Synopsis

A heavy regimen of training inside Unit-01 begins, and more secrets about "Second Impact" and the Angels are revealed. Shinji starts his first day at his new school and meets two classmates who will become his good friends. The Fourth Angel arrives, and a rage-filled Shinji goes against orders to defeat it.

Full Recap

The episode opens with Shinji running routine training in Unit 01. Ritsuko leads Shinji through shooting practice against a fake angel in a holographic environment. Ritsuko explains Unit 01's power supply. It is usually connected to a power cord, and can only last five minutes on its internal battery, one if at full power. Shinji begins his target practice, while Misato and Ritsuko comment that he returned to pilot Eva because he was asked to, and that Shinji is used to following orders obediently.

The next morning, Shinji goes to wake up Misato, who is under her blanket completely. Misato says that she worked the evening shift, and does not have to go to work for a while, so she stays in bed. Misato asks Shinji if he has gotten used to school, and he responds with a simple "Yes".

After Shinji leaves, Misato's phone rings. She picks it up and Ritsuko is on the other end. Misato says that she has given Shinji a phone, but he hasn't used it for anything. She believes that he doesn't have any friends. Ritsuko brings up the "Hedgehog's Dilemma", in which two Hedgehog's would need to be together to stay warm, but the closer they get, the more they hurt each other.

At Shinji's school, we are introduced to three new characters. Kensuke Aida is a geek and a military buff. Toji Suzuhara is a jock who is good friends with Kensuke. Hikari Horaki is class president and she is also slightly overbearing.

Hikari talks to Kensuke about where Toji is, as he has been out for a few days. Kensuke believes that Toji may have been injured in the battle from the previous episode. He does not believe the report on TV that no one was injured, seeing that to be impossible due to the large amount of military force that was displayed. At this point, Toji walks in, and says that he was visiting his sister in the hospital. He comments on the reduced number of students in the room, and Kensuke says that many of them were sent away after the battle, due to the increased danger. Toji says that he was out of school because his sister was injured by rubble during the battle. He says that the pilot of the "robot" (Unit 01, no one knows the name as of yet outside of NERV) must really suck for that to have happened. Kensuke says that there is a rumor about the transfer student (Shinji). He says that the transfer student may have been the one piloting the robot, as he showed up right after the battle.

Class starts (Rei is also in this class, she's still injured but she can walk around), and the lesson is on Second Impact. The teacher gives the explanation behind Second Impact as a meteor crashing on Antarctica in the last year of the 20th century, causing massive floods and the Earth's axis to change. This threatened the existence of all living things across the world, increased the sea level (explaining the buildings that were partially in the water in the first episode), and led to deaths on a massive scale. Economic collapse, racial disputes, and civil wars happened across the world. While the teacher is teaching (now talking about humanity's good rate of recovery after just fifteen years), Shinji is asked through his laptop (everyone in the room has a red laptop connected through a network) if he was the pilot of the robot by a girl in the back of the class. After the question is repeated, he responds "yes". Everyone in the class was watching the same message, and ran over to Shinji and began to bombard him with questions except for Rei who is another Eva pilot, Hikari who tries to get the class to calm down and get back in their seats, and Toji who looks a little ticked. Kensuke types everything that Shinji says on his own personal laptop (you can tell that it's his because it is a different model than everyone else's). The teacher continues his lecture, oblivious to everything going on while his back is turned. When he turns around and sees the commotion, he just leaves the lesson where it is for the day.

Outside the school, Toji punches Shinji. Kensuke apologizes for Toji's behavior, telling Shinji that Toji's sister was hurt in the battle. Shinji says that he does not pilot Eva by choice, at which point Toji grabs him and punches him again. Shinji is knocked to the ground while Toji and Kensuke walk away. Rei walks over to Shinji and tells him that there was an emergency call and that she'll go on ahead.

An emergency alarm sounds as another angel (Shamshel) approaches. This one is snake-like, and can fly. It remains horizontal during flight, but turns it's upper half 90 degrees upward during battle. Civilians get to shelter and all shelter buildings (large skyscrapers) go underground for the battle ahead.

Kensuke is trying to get a live feed of events happening on the surface but there is a complete news blackout. He shows this to Toji, who is sitting next to him.

Misato is in NERV headquarters watching the approach of the angel. Commander Ikari (Gendo) is away right now. One person at NERV comments that the previous interval between angel appearances was fifteen years, but this one showed up after just three weeks. Shinji enters Unit 01 and prepares for launch, while wondering why he is still piloting Eva, and remembering how he got punched by Toji before.

Back at the shelter for the students, Kensuke tells Toji that he wants to talk to him in private, so they both go to the bathroom. In the bathroom, Kensuke tells Toji that he wants to see the battle. Kensuke says that the robot is there to protect them, and that Toji punching Shinji was not a good idea. If Shinji does not want to pilot Eva, then everyone will be killed. Toji agrees to help Kensuke get to the surface to watch the battle.

Back at NERV headquarters, Shinji is told to disable the angel's AT-Field and fire the rifle at it like in practice. Unit 01 is then launched.

Kensuke and Toji get outside and run up a hill just in time to see Unit 01 come out of the elevator and begin fighting the angel (Kensuke is recording the battle with his camera). Shinji shoots at it, but is beaten down fairly easily. Misato sends up a replacement rifle, but Shinji is too distracted to grab it. Kensuke says that Toji's punches may have affected Shinji's ability to fight (emotionally of course, Shinji wasn't that badly harmed by the punches, there isn't even any mark of them by this point). The angel sprouts long glowing tentacles out of its arms, and begins to attack Shinji with them. The power cord to Unit 01 is cut, and Shinji now has only five minutes of power remaining.

Shinji is tossed by the angel right over to the field where Kensuke and Toji are, and they end up directly between two of Unit 01's fingers, narrowly avoiding being crushed. They are identified at NERV as Shinji's classmates, and Ritsuko wonders what they are doing out there. The angel tries to attack Shinji, but he grabs its tentacles and holds them there. Toji wonders why Shinji doesn't fight back, and Kensuke says that it is because they are there. Shinji can't move freely without the possibility of hurting them.

Misato tells Shinji to let Kensuke and Toji into the entry plug and retreat, then come back to fight the angel later. Ritsuko protests at this decision, saying that civilians aren't allowed into the entry plug, but Misato ignores her. There are now three minutes of remaining time on the internal battery of Unit 01.

The entry plug extends (Unit 01 is kept on current orders so it doesn't let go of the angel), and Kensuke and Toji enter. Misato tells Shinji to retreat, and Toji urges Shinji to do as she says and run off (Kensuke is concerned about his camera being fried by the LCL). But Shinji mutters to himself "Don't run away." repeatedly.

Shinji draws his progressive knife (works by vibrating particles at an extremely high frequency, which allows it to slice an object at the "molecular level"), lets out a yell and attacks the angel against Misato's orders, with only one minute of power remaining. He is impaled by the tentacles, but continues his assault and manages to attack the angel’s core with the progressive knife. He manages to kill the angel with less than one second to spare.

Three days later at school, Kensuke is reviewing data that he gathered on the angel while it rains outside. Shinji hasn't been in school since the battle with Shamshel. Toji feels guilty, and Kensuke gives Toji Shinji's phone number so he can apologize. Toji begins to dial the number on a phone, stops, hangs up, and walks away.