Overview

Continuing from the previous episode, the Angel Ramiel is drilling down into the GeoFront to attack Nerv HQ directly. After Shinji barely survived a direct confrontation with it, Misato devises a plan to have Eva-00 and Eva-01 defeat the Angel by sniping it from a distance using a positron rifle which requires the total electric output of Japan to power up.

Synopsis

Episode 06[1] begins where ep. 05 ends; Shinji is launched in Eva-01, only to be struck by a powerful beam weapon that melts the Eva's armor and makes the LCL boil around Shinji. Eva-01 is recovered and Shinji rescued and hospitalized. Ramiel, a huge octohedronic Angel then settles over Nerv headquarters and begins trying to breach the GeoFront's armor plating with a powerful drill. Only hours remain before Ramiel will enter the Geofront. By launching dummy attacks, Nerv determines that Ramiel will attack anything that comes within a certain range.

While Shinji is recovering, Misato comes up with a desperate plan: destroy Ramiel with a positron beam, fired from just outside of Ramiel's attack zone[2]. In order for this plan to work, the rifle must be able to stand up to a tremendous amount of energy; for it is determined that they will have to borrow power from all of Japan to pierce Ramiel's A.T. Field. Gendo approves this plan, and Misato requisitions a huge Positron rifle from the military, (with an assist from Rei in Eva-00). Rei's part in the operation is to shield Shinji, who will fire the shot in Eva-01. For this purpose, they build her a shield that will stand up to Ramiel's beam for 17 seconds.

When Shinji regains consciousness, Rei enters his hospital room to brief him on the plan[3]. When Shinji expresses doubts about piloting again, Rei coldly tells him she can do it herself.

Several of Shinji's classmates, including Toji and Kensuke gather to watch the Evas launch instead of going to the shelter. Even Pen Pen is watching from Misato's balcony.

While they are preparing for the mission Rei reassures Shinji that she will protect him. When he asks her why she pilots, Rei tells Shinji it's because of the bond she feels with others, and because she has nothing else. She then bids him goodbye.

Either Ramiel's attack zone was miscalculated or it detected the positron rifle charging to fire; Ramiel begins charging its own beam and fires at the same moment when Shinji fires his rifle. The two beams deflect each other and both miss. Ramiel builds up a second beam attack, which it can fire at Shinji before he can prepare his positron rifle for a second shot. Rei, in Eva-00 steps in front of Eva-01 and blocks Ramiel's beam with her shield, but both the shield and Eva-00 sustain severe thermal damage in the process. Shinji fires his second shot, which pierces the angel and kills it, stopping the drill. Shinji force ejects Eva-00's entry plug and, emulating his father[4], opens the hatch. Rei is unharmed and unfazed. Crying, Shinji tells her to never say "I have nothing else", or say goodbye at the beginning of a mission. When a confused Rei says "I don't know what to feel at times like this", Shinji replies, "why not smile". Remembering Gendo's smile, Rei smiles at Shinji[5].

Notes

This marks the first Angel battle in which more than one Evangelion is used at the same time.

The shot of the forest being set on fire from the blast resembles a shot from Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water episode "The Tower of Babel", an earlier anime series also directed by Anno.

episode "The Tower of Babel", an earlier anime series also directed by Anno. It is going to take a long time for Nerv to cleanup Ramiel's corpse. After many Angel fights, the Angel will conveniently explode and require no cleanup (as was the case with Sachiel). However, on top of the fact that Ramiel did not explode, it is a very massive Angel. Throughout the next three episodes, there will be shots showing Ramiel's corpse slowly being demolished and cleared away.

The first words on the screen notifying civilians of the power outage mention Hideaki Anno's hometown.

Analysis

When Rei speaks with Shinji right before they launch their Evas for the fight against Ramiel, she is standing silhouetted against the full Moon. This is just one of many instances where she and the moon are visually associated, preparing the audience for the revelation in The End of Evangelion that her soul is that of Lilith. (See Rei and the Moon for details.)

Quotes

(Shinji breaks open Eva-00's Entry Plug after it has been half-melted from Ramiel's energy beam)

Shinji: (breaking through the hatch of Eva-00's Entry Plug) "Ayanami! Are you all right?! Ayanami!"

(Rei opens her eyes and looks at Shinji)

Shinji: (starting to cry) "Don't ever say that, don't say that you have nothing else, just don't say that. And don't say goodbye when you leave on a mission, it's just too sad."

Rei: "Why are you crying?..." (Shinji is still shaking) "...I'm very sorry, but I don't know how to express myself in situations like this."

Shinji: (crying) "Why don't you just try smiling?" (Rei looks completely confused, then remembers Gendo Ikari smiling, and the corners of her mouth finally curve upwards...)

References

↑ Episode 06 suffers from poorer image quality and inferior animation to several of the episodes in the series, most evident in the character design. For instance, Ramiel's particle beam is seen coming out of a shot-through skyscraper rather than the Angel itself (Due to the Angel being part of the stationary, unanimated background). Also, Ramiel's drill is turning the wrong direction throughout the episode, and shouldn't have been able to pierce anything. ↑ Misato codenames the plan she creates to defeat the Angel Ramiel as "Operation Yashima". This is named after the Battle of Yashima which occurred in 1185 in medieval Japan, which also included a feat of conspicuously talented archery. ↑ When Rei briefs Shinji on Operation Yashima in the hospital, he doesn't notice that he is naked until she points it out. Although he is embarrassed, she seems to be as unaffected by his nudity as she was by her own in the previous episode. ↑ Shinji's rescue of Rei from her Entry Plug in the half-melted Eva-00 intentionally mirrors the shot from the previous episode of his father Gendo saving Rei in the same way. ↑



Rei smiles at Shinji after Operation Yashima Rei's smile at Shinji in Episode 06 Rei's smile at Shinji in Evangelion: Death Rei's smile at Shinji in Evangelion 1.0 Rei's smile which is redone, as well as showing the sequence of Shinji actually opening the Entry Plug (which is absent from this episode) are shown in Evangelion Death











