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Episode 23: Tear/Rei III
Ok, this is getting ridiculous. I have a feeling the ruler of the world is really PenPen, everyone's favorite warm weather penguin. First Kaji, then Asuka and now Rei. Will the madness ever stop? Personally, I hope not because these are some enthralling episodes. The build up from the first half of the series is paying off as the show winds down. The episode begins with Misato listening to Kaji's message and we see her look at her gun, a scene which makes us very suspicious. Did Misato kill Kaji? Or was it SEELE? We never know and it's possible that Misato is looking at the gun because she wants to commit suicide rather than live without her lover. As we see the countless rows of beer cans lining her room, we also notice that he door has a sign warning no one to enter her room. Saddenned, Shinji goes to see Asuka but he realizes, by the sign on her door, that she too has left. We see that Asuka is living with Hikari, skipping school and mindlessly playing videogames. As the two girls go to bed, we see Asuka's tears and dissilussionment break through her confident exterior. Meanwhile, SEELE is mad at Gendo for using the Lance without their permission. We also see the other Angel's biblical names listed. 12th Angel: Leliel 13th Angel: Bardiel 14th Angel: Zeruel 15th Angel: Arael Gendo is forced to leave his meeting with NERV early, as he learns that the 16th Angel has appeared. He launches 00 to confront the Angel, and 02 is deployed as a decoy. The glowing, strand shaped Angel attacks 00 and begins to infect it, which simultaneously infects Rei herself. Misato orders Asuka to attack with her 02, but Asuka's synch ratio is too low to move the EVA. Rei begins to have a vision while in the EVA, one in which she confronts another Rei who is in an ocean of LCL. As the two converse about her inevitable death and replacement, Rei comes back to reality where she sheds a tear. As Unit 01 is sent out to assist Rei, Rei says, "Does my soul want to become one with Ikari?" and notices the Angel head for 01. Using her AT Field, Rei traps the Angel near her and self destructs her EVA, killing herself and the Angel. As a NERV scavenger crew goes through the wreckage, Ritsuko tells them to retrieve the "parts" and then destroy the plug, which makes us wonder what secrets there are in simple wreckage. Elsewhere, SEELE notes that there is only one more Angel to defeat and after that Gendo can be dealt with. Shinji is in his room, feeling sad about losing Rei but finds himself unable to shed a tear. Misato tries to comfort him, even trying to hold his hand but Shinji won't let her get close to him. As Misato leaves Shinji's room, she wonders, "Is he afraid of women? No, he's just afraid of affection in general." Misato receives a phone call and quickly takes Shinji to the hospital where they find Rei alive, with the same injuries as the first episode. She also doesn't seem to remember any past events and says its because "I'm the third one." When Rei "returns" to her room, she notices Gendo's glasses on the dresser and tries to crush them. A tear rolls down her cheek, and though she finds the feeling familiar, she cannot recall having cried before. While Rei ruminates on recent events, Ritsuko is standing naked in front of the SEELE committee. Gendo sent her as "Rei's substitute" (something which irks Ritsuko), to be questioned about the recent Angel battle. Misato listens to a second message she received from Kaji, and this is what it says: "This is part of the truth you wanted to know. I sent you the same thing 36 different ways, but most of those probably won't reach you. I suspect only this capsule will reach you. This is my everything. Do with it as you will. The pass code is our first memory. Bye, take care." We see a white and red capsule (similar in design to a Tylenol gel cap) marked Rei Ayanami and a small microchip which Misato has found inside it. As Ritsuko is released from SEELE captivity, the old men talk to each other about how 8 Evangelions were supposed to be made and upon their completion, the promised day will come. Ritsuko calls Shinji and asks him to meet her at Artificial Evolution Lab Annex 3, where Misato also arrives to speak with Ritsuko. The trio enters the room and Shinji is amazed by how much it resembles Rei's room. Rei says that it is where Rei grew up and also shows them the EVA graveyard, full of failed EVA parts. Ritsuko then leads them to Central Dogma, where she shows them a tank full of many smiling Reis. She explains that the dummy plug system is Rei and that the other Rei's are replacements for Rei. The souls in EVA are "salvaged souls" and Rei is the only container that could contain the souls. "The Room of Gauf is empty", says Ritsuko and she proceeds to kill each Rei with the press of one button. She says that they weren't human and only shells and displays her sadness that Gendo chose Rei over her when it came to emotional devotion. Ritsuko breaks down crying and Misato realizes she need not shoot Ritsuko: her own machinations have become her downfall. Okay, thats a lot to digest. Apparently the EVAs have souls in them and it's pretty easy to guess which ones. The term "salvaged souls" would seem to be indicative of taking souls from the dead so we can safely say 01 has Yui Ikari, 02 has Asuka's mom, 03 has Toji's sister and 00 has Naoko Akagi. How did I figure that out? Just rewatch previous episodes for clues. As far as Rei is concerned, it would also seem her soul transfers from one body to the next, and that may be what Ritsuko salvaged from the wreckage. This episode answers a lot of questions, but Rei is more than what she seems I'm sure.