Hiroyuki Tsuchida

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Hiroyuki Tsuchida is a Japanese man who, in June of 2003, beat his mother to death with a baseball bat and conspired to do likewise to the rest of his family. He was 22 years old at the time. He claimed the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion made him realize that humans were unnecessary beings, and should be eliminated, citing a quote from the series which says "The ultimate conclusion of human evolution is ruin." He believed if he started by killing his family members, it would make it easier for him to kill strangers. He was pronounced guilty of murder in early 2004 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Tsuchida's interpretation of Neon Genesis Evangelion is not generally accepted as valid, since instrumentality, in the anime, involves mankind reuniting to one another spiritually through re-forming into a collective spirit-being, not through death. Furthermore, the goal of instrumentality is seen as pursued by the (human) villains of the show.

[edit] Trivia

There are at least two anime that depict events similar to these:

In another animated series, Paranoia Agent (2004), there is a creature in the shape of a boy who attacks people with a broken baseball bat. This series was created shortly after the murder.