Episode 08

Episode Information
Episode #08
Title 1: アスカ、来日 Asuka, Rainichi Asuka Arrives in Japan Title 2: Asuka Strikes!
Written By	Hideaki Anno, Yoji Enokido
Directed By	Kazuya Tsurumaki
First Aired	11-22-1995
Video Release Date	5-2-1996 (Japan-Video/LD), 11-21-2000 (US-DVD)
Angel Appearances	Gaghiel
Eva Sorties	Eva-02
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Episode 07"	"Episode 09"

Overview

Misato brings Shinji, along with Toji and Kensuke, to a massive UN naval convoy transporting Evangelion Unit-02 and its fiery German pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu, to Japan. Escorting Asuka is Misato's old boyfriend, Ryoji Kaji. After some awkward introductions and reunions, the fleet is attacked by a massive aquatic Angel. Asuka powers up Eva-02, and decides that she will defeat the Angel by playing "hopscotch"...

Synopsis

Ep. 8 opens with a telephone conversation between Gendo and an unknown person, wherein we learn that the cargo has "Left Sasebo, and is coming here across the Pacific."

We then join Shinji, Misato, Toji, and Kensuke, aboard a helicopter. Misato tells them they are on a date, but Toji and Kensuke are actually along as cover, so that no one will know that this is official business. They are on their way to meet Asuka Langley Soryu, the pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, which is being transported by the U.N. Pacific Fleet. The fleet is centered around an aircraft carrier named Over the Rainbow, and several battleships named after Shakespeare plays, Cymbeline, Titus Andronicus, Othello, etc. Kensuke is even more irrepressible than usual in this episode, and has his video camera glued to his eye the rest of the episode. When Toji's new hat blows across the deck, Asuka stops it with her foot; as Toji tries to retrieve it, a gust of wind flips her skirt, presumably giving him an eye full. (The viewers don't see anything) Even though it wasn't his fault, Toji gets his face slapped as a "viewing fee" (as do Kensuke and Shinji). Incensed, Toji "drops trou", only to get a second welt on his face. Upon being introduced to Shinji, Asuka pronounces him "dull".

During a conversation between Misato and the Captain about who has authority, and where the emergency power cable should go, Ryoji Kaji strolls onto the bridge. Misato doesn't seem happy to see him. (But Asuka does). He is escorting Asuka from Nerv's German branch to Japan. The character then all cram themselves into the same elevator to go below deck for lunch. During the meal, Kaji hints at the intimate relationship he once had with Misato by asking, "does she still toss and turn in bed?" He also seems to be implying that he thinks that Misato is capable of doing something with Shinji. Misato fumes the rest of the scene, while everyone else looks scandalized. Except for Shinji; he seems to be enjoying Kaji's banter. When Shinji is surprised that Kaji recognizes him, Kaji replies that he is famous.

After the meal, when Asuka once again comments on how boring Shinji is, Kaji tells her he had a 40% synch rate with Evangelion Unit-01 with no training in a combat situation. This surprises her so much that she feels a need to impress him as well, so she takes him to the transport ship to see her Eva. She explains to him that Eva-02 is the first production model; Eva-00 and Eva-01 are just the proto-type and test-type. Just then Gaghiel, the sixth Angel attacks, damaging several of the warships. Asuka sees her chance to impress Shinji and forces him to put on a plug suit and accompany her into battle. (After telling him "no peeking" while donning her own plug suit.)

Kaji calls Gendo and tells him an Angel attack wasn't part of their deal. Gendo assures him that he put Eva-02 and a spare pilot aboard for this very contingency.

Because there are 2 pilots aboard, Asuka has trouble starting Eva-02. When telling Shinji to "Think in German!" doesn't work, she solves to problem by switching the language to Japanese. The captain warns Misato that Eva-02 has "B-type Equipment", and can't fight underwater, but Misato tells Asuka to go ahead. Asuka leaps her Eva from ship to ship until it reaches its power cable aboard the carrier, plugs herself in, and draws her Progressive Knife. The Angel's leap knocks Eva-02 into the Sea, where she is swallowed. Kaji leaps into a fighter plane; Misato thinks he has a plan, but instead he makes his escape. Misato comes up with a desperate plan. Scuttle two of the damaged battleships in Gaghiel's path; have Asuka and Shinji pry open the Angel's mouth, and then have the ships fire their guns point-blank and then self destruct, destroying the Angel. Shinji and Asuka can't get Gaghiel's mouth open until they cooperate in the effort. The plan works, and the blast propels Eva-02 back onto the carrier's deck.

Later, back on shore. Ritsuko looks at the data and tells Misato that Shinji and Asuka both broke their Synch records while opening the Angel's mouth.

Meanwhile, Kaji has arrived at Nerv H.Q. with his cargo, and asks if it, and not Eva-02 was the Angel's actual target. Gendo agrees. Inside Kaji's case is what appears to be a large human embryo, encased in an amber-colored block. Even though it is encased in Bakelite, Adam, the first human is alive and growing.

The next day at school, Toji is telling Shinji and Kensuke how glad he is that he won't be seeing Asuka again, when she is introduced as a new student.

End of episode.

Notes

• First appearance of Asuka Langley Soryu in the series. Despite the fact that she shows up as late as Episode 08, she's actually part of the trio of primary characters: Shinji, Rei, and Asuka.
• Asuka is actually only one-quarter Japanese, three-quarters Caucasian, explaining how she has a Japanese name but a German appearance. Asuka's father held United States citizenship, so her nationality is technically American as well, though she has been raised in Germany her entire life. As seen when Asuka starts up Eva-02, her native language is German, but she does speak fluent Japanese.
  • The series's explanation of Asuka's ethnicity is actually a bit confusing: Asuka's mother Kyoko was half-Japanese, half-German, while her father is described only as from the United States of America. However, "American" is not an ethnicity, but a nationality. A common mistake is to assume that Asuka is "three quarters German", when in reality, the series never clearly defined what her father's ethnicity was. It does seem that her father was probably Caucasian (due to Asuka's appearance), and he could have been a German-American, but the series has left this aspect of Asuka ill-defined.
• First appearance of Evangelion Unit-02. Eva-02 is the first "Production Model" Evangelion. Eva-00 was just the "Prototype" (notable for being buggy and prone to lose control), and Eva-01 is the "Test Type". Eva-02's construction refined mistakes made while producing the earlier Evangelion models, and added more weaponry(although not seen until End of Evangelion): Eva-02 is the first Eva truly meant for frontline combat.
• First appearance of Ryoji Kaji.
• The closing credits of this episode are tinted red instead of the usual blue. Probably to celebrate the arrival of Asuka and Unit-02 (as Unit-02 is painted red).
• Kaji has delivered Adam to Gendo in Tokyo-3, which as he suggests and Gendo confirms is "the key to Human Instrumentality Project". Gendo describes Adam as "the first human being".
• This is the first and really only time that an Angel attacks somewhere other than Tokyo-3; this is because Adam was secretly being transported in the naval convoy (Misato notes that the Angel seems to be searching for something). Two later Angels, Sahaquiel and Arael, will appear in Earth orbit, yet despite being located in space their attacks are both still conspicuously directed against Tokyo-3.
• Gaghiel is the first and only aquatic Angel, and this is also the only aquatic battle in the series.
• Asuka's breasts are atypically large for a girl her age; she developed early. That is to say, this isn't just the style in which she is animated; she has a markedly larger bust size than other girls her age in the series i.e. Rei, and actually seems to brag about it (when she boasts to Misato that "my figure has filled out, too")
• Pausing when Misato flashes her ID card to the naval convoy's commander reveals some of her personal information: Misato is 1.63 meters (5 feet 4 inches) tall, and her blood type is "type AO" (actually, both the genotype "AA" and "AO" are indistinguishable as the "type A" phenotype). Conspicuously, the fields on the ID card listing Misato's age and weight have been scribbled out with pen, probably by Misato herself out of embarrassment.
• The Angel Ramiel's corpse is still being cleared away in this episode, after it was killed in Episode 06. The timeline for the series gets slightly more vague starting with this episode, but in Episode 07 it was also mentioned that Eva Unit 02 and its pilot were already "on their way" from Germany. This, combined with the fact that Ramiel's body is still being slowly removed, indicates that Episode 08 takes place relatively soon after Episode 07.
• As was earlier seen in Episode 03, when more than one person is in the Entry Plug of an Eva at the same time, it creates "thought noise"; basically static interference between the mind of the pilot and the Eva.
• Also expanding on material from Episode 3; an Evangelion pilot can actually enter, then activate, an Eva entirely without external aid if they need to. Although there is a dedicated Entry Plug loading mechanism in NERV HQ, a pilot can manually open it (apparently Asuka triggered the release of Unit 02's Entry Plug by use of a mechanism on the side of the Entry Plug's hatch) and then launch it entirely independent of the control center.
• Evangelions cannot swim using their standard armor equipment (which is termed "B-Type Equipment"). Using their standard B-Type armor equipment, Evangelions sink in water and cannot easily move. Given that it is said that Eva 02 cannot swim with B-type equipment", instead of just a blanket statement that "Evangelions can't swim", presumably special armor exists which does allow an Eva to swim.
• The warships depicted in Episode 08 all have real-life counterparts. See United Nations Pacific Fleet and Real Warships Depicted in Evangelion for more information.
• The underwater battle between Eva-02 and the Angel Gaghiel takes place over Ito in the submerged Izu peninsula, according to Episode 14. In what appears to be a major error in geography, all the street names seen on the display are those of Yokohama, which is over a hundred kilometers to the northeast and not on the direct route to new Odawara.
• In Episode 14, it is said that one third of the UN naval fleet in this episode was destroyed by Gaghiel.
• Geography-wise, subtitles at the end of the episode explain that "New Yokosuka" is actually the city formerly known as Odawara. Previously, the Angel Shamshel approached Tokyo-3 by making landfall at Odawara, and Sachiel also came from the eastern coast. Here, "New Yokosuka" appears to be the primary port serving Tokyo-3, which is landlocked, given that Eva-02 is delivered to Tokyo-3 via this point.
  • In Gendo's phone conversation at the beginning of the episode, he says that the naval convoy transporting Eva Unit 02 left Sasebo "yesterday", and was currently in the Pacific. Sasebo is a port city in extreme southwestern Japan, in Nagasaki prefecture, slightly north of the city of Nagasaki. Sasebo is the site of a major naval military base. The convoy transporting Eva-02 from Germany apparently made a short stop in Sasebo, before continuing on to New Yokosuka.
• The three sets of Japanese characters that form the opening title card for the episode appear in sequence, with each one punctuated by synchronizing each with one of the three times Asuka slaps Toji, Kensuke, and Shinji's faces respectively.

Analysis

• When Asuka makes her first appearance on screen during the series, she is standing facing the "camera" silhouetted against the Sun behind her. Just as a recurring visual motif of the Moon is used with Rei in the series, with Asuka (who is the polar opposite of Rei's personality) a recurring visual motif of the Sun is used.
• The series' creators have described Asuka as a girl "who seeks to put herself above all others"^{[Source needed]}: in the very first scene Asuka appears in, she is standing on the control tower of the aircraft carrier, physically standing high above the landing pad where Shinji, Misato & Co. exit their helicopter transport. This also occurs later in this same episode, when Asuka feels driven to show off Eva 02 to Shinji, and is compelled to stand on top of Eva-02 to look down on Shinji far below. Also, when Asuka initially finds Shinji and orders him to come see Eva-02 with her, she is standing at the top of an escalator he is riding.

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Quotes

Original Japanese dub

• Asuka: (to Shinji) "Anta baka?!" ("What are you, stupid?!") (The first time Asuka says this in the series...though not the last...)
• Asuka (Starting up Eva Unit 02): "LCL Füllung. Anfang der Bewegung. Anfang des Nervenanschlusses. Auslöses von Links-kleidung. Synchro-start." (message displays: "FEHLER")
  Shinji: "Its...a programming error?"
  Asuka: "It's thought-noise. I told you not to disturb me."
  Shinji: "What do you mean?"
  Asuka: "You're thinking in Japanese aren't you? If you must think, do it in German!"
  Shinji: "I'll try...baumkuchen..."
  Asuka: "Baka!"
  
• UN Captain: "But what about Eva?"
  Misato: "Don't worry. Those two'll be alright."
  (Scene quickly cuts to the Entry Plug of Eva 02, Asuka is strangling Shinji from behind)
  Asuka: (switches from strangling Shinji to beating him rhythmically with her fists) "Hey, don't pilot my Unit 02 without my permission!!"
  Misato: (Over the radio) "Do both of you understand the operation?"
  Shinji: (Asuka continues to strangle Shinji) "I'll do my best."

Episodes & Films
Television Series	Episode 01 | Episode 02 | Episode 03 | Episode 04 | Episode 05 | Episode 06 Episode 07 | Episode 08 | Episode 09 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 Episode 14 | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Episode 17 | Episode 18 | Episode 19 | Episode 20 Episode 21 | Episode 22 | Episode 23 | Episode 24 | Episode 25 | Episode 26
Movies	Death | Rebirth The End of Evangelion: Episode 25' | Episode 26'
Rebuild of Evangelion	Evangelion 1.0 | Evangelion 2.0 | Evangelion 3.0 | (-46h) | (-120min) | Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0