REC
LOCATION
UN UNDERGROUND BASE 02
AUG 15 2000 09:31:06 ~ 09:31:53

The inside of a research facility. There is a basic table placed in a corner.
SE <<Ventilation and construction work noise>>
Man A "You mean the Super Solenoid Theory that Dr. Katsuragi proposed?"
Old Man B "It's just too far-fetched!"
Old Man C "And it's still in the hypothetical stage."
Man A "But only the S² Theory can explain the motive energy of that giant."
Woman A "I heard that Ikari-san and his party are leaving on the 11th of next month."
Man D "We already have actual proof, however unintentionally."
Man E "I wish they'd locate the smoking corner a bit closer."
Woman A "There was talk about making the entire facility non-smoking, so just be happy with what you've got."
Old Man E "The fact that it exists means that it must be accepted."
Man E "I'd have to leave here if that happened. I can't work without my cigarettes."
Old Man B "I'll accept it when, and only when, all of the data's been verified."
Keel "'Scientists'... They put too much faith in their own ideas."
Woman A "It's cold, the food is bad -- this place really is at the end of the world."
Old Man C "What about the Spear of Longinus?"
Ikari "Is it self-righteousness?"
Man A "It's still where it was brought ashore after arriving from the Dead Sea last week."
Man E "Today is A Lunch again?"
Keel "So caught up in their dogma, they lose their grip on reality."
Woman A "Damn, I could kill for some Osaka sushi!"
Old Man B "Isn't some processing necessary before it's taken underground? Will it be okay?"
Man E "No way! Put me in for some Kyushu ramen!"
Ikari "Yet they are the ones who are searching for the truth. How ironic."
Man E "The contact experiment with the donor is scheduled for the 13th of next month. There will be time for any adjustments."
Woman A "Japan is just so small. Once you've seen it, it's all the same."
Keel "They are not so noble. Discovery is joy, and understanding leads to control. All they seek is their own exaltation."
Man E "That's right, your country's a lot bigger than ours!"
Old Man C "Today's experiment was on the ego threshold of that field, wasn't it?"
Man D "Yes."

Reichu: Font colors separate the three conversations going on. Arrangement is based on the second when a line of dialogue starts. (Yes, I really bothered to figure that out.)

"They are not so noble" (Karera wa sonna, suukou na mono de wa nai): Karera is "he" + "plural suffix". In translation, this is, as per common practice, rendered "they". Depending on context, it could be referring to a specific guy and other people who are with him (his "party", or whatever). Othertimes, it's used in a gender neutral manner to refer back to a group of people. Here, it would be "scientists"... yes?

I have this nagging feeling that we might be getting both. That is, on one level, you could interpret it as Keel just referring to scientists in general. But, on another, the "he" part (kare) is targeting someone specifically for his tirade (with the -ra encompassing said person's colleagues, as well). (It even sounds like Keel is spitting out the word with a "hint of venom".) Considering the chatter that occured in the room before Keel and Gendo started talking, there aren't many choices as to who it could be...

If this "double interpretational" possibility holds any water*, this little interchange could actually be dealing us some very important clues. (In NGE's typical, rather impish manner.)

* A native Japanese speaker (mr. k @ ANF) seemed to receive the impression of a "hidden target", as well, independently from me, which is an encouraging thought.

00:23:47:02 ~ 00:23:56:14

Several pipes in front. Iron plates outside flap about wildly.
Female Announcer (right) "State of emergency, state of emergency. All personnel, put on your protective gear. All workers in Level 2 and below, immediately evacuate to the upper area of Central Dogma."
There is a white light outside.
Man F (left) "Stop the surface luminescence! It's surpassing calculated predictions!"
Woman B (left) "The genes that dived into Adam have already undergone physical fusion!"
The camera is shaken. Heavy noise.
Woman C (left · radio) "All A.T. Fields are being released!"
A board goes flying.

Reichu: Why couldn't the cameramen have been of the Kensuke mentality? You know -- actually be where the action is. Yah, that's right, plural. Got at least two different ones between the three "Gone to Hell" cuts. Also take notice of the times. (I conveniently provide the durations for you in the description column.) Geez, we've got some thirty-six minutes of (mostly) behind-the-scenes madness to account for.

BTW, I'm not too sure how applicable the script's scene details are in the final. It's too damn hard to tell what's going on.

"Stop the surface luminescence!" ("Hyoumen no hakkou o tomero!"): Man F's line has been very ambiguously translated in the past (e.g., "Cut those surface lights!"), but I thoroughly suspect that it is referring to Adam, who is becoming a "Giant of Light" -- apparently as a result of her Super Solenoid going into overdrive. ("Artificial overdrive", according to the NGE2 Classified Info.)

"The genes that dived..." ("Adam ni daibu shita idenshi wa, sude ni butsuriteki yuugou o hatashite imasu!"): This line translates in a rather straightforward manner, even though the product is somewhat boggling. Genes? "Diving"? And it's not passively worded, either. ADV's Platinum translation gives Woman B's line as "DNA that was inserted" -- now, while that sounds a lot more coherent at first, perhaps we ought to just trust this whole "gene-diving" thing. Also, idenshi can be translated as either "genes" or "DNA", but as far as I know the latter would be no more the entirety of the genome than the former. ("They found some DNA at the crime site", e.g.)

REC
00:33:22:29 ~ 00:33:26:16

Illuminated scene.
Old Man G (left) "The Spear! Pull the Spear back!"
A hand railing in front. The camera filming it is shaken, producing noise.
Man H (left · speakers) "It's no good! We can't maintain the magnetic field!"
Man I (right) "It's sinking in!"

Reichu: Pffft. There's a violated über-human taking the place to Hell, and we get to see a friggin' hand railing. Blurgh.

"It's sinking in!" ("Shizunde iku zo!"): Without context, more ambiguity. All we know is that an unspecified subject is undergoing sinkage. From what little I understand, "-te iku" specifies the direction of an action as going away from the speaker (as opposed to "-te kuru", which would imply that something is coming towards the speaker). But, uh, I think that -te iku can be used in another way, too, so just ignore me until I actually know what I'm talking about. In any case, "sinking in" sounds pretty good -- but WTF does it mean?!?!

00:59:49:00 ~ 01:00:11:25

A glove caught on a piece of iron flutters about. The camera captures severed cables, etc.
Old Man J (left) "I don't care if it only makes a small difference! Keep the damage to an absolute minimum!"

Reichu: Yes, Doors of Guf, plural. There's no way to tell from the Japanese alone, as it's merely GAFU no tobira, but when we finally get explicit visuals in #26' -- the vulva-like stigmata on GNR's palms, called GAFU no tobira in the actual script -- there are, indeed, two of them. In his translation, bochan_bird utilized the plural "doors", but I don't know if he had any particular reason for doing so.

"Even if it's only ... energy as possible!" ("Konma 1 byou de ii! Yatsu jishin ni Anti A.T. Field ni kanshou kanou na, energy o shibari de saseru 'n da"): This is extremely problematic. Bochan_bird's translation is, "Even if only for a half a second, we have to put an anti-AT Field around him! Get enough energy to generate an anti-AT Field!"*, contrasted with the one I used here, from Platinum. There is a rather large "conflict of interests" here. Whose AATF is it? The folks at animelyrics.com said that the second sentence makes no sense grammatically ("good, so it's not just me"), which has me pulling out my hair. I opted for Platinum, as it is consistent with the precedent set by the show. (The only other two AATFs in the show are generated by "divinities": the Eva Series and Lilith, respectively.)

"The S² Engine and the detonator are being linked! We can't stop it!" ("S² kikan to kibaku souchi ga link sarete imasu. Kaijo funou!"): "S² kikan" is another instance of NGE "disguising" something biological in nature with a term of mechanical connotation -- kikan can mean either "engine" (as for gasoline) or "organ" (as in bodily), but the kanji chosen, 機関, tend to denote the former. But not always.

Kibaku souchi literally means "explosive mechanism", like a ... detonation device. It's beyond me what kind of "device" could be "linked" to an S² Engine -- unless they're talking about something biological in a veiled manner again. Maybe it has something to do with all of those exploding Angels later on?

Adam does a pretty good Darth Vader impersonation. </stupid observation>

* Speaking of which, the "him" part -- I'll reiterate, Adam's maleness is one of NGE fandom's greatest myths ... IMO -- may be derived from the yatsu, a term also appropriated by the JSSDF in #25' to describe the two Evas.