It seems like it's an important day for nearly everyone at Nerv. Misato and Ritsuko are going to a wedding; Shinji and Gendo are visiting Yui's grave; Asuka has a date. However, important things will spring from these seemingly mundane events.
Synopsis
As the episode opens, Gendo and Fuyutsuki are in a helicopter, flying over the second and third Ashi lakes. Fuyutsuki tells Gendo that Chairman Keel is impatient over delays in the Human Instrumentality Project. Gendo replies that everything is coming along well. When Fuyutsuki asks what should they do about "that man", Gendo says that they should let him continue working.
It then cuts to a scene with Kaji, investigating a seemingly long abandoned building. He hears someone stop outside and draws his gun, but stops when a voice says, "It's me". The woman outside the door is feeding a group of cats. She tells him that the company he is investigating, Shannon Bio, is one of 108 subsidiaries of the Marduk Institute; it is the 107th to prove to be a fake. She shows him a list of the Board of Directors, which is Gendo, Fuyutsuki, and Keel. The cat Lady then reminds him that he is supposed to be investigating Nerv, and warns him to stay away from Marduk, who's stated purpose is to select Evangelion pilots.
At school, Asuka leaves a prank message for Kaji that she is being attacked by a pervert. Her friend Hikari approaches her and asks her to go on a date with her sister's friend. Meanwhile, Shinji, is watching Rei cleaning the classroom with a fascinated look on his face.
Back at Nerv HQ., Misato and Ritsuko discuss the wedding they will be attending the next day. During this, the pilots are having a synch test. Afterwards, in the elevator, Shinji, who is visiting his mother's grave with his father the next day , asks Rei what he's like, but she doesn't know the answer. Remembering her cleaning that day, he comments that she wrung out the washcloth "like a mother". This visibly upsets Rei, who asks him, "What are you saying?"
The next day, Kaji arrives late at the wedding. Misato complains that he hasn't shaved and straightens his tie, prompting Ritsuko to comment that they are acting like a married couple.
Gendo and Shinji have arrived at the cemetery. Gendo comments that they haven't been there together for three years, prompting Shinji to admit that he had run away. We also learn in this conversation that Gendo has kept no pictures of Yui, and that there is no body buried there. As Gendo's helicopter arrives, we get a brief glimpse of Rei aboard. Shinji tells him he's glad they had a chance to talk.
Back home, Shinji is practicing the cello when Asuka, who has dumped her date, arrives and applauds. Shinji, however, says he's been practicing since age five and hasn't improved. The only reason he still plays is no one ever told him to stop.
It's a cat Souvenir
The wedding has ended, and Misato, Kaji, and Ritsuko are out drinking. When Misato leaves briefly to visit the restroom, Kaji gives Ritsuko a trinket which he calls a "cat souvenir". She looks at it and asks him why he was in Kyoto. He feigns surprise and replies that he was in Matsushiro. She warns him that he's going to get burned.
Back home, Shinji gets a call from Misato that she's going to be late. When Asuka learns that Misato is drinking with Kaji, she comments that she won't be home that night.
Misato has too much too drink and vomits in a alley. She then admits that she lied when she broke up with him; there wasn't another man. Instead, she was frightened because he reminded her of her father. When she starts saying that she's just as pathetic as Shinji, he has to shut her up by kissing her.
At Misato's apartment, Asuka says she's bored and asks Shinji if he wants to kiss. When he hesitates, she teases him by implying that he thinks his mother is watching him from heaven, or maybe he's just afraid. When he replies that he's not afraid, she approaches him, and holding his nose (his breath tickles), plants a kiss right on his lips. Shinji stands with his arms at his sides and doesn't react. When the kiss, which lasts long enough to leave him gasping for breath, is over, Asuka, furious and embarrassed over his lack of reaction, runs from the room. After a few moments, she regains her composure and shouts, "I should never kiss to kill time!," and begins to loudly gargle in the bathroom to cover her actual feelings.
Just then, Kaji brings Misato home. Asuka tries to get him to stay, but he replies that he doesn't have a change of clothes for work with him. As Kaji leaves, Asuka smells Misato's perfume on him and realizes that they are back together. She's been shot down twice in one night.
The next day we see Rei in a tube which is connected to some mysterious biological looking machinery. Kaji is about to enter Terminal Dogma when he feels a gun in his back. It's Misato. She asks him if he's there working for Nerv, or is he at his other job, agent for the Japanese Department of Home Affairs. She tells him that if he continues his second job he will die. He replies that he's okay as long as he remains useful to Gendo. Kaji then tells Misato that Gendo and Ritsuko have been keeping secrets from her. He opens the door to Terminal Dogma and reveals a white, legless giant, hanging from a cross, impaled by a forked spear and wearing a mask that resembles moon craters. Misato momentarily mistakes it for an Eva, but then realizes that she has seen this thing before, 15 years ago in Antarctica. Kaji confirms that it is indeed Adam. However, Kaji is either lying or mistaken, because it is revealed in episode 24 that the white giant in terminal dogma is actually Lilith.
Notes
The wedding song in Episode 15, Tentoumushi no sanba ("The Ladybug's Samba") is sung by: Megumi Ogata, Yuko Miyumura, Miki Nagasawa, and (unsure). It is a bonus track on the Evangelion: Addition Album. The song is quite popular and is played at weddings.
Analysis
At the end of this episode, Kaji is revealed to be an agent of the Japanese government. So it's probable that we are supposed to put two and two together and conclude that the "Cat Lady" is his contact with the government, and not his contact with Seele (remember that Kaji is actually a triple agent). But is it possible to infer anything else about her beyond this?
When Kaji gives Ritsuko the trinket, she knows instantly where he's been. Of course it's possible that it has "Souvenir of Kyoto" stamped on it, but in that case why would he bother denying it? And how did she know he had been doing something dangerous? Something about it must have told her who he had seen. Did the Cat Lady give him the trinket? If so, how did Ritsuko know it?
We learn later in the series that Ritsuko's grandmother has been caring for her cat. Since Kaji's contact is associated with cats and seemingly gave him a trinket that Ritsuko recognized, it's very tempting to say that Kaji's contact is Ritsuko's grandmother, and that she is a government agent investigating Nerv, and thus her own granddaughter. However, as there is no more evidence presented to us about this woman, this must remain just a theory. It must, however, remain a possibility.
The second and third Ashinoko lakes are the craters left behind when Angels self-destructed. It is never explicitly stated which Angel created the second Ashinoko lake, but it would appear to have been formed by Israfel self-destructing, and dialogue in Episode 12 implies that Sahaquiel's self-destruction created the third lake.
Gendo says that he destroyed all of Yui's photographs and other memorabilia. He may have done so out of despair, to destroy any painful reminders of her previous existence. Episode 21 reveals that he was blamed for the accident and accused of murder, and so may have tried not to remember the horror of being accused of killing his own beloved wife. The most likely possibility is also the simplest: he did not want anyone to notice the connection between Yui and Rei.
Asuka mortified.That Asuka is mortified by Shinji's lack of reaction to the kiss is demonstrated by the shading over her eyes. This visual is quite common in anime, and is used elsewhere in Evangelion as well. Shinji mortified. Compare it, for instance to this shot of Shinji refusing to pilot in Episode 01. For a fuller treatment of how Asuka really felt in this scene, see the analysis of the material added to the Director's Cut of Episode 22.
In the Japanese dub, when Asuka turns and runs away after the kiss, we hear a barely audible gasp of anger. In ADV's English dub, they anticipate the "gargling" sounds by having her let out a comedic bleeehhhhh! style sound, missing the point that she is supposed to be almost speechless with anger and embarrassment.
Kaji identifies the Giant in Terminal Dogma as Adam, even though it is later revealed that she is Lilith. While it is possible that he deliberately lied to Misato, with the fact that he knows that Adam was an embryo just a few weeks earlier as evidence, it is unlikely. We learn in The End of Evangelion that this is one of the very facts that Kaji entrusts to her in Episode 20. It's also plain that he is trying to recruit her as an ally in this scene. Not knowing the true fate of the Adam embryo, Kaji may have believed at this time that Gendo had grown the giant from the embryo that he had delivered, and discovered the truth sometime before Episode 20.
Quotes
(Shinji and Rei are in an elevator) Shinji: "When we were cleaning today, you were wringing out the cloth, remember? The way you did it was like a mother." Rei: "A mother?" Shinji: "I thought it was like a mother. Maybe you'd be really good at being a housewife, Ayanami." Rei: "What are you saying?!"
(Shinji and Gendo visit Yui's grave) Gendo: "It's been three years since the last time we came here together." Shinji: "I ran away then, and haven't been back since. It just hasn't sunk in that mother is resting here. I don't even remember her face." Gendo: "Man survives by forgetting his memories, but there are some things a man should never forget. Yui taught me about the irreplaceable things. I come here to confirm that." Shinji: "You have no pictures of her?" Gendo: "There are none left. This grave is just a decoration too. There is no corpse." Shinji: "So the teacher was right; you threw them all away." Gendo: "I keep everything in my heart. That is enough for now. (The helicopter approaches.) It's time, I'm leaving now." Shinji: "Father! Um, I'm glad I got to talk to you today." Gendo: "I see."
(Asuka asks Shinji if he wants to kiss to pass the time) Asuka: "Hey, Shinji, do you want to kiss?" Shinji: "What?" Asuka: "A kiss. A kiss? You've never kissed, right? Then, let's do it." Shinji: "Why?" Asuka: "Because I'm bored." Shinji: "Because you're bored?! But..." Asuka: "You don't want to kiss a girl on the anniversary of your mom's death? Afraid she may be watching you from Heaven?" Shinji: "Not really." Asuka: "Or are you scared?" Shinji: "I'm not scared of a little kiss!" Asuka: "You brushed your teeth, didn't you?" Shinji nods "Then, here I go. (Asuka walks up to Shinji, he blushes as he closes his eyes in anticipation, opening them again to see Asuka starting at him.) Don't breathe, because it tickles." (The two kiss, Asuka pinching Shinji's nose as his arms stay at his sides. After they break away, Asuka lets out an annoyed noise as she rushes to the bathroom, gargling her mouth) Asuka: "Definitely not something to do to kill time!"
