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[ café reviews ]

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Shinseiki Evangelion
(Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Episode 11: In the Still Darkness / The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still


Copyright: 1995 TV Tokyo / GAINAX / NAS (Japan), 1997 AD Vision (North America)
Length: 30 minutes
Rating: Contains Violence and Mature Situations, Parental Guidance Suggested
Format: Subtitled/Dubbed (VHS)

Screenplay: Enokido Yoji, Anno Hideaki Director: Watanabe Tetsuya Producers: Kobayashi Noriko (TV Tokyo) Sugiyama Yutaka Character Design: Sadamoto Yoshiyuki English Version Executive Producer: John Ledford (A.D.V. Films) Translation by: Kimura Kuni


[ plot summary ]

vhs jacket

A normal day in New Tokyo 3 - almost. The executive officers of NERV are in town doing laundry, while Shinji, Asuka and Rei do a little shopping. Unexpectedly, all of New Tokyo-3 loses power, including NERV headquarters. Even worse, the two backup systems don't come on line. Misato and Kaji are trapped in an elevator, and the three young EVA pilots are outside of NERV itself. When the eighth angel attacks, the race is on: Gendo, Ritsuko and the NERV staff manually prepare the EVAs for launch, and hope that the young pilots are able to find their way back to the launch site before the new attacker is able to destroy the geo-front.


[ capsule review ]











I like surprises. Especially pleasant ones. This episode is a prime example. Every once in a while, you'll come across a program that's so well directed and tightly paced that you'll say, "wow!" The body of the story marches along very smartly, with an excellent blend of dead-pan humour to make this very memorable. I was most impressed with the timing: a character presents the next logical event that should occur, then the scene immediately cuts to another character discovering that the particular event didn't happen. The net effect is much like watching a suspense version of the classic Laurel and Hardy 'Who's on First?' routine. (My favourite example: Misato and Kaji are discussing a possible reason for the black-out, and the scene cuts to the control center. A nervous Ritsuko eyes her co-workers, and says somewhat defensively, "It wasn't me!" Obviously, she has a past history of unexpected results!) For the techie geeks in the audience, we get to see the Evangelions operate on battery packs. There are still a couple of weak points: the presentation of background information about MAGI was very poorly delivered, and Asuka's character just doesn't fit very well yet. But in the end, the weaknesses take a back seat to the stronger script writing, and the excellent pace set by the director. Bravo! - AN



[ café rating ]

Original: Subbed: Dubbed:
Story: N/A 4 stars N/A
Direction: N/A 5 stars N/A
Acting: N/A 3 stars N/A
Animation: N/A 2 stars N/A
Music: N/A 3 stars N/A
Translation: N/A 3 stars N/A
Overall Rating: N/A 4 stars N/A



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