MAGMADIVER
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| “MAGMADIVER” | |
|---|---|
| Neon Genesis Evangelion episode | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 10 |
| Written by | Hideaki Anno |
| Original airdate | December 06, 1995 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!" | "The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still" |
"MAGMADIVER" is an episode of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.
[edit] Plot
The Eva pilots are excited about their upcoming class trip to Okinawa, but are upset when they are ordered that because they have to be on-call in case of an Angel attack, they cannot leave Tokyo-3. They still try to have something of a "vacation" at the swimming pool in NERV's gym, where Asuka and Rei swim while Shinji catches up on homework at the poolside. Asuka went out shopping with Kaji to buy a revealing two-piece bathing suit, and wearing it to the pool sexually teases Shinji. Asuka teases Shinji's incomprehension of a physics problem about thermal expansion by describing the application of the theory to her breasts. Thoroughly flustered, Shinji quickly remarks "I-I don't know!! I don't think about that kinda stuff!" and Asuka is disappointed (this was most likely a bad attempt on her part to get Shinji's attention). Asuka is annoyed when Shinji seems to be looking at Rei swimming, and trying to get his attention by making a dive.
A dormant Angel in an embryonic stage is discovered nesting deep in the magma of an active volcano, Mount Asama, and in the hopes of gaining greater insight into the Angels, its decided to take the offensive against the Angels and try to capture it alive. Asuka is sent to capture it by lowering Eva Unit 02 into the magma, while it wears a special giant coolant suit for protection. Shinji is sent along with Unit 01 to wait at the surface of the volcano as support, while Rei is left in Tokyo-3 with Eva Unit 00 in case another Angel shows up. However, the Angel soon awakes from its embryonic stage, and Asuka is forced to battle the Angel while deep beneath the surface of the magma. The Angel manges to bite off Unit 02's left leg below the knee. Asuka drops her progressive knife, but Shinji throws her his prog knife from the surface. However, the prog knife doesn't significantly harm the Angel; because it lives in a high temperatue and high pressure environment,the pressure of stabbing it isn't sufficient. Remembering their earlier conversation that due to thermal expansion, Asuka jams one of her suit's coolant tubes at the Angel to shower it with coolant, which makes it colder and thus vulnerable to the pressure of being stabbed, and a final hit from Asuka's prog knife kills it. Asuka's life line is about to snap, but just as she falls Shinji plunges Eva Unit 01 briefly into the magma to save her.
Everyone takes a trip to a nearby onsen (hot springs spa) to relax. Kaji mailed Pen Pen to the hot springs in a postal box; Shinji and Pen Pen go to the men's baths, while on the other side of a dividing wall, Misato and Asuka are in the women's baths. Shinji is embarrassed when Misato and Asuka begin teasing him over the wall; in his last line in the episode, he flusteredly grumbles, "Thermal expansion... how embarrassing."
[edit] Analysis
- Okinawa has a maximum elevation of ~500 meters, but it has not been subsumed by rising sea levels which have visibly flooded the coastal cities of Japan?
- This may be due to the fact that much of the flooding in Japan at the time of the series is reputedly due to unnatural disasters, namely several nuclear bombings conducted during the Valentine's War.
- The Angel Sandalphon succeeds in biting off Eva Unit 02's left leg at the knee, after which the torn off leg sinks deeper into the magma of the volcano, presumably beyond all hope of recovery; however, by next episode Unit 02 is seen to be fully repaired with a full left leg. NERV must be capable of creating replacement limbs for the Evas (as opposed to simply being able to reattach limbs that have been severed). Its not known how long or difficult of a process this might be; there is no clear indication of how much time passes between episodes 10, 11, 12, and 13, and possibly weeks or months may pass between episodes of the fairly standalone "Action Arc" at this point.
[edit] Notes
- Asuka is a child prodigy, and has already graduated college. She still does roughly as well as Shinji and his classmates, however, because she never learned kanji before, and thus often doesn't understand the questions. It is never said exactly what degree she graduated with.
- Asuka keeps wearing her A10 nerve clips even when swimming in the pool, and at the hot springs.
- We get a brief glimpse of what a normal day with no Angel attacks is like at NERV HQ for the technicians that work there: Maya Ibuki spends her time reading a romance novel, Hyuga reads manga comicbooks, and Aoba reads guitar magazines and strums an air guitar.
- D-type equipment won't fit on Eva Unit 00, because it is a prototype.
- Eva Unit 00 seems to be fully repaired by the time this episode occurs. It was not sortied against the Angel Israfel along with Units 01 and 02 last episode. However in this episode they discuss the possibility of using Unit 00, but decide to leave it at Tokyo-3 as a backup in case another Angel attacks the city, which would imply that it is in a combat-ready state again.
- It is shown that Misato has access to private information about Asuka that the latter doesn't want any of her peers to know. The significance of this is revealed in later episodes.
- Kaji seems to be plotting behind NERV's back, as seen when he makes his clandestine meeting.
- Misato has a large scar on her sternum, which she got during Second Impact. Viewers will see a flashback to Misato's experience during Second Impact in episode 12.
