Evangelion Series Synopses
Episodes 9-16
Episodes 1-8 | Episodes 9-16 | Episodes 17-24 | Episodes 25-26 | Death/Rebirth and End of Evangelion
Episode 9: With One Accord in a Flash | Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!
While Asuka has become the most popular girl at school, Kaji is busy at NERV, sweet-talking Ritsuko and ticking off Misato. But the seventh Angel, Israfel, attacks. Although Asuka wants to sortie alone, Shinji comes along, and when she strikes the Angel with a spear, it splits into two and soundly defeat the two Evangelions.
Following an N2 mine attack that delays the Angel's progress, Misato thinks she has a way to beat it: synchronize the EVAs' attack and defeat both halves of the Angel by playing its own game. However, both Shinji and Asuka are aghast at the idea of working, living, and sleeping together! Their training was choreographed to music, which they practiced for 5 days. It's during this time that Shinji really discovers that inside the bratty, conceited exterior, Asuka is a troubled child.
When the Angel is moving again, the battle is on; the two pilots execute a marvelously timed, simulanteous attack on both halves of the Angel, defeating it within their time frame of 62 seconds. However, the accord is only temporary, as after the battle they are at each other's throats again.
Episode 10: Magma Diver
While shopping, Asuka shamelessly flirts with Kaji, telling him how excited she is to go on her class field trip to Okinawa. But, when she gets back home, Misato informs her that the pilots can't go because they're on standby.
An unprecedented discovery is made: a chrystalic entity--Sandalphon, the eighth Angel--is found deep inside an active volcano. Because this presents an opportunity for study as never before, NERV proceeds on a mission to recover the Angel rather than simply destroy it after it forms. Asuka volunteers for the mission, and EVA Unit-02 is equipped with D-type equipment to withstand the incredible pressure and heat within the molten rock. However, Asuka soon regrets asking for the mission, because the suits she and her EVA have to wear are totally unbecoming to her.
After being lowered into the magma, Asuka captures the Angel in an electromagnetic cage, but the Angel then grows out of it's embryonic stage and attacks a nearly helpless Unit-02. Using Shinji's Progressive Knife and the coolant provided to Unit-02's suit, she defeats the Angel, but Shinji has to rescue her from the magma. Afterwards, Misato, Asuka, Shinji, and Pen2 celebrate by relaxing in a nearby hot spring.
Episode 11: In the Still Darkness | The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still
A sudden and widespread power outage affects Tokyo-3, completely cutting off communications from the rest of the world and compromising it's angel interception capability. Auxillary power is routed to the MAGI at the expense of all other systems, including life support. Ritsuko and the Commanders fear that sabotage was behind the outage, and that the saboteurs may be monitoring their repairs to map a layout of the NERV facility.
The pilots are all off-base at the time, and must find their way back to Headquarters through back passageways and air ducts. Operations Director Misato is caught in an unseemly moment...stuck in an elevator with Kaji! As luck would have it, the spider-like in appearance 9th Angel, Matarael, attacks during the outage, and Makoto commandeers a vehicle to warn NERV. Once the Angel is above the Geofront, it begins dripping acid from its bottommost eye in order to dissolve its way through to NERV.
In Misato's absense, Commander Ikari takes over Evangelion operations, and has them prepared manually for combat using an on-site diesel generator, hydraulics, and hand cranks. Shinji, Asuka and Rei make it to headquarters as the EVAs are made ready. Launching with battery packs, they inch through the launch tubes to attack the Angel; when they get close enough to see the Angel, it drops acid onto them, making them drop their weapons. With Asuka acting as a shield for the other two EVAs, Rei drops down the tube and throws Shinji the palette rifle; he fires a huge volley of fire into the Angel, which kills it.
Episode 12: The Value of a Miracle is... | She said, "Don't make others suffer for your personal hatred."
During a flashback to the Second Impact from the year 2000, Misato Katsuragi's father places her in a life compartment within the research facility as it is being dismantled by a "white giant" whose outline seems to resemble an Evangelion. Then we witness the conclusion of the Impact, and an injured 14 year-old Misato watching the horror unfold before her very eyes.
Shinji's friends discover in a chance meeting that Misato has been promoted to Major, and then put together a party in honor of the promotion. It's during this that Shinji receives insight on just why Misato joined NERV in the first place; to defeat the Angels who killed her father. He also finds out that Misato had a similar relationship with her father as he does with Gendo. However, while the two NERV commanders are in the South Pole fetching a remnant of the earlier Katsuragi expedition for use in Project Instrumentality, an Angel attacks the earth from above.
Orbiting high above, this 10th Angel (Sahaquiel) drops portions of itself through the atmosphere and explodes on impact. Its AT Field is the cause of the extensive damage dealt by the explosion. Continually correcting it's aim toward Tokyo-3, acting commander Misato distributes the three Evangelions evenly within the Angel's projected drop zone. When the Angel drops its entire mass on the area, the EVAs spread their AT Fields to prevent contact with the ground and destroy the Angel's core before the final explosion. Upon their return, the commanders are briefed on the operation and congratulate the team. In particular, Gendo specifically praises Shinji on the job he did, which means more to him than he would have thought earlier.
Later that night, the EVA team goes out to eat together, and after having asked everyone there previously why they worked with NERV, Shinji realizes that the reason he works there is for his father's approval, as he did today.
Episode 13: Angel Invasion | Lilliputian Hitcher
A harmonics test involving the EVA pilots and synthetic EVA bodies is conducted, with the resulting data leading Ritsuko to believe that their new Dummy Plug devices may work. Just what this is is not revealed as of yet, but it involves the interation of the pilots with separate EVA bodies (more information is revealed in the next episode). However, during the test, Aoba discovers a problem with a recently constructed portion of Headquarters and notices contamination problems, which spreads out into the simulation area (referred to as the Pribnow Box).
Realizing that this is the 11th angel, Ireul, they discover that it is a microscopic entity composed of millions of nanites which can evolve themselves at will to overcome any obstacle. Once NERV is able to isolate the nano-machines, they evolve into nano-computers and attempt to hack into the MAGI systems using a previously unheard of calcualation rate. It's aim, as verified by it's actions following it's takeover of two of the MAGI systems, is to force them to enact a self-destruct sequence that would take out the whole Geofront. Ritsuko is able to encrypt the input/output system with a new password often enough to perclude it being broken before a new one is put into effect, halting the Angel temporarily.
Fuyutsuki and the others consider their options. Misato recommends destroying the MAGI before they can be turned against them, but Ritsuko thinks she can implant a virus into the Angel iself to cause it to evolve in such a way as to render itself harmless and "live with" the MAGI as they are. This plan is risky, however, but they go for it, since so much of their operations depend on the MAGI's input and direction. It's during the time spent working with the MAGI that Misato learns that Ritsuko's mother was the one responsible for the creation of the supercomputers, and that each system incorporates an aspect of her personality. Melchior is Dr. Naoko Akagi as a scientist; Balthasar is her as a mother, and Caspar is her as a woman; these distinct personalities were purposefully input in order to simulate the dilemmas faced by humans. Since all three must agree to self-destruct, and the angel hadn't overcome Caspar yet, Ritsuko is forced to deal with her mother's womanly personality, which she later confesses to have actually hated. When the Angel overruns the encryption placed on the I/O system, it quickly starts to attack Caspar using the combined computational speed of Melchior and Balthasar to bolster it's effort. However, Ritsuko successfully rewires and reprograms Caspar just before the Angel can override, and it is thus defeated, not by EVA, but by humanity.
Episode 14: SEELE, Throne of Souls | Weaving A Story
The first half of this episode is a recap of the events in the series thus far. Angels #3-11 are shown, and the Human Instrumentality Project Committee is highly concerned by the fact that the 11th Angel infiltrated NERV earlier than predicted by the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, forwarding the idea that variations in the Dead Sea Scrolls' predictions may occur, Gendo Ikari reports that it did not in fact enter NERV HQ, and the Committee notes that the penalty for lying to them.
The second half of the episode picks up normally, with EVA Unit-01 being activated with Rei inside it. In a highly introspective scene with Rei, a dim glimpse of how the Evangelions tick is offered. However, when Shinji attempts to activate Unit-00, it goes haywire, bashing against the reinforced glass and attempting to get to those inside. Once it is under control, Misato wonders if Unit-00 was trying to kill Rei, while Ritsuko thinks that it may have been after her instead. Following these events, Gendo and Fuyutsuki debate over the Instrumentality project, and Rei is sent with Unit-00 to perform some task relating to it deep within Headquarters....
Episode 15: Lies and Silence | Those women longed for the touch of others' lips, and thus invited their kisses.
The day arrives that Shinji is to meet his father at his mother's grave. The uncomfortable reunion of the Ikari family, the first in three years, makes no dent in their cold relationship, and they both go their separate ways afterwards.
Misato, Ritsuko and Kaji attend a wedding reception and follow up the celebration at a pub. After Ritsuko advises Kaji to not get involved with NERVs inner workings, Misato and Kaji leave together but not before she gets pretty intoxicated. As Kaji carries her home, she opens up and says that she broke off her relationship with him because he reminded her of her father. Revealing that she worked for NERV to escape her convictions and criticizes herself for being weak, Kaji kisses her. While they were gone, Asuka dares Shinji to kiss her, and after they do, she gets sick and retreats to the bathroom to gargle.
The next morning, Misato catches Kaji attempting to get into Terminal Dogma, where no one but highest level NERV personnel is allowed. It's here she reveals that NERV knew of his role as a double agent. However, he tells her that NERV's secrets are being hidden from her by Ritsuko and Gendo, and opens Heaven's Door to Terminal Dogma. Revealed behind the door is a huge white entity nailed to a giant cross, and Kaji reveals to Misato's amazement that this is Adam, the Angel's progenitor and their ultimate goal.
Episode 16: Sickness Unto Death, And... | Splitting of the Breast
During the EVA Synchronization tests, it's found that Shinji's synch ratios are the highest among the pilots, even surpassing Asuka (a fact that only makes her more angry with him). Before long, the twelvth Angel (Leliel) appears over Tokyo-3 as a large black and white sphere with a disproportionately huge shadow projected underneath.
The three Evangelion pilots plan their attack on the Angel. With Asuka sarcastically mentioning that Shinji should take point in the attack because of his higher synch scores, he accepts the role with gusto. However, without waiting for the other EVAs to get positioned, Shinji acts before they've scouted the enemy and the Angel captures him within its shadow. Once Shinji has been captured, Ritsuko theorizes that the inverted AT field composing the Angel's shadowy body creates a Sea of Dirac, a hypothetical model from physics that can only be described by advanced mathematics.
Shinji has only about 16 hours of battery power available after the umbilical cable is snapped While inside, he considers many aspects of his life, and also discovers to his horror that the entry plug's LCL is like blood. While planning to recover Unit-01, NERV plans to drop all 992 N2 mines into the Sea of Dirac and expand the remaining EVAs AT fields to extract Unit-01. However, Misato knows that this may well kill Shinji. But before the operation takes place, Shinji sees an apparition within the plug suit that resembles his mother! Then, EVA Unit-01 goes berserk, and emerges forcibly from the Angel's aeriel shadow.
Episodes 1-8 | Episodes 9-16 | Episodes 17-24 | Episodes 25-26 | Death/Rebirth and End of Evangelion
~ Shwiggie