Reichu: Renewal always looks crisper and nicer than the original, but, for many of the cuts in this scene, there is an unexpected price to pay. Some colors end up too dark, making what was originally, say, two shades one. Additionally, although the puke-green tint of the original is not something I miss, the new, reddish tint — along with the darkening of many shades — takes away the impact of the blood, which is a pity, IMO. I use mostly Renewal shots here nonetheless, although a few are from the original (015 ~ 018), filtered to be the right tint. Even though they're still a little "weak" looking.

Some Original Vs. Renewal comparisons dumped down here, until I feel like moving them to a more appropriate place.

Screen CUT IN
Beyond the Moon, a brilliant, beautiful blue planet comes IN.
At the end of the cut, a light is emitted from the darkness of the South Pole.

Missing Number:
The Antarctic continent is engulfed in a sphere of light.
A shockwave slowly spreads over the surrounding area
The light grows larger.

Reichu: Will add econte scan later.

Reichu: ♪ "The corpses, my friends, are blowing in the wind…" ♪

The bodies of wintering team members lie in heaps.
Beyond them, on ground level, a human figure is walking unsteadily.
(He holds a smaller person in his arms.)
Clouds of sand roll up in front.

Reichu: Ah. Good ol' Katsuragi-hakase*. Perhaps the most criminally neglected character in the show. He's kept in the shadows, sure, but nobody's attempted to shine any lights on him, either, despite the fact that we're supposed to… You'd think the cornerstone of Second Impact and the motive force behind Misato would get a little more attention. Fear not: Reichu will be correcting this.

BTW, since it's really hard to see some of the "finer" details in the dark Renewal version, here's a filtered-to-death screenshot from the Original. You actually need it to see his all-important lefty.

* -hakase 博士 = Dr. (Ph.D.)

The roof of the base, where a section has come off.
The living nightmare outside is visible through the gaps.

Reichu: This and 009 use somewhat disorienting low "camera" angles, which is why we're seeing the palm side. His left hand doesn't seem very consistent with the prior cut -- the original script even specifies that it be "deep red with blood" -- but, eh, what can you do.

Remember this poor man's hand (here and in 006), and remember it well. Aside from reiterating the "tattered, teetering hand" visually with another character, the show will be rewarding those who were really paying attention. In that cruelly minimalistic, NGE sort of way. This shot may also be indicating that Dr. Katsuragi is left-handed -- would that make him the only known character of said dexterity in the cast?

Check out the ample closeups I took the liberty of including: ouch! And this is just his left arm. He's got the parka covering almost everything else.

The man’s hand teeters unsteadily into the foreground. (His skin hangs like a tattered cloth.)

Beyond the camera’s view, he seizes a lever firmly and pulls it with his middle and ring fingers, as the other ones have become useless.

Reichu: Interestingly, the storyboards depict Adam minus pylons, plus wings. While the pylons actually do serve a practical non-armament purpose after all, the substitution here in the final seems a little odd to me, considering future exposition on the circumstances leading up to this scene. I guess they're just off-screen?

Reichu: "Demon" here is akuma, which represents the Western concept of "demon" — or, more specifically, the Devil. Satan. Sammael if you're cool. Lucifer if you're not.

Strangely enough (or is it?), that's more or less what one of the JSSDF badasses calls EVA-01 much later on ("Masa ni akuma ka" — "Is it the Devil himself?"), even though it's at least doubly ironic. I.e., the guy doesn't know damned shit about what — or who — he's really looking at. (Reminds me of a lot of fans… </sardonicism>)