ritsuko:“…it can't touch the Angel!”
	271	Suddenly, EVA-01 rears back slightly. As she swings her left arm up, it is fully regenerated. She clenches her fist.	Reichu: Patience, ladies… Our heroine is working on it! Hopefully I'm not the only one who's noticed how unconvincing this regeneration sequence is… Why is the plastic-like covering and brachial pylon where Sachiel crushed her arm neatly missing? And, considering this stuff is not a natural part of the Eva, how is she able to regenerate it? Sadamoto draws her crushed arm and its spontaneous repair much more convincingly in the manga. Keisuke-kun: I also find the fact that her arm hasn't been wobbling like when it was initially broken very weird. Reichu: Well, at least they bothered to acknowledge the fact that it was broken to the point of letting it hang and do nothing up until now. Still, gotta love that fist-clenching!
	272	Everyone watches. Aoba (OFF):“Left arm restored!” Misato:“——Incredible.”
	273	Eva plunges into the A.T. Field's violent interference waves with both hands.	Dr. Nick:: *restrains himself from making a Goatse-related joke* Reichu: While most screenshots indicate that the Evas' caretakers keep their fingernail length nicely in check, every once in a while an animator will draw them with these creepy long nails, as you can see here… The Evas seem to use their hands as "focal points" when they work their ATF magic, perhaps akin to how traditional wizards use wands and staffs. If you cut an Eva's hands off, presumably she'll still be able to rip through an opponent's ATF-shield; hands just make things easier.
	274	Eva tearing the A.T. Field with both hands, with Sachiel in front.
	275	Ibuki:“EVA-01 is also expanding an A.T. Field.”
	276	Graph closeup. The curves are overlapping one another. Ibuki (OFF):“It's neutralizing the phase space.”
	277	Ritsuko side profile, in complete disbelief. Ritsuko:“No, it's eroding it!”
	278	EVA-01 ripping the Field apart!	Sharp-kun: Scary… Hexon.Arq: "Hey, it's just cellophane!"
	279	Eva opens the Field as if she were separating curtains.
	280	Misato:“———That A.T. Field was so easily…”
	281	Eva pushes her head into the Field.
	282	Front close-up of Sachiel, his face-like structure cracked and broken. The holes light up!!	Reichu: "Face-like structure"? Come on, just stop beating around the bush and call it a "face," dammit! Now we get a much clearer view of Sachiel's damaged face. The cracking seems to imply that these are layers of ossified tissue, the underlying three or four of which have become exposed (the bottom-most being crimson-colored). Also, it's now apparent that far from just having "holes" in his face, Sachiel does have actual eyes in there. It's kind of odd that his optical organs double as implements of massive energy projection, but, hey, since when did giant, green, rampaging monsters have to make sense?
	283	The front of Eva is bathed in light. She bends backwards.
	284	The light extends beyond the Eva.
	285	Bird's-eye view. The light speeds through the street. Finally, it turns into a cross.	Reichu: And finally Sachiel resorts to using his ultimate attack. He's getting desperate. HeWhoPostsStuff: Not quite his "ultimate" attack… If Pokémon has taught us anything, it's that one's strongest attack always involves, shall we say, sacrifice on one's own part. But he's getting to it.
	286	Eva's body eerily lurches forward into a stoop. A moment later, her left hand enters the foreground until it fills the screen.	Reichu: …And at pointblank range, it has absolutely no effect. I think somebody's screwed. Here, we see the "hand filling the camera" gimmick yet again. As Shin-seiki pointed out earlier, it is also used in 205 and 137.
	287	From the Eva's point of view. Her left arm lashes out at the Angel's hands.	Reichu: Come on, Sachi, you wuss! FIGHT!! I think, at this point, Sachiel's completely out of ideas. His complete inaction for the next dozen-odd cuts seems to imply that he's almost resigned himself to whatever punishment this pissed-off mutha deals. HeWhoPostsStuff: Or used the "Bide" TM sometime beforehand. :D
	288	With a fiendish face, the Eva pulls Sachiel's hands over her head and twists them with a loud crack.	Reichu: "And this is for my eye!" Keisuke-kun: I always got the impression that her attacks on Sachiel were "an eye for an eye". EVA-01 is breaking Sachi's arms for breaking hers, and I suspect tearing off half of Sachi's face was the "for my eye" bit. Reichu: That's another way to look at it. I was operating from the viewpoint that she was "paying him back" for piercing her skull with his Lance of Light… but, ultimately, it doesn't really matter what her specific motives are. Referring to the script's description here: It's a helmet, for crissake… How can her "face" be any more "fiendish" here than it is at any other time? This cut reveals that Sachiel is literally blue-blooded. (Kind of makes me wonder about the reddish ichor he seems to be bleeding in the OP and episode #01…) Despite the amount of Sachi-blood that gets splashed around from here on out, various Gainax images and model kits (depicting poor Sachiel getting mangled by our heroine, naturally!) somehow managed to screw up. Not that I'm surprised. On a side note, I love EVA-01's twitchiness here.
	289	The Eva lifts Sachiel's arms and deals a sudden kick. Sachiel goes flying.	Reichu: Do yellow sparks normally appear when you kick somebody…? Also, Sachiel looks like he's in inflato-muscles mode here. Keisuke-kun: Those muscles probably formed while he was trying to resist EVA-01's arm-breaking attack. Reichu: Possible, possible…
	290	Sachiel flying backwards.
	291	Sachiel comes flying into an alcove formed by the buildings and crashes into one of them.	Reichu: "I always knew my soft, round Angel tush would come in handy!" Watch the building closely here — its placement shifts slightly when Sachi falls against it. We can see a cross section of Sachiel's right arm here, which not only indicates that he has purplish "meat" (a neat touch, IMO), he also does have two bones in his lower arm after all, homologous to our radius and ulna. As I pointed out back in episode Episode #01, the ulna would be the one employed in his lance of light attack.
	292	Eva brings her head down and plunges forward.	Keisuke-kun: Very strange way to run. But leave it to anime to get strange running/standing positions and make them look cool. On a side note, it's almost as if EVA-01 is running with the intention of spearing Sachiel with her horn. Reichu: Since she turns her head to the side right before she hits him, I'd say she's going for a head-butt here, not impalement.
	293	Eva plows headfirst into the sitting Angel, hitting him directly.	Reichu: In the manga, instead of giving Sachiel a headbutt, EVA-01 instead puts those "knee parts" (which don't really seem to serve any practical purpose at all) to good use on poor Sachi's core. Now that would have looked cool on film…
	294	The building slides as smoke rises.	Keisuke-kun: Since when do buildings slide? Reichu: When it makes an action scene look cooler! But seriously, I have no idea. As if the ceiling building weren't nonsensical enough, what cause would Tokyo-3's creators have to create buildings that do this?? Hexon.Arq: If there's no hole for it, put it on rollers.
	295	Eva straddles the Angel, the ground hollowed out into ruin.	Reichu: EVA-01 seems to have a strange penchant for straddling her opponents while she beats the crap out of them… Kink-y.
	296	Eva behind Sachiel's core and rib bones. She punches, dashing against the surface of the core and smashing the bone. She punches a second time from above. Finally, she seizes the rib bones.	Reichu: A continuity problem with EVA-01's hands here… She suddenly goes from holding onto his arm and shoulder to being all set to punch. Keisuke-kun: Is Sachiel's core kinda stretchy? It seems to turn into an oval while 01 punches it. Reichu: The camera is in a static position superior to Sachiel's core… I think we're just seeing his chest get thrown to one side or the other, and his core moving with it.
	297	missing number
	298	Eva tries to tear off Sachiel's rib cage. A rib bone breaks off.	Reichu: Now that's gotta hurt… (Keisuke-kun, how is that "eye for an eye"?) I know you want a clean shot at his core, Sho, but isn't that just a little excessive? I find it odd that they refer to this external structure as "rib cage", as Sachiel's external morphology clearly implies that he does have a genuine rib cage. Whether these external "rib" structure are simply embedded osteoderm-style in the skin or are external projections of the internal rib cage will have to remain unknown. And… more purplish (bluish?) Sachi meat! They're actually being consistent about something!
	299	Eva grandly brandishes the bone fragment.	Keisuke-kun: A berserk Eva never seems to bother with the prog knife. Just picking up some random weapon is fine. Reichu: I actually have a theory about why this is, which I'll share next episode.
	300a	Core UP. Eva strikes it with the bone and a crack appears.
	300b	Eva continues to strike the core.	Reichu: This scene is a favorite target for people who like to read too much into NGE's Pointless Religious Symbolism™. In the evil AWL commentary, they mention something about the Eva "piercing the Angel's soul with a rib", and I recall seeing a thread somewhere where they read way too far into the whole thing. If overanalyzing anything in NGE is folly, it's the supposed religious symbolism! tv33: How bad of an ass-kicking do you have to be going through to get beaten with your own rib? At this point, Sachiel should just walk away and cut his losses. Reichu: Kind of hard to walk away when you have a pissed-off Eva sitting on you…
	301	Sachiel lifts his face.	Reichu: Sachiel's face looks slightly different here than it did in C-282 — but, in shoestring-budget anime like this, we should just take whatever consistencies we can get. IMO, Sachiel's eyes look even cooler in this cut… Though, doesn't it seem odd that those not-so-thick ossified facial layers make the difference between being able to see Sachiel's iris and not? HeWhoPostsStuff: The stuff on the left (from our perspective, not his) side of Sachi's face looks like cracking, but the red lines on the right look way too neatly patterned to be random cracks… more like some kind of "veins" (internal circulatory structure?) or "circuits" to me. Reichu: Yeah, I suppose it could just be what his lower face layer looks like. No way to know for sure. Hexon.Arq: Maybe the light is equivalent to a dilated pupil. Ever sit on a cat and beat on it with a blunt object? Looks like the inverse of this. OMF: Readers are advised that no animals were harmed in the making of the Fan Geek Commentary.
	302	When Sachiel swings his arms, they become whip-like! They go towards the Eva.	Reichu: At long last, Sachiel reveals his talent for metamorphosis. As we'll learn later on, metamorphosis is fundamental to every Angel's existence.
	303	Sachiel twines both hand and both feet around the Eva's arms, legs, etc. and draws himself over her. His entire body transforms, almost completely covering the Eva.	Reichu: Sachiel, wrapping the Eva in arms-turned-tentacles… I smell a missed opportunity for hentai! Why is it necessary to morph into a giant globoid in order to self-destruct, anyway? Sharp-kun: Presumably, actually surrounding 01 completely is better than just exploding next to her. Reichu: Still a lapse in common sense… See two cuts down. And… where did Sachiel's extensive thoracic injuries go?
	304	Everyone in the command room watching it. Misato leans forward. Misato:“It's going to self-destruct!!”	Reichu: Sachiel, don't do it! You still have things to live for! Fans who love you! Royalties on merchandise to enjoy! Guest appearances at anime cons! Chicks! Noooo, Sachiiiiii…!!! By the way, how did Misato come to this conclusion so fast? Maybe he was just giving EVA-01 a really big, weird hug. ::D Hexon.Arq: If Misato didn't say that, some people would probably ask, "Whoa, what blew up?" Did you know in advance that Sachi could self-destruct? Maybe Eva blew on the core and made it really hot, you don't know. ;)
	305	BGM END: E-5 fast tempo [THE BEAST] The Angel's core lies adjacent to the Eva's head. Eva's body is completely entangled by Sachiel's rubbery exterior.	Keisuke-kun: Maybe Sachiel is smart enough to know that to do the most damage he should put his core as close as possible to EVA-01. Reichu: If he was REALLY smart, he would've shoved his core against her core and not her head. Ah, well, being on the brink of death leads to a lack of good judgment, I suppose. (Unless you're EVA-01, of course.)
	306	The two are enveloped by light.
	307	A sphere of light rises up behind the buildings.
	309	The command room monitor fills with white.
	308	A cross-shaped light shines in the sky. Ashinoko in front.	Reichu: Boo-boo alert! Compare the cross-shaped explosion to its reflection and you'll hopefully see what I mean.

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