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[ café reviews ]

Suzuhara Toji

eva_0000.gif

Shinseiki Evangelion
(Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Episode 17: The 4th Child / The Fourth Children


Copyright: 1996 TV Tokyo / GAINAX / NAS (Japan), 1997 AD Vision (North America)
Length: 30 minutes
Rating: Contains Violence and Mature Situations, Parental Guidance Suggested
Format: Subtitled/Dubbed (VHS)

Screenplay: Higuchi Shinji, Anno Hideaki Director: Ohara Minoru Producers: Kobayashi Noriko (TV Tokyo) Sugiyama Yutaka Character Design: Sadamoto Yoshiyuki English Version Executive Producer: John Ledford (A.D.V. Films) Translation by: Kimura Kuni


[ plot summary ]

vhs jacket

After the near-disasterous incident with the 12th angel, Misato is questioned about the possibility of the angel attempting direct contact with EVA-01 itself. Later, Ritsuko discovers that there may be some possibility of this having happened -- Shinji's latest synchronisation tests show that his ratios are down, and no other reasons can be found to explain this anomaly. But Gendo is not concerned with these new developments -- he's got a new addition to the EVA arsenal, an addition that might make the human pilots obsolete: the dummy plug.

Meanwhile, a horrific tragedy has occurred at NERV's 2nd division in Nevada, US: While installing an S2 engine in the recently completed EVA-04 unit, the entire 2nd division, and all land around the area for a radius of 89km has disappeared... Concerned over the safety of its own forces, the US division has turned over the testing of the remaining EVA-03 unit to NERV headquarters. Conveniently, the Marduk institute has just announced the discovery of the fourth child -- and Asuka is not very pleased when she discovers the child's identity.


[ capsule review ]

Misato is de-briefed after the latest incident with EVA-01

A high-altitude satellite captures NERV Division 2 in Nevada disappearance

At NERV's core...

Ritsuko has a personal hobby -- cats

Rei is inexplicably embarrassed by an act of kindness from Shinji

Kaji shares a personal secret with Shinji -- he's growing watermelons

Is it me, or does it appear that the quality of the animation has steadily been declining the past few episodes? There has been a preponderance of long, repeatable-frame and panned scenes recently, making me wonder if Anno had again used up his budget prematurely. Still, the writing seems to be maintaining the standards set by previous episodes, and things conitnue to move along, albeit a little slower now... It almost feels as if the writers had run out of materials, and they're trying to fill in the time to make their allocated 24 episode slot...

There's an obvious set-up occuring in this episode - Hikari is showing a lot more interest in Toji, and even finds an excuse to make lunches for him -- which Toji allows almost in resignation. By this time, we know that there can only be one reason why this is made the central plot line in this episode, and sure enough, Asuka's later discovery of this fact in Kaji's office confirms our worst suspicions... Surely the writers could have set this up better? And surely they could have spared us the long scenes of Fuyutsuki and Gendo on the train. Their entire conversation could have been presented in far less time, without covering all the other extraneous garbage. Unfortunately, it took nearly half of the first part of the episode...

Ayanami Rei's character continues to develop slowly, as we get more tidbits about what she might really be - something's not quite right here, and again, we see her inside a test tube for a yet to be explained reason... Not one of the better episodes.
- AN, 98.02.01



[ café rating ]

Original: Subbed: Dubbed:
Story: N/A 2 stars N/A
Direction: N/A 3 stars N/A
Acting: N/A 3 stars N/A
Animation: N/A 2 stars N/A
Music: N/A 3 stars N/A
Translation: N/A 4 stars N/A
Overall Rating: N/A 2 stars N/A


[ café trivia ]



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