In a strange twist of irony, Anno turns Asuka into a reflection of her mother... In fact, this seems to be a pet theme of his, where one's fate is pre-determined, and that your own personality make-up will be a mere reflection of you parents'.

Instead of become a fully realised three-dimensional character, Shinji never seems to grow. He's always facing the same inner conflict, and seems unable to find a resolution. In fact, the same could be said for all the characters in this series. None of the characters actually grow. While this may be perfectly suitable for an unemotional Rei, this certainly does not work for any of the other characters in the series -- well, I guess it's fine for Pen-Pen, but your personality would freeze solid too if you made your home in a sub-zero!

The appearance of Nagisa Kaoru marks the "Beginning of the End" of this series... (sorry. I just couldn't resist the obvious, but then, neither could any of the folks at Gainax!). Unfortunately, this particular episode is full of similar such clichés: how about survival of the fittest? All beings creating some form of field? (Use the force, Luke!) Did any of the set design look strangely familiar? Almost as if they were pulled from the final Gunbuster episode? I've heard of artists having their own personal style, but this is ridiculous! The final insult has to be yet another long, protracted scene -- this time, Kaoru's own demise at the hands of Shinji, amidst the blaring chorals of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, as the denoument moves to the finalé. Remember the elevator scene? Well, add another 10 seconds or so. Maybe everyone should have started out singing, "He's got the whole world in His hands..." I didn't think that anything could have been any worse than the 51 second scene between Asuka and Rei, but I was wrong...
- AN, 98.08.30