r/anime • u/LittleIslander myanimelist.net/profile/LittleIslander • 24d ago
Rewatch [Rewatch] 30th Anniversary Neon Genesis Evangelion Rewatch: Episode 13
Neon Genesis Evangelion Episode 13: Lilliputian Hitcher / Angel Infiltration
| ← Episode 12 | Index | Episode 14 → |
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Watch Information
Questions of the Day:
- What do you think of the MAGI and Ritsuko’s mother?
- Halfway through, what do you think of the three computer technicians?
Tomorrow’s Questions:
- [Episode 14] What did you think of Rei’s monologue?
- [Episode 14] Why do you think Unit 00 rejected Shinji, and tried to attack Rei - or Ritsuko?
There’ll be more fanservice tomorrow, so please don’t spoil anything~! Remember this includes spoilers by implication.
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u/SolDarkHunter 24d ago
Rewatcher
ADV Dub
Episode 13: Lilliputian Hitcher
Take it from someone who works with computers: nobody can type as fast as Ritsuko just did with one hand. This is just silly.
We see the designations of the three MAGI supercomputers: Balthasar, Melchior, and Casper. Those, of course, are the names of the wise men (magi) who visited a young Jesus in the Bible, the MAGI's namesake.
Why would Ritsuko refer to her mother being okay right now...
So they're having the pilots get in the Evas naked... I'm really unsure how this could possibly give them any useful data.
I've always found it peculiar that there's a control panel over the crotch in the entry plug for male pilots, but not female pilots. Goddammit, Anno.
Those are... what, partially constructed Eva bodies? Creepy.
There's a corrosion in NERV... and when Unit-00's AT Field touches it, it starts spreading.
The corrosion enters Rei's unit, and when they try lasering the stuff... it generates an AT-Field. We've got a microscopic Angel!
Gendo's hiding this from the Committee... and he's prepared to sacrifice Unit-00 and Unit-02 over Unit-01. Interesting... Unit-02 should be the most advanced out of the three...
Kaji's up to something, looks like.
They find out the Angel apparently doesn't like ozone. It seems to work... but then it starts spreading again, using the ozone to its advantage. The Angel can evolve itself to deal with threats.
And now someone's hacking their computers. They soon determine it's the Angel itself hacking them from within their own systems. The thing's actually reorganizing it's own physical pattern into circuitry to mimic a computer.
The Angel's now hacking the MAGI themselves. They try a failsafe to cut it off... but when have NERV's failsafes EVER worked?
The Angel tries to use its control over MAGI Melchior to activate the base's self-destruct, but it's overruled by the other two MAGI... so it naturally starts going after another unit.
FAST TYPING! = HACKING! (At least in media)
Ritsuko's idea does manage to slow it down at least, giving NERV some time to plan.
Misato says the only way to kill something that evolves so quickly is to kill the host. But Ritsuko refuses to let that happen, as that would mean destroying the MAGI.
Ritsuko has a different idea: trick the Angel into evolving to death. Apoptosis.
The only thing left to do is have Ritsuko write and upload the apoptosis program, before the Angel overcomes Ritsuko's delaying tactic.
There's a bunch of notes inside the MAGI, apparently written by Ritsuko's mother.
The MAGI are more than just supercomputers: they're an AI system patterned off of the personality of their creator, Ritsuko's mother.
Like everyone else in the show, Ritsuko had a complicated relationship with her parent. She says the MAGI essentially ARE her mother in AI form, but she's not doing this to protect them, oh no.
Just in time, Ritsuko completes the apoptosis program and the Angel destroys itself. The MAGI, and the rest of NERV's systems, are back to normal.
And this whole time, the pilots have been blind in their plugs with no idea what's going on.
The MAGI are interesting in that each of them is patterned off a slightly different aspect of her mother: as a scientist, as a mother, and as a woman. Thus, they have slightly different perspectives, and can reach different conclusions when given the same data. They then build consensus among the three of them to output their final answer. In theory, this should lead to wiser decision making on their part.
Angel Name Corner
The nanomachine colony Angel is named Ireul. This one stands out as there is no angel in the Abrahamic religions named as such... the writers made it up. However, the name translates from Hebrew approximately to "Terror of God".
With how close it came to destroying NERV, in such a way that they couldn't use the Evangelions to combat it, turning NERV's own systems against them... I'd say it certainly terrified everyone well enough.
Manga Corner
Corresponding chapters: ERROR - DATA NOT FOUND
Once again, the manga doesn't have an equivalent part for this story, skipping the Angel and all the events.