Early Access - Neon Genesis Evangelion | Episode 23 "Rei III"
Added 2023-09-29 20:47:38 +0000 UTC
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Ep 23: Tears / Rei iii As always, Eva knocks it out of the park with making these small scenes so memorable. • In the Horaki residence, the scene that is a functional check-up on Asuka chooses to interestingly focus more on Hikari. We're in her house, we only hear her thoughts, and we only see her face. Her blank expression as they lie on the bed is seared into my memory. From an outside perspective, her lack of emotion could almost appear sociopathic and indifferent because of how untraditional it is for this type of scene and for how minor of a character she is, but it's so real and brutally realistic. She is simply spent. We know she cooks for and takes care of her siblings, we know she's affected by Suzuhara's hospitalization, and we know she's been babysitting Asuka this whole time. To me she appears helpless and exhausted. She knows in that moment that she can't say anything to help her, she's probably tried everything. Sympathy and affection would fail -- Asuka sees those things as pity. So she tries to just reassure her to not hate herself, to cut off that feedback loop of judgement, feel the emotions and one day move on. Like Asuka, there's not much else she can do. • I also noticed both Misato and Ritsuko each have two small scenes at their desks, one preceding Rei's "death" and one following it -- Ritsuko at work, Misato at home. Misato's scenes tells a straightforward story of how Kaji's death has affected her, while Ritsuko's can be read into a lot more. And Rei back in her "room" when she grips the glasses then cries could be considered similar. • In three of the above scenes, one for each character, there's a very similar sideways glance they all give to an object that symbolizes their identity. Ritsuko gazes at the little cat totems, Misato at her gun and badge, and Rei at Gendo's glasses. To read further into this, each item can be considered to be tw (this is a stretch, but in Rei's case the glasses have two lenses). And furthermore, Ritsuko and Misato's symbols convey a sense of inversion, with the former's relating to a personal connection and the latter's relating to a work connection -- the opposite of what you would expect from these two women's personalities. Small observations • The water drop motif returns here. My recollection on this has been hazy, as I forgot it first appeared as a literal water drop from Asuka's bath in Episode 16 (was a pog moment for me), not in a metaphorical way. Then in Episode 20 and now in Rei's emotional culmination. • "The phone that won't ring" callback to Episode 3, brilliant • "The me inside the Eva" You didn't mention it so I don't know if you picked up on it, but this is what Rei says in Episode 14 • The Hikari and Asuka nighttime talk reminds me of Kaji and Shinji • The POV shot from Shinji of the glowing white Rei as she reaches out for him / Eva 01 has the same angle and animation as in Episode 20, "Won't you become one with me?" • The Arael/Rei laughs and moans were always so disturbing to me, but I love her little scream as she's yanked away from Unit-01 • You mentioned this, but I love that the first we see of Rei after the attack is all bandaged up like in the first few episodes of the series. Almost sending the message that being chronically wounded is an inevitable state of being for the conception of Rei. Having to be constantly repaired, yet in this case the bandages are for show I agree it's a little dubious as to what's going on with the Ritsuko-Misato-Shinji situation outside of terminal dogma. I think, judging on the expression of the three (Ritsuko's knowing look, Shinji's look of shock, and Misato's lack of shock), that Shinji and Misato met up off screen, Misato told Shinji to keep talking to Ritsuko while she hid, but they didn't expect Ritsuko to put 2 and 2 together that they were in cahoots, so Shinji is shocked that she's acknowledging him and Misato is sort of like "Fine, you figured us out". Although I think Misato tailing Shinji could work to explain Shinji's shock and her expression, though as you said the scene does frame Shinji's presence as almost a reveal. That weird beige-colored growth protruding from Unit-00 as Arael invades it is referred to in fanon as the "angel tower". Like you noted, you can see aspects of other angels as part of it. It was added in the Director's cut, notably. Could just be for show, to give more ideas for the angel's unique abilities, or for something deeper. Another thing about the On-Air vs Director's Cut version, that really long shot of the blank Reis while Ritsuko gives exposition about the dummy system, Evas and Reis (dubbed by fans as "The Reiquarium") has exclusive images/artwork superimposed over it in the Director's cut, which were then taken out for the final Director's cut (the renewed version). Maybe you can look at them once you finish Eva, because they're quite interesting and have been thoroughly investigated by the Eva fandom over the years. I'm still perplexed by how you assumed "Rei I" and "Rei II" had a literal meaning back in Episodes 5-6, rather than being read as a two-parter story that explores her character. But it ended up working well for your prediction. You know the feeling when you show a friend a series or scene you really like, and your eagerness turns to shame as it doesn't live up to expectations? With online reactions, sometimes there a moments I KNOW I'm not proud of the show for, so for the full reaction for this ep I admit I had to mute and look away a lot of the Rei angel scenes. Those are probably the only scenes in the show I genuinely feel taken out of it, I remember thinking "Is the Angel inflating her breasts?", like it genuinely looks like the animators got horny. For the edited reaction I soldiered through and was surprsied to not see a reaction on how grossly sexualized that scene was. Japan is weird when it comes to minors and sexuality, so scenes that border on that always rub me the wrong way (not as wrong as the way Rei was rubbed by the angel) because while I'd like to give a show I respect the benefit of the doubt, I also have to take cultural context into consideration. And this is one of the episodes where it genuinely feels like a female character is put into a sexual context for purely gratifying reasons. A tentacle literally penetrates Rei while she convulses and blushes. We also see a dozen naked Reis' nipples later. I don't know, I'm surprised that none of this felt out of place for you but the neutral wide shot of Asuka bathing in the last episode did. This mini-thesis was originally in the Episode 22 mini-review BUT that one was way too long and this episode has to do with Rei so I'll put it here. Last episode, there's that elevator scene and I disagreed with your take that Asuka's assertion that Rei being a doll is invalid, and wanted to explore why. Now overall, I agree with you that Rei has her own agency and personhood, but I think Asuka is 100% in the right to come to that conclusion from Rei saying "Yes" to "Would you die for the commander if he asked you to?". The nature of any agency to be derived from that statement depends on perspective, to be fair. You seem to be often charmed by Rei as a character; I'm more drawn to Asuka. I'm sceptical of the idea that Rei saying she would die if Gendo told her to doesn't make her a doll, just because it's something she "chooses" to do. What are the bounds of that agency? To make another AOT reference, in Season 2 when we have Ymir and Historia/Christa arguing over what it's like to be your "true" self. Historia says something that I'm connecting to your statement, asserting that Sasha hiding her true way of speaking to try and fit in is technically being her true self because it's what she as Sasha wants. Sasha's mini-arc in that episode ends with her talking as her true self, with the narrative disagreeing with Historia and agreeing more with the tough love of Ymir. Additionally, we get an entire arc of Historia shedding her fake persona later on, which is positively coded and retroactively defeats Christa's argument. So I think Historia was coping with her way of living by telling Sasha it's okay to be the way she is. This idea that you can never not be yourself because if you pretend to be someone else you are still being yourself, the self that pretends to be another self, is almost tautological in my opinion. So translating this into Eva, I don't think Rei's retort is valid. Even if she thinks she is acting as an autonomous individual, it's all to live for another person. I'm glad about your excitement for EoE, and this isn't just any anime movie continuation, it's really the full Evangelion experience and its iconic status rivals the show. I'm grateful it'll have a lot of respect from you as an experience and something to take seriously. Speaking of the movie, for the ROT-13 SPOILER gang: Small observations: • Gur fubg bs Evgfhxb va gur zrrgvat ebbz, tybjvat, ybbxf gur fnzr va natyr nf va RbR jura fur pbasebagf Traqb, be ernpgf gb ure zbgure orgenlvat/erwrpgvat ure. Vg'f snzvyvne ng yrnfg • "Gur raq bs gur yvar sbe Nfhxn" ahu-hu. Znlor sbe gur frevrf, ohg... Vg vf vagrerfgvat ubj gur arkg rcvfbqr vf yvxr gur svany abezny/culfvpny rcvfbqr. Nsgre gung jr unir vafgehzragnyvgl, naq nsgre gung jr unir zbivr. • "Vg nyy pbzrf ghzoyvat qbja" Nj uryy ab Big observation: V'ir abgvprq na vagrerfgvat geraq jvgu Vz'f nanylfvf bs znal bs gur rzbgvbany hafcbbyvat bs Rin'f fprarf, ubj ur bsgra nggevohgrf na vaureragyl pngunegvp ryrzrag gb eryrnfr bs rzbgvbaf: Sbe Fuvawv va Rcvfbqr 16 (gubhtu ur vfa'g genhzngvmrq sebz gung rkcrevrapr, nf V'q zvfgnxrayl erzrzorerq), Nfhxn va Rcvfbqr 22 naq jvgu Uvxnev, naq Evgfhxb ng gur raq bs guvf rcvfbqr. Ur unf n crefvfgragyl zber bcgvzvfgvp gnxr pbzcnerq gb Rin'f plavpny crefcrpgvir ba genhzn naq cnva -- sbe rknzcyr, gur Uvxnev fprar vf n irel cnvashyyl urycyrff zbzrag, jurer gurer vf abguvat gung pna or fnvq gb znxr Nfhxn srry orggre. Fur'f pehfurq ol ure rkcrevrapr jvgu Nenry (gubhtu jub xabjf, znlor vs Fuvawv fnirq ure vafgrnq bs Erv fur jbhyq or nssrpgrq pbzcyrgryl qvssreragyl), naq Evgfhxb'f oernxqbja / bhgohefg xrrcf ure va n qrcerffrq fgngr jurer nyy fur unf vf eriratr hagvy ure qrngu. Abar bs gurfr jbzra srry nal orggre ol ireonyvmvat gurve cnva. Vz'f "Vg'f tbbq gung guvf vf nyy orvat eryrnfrq" srryf yvxr n irel jrfgrea nccebnpu gb zragny urnygu, naq V jbaqre vs vg vf vaqrrq vebavp va uvaqfvtug be vs Rinatryvba qbrf sbyybj guvf genqvgvbany zvaqfrg, whfg jvgu vg gnxvat n juvyr gb trg gurer. V'ir nyjnlf sryg gung Rin'f cuvybfbcul jvgu cflpubybtvpny fhssrevat vf cerggl crffvzvfgvp, nf gur punenpgref ner pbafgnagyl uhegvat rnpu bgure obgu vagragvbanyyl naq havagragvbanyyl: vg'f gur irel qrsvavgvba bs bar fgrc sbejneq, gjb fgrcf onpx. Rira RBR, Nfhxn raqf jvgu pnyyvat Fuvawv qvfthfgvat naq Fuvawv raqf jvgu fgenatyvat ure gura pelvat. Ohg gurzngvpnyyl, vg vf fbzrjung hcyvsgvat? Vs jr fgvpx gb ATR ng yrnfg, vg Vafgehzragnyvgl frrzf gb nofbyhgryl guvax gung orvat noyr gb 100% funer lbhe genhzn naq unir vg or inyvqngrq naq npprcgrq vf gur bayl guvat gung nyybjf lbh gb zbir ba orlbaq vg.
tom
2023-10-02 08:00:02 +0000 UTCShe says "So, she died" after putting the phone down. There'd be no reason to futz with the pronouns if it was about Kaji, she could just say "So, he died" and have it be a line spoken in her head instead of out loud. Her connecting it to the memento of Kaji is to do with her relationship with her work/life balance e.g. what her allegiance with Nerv/Gendo is taking away from her life, IMO.
ambcadx
2023-09-30 00:45:13 +0000 UTCSomething that FMA touches on and is here especially in regards to Rei is, what is a human and what makes a human well human, and well, Rei is a clone and so is "replaceable" but like to me is not like that, sure she's a clone, but she was also her own person, she was Rei Ayanami, she was the Rei that wanted to talk to Asuka last episode, the Rei that blushed when Shinji cleaned her house, the growth we saw from the first episodes where she didn't acknowledge anything, to her sacrificing herself to save Shinji/the world was her own, she wasn't just a doll, in fact she went against what she was told to do, it was clear through the conversation with the Angel that she's lonely, and sure we have Rei III but to me Rei II was her own person even if the soul is the same and she subconsciously remembers things and losing Rei II hurts. She's a clone of Yui but she isn't Yui, just as she isn't just some hallow doll, I argue even at the start she was more than just a doll, but at least by this episode she was more human than a doll. I have thoughts about her relationship with Gendo and how Gendo feels about her but I will leave that for EoE I think, though i think I can say this much, Gendo doesn't care about her as an individual imo. Misato I think, doesn't really know how to comfort people, as you kinda said she falls into certain things because is what she knows Poor Asuka really has reached the bottom, she can't even pilot her Eva, and Hikari was really trying but she is still a girl that doesn't know how to help her friend as much as she would like to help Ritskuo, Gendo really knew how to manipulate the Akagis hmm. She had been trying so hard to ignore the fact that he was just using her. It's so sad to see her finally breaking down, she even lowkey asks Misato to kill her, she too has hit rock bottom and she can't deny things anymore, she did everything for Gendo wanting to believe he cared but no.. As I understand it, she calls Shinji because she wants to show Shinji all, he probably told Misato who took the opportunity, and Ritskou was like sure why not, who cares by now. Episode 23 - Rei#23 (90-seconds)
Olga
2023-09-30 00:32:49 +0000 UTCWhen you're done with episode 24 DC, this fansite has a decent writeup of the added and re-animated scenes in the DC episodes so you can see the differences between the cuts: https://wiki.evageeks.org/Guides:Episode_21_OA_vs._DC Replace the episode number in the URL with 22 etc. for the other eps. Evangelion's early western releases and over-eager 90s/00s American fandom brought with it a bunch of misconceptions and misinfo that have spread so far as to become 'common-knowledge' fact when it's actually not. One of the other prominent collaborators on the series, Masayuki, is actually credited with the "DC" episodes, not the series' director Anno, and this makes sense given that these versions were only ever called "Directors' Cuts" in the west - in Japan they were called the "New Production Cuts" or I think, IIRC, later the "Home Video Versions" as they first came out with the home video release of the series, after it was done airing. There's a bit more I can say about it when you're done with the series.
ambcadx
2023-09-29 23:51:08 +0000 UTCI wonder if the person referred to as "grandmother" is acutally that old lady Kaji talked briefly to some episodes ago who gave him information about...something. I can't actually remember what. Anyway, the dead cat might be Kaji. So essentially that old lady is informing Ritsuko about Kajis death, prompting her to look at the cat figurines Kaji gifted her. That's my guess, anyway.
Elisabeth Becker
2023-09-29 23:09:07 +0000 UTCYby V qba'g guvax gung punatrf gur fbsg thvqryvarf sbe ernpgvba rqvgf nyfb julll jr tbggn fcbvy guvatf nobhg vgf fgehpgher, pzba zna
tom
2023-09-29 22:56:01 +0000 UTCGurfr ubheybat rin ivqrbf unir tbg gb or fbzr bs lbhe orfg pbagrag lrg. Fvapr lbh'er jbeevrq nobhg rqvgvat Raq bs Rinatryvba, creuncf lbh fubhyq xabj gung vg bssvpvnyyl pbafvfgf bs gjb cnegf bs ebhtuyl rdhny yratgu gung lbh pbhyq ernpg gb frcnengryl (naq V zrna gurer ner rira raq perqvgf sbe rnpu cneg). Whfg guebjvat vg bhg gurer va pnfr lbh'er vagrerfgrq; vg jbhyq cebonoyl uryc n ybg jvgu gur rqvg pbafvqrevat gurer jvyy or yrff zngrevny gb jbex guebhtu ng bapr naq lbhe qvfphffvba pbhyq nyfb or ragveryl sbphfrq ba whfg bar npg Edit: rot13
haggy
2023-09-29 22:16:15 +0000 UTC
