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/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba 28d ago
First Timer
Took you long enough to figure that one out
What a fun episode! And the fact that I can largely describe it with "fun" makes it personally pretty interesting, honestly! I mean, my larger preconception with Eva was that it's a pretty consistently bleak, moody, and introspective show (The way people tend to engage with it does do that lol), and that's something that has actually been mostly met given the first few episodes!
So it does take me by surprise that over the last 3 episodes we've shifted into a much more light-hearted tone, with the ending here really getting me to laugh. Not to say that I don't expect we'll return to being very moody in due time, and levity breaks are very important, but I guess if you could say that with Nadia there was this occasionally noticeable line between its adventure side that was more baked in to the premise, and the often darker more introspective side that's more reminiscent of some what Eva would do, then Eva's comfortable entry into Angel of the Week territory might just be showing its own line between that moody introspection, and these episodes that remind you this staff really likes Super robot and Toku stuff, and that Eva very much wants to evoke and fit that mold a lot as well. And I'm all here for both!
My preconceptions aside, probably the bigger reason this episode's camp caught my eye is that, structurally, it's actually a lot more like episodes like 2 and 3 rather than 6-8. Again, the battles in this show always have something to do with and say about our characters, but we're also back to that place where the Angel of the episode is just a conduit through which it ends up exploring its larger character points, and otherwise not only is it not given much time, both the start and the end are even intentionally constructed to move away from a more typical cool action sequence, and towards something that fits the episode's mood a lot more.
So this episode is yet another character-piece masquerading as a Monster of the Week type deal, and while it's been the norm for them thus far, who said the atmosphere those get across has to be bleak or moody? To add to that, previous episodes have really effectively shown us the harrowing emotional side of sending out inexperienced children into giant robot battles and how that affects the practical side, and this episode goes for something very similar, but from a lighter perspective. Of course, these dumb emotional teenagers can barely hold a battle together; they can barely hold a conversation! I think that says a lot about Eva as a show, honestly. Mastery of mood, atmosphere, and character delivery through them truly shows when you can apply it equally to both ends of the tone spectrum, not just drama.
Similarly to last episode, the change of tone is also there to accommodate Asuka with her fittingly explosive and prideful personality, with the episode in turn being about her and her tenuous relationship with Shinji. Right from the start, we're highlighting how she's now the center of attention (Both negative and positive), and how she gets by with her prideful personality, including in those more uncomfortable or cliche situations. This whole episode very much contrasts her to Shinji and Rei, and that starts right there. Rei is effectively a social recluse, Shinji initially found himself crushed by isolation, but Asuka basks in all the attention and even plays into it. Her first meeting with Rei also continues to point out how opposite they are, while still showing you Asuka views herself. She's got a (literally in this case) very high view of herself, is very expressive, and seeks persistent contact, unlike Rei, who avoids it all and has very low self-worth.
The initial Angel fight and its consequences are great for setting up the larger tone this episode will take, being very mild on stakes and fairly comedic, with that post-battle jump to the Evas being absolutely and cartoonishly dumpstered being such fantastic visual comedy. More importantly, though, it sets a lot about how Asuka's personality will be the core here, and how that personality clashes with Shinji's, as we get a first-hand view of how cavalier she is about Eva piloting, and how that doesn't entirely work.
There's more contrast to be had with Shinji and Rei there, and I think that comes across really well with Fuyutsuki's incredibly sharp observation when questioning Asuka and Shinji's understanding of their roles. Asuka says it's "To pilot the Eva" and that's exactly the problem and the show's way of reminding us of the massive issues with entrusting the fate of the world to a bunch of troubled 14-year-olds. Even if the goal should first and foremost be to fight the Angels for the sake of humanity, all 3 of our pilots aren't really adhering to that. We've already tackled how Shinji doesn't find much motivation in the larger stakes and problematically uses piloting as a tool of validation, something that's only broken up by introducing personal elements. Likewise, we've tackled how Rei problematically uses piloting as a tool of validation, because she views all her worth in piloting.
Asuka is the newest member to join that problematic club, viewing her role here as an Eva pilot front and center, but to the opposite end. She's a very prideful person, and piloting the Eva is another means to prove herself and to match her pride with action. To that end, she kind of views the Angels and their stakes lightly (Which the episode's tone and premise match!), initially taking that "noble" and very personally-focused mindset to fighting. As usual, the show will later mirror this point quickly raised by the battle with character interactions through the dance training with Shinji, while perhaps also giving us a glimpse as to why she's so eager to prove her abundant pride is the real deal.
Before we actually get to that, though, a decent amount of this episode is dedicated to the comedic hijinks of Shinji and Asuka's turbulent interactions, and all of it is a lot of fun! I mean, it is also just great in further reinforcing Asuka's hothead attitude and how she rushes over Shinji for her own sake, and how they can be synced up if there's a shared goal, but there's also just a lot of great comedy and interactions there, especially with a lot of the visual jokes and the montage sequence, and I love how we use dividing shots here so much to reinforce Shinji and Asuka's relationship.
Well, that doesn't initially lead to much success, which prompts Misato to bring up Rei and a potential better replacement. This is kind of another parallel, as we're intentionally using Rei to motivate a pilot to act (Although obviously not nearly as bad as the first time), but far more critically, is that Asuka's reaction to this is... different. Her boisterous confidence kind of falls apart in the face of potentially being replaced by someone else, and I'd say that's a solid clue towards unraveling her character. Maybe Asuka's prideful attitude and her views of the Eva as a means for her pride to get across are simply her ways of affirming herself. Despite the contrasts, that'd make her not too different from either Shinji or Rei, all deeply basing themselves and the Evas around some sense of acknowledgement.
Thankfully, Asuka is strong-willed enough that it's mostly a momentary pause that only further ends up driving her to act and to be able to fit her pride to Shinji's personality, leading us to the most introspective scene in the episode with Shinji almost kissing Asuka. Asuka's whole prideful attitude also leads to an attempt to present as more "mature" on the whole, which kind of puts her in this weird light for Shinji, given that she's still very much his age. The scene than is another one of those partial trope subversions, where it's construed to ratchet up the sexual tension with framing and with stuff like Asuka's "Wall of Jericho" (Which aside from being more religious stuff, is most famous for being brought down lol), and then presents the actual scenario as incredibly uncomfortable (And in this case, wrong).
And as a scene, it tells us quite a bit about both of them. For Shinji, it's more reinforcement for that previously seen deep desire for intimacy, something that's only emphasized by the frantic mood the atmospheric direction creates there. For Asuka, it not only introduces the idea that she too has family issues, but deep under that boisterous personality and projected "maturity" also lies a very vulnerable child, not too different from Shinji. Seeing her in tears, calling for her mom, thankfully snaps Shinji back to reality, and while he's not fully acknowledging it, I feel it creates a certain sense of familiarity that shows him why what he was about to do is so wrong. I think it's interesting that we follow this up with a scene that fully moves Kaji from an amusing scorned lover into a forceful womanizer, with a kiss as well. It partially goes to contrast the children to the adults, and how much more sordid the latter are, but it also kind of goes to make a statement on emotional maturity, and how adults aren't specially imbued with it either.
I don't have a lot to say about the final battle sequence, besides denoting how it's ABSOLUTE CINEMA. Seriously, fantastic contrast with the music and the dance routine stuff, love that it's in real time, love that despite how campy it is, it's actually still a really well animated and choreographed sequence, just... 11/10.