t the opening of "In the Still Darkness," the 11th chapter in the Evangelion series, the city of Tokyo-3 has suddenly, impossibly, lost power. NERV, the only agency capable of repelling the monstrous, mysterious attackers called Angels, is convinced the blackout is sabotage. Someone, they theorize, is out to analyze NERV's layout by following the progress of power restoration. If it is a human attack, it was planned for an uncommonly foolish time--the latest Angel attack is about to begin.
In episode 12, "The Value of a Miracle Is...," NERV Commander Gendo Ikari steps out for a visit to the site of the legendary Second Impact, at the now-unrecognizable South Pole. While he's away, a new Angel emerges, one capable of using its Absolute Terror field to create violent impacts on the planet's surface. Newly-promoted Major Misato throws her authority on the line, ordering the EVAs into a risky maneuver that will either bring the thing down or destroy them all.
And of course, between battles, First Child Rei is placid and withdrawn, Second Child Asuka is a monumental brat, and Third Child Shinji Ikari, the series' long-suffering star, wavers between resistance and acceptance of the events in his life. As it happens, he and Misato have something secretly in common--they both have to come to terms with their fathers, despite long-standing unsatisfying relationships and awkward barriers.
"Why are we doing this, anyway?"
These two episodes seem shorter and simpler than any that have come before them, possibly because they're beginning to fall into a pattern--Asuka baits and abuses her copilots, they react in their own inimitable ways, a crisis interrupts them, they head into battle, they emerge, they continue where they left off. The difference lies in the details, as new scraps of information surface about Misato's past, the Angels' powers, and Shinji's state of mind. He's finally asking important questions--why the others at NERV do what they do, what's special about humankind that's drawn the Angels' attention, and why humans are fighting beings called "Angels" when angels supposedly come from God.
Not that he gets many answers--Asuka dismisses his musings about Angels with a shrieked "What are you, stupid? Who knows what they think?" But at least one of the characters is beginning to address the series' central mysteries.
The characters make little personal progress in these episodes, although Shinji's relationship with his father reaches a welcome crux and Misato's chameleon-like personality begins to make more sense. The animation, which was stiff and staid in the more philosophical early episodes, continues to develop in fluidity and detail. But for the most part, these are unremarkable episodes, continuing the development of an interesting series in a satisfactory but unexceptional way.
