At NERV Headquarters, Gendo is speaking to an unknown correspondent over the phone. Gendo states that he owes the caller a debt, but the caller dismisses it since Gendo will never pay him back anyway. The caller proceeds to tell Gendo of feeding false information to a group that demanded it on the grounds of the Freedom of Information Act. The caller then asks if he should take care of "that project" as well. Gendo states that based on the information that was given, there would be no need. The call concludes with the caller saying, "Then I'll proceed with the plan."
In Tokyo-3, it is another bright morning and Shinji seems to be handling things well after the defeat of the fourth Angel, as he feeds Pen Pen and makes breakfast for himself. Misato emerges from her bedroom, half-awake and sloppily dressed, and the timid Shinji, quite uncomfortable with her manners and appearance, sarcastically remarks on her unusual breakfast routine (a few cans of beer and some toast), sharply reminds her that it was actually her turn to make breakfast this morning, and in general seems to be more expressive than usual (something Misato privately notices might be a good sign). Later at school, Misato arrives in an overly flashy style for the parent-teacher meetings, quite a contrast to her appearance earlier that morning. As always, the boys cannot seem to comprehend Shinji’s luck at getting to live with such a cool and beautiful woman. Shinji, of course, is the only one who knows of her laziness and sloppiness.
As the day goes on, Shinji eventually goes to NERV to undergo further tests inside his Eva unit. Inside, he begins to wonder about the true nature of the Evangelion units. He remembers the green eye that opened to stare at him after his defeat of the third Angel and notices that the entry plug carries the smell of blood yet also seems to have a calming effect on his mind. On the elevator ride back down, Shinji overhears a conversation between Ritsuko, Misato, Maya, and Hyuga. Unit-00’s bio-chest components are revealed to be damaged beyond repair and that new parts will have to be manufactured. Maya notes that this is close to the auxiliary budget’s limits. Hyuga adds that the situation might not get any easier even when Unit-02 arrives from Germany, noting that disposal of the dead Angels is taking a heavy toll as well.
Meanwhile, Gendo Ikari is en route to another conference. He is joined by another man who seems to be an official from a foreign country. He remarks at how easily the revised budget for the sample collection was passed by the Committee. Gendo states that the Committee will have no scruples when it comes to their own lives being at stake. Once they believed that there would not be any more Angels, but of course, that has proved to not be the case. The man then states that the budget for Eva Unit-06 has been passed by all countries except the U.S. His own country would begin construction on Eva Unit-08 and states that he never wants a repeat of Second Impact.
Back at NERV Headquarters, Shinji is told that all he had learned of the Second Impact in school was a lie. The Second Impact was never caused by a meteorite colliding into the continent of Antarctica. That story was just a cover-up. Ritsuko explains that the truth is that a scientific expedition found a being referred to as the first Angel in Antarctica. Shortly after this discovery, there was a catastrophic explosion that marked the event now known as Second Impact. Ritsuko reveals that the purpose of the Evangelion units is to prevent a possible Third Impact from happening. Ritsuko then turns to Misato, who has been unusually sombre and quiet throughout Ritsuko's discussion of Second Impact with Shinji, telling her that "it will be held tomorrow as scheduled." With a serious expression, Misato answers that she understands.
As another bright day starts in Tokyo-3, Shinji and Pen Pen are going about their usual morning routines, but both stop in shock when Misato emerges from her room, fully awake and at attention and dressed in a formal military outfit. With a stern expression, she states that she is going to Old Tokyo on business.
The business is revealed to be a demonstration of the Jet Alone system. Jet Alone is the name for a bipedal armored unit similar to the Evangelion. However, for power, it utilizes an internal nuclear reactor and is fully automated. As the executive of the project, Shiro Tokita, takes questions from the audience, Ritsuko wastes no time in questioning the logic of placing a nuclear reactor in a unit designed for combat and—while trying to avoid mentioning specific details—points out that Jet Alone is, at its core, a conventional weapon and therefore unable to do damage to the Angels. Tokita, however, retorts by stating that the Jet Alone system cannot go berserk and destroy a city or induce mental stress or instability in the operator, holding up a classified photo of Unit-01's first battle while comparing the Eva to "a hysterical woman", inspiring laughter amongst the overwhelmingly male audience and an ireful look from Ritsuko. He then drops a kicker: he knows about the existence of A.T. Fields despite it being confidential information. He ensures that his engineers will crack that problem soon enough.
During a break in the program, as the two women are in private, Misato, who kept a cool head during the presentation, erupts in anger over Tokita's arrogance and cockiness, as she yells, curses, and kicks a locker, but Ritsuko, who seemed on the brink of anger a moment before, calmly ensures her that he is a braggart who isn't worth wasting attention on. Misato points out that is still worrying that Tokita's team knows about A.T. Fields, and Ritsuko tells her that NERV's intelligence section has been plagued by a series of leaks lately, agreeing that it is indeed troubling.
The Jet Alone undergoes its demonstration, however, pressure inside the reactor and temperature suddenly begin to increase. The robot refuses to accept incoming commands and proceeds to walk without any signs of slowing down toward the city of Atsugi, while temperature inside its reactor keeps rising, threatening to go critical and resulting in a meltdown that would pollute the area with lethal amounts of radiation. Misato cannot help but get a dig in at Tokita, saying that his robot "is as badly behaved as the guy who built it!" She then requests the password to Jet Alone's central computer from him. Tokita first calls his superordinates to get permission, but finds that none of them want to be held responsible, meaning that his hands are effectively tied. But subdued and defeated by the disaster the demonstration has turned out to be, he gives up the password, "Hope", of his own incentive.
In order to stop the runaway robot, Misato decides to take matters into her own hands and declares her intent to enter Jet Alone and shut it down manually, despite Ritsuko protesting that she will be subjecting herself to unnecessary danger. As Unit-01 is delivered by airship to help with the mission, Misato, dressed in a radiation suit, briefs Shinji, telling him that it will be his job to get her aboard Jet Alone. Worried, Shinji immediately points out how highly dangerous the whole thing will be for her, but Misato assures him that her plan is their best chance to get this situation under control, and she would feel even worse about it if she hadn't tried to do something. Though Shinji is obviously still worried, he is persuaded by Misato's determination.
Commencing with the mission, Unit-01 is dropped from the airship carrying Misato in its hand. Shinji is able to catch up with the rampaging robot and grab hold of it, keeping it steady for long enough for Misato to board it, and enter the control room. Inside Jet Alone, Misato is able to find the central computer, hoping it will be the key to get the reactor to cool down and reduce the internal pressure. However, the program refuses to accept the password Misato was given. In a desperate bid, she tries pushing in the control rods manually although it seems to be futile. However, at the very last second before the meltdown becomes inevitable the system comes back online and the cooling rods are inserted into the reactor once more. While Shinji immediately radios in, expressing his relief that she managed to stop the robot, Misato herself is more sombre about it. With such convenient timing, she begins to suspect someone to have set up the entire situation; later, some NERV officials speaks about how it was all according to their plan.
Meanwhile at NERV Headquarters, Ritsuko reports to Gendo that Unit-01 had been recovered with no danger of contamination. Aside from Misato's operation, everything went as planned. Gendo replies with, "Good work."
It is the beginning of yet another bright day in Tokyo-3, and Misato has gone back back to her usual morning routine. As Shinji walks to school with Toji and Kensuke, who once again expresses their awe over cool and beautiful Misato is. Annoyed, Shinji tells them of how sloppy and messy she really is. They remark on how lucky he is since he gets to see a side of Misato she never shows to anyone else, meaning that she’s like his family. Shinji realizes that his friends are right and smiles wistfully at that.
Tropes:
- Animal Reaction Shot: Even Pen-Pen is surprised to see Misato decked out in her dress uniform.
- Blame Game: After Jet Alone runs amok, the various executives, officals, and private investors related to the project is quick to engage in this, all of them refusing to even hand out the emergency-shutdown code, as it could be seen as a way of accepting responsibility.
- Blunt "Yes": An irritated Misato asks if Shinji thinks she's lazy. Without skipping a beat, he calls her "sloppy", too.
- Book Ends: Both the beginning and the end of the episode covers Shinji's tiring of Misato's more unabashed side at the Katsuragi home, but differs once he realizes exactly why she allows him to see that side of her.
- Filler: Of sorts. Other than providing interesting foreshadowing to NERV's inner workings, and a heartfelt realization of development for Shinji and Misato, the episode seems to act more as a breather between the battle with Ramiel and Asuka's arrival. Notably, no parts of it was directly adapted into Rebuild 2.0.
- Foreshadowing: Misato notably grows very morose and quiet when Ritsuko discloses the truth about Second Impact to Shinji. Her own up-close and traumatic history with Second Impact is revealed later.
- Lame Comeback: When Shinji straight up calls Misato a slob, she is utterly unable to formulate a comeback and just responds with a peeved "S-shut up!"
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Hyuga is the chief tactical operator at NERV, but is somehow also qualified to fly the Evangelion Transport plane.
- Morning Routine: Used in this episode to both show how Misato and Shinji's personalities contrasts, and that Shinji has started to adjust to his life in Tokyo-3.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for Laughs in a small gag which illustrates Misato's nature as a Genius Slob. When the episode opens, we see Misato awaken groggy and reaching for a beer. Before leaving for the Jet Alone demonstration, however, she appears awake, coherent, and acting in a professional manner. Shinji and Pen-Pen are both left speechless at this (Pen-Pen even drops his fish) and the background music for the scene suddenly stops.
- Shout-Out:
- The plane where Gendo meets the foreign official is strikingly similar to the shuttle Heywood Floyd rides on his way to the space station in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Jet Alone itself is a reference to the Godzilla robot hero Jet Jaguar, as one of Jet Jaguar's working names was Red Alone and the two also having similar colour schemes.
- Spanner in the Works: Misato unwittingly ends up being this for Gendo and Ritsuko's plan to sabotage the Jet Alone project. Luckily for them, the plan still succeeds in spite of Misato... but with the complication that the Major's deduced it was sabotage and not a malfunction (though she doesn't share this discovery with anyone in NERV; she likely suspects that NERV would be among the suspects who would benefit from the discrediting of this mechanical 'competitor'.)
- Stock Audio Clip: In the ADV English dub, Misato's "Yee haw! That's the way to start your morning!" clip from the episode's first half is once again reused for the final scene where Misato drinks her beer during her morning routine.
