Episode 04
| Episode Information | |||||||
| Episode #04 | |||||||
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| Written By | Akio Satsukawa | ||||||
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| Directed By | Tsuyoshi Kaga | ||||||
| First Aired | 10-25-1995 | ||||||
| Video Release Date | 3-6-1996 (Japan-Video/LD), 5-16-2000 (US-DVD) | ||||||
| Angel Appearances | None | ||||||
| Eva Sorties | None | ||||||
| Episode chronology | |||||||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||||||
| "Episode 03" | "Episode 05" | ||||||
Overview
Misato is upset with Shinji for ignoring her orders in the last Angel battle, and he is so overcome by the stress of being an Eva pilot that he runs away. After wandering around Tokyo-3 for several days, Shinji is faced with the choice of quitting or staying in his new home.
Synopsis
It's been five days since the battle with Shamshel, and Shinji still hasn't returned to school. Misato knocks on his bedroom door and tries to persuade him, only to find that he has run away[2]. Concerned about his absence, Toji and Kensuke come to visit. Misato lies and tells them he is training at headquarters.
Shinji boards a local train and rides it all day, repeatedly listening to tracks 25 & 26 on his SDAT[3], leaving only when the train is taken out of service for the night. He tells himself, "I've got to go back", but instead attends a late-night showing of a movie about Second Impact[4]. The few other people there seem to be either sleeping or making out. He spends the night in the theater's lobby. The next morning he leaves the theater, but hallucinates that the buildings are closing in on him. Thus he flees to the countryside[5].
Back at Nerv headquarters, Ritsuko is examining Rei. Misato is there and we learn that Shinji left after she upbraided him for disobeying her retreat order in episode 3.
Meanwhile, in a violation of the law of incredible coincidence, Shinji meets Kensuke, who is in the wilderness playing survivalist[6]. Kensuke reveals that he is jealous, both because Shinji is living with a beautiful woman, and because he is an Eva pilot. When Kensuke expresses a desire to be a pilot as well, Shinji admonishes him that his mother would be worried[7]. Kensuke reveals that like Shinji, he has none[8]. Shinji camps out with Kensuke that night. The next morning, several men in black from Nerv arrive and take Shinji into custody. Back at school, Toji upbraids Kensuke for not doing anything about it (as if he could have).
Back at Nerv headquarters Misato confronts Shinji, telling him they don't need a pilot with his attitude. Shinji elects to resign. Gendo orders Unit-01 reconfigured for Rei. Two men in black take Shinji to the train station, where Toji and Kensuke see him off, as they have so many of their other classmates. Toji insists that Shinji hit him to make up for the beating he gave Shinji in Ep. 3. Shinji hits him surprisingly hard for Shinji. As he is being lead away, Shinji shouts that he (Shinji) is the one who should be hit, for being so weak and cowardly.
Misato finally realizes that the reason that Shinji agreed to live with her was because he was looking for a family, and rushes to the station[9], seemingly too late. But Shinji hasn't boarded the train. They greet each other with "I'm home", "welcome home".
Notes
- Rei is referred to as the "First Children" for the first time in this episode. Shinji had already been referred to as the Third in Episode 01, clearly implying that there is another pilot whom we have yet to meet.
- This is the only episode that series creator Hideaki Anno did not write (or co-write). At one point during production, this episode was removed and what is now Episode 05 would have immediately followed Episode 03. However, it was later decided that time needed to be devoted to establishing Shinji's character and relationships, so the episode was added back in. The result was that this episode was written after what is now Episode 5 was already finished, and Anno did not take a direct role in developing either the plot or script.
- The Evangelion ORIGINAL draft script for Episode 04 mentions dates that were cut from the broadcast; apparently Episode 03 ended 14 July 2015 and Episode 04 spanned 15-18 July 2015[10] (this seems to contradict the chronology in Rei Ayanami Raising Project[11], which would put Episode 04 in early June 2015).
Analysis
- Kensuke points out to Shinji the noise the cicadas are making outdoors. Kensuke says that it used to be quiet outside when he was a kid (in the early 2000's) but that now cicadas can be heard constantly. Shinji responds that Misato told him that the ecosystem is returning to its former state. See Second Impact for more information on the environmental consequences of the disaster fifteen years earlier.
- After exiting the bus, Shinji rests by a statue of Jizo-san, the patron deity of travelers and children. The shot is apparently a tribute to a shot from Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro. (See Tributes to Other Shows in Neon Genesis Evangelion for more.)
Quotes
- (Toji and Kensuke have just met Misato for the first time)
Kensuke: "This is an unexpected development."
Toji: "She was a real babe, wasn't she?" - (As Shinji walks down the street after running away)
Public Announcer Left: "Yes, Cheap, Cheap! Blowout sale on hot young girls! When you get tired they'll lead you to paradise." - (Shinji watches the Second Impact Movie)
Man: "You really couldn't detect it?"
Doctor: "Correct. An object tens of millimeters in diameter crashed into Antarctica at more than ten percent of the speed of light!"
Assistant A: "Our technology could neither predict it nor defend against it."
Woman: "But it's hell out there! Just what is the purpose of science!?"
Man: "The atmospheric flux caused by the change in the Earth's axis has decreased by 3%."
Woman: "So, has it calmed down a little?"
Assistant C:"Negative!! There's a tidal wave approaching at 230 meters a second!"
Man: "Doctor! We must evacuate!"
Doctor: "No, it's my duty to remain here."
Man: "Doctor, dying is easy, but you have an obligation to watch this Hell on Earth." - Toji: "Don't you have any balls!?![12]"
Kensuke: "Only an idiot fights when he knows he can't win. Balls have nothing to do with it." - (Shinji has met Kensuke in the wilderness)
Kensuke: "I really envy you. Living with such a beautiful woman and getting to pilot Evangelion. Oh, I wish I could get behind the controls just once!"
Shinji: "You'd better not. Your mother would be worried."
Kensuke: "Ah, that's okay. I don't have one."
Shinji: "Ah…"
Kensuke: "I'm the same as you, Ikari." - (Shinji is saying goodbye to Toji and Kensuke)
Shinji: "It's me who should be hit. I'm a scoundrel...a coward...Dishonest...and weak..."
References
- ↑ This title refers to an analogy about human interaction by Arthur Schopenhauer. See here for more details.
- ↑ The envelope Shinji leaves for Misato in his room when he runs away is literally addressed "Katsuragi Misato-sama" in the original Japanese. The honorific suffix "-sama" is the more formal version of "-san" (Mr. or Ms.) and is used to politely address those of higher social rank. This formality in in contrast to Misato's request in Episode 01 that her just call her Misato.
- ↑ The two songs we hear Shinji listening to on his SDAT while riding on the train are "You are the only one" and "Blue Legend" from "Lilia", an image album for the "Ys" RPG series (previously heard in Episode 02). However, none of the vocal sections are heard in this episode.
- ↑ In an example of economy in casting, several of the regular voive actors appear in this sequence as train announcers, public announcers, movie cast members, etc. Including:
- Yuko Miyamura (Asuka) as Movie Theater Woman, Public Announcer Right, Girl A, and Station Announcer Left.
- Megumi Hayashibara (Rei, Yui, Pen Pen) as Train Announcer, Public Announcer Left, Station Announcer, and (in the movie) Woman.
- Kotono Mitsuishi (Misato) as Girl B.
- Yuriko Yamaguchi (Ritsuko) as Girl C.
- Fumihiko Tachiki (Gendo) as Station Announcer and (in the movie) Doctor.
- Tetsuya Iwanaga (Kensuke) as Assistant A (movie).
- Tomokazu Seki (Toji) as Assistant B (movie).
- ↑ The beautiful mountain that Shinji visits before meeting Kensuke is a famous suicide spot; see Geography for more information.
- ↑ Kensuke has a whole "training schedule" written out on a chalkboard in his tent for his military role playing, which translated from Japanese reads:
- Outline of Summer Training Practice Operations
Japan's Mobilization Schedule
15:00 Deploy for combat
16:00 Prepare for attack, commence firing
19:00 (left blank)
- Outline of Summer Training Practice Operations
- ↑ As it happens, if Kensuke were to become an Eva pilot, his Eva's core would be imbued with his mother's soul. Thus, despite her apparent death, Shinji's statement that she would be worried is likely correct.
- ↑ In the previous episode, Toji also seemed to imply that his mother was dead.
- ↑ A mistake that occurs near the end of the episode is that when Misato drives her car up to the train station, she gets out of her car on the left hand side, even though cars drive on the right hand side in Japan. Further, we've actually seen Misato while driving in her car during an extended scene in the first episode, during which she was sitting in the driver's seat which was indeed located on the right hand side of her car.
- ↑ http://eva.onegeek.org/pipermail/oldeva/1999-December/033295.html
- ↑ http://forum.evageeks.org/viewtopic.php?p=367501#367501
- ↑ When Toji refers to "balls" he actually says "matanki", which means nothing. It is really "kintama" spelled backward in Japanese characters (ki+n+ta+ma reversed to ma+ta+n+ki). Kintama is a slang term for testicles which literally means "gold balls".
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