Episode 13
| Episode Information | |||||||
| Episode #13 | |||||||
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| Written By | Hideaki Anno,Akio Satsukawa, and Mitsuo Iso | ||||||
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| Directed By | Tensai Okamura(director), Masahiko Otsuka(assistant director) | ||||||
| First Aired | 12-27-1995 | ||||||
| Video Release Date | 8-7-1996 (Japan-Video/LD), 2-13-2001 (US-DVD) | ||||||
| Angel Appearances | Ireul | ||||||
| Eva Sorties | none | ||||||
| Episode chronology | |||||||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||||||
| "Episode 12" | "Episode 14" | ||||||
Overview
A routine test involving the Eva pilots turns into a struggle for survival when a wholly new type of Angel appears and spreads inside Nerv HQ. This new, computer-like angel threatens to set off the self-destruct for the entire facility, leaving Dr.Ritsuko Akagi in a race against time to save the GeoFront and destroy the Angel.
Synopsis
Episode 13[2] begins with Ritsuko Akagi completing a routine maintenance test of the Magi supercomputer system, followed soon by an autopilot test[3] for the three Eva pilots. The pilots are supposed to enter simulation bodies[4] without their plug suits and after thorough disinfection.
The pilots enter the "simulation plugs"[5], the entry plugs for the simulation bodies kept inside the Pribnow Box[6], while the Magi monitor the data coming off their bodies. While the test proceeds smoothly, Aoba shows Fuyutsuki what look like stains on construction brought in three days previously. Hyuga thinks they are corrosion from trapped air bubbles, and Fuyutsuki reminds them to fix the problem by the next day.
Maya informs Ritsuko of the corrosion in the protein wall above, but since it does not pose any problems to the test for the moment, Ritsuko decides to go ahead, saying that they can't abort the test due to minor technical issues. The simulation plugs are then connected to their Evas via their simulation bodies, contact being first established with Eva-00. Immediately afterwards, a contamination alert sounds as the corrosion begins to spread explosively. The experiment is aborted and several water pipes sealed to prevent the spread, but to no avail.
Without warning, Rei screams and her simulation body starts moving and trying to break free of its restraints. It raises a hand towards the control booth, but the arm is severed by a blasting bolt and the pilots are ejected at once. The mass of corrosion is fired upon with lasers, but to everyone's shock and horror, it deploys an A.T. Field, revealing itself to be the eleventh angel, Ireul[7].
Immediate panic ensues in the command facility, and Central Dogma is closed off at once and all personnel evacuate the Pribnow Box. Gendo cancels the alarm, and orders that the committee and the Japanese government be informed of an error in the alarm system. He then orders the Evas to be launched pilotless to avoid the risk of infection, giving Eva-01 priority[8].
Meanwhile, Ritsuko and Misato attempt to fight the angel without the Evas. An attempt to destroy the Angel with an excess of oxygen fails as the angel evolves, soon turning into a system of electronic circuits that attacks Nerv's computer systems, reprogramming the Magi[9] Melchior and attempting to initiate self-destruct for the facility. Unable to get clearance from the other Magi, it starts hacking into Balthasar as well. However, a temporary firewall is set up that prevents the Angel from hacking any further for the time being.
Ritsuko explains the nature of this new angel: a colony of microscopic entities working together to evolve and form intelligent circuits, and details a plan to counter-hack the Angel and program it to reach an evolutionary dead end, where it will have no choice but to die. She opens an entrance into the physical structure of the surviving Magi Casper, and begins work with notes left by her mother[10].
Ireul finally breaks through the firewall and completes infecting Balthasar, and with one second to go before Casper is defeated, the counter-hacking program is installed. The Magi are promptly restored to their normal status, and Ireul dies out. Meanwhile, the pilots, still left in their capsules, wondering what has happened.
As things return to normal around Nerv HQ, Misato offers a cup of coffee to an exhausted Ritsuko. Ritsuko starts to talk about the Magi, explaining to Misato how her mother, Naoko, based its three personalities on herself: herself as a scientist, herself as mother, and herself as a woman. Ritsuko admits that she never really understood Naoko as a mother, and while she respected her as a scientist, she hated her as a woman. She finally muses on the irony of her using Casper as the module to fight back against Ireul; Casper was the component based on Naoko's woman aspect. In the end, she remained a woman.
Notes
- This marks the first and only time that an Angel is defeated without using the Evangelions at all: Ritsuko tricked the Angel into killing itself by reprogramming it with a self-termination program.
- This episode is also unique in that it barely involves the Evangelions or any of the three Eva pilots: they just show up briefly at the beginning and end of the episode, and play no significant part in the central plot.
- Nerv special order "582" is the order to self-destruct Nerv HQ.
Analysis
- Misato's drive to destroy Angels and sense of intuition causes her to suggest the physical destruction of the Magi so that the Angel has no growth medium. This time, it is Ritsuko's logic and clear thinking that wins out.
- Misato thinks that the same "personality transplant" operating systems used by seventh-generation computers to think for themselves are also in the Evangelions. Misato is rarely in the know, and whether or not she is right or wrong on this issue is an open question: Ritsuko does not answer her, and the question is never brought up again.
Quotes
- Asuka: "What? You want me to take off my clothes again?"
- Intercom: "All of Central Dogma under Sigma Unit will be completely closed off in sixty seconds."
Intercom: "Thirty seconds until activation of vacuum pump"
(Kaji sneaking around in Central Dogma)
Kaji: "So that's the Angel. Guess I don't have time for work now." - Ritsuko: "We can think of them as micro-machines. Angels the size of microbes. Those individuals have aggregated together and have undergone explosive evolution to achieve intelligence circuits in this short amount of time."
Fuyutsuki: "Evolution..."
Ritsuko: "Yes. They're continuously changing themselves, searching for a system that can cope with any situation."
Fuyutsuki: "That's truly the system of life itself." - (After Ritsuko opens up the Magi and crawls in)
Ritsuko: "Scribbles left by the developer."
Maya: "Amazing! These are back doors! Magi's back doors!"
Misato: "So it's a veritable encyclopedia of all the tricks up the Magi's sleeve."
Maya: "Is it okay to see these? What a surprise! This is INT-C! With these, we can program much faster than we thought, right, Ma'am?"
(Ritsuko nods)
Ritsuko: "Thank you, Mother. We can make it for sure now." - (Large black graffiti inside the Magi left by Naoko Akagi): "Ikari, you jerk!"
- Asuka: "Jeez, I can't go anywhere naked! Somebody hurry up and help me!"
References
- ↑ The English title, "Lilliputian Hitcher" is a reference to Gulliver's Travels: the Lilliuptians are a race of tiny people, and the microscopic Angel Ireul infiltrates Nerv HQ by "hitching" a ride on a newly installed faulty wall panel. (Crichton's Andromeda organism hitched a ride on a returning satellite)
- ↑ Episode 13 is heavily influenced by Michael Crichton's novel The Andromeda Strain and its 1971 movie adaptation. See Theory and Analysis:Episode 13 Similarities to The Andromeda Strain and Tributes to Other Shows in Neon Genesis Evangelion#The Andromeda Strain for details. More thematic analysis can be found here.
- ↑ Ritsuko tells Misato and the Eva pilots that the test they are carrying out with the simulation bodies will ultimately help them develop "a new autopilot system".
- ↑ This marks the only appearance of the Simulation bodies in the entire series.
- ↑ The testing booths that the Eva pilots are located in are labeled "C-01" (Rei), "C-02" (Shinji), and "C-03" (Asuka). If the "C" is supposed to stand for "Child", this is actually an error: Shinji is the Third Child, and Asuka is the Second Child.
- ↑ The episode is actually inconsistent is stating where exactly the "Sigma Unit" of Nerv HQ, containing the infected Pribnow Box, is in relation to Central Dogma. Fuyutsuki says that it is fairly close to "Adam" (presumably Terminal Dogma, the lowest level of the base). However, we then see Kaji, standing on Level 28, looking up at the Angel infection several levels above him, while in the same scene a voice on the intercom says that "All of Central Dogma under Sigma Unit will be completely closed off in sixty seconds" (Central Dogma, specifically the command center containing the Magi, is located around Level 40, and the level numbers decrease as they go farther down, so that would mean the Angel was above Central Dogma). In the very next scene, another voice over the intercom says that all deep facilities were taken over by the Angel, again saying that the Sigma Unit is below Central Dogma.
- ↑ This is the first time an Angel managed to get directly inside of Central Dogma, which as we will see next episode, causes the Human Instrumentality Committee to become quite concerned. It is not directly stated how it managed to infiltrate the base, but Shigeru's comments seem to indicate that it arrives in air bubbles within a poorly constructed cleanroom wall, the "87th protein barrier", which was installed in Nerv HQ after Sachiel first appeared.
- ↑ The Evangelions are launched with priority given to Eva-01, with the other two Evas to be sacrificed if necessary. Once again, this is a hidden hint to how special Eva-01 is to Gendo, although it is not evident until End of Evangelion that Eva-01 was created with Lilith's biomass in addition to having the soul of Yui Ikari.
- ↑ The three Magi supercomputers have each been imbued with a different aspect of their creator Naoko Akagi's personality. See Magi for more details.
- ↑ The insides of the Magi supercomputers are covered in many post-it notes left behind by their creator, Dr. Naoko Akagi. Pausing and zooming in reveals that many of them contain hidden Easter Egg messages, things like "Ikari, you are an idiot--Naoko", etc.
| 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 |
| Movies | Death | Rebirth |
| Rebuild of Evangelion | Evangelion 1.0 | Evangelion 2.0 | Evangelion 3.0 | (-46h) | (-120min) | Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 |
