ASUKA STRIKES!

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“Rei II”
Neon Genesis Evangelion episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 8
Written by	Hideaki Anno
Original airdate	November 22, 1995
Episode chronology
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"ASUKA STRIKES!" is an episode of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[edit] Plot

Misato brings Shinji and his friends Toji and Kensuke on a flight to a UN carrier battlegroup which is transporting Evangelion Unit 02 and its fiery German pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu, to Japan. Escorting Asuka to Japan is Misato’s old flame, Ryoji Kaji. In the middle of some awkward introductions and reunions, a massive aquatic Angel begins attacking the fleet, and Asuka determines that she will fight it using Eva 02, by playing “hopscotch”…

[edit] Notes

• First appearance of Asuka Langely Soryu in the series. Despite the fact that she appears so late as episode 8, Asuka is actually one of the trio of primary characters: Shinji, Asuka, and Rei.
  • Asuka is actually three-quarters German and only one-quarter Japanese (her paternal grandfather), explaining how she has a Japanese name, but has a German appearance. Her half-German, half-Japanese father actually had United States citizenship, so her nationality is technically American, although she has been raised in Germany her entire life. Her native language is German (as seen when she powers up Eva Unit 02) but she speaks fluent Japanese.
• Asuka's Japanese voice actress noticeably struggles to pronounce Asuka's extended piece of German dialogue as she rapidly lists off Eva Unit 02's startup list. American voice actress Tiffany Grant quickly recites the German startup list much more fluidly. English and German are fairly closely related languages, while German is entirely alien to a speaker of Japanese.
• First appearance of Evangelion Unit 02.
• First appearance of Ryoji Kaji.
• The warships in the UN naval fleet are named after plays by William Shakespeare, such as Othello, Titus Andronicus, Cymbeline, and The Tempest.
• This is the first and only time that an aquatic Angel appears (also the only time there is a fight underwater).
• Adam has been delivered to Gendo Ikari at NERV HQ.
• First and only time in the entire series that an Angel intentionally attacks a target other than Tokyo-3. Some were fought at areas other than Tokyo-3, but they were still headed for Tokyo-3, which was their ultimate target. Even the two Angels that appear in outer space focus their attacks on Tokyo-3. This is because Adam was secretly being transported by Kaji in the naval convoy.
• Eva Unit 02 is the first "Production model" Evangelion. Evangelion Unit 00 was just the "Prototype" (notable for being somewhat buggy and going berserk at times), while Eva Unit 01 is the "Test-type". Its revealed later in the series that all of the Evangelions are based on genetic material from the Angel Adam, except Unit 01: Unit 01 is based on genetic material from the Angel Lilith. Attempts to make more Evangelions from Lilith never happened, so Unit 01 was just a "test". Unit 02's construction refined mistakes made while producing earlier models, and added more weaponry, and its the first Eva Unit truly meant for frontline combat.
• As we saw in episode 3, if more than one person is in the entry plug of an Eva at the same time, it creates "thought noise"; static interference affecting the synchronization between the mind of the pilot and the Eva.
• Evangelions cannot swim using their standard armor; they sink in water and cannot easily move. Given that they say that "it can't swim with B-type equipment" (B-type is standard armor), instead of a just a blanket statement that "Evangelions can't swim", presumably special armor exists which does allow it to swim.
• Freeze-framing reveals the information on Misato's ID card when she flashes it: Misato is blood type AO and 1.63 meters (5 feet 4 inches) tall. Curiously, the parts of her ID which list age and weight have been scribbled out, probably by Misato herself.