Recap: Both of You, Dance Like You Want To Win!

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 30^th 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

discussing the whole thing over drinks.

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