Fourth Child

"Fourth Child"
Neon Genesis Evangelion episode
The Dummy Plug implant with Rei Ayanami.
Episode no.	Episode 17
Directed by	Minoru Ohara
Written by	Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi
Original air date	January 24, 1996 (1996-01-24)
Running time	22 minutes
Episode chronology
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"Fourth Child"^[a] is the seventeenth episode of the Japanese anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was created by Gainax. Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi wrote the episode, directed by Minoru Ohara. The series' protagonist is Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy whose father Gendo recruited him to the special military organization Nerv to pilot a gigantic, bio-mechanical mecha named Evangelion into combat with beings called Angels. In the course of the episode, Eva-04 along with Nerv's Second American Division disappears, and Toji Suzuhara is selected as the pilot of Eva-03. Hikari Horaki, class leader of Toji and Shinji's class, proposes to Toji to prepare something for him to eat.

"Fourth Child" contains references to scientific and religious concepts, such as nucleotide bases, apoptosis, the Dirac sea, the God Marduk, and crucifixion. Shinji Higuchi in his writing was particularly inspired by the Ultraman franchise, conceiving the episode as the "calm before the storm" presented in the following, "Ambivalence", in which Shinji's reality changes drastically.

"Fourth Child" was first broadcast on January 24, 1996, and drew a 7.3% audience share on Japanese television. The installment received a divided reception from critics. The Anime Café and Film School Rejects complained about poor pacing and criticized animation quality, while Newtype, Anime News Network, and Digitally Obsessed appreciated Hikari's characterization and the episode's script.

The Instrumentality Committee, a body behind which is a sect called Seele, interrogates Nerv Captain Misato Katsuragi about Leliel, twelveth of a series of being named Angels, and his attempted contact with the Eva-01 mecha and its pilot, Shinji Ikari. Misato denies that there could have been such an attempt. After the interrogation is over, Gendo Ikari, captain of Nerv, claims that the Angels are beginning to gain consciousness.

Toji Suzuhara visits his sister in the hospital. Meanwhile, the second U.S. section of Nerv in Nevada disappears after an experiment with the Eva-04. The US government therefore decides to transport Eva-03 to Japan. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi meanwhile discusses a new piloting system called the Dummy System with Gendo. At school, Toji is assigned to bring overdue homework to Rei Ayanami, who has been absent for several days. Shinji accompanies him; noticing Rei's dirty house, Shinji cleans her room, and Rei blushes and thanks him.

Gendo and Nerv deputy commander Kozo Fuyutsuki discuss the Eva-04 incident and the Dead Sea Scrolls by train. Meanwhile, Ryoji Kaji, an investigator and Nerv member, reveals to Misato that the Marduk Institute, believed to be in charge of choosing Eva's pilots, does not actually exist. Kaji later goes out with Shinji, discussing together life and unpleasant situations in Kaji's private garden. At the school in Tokyo-3 city, Toji is called to the presidency. In the afternoon, he meets with Hikari Horaki, class leader, and Hikari offers to personally prepare him something to eat. In the final scene, as Eva-03 travels crucified through the skies of America, Toji throws a ball into the basketball court, silent.

In 1993, Gainax wrote a presentation document for Neon Genesis Evangelion entitled New Century Evangelion (tentative name) Proposal (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン (仮) 企画書, Shinseiki Evangelion (kari) kikakusho), containing the initial synopses of the planned episodes.^[1][2] The Proposal document was published in 1994.^[3][4] For the first twelve episodes aired, the company followed the proposal's schedule with only a few minor script differences.^[5][6] From the thirteenth episode onward, the production deviated from the writers' original plan and from the submission document.^[7] According to Michael House, American translator for Gainax,^[8] Neon Genesis Evangelion's main director Hideaki Anno initially intended to give the story a happy ending but during production, he realized he had created problematic characters so he changed his plans.^[7] Furthermore, according to Hiroki Azuma, a culture critic who interviewed Anno, during the airing of the series, Anno began to criticize obsessive anime fans, known as otaku,^[9][10] whom he considered closed-minded and introverted,^[11] and changed his original plans by creating a more-dramatic, introspective mid-series story.^[12]

In the original 1993 draft, the idea of an American division suddenly disappearing^[13][14] and the accident during the construction of Eva-04^[15] were already planned. The names of Hikari's sisters^[16] and the Marduk Institute were also added in the Proposal. In the Kikakusho, the Marduk Institute was described an organization that acts on the "hypothesis of new mental cranial nerve vibrations", according to which only orphaned teenage boys can synchronize with the Evangelions; in the final broadcast version it was represented fictitious society behind which Gendo Ikari is actually hiding.^[17] Initially, the seventeenth installment was supposed to represent Asuka's first date and Misato's past. It was intended as a light episode just before the series reaches its climax. Some elements of the initial idea later flowed into "Magmadiver", which features Asuka and Kaji together in a shopping mall in the opening scene, and into the episode "He was aware that he was still a child."^[18] The original script of the eleventh episode, "The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still", included an explicit mention of the S² engine taken from Shamshel's body; Ritsuko would comment by saying that the S² engine is an unknown energy whose basic theory is "only a hypothesis".^[19] In the original script of the eighteenth episode, staff also included a scene in which Toji goes to visit his sister in her hospital room. Although his sister was not supposed to be framed and have no dialogue, Toji would talk to her and tell her that he had made his decision and leave her a well-gifted present.^[20]

Shinji Higuchi^[21] and Hideaki Anno wrote the screenplay for "Fourth Children",^[22] while Akira Oguro produced the storyboards.^[23][24] Minoru Ohara directed the episode with Mau Hanabata as chief animator.^[25] Production also involved studios other than Gainax, including FAI International, Neox and Cockpit Studio.^[26][27]

Shinji Higuchi, who worked on the episode's script,^[28] had previously written the storyboards for "Asuka Strikes!"^[29][30] and "Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!".^[31] He wrote "Fourth Child" as the "calm before the storm" and action of "Ambivalence" and "Introjection," particularly insisting on the character's interpersonal relationships so as to create a solid setting before showing Shinji losing the emotional support of Toji and Misato.^[32][19] The story also prepares for the following episode, in which Gendo betrays Shinji;^[33] according to writer Virginie Nebbia, Higuchi borrowed this scheme of two linked episodes from the Ultraman franchise.^[34] Because of his commitments to Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996), after writing the draft for "Fourth Children" and Ambivalence" he left the rest to Anno, causing problems for the production.^[33]

Higuchi wanted to emphasize the fragility of Tokyo-3 city and all its infrastructure at this stage of the series, with Shinji's school depicted as a building that can be dismantled at any time.^[19] Nerv, by contrast, is depicted as increasingly powerful.^[28][32] According to Higuchi, the relationship between Shinji and Misato is also as fragile as Tokyo-3.^[33][19] He compared this scenario with the Return of Ultraman series. In Return of Ultraman, Hideki Go alternates between the MAT organization and the Sakata family, his normal civilian friends and recurring characters in the series. His friends Ken and Aki Sakata, however, suddenly die in a car accident. Loving plots with this "overwhelming sense of impermanence," Higuchi tried to recreate a similar story. However, he regretted making Hikari a classic "young girl in love".^[33] Higuchi wanted to recreate a "vacillating" adolescent mind, since he himself in junior high school could not declare himself when he fell in love with someone. As Higuchi himself pointed out, Neon Genesis Evangelion' characters usually do not trust other people; however, Hikari falls in love with Toji, and this contrast further underscores the tragedy of Toji, who in the following episode is severely injured in battle.^[33]

Evangelion Chronicle magazine noted that the direction features many scenes set at dusk and distant shots, creating a third-person perspective; this directorial device presents events in an objective and detached manner, in contrast to the introspective and subjective perspective of other scenes in the series.^[35] Higuchi stated in an interview that he hated plots driven only by the characters' emotions; instead, he wanted to make something similar to Jun Ichikawa's films.^[33] Azuma also noted how from the seventeenth episode onward Anno uses directorial techniques similar to those of Jean-Luc Godard.^[9] According to Azuma, however, Anno was not directly influenced by Godard; Anno actually named Kihachi Okamoto among its influences, a director influenced by Okamoto.^[10] The official filmbook about the episode noted how Kaji is possibly modeled after UFO Captain Foster.^[36] Higuchi also stated that Anno asked him to portray Kaji as Masao Kusakari, who portrayed Shunsuke Ryuzaki in the television series Pro Hunter.^[33] The installment also features a scene at vending machines, an element typical of another earlier work by Anno, GunBuster.^[37]

Takashi Nagasako, Motomu Kiyokawa, Katsumi Suzuki, and Takehito Koyasu returned in "Fourth Children" to voice the members of the Instrumentality Committee who interrogate Misato in the first scene. Junko Iwao, Megumi Ogata, and Miki Nagasawa, who voice other main characters in the series, played the roles of the unnamed nurses at Toji's sister's hospital, and along with Koichi Nagano and Megumi Hayashibara, they voiced the announcers and operators of Nerv.^[26][38] Singer Aki^[39] also sung a "Fly Me to the Moon" cover named "Jungle Version" as the ending theme of the episode.^[40][41]

The original title of the episode is actually "Fourth Children."^[42] In the series, in fact, pilots are called "Children," even in the case of a single subject.^[43] According to writers Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster, the term may refer to the expression "children of God" mentioned in the New Testament.^[44] The choice to keep the plural even for individual pilots has been interpreted as foreshadowing the fact that Rei actually has many clones^[45][46] and an homage to the Space Runaway Ideon series.^[47] Academic Masaki Miyakawa compared the scene in which Nerv's staff is around a table after the Second Branch incident to a similar scene from Space Battleship Yamato.^[48] During the installment, the Dead Sea Scrolls of Seele, inspired by the actual Qumran scrolls,^[49][50] are mentioned.^[51][52] In the original storyboard, the Seele was actually supposed to be called by the name "Essenes", a name for a Second Temple Judaism sect.^[53] Writers Kazuhiza Fujie and Martin Foster noted that it is said the Dead Sea Scrolls were deposited by the Essenes themselves.^[54] The names of Hikari's sisters, Nozomi and Kodama, are names of Japanese high-speed trains.^[55][56] "Fourth Child" also names the JS Myōkō, an actually existing destroyer.^[57] A Nerv site located in Matsushiro is also named; in reality there is an underground Japanese imperial headquarters in Matushiro,^[58] whose space Nerv used.^[59][60]

"Fourth Child" also contains references to scientific concepts and religion, particularly Christianity. In the early scenes of the episode, Dr. Akagi claims that the second U.S. branch of Nerv was probably swallowed by a Dirac sea^[61] and disappeared.^[62][24] The expression refers to Paul Dirac's vacuum theoretic model of the same name;^[63][64] critics have linked Evangelion depiction of the Dirac sea more to the version presented in the novel Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights (億の昼と千億の夜, Oku no hiru to sen oku no yoru) by Ryu Mitsuse rather than the real Dirac sea.^[65][66] In another sequence of "Fourth Child," some portfolios of Shinji and other characters are seen in which the terms apobiosis and apoptosis are mentioned.^[67]

Throughout the episode, it is visible a scene with Rei in the Dummy Plug Implant, formed by a test tube-like implant and brain-like tubes.^[68][69] There is a magic square on the floor,^[70] while the letters A; C; G and T, corresponding to the four nucleotide bases, are visible in the room.^[71][72] The magic square comes from The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy by Lama Anagarika Govinda and represents the structure and development of human consciousness. It also shows an outer rime and four stars which writers Víctor Sellés de Lucas and Manuel Hernández-Pérez compared with The Lesser Key of Solomon.^[73] According to academic Tomoko Sakamoto and series staff, the device serves as a backup to Rei's memory.^[74][75] The Evangelion Glossary (エヴァンゲリオン用語事典, Evangerion Yougo Jiten) by Yahata Shoten linked the Dummy System, based on Rei's personality, to Karl H. Pribram's holonomic brain theory, according to which memory is not an activity limited to a specific brain area.^[76]

Ritsuko names the Super-Solenoid engine, also known as S² engine, in "Fourth Child".^[41][77] Evangelion Chronicle magazine likened the S² engine to a perpetual motion machine, such as Archimedean spiral, believed to be incompatible with the laws of thermodynamics, and to the anthropic principle, according to which there is a hidden energy in genes that has advanced life.^[78] It is acquired through the findings of the Angel Shamshel^[79] and gives great powers to the Angels;^[80] it can be linked to the Biblicals fruit of life^[81][82][83] and tree of life.^[84] Kaji also reveals to Misato that the Marduk Institute is a fictitious corporation behind which Nerv hides.^[85] The name of the institute refers to the Babylonian deity Marduk,^[86] known by dozens of different epithets;^[87][88] Neon Genesis Evangelion Marduk Institute by analogy is composed of dozens of fictitious enterprises.^[32][89] In the final scene, Eva-03 is carried crucified in the air.^[41][90] The cross is a recurring motif in the series; according to an official program book on Evangelion, it has the double meaning of bloody death and self-sacrifice, but it is unclear which of the two meanings the series follows.^[91] Neon Genesis Evangelion assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki, said in an interview that Christian graphic symbols were used for artistic reasons by the main staff, because they were considered "cool" for the Japanese audience, and they were intended to differentiate Neon Genesis Evangelion from other mecha anime.^[92][93]

"Fourth Child" features tones of a typical scholastic romantic comedy,^[94] focusing its attention on characters emotions and relationships:^[41] Asuka, for example, scolds Shinji for forgetting their lunch,^[94] and Toji teases them by saying that they look like two bickering spouses.^[95] Hikari's feminine side,^[96] Rei's emotions and Shinji's evolution are also explored.^[41][77] Misato is perplexed when faced with a choice she has to make,^[97] and unlike Ritsuko she tries to prioritize her feelings, something that has sparked disagreements in the past with Ritsuko herself.^[98] In another scene, Ritsuko looks at Rei with a look that suggests frustration or jealousy.^[41][77] Rei, on the other hand, who had hitherto remained cold, blushes at Shinji's kindness and notices how instead toward Gendo she never directed words of gratitude. This shows her evolution^[99][100] and greater emotionality.^[41] Newtype magazine also noted that when Shinji cleans Rei's room, Toji points out how he has changed from their first meeting,^[101] in which he appeared as a lonely guy who "did not want to engage with other people".^[102][103]

In a scene from "Fourth Child", Ritsuko and Commander Ikari discuss the Dummy System, a system that simulates the tracks of a soul, saying that "the soul cannot be digitized".^[41][104] The concept of the soul is taken up later in the series, as in the case of the Guf's chamber,^[105] and Nerv treats it as a concrete entity.^[77] Dennis Redmond has interpreted this as a "stinging critique of East Asia's indigenous industrialism".^[95] Moreover, according to Redmond, the disappearance of the Nerv base in Nevada is reminiscent of the post-Cold War scenario of Half-Life, which depicts a similar catastrophe at the Black Mesa Research Facility in Arizona.^[95] In another scene, Commander Ikari argues with Fuyutsuki about the city of Tokyo-3, claiming that after the expulsion from Eden, Man, the weakest living creature, took refuge in the cities^[106] with the help of science. The dialogue is a clear reference to the book of Genesis.^[107] According to the official filmbooks of the series, the scene reveals many mysteries about the Evangelion plot.^[108] According to Redmond, the dialogue implies that Gendo "is not the stereotypical mad scientist" and reveals an "unexpected vein of humanity" in him.^[72]

In the first scene, Misato is questioned by the Instrumentality Committee;^[109] Misato rejects the possibility of systematic action by the Angels, to which the Commission corresponds, "Their actions are independent, so far".^[110] Gendo, at the end of the session, says: "The Angels are beginning to attain intelligence".^[24] It is introduced the possibility of Angels learning and evolving.^[111] According to academic Satoshi Tsukamoto, the sentence means that the Angels "are attempting to acquire abilities to compete against human beings and control them".^[112] Writer Kitamura similarly stated that the Angels gradually make progress in communicating with the Evas they fight and send message to Shinji during the series.^[112] In another scene, Kaji takes Shinji to his melon field; Evangelion Chronicle noted how the shape of the melons resembles that of the Angel Leliel.^[113] According to Redmond, Kaji's field shows that Nerv's geofront "is also the symbolic global ecology of Tokyo-3's multinational city".^[114] Perhaps concerned about Shinji, Kaji begins to address the subject of unpleasant things and the pleasure of seeing something grow.^[19][113] Kaji also tells Shinji that those who suffer show kindness to others.^[115][116] The theme of "unpleasant things" was already covered in the previous episode.^[41][19]

Another theme of the episode is masculinity, which has already been addressed in previous episodes of the series. In the early episodes, Misato tells Shinji to act like a man,^[117][118] while Asuka's character takes him back with phrases such as "You are a man, aren't you?",^[119][120] attacking his masculinity.^[121][122] In the vending machine scene, for example, Kaji proposes to Shinji to go out, and Shinji replies, "I'm a boy".^[77] This could mean that the boy is trying to find self-confidence and is accepting his masculine role.^[41] By contrast, academic Cristopher Smith said that, after being trapped in Eva-01 cockpit and the womb-like Leliel in the previous episode, Shinji pretense at performing hegemonic violent masculinity collapsed, so in "Fourth Children" he returned to his normal speech patterns and happily cleans up Rei’s apartment.^[123] Toji is also a boy trying to forcibly act masculine.^[19] Yūichirō Oguro, editor of the extra materials for the home video editions of the series, noted how Toji constantly wears a track suit, although he is not good at sports and is not a member of the basketball club.^[77] In the scene where Toji and Shinji clean Rei's room, Toji responds that cleaning is not something a real man should do. Oguro related this theme to the novel Ai to gensō no fascism (愛と幻想のファシズム, "The Fascism of Love and Fantasy") by Ryu Murakami, from which the names Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida are taken; in Murakami's novel, in fact, macho masculinity is discussed, and masculinity is seen as an illusion.^[124] After his selection as Eva pilot, Toji's behaviour changes, probably because he knows Shinji's pain of piloting the Eva.^[125] According to Yūichirō Oguro, the final scene of the episode, in which Toji plays at basketball, represents his final decision.^[19]

"Fourth Child" was first broadcast on January 24, 1996, and drew a 7.3% audience share on Japanese television.^[126] Merchandise based on the episode, including a line of official tee-shirts,^[127] has been released.^[128][129]

Film School Rejects Maxi Covill stated that there is a lot of world building that has to be accomplished in "Fourth Child", making the episode "a little on the slow side".^[130] The Anime Café's Akio Nagatomi noted that the quality of the animation declined and criticized the quality of writing: "It almost feels as if the writers had run out of materials, and they're trying to fill in the time to make their allocated 24 episode slot".^[131] According to Nagatomi, the writers could have set up the plotwist of Toji being the Fourth Child better; he also criticized the long scenes of Gendo and Fuyutsyki on the train, saying: "Their entire conversation could have been presented in far less time, without covering all the other extraneous garbage".^[131] Other reviewers were more appreciative. Newtype magazine described the representation of Hikari's feelings as "touching".^[132][133] Digitally Obsessed's Joel Cunningham gave a positive review of "Fourth Child" and its presentation of the plot, writing that the episode "nicely illustrates the balance this series is able to maintain".^[134] Anime News Network's Martin Theron praised "Fourth Child" and the other episodes of the arc, noting that, "Nothing that happens in these episodes is coincidence. Even the smallest details matter".^[135] GameFan magazine similarly praised "Fourth Child" and "Ambivalence", giving them an A for the story.^[136]

• "Fourth Child" at IMDb