A Cruel Angel's Thesis
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| "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" | ||
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| Single by Yoko Takahashi | ||
| from the album Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 1 | ||
| Released | March 6 | |
| Format | CD Single | |
| Length | 4:05 | |
A Cruel Angel's Thesis (残酷な天使のテーゼ zankoku na tenshi no tēze?) is the theme song of the popular anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. It is used as the introduction to every episode, and two instrumental versions of it are played in the finale episode, "Take Care of Yourself". These versions ("The Heady Feeling of Freedom" and "Good, or Don't Be"), scored for violin, piano and guitar and played in very light tone, are considerably different in feel from the more hard driving techno-dance original. A similar, but sparser, version can also be heard during the intermission between the two parts of Evangelion: Death and Rebirth.
According to the liner notes to the album Refrain of Evangelion, director Hideaki Anno had originally wanted to use music from Borodin's Polovetsian Dances as the opening. The TV station (TV Tokyo) felt that audiences would be confused by a classical opening to an anime, and requested a change to a more typical or J-Pop & upbeat song. The production of the result, "A Cruel Angel's Thesis", was handled by Toshimichi Ohtsuki. The original song included a male chorus, which was cut at Anno's request in order to "emphasize maternal affection".
Among Western anime fans, "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" is considered one of the all-time classic of anime theme songs, and has been consistently ranked high in fan polls for favorite anime song conducted by American anime publications such as Animerica. The song is also one of the most requested for karaoke events at various anime conventions. Nearly a decade later, the singer of "Thesis," Yoko Takahashi, performed the theme song to another Gainax anime when she sang "metamorphose" for This Ugly Yet Beautiful World.
[edit] Credits
- Performed by: Yoko Takahashi
- Lyrics: Neko Oikawa
- Music: Hidetoshi Sato
| Neon Genesis Evangelion | |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Hideaki Anno • Yoshiyuki Sadamoto • Gainax |
| TV Series: | Neon Genesis Evangelion |
| Films: | Death and Rebirth • The End of Evangelion • Revival of Evangelion • Rebuild of Evangelion • Untitled Evangelion live action movie |
| Characters: | Asuka • Gendo • Kaworu • Misato • Rei • Ritsuko • Kaji • Shinji • Toji • Yui |
| Glossary: | Eva Units • Angels • Human Instrumentality Project • Timeline |
| Video Games: | Ayanami Raising Project • Girlfriend of Steel • Girlfriend of Steel 2 • Evangelion 64 • Shinji Ikari Raising Project • Shinji and Good Friends • Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 |
| Misc: | List of media and episodes • "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" • "Komm, süsser Tod" • Angelic Days manga • Red Cross Book • ReDeath • Topics |
