| "Fourth Child" | |
|---|---|
| Neon Genesis Evangelion episode | |
 The Dummy Plug implant with Rei Ayanami | |
| Episode no. | Episode 17 |
| Directed by | Minoru Ohara |
| Written by | Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi |
| Original air date | January 24, 1996 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
"Fourth Child"[a] is the seventeenth episode of the Japanese anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi wrote the episode, while Minoru Ohara worked as director. The series' protagonist is Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy whose father Gendo recruited him to the special military organization Nerv to pilot a gigantic, bio-mechanical mecha named Evangelion into combat with Angels. In the episode, mecha Eva-04 and Nerv's Second American Division disappears, while Toji Suzuhara is selected as the pilot of Eva-03. Hikari Horaki, class leader of Toji and Shinji's class, asks Toji to prepare something for him to eat.
"Fourth Child" has references to scientific and religious concepts such as nucleotide bases, apoptosis, the Dirac sea, the God Marduk, and crucifixion. Writer Shinji Higuchi was inspired by the Ultraman franchise, conceiving the episode as the "calm before the storm" of the following episode, "Ambivalence". Higuchi also wanted to portray Hikari's feelings for Toji to emphasize the tragedy in "Ambivalence", in which Toji is injured during battle before Hikari can offer a bento for him.
It was first broadcast on January 24, 1996, and had a 7.3-percent audience share on Japanese television. The episode had a mixed reception from critics. The Anime Café and Film School Rejects disliked its poor pacing and animation quality, while Newtype, Anime News Network, and Digitally Obsessed appreciated its plot, characterization and script.
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