Hello again. I am sorry I
have not been able to write as many recaps as I'd like to
this year, but my family is
in the process of moving and most of my time has been spent
packing. I've been wanting
to do recaps of mecha anime for some time, and now I've finally
gotten a chance to.
Mecha anime. One of the
genres that is deeply ingrained in the medium. Even in a market that
is now full of simpler slice-of-life series, the mecha genre seems to
be the genre
that is one of the most
accessible and recognizable to western anime fans. The idea of giant
robots being part of the
medium of anime has been around as early as the 1950s series
Gigantor, if not earlier
than that. Even to people that have never watched an anime in their
life, someone in the room
knows what a Gundam is because of how recognizable it is as part
of the mecha series (there
is even a real Gundam statue that is 30 feet tall to commemorate
the 30th
anniversary of the franchise).
Even so, it wasn't always
so ubiquitous. In fact, the original Mobile Suit Gundam series
was canceled after airing
only 39 of its 52 intended episodes due to poor ratings; and a fan
campaign was able to get
four more episodes made to wrap up the story. It wasn't until the
series did well in reruns
that it became one of the anime series that is most deeply rooted
in both Japanese and
Western anime fandom. In a sense, it became the Japanese equivalent
of Star Trek, which was
canceled due to poor ratings but became a cultural phenomenon years
later and one of the most
well-regarded franchises ever.
As more Gundam TV series
and movies were made, it also became a merchandise goldmine; with
every thing from action figures to model kits becoming big sellers (I
have
a binder from Gundam Wing).
By that proxy, most subsequent mecha series while also
merchandised aggressively.
So, I've definitely wanted
to do recaps of mecha anime for some time, and now that time
is upon me. I've already
done a recap of my favorite anime, Gurren Lagann; but I want to do
more mecha series. Which
one have I chosen? Why, none other than the famed Studio Gainax
deconstruction of the
genre, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
After the failure of
Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water, Studio Gainax was in danger of
closing. On top of that,
one of their founding members, Hideaki Anno, was suffering from
a serious case of
depression because of the losses of Nadia. Even so, he was pressured
by
his superiors to make
another series. That series is Evangelion. It is a dramatic series, a
26- episode epic that is a look at how things would go if we really
were invaded by aliens and
used giant robots to settle
the conflict. The protagonist, Shinji Ikari, often feels down under
pressure, effectively
mirroring Anno's feelings while working on the series. Because of
Anno's mood steadily
declining, the series gets progressively darker as it goes on; with
the
series finale movie, End of
Evangelion, plunging full force into this.
With a series like this,
what could I find in it to recap? Well, I did mention before that
anime tends to run on
concentrated nonsense; and the mecha genre is a prime example of
that.
I started watching the
series again after I took a break from it; seeing if I could find an
episode
that had material. Sure
enough, I did. That episode is “Both of You, Dance Like You Want to
Win.” So, let's open it up.
The opening is “Young Boy,
Become a Legend.” I have some of the best love for this theme
song, as I explained in my top 13 anime openings. “Young Boy,
Become a Legend” may
not be my favorite Studio
Gainax theme, but it's up there.
We open on Shinji's school,
with everyone in awe at the new student: Asuka. I may
have a preference of Rei,
but I can say that Asuka is not without merit. It turns out she was
born in Japan, but raised
in Germany. That explains a lot.
Anyway, two of Shinji's
friends (I forget their names) are selling pictures of Asuka.
Nowadays, any teenager can
snap a photo of a girl on their cell phone and put it on their
Facebook page for nothing. Maybe it's just a hobby that's lost in
translation with me.
Asuka greets Shinji with a
“guten morgen” and asks why he's so gloomy. This is nothing.
Given that this anime was directed by a man who was suffering from
depression
at the time of production,
things don't get gloomy until everybody's a puddle of orange juice.
Asuka goes over to Rei, my
favorite girl in Evangelion, and introduces herself. She offers to
make friends, since she's another EVA pilot. Rei agrees if it's
necessary. Well, given
the reason I chose to recap
this episode, I think it's very necessary to make friends with the
people you pilot giant
robots to fight abominations with.
Back at NERV, the emergency
alarm klaxon starts blaring. They receive word of an
attack from Battle Cruiser
Haruna. An Angel appears from the Kii peninsula, and a first
stage alert is issued.
We then get our title card.
Nice and simple characters on matte black.
 |
| It's like, how much more black could this be? The answer is none, none more black. |
After the battle of the
previous episode, which was Asuka's introduction; not much
of their defensive forces
remain. Nevertheless, they decide to mobilize anyway. Offensive
capability is even worse,
with chances slim to none of success. Yes, it's just another typical
day for NERV.
A command is issued to
Shinji and Asuka to intercept the Angel en route, taking turns
to attack while evading the
enemy attacks.
Asuka is dismayed that she
can't fight alone for her first battle in Japan, but Shinji
replies that it's standard
procedure. Asuka fires back not to get in the way. As you can see,
Asuka's behavior is one of
the reasons I decided to recap this episode, but it's not the only
reason.
Asuka turns off the
communicator and wonders how Shinji became an EVA pilot.
Yeah, Rei almost got killed
testing the prototype, so there's that.
Anyway, the EVA are
deployed at the shore in order to intercept the Angel before it
reaches the waterfront.
Asuka calls the use of two EVA on one Angel unfair, and her superior
tells her they have no
choice. Your opponent has the capacity to turn the world into a
charred,
radioactive husk, so I
wouldn't call it a toss-up. The battle is in your favor with both of
you
against the Angel, so why
complain?
The Angel comes within
range, and the fight begins. Asuka wants to lead, and Shinji
promptly calls her on her
lack of combat experience as he fires at the Angel.
Asuka continues to charge
in, even blocking Shinji's line of fire. Look, Asuka, this isn't
Virtual On. There are no
continues and extra lives in war. You die, that's it. You don't come
back
and your friends and loved
ones can only mourn you. Is that how you want to be remembered?
She leaps off of a sunken
building and slices the Angel in half with her lance. Wow. She
may be overzealous, but
she's good behind the controls of a robot.
Even so, the two halves
become separate bodies. This is why your CO said you need
to work together, you twit!
Their CO is astonished, and it just uses a lens flare wipe back to
NERV as Shinji and Asuka
watch a news report of the attack.
The images show that Shinji
and Asuka got their asses handed to them by the Angel. You're going
to see where I got the material for this recap soon. Naturally,
Shinji and Asuka
start arguing over who's to
blame for that petty excuse for a battle.
It seems the report was
being shown in a private movie theater that NERV has. That's
nice. Even when the world
goes kaput, the finest soldiers we have to offer still have
a place to watch Star Trek
Into Darkness.
The report goes on to say
that the task of defeating the Angel was then handed to
the United Nations; and
they fared no better, if not worse than NERV, since the Angel is
still
at large.
Another man, a Vice
Commander in Gendo's employ, says that they need to work together to
stop the Angel. Shinji and Asuka are, of course, less than pleased by
this.
Misato, their CO, goes over
requisitions for damage control on this embarrassment.
It's mentioned that the
Vice Commander is not amused by what happened. I imagine neither
he, nor Gendo will like
hearing about Pacific Rim, then. Dr. Akagi gives Misato a game plan
for Round 2. Misato then
decides to get to work on implementing it.
Shinji arrives home to
find that there are boxes everywhere, full of Asuka's possessions.
This is pretty funny, given
that I'm still in the middle of moving and I could use a laugh like
this.
That's not all. Asuka is
there in a tank top and tight shorts, both parties being very
flustered at each other.
She says that she's moving in, and laments how small Japanese houses
are. Hey, that's actually
reasonable. Even with all the boxes of stuff, it's still bigger than
my
bedroom right now.
So, as you can imagine,
most of the material I got from this episode is from Shinji
and Asuka living together
while training to fight the Angels again. It's silly, it's stupid,
and it's
funnier than most sitcoms
I've seen in recent years. Asuka is not happy that there's no
privacy.
She says this after putting
all of Shinji's belongings in a box; and you know, moving into his
house without so much as a
phone call. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDrfHj3j398
Misato arrives to inform
them of what they will do while they co-habitate: learn to
work together and fight the
Angels, starting with the one that's causing so much grief.
Misato begins briefing
them, saying they need to attack both bodies' cores at the same time
to take them out. How? They
need to attack with their EVA in perfect time and sync.
In order to do this, she
is having them live together. As I said, it's funnier than most
sitcoms today. For that
matter, it's funnier than most anime that try to be intentionally
funny.
Asuka whines that she
doesn't want to do this; but Misato replies there's no time to argue
as the EVA will be
operational again in six days. One last detail: the attack will be
keyed to
music. So, ready or not,
the next attack is in six days!
 | |||
| She's a maniac, maniac on the floor, and she's dancing like she's never danced before! |
We skip ahead three days as
Shinji's friends come to see him. Once again, I forget their
names. It's not that I'm
not making an effort to learn them, it's just that if I don't see or
hear
them often, I can't. They
are aghast at the fact that not only are Shinji and Asuka living
together,
but are wearing matching
clothes and speaking in unison. Shinji and Asuka aren't too thrilled
either, blaming Misato for
their predicament.
 | ||
| Things are about to get very silly. Here, look at this penguin. |
Misato and Rei arrive to
explain what's going on to their friends. Naturally, they're
Shinji and Asuka are
playing a strange hybrid of Twister and Dance Dance Revolution
to learn the musical attack
pattern. Just think: this will be in every arcade in the future! Nah,
people don't play video
games to exercise! They'd go outside if they wanted to do that!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwjDELYIEmE
Shinji and Asuka are having
trouble coordinating their attack, but Shinji and Rei are
on the same wavelength when
Rei takes Asuka's place. Once again, Asuka is surprised.
Asuka goes to the pantry,
angry at Shinji. Since I started moving, I've been making
similar trips to deal with
the stress. Lots of fountain drinks and cream-filled oatmeal cookies.
With their snacks firmly
in hand, they opt to keep at their training. Asuka says the
battle didn't just damage
the EVA. It damaged her pride, and she wants to complete the
training to get it back.
This whole scene plays like a commercial for sports drinks.
With only two days left
before the attack, Shinji and Asuka continue their training.
There's even a scene where
they fight over what to watch on TV.
 | |
| Wonder Years! Deep Space Nine! Wonder Years! Deep Space Nine! |
Asuka is distraught that she
has to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. I had to skip a
lot of this scene due to
content Google won't let me show. In the middle of the night,
Shinji wakes to the alarm
klaxon blaring again. I don't blame him, most of the work done
on this recap was when I
couldn't sleep.
Asuka apparently
sleepwalks, and she's now beside Shinji. As I said, I will have to
move
on. Shinji also discovers
Asuka talks in her sleep, and he decides to move to the floor.
The morning of the attack,
Misato and Dr. Akagi chat over their morning coffee. As day
breaks, the UN and NERV
mobilize again. The Angel appears over the horizon in Gora.
Misato gives Shinji and
Asuka a run through of their training, to do it exactly as
rehearsed when the music
starts. As the Angel comes within range, they only have 62 seconds
to take it out. The EVA
launch, and the dance begins.
And... it's a thing of
beauty. A choreographed dance battle with a pair of humongous
mecha. Every movement,
every strike is wonderfully animated. It's stupid and stupendous at
the same time.
The Angel is defeated with
the EVA intact. All of a sudden, I want to fund a stage
musical and dance
production about giant robots.
Yet, even though they won,
they're back to arguing. Oddly, there are landline phones in
the EVA, but it can also
display holographs of the speaker on the other end. It was 1998, and
they were trying to predict
the future. What more do you want? We end on one of the many
covers of “Fly Me to the
Moon”, this time in a '90s samba style.
“Both of You, Dance Like
You Want to Win” is a glorious example of how the mecha
genre is one of the
predominant genres of anime to this day. The animation from Studio
Gainax
is stellar as always, and
the humor of Shinji and Asuka living together is hilarious. The next
mecha recap will be on
another series that has crossed the zeitgeist to Americans. See you
space cowboy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP8Sm2g5l_4
