Asuka Strikes!
Misato Katsuragi, captain of the special paramilitary agency Nerv, takes Shinji Ikari and his friends Toji and Kensuke on a flight to a United Nations carrier battlegroup that is transporting a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit-02 and its German pilot Asuka Langley Sohryu to Japan. Escorting Asuka to Japan is Misato's ex-boyfriend Ryoji Kaji. A massive aquatic creature called Gaghiel, the sixth of a series of enemies named Angels, begins attacking the fleet. Asuka decides she will fight Gaghiel using Unit-02 and she takes Shinji with her. The Angel drags Unit-02 underwater and Misato devises a plan to kill it by lodging two sunken battleships in its mouth and then firing all of their weapons into it. The Angel is killed; some time after, Kaji delivers an embryo-like creature named Adam to Gendo, Nerv's commander, and Asuka transfers to Shinji's class. Gainax studio decided the basic plot for "Asuka Strikes!" in 1993, when it published a presentation document of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" titled , which describes "a battle held on the deck of an aircraft carrier" for the eighth installment of the series. Staff originally thought as the title for the installment at the time, which was later changed to the double title and "Asuka Strikes!". Hideaki Anno and Yoji Enokido wrote the episode. Kazuya Tsurumaki directed the installment, Shinji Higuchi drew the storyboards; Masahiko Otsuka worked as the assistant director, while Takeshi Honda served as chief animator. The animation crew also included Hidenori Matsubara, Yoh Yoshinari and Shoichi Masuo, while Mahiro Maeda and Mitsumu Wogi served as character designers. The series' first six episodes left the staff drained and feeling weighed down by the show's heavy mood; Hideaki Anno, director of the series, consequently decided to lighten the show's tone from the seventh and eighth episodes. Anno then inserted Asuka to lighten the installments, introducing her in "Asuka Strikes!" as a sunny, extroverted girl, but without thinking to re-evaluate her character much as in the final episodes of the series and without foreshadowing. The director "didn't completely grasp the character" at first, but she came to life with her recurring lines, "Are you stupid?" and "What a chance!", which were used for the first time in "Asuka Strikes!". Anno also said that he had forgotten about Rei Ayanami while writing the installment, since he did not feel particularly close to the character, so he did not include her in any sequence. Particularly important was the contribution of Higuchi, who had already worked on "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" and was known for the humorous character of his works. Higuchi infused the episode with an adolescent and comic tone, similar to his previous works. The similarities led the crew to refers to "Asuka Strikes!" and the ninth episode of "Evangelion" as the "island arc" after the "Nadia" episodes of the same name. The staff also used humorous graphic symbols typical of comedy anime and manga in the episode. In the original intentions of the authors, the Angel who should have fought at sea against Unit 02 was Sachiel, an idea that was set aside and reused for Gaghiel, while Sachiel was then made to appear in the first episode. The official filmbooks of the series noted that Gaghiel's battle with the battleships is realistically impossible; according to the filmbooks, however, Gainax could have ignored the realism of the clash in an attempt to seek the viewers' catharsis. According to the original script, three battleships should have been used for the fight, but only two were used in the final version. "Asuka Strikes!" also depicts existing military vehicles, such as the Sukhoi Su-33, the Yakovlev Yak-38, the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler, the Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, and the Mil Mi-2, along with a Mil MI-55D, a helicopter that does not exist in the real world designed for the episode. Production staff inserted some German technical jargon terms to use during the operations, such as "bewegung", "nerven anschlussess", "anslösung", "rinkskleidung" . Yuko Miyamura, Asuka's voice actress, took lessons at a language school to practice before finding out it was technical jargon; when she asked her native-German-speaking teacher for advice, he told her he did not understand it. Tomomichi Nishimura and Jin Yamanoi served as voice actors for the captain and vice-captain of the "Over The Rainbow". A background radio program was also written for the episode; voice actors Nishimura, Yuriko Yamaguchi, and Kotono Mitsuishi played the characters on the program, while singer Aya sang "Fly Me To The Moon" in bossa nova style for the closing theme of the installment. The "Nimitz"-class aircraft carrier USS "Harry S. Truman", renamed "Over The Rainbow" in homage to "The Wizard of Oz" song, appears in the episode, as do the "Kiev"-class Soviet aircraft carrier "Novorossiysk", the Russian battlecruiser "Kirov", the Russian destroyer "Udaloy", the "JS "Kongō"", "Iowa"-class battleships "USS "Illinois" (BB-65)", the USS "Kentucky" (BB-66), Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov", "Arleigh Burke"-class guided missile destroyer USS "Ramage", USS "Ticonderoga" (CG-47), "Tachikaze", "Hatakaze", "Asagiri"-class destroyers and "Chikugo"-class destroyer escorts. Moreover, the ships' code names for internal use in the fleet — including "Othello", "Cymbeline", "Titus Andronicus" and "The Tempest" — are derived from titles of plays by William Shakespeare. Kingston valves are mentioned during the battle against Gaghiel; these are special valves that are used to fill ships' hulls with water and are located at the stern of some old ships. Gainax previously mentioned the same valves in the original video animation "GunBuster". At the end of the episode, Gendo describes Adam as "the first human being" in homage to a similar scene in "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water". For Dennis Redmond, writer of "The World is Watching", the admiral of "Over the Rainbow" also constitutes a tribute to "Nadia"; according to him, "Asuka Strikes!" "manage[s] to pastiche all the classic ocean adventures from "Moby Dick" up to "Jaws"". Yuichiro Oguro, editor of some of the extra content of the Japanese home video editions of the series, noted from "Asuka Strikes!" onward the series portrays the characters and their interpersonal communications in a positive light. In the episode, Shinji and Asuka cooperate to defeat an Angel, beginning the series' action arc. Anime News Network's Nick Creamer also noted after Asuka's debut "Neon Genesis Evangelion" adopts a monster of the week pattern. "Asuka Strikes!" was first broadcast on November 22, 1995, and drew a 7.6% audience share on Japanese television. In 1996, it ranked nineteenth in "Animage" Anime Grand Prix list of "Best Anime Episodes". Official merchandise based on the episode has also been released. The episode was received positively by critics and reviewers, who lauded its direction, plot, humor, action, and Asuka's introduction. Digitally Obsessed's reviewer Joel Cunningham praised "Asuka Strikes!", describing it as "the funniest episode in the series"; Cunningham particularly enjoyed the "hilarious" relationship between Shinji and Asuka, saying; "A great introduction of a great character, and some very amusing dialogue, make this one of the standouts of the show thus far". Film School Rejects's Max Covill ranked it among the best episodes of the series, saying; "an Asuka-centered episode is usually a great sign of quality, and this is a lot of fun"; he also praised the first scene, which portrays Asuka in shadow, for bringing a sense of mystery to the new character. "Animation Planet" magazine's John Beam positively reviewed "Asuka Strikes!"; he also lauded the show for its "outstanding characterizations, animations, and dramatic presentation". Animé Café's Japanese reviewer Akio Nagatomi negatively received the episode. He criticized the introduction of Asuka and Kaji, which he said are stereotypical and cliché characters, and the introduction of Eva-02 "with a "Phantom of the Opera" style cloak". The reviewer was particularly critical of Asuka, the script, and details of the plot and setting, which he said are unrealistic. Despite this, he praised the direction, saying; "the show does have flow; something to which a lot of other feature's can't lay claim". Looper's Thompson Smith described Gaghiel as one of the less-interesting Angels in "Neon Genesis Evangelion"; according to Smith, the Angel provides a problem for Asuka to solve in her first appearance, but "lacks any sort of significance beyond all that". Comic Book Resources' Theo Kogod criticized Asuka's behavior in her first appearance; he negatively transposed the scene in which her skirt accidentally rises due to the sea breeze and slaps Toji, Kensuke and Shinji, and, since none of the boys could control the weather, Kogod considered it "an overreaction—the first of many". The sequence in which the episode's title appears with the sound effect of Asuka's slaps received appreciation. Screen Rant's Adam Beach ranked the battle against Gaghiel among the best fights in "Neon Genesis Evangelion"; Beach described it as "memorable" for both Asuka's introduction and the marine setting, praising its "interesting choreography". His colleague Jack Cameron expressed a similar view, while Daniel Dockery (SyFy Wire) similarly ranked the fight among the best "non-depressing moments" in "Neon Genesis Evangelion". Writers Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Forster, in their "Neon Genesis Evangelio: The Unofficial Guide", also said Asuka's line "Are you stupid?" has become popular since her first appearance in the eighth episode. "Newtype" magazine praised the episode's drawings and Asuka's facial expressions. Alex Walker of Kotaku ranked "Asuka Strikes!" among the best "Neon Genesis Evangelion" episodes. Multiversity Comics' Matthew Garcia said the episode's treatment of Asuka in view of her team is interesting. For Anthony Gramuglia of Comic Book Resources, she is a refreshing character compared to Shinji's insecurities in the previous seven episodes, and this invigorates the series with a "great deal of joy". According to Gramuglia; "She changes the show, offering a diversity of perspective that livens things up". Crunchyroll's reviewer Noelle Ogawa similarly wrote; "From her confident introduction aboard a battleship to her forceful and agressive battle style in her bright red Eva, she is a joy every time she's on screen". Jemima Sebastian from IGN compared a scene from "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021), in which King Kong on a ship suffers an underwater attack from Godzilla, to the fight between Gaghiel and Eva-02, describing it as a possible homage to "Evangelion".
Reception
The episode's first broadcast scored a 7.6% audience share on Japanese television, and was well-received by audiences and critics. Reviewers appreciated the episode's humor and action, and its introduction of Asuka's character, ranking it as one of the best episodes in the series.