FGC:Episode 03 Scene 09

The Phone That Isn't Dialed

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Screenshots	Cut #	Description/Dialogue	Commentary
	327	Downpouring rain. A forgotten ball on the ground. SE <<Sound of rain>>	Hexon.Arq: You're the Charlie Browniest ball of all." Perhaps this is some sort of an allusion to the next episode? The ball is free from the clutches of a child or the entrapment of the equipment locker, but alas, it's no better on the outside.
	328	Rei gazes alone at the rainy landscape	Magami No ER: Hard to tell, but Rei actually looks rather sad, almost like she's looking at this "forgotten" ball. I like how the script puts it like that. Poor ball Reichu: That reminds me of something that Gilgamesh (at EMF) wrote about this cut: 'I see the tennis ball lying on the blacktop all by itself in the rain at the end of episode three and I say to myself, "This seems to be a symbol for how the children are torn away from their childhood before it even begins. This is the Japanese education system. Of course, it all ties into how the Eva represents those duties which we do not wish to do but we must fulfill, and those duties are forced on these children. In this way Eva is social commentary." Maybe that's going too far, you may say, but I say, "Why would they draw the tennis ball in there, all by itself, if it had no meaning? They could just as easily have left it out of the picture.' Granted, that is an awful lot to read into one measly shot. But overanalyzing this show is what being a fan is all about, right?
	329	Monitor of a book computer. A 3D model of the entry plug. It's a little different from the genuine article because he's working from vague memory. SE <<Sound of typing>>	OMF: And you promise not to disclose in any way the things you have seen here today, Mr. Aida?" "Why, of course not, sir! Perish the thought!" Reichu: I wondered for the longest time what the hell that was. "Shamshel seen through beer goggles" was actually the first thing that came to mind, but this really is the interior of the entry plug. It just looks strange because we're not used to seeing it isolated like this. Well, plus Kensuke's doing it from memory — I'm actually surprised it's as accurate as it is Mr. Tines: This is very much early 1990's CAD/CAM (as opposed to today's real-time smooth shading of mechanical models of much higher complexity).
	330	Toji (in front) spaces out, resting his head on his arms. Kensuke uses his PC. Toji murmurs in a detached manner. Toji:“It's been three days.” Kensuke speaks without looking up from his work. Kensuke:“Since we were chewed out?” Toji:“No, since he stopped comin' to school” Kensuke (playing dumb):“He?”	OMF: If Toji felt bad before the entry plug incident, he's in the pits of penitency now.
	331	Toji gets up and speaks. Toji:“The new kid, the new kid.”
	332	Kensuke purposely puts up a pretense of indifference. Toji (OFF):“I wonder what he's been doin' since then?” SE <<The typing stops>> He lifts his face with an upwards glance, maintaining his pretense. Kensuke:“Are you worried?”
	333	Toji looks away, looking irritated. Toji:“Not exactly worried…” Kensuke speaks as plainly as ever. Kensuke:“Toji, for someone who's so tactless, you're pretty stubborn.” At the end of the cut, Toji glances at him.	Incisivis: Toji's trying to be "manly" here, it looks like; putting up a pose of unconcern. Reichu: Look at that nervous sidewards glance! Toji can be so adorable at times. thewayneiac: Yes, and did we mention that he's played by Tomokazu Seki? Yes, I think we did. Reichu: Mmmm… Tomokazu Seki… Wait, what does THAT have to do with anything? ::P Mr. Tines: By this stage, it's clear that Toji isn't going to be the bully who makes Shinji's out-of-Eva life hell as well (after all, he's perfectly capable of doing that on his own).
	334	Kensuke starts using his computer again. Kensuke:“If you had apologized to him back then, you wouldn't have had to agonize over it for three days.” He unexpectedly produces a piece of paper from behind the computer. Lifting his face, his pretense is halfhearted to the end. Kensuke:“Here, this is the new kid's phone number.” What a nice guy…	Gundampilotspaz: I wonder if Kensuke has everyone's phone numbers written on pieces of paper so he can pull them out when needed? Reichu: It was my impression that he was looking it up on his comp and scribbling it down as he was talking to Toji. Hexon.Arq: He probably just hacked Shinji's out of the system so that he could stalk him.
	335	The sheet of paper in front of Toji. He's a little surprised. Kensuke (OFF):“If you're so worried, why don't you call him?”
	336	A personnel entranceway that is kept open. It is light outside and dark inside. An umbrella dries off.
	337	A public phone on the side of some stairs. Toji stands in front of it.	Mr. Tines: Cue antique telephony infrastructure. Post 2I, a wireless rather than fixed line would have been a more obvious choice, just as in developing nations today. Brendan Brown: I'm sure its obvious that it's an artistic choice. However it might be useful to expound upon why this is so. I don't know how many here have actually been to Japan, but one of the first things you notice is the nearly-netlike criss-crossing of telephone and electrical wires above urban streets. Anno's mise en scène and composition often dwells on the linear and technical structures that tend to define modern Japan. The train tracks in "Shiki-Jitsu", for instance. Additionally, note the traffic light metaphor in several episodes of "His and Her Circumstances". In fact, during one episode of this same series, there is a monologue about isolation and loneliness which includes a quick cut to a telephone pole with all its outgoing wires severed. Observe again in episode #01 of "Evangelion" (C-028); the whipping wires respond to the geographic tremula that announces Sachiel's arrival to Shinji. Gundampilotspaz made keen and insightful remarks during the episode #01 (C-023) commentary on telephone poles being used as a sign of civilisation — something that degrades over the course of the series. Indeed I would guess that Anno's general strategy is the use of these slightly antiquated but everpresent symbols of Japan's industrialisation to portray character state. We should come up with a snappy title for this sensibility. 'Wire-punk'? 'Cable-punk'?
	338	The receiver held between his head and shoulder, he holds the paper in his left hand and pushes with the right (four times). His expression changes slightly.
	339	His hand stops.
	340	From outside, we see Toji beyond the window. After a little while, he hangs up the phone, perplexed, and walks away.	thewayneiac: Buck-buck-buck, Chicken! Chicken!! Incisivis: The breakdown of interpersonal communication. Sometimes I wonder if Toji befriended Shinji out of guilt than anything else. OMF: I sometimes think it might have been the other way around! Gundampilotspaz: The question here has always been, "did he really call Shinji?" From what we know about Toji's stuborn nature we can assume he didn't, and if he did, it would kind of go against the title of the episode. Hexon.Arq: I've actually never given this scene any thought (or if I did, I forgot to arrive at a conclusion). I think I must've gone with the likely common assumption that nobody was answering. After all, why awkwardly do in person (next episode) what you could've done more easily over the phone? Reichu: I think, based on the fact that Toji only punched in the first four numbers, it's safe to assume he didn't call. There's also this bit in the Newtype Film Book: Toji is told Shinji's telephone number by Kensuke. But partway through pushing the buttons, he hung up. Did he not make the call because of his "stubborn personality" (according to Kensuke), or…? HeWhoPostsStuff: I find it interesting that the script says he walks away "perplexed", as if he's wondering, "You know, WHY didn't I call him? I have no real reason not to." When you stop and think about almost any such thing people do, you'll likely come to the same conclusion… and end up doing the irrational thing anyway. Humanity really is frustrating, isn't it? Reichu: Hells yeah! I do stuff like this all the bloody time. I exist to frustrate myself. Magami No ER: Humans have such strange emotions — not that I'm any exception, especially during these wonderful teenage years.
	Tsuzuku	To Be Continued…

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