FGC:Episode 23 Scene 01

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Description/Dialogue

Commentary

001

002

KAJI (ANSWERING MACHINE):“Katsuragi, it's me. I've probably put you through a lot of trouble by the time you're listening to this.”

003

KAJI (ANSWERING MACHINE):“I'm sorry. Tell Ritchan I said I'm sorry too. Also, since I've troubled you so much anyway, there's this flower I've been growing...”

UrsusArctos: Does Kaji's apology to Ritsuko involve her grandmother? Even in his final message he's not being 100 percent honest. Also, he describes his watermelon patch as a "flower" which is kind of funny, but I suppose more poetic than the truth. Typical Kaji, to the end.

dzzthink: I like the nice touches in this beginning scene. Misato's beer cans, Asuka's video games, and Ritsuko's cigarettes - they are all trying to distract themselves from their pain. This is what depression looks like.

004

KAJI (ANSWERING MACHINE):“It'd make me happy if you'd water it for me. Shinji knows where it is. Katsuragi, the truth is with you. Go forward without any hesitation. If I ever get to see you again, I'll say the words I wasn't able to say eight years ago. Bye.”

005

MISATO:“The phone that won't ring...”

UrsusArctos: This is a straight reference to the Japanese title of Episode 03, where Shinji wouldn't get so much as a call from his classmates and Toji memorably started to dial him at the end of the episode before stopping midway. Misato used to be in the same position as Shinji - the only calls apart from Ritsuko were work calls - but she now has nobody who will call her since all her friendships are a shambles, and the only man who would have said "I love you" or, perhaps more accurate to Evangelion, "I needed you" is now dead.

006

TEXT:“Sorry, but don't bother me. Working”

007

008

SHINJI:“Miss Misato's still cooped up today.”

009

TEXT:“Do not enter without permission. If you do, I'll kill you!”

010

011

SHINJI:“Asuka... I wonder if she won't be coming back again today?”

012

013

014

UrsusArctos: A little piece of product placement by Gainax - the controller of a first-model Sega Saturn unit. Asuka's videogame interest goes into the Rebuild continuity as well, with Asuka Shinkinami playing on a Bandai WonderSwan.

015

dzzthink: Notice that we see each of the characters, Misato, Shinji, Asuka and Ritsuko, from behind in their opening moments and do not see their front faces. Misato and Ritsuko are also hunched in front of their desks in a dimly lit room. They are clearly despondent and hiding from the world.

016

HIKARI:“She won't go to school and she won't go back home. She just keeps playing games.”

UrsusArctos: This sort of behavior is actually quite common for sufferers of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and is no surprise seeing how Arael's mind beam traumatized Asuka in the last episode. For someone like Hikari who hasn't the faintest idea of what Arael did, seeing Asuka do something of the sort the three stooges would do makes zero sense.

017

018

ASUKA:“Hikari?”

HIKARI:“What is it?”

UrsusArctos: Hikari seems strangely startled by Asuka talking to her. Has Asuka been so disconnected from her that she didn't even acknowledge Hikari's presence?

019

ASUKA:“Wanna go to sleep?”

020

HIKARI:“Okay...”

021

022

023

024

025

026

ASUKA:“I'm sorry. Am I a bother?”

HIKARI:“No, not at all.”

ASUKA:“I wasn't able to win in my Eva. I'm not worth anything anymore. Not anywhere.”

UrsusArctos: Hikari seems to be lying through her teeth about Asuka not being a bother, but she lets her friend go on nevertheless. Which makes me wonder if Hikari had much in the way of friendship before running into Asuka, or if she's reluctant to lose Asuka's friendship even after it's evident that the latter has gone off the rails.

027

028

ASUKA:“I hate it. I hate it all. I hate everyone.”

029

030

ASUKA:“But what I hate the most is myself.”

031

ASUKA:“Somehow, I feel like nothing matters anymore.”

HIKARI:“I think it's okay for you to do whatever you want and I won't say anything,”

UrsusArctos: This is a totally noncommital response on Hikari's part, one that doesn't address anything that Asuka's said and is almost completely disconnected from it. Asuka wants Hikari to help her affirm her self-worth and Hikari utterly fails to do so by being a passive listener and mouthing platitudes.

032

HIKARI:“because I think you did your best, Asuka.”

UrsusArctos: While the concept of ganbatte - "do you best" is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture and saying that one did their best is indeed one of the most common forms of consolation in Japanese, it's also something that's cliche and comes off as insincere quite easily. Hikari delivers this in a manner that is distant and not particularly sincere because she doesn't really understand what Asuka is going through. Furthermore, Hikari drives in the idea that Asuka failed even after doing her best which is anathema to her. It's no surprise that Asuka leaves Hikari to commit far darker acts, as we see at the start of Episode 24.

033

034

035

RITSUKO:“I see, so she passed away.”

036

RITSUKO:“Yes, probably, even cats eventually reach the end of their lives.”

UrsusArctos: Cats have far shorter lifespans than the average human, so that's a strange statement coming from a person who keeps cats. Perhaps Ritsuko thought that things would remain the same with her cats, no matter what? If so, it's a sign of someone who, for all her brilliance, is blind to the realities around her.

037

RITSUKO:“Don't cry anymore, Grandma. I will. When I get some time, I'll come home for a bit. I haven't visited Mother's grave in three years either. I'll call you next time. Okay, I'm hanging up now.”

UrsusArctos: These lines show how Ritsuko's workaholic living situation has ruined all her relationships, even with her family and her beloved cats. She's barely able to come home. On that note, she seems to draw a strange similarity to Shinji by not having visited her mother's grave in three years.

038

039

RITSUKO:“So, she died.”

UrsusArctos: I'd have to double-check this, but the use of the feminine pronoun in the English translation suggests that the conversation really was about the death of one of Ritsuko's dear cats, and not a coded conversation about Kaji's death.