Episode 18

Episode Information
Episode #18
Title 1: 命の選択を Inochi no sentaku o A Life Choice Title 2: Ambivalence
Written By	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi
Directed By	Tensai Okamura
First Aired	1-31-1996
Video Release Date	10-2-1996 (Japan-Video/LD), 4-17-2001 (US-DVD)
Angel Appearances	Bardiel
Eva Sorties	Eva-00, Eva-01, Eva-02
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Episode 17"	"Episode 19"

Overview

Evangelion Unit-03 arrives in Japan from the United States. However, its activation experiment only continues the chain of misfortune begun with Eva-04 when it turns out to have been infected by the Thirteenth Angel. The other Evas are dispatched to ascertain the situation, and end up needing to battle the out-of-control Evangelion, even at the risk of killing its helpless pilot.

Synopsis

The episode begins with the transport aircraft carrying Eva-03 flying through a formation of cumulonimbus clouds. It is thought that Bardiel, concealed in this environment, infects the Eva at this time.

Misato leaves for Nerv's second test facility at Matsushiro. Toji is absent from school, a fact that confuses Shinji, although Kensuke speculates that Toji might be the expected new pilot. Both Toji and Misato are waiting due to a delay in transporting the eva to Japan. The delayed flight arrives, and the eva is readied for activation.

During the activation test, it is revealed that the eva is indeed in a combat-ready condition and could go straight into combat if necessary. The activation begins normally, but then becomes troubled as the Eva experiences a dangerous power surge. Attempts to cut the power and stop the activation fail. To Ritsuko's horror, a high energy reaction is detected inside the eva. The Angel-infested eva sets off a huge explosion and escapes from the facility.

Tokyo-3 hears of what happened at Matsushiro, and soon detects an entity with blood type orange. Initial confusion turns to horror as the infected Eva-03 comes into view. Attempts to eject the entry plug are inhibited by a sticky mucus that holds the plug into place. The three remaining evangelions sortie against the infected eva, with no choice but to fight it with the pilot held hostage.

Shinji has been kept out of the loop, and doesn't know that Toji is the pilot of Eva-03. Asuka is about to tell him when the mutated eva knocks her out. Rei hesitates to shoot the infected eva, which gives it the chance to get around her and attack. The parasitized eva leaks a grayish-purple fluid that begins to infect Eva-00 through the left arm, which is severed with Rei still synchronized (and feeling the agony of losing her own left arm). The Angel turns to attack Eva-01. Shinji sees the trapped entry plug and refuses to fight the eva while the pilot is still inside. The eva's mutated arms reach out and grab Eva-01 by the neck.

Gendo orders Shinji to fight, but Shinji would rather be strangled to death than kill Eva-03's pilot. Infuriated, Gendo orders the Dummy System to be activated. Eva-01's eyes glow red as it grabs the infected Eva-03 by the neck, and both eva and Angel try to strangle each other. The dummy system's power is revealed when it breaks Eva-03's neck. The stretchable arms unwind and go limp. Eva-01 smashes in the infected eva's skull and proceeds to dismember it in a particularly bloody manner. Shinji screams for his father to stop it, but Eva-01 continues until it crushes the entry plug with Toji still inside.

"Miss Misato, please don't go out like that. It's embarrassing." The tone and/or writing style of this article/section is inappropriate. It should be rewritten to conform to guidelines. Please discuss this issue on the talk page and/or begin editing the page.

Notes

• The English language title, "Ambivalence", refers to a state where two contradictory emotions or attitudes exist at the same time within an individual. It was originally a psychoanalytical term, first used by the Swiss psychoanalyst Paul Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939). The title may be referring to Shinji's conflict between his duty to defeat Eva-03 and his emotional reluctance to fight the Eva, due to the fact that it has a human pilot on board.

• English is used in the original Japanese version of this episode to represent personnel from the United States' First Branch: at the beginning of the episode for the interchange between the Eva transport and Air Traffic Control, and later during Eva-03's bilingual activation experiment.
  • The English dialogue was performed by Michael House, George A. Arriola, and Hiromi Arriola. Michael House was a Gainax employee at the time who did in-house translation work. George A. Arriola and Hiromi Arriola were friends of his and are apparently husband and wife.
  • The American personnel say "Evangelion Unit One" in place of the Japanese "Evangelion Shogouki".

"Fortunately, the MAGI system can be transplanted. We can return to work tomorrow." Some of the content in this article/section is better suited for inclusion in a different article (or possibly articles) and should be relocated. Please discuss this issue on the talk page.

• Evangelion Unit-03, built by Nerv's third branch at Massachusetts, is the Second Production Model, and presumably an improvement on Eva-02, the First Production Model. Ritsuko mentions that it is capable of going into battle as soon as it is activated.

Analysis

"Fortunately, the MAGI system can be transplanted. We can return to work tomorrow." Some of the content in this article/section is better suited for inclusion in a different article (or possibly articles) and should be relocated. Please discuss this issue on the talk page.

• Eva-03 is already in a battle-ready state, according to Ritsuko. How it differs from the previous three Evangelions is not known, but it is possible that superior technology(The previous Evas were built in the early 2000s, while Eva-03 is new) allows a higher synchronization rate between the pilot and the Evangelion.
  • How Eva-03's very superiority against the previous Evangelions might have affected Bardiel is unknown. Ironically, it might have allowed Bardiel to infect and mutate it more effectively than it would have with another Eva. On the other hand, improvements to the bindings might have prevented the Angel from unlocking the Evangelion's full power, resulting in its failure to strangle Eva-01.

• Eva-01 under the Dummy System breaks Eva-03's neck in seconds (When the Angel-infected Eva failed to strangle Eva-01 after a much longer period of time) and destroys the rest of its body seemingly without effort. It is not explicit if Eva-01 is physically more powerful, if Eva-03 is weakened by its mutations, or if the Dummy System bestows abnormal power, but Maya's line "Is this the power of the Dummy Plug?" suggests the latter.

• It's possible that the reason Bardiel traps the Entry Plug is because it is intelligent enough to realize that the the Eva might not be able to move without a plug in place.
  • Bardiel may have needed to infect the Entry Plug (and possibly make contact with Toji) as part of the infection process, and the plug appears to contain part of the Angel's biomass when seen in its wrecked state. This makes it probable that the plug had to be crushed to kill the Angel.

Quotes

• Kensuke: "Now, time to eat! Hey, where's Toji?"
  Shinji: "He's gone."
  Kensuke: "Without even eating lunch? Him? That's impossible."
  Shinji: "He's been acting odd lately, hasn't he?"
• Toji: "Oh, Ayanami, if you're lookin' for Shinji, he ain't here. You know 'bout me, don't you? Seems Sohryu knows too. So Shinji's the only one who doesn't know. You don't usually care 'bout people."
  Rei: "Really? I'm not sure I understand."
  Toji: "The one you care about's Shinji."
  Rei: "Do I? You may be right."
  Toji: "Yeah, you do."
• Woman (Television): "Now that I consider it, a man who sucks at kissing never works out!"
  Kaji: "What? Are you two fighting again? You guys are hopeless."
  Man (Television): "My kissing sucks?"
  Woman (Television): "Not just your kissing!"
  Kaji: "Are you two always like this when Katsuragi's gone?"
  Man (Television): "Not just my kissing?!"
• Kaji: "You're wrong there. You only believe that you've learned. People can't understand others completely. Who knows if you can even understand yourself? Understanding each other one hundred percent is impossible. Of course, that's why we spend so much time trying to understand ourselves and others. That's what makes life so interesting."
  Shinji: "Is that also true for you and Miss Misato?"
  Kaji: "The word we use for 'she' literally means 'the woman far away'. To us, women will always be on the distant shore. Basically, there's a river dividing men and women, deeper and wider than the ocean."
  Shinji: "I don't understand adults."
• Hyuga: "We still have respiratory and cardiac response, but he's probably..."
  Gendo: "Evangelion Unit 03 will be abandoned at this time. It will be designated as the Thirteenth Angel."
  Hyuga: "But, Sir!"
  Gendo: "Deploy the battle line at Mt. Nobe as planned. Destroy the target."
• Shinji: "But... but I can't! I've got to save them! I can't just kill somebody!"
  Gendo: "You'll die."
  Shinji: "I don't care! It's better than killing someone!"
  Gendo: "Never mind! Cut all synchronization between the pilot and Unit 01."
  Maya: "Cut it?"
  Gendo: "Correct. Switch the control circuit to the dummy plug."
  Maya: "But the dummy system still has a lot of problems, and without Dr. Akagi's approval..."
  Gendo: "It'll be of more use than the pilot. Do it!"
  Maya: "Yes, Sir."
• Misato (Radio- Off): "Shinji..."
  Shinji: "Miss Misato, so you're all right?"
  Misato (Radio- Off)): "I...I'm sorry. I had something important to tell you, but..."
  Shinji (starting to cry): "Miss Misato, I...I killed...It was my father...I begged him to stop, but..."
  Misato (Radio- Off): "Shinji, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
  Maya (Radio - Off): "Report from the entry plug recovery team. The pilot's life signs are confirmed."
  Shinji: "He's alive?!"
  Misato (Radio- Off): "Unit 03's pilot is... The Fourth Children is..."
  Shinji: "Toji?"
  Misato (Radio- Off) "Shinji? Shinji? Shinji?! Shinji?! Shinji?!"
  (Shinji screams.)

References

Episodes & Films
Television Series	Episode 01 | Episode 02 | Episode 03 | Episode 04 | Episode 05 | Episode 06 Episode 07 | Episode 08 | Episode 09 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 Episode 14 | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Episode 17 | Episode 18 | Episode 19 | Episode 20 Episode 21 | Episode 22 | Episode 23 | Episode 24 | Episode 25 | Episode 26
Movies	Death | Rebirth The End of Evangelion: Episode 25' | Episode 26'
Rebuild of Evangelion	Evangelion 1.0 | Evangelion 2.0 | Evangelion 3.0 | Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0