Fuyutsuki:“Impressive. It seems it can even amplify its functions.”
Ikari:“And it's also getting smarter.”
Woman (OFF):“Please switch all communication circuits from 23 to 28 to private circuits. This is very urgent.”
Man (OFF):“Develop a shift from E to I at a range of 1200.”
Sharp-kun: Fuyutsuki's comment here relates to what I earlier said about Gendo's “weapons” comment. “Upgrade” (used in other translations instead of “amplify”) sounds like a term you'd use for a machine, not a creature.
Dr. Nick: Do we know whether Anno had decided what the Angels were going to be at this point? He obviously had thought the main storyline out from the start, as the image of Kaworu in the opening sequence proves, but had he already decided about “details” such as this?
Sharp-kun: I don't know. It's possible that at this point Anno still hadn't decided if anyone was sending the Angels. Perhaps he had considered them weapons used by a higher lifeform and later changed that. Of course, this is all just speculation.
Reichu: That would fit in with Gendo and Fuyutsuki's strange comments, but, otherwise, I find it problematic. Although I should probably save such rantings for later.
On a side note, zoufuku can mean, simply, “amplify,” which doesn't have quite the mechanical connotations of “upgrade.” Speaking of which — how does Fuyutsuki know that Sachiel wasn't capable of “cross-blasts” from the get-go, but simply chose not to use them until now?
Additional Commentary
Hexon.Arq: The most common speculative answer to this is that Sachiel “evolved” the blast attack as a direct result of his encounter with the N² mine. Monkey see, monkey do.
Reichu: Welll... I'm not so sure. The ability seems to run in the family, as we'll see later.
