Week 3 Anime Notes

• Neon Genesis Evangelion

The key focus of this episode is the budding relationship between Shinji and his classmates, specifically Suzuhara and Aida. Shinji has very much in common with his classmates – they have all lost their mothers, and their fathers work at NERV, leaving them often absent from home. They all have abnormal home lives because of this: Shinji is estranged from his father, Suzuhara takes care of his sister by himself, and as we discover later, Aida often runs away from home for long periods of time.

Suzuhara and Shinji are initially at odds, because both of them have learned to become defensive as a coping mechanism. In Shinji’s case, he suffers from a “hedgehog’s dilemma.” Because he believes he cannot make friends, he does not make friends. Suzuhara, on the other hand, is prone to violence, and is protective of his family. He has become ultramasculine as a result of his father’s absence from home.

• Berserk

This episode establishes the parameters of Griffith’s relationship with his troops. He strikes an odd balance between cold-eyed commander and father; while he does not seem to care for his troops on a personal level, they all respect him imminently. The only person that Griffith does show an interest in is Guts. In fact, the level of respect Griffith seems to have for Guts seems to hint at Griffith’s homosexual attraction to Guts. Caska acts as Griffith’s second before Guts shows up, but Griffith cares so little for Caska that he actually asks her to sleep nude next to Guts, in order to “warm his body.” But Griffith risks his own life to go back and save Guts from the enemy when Guts is in trouble. The question the viewer has to ask themselves is: does Griffith save Guts because he knows Guts is a valuable asset, or does he save Guts because of a deeper, personal connection? This answer is made clear over the course of the show, and is in fact one of the key themes of all Berserk.

• Lupin III

This episode of Lupin was surprisingly drab. It had to do with a group called the Killers of Killers, who had grown a flower which could be used to synthesize a high-powered explosive. But there’s also this hippie girl who has had some of the flower put into her DNA? I think? So she can’t live without the flowers. But at the end Lupin burns them, even though he knows this, and then seems shocked when the girl dies. The episode ends inexplicably with Lupin riding a missile. The theme here is sometimes you have to break a few eggs to stop a plot to make missiles using exploding flowers.

• Gurren Lagaan

This episode focused on the teamwork of the core group; that is, Yoko, Kamina and Simon. Simon has trouble trusting himself, and Yoko has trouble trusting others besides herself. Both must deal with these traits in this episode. When Yoko offers to pilot the Lagaan in place of Simon, Kamina tells her that she should not believe in herself, but instead believe in her teammates, who in turn believe in her. This same advice is what allows Simon to overcome his fear of battle and help Kamina in the pivotal moment of this episode; he realizes that Kamina is fighting his heart out for the good of the group, and Simon in turn does the same for Kamina.