One side has already been demolished. The sound of breakers can be heard.
Dr. Nick: Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Moscow...
Sailor Star Dust: The demolition sound effects give off a touch of creepiness, somehow.
FreakyFilmFan4ever: (174-178) The buildings almost seem to be looming over Shinji, with the buildings filling the frames previous to the shot of the camera looking down upon Shinji. He's probably in way over his head, here.
NemZ: Why exactly are they being demolished anyway? Just designate the area a preferred location for confronting angels and let things play out. Besides, if the world’s going to end soon anyway and the city’s population is dwindling what do they really need the space for?
Additional Commentary
Kendrix: Ah, Anno's use of urban imaginery/aestetics. I've always loved it. Probably, you get to like what you're used to seeing when you're a kid - I spent the first four or five years of my life in such a building, and I could never find any beauty in any sort of natural landscape. I've heard that Anno grew up in an industrial town, explaining why he uses that sort aestetics a lot.
I always found this particular location/setting to be a brilliant work of art, after all, the house one lives in is an integral part of someone's personal world and says quite a lot about its owner/ can be an efficient tool of characterization. Of course, a stark grey, artificial location with "technological" background noises is the perfect environment for an unhappy artificial girl. Also, the way the many identical houses fade into the distance evokes the one shot from episode 14 and the idea of "clones" in general, a percieved "lack of uniqueness". Further, the fact that she lives in an "abandoned" part of the city, a sort of mini "ghost town" reinforces her assotiation with being a "faded afterimmage of the past"
