EVERYDAY EVA Episode 7: Women in STEM, or Misato the Hero | Mecha March

Welcome back to EVERYDAY EVA, the blog series where I aim to cover one episode of Evangelion every single day for Mecha March 2022!

NERV’s brilliant women jump to the forefront as man insists on a doomed hope.

Ah, normalcy returns to Eva, if only for a brief period. Episode 7: “A Human Work” provides lots for fans: Misato’s signature drinking cheer, the Shinji coffee cup meme, sassy conference Ritsuko, and of course, Jet Alone. Misato really is the hero of this episode, which works out well given that Shinji and Rei were the focal point of the past couple episodes. Gendou makes some mysterious moves, but I suppose that’s become normal Gendou behavior to the viewer by now. Answers about the Second Impact (thanks to Ritsuko) conclude all the necessary information of the Prologue, which the production notes mark as Episodes 1-7. The levity of Episode 7 also allows for a low-stakes situation to boil into a high-stakes scenario, which leads us to the J.A. Project.

What stands out most prudently to this episode is confrontation between NERV and the government. “NERV’s claim to the throne won’t last forever,” the man leading the Jet Alone conference (named Tokita, but we don’t care about him) announces. I always despised the way he used his arguments against NERV’s incompetence as a way to dig at women in general. He’s awful, and I’m glad he’s made an absolute fool when Jet Alone inevitably fails. And oh how infamously it falls.

Misato officially wins her status as best girl when she slips into a plugsuit and boards Jet Alone’s nuclear interior to deactivate it manually. It’s such a Misato thing to do—such an Anno dilemma to create—and while I’m glad she pulled it off, I can’t help but want to side with Ritsuko a little. (In other words, it would totally show their asses if NERV just decided to let Jet Alone blow up in their faces.) For the best, however, Misato’s heroics pull through, and we are rewarded with a third morning of the queen crackin’ a cold one with the boys. Anno’s use of repetitive animation sequences sure works well in establishing a comfortable routine.

But don’t stay comfortable for too long—Asuka arrives in the next episode, and a new saga of battles opens for Shinji and co. And trust me when I say that the Unit-02 pilot is about to make WAVES. Thanks for reading, and ‘til next time!

– Takuto