One thing that Evangelion does very well is introduce interpersonal relationships. I say 'introduce', since Shinseiki Evangelion only touches the surfaces of relationships, and doesn't really delve beyond. This series yields such information most reluctantly, and in ways that border on frustrating. Misato's past, her first meeting with both Kaji and Ritsuko, and most importantly, confirmation of what we already suspected about Ayanami Rei: she's not a singular unique entity. Even with this information, these characters remain largely two-dimensional, and personalisations tend to be rather superficial. There's a lot of groundwork that's been laid out here, and this series seems long enough to explore some of these character relationships in depth.

This episode marks the beginning of the end, and something that's most common in Japanese tragedies: deaths. Usually, the deaths of almost all the secondary characters until only the primary ones are left. We'll see if this holds true for this series; no doubt that Anno is also a fan of the traditional Japanese-style trajedy. There are some intense emotional scenes, which are both highly effective and annoyingly cliché. If this statement seems contradictory... well, you decide: The final scene in which Misato receives her final good-bye telephone message from Kaji is very contrived and situationally convenient, but the conviction Kotono Mitsuishi was able to convey through her tears was most effective. And Shinji's reaction to all this? You be the judge.

There's some very nice background music in this episode as well; most of which is available on the first soundtrack CD. (For those of you who are interested in the CD's, be warned about the 3rd soundtrack compilation. There are enough different versions of 'Fly Me to the Moon' on the disc to cause permenant brain damage.) Perhaps my favourite aspect of this one episode is the effective use of flashbacks. In many shows I've seen, flashbacks are thrown in so awkwardly, that they interfere with the flow of the program. Not so here. In this case, the direction is very tight, and the quick cuts to various scenes are skillfully interwoven with the main storyline that the viewer receives the background information, without getting confused in timelines. Overall, it's very well done.
- AN, 98.05.10