is the nineteenth episode of the Japanese anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was created by animation studio Gainax. Hideaki Anno and Akio Satsukawa wrote the episode, which animator Masayuki directed. The series' protagonist is Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy whose father Gendo recruited him to the special military organization Nerv to pilot a gigantic biomechanical mecha named Evangelion into combat against beings called Angels. In the episode, Shinji conflicts with his father and leaves Nerv. As he is about to leave Tokyo 3, Angel Zeruel attacks the city, defeating Asuka Langley Soryu's Eva-02 and Rei Ayanami's Eva-00. Shinji again boards his Eva-01, which goes berserk and devours Zeruel.
During the production of "Introjection", animator Takeshi Honda gave the female characters a youthful touch. The episode reprises several situations and frames from the first episodes of the series to show Shinji's growth and maturation. The installment includes cultural references to the manga artist Daijirō Morohoshi, the Japanese anime series Ultraman, Buddhism, and Christianity. The episode's title refers to the eponymous psychological concept.
"Introjection" was first broadcast on TV Tokyo on February 7, 1996, and drew an eight-percent audience share on Japanese television. Critics praised the episode for its direction and action sequences, considering it one of the best episodes of the series. Merchandise based on "Introjection" has been released.
Plot Shinji Ikari, pilot of the mecha Eva-01, protests against his father Gendo, commander of the special agency Nerv. Gendo used his Eva-01 to destroy Bardiel, the thirteenth of a series of humanity's enemies called Angels. During the battle, the mecha Eva-03 has also been destroyed, despite the mecha containing its pilot, Toji Suzuhara, Shinji's friend. Shinji is stopped by Nerv operators and decides to leave Nerv. Meanwhile, Toji awakens after the battle against Bardiel with his left leg amputated. Misato Katsuragi, the head of Nerv's strategic department, greets Shinji, telling him she has placed her hope in him. As Shinji stands on the station platform about to leave Tokyo-3, the Angel Zeruel attacks the city. Asuka Soryu Langley, the pilot aboard Eva-02, attempts to stop Zeruel, but it easily defeats the mecha.
Asuka's fellow pilot Rei Ayanami aboard Eva-00 takes an explosive device and launches a surprise kamikaze attack, attempting to hit Zeruel's core, but she is also defeated. Shinji witnesses the battle and meets Asuka's guardian, Ryoji Kaji, and tells him humanity would be destroyed if an Angel were to make contact with an entity called Adam, which is kept in Nerv headquarters. Shinji confronts his father, re-boards Eva-01, and fights Zeruel. During the battle, Eva-01 runs out of power, and Zeruel launches an attack on Eva-01's core. As Shinji cries out in despair, Eva-01 reactivates, defeating and devouring Zeruel, absorbing their S2 engine in the process.
Production Genesis and staff In 1993, Gainax wrote a presentation document entitled for Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Proposal included a description of the fifteenth episode, in which Unit 01 would be heavily damaged, then remodeled and upgraded. Elements of the episode plan were used in "Introjection", in which Zeruel damages Eva-01 and absorbs the Angels' S² engine. In Proposal nineteenth episode, Asuka was to injure herself in an attempt to protect Shinji, who would try to prove himself, and the first air battle of the series would occur. In the final version, Zeruel mutilates Eva-02; Asuka is defeated, but she does not attempt to protect Shinji. The plan also included a change in the relationship between Shinji and Asuka, a scenario that was later presented in the movie The End of Evangelion (1997), and a cuboid origami Angel would change shape in a manner similar to a Möbius strip. At the time, production of a television series did not allow Anno to use the idea, but he used paper-like arm elements for Zeruel and for Armisael in "Rei III".
The series staff originally planned an ending in which twelve final enemies called Apostolos, the most powerful ever seen, would appear from the Moon, like the Twelve Apostles of the New Testament. Evangelion Chronicle, an official encyclopedia about the series, links this initial scenario to Zeruel, the most powerful Angel to appear in all of Neon Genesis Evangelion, being the twelfth enemy to appear and attack Tokyo-3 since the third Angel Sachiel. The scenario also included an enhancement to Evangelion units in the second half of the series; Eva-01 was to be strengthened using the power of the Apostolos. The Proposal document also mentions a "positron engine" that was to equip Evangelion units; this later became the S2 engine in the final version of the anime. The staff included a description of Ryoji Kaji in the document; he is thought of as a positive influence on Shinji's path, and encourages him with words that help him grow. This element is found in the scene in which Kaji encourages Shinji in "Introjection". Staff also originally wanted Kaji to die in the nineteenth episode. The episode's original draft called for Kaji to tell Shinji that if an Angel managed to remove the Spear of Longinus from Adam, it would trigger the Third Impact. Shinji would then have heard Asuka urge him to act like a man, Misato tell him to decide for himself what to do, and Ayanami reprimand him for continuing to run away from unpleasant things. Kaji would then have remarked, "The women have already told you. I won't force you". The original plan also called for a scene in which Gendo accepted Shinji as Eva-01's pilot and asked him to board the Eva. During the battle, Shinji would have screamed in horror as he witnessed Eva-01's true form. Overcome with nausea, he would have covered his mouth and seen Eva-01's hand stained with blood, briefly superimposing the image of his own blood-covered hand onto it.
Hideaki Anno, Neon Genesis Evangelion main director, and Akio Satsukawa wrote "Introjection". Masayuki, the series' assistant director, worked on storyboards and direction; the other assistant directors were Ken Ando and Masahiko Otsuka. Takeshi Honda was the chief animator, while Yoshito Asari and Masayuki worked as assistant character designers. The staff included animators Yasushi Muraki, Hiroaki Aida, Shoichi Masuo, Mitsuo Iso, experts in action mecha anime, and Takashi Hashimoto. Production also involved other studios besides Gainax, including Studio Cockpit, FAI International, Studio Tarji, and Tatsunoko Color Center.
Writing
In the previous episode, "Ambivalence", Toji Suzuhara is injured in the clash with Bardiel, and in "Introjection", he is depicted in a hospital room with an amputated left leg. The indication was not in the storyboard, but was given only at the animation stage. Anno originally wanted to kill Toji, but he promised during the production of the series his friend Toshimichi Ōtsuki, a representative of King Records, not to kill minor characters. This event is related to Anno's personal experience; his father, Takuyo Anno, lost his left leg in a youthful accident with a power saw and was forced to wear a prosthesis for the rest of his life. Hideaki Anno himself said in an interview that he experienced firsthand the burden of his father's inferiority complex over his physical disability and that its consequences profoundly shaped him. Following the accident, Anno developed a fascination with deformity, believing he could love only something that is stumpy. Furthermore, in Tetsujin 28-go, a show Anno watched as a child, a robot loses an arm; for this reason, Anno included scenes in which mechas are cruelly mutilated in his works. During "Introjection", Eva-02 loses both arms, while Eva-01 loses its left arm. The episode also contrasts Toji's permanently amputated leg with Eva-01, which regenerates its severed arm, emphasizing the difference between humans and Evangelions. Academic scholar River Seager described the result as "eerie and gothic, often blurring the line between the genres of mecha and horror". The episode also introduces the concept of Eva-01's "awakening". Rather than the everyday verb , it uses the more literary term . In an interview, critic Oizumi Sanenari asked director Anno whether the choice of kakusei reflected the concept of Kundalini awakening promoted by the Aum Shinrikyō sect, which had become the focus of intense public attention following the Tokyo subway sarin attack during the series' original broadcast. Anno replied that the resemblance stemmed from "subliminality or imprinting", arguing that he had unconsciously absorbed that kind of language from the cultural atmosphere of the time; he also said that he chose this and other literary Japanese expressions simply because he liked the way they sounded and out of a sense of pedantry.
The second half of the series suffered from a tight schedule and production delays, and staff deviated from the original plans. Gainax had completed only twelve episodes by the time the series began airing after nearly two years of production, leaving the staff to produce the remaining fourteen in just six months—roughly one-third of the time they had spent on the first twelve. The disastrous production schedule drastically reduced the number of available animation cels, leading to a corresponding decline in animation quality and provoking disagreements among the series' staff. Since the episodes were delivered at the last minute, the series' broadcaster TV Tokyo could not check them before airing. "Introjection" increases the show's violence, including a bloody fight in which an Eva unit eats Zeruel. According to writer Virginie Nebbia, Anno had earlier used this strategy for his previous anime series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, but for Evangelion it was only partially the result of the authors' will. The staff had planned to animate a large-scale battle for the finale, but around "Introjection" they realized that they could no longer animate action scenes. Gainax therefore had to choose between telling the story through dialogue alone or presenting it with recycled, low-quality footage. Gainax's goal was to achieve the greatest possible effect with the least possible effort. Despite difficulties caused by the timing and the departure of some staff members, the staff of the series produced work of a certain quality until "Introjection". According to Anno, the staff still worked together for the installment. "Introjection" therefore became the last battle the staff animated with virtually all of its remaining resources. Around the same time, Anno also decided how to end the series. Anno compared the episode's production to a live concert in which the staff did what they thought "was best for the moment", saying, "We give top priority to cost performance". According to Evangelion assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki, the episode reflects Anno's writing style, which is deductive rather than inductive; Anno does not have the final destination in mind, except vaguely, but gradually chooses the path to take.