| "Lilliputian Hitcher" | |
|---|---|
| Neon Genesis Evangelion episode | |
 Dr. Ritsuko Akagi among the cables of the Magi System. Critic Mariana Ortega compared Ritsuko's image in the Magi to Evangelion's pilots in their mecha, describing the mother figure in Neon Genesis Evangelion as metaphorically and literally cannibalistic. | |
| Episode no. | Episode 13 |
| Directed by | Tensai Okamura |
| Written by | Hideaki Anno, Akio Satsukawa, Mitsuo Iso |
| Original air date | December 27, 1995 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
"Lilliputian Hitcher"[a] is the thirteenth episode of the Japanese anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was created by anime studio Gainax. The episode, written by Hideaki Anno, Mitsuo Iso, and Akio Satsukwa and directed by Tensai Okamura, was first broadcast on TV Tokyo on December 27, 1995.
The series is set fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm known as Second Impact and is mostly set in the futuristic, fortified city of Tokyo-3. The series' protagonist is Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy who is recruited by his father Gendo to the special military organization Nerv to pilot a gigantic, bio-mechanical mecha named Evangelion into combat with beings called Angels. During the episode, a microscopic Angel called Iruel begins to penetrate Nerv headquarters, and after a quick evolutionary leap acquires the characteristics of a computer by attempting to hack into the agency's central supercomputer, the Magi System. Ritsuko Akagi, in charge of the Magi, tries to thwart his advance with a reverse hacking.
The episode, in the animation of which Production I.G. studio was involved, initially contained many more science fiction concepts, added at the writing stage by Mitsuo Iso. In its final version, "Lilliputian Hitcher" contains several references to biology, particularly genetics, including polysomes, the Pribnow box, the central dogma of molecular biology and the sigma factor. Its title is also a reference to the Lilliputians, the microscopic men introduced in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
"Lilliputian Hitcher" drew a 3.4% audience share on Japanese television. It received a generally positive reception. Reviewers praised hacking's sense of suspense, the aesthetics of the Nerv headquarters, the focus on Ritsuko's character and the computer battle against Iruel.
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