Reichu: I never made the particular connection the script speaks of here… Oh well.

EVA-01 is reduced to a mere cameo in this episode. Why must they be so cruel to me?!? ;_;

tv33: I feel like it's watching me!

Reichu: And Misato makes the obligatory reference to one of the episode's titles. ^_^ It's interesting that this episode is called "Hedgehog's Dilemma", considering we hear much more about it in #03. I suppose it's because it is the premise of this entire episode, with Shinji running away from Misato (as his surrogate mother, the person whom he is now closest to) and all.

OMF: Misato's figured out that, in his own introverted little way, Shinji was really just crying out for a hug.

Reichu: Misato "C'mere, Shinji. Lemmee give you a hug…"

Shinji "Stop it, Misato-san!"

Mr. Tines: :lol:

Reichu: So where did the MIBs go? One can't trust Shinji to not zone out and miss his train.

Treize X: This is a government train, yes? I've always wondered why he rides this one rather than just taking a civilian one. Since he's technically no longer Nerv personnel, that would make more sense.

Mr. Tines: That and why a whole empty train for just him? Perhaps they were actually intending to whisk him off to the local Camp X-Ray equivalent, so he'd be out of circulation for the duration of the emergency, but available for the draft if needed.

Reichu: So was he going to have a prolonged visit to Atsugi's military facilities, I wonder?

tv33: That must be the most pathetic pose every imagined.

Reichu: I imagine Shinji will have chronic back pains when he's older. But actually… totally random thought here… perhaps his dumpy posture here is meant to evoke a bow?

Reichu: Misato's last line in episode #02, in case you forgot.

OMF: Her most supportive one so far, at that. This won't be the last time Shinji remembers these kind words, even if he didn't really seem to be paying attention at the time.

Reichu: That doesn't look like the most comfortable place to sit.

OMF: My posterior aches at the memories of long hours spent sitting on such fiendish contraptions.

Reichu: More of that 1337 driving we've come to expect from her.

Dr. Nick: The blood of a street ricer flows thick in her veins, I can see.

Mr. Tines: Just as well the weather is drier than it was in the first scene.

OMF: I'm surprised the whole Tokyo-3 traffic squad isn't in hot pursuit, sirens blazing, with Hyuga leaning out the side window of the lead car with a megaphone, begging her come back to the command center so they can work all this out. (Couldn't resist that one.)

Reichu: Looks like she was able to get that body work done after all.

Mr. Tines: Plastic padding and spray paint work wonders.

Quiddity: Here's a blooper that's not too hard to catch. In Japan people drive on the right side of the car, as we've already seen when Misato was driving Shinji around in episode #01. Yet here, Misato's getting out from the left side of the car even though she came by herself.

Mr. Tines: The camera angle with the special enclosure cut off on the left hand side of the frame is a serious tease.

Mr. Tines: And that framing means that we just know what's going to happen when the PoV changes…

thewayneiac: Ah, darn, he's still here.

Reichu: Again, I'm surprised his escorts took off.

BGM START: "FACE"

BGM END: "FACE"

Reichu: Our second Masami Okui song for the episode.

And, wow! 50 seconds of no on-screen action!

tv33: And yet, it feels like so much longer.

Reichu: They're being sure to establish this notorious trend early on, while they still have a budget to speak of. >::D

Magami No ER: It makes the other instances later on seem more "artistic" (as opposed to being merely cop-outs). The Platinum 0:1 booklet says that the reason for the silence was that Shinji could not find the words to convey his feelings about what he was seeing: Misato, coming back for him. So, why not say what comes to mind first? "Tadaima!" Special words that follow the course of NGE.

Reichu: We won't see the next iteration until very near the End, though.

OMF: The announcer's reference to small children simply has to have deeper meaning with regard to Misato and Shinji. You could possibly take it as alluding to the new mother and child relationship between Misato and Shinji: He's the small child accompanying her who she'll have to keep an eye on from this point forward.

OMF: Such a touching little exchange. I may weep openly.

Incisivis: The reunion with Misato suggests a rebirth of sorts, being that Shinji and Misato repeat the same greetings as when he first entered her apartment. But there is also a darker suggestion: that Shinji can't escape even when he wants to. It is the right thing to do in this circumstance, but the notion still remains, and it will be revisited in episode #19.

Gundampilotspaz: But when he says it here, he does so with conviction, unlike in episode #02. I think it implies that he really has begun to form emotional bonds with Misato, Kensuke, and Toji, and, also, that he more genuinely regards Tokyo-3 as "home". Before, it was mostly just a place to live, but now he begins to feel as though he belongs. Such powerful emotion backing those two little words. In my opinion, this exemplifies the true power of the first four episodes: the way that Shinji is built up from an emotional wreck to the rather changed person we meet in the next episode.