Incredible. I think it's reused full animation from the OP by Takashi Hashimoto.

liborek3 said:
Incredible. I think it's reused full animation from the OP by Takashi Hashimoto.

Actually I think it is more similar to Eiji Nakada's cut in the OP, especial for the spurts of smoke to the left and right.In Hashimoto's cut the spurts get its globular shape at the very first and the speed is not so fast, but in Nakada's the spurts is just bursting in high speed without any globular shape, which is similar to this cut. Although neither of them is credited in genga, Nakada is the animation director for this episode.

This feels very Hideaki Anno.

source: https://twitter.com/norider1965/status/1388805246537768964

props to the first guy