FGC:Episode 16 Scene 01

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Commentary

001

thewayneiac: O.K. Since this is my favorite episode, I'd better at least put in an appearance to comment on it.

UrsusArctos: Welcome back, Wayne! In a side comment, this is another one of those overhead shots of helicopters that seems fairly common in NGE, just like the one at the beginning of Episode 08 and in the run-up to Operation Yashima. This helicopter, unlike Episode 08's "MiG-55D" is completely real: it's a CH-53E Super Stallion. The MH-53 Sea Dragon variant serves with the JMSDF to this day (hard to if it's the CH-53 or MH-53 here; anyway it doesn't matter for a fictional organization working in Japan in a fictional version of 2015).

002

FUYUTSUKI (OFF):“The second and third Ashino Lakes. I hope there won't be any more of those.”

UrsusArctos: If I had to wager a guess, these would be the craters left behind when Israfel and Sahaquiel blew up, and we see the craters left behind from their respective demises onscreen (complete with the edges of a giant white outline on the nearer one). Wait for Episode 23, professor, and you'll wish you had more of those instead of what you land up getting there!

003

FUYUTSUKI:“I received a complaint from Chairman Kiel about the delay. It came directly to me.”

004

FUYUTSUKI (OFF):“He was pretty upset. He even hinted at dismissing you.”

IKARI:“Adam is proceeding well, and the Eva Project has begun work on the dummy plugs. What do the old men of Seele have to complain about?”

005

FUYUTSUKI:“The all-important Human Instrumentality Project is behind schedule.”

006

IKARI:“All the projects are linked. There are no problems.”

FUYUTSUKI (OFF):“Including Rei? Well, never mind.”

007

FUYUTSUKI (OFF):“By the way, what should we do about that man?”

IKARI (OFF):“We'll leave him to his own devices. The same with the Marduk Institute.”

FUYUTSUKI (OFF):“I suppose we'll let him work to our purposes for a while longer.”

thewayneiac: Gee, who could they be talking about?

008

KAJI (OFF):“What started here, sixteen years ago?”

TEXT:“Kyoto”

009

TEXT:“Stop”

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thewayneiac: (Singing): He's a man who lives a life of danger...

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KAJI:“Yes, so it is.”

WOMAN (OFF):“It's me.”

UrsusArctos: Coming up in the next shot, "Cat Lady", Kaji's enigmatic informant. Nobody knows for sure who she is, but there's an old unconfirmed fan theory that she's actually Ritsuko's grandmother.

thewayneiac: I plan to elaborate on the above when we reach the "cat Souvenir scene"

018

WOMAN:“Shannon Bio, a chemical firm funded from overseas. It's been here for nine years, but it also hasn't changed in nine years. The Marduk Institute has 108 affiliated companies. 106 of them turned out to be dummy corporations.”

Dr. Nick: I wonder if this conspiracy detail bit about the dummy corporations is actually a sneaky reference to the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which used dummy companies to covertly buy land for their bioterror labs. Evangelion's originally planned plot famously had to be tweaked in order to make the apocalyptic cult business less eerily similar, but this very small thing feels like it could be an actual ripped-from-the-headlines addition.

UrsusArctos: Since 108 is a massively sacred number in Buddhism (and Hinduism and Jainism), this sneaky reference stops being so sneaky and starts to look a whole lot more like an overt reference to that purportedly Buddhist doomsday cult.

FGC:Episode 15 Cut TITLE

019

KAJI:“And this is the 107th?”

WOMAN (OFF):“This is the corporate registration.”

020

KAJI (OFF):“You want me to take a look at the board of directors, right?”

021

KAJI (OFF):“The names are all familiar.”

TEXT:“Gendo Ikari Kouzou Fuyutsuki Kiel Lorenz”

WOMAN (OFF):“So you already knew about it?”

022

KAJI:“The Marduk Institute is supposed to be an advisory body controlled by the Human Instrumentality Committee to select Eva pilots. What it really does is not clear.”

Dr. Nick: As this episode shows, the two main mysteries Kaji seems to be investigating are 1) what's at the very bottom of Nerv HQ, and 2), what is the deal with the pilot selection process. Knowing what we know about souls and synching, Nerv's vague explanation that the pilots somehow need to be kids born after the Second Impact is a complete and total lie, and Kaji has definitely smelled a rat there. Funnily enough, a lot of oldschool Evangelion fans struggled terribly with this realization back in the day - I guess they had grown fond of the "post-2I kids are special" cover story for fanfic reasons or something.

023

WOMAN (OFF):“Your duty is to investigate Nerv. Getting involved in the Marduk Institute is a bad idea.”

024

KAJI:“Well, I'm the type that has to see everything for myself.”

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KAJI (ANSWER MACHINE):“Hi, this is Kaji. I'm out right now.”

027

KAJI (ANSWER MACHINE):“Please leave your name and message.”

028

ASUKA:“Help me, Mr. Kaji! Don't touch me, you pervert!”

029

ASUKA (OFF):“Not.”

030

HIKARI:“What's going on?”

ASUKA:“Well, tomorrow's Sunday. So I called Mr. Kaji, thinking that I'd get him to take me out somewhere, but he's not in.”

031

ASUKA:“He's always out lately, no matter when I call.”

HIKARI:“That means you're free tomorrow, right?”

032

ASUKA:“Regrettably, yes.”

HIKARI:“Then I have a little favor to ask of you.”

033

HIKARI:“Well, it's like this...”

ASUKA:“What?! A date?!”

HIKARI:“A friend of my big sister Kodama is insisting that I introduce you to him. Please!”

UrsusArctos: Hikari's big sister Kodama is named after the Kodama service of the Tokaido Shinkansen, much like Hikari and the to-be-mentioned Nozomi. Kodama was seen in promotional artwork for the EVA TYPE 500 Shinkansen and the Shinkalion crossover, voiced, like Hikari, by Junko Iwao.

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TOJI (OFF):“Head!”

UrsusArctos: The yell of "head!" upon the head strike suggests that Toji is into Kendo. Don't know if he fits the stereotypical high-school kendoka, though.