Episode 12

Episode Information
Episode #12
Title 1: {{{japanese_title_k}}} {{{japanese_title_r}}} {{{japanese_title_e}}} Title 2: She Said, "Don't Make Others Suffer for Your Personal Hatred."
Written By	Hideaki Anno, Akio Satsukawa
Directed By	Hiroyuki Ishido
First Aired	12-20-1995
Video Release Date	{{{video_release}}}
Angel Appearances	Sahaquiel
Episode chronology
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"Episode 11"	"Episode 13"

Overview

Misato has been promoted to Major, but the celebration is cut short when the next Angel appears, in Earth orbit. Is there any way to stop a multi-ton enemy from hurling itself from space onto Tokyo-3?

Synopsis

The episode begins with a flashback, as Second Impact occurs at Antarctica. Misato's father, Dr. Katsuragi, saves her life by shoving her into an escape capsule as Adam, in Giant of Light form briefly appears. Giant wings appear over the cloud vortex over Antarctica as the capsule floats to safety.

Back in the present in Tokyo 3, Toji and Kensuke drop into Misato's apartment to take shelter from the rain. Kensuke notices that Misato has been promoted to Major, (a fact which has completely escaped Shinji and Asuka), and he and Toji congratulate her. Misato thanks them and reminds Shinji and Asuka that they have a harmonics test that day.

Ritsuko reveals after the test that Shinji's Synch Rate is rapidly rising and he will soon catch up to Asuka. This doesn't seem to impress Asuka, who reacts angrily.

When they arrive home, they find that Kensuke has arranged a party to celebrate Misato's promotion. Toji wonders why Hikari, the Class Rep, is there, and Asuka replies that she has invited her. Asuka then begins to wonder why Kaji is late. Rei has turned down her invitation. Meanwhile, Shinji whispers to Misato that he's uncomfortable around that many people. When Shinji asks her why she joined Nerv, Misato claims to have forgotten. When Kaji finally arrives, he has Ritsuko with him, causing Misato and Asuka to both react jealously. Kaji comments that Commander Ikari and Vice Commander Fuyutsuki must have a lot of faith in Misato to go away and leave her in charge.

In Antarctica, Gendo and Fuyutsuki are onboard an aircraft carrier in a sea of orange. The surrounding area has become incapable of sustaining life; Fuyutsuki comments that it is the true Dead Sea. Also on board the deck is a mysterious long object in wrappings. Just then they receive a message that the next Angel has begun its attack.

The 10th Angel, Sahaquiel, is colossal in size and one of the most bizarre Angels in appearance, looking like a gigantic amoeba with a huge central eye. Its strategy is to zero in on Nerv, dropping pieces of itself onto the Earth to calibrate its aim. Each piece has its own A.T. Field, which, combined with very high kinetic energy, cause devastation wherever they strike. It is believed that once the Angel finds its target, the main body will plummet to Earth. Even a near miss will convert Tokyo-3 into an extension of the Pacific Ocean . Misato orders all civilians evacuated in a 50 KM radius, and concocts what seems to be an impossible plan. Using their A.T. Fields at full strength, the three Evas will catch the falling Angel with their hands and then destroy it. Ritsuko accuses Misato of putting her quest for revenge ahead of the mission.

Misato briefs the pilots on the mission. They all decline to write a will. She then promises them a steak dinner if they succeed. Rei passes on the steak because she dislikes meat. When Misato is asked how she determined where to station the Evas (the potential impact zone is miles across), she replies, "intuition." Shinji tells Asuka that Misato has never won the lottery.

On their way to their evas, Shinji asks Asuka why she pilots. She replies that she wants to prove something to the world. When she throws the question back at him, he doesn't have an answer.

We are then shown a flashback to a conversation Shinji and Misato must have had a short time before. She admits that she joined Nerv to avenge her father, even though she had hated him for neglecting her and her mother.

The time comes at last. The Evas race to the impact spot, Shinji arriving first. He struggles to hold up the Angel until Rei and Asuka join him. Rei proceeds to expose Sahaquiel's core with her Progressive Knife, and Asuka uses her knife to stab the now vulnerable core, causing the Angel to self-destruct. Another mission has been successful against tremendous odds. Gendo calls, and when Misato tries to apologize for the damage done to Unit-01, he tells her she did well. He then specifically asks to speak with Shinji and tells him, "Good work." The pilots have mercy on Misato's pocketbook and go to a ramen place instead of a steakhouse. Even Rei goes along, ordering garlic ramen with no pork. Shinji tells Misato that he pilots because he wants to hear words of praise from his father.

End of episode.

Notes

• Misato is promoted from Captain to Major as of this episode. For practical purposes, this doesn't really change any character dynamics in the series: she was already head of the Tactical Operations division of Nerv, and she doesn't now outrank anyone we know of that she didn't before.
• Although Second Impact has been referred to as a historical event since the second episode, in this episode an extended flashback is given of Misato's first hand experience during Second Impact while in Antarctica.
• The origin of Misato's scar, first seen in Episode 10, are now fully explained. Her sternum is wounded and bloodied over the region where the scar is later seen.
• Adam is seen as a "giant of light", bearing an unmistakable resemblance to an Evangelion and glowing all over except for her core and eyes (normally, the core and eyes are the only bioluminescent parts in Angels and Evas).
• Twin pillars of light are seen rising at the end of the flashback. These may or may not be the base of Adam's wings of light. In Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, the wings of light are also seen with red dots of light flying around them.
  • The imagery of twin pillars of light is seen during the battle against the Angel Ramiel.
• The scenes depicting Second Impact bear some parallels to the historical bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. In particular, the body damage suffered by Doctor Katsuragi (melting skin, burning clothes, etc.) strongly resembles actual accounts of nuclear bomb victims.
• A.T. Fields can oppose each other and act as a barrier to each other as well - Eva-01's A.T. Field blocks Sahaquiel's A.T. Field and keeps the Angel suspended in the air (although demanding a lot of physical strength from the Eva itself) before the other two Evas arrive.
• First and only time that Eva-00's prog knife is seen: it is visually identical to the knife used by Eva-01.
• As Fuyutsuki notes, Sahaquiel has found a new way to use an A.T. Field, actually using it offensively to crush satellites observing it. Some later Angels will also use their A.T. Fields as weapons, and even the Evangelions will eventually use them this way.
• The reason for Gendo and Fuyutsuki's trip to Antarctica is not revealed in this episode, however, they bring back a large mysterious object wrapped in tarmac, which is longer than an aircraft carrier's flight deck. This will be seen again in Episode 14.
• Rei states that she "dislikes eating meat" (which is what the official English dub also says, though some translations have gone as far as having Rei say that she "hates" eating meat), which seems to indicate that she is a vegetarian. Series creator Hideaki Anno is himself a vegetarian.
• As previously seen in Episode 9, when Hikari comes over for the party she is having a lot of fun playing with Pen Pen: when Misato has to send Pen Pen away from Tokyo-3 for safe keeping in Episode 24, she says she's sending him to stay with Hikari's family.
• Gendo's audio-only transmission from the end of the episode says that he is transmitting from a ship designated "DDG-099", thus it would seem that the ship in the UN fleet sent to the Antarctic which he is transmitting from is the destroyer USS Farragut, designated DDG-99.
• Misato mentions that if Tokyo-3 and Nerv HQ have to be evacuated, they will move the Magi supercomputers to Matsushiro. Matsushiro is on the outskirts of Tokyo-2, and later in Episode 18 we will see that Nerv has a secondary testing facility there.
• Misato is seen drinking "Boa" brand beer again, last seen in Episode 10, as opposed to her favored Yebisu brand from Episode 02 (possibly as a result of the network that the series first aired on complaining that they didn't want to give the real-world Yebisu beer company unpaid publicity).
• The sign on the door to Misato's apartment for the party, written in Japanese characters says: "Congratulations On Your Promotion/Celebration Spot/Reserved Today"
• Special order "D-17", which can be declared under Nerv's authority, is the order to evacuate all civilians within a 50 kilometer radius of Tokyo-3.
• When all three Evas are deployed around Tokyo-3, the pilots are just supposed to wait inside of the Evas for a little under two hours until the Angel begins to fall from orbit: to pass the time, Asuka apparently brought her SDAT audio player along with her in Unit 02's Entry Plug, and was listening to music! A brief shot of Asuka in her Entry Plug, right before the flashback where Misato explains why she joined Nerv, shows her wearing earphones, though she apparently takes them off by the time the mission starts. This would seem to be a nice little gag inserted by the animators, however, it utterly ignores the fact that an Entry Plug is filled with liquid, LCL, and it is doubtful that an SDAT player would function while submerged in it.
• Misato's father threw himself into his work, ignoring his family, though it was suspected that he was just so emotionally sensitive that he had trouble interacting with his family. Misato's mother eventually divorced Dr. Katsuragi, a decision Misato approved of. Dr. Katsuragi was shocked, but acknowledged that the failure of their marriage was his own fault. Ultimately he sacrificed his life to save Misato's during Second Impact, and Misato has mixed feelings as to whether she loved or hated him.

Analysis

• Sahaquiel is the first Angel to appear in orbit. However, it seems unlikely that Second Impact simply blew Sahaquiel's egg into orbit- Sandalphon emerged from its cocoon in Episode 10 at full adult size. Assuming Sahaquiel to be the same, it seems impossible that an object so huge could go undetected in Earth orbit for so long, while Sahaquiel was in a pupal state.
  • Since it is never revealed where any of the Angels directly come from (except Sandalphon), Sahaquiel's cocoon was probably somewhere else on the Earth, perhaps in the desolate southern Indian Ocean near Antarctica, in orbit over which it was first discovered, and where it could simply have launched itself into orbit undetected.
• The unusual darkness of Adam's core might indicate that Adam's soul is no longer present inside, or it might be symbolic of extreme power, as seen in The End of Evangelion. The Lilith super being in The End of Evangelion first appears in Rei's form, with glowing skin and dark eyes while herself being in a state of extreme power.
  • It might be that a sign of Adam's uncontrolled power surge after the contact experiment is that her light patterns have inverted, i.e. normally the only part of an Eva (or Angel) that glows are its eyes and core, but here, every part of Adam except for its eyes and core is glowing.
  • "Wings of light" are also symbolic of power. Unlike the Lilith super being's wings, Adam's wings do not appear to be physical. When Eva-01 later sprouts wings in The End of Evangelion, they are eerily similar to Adam's own wings.
• Adam's shoulder pylons, similar to the shoulder-armor fin plates on Evangelions, seem to be artificial (just as they are not biologically part of the Evas, either). A still-shot of the Katsuragi expedition digging up Adam (seen in the extended opening given on the Renewal of Evangelion Test-type disk) shows Adam lying on her back, skewered on the lance, and lacking shoulder pylons.
• Another instance of Misato and Ritsuko clashing occurs in this episode - Ritsuko is a highly logical thinker, and she strongly disagrees with Misato's placement of the Evas on pure guesswork.
• Misato's true motives for joining Nerv are explained. Her hatred of the Angels seems to drive her to any length to destroy them, even though it may not be the most sensible of methods. Conversely, in both this episode and in Episode 05, Misato's determination has saved the situation in spite of extremely low odds.
• Rei did not come to Misato's party, even though she was specifically invited by Asuka. Rei was specifically brought to the synch-training party at Misato's apartment in Episode 09, but that seems to be because Misato actually brought her. Rei isn't simply mysterious to people she doesn't know at first (i.e. during the introductory episodes): Rei is disconected socially even from the other Eva pilots.
• The survival pod that Misato's father put her into looks somewhat similar to an Entry Plug: it is possible that this was an earlier technology which was later developed into the Entry Plug.
• The cross shaped pendant Misato wears, which belonged to her father, raises the question: is Misato a Christian? Christians are quite rare in Japan, though the series makes extensive use of Christian iconography. Misato might just wear the pendant in memory of her father. It's not even clear if it's supposed to be a Christian crucifix, or if it was just a charm that Dr. Katsuragi kept, and he wasn't a Christian either. Misato does wear other cross-shaped jewelry, such as her earrings in Episode 07. Ultimately, there is really no evidence beyond this vague hint to support the theory that Misato, or her father, were Christians.

Quotes

• (Shinji wonders why his improved performance angers Asuka)
  Shinji: "I wonder why she got mad. What did I do wrong?"
  Misato: "That bothers you?"
  Shinji: "Yes."
  Misato: "That's because all you ever do is worry about what other people think."
• (The readouts from a synchronization test show that Shinji's synch ratio is improving at a remarkable rate)
  Maya Ibuki: "His harmonics and synch ratios are approaching Asuka's."
  Ritsuko: "Is this what you call a gift, I wonder?"
  Nerv technician: "It's like he was born to pilot an Eva."
• Misato: "Miracles have value only when we make them happen"
• (The pilots prepare for their mission.)
  Shinji: "Say."
  Asuka: "What?"
  Shinji: "Asuka, why do you pilot an Eva?"
  Asuka: "To exhibit my talent to the world, of course."
  Shinji: "You mean to prove that you exist?"
  Asuka: "Yeah, something like that." (Looks at Rei) "You're not going to ask her?"
  Shinji: "I've asked Ayanami before."
  Asuka: "Mmmm...My, how intimate the two of you are."
  Shinji: "It's not like that."
  Asuka: "Then what about you, Shinji?"
  Shinji: "I don't know."
  Asuka: "You don't know? What are you, stupid?"
  Shinji: "Maybe I am."
  Asuka: "You really are stupid."
• (The characters celebrate their victory over Ramen.)
  Shinji: "Say, miss Misato?"
  Misato: "What?"
  Shinji: "When I heard my father's words earlier, I think I finally understood what it's like to feel happy when you're praised and I also realized that maybe I pilot the Eva because I wanted to hear those words from him."
  Asuka: "You're piloting for something like that? You really are stupid."