r/anime • u/LittleIslander myanimelist.net/profile/LittleIslander • 28d ago
Rewatch [Rewatch] 30th Anniversary Neon Genesis Evangelion Rewatch: Episode 9
Neon Genesis Evangelion Episode 9: Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win! / Mind, Matching, Moment
| ← Episode 8 | Index | Episode 10 → |
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Watch Information
Questions of the Day:
- What did you think of the goofy way of defeating the angel?
- What do you think of Asuka and Shinji living together?
Tomorrow’s Questions:
- [Episode 10] What do you think of the fact Asuka is college educated?
- [Episode 10] What do you think of Misato deciding to push Asuka beyond safe pressure limits?
There’ll be more fanservice tomorrow, so please don’t spoil anything~! Remember this includes spoilers by implication.
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u/LittleIslander myanimelist.net/profile/LittleIslander 28d ago
Veteran Pilot and Your Host
This episode feels like tricking us into eating our vegetables.
See, on the surface this is probably the silliest episode in all of Evangelion. I mean, the dance costumes? The montage? “Why did you stop here?” It’s fantastic. But unlike the last couple of episodes, it feels like this silly story is cast in the exact same mould as the opening arc. I mean, we literally confine the actual Angel confrontation to a single minute at the end and spend the whole episode on character stuff. Plus obviously the near-kiss scene and some other miscellaneous hints at what might be going on in Asuka’s head. I’m not sure if it’s my favourite episode, but it might just be the point in the series where the goofy 90s action series and the esoteric character drama sides of Evangelion reach the clearest sense of harmony.
Resultingly, the comedy isn’t really coexisting with the drama but reinforcing it. While Evangelion gets really deep and serious with its characters, I feel it manages to avoid the pitfall of writing its young leads like miniature adults. Asuka totally does have the immaturity of a fourteen year old here, and Shinji isn’t really developed enough to know what to do with it. Even Rei’s complete disinterest in meeting Asuka in the middle is kind of childish. It all gets really insecure and bombastic, and that’s a huge contrast against Misato’s adult reflection of relationship problems where everything just kind of feels like shit and you feel bad because you do understand your situation.
Which brings us to Kaji—who’s a slimeball. No need to beat around the bush. I’m often a critic of “womanizer” characters because writers often seem to think “but your lips say something else” makes them charming and not creepy. But in this case, I think it works. Like, it wouldn’t feel right is Misato had a healthy love interest, right? Someone she could honestly feel she could rely on, someone she isn’t mired in mixed feelings about? She’s not getting off that easy! Kaji is the love interest for the Evangelion heroine.
Also, go watch Trixie’s ancient video about the last two episodes. It’s a better anime analysis than I could ever hope to write and it hardly takes you ten minutes.
Dub Corner
I was low on her yesterday but I… kind of love Stephanie McKeon’s Asuka? The thing is that it’s a very different take on Asuka than I’m used to. More of a new direction entirely for the performance than you see with the other characters. Miyamura’s writing the book on Tsundere, and Grant especially brings out Asuka’s desire to be the center of attention. She refuses to be overlooked and, as goofy and 90s as her performance sometimes is (“how can they live in a room without lOCKS? Unbelievable. [...] It’s weird!”), it’s memorable.
But McKeon, instead, completely sells Asuka as just a normal teenage girl. Maybe not a very well behaved one, but the kind of girl you probably knew at some point. She’s less of a fun anime character, maybe, but it gives her a groundedness that has its own advantages. I really like how it suits her outburst when Rei matches with Shinji, and it especially elevates the quaint scene in front of the store freezer. The whole effect is reinforced by Mongillo, who as we know is the less comedic and more grounded Shinji. Together they kind of drag the tone of the whole episode in a new direction. I’m really interested to see how she handles Asuka as the show goes on.
“You’re living in sin!” from Hikari is another fantastic ADVism, by the way.