Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV series)

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Neon Genesis Evangelion logo.
新世紀エヴァンゲリオン
(Shin Seiki Evangelion)
Genre Mecha, Psychological, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, Drama
TV anime
Director Hideaki Anno
Studio Gainax
Tatsunoko Productions
Production I.G
MOVIC
Star Child
Licensor ADV Films (TV series)
Manga Entertainment (movies)
Network Flag of Japan TV Tokyo, Animax
Original run October 4, 1995 – March 27, 1996
Episodes 26
Manga
Author Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Publisher Kadokawa Shoten
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Shōnen Ace
Original run February 1995 – ongoing
Volumes 11
Movies
  • Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (1997)
  • The End of Evangelion (1997)
  • Revival of Evangelion (1998)
  • Rebuild of Evangelion (2007–N/A)
Anime and Manga Portal

Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン Shin Seiki Evangerion?), commonly referred to as NGE, Eva, or Evangelion, is a commercially[1] and critically[2] successful, influential, and controversial Japanese anime that began in October 1995; the series launched the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It won several major animation awards.[3][4][5] The anime was created by Gainax, written and directed by Hideaki Anno, and co-produced by TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems (NAS).

Evangelion is an apocalyptic mecha action series which centers around the efforts by the paramilitary organization Nerv to fight monstrous beings called Angels, primarily using giant mecha called Evangelions which are piloted by select teenagers, one of whom is the primary protagonist. It follows those teenagers and other Nerv members until the defeat of the Angels and the eventual apocalyptic ending.

Events in the series refer to Judeo-Christian symbols from the book of Genesis and Biblical apocrypha among others.[6] Later episodes shift focus to psychoanalysis of the main characters, who display various emotional problems and mental illnesses;[7][8] the nature of existence and reality are questioned in a way that lets Evangelion be characterized as "postmodern fantasy".[9] Hideaki Anno, the director of the anime series, had suffered from clinical depression prior to creating the series, and the psychological aspects of the show are based on the director's own experiences with overcoming this illness.[10]

In the original Japanese, the word "Evangelion" is pronounced with a hard g per its Greek roots (see Translation notes on the title below).

Contents

Plot

See also: List of Neon Genesis Evangelion episodes and Neon Genesis Evangelion timeline

TV

The story of Evangelion primarily begins in 2000 with the "Second Impact", a global cataclysm which almost completely destroyed Antarctica and led to the deaths of half the human population of Earth. The Impact is believed by the public at large and even most of Nerv to have been the impact of a meteorite landing in Antarctica, causing devastating tsunamis and a change in the Earth's axial tilt (leading to global climate change) and subsequent geopolitical unrest, nuclear war (such as the nuking of Tokyo), and general economic distress. Later, Second Impact is revealed to be the result of contact with and experimentation on the first of what are collectively dubbed the Angels: Adam. The experiments were sponsored by the mysterious organization Seele, and carried out by the research organization Gehirn.

In the year 2010, Gehirn had accomplished a number of its scientific and engineering goals and corporately changed into the paramilitary organization Nerv which is headquartered in Tokyo-3, a militarized civilian city located on one of the last dry sections of Japan; Nerv's central mission is to locate the remaining Angels predicted by Seele, and to destroy them. However, Nerv has its own secret agenda, as directed by its Machiavellian commander Gendo Ikari: the Human Instrumentality Project, which, according to Gendo in episode 25, is the task of uniting all human minds into one global spiritual entity. Associated with Nerv is the Marduk Institute, which has the task of selecting the pilots for the Evas, the most capable being children conceived after the Second Impact (14 year olds). The institute consists of Commander Ikari, and Nerv's chief scientist Ritsuko Akagi; supporting the two are 108 companies which are all revealed to be ghost companies.

As the first episode opens in the year 2015, Tokyo-3 is being attacked by the third Angel. Conventional weapons prove ineffective, largely due to its projected force field called an AT Field. Nerv takes command of the battles, and is able to intercept and defeat the Angels using the Evangelions (Evas), biomechanical mecha previously developed in secret by Gehirn inside the underground Geofront; the Geofront is located underground and underneath Tokyo-3.

Not knowing why his father summoned him, Shinji Ikari, a 14 year old boy who chronically suffers from anxiety, depression, lack of self confidence and loneliness, arrives to Tokyo-3 just as the Third Angel attacks the city. Shinji reluctantly agrees to join Nerv to pilot Evangelion Unit 01, and begins living with Captain (later Major) Misato Katsuragi. He and Rei Ayanami battle the successive advances of the Angels together and are later joined by Asuka Langley Soryu, the pilot of Unit 02.

Each Eva has its own designated pilot (Unit 00 – Rei, Unit 01–Shinji, Unit 02–Asuka, and subsequently Unit 03–Toji Suzuhara), and operates by synchronizing the pilot's soul and the human soul inside the Eva via the enigmatic liquid substance known as LCL. (In the context of Evangelion, a "soul" refers to an individual's conscious existence, mental structure and identity, rather than a more conventional "supernatural" entity.) Surrounded by LCL, the pilot's nervous system, mind and body join with the Eva's controls, allowing the Eva to be controlled by the pilot's thoughts and actions. The higher a pilot's synchronization ratio, the better the pilot can control the Eva and fight more adeptly. For example, Shinji had a hard time making his Eva walk with 41.83% synchronization, but with higher synchronization (up to 100%, and even 400% at one point) he could perform acrobatic feats of hand-to-hand combat. The drawback of LCL control is that the pilot experiences physical and mental pain proportionate to that experienced by the Eva; at a high enough synch ratio, injuries to the Eva may even be mimicked within the body of the pilot, potentially leading to severe injury and/or death. Almost all of the known pilots are hospitalized multiple times throughout the series as a result of injuries suffered through synchronization with an Eva.

While Ritsuko mentions at the series' beginning that the Evas do have some biological components to them, the extent of this is not immediately apparent. Unit 01 is connected to Yui Ikari, Gendo's wife and Shinji's mother, since it absorbed her body and soul in a failed experiment, as shown in episodes 16 and 20. Rei herself is suspected to be a partial clone of Yui, and is known to harbor the soul of Lilith, the second Angel.[11]

It is finally revealed, towards the end of the series, that the Evas are not really "robots" but are actually cloned Angels (Units 00, 02, 03, and 04 are made from Adam, and 01 is made from Lilith) onto which mechanical components are incorporated as a means of restraint and control. This control is not perfect, as various units are shown over the course of the series driving into "berserker" mode, in which they can act of their own will, independent of any artificial power input.

Along with the battles against the Angels, the central characters struggle to overcome their personal issues and personality conflicts, which factor heavily into the events of the series and its eventual conclusion. Throughout the series, many of the main characters constantly have to cope with several social and emotional problems: characters are unwillingly forced to confront socially complex and challenging situations; unresolved sexual tensions grow between numerous characters; injuries, deaths, and defeats cause blows to their psyches; and previously steady relationships begin to falter.

Over the final months of 2015, the characters begin to learn of the true plan of Nerv and Seele, the Human Instrumentality Project. Its purpose is to force the completion of human evolution, and thereby save it from destroying itself. To do so, they plan to break down the AT fields that separate individual humans, and in doing so, reducing all humans to LCL, which is revealed to be the "primordial soup," the fundamental composite of human beings. All LCL would then be united into a supreme being, the next stage of humanity, ending all conflict, loneliness and pain brought about by individual existence. At the end of the series, Seele and Nerv come into direct conflict over the implementation of Instrumentality.

In the last two episodes (the second set in 2016), Gendo and Rei initiate the Human Instrumentality Project, forcing several characters (especially Shinji[12]) to face their doubts and fears and examine their self-worth. This ending was made up of flashbacks, strange, sketchy artwork, and flashing text "over a montage of bleak visuals, that include black and white photos of desolate urban motifs such as a riderless bicycle or vacant park benches interspersed with graphic stills of the devastated Nerv headquarters in which Shinji's colleagues are seen as bloodstained bodies",[13] and a brief interlude depicting an "alternate" Evangelion universe with the same characters but apparently in the highschool comedy genre (and not the apocalyptic mecha genre; this alternative universe was explored in greater depth in Girlfriend of Steel 2), eventually seems to depict Shinji concluding that life could be worth living and that he did not need to pilot an Eva to justify his existence; he is then surrounded by most of the cast, clapping and congratulating him. The introduction implies that this same process took place for everyone.

The ambiguous and unclear meaning of this ending left many fans confused and unsatisfied. The final two episodes were possibly the most controversial segments of a controversial series[14] and were received as flawed and incomplete by many.[15] However, Anno and deputy director Kazuya Tsurumaki defended the artistic integrity of the finale.[16][17]

The End of Evangelion

Main article: The End of Evangelion

The film The End of Evangelion begins shortly after the end of episode 24. Shinji Ikari attempts to talk to the unconscious Asuka. After seeing her exposed chest he masturbates to orgasm. Disgusted by himself he hides under a staircase in NERV headquarters. Seele realizes Gendo's treachery and commanded the JSSDF's forces to launch an all-out attack on Nerv headquarters. During the battle, Asuka (after being put into her eva despite the fact that she was "barely conscious" when she was inserted) realizes that she has a bond with Unit 02 (because her mother's soul is bound to the Eva) and is not just its master, and this bond gives her the strength to battle the "mass-production" Evas sent by Seele; she is ultimately defeated. Misato finds Shinji and battles her way past JSSDF soldiers to get him to his Eva but is mortally wounded in the process. She dies while stating her love for Kaji and how she wished she had done the best thing possibe for Shinji. After being "finally awoken" Unit 01 is forced by the MP Evas to begin Seele's version of Instrumentality.

While Nerv is collapsing, Gendo attempts to implement his own version of Instrumentality by merging the embryonic Adam (bonded to his right hand) with Rei. However, Rei takes over the process and reunites with Lilith, who finally regains her soul, and creates a planet-wide anti-AT Field, negating the AT Fields of all of humanity and causing their bodies to dissolve into LCL. The souls of all human beings are absorbed into Lilith/Rei's body, causing her to grow into a supreme being of size comparable to the Earth itself. Rei gives control of the process to Shinji. His emotional suffering and loneliness prompts Shinji to accept this new form, believing that there could never be happiness in the real world. He goes through a series of mental journeys and monologues, eventually realizing that without pain there can be no joy, and to live with others is to experience joy as well as pain. This constitutes a rejection of the goal of Instrumentality – a world without the pain or joy of being a separate being. Lilith/Rei dies and falls apart, releasing the anti-AT Field and allowing separate beings to potentially come back into existence. In the last sequence, Asuka and Shinji are shown to have rematerialized from the sea of LCL, and are together somewhere near the ruins of Tokyo-3.

The meaning of The End of Evangelion is debated, and it is not agreed upon whether it is intended to enlarge and retell the TV episodes 25 and 26–meaning that those episodes reflected Shinji's point of view while inside the merged being – or instead to completely replace the TV ending with a different one. Some believe that The End of Evangelion is an alternate ending to the series, perhaps created to please those fans who were displeased with the TV series' ending. Deputy Director Kazuya Tsurumaki said he felt the series was complete as it was.[18]

However, there are several hints indicating that the movie portrays the physical aspects of the end of the series, while the episodes deal with the interior, or emotional aspects, and the two form a whole. In movie episode 26', when Instrumentality is finally launched, Shinji questions himself about his life and what he really wishes through Instrumentality; Shinji's lines and reflection process in this sequence are almost identical to what they were in TV episode 26, however in a much more condensed form. Similar reflections on the part of Asuka and Misato are also reflected (if briefly) in the film. Watching both thus allows a fuller understanding of the series. There were serious budget and schedule restraints in the later episodes of the series, and the film allowed for a more complete ending to be realized. During the TV series ending, a number of sketches from scenes that were later included in the movie are shown, hinting that the film, or something like the final production, was the intended finale all along. Indeed, the original script for episode 25 (which included, among others, a bloody fight between Asuka and the MP Evas) was abandoned due to censorship, budget and time restraints, yet the actual TV episode still featured some remnants of the first script (Misato and Ritsuko dead, Asuka inside her Eva in the water). Later, the original script was re-used for Episode 25: Air, a part of the End of Evangelion movie. Also, in the opening animation for the series, there are shots of Unit 01 with the angelic wings that it sprouts in Episode 26: A Pure Heart For You.[19]

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion
“ It's strange that 'Evangelion' has become such a hit - all the characters are so sick! ”

—Hideaki Anno, quoted in Wong 1996

The characters of Evangelion are continuously struggling with their interpersonal relationships, their inner demons, and traumatic events in their pasts, creating a complex pattern of relationships.

Anno described the hero, Shinji Ikari, as a boy who "shrinks from human contact", and has "convinced himself that he is a completely unnecessary person, so much so that he cannot even commit suicide." He describes Shinji and Misato Katsuragi as "extremely afraid of being hurt" and "unsuitable — lacking the positive attitude — for what people call heroes of an adventure."[10] When compared to the stereotypical hero, Shinji is characterized more by lack of energy and emotion than by any sort of heroism or bravery.[20] Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu, the other major protagonists, have similar flaws and difficulty relating to other people.

According to Anno, Evangelion was an attempt to make all perspectives into one, creating characters that represent different things to different viewers to make it impossible for everyone to arrive at a single theory. To some viewers, the characters are psychological representations, while to others, they are philosophical, religious, historical, and even themselves.[21] It seems the main goal was to present characters who reflected the deep depression and eventual recovery that Anno experienced before beginning work on Evangelion[10];[22][23] the characters all reflect at least a little of Anno.[24]

However the deeply pessimistic nature of the series as well as the rarely seen huge array of problems in all the characters has drawn curiousity on why there is no real happiness in the setting's world. Assistant Director Kazuya Tsurumaki said of the series, "But when all is said and done, Hideaki Anno's comments on 'Evangelion' + 'Evangelion' are that it is a message aimed at anime fans including himself, and of course, me too. If a person who can already live and communicate normally watches it, they won't learn anything."[18]

The character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto have also contributed to the popularity of Evangelion. Sadamoto's attractive designs of the three main female leads, Asuka, Rei and Misato, led to extremely high sales of merchandise[25] (especially of Rei, the "Premium Girl"[26]), and they have been immortalized in the dōjinshi community,[27] garage kit models, and in subsequent anime (such as Burst Angel).

Origin and production

In March 1992, Gainax had begun planning and production of an anime movie called Aoki Uru, which was to be a sequel to Oritsu Uchugun set 50 years later (so as to be easier to pitch to investors[28]) which, like Oritsu, would follow a group of fighter pilots. Production would eventually cease in July 1993: a full-length anime movie was just beyond Gainax's financial ability – many of its core businesses were shutting down or producing minimal amounts of money:

"General Products had closed shop. We'd pulled out of Wonder Festival [a "flea market for garage kits"] and garage kit making altogether. We weren't taking on any subcontracting work for anime production. We did continue to make PC games – Akai had seen to that – but there wasn't a lot of work tossed our way. With mere pennies coming in, we were having a hard enough time just paying everyone's salaries. Finally the order came down for us to halt production on Aoki Uru. We were simply incapable of taking the project any further."[29]

With the failure of the project, Anno who had been slated from the beginning to direct Aoki Uru was freed up. Legendarily, he would soon agree to a collaboration between King Records and Gainax while drinking with Toshimichi Ōtsuki, a representative at King;[30] with King Records guaranteeing a time slot, Anno set about actually making the anime. Unsurprisingly, elements of Aoki Uru were incorporated into the nascent Evangelion:

"One of the key themes in Aoki Uru had been "not running away." In the story, the main character is faced with the daunting task of saving the heroine … He ran away from something in the past, so he decides that this time he will stand his ground. The same theme was carried over into Evangelion, but I think it was something more than just transposing one show's theme onto another …"[31]

The original early plot line for Evangelion remained relatively stable through development, although later episodes appear to have changed dramatically from the fluid and uncertain[10] early conceptions; for example, originally there were 28 angels and not 17, and the climax would deal with the defeat of the final 12 angels and not with the operation of the Human Instrumentality Project. As well, Kaworu Nagisa's appearance was changed from being a school boy – who could switch to an "Angel form" – accompanied by a pet cat, to his eventual actual design, etc.[32]

Production was by no means placid. Sadamoto's authorship of the manga (Neon Genesis Evangelion) caused problems as multiple publishers felt "that he was too passé to be bankable";[33] the stylized mecha design that Evangelion would later be praised for was initially deprecated by some of the possible sponsors of a mecha anime (toy companies) as being too difficult to manufacture (possibly on purpose),[34] and that models of the Evangelions "would never sell."[35] Eventually, Sega agreed to license all toy and video game sales.

Eventually, Evangelion began to be shown: the first episode aired 4 October 1995, long after it was originally planned to air. Initially ignored (although received positively by those Gainax fans invited to early screenings), viewership grew slowly and largely by word of mouth.

Episode 16 marked a distinct shift that would characterize the second half of Evangelion as being more psychological than action or adventure.[36] This change in emphasis was partly due to the development of the story, but also partly because by this point, production had begun running out of funding and failing to meet the schedule; this collapse has been identified by at least one Gainax employee as the impetus for Evangelion's turn into metafiction:

I didn't mind it. The schedule was an utter disaster and the number of cels plummeted, so there were some places where unfortunately the quality suffered. However, the tension of the staff as we all became more desperate and frenzied certainly showed up in the film … About the time that the production system was completely falling apart, there were some opinions to the effect that, "If we can't do satisfactory work, then what's the point of continuing?" However, I didn't feel that way. My opinion was, "Why don't we show them the entire process including our breakdown."[37]

But nevertheless, by the 18th episode, it had become enough of a sensation that Eva-01's violent rampage "is criticized as being unsuitable on an anime show that is viewed by children", and episode 20 would be similarly criticized for the offscreen depiction of Misato and Ryoji Kaji having sex[38] With this popularity came the first merchandise, "Genesis 0:1" (containing the first two episodes). Beginning a trend, it sells out. As the series concluded on 27 March 1996 with Take care of yourself., the story apparently remained unresolved: Third Impact and the Human Complementation Project are implied to have begun or even finished, but the episodes focus largely on the psychology of the characters, leaving deeply unclear what actually happens.

The radically different and experimental style of the final two episodes alienated many fans and spawned debate and analysis, both scholarly and informal; even mainstream publications like the Mainichi Times would remark that "When Episode 25 first aired the following week, nearly all viewers felt betrayed...when commentator Eiji Otsuka sent a letter to the Yomiuri Shimbun, complaining about the end of the Evangelion series, the debate went nationwide."[39] (It's worth noting that the ending received such coverage in part because Evangelion had attracted viewers not typically interested in such fare; the TV series was extremely popular[40] Anno commented in various interviews after the conclusion of the series that "anime fans need to have more self-respect" and to "come back to reality"; in a Newtype interview 10 May, after the announcement on 26 April of a new movie and re-edited versions of the TV series, he also stated that "computer networking is graffiti on toilet walls."[38] These statements were even more controversial.

Re-releases

After the series ended, Anno was not completely satisfied due to issues of time, financial troubles, and network censorship. Thus, when the series was released on VHS and Laserdisc, each episode was remastered and cuts were reincorporated into episodes 21-26, with the first four being drastically enhanced and the final two being completely remade as the double-feature Death and Rebirth. However, again, due to time and budget constraints, the remastering and reanimating of episodes 21-24 was put to a hold in favor for the movie. However, the Rebirth animation wasn´t finished and it was decided to later release the second half of Death and Rebirth as a stand alone release. "Death" included some of the scenes that were already completed for the remastered episodes 21-24. It was then decided that "Evangelion: Rebirth II" should also include the previous animation and was then renamed "The End of Evangelion".

After that, the tapes Genesis 0:11 and 0:12 were released and contained the redone episodes 21-24 and Genesis 0:13 and 0:14 contained both endings, each containing both episodes 25 and 26. In 1998, the Evangelion films were released in their original intended form, without the extra scenes in the recap movie (Death(true)²) and with the full new ending.

In 2000, the "Second Impact Box" was released in 3 parts, containing the 26 uncut, remastered episodes and the 2 movies (also including "Rebirth").

In 2003, the nine-volume "Renewal of Evangelion" DVDs were released, with the series' sound and picture remastered for HD and 5.1 technology (for example, new background sounds were recorded). The first eight volumes covered the original 26 episodes (with two versions of episodes 21-24: the uncut version and a reconstruction of the edited version). The ninth volume, containing two discs, named "Evangelion: The Movie", which contained "Death(true)²" and "End of Evangelion"

The Renewal release formed the basis for the western "Platinum Edition" (which didn't include the movies, as the movies were licensed by Manga Entertainment, while the series was licensed by A.D. Vision).

It should also be noted that the "Platinum Edition" features slightly different English subtitles than the original VHS and DVD releases of the series.

Inspiration and symbolism

See also: Neon Genesis Evangelion glossary

Evangelion is dense with allusions to biological, military, religious, and psychological concepts, as well as numerous references or homages to older anime series (for example, the basic plot is seen in earlier anime like Space Battleship Yamato[41]) – a tendency which inspired the nickname for the series, the "remixed anime"[42] Anno's use of Freudian jargon and psychoanalytical theory as well as his allusions to religion and biology are often idiosyncratically used and redefined to carry his message. This tendency of Anno's has been criticized as "Total plagiarism!" and "just more mindgames from the animation crew".[43] However, Anno has defended himself by denying the possibility of really original work without borrowing in anime:

"There is no longer room for absolute originality in the field of anime, especially given that our generation was brought up on mass-produced anime. All stories and techniques inevitably bring with them a sense of déjà vu. The only avenue of expression left open to us is to produce a collage-like effect based on a sampling of existing works."[44]

"The people who make anime and the people who watch it always want the same things. The creators have been making the same story for about 10 years; the viewers seem to be satisfied and there's no sense of urgency. There's no future in that."[45]

Regardless, Anno seems to have hoped to reinvigorated the genre of anime – seen as lifeless and moribund in the early 1990s – and restore originality: to create a new anime. This desire is also the reason Anno cited for creating the Rebuild of Evangelion movies:

"Many different desires are motivating us to create the new "Evangelion" film … The desire to fight the continuing trend of stagnation in anime.
The desire to support the strength of heart that exists in the world…
Many times we wondered, "It's a title that's more than 10 years old. Why now?"
"Eva is too old", we felt.
However, over the past 12 years, there has been no anime newer than Eva.[46]

The interpretation of the symbols and concepts varies from individual to individual,[47] and it is not clear how many are intentional or meaningful, nor which were merely design elements or coincidences. Anno himself said, "It might be fun if someone with free time could research them."[10] A number of these symbols were noted on the English DVD commentary for Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion.

Many of the characters share their names with Japanese warships from World War II (such as the Sōryū, Akagi, and Katsuragi, though the ship names and character names are written with different kanji, they share the same pronunciations.) Other characters' names refer to other works of fiction, such as the two characters named after the protagonists of Ryu Murakami's Ai to Genso no Fascism ("Fascism in Love and Fantasy"; the two main characters are named Aida Kensuke and Suzuhara Toji).

Psychology and psychoanalytic theory

For more details on this topic, see Psychoanalysis.

From the start, Evangelion invokes many psychological themes. Phrases used in episodes, their titles, and the names of the background music frequently derive from Sigmund Freud's works[48] in addition to perhaps some Lacanian influences in general[49] Examples include "Thanatos", "Oral stage", "Separation Anxiety", and "Mother Is The First Other" (the mother as the first object of a child's love is the basis of the Oedipus complex). The scenery and buildings in Tokyo-3 often seem laden with psychological import, even in the first episode[50]

The connection between the Evas and their pilots, as well as the ultimate goal of the Human Instrumentality Project, bear a strong resemblance to Freud's theories on internal conflict and interpersonal communication.[51]

The hedgehog's dilemma is a concept described by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and later adopted by Freud. It is the subtitle of episode 4 and is mentioned in that episode by Misato Katsuragi as descriptive of her relationship with Shinji.[52]

Many of the characters have deep psychological traumas in relation to their parents. Shinji's introversion and social anxiety stem from the death of his mother at an early age and his abandonment by his father. Asuka was the target of her mother's insanity, and discovered her mother's body after she hanged herself; her tough, bullying personality is a means of distracting herself from her pain, and she has made piloting Unit 02 her only source of pride and satisfaction. Misato's father neglected her when she was a child; after he was killed in the Second Impact, she stopped talking for a couple of years. In episode 25, Misato states that she was both attracted to and afraid of Ryoji Kaji because he reminded her of her father. Ritsuko saw her mother having an affair with Gendo Ikari; after her mother's suicide she felt both attraction and hate towards Gendo. Indeed, the last two episodes are "stripped of the high-tech gadgetry and the colorful visuals that characterize the earlier episodes in the series, these last two episodes take place largely in muted tones… a form of interrogation proceeds to be carried out as he [Shinji] asks himself – or is asked by an unseen voice – probing psychological questions."[53] The questions elicit unexpected answers, particularly the ones dealing with Shinji's motivation for piloting the Eva – he feels worthless and afraid of others (especially his father) if he is not piloting the Eva.[54] Asuka and Rei are also depicted in deep introspection and consideration of their psyches. Asuka comes to the realization that her entire being is caught up in being a competent Eva pilot and that without it, she has no personal identity: "I'm the junk… I'm worthless. Nobody needs a pilot who can't control her own Eva."[55] Rei, who throughout the series has displayed minimal emotion, reveals that she does have one impulse; it is Thanatos, an inclination to death: "I am Happy. Because I want to die, I want to despair, I want to return to nothing."[55] In episode 25 Shinji and Asuka both show that they in fact suffered similar pasts and found different ways of dealing with it. This is further established in Shinji when he claims he has no life without Eva and this is disproven by the world shown in Episode 26 followed by the famous "Congratulations" scene.[56]

Religion

The most prominent symbolism takes its inspiration from Judeo-Christian sources and frequently uses iconography and themes from Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism,[57] and Kabbalism, in the series's examination of religious ideas and themes.[58]

Assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki said that they originally used Christian symbolism only to give the project a unique edge against other giant robot shows, and that it had no particular meaning,[59] and that it was meant to be susceptible to multiple interpretations.[60] Hiroki Sato, head of Gainax's PR department, has made similar statements[61]

References, with multiple equally plausible interpretations which exist, include:

Fiction and Philosophy

See also: Human Instrumentality Project

Neon Genesis Evangelion and particularly the Human Instrumentality Project show a strong influence from Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End, an influence Anno acknowledged.[69] Similarities between the works, such as the larger theme of humanity's evolution to a higher plane of existence, or lesser details such as the declining birth rate after the Second Impact, were gleaned from this work.

Evangelion shows influences from the science fiction author Dr. Paul Linebarger,[69] better known by his pseudonym, Cordwainer Smith. Linebarger was raised in China, became the god-son of the nationalistic leader Sun Yat-sen, and during World War II, worked in psychological warfare on behalf of the U.S. Army, including propaganda efforts by the U.S. against the Japanese. Linebarger's work included strong influences from both East Asian culture and Christianity. His science fiction novels revolve around his own concept of the Instrumentality of Mankind, an all-powerful central government of humanity.[70] Like Seele, the Instrumentality of Mankind see themselves "to be shapers of the true destiny of mankind."[71] Although Anno insisted that Hokan (補完? complementation, completion) be translated as "Instrumentality" in English, perhaps as a way to pay homage to Linebarger, the two authors' conceptions of "instrumentality" are extremely different.[69]

Existential themes of individuality, consciousness, freedom, choice, and responsibility are heavily relied upon throughout the entire series, particularly through the philosophies of Jean Paul Sartre and Søren Kierkegaard. For Sartre, humans ultimately exist in an abandoned and free state. There is no essential truth about what human beings want to be or ought to be- instead, each person must find their own identity and their own purposes. This incredible freedom, in a way, makes us "condemned to be free", because our actions and choices are our own and no one else's, which makes us responsible for them. We are constantly making decisions and choices, whether to continue doing something or to stop and do something else. Being aware of this fact, can bring on despair or anguish; and typically we try to avoid the consciousness of our own freedom.[72]

Sartre's position can be seen as standing in opposition to the theories of Freud, which held that we are not in control of ourselves, but are more at the mercy of primordial unconscious mechanisms which drive us. Sartre found such theories dangerous, since he believed that human passions arise not from the animal element of human nature, but from the fact that human beings are not merely animals or objects, and not merely minds or free subjects either, but always both. In the series, even the mecha Evangelion units turn out not to be machines, with Unit 01 moving without a pilot to protect Shinji and fighting even without the aid of an external power source when it goes berserk. Eventually, it is learned that the Evas' external armor is actually to restrain its freedom and to bind it to the control of Nerv, and that they are not just simply machines or animals, but have souls of their own.

To act as if one is merely an object or label or to use outwards perceptions and actions to change their inner thoughts and feelings is what Sartre called bad faith, which was in a sense an individual rejecting their ability towards free choice and definition. Examples of this include Rei's single-minded allegiance to Gendo and Nerv's agenda, Ritsuko's dying her hair blonde to hide her similarity to her mother (even as it is hinted throughout the series, particularly in her relationship to Gendo), and Shinji calling himself a coward as if that is an excuse that makes it impossible for him to act differently. This sort of self deception was also addressed by Kierkegaard in a paradox he called "the sickness unto death," someone who goes on pretending in life as though he has no soul, and as a result, is in danger of losing his "self." Episode 16's title, "The Sickness Unto Death, And…" (死に至る病、そして Shi ni itaru yamai, soshite?) is a reference to this work.[73]

Sartre in Being and Nothingness calls the conditions that bring about consciousness (ourselves, the world, others) "instrumentalities." Martin Heidegger, another existentialist, wrote an essay describing technology as an instrumentality that reveals "truth." Philosophically, the Human Instrumentality Project is a representation of the idealism developed by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: a unification of all conflicts and tensions between societies, knowledge, and consciousness through a sort of historical evolution. Earlier philosophers such as Fichte had proposed that the human ego had come about through the instrumentality of freedom; it was Hegel's theory that this consciousness was not separated from the world, but was a part of it and would eventually evolve into an Absolute spirit or mind, a sort of God-like being with absolute freedom. In the movie End of Evangelion, Shinji literally becomes such an absolute being, dissolving all other conscious beings and merging with them.[74] Søren Kierkegaard criticized Hegel's theory, not only because it was arrogant for a mere human to claim such a unity, but because such a system negates the importance of the individual in favor of the whole unity. He writes:

So-called systems have often been characterized and challenged in the assertion that they abrogate the distinction between good and evil, and destroy freedom. Perhaps one would express oneself quite as definitely, if one said that every such system fantastically dissipates the concept existence. … Being an individual man is a thing that has been abolished, and every speculative philosopher confuses himself with humanity at large; whereby he becomes something infinitely great, and at the same time nothing at all.

As illustrated in episodes 25 and 26, part of what shapes us as individuals are limitations: gravity, the horizon, a body, and other people. Misato tells Shinji in the first episode, he has to learn how to deal with his anxiety and how to deal with others. Sartre in his earlier works went so far as to say that "hell is other people". Other people limit our freedoms, or may tell us things we do not like to hear, and they may see aspects of our personality we do not. Shinji later reflects upon the fact that everyone he knows has their own impression of him that may be different from his own. But in his later work, Sartre said he felt that both Hegel and Kierkegaard had a point. Individuality is important, but because part of who we are is shaped by the way others see us, we can have an effect on others too, and must work together with others in our collective struggle for existence.

During the period Kierkegaard wrote The Sickness Unto Death he wrote in his journal a poem listing seven discourses. He wrote: "Let not the heart in sorrow sin" so you abandon faith in God, so you abandon faith in men, so you abandon hope of eternity, so you abandon hope for this life, so you abandon love to God, so you abandon love to men, and finally, let not the heart in sorrow sin so you abandon love to yourself. The last episode of the series is fittingly subtitled "Take Care of Yourself."

Interestingly, some Eastern philosophies, such as Brahmanism and its derivatives, teach that enlightenment involves liberation from individuality through the re-absorption of the soul into a great All-Soul of creation. Seele attempts to engineer such enlightenment for the entire human race, unifying all souls into one and causing all pain and misunderstanding to end. If one wants a separate existence from others, one must be limited and opposed to others, causing pain and suffering (the Hedgehog's Dilemma inevitably arises); Buddhism identifies existence as inevitably bringing pain. The way to avoid pain is to extirpate desire and become formless. In the final episode, Shinji realizes how to attain his individuality, that he can come to have an identity separable from being an Evangelion pilot, a self he can perhaps come to love and not hate. Arthur Shoepenhauer, whose work is referred to in the title of The Hedgehog's Dilemma, was heavily influenced by Buddhist thought, but Friedrich Nietzsche and Sartre both came to a similar conclusion, rejecting many of his tenets.

Influences

Anime

From the period from 1984 to the release of Evangelion, most highly acclaimed anime had a style somehow distanced from the usual styles of anime. For example, Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) were both low-key works, while Akira (1988) was influenced by American comic books.[7] Acclaimed director Mamoru Oshii had said that, in the words of Hiroki Azuma, nobody wanted to watch "simple anime-like works" anymore.[7] Evangelion, however, shows the reversal of this trend. It fully embraced the style of mecha anime, and in particular shows a large influence from Yoshiyuki Tomino's Space Runaway Ideon; particularly, there are scenes in The End of Evangelion which are clear homages to the last movie for the Ideon series.[7]

As much as Evangelion has been impacted by other works like Devilman,[44] the series itself has become a staple in Japanese fiction. The nature of the show made it a landmark work in the more psychological and sophisticated vein of anime that would be picked up by later works such as Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) that, like Evangelion, center on an ambiguous world-changing event to come. Serial Experiments Lain is a later anime which dealt with many of the same themes as Evangelion,[75] and so is often thought to be influenced by Neon Genesis Evangelion, but the writer did not see any of Evangelion until he had finished the fourth episode of Lain.[76] The show His and Her Circumstances (1999), which was also directed by Hideaki Anno, shares techniques (the experimental 'ripping-apart' of the animation and use of real photographs) and portrayed psychological conflicts in much the same way (although the various cinematic devices can be traced back to works other than Eva, such as Tezuka's manga[77]).

Evangelion dramatically changed the design of giant robots in animated works. Previously, mecha or giant robot shows took their "mechanical suit" designs from Mobile Suit Gundam, Mazinger, and other similar shows from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Evangelion changed this with its fast and sleek Evas, making a noticeable contrast to the comparatively bulky and cumbersome looking Patlabors and Transformers of the past. Indeed, the style set and created by Evangelion has become more common since its release, yet series like The King of Braves GaoGaiGar have continued to use the classic "mecha" style. RahXephon, a show with designs inspired by 1970s mecha shows,[78] was compared to Evangelion by many English language reviewers.[79][80][81] Evangelion is generally viewed to be a part of the soft science fiction genre, by avoiding the technical hard S.F. approach of Gundam and other popular mecha anime in favor of psychological struggle[57] and metaphysical symbolism.[82]

Evangelion has been frequently parodied and explicitly referenced in popular media. In the Digimon Tamers series, many Evangelion elements were used in the back stories for the three main children, their friends, and D-Reaper. The same can be said for both WarGrowlmon and Gallantmon Crimson Mode, as they bear a resemblance to Unit 01. Gainax's own His and Her Circumstances and FLCL had Evangelion parodies, as did Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Invader Zim's Christmas episode, "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", had a cameo parody of Evangelion (a reference to when Shinji was assimilated inside Unit 01). In the episode "Hamstergeddon", Ultra-Pipi (the class hamster that Zim accidentally mutates into a giant monster) rushes at Zim's War Cruiser in a manner that is a rip from the blitz that Unit 01 makes at the Third Angel, Sachiel (as admitted by the episode's director in the commentaries). In the online community, Evangelion is a common source of parody. Numerous webcomics, such as Tsunami Channel, have featured Evangelion tributes. Some 'creatures' also appear in other works such as the manga Berserk where a transformed demon soldier, in chapter 233, shares an uncanny resemblance with the unleashed Eva-01.

Anno himself has also poked fun at his work. In the Evangelion soundtrack Addition, a twenty minute audio drama (directed and written by Anno) was included that reunited the entire voice acting cast, titled "After the End." The drama is set after episode 26 and has the characters breaking the fourth wall and discussing a sequel. Anno is believed to be featured as a guest voice in the piece,[83] taking on the role of the "Black Space God." On a similar note, Spike Spencer made fun of the series' rather ambiguous ending by acting as Shinji throughout the ending credits in a hidden track in the Platinum re-release of the series, highlights of which include him deducting that previous advice given to him towards him not running away doesn't apply to his current predicament on the account that he's on "a big blue ball" and complaining that the animators "ran out of ink", a reference to the lowered budget to the second half of the series.

Evangelion has been referenced in American media as well. In the 2002 movie One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams, the character Jake begs his mother to buy him the "Eva" 05 action figure, and Williams' character later offers it to him for free. It is commonplace for movies and shows to rename or repackage existing products with a generic name and graphic logo. In this case however, the toy was from Williams' personal collection (he is said to be a fan of the show), and so the series name Neon Genesis Evangelion and the graphics on the blister card are left untouched, and are clearly visible.

Fan interpretations and reworking of Evangelion have ranged from various stories[84] , fanfictions[85] , and even screenplays[86] that expand or reinterpret the ending to comical fan-dubs such as Evangelion: ReDeath and even hoax posters such as that for the fictional sequel Reprise of Evangelion.[87]

Music

The UK band Fightstar's debut album, Grand Unification is purported to have been heavily influenced by Neon Genesis Evangelion.[88] The track 'Lost like tears in rain' even contains the lyric "It's Neon Genesis". The artwork for the record portrays vast ruined cityscapes that are reminiscent of similar scenes in Evangelion. Fightstar's second album features a track called "Unfamiliar Ceilings", a reference to the Evangelion chapter "Unfamiliar Ceiling", also there is a song named "H.I.P.(enough)" in which H.I.P. means "Human Instrumentality Project". Also the words "Human Instrumentality Project" can be seen in the album insert booklet. Fightstar's EP 'Deathcar' also features two Evangelion related songs. One titled 'Nerv / Seele' and the other titled 'Shinji Ikari', the back of the EP artwork also shows an image of the 'lance of longinus' visibly separating the two songs from the other tracks.

The Mexican electronica/indie group Childs bears self-admitted Evangelion influences; its sole CD, "Yui", contains some subtle Evangelion sound sampling and a track titled Post: Seele.

The New York noise group In Air sings about Rei II in their album "white lake on the moon", namely on the song titled "paper key twins".

The anime/videogame musician Piano Squall created an extended piano instrumental of "Cruel Angel Thesis" for his release album "Game".

The indie group LeetStreet Boys song "Yuri the Only One", a love song using anime and gaming reference, contains the line, "You're my Angel out of Tokyo-3". In the music video, an image of the Third Angel Sachiel appears.

The song Arue by Bump of Chicken is dedicated to Rei Ayanami. The title is written as RA, the initials of Rei.

Translation notes on the title

See also: Neon Genesis Evangelion glossary

The Japanese title for the series, Shin Seiki Evangelion, is composed of two parts: "Shin Seiki" (新世紀? new era/century) from Japanese and "Evangelion" (εὐαγγέλιον Anglicisation eüaggélion, gospel, good messenger, good news --etymologically unrelated to the Hebrew word Eva (name)) from Ancient Greek. The decision to call the series Neon Genesis Evangelion in English was originally made by Gainax, and not by translators; the use of the word "Evangelion" in particular was chosen by Anno "because it sounds complicated"[89] It appears in the eyecatches of the original, untranslated episodes, and is used by Gainax to market the series worldwide.

The title Neon Genesis Evangelion (νέον γένεσις εὐαγγέλιον, New Beginning Gospel) appears to be wholly Greek, except that "genesis" is not grammatically connected to the other two words. Genesis (γένεσις) means "origin, source" or "birth, race" and is the Greek title for the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures, describing the creation of the universe and early Hebrew history. (If the title was to be translated to Ancient Greek it would have the form Νέας Γενέσεως Εὐαγγέλιον [néas ɡenéseɔːs ewːaŋɡélion] "New Beginning’s Gospel", where the two first words are the respective grammatically/syntactically appropriate allomorphs of νέον and εὐαγγέλιον --that is, both genitive case and feminine gender) The Japanese term for the first book in the Bible is "Souseiki" (創世記? Account of the beginning of the world), perhaps a wordplay (with two different beginning and ending kanji) with "Shin Seiki" in the Japanese title. Euangelion (Latinized evangelium) originally referred to a reward offered for good news (eu (εὖ) meaning "good" and angelos (ἄγγελος) meaning "messenger", and later "messenger of god; angel"), and later came to mean "good news" itself.[90] Eventually it became most commonly associated with the Christian gospel (from Old English gōdspell "good story"). It is the source of the English word "evangelist." This dual meaning (message and messenger) may be the reason both the series itself and the "mecha" are called Evangelion.

There has been debate over the correct pronunciation of "Evangelion." In the original Japanese version a hard 'g' (IPA: [ɡ]) pronunciation is used by Japanese characters, and, episode 18 of the series, a native English-speaking announcer. Official secondary dubs, including the English one, use the pronunciation /ˌe.vænˈgɛ.liən/ with a hard 'g'. On the other hand, in related words in English, such as "evangelist", the 'g' is soft (/dʒ/). If the word "Evangelion" were in use in Modern English, the pronunciation would employ a soft 'g'. For the same reason, the pronunciation /ˌi.vænˈdʒɛ.liən/ (with the first vowel rhyming with "Eve" instead of /e/) is not uncommon.

The hard 'g' and /e/ is correct in the original Greek and Japanese, and are the pronunciations preferred by Gainax since Evangelion is a Greek word.

In the first episode, Ritsuko names the robot with a hard 'g' /ˌe.vænˈgɛ.liən/ when presenting it to Shinji.

The three influential organizations, Gehirn, Nerv and Seele, originate from German cognates. Gehirn is translated literally into the English word brain or mind, referencing it as the brainchild of the EVA Project. Nerv comes from the German Nerv meaning literally nerve, referencing it as the nerves of the EVA Project. Seele, pronounced /ˈzeː.lə/ in German, means literally soul, referencing it as the soul of the EVA Project.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Evangelion has reportedly grossed over 150 billion yen, or approximately 1.2 billion USD[1]. In a discussion at the 2006 Tekkoshocon, Matt Greenfield claimed Evangelion has grossed over 2 billion USD[2]; Takeda 2002 reiterates that "It sold record numbers of laserdiscs in Japan, and the DVD is still selling well today." (pg 166).
  2. ↑ "Considered by many scholars to be an anime masterpiece, the series is credited by some critics with singlehandedly reviving the genre from what they saw as its creative doldrums in the early 1990s (Azuma 4). While I would not go quite so far, it is certainly true that Evangelion is one of the most important and groundbreaking anime series ever created." pg 424 of Napier 2002; see also "Not exactly the kind of words you'd expect from director Hideaki Anno about his 1995 production 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'. Taking him by surprise, it's been hailed by critics in Japan (and later in America and Europe) as the landmark Japanese animated TV series of the 90's. The modestly budgeted production has also become a commercial success, grossing over 800 million dollars in video sales and 400 million in merchandise in Japan alone." Wong 1996
  3. ↑ "Japan Media Arts Festival awards". Retrieved on 2008-10-26.
  4. ↑ "Animation Kobe winners" (in Japanese). Retrieved on 2008-10-26.
  5. ↑ "文化庁メディア芸術祭10周年企画アンケート日本のメディア芸術100選 結果発表" (in Japanese). Plaza.bunka.go.jp. Retrieved on 2008-09-01.
  6. ↑ "Constructing a mythic universe that is almost Blakean both in its complex and mythic vision and in its dizzying array of Christian and Judaic religious symbols, the series questions the construction of human identity, not only in relation to the technology that the series' plot and imagery insistently privilege, but also in relation to the nature of reality itself." pg 424 of Napier 2002
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Azuma 4
  8. ↑ "I didn't have any interest in studying human psychology in the past. I only took a course about it in University, but I suppose I always had something in my mind to analyse human psyche. I thought I wasn't interested in humans very much, but then when I started talking about myself, I needed words to explain. So I started reading books on psychology. From Episode #16, Evangelion'S story went into the direction to ask just what the human mind is all about inside. I wrote about myself. My friend lent me a book on human psychological illness and this gave me a shock, as if I finally found what I needed to say." Anno, Protoculture Addicts 43.
  9. ↑ "The narratives, the characters, and the mise en scene of these works evoke the disturbing postmodern fantasy … Sconce suggests that, "where there were once whole human subjects, there are now only fragmented and decentered subjectivities, metaphors of 'simulation and 'schizophrenia'" and he finds that, "in postmodernism's fascination with the evacuation of the reference and an ungrounded play of signification and surface, we can see another vision of beings who, like ghosts and psychotics, are no longer anchored in reality instead wander through a hallucinatory world where the material real is forever lost"". (Sconce quote from Jeffrey Sconce's Haunted Media). pg 419 of Napier 2002
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Sadamoto, Yoshiyuki (December 1998) [1995]. "What were we trying to make here?". Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 1. Essay by Hideaki Anno; translated by Mari Morimoto, English adaptation by Fred Burke. San Francisco: VIZ Media LLC. pp. 170–171. ISBN 1-56931-294-X. 
  11. ↑ "The End of Evangelion – Theatrical Program: Glossary". EvaOtaku.com (1998-02-20). Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
  12. ↑ episode 26
  13. ↑ pg 427 of Napier 2002
  14. ↑ "The stunning originality of these final episodes cannot be overstated … the series deals with these elements in breathtakingly creative ways to create a unique and memorable vision of inner and outer collapse, and, perhaps, renewal. It should be noted that many viewers were outraged by the two final episodes. Expecting a more conventional end-of-the-world scenario, fans were baffled and indignant that, instead of outward explosions and satisfying combat, the cataclysmic struggle occurred wholly in the character's mind." "In these last two episodes the machines have literally stopped, and both characters and viewers are left with no recourse but to confront their/our own flawed humanity in all its desperation and insecurities without the technological armor of the typical sf text." pg 427 and pg 428 respectively of Napier 2002
  15. ↑ "… This became a major issue as the final episode of the TV series could be considered incomplete. The voice of the fans grew stronger as they demanded a proper ending to the drama, explanations of the mysteries, or even a new story. Thus, in order to meet these demands, it was decided to remake episodes 25 and 26." From the Commentary of the Red Cross Book[3]
  16. ↑ "Lately due to the ending of episodes #25 and #26, some people started watching Evangelion. They were not anime fans. In fact many of them are females and they tell me that they really enjoyed episode #25, objectively. Most anime fans are furious. I understand their anger. I can't help laughing when hard-core anime fans say that we did a very lousy job, with intentional negligence. No we didn't. No staff members did a lousy job. In fact every member at Gainax gave more energy than anybody can imagine. I feel sad that those fans couldn't see our efforts. Personally I think the original TV ending we showed ended up beautifully." Hideaki Anno, Protoculture Addicts 43
  17. ↑ "My opinion was, 'Why don't we show them the entire process including our breakdown." You know — make it a work that shows everything including our inability to create a satisfactory product. I figured that, "In 10 years or so, if we look back on something that we made while we were drunk out of our minds, we wouldn't feel bad even if the quality wasn't so good.'
    Q: Really?" "KT – So, no matter what the final form, I feel it was great just being able to make it to the end of the TV series. " Tsurumaki interview, RCB
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "A Story of Communication: The Kazuya Tsurumaki Interview". EvaOtaku.com (1998-02-20). Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
  19. ↑ "The End of Evangelion: Production". EvaOtaku.com (1998-02-20). Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
  20. ↑ "This, the opening episode is constructed around all the conventions of the classic "saving the world" narrative, only to undermine them by showing IKARI [sic] Shinji, its fourteen-year-old ostensible hero, in a far from heroic light … In a more conventional anime sf narrative, Shinji would climb into the EVA with gusto and proceed to save the world. In fact he does pilot the EVA and succeeds in destroying the Angel – who turns out to be the third of seventeen – but only with the greatest reluctance and after a display of temper, fear, and vulnerability that seems less than conventionally heroic." pg 424–425 of Napier 2002
  21. ↑ Evangelion: Death and Rebirth; End of Evangelion [DVD commentary track]. Manga Entertainment.
  22. ↑ "Evangelion is my life, and I have put everything I know into this work. This is my entire life. My life itself." Hideaki Anno, Protoculture Addicts 43
  23. ↑ "Anno often deconstructs the main casts' mental states, via abstractly presented interrogations within each character's mind. Re-opening hidden emotional wounds from the past and uncompromisingly addressing their personality flaws, 'Evangelion' offers a fascinatingly complex character study that is rare indeed, especially in popular animated entertainment. Returning to write and direct the series after an extended hiatus – reportedly due to depression – there is an acute sense that 'Evangelion' is a very personal statement." Wong 1996
  24. ↑ "In the September 1996 issue of the Quick Japan information magazine, Hideaki Anno, the director of Evangelion, described Eva as a 'personal film,' each character reflecting part of his own personality. Anno, born in 1960, told the magazine that Japanese in his age group have nothing but TV, unlike their parents who worked furiously to help Japan rise from the ashes of World War II." Japan Economic Newswire MAY 8, 1997, THURSDAY "Cartoon 'Eva' captures sense of void among Japanese youth". by Yoichi Kosukegawa. TOKYO, May 8 Kyodo
  25. ↑ "The release in October 1995 of Neon Genesis Evangelion on Japanese TV ignited a boom in merchandise unprecedented in a country already awash with such goods. As if overnight, well over 600 different items were made to commemorate the event. Figures were the most popular, with the inimitable bandaged Rei outselling all else. The Eva girls, kitted out in swimwear and striking suggestive poses, were, overall, a huge success, and things went a bit too far…" pg 126 of Fujie 2004. See also: "Arguably, it is because of Anno's dictates on design that few Evangelion toys were initially made. But figures of Rei, in all her bandaged beauty, sold like wild fire. This is probably the first and only example of an animated [mecha] series where reproductions of the human characters outsold those of the robots." pg 98.
  26. ↑ "Rei's popularity soared in Japan, with books featuring her image on the cover selling like hot cakes. She was christened by the media, "The girl who manipulates magazine sales at will", "The fastest route to the sold-out sign!" And even, "The Premium Girl."" pg 39 of Fujie 2004
  27. ↑ Woznicki, Krystian (1998-02-20). "Towards a Cartography of Japanese Anime - Interview with Azuma Hiroki". Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
  28. ↑ pg 155, Takeda 2002
  29. ↑ pg 157–158 of Takeda 2002
  30. ↑ "Anno knew a guy from King Records named Otsuki, and as the story goes, the two were out drinking one day when Otsuki suggested to Anno that they work on a TV anime project together. Anno agreed on the spot, came back to the office and promptly announced it to everyone. Nobody even batted an eyelash. We just accepted it without further thought." pg 164 of Takeda 2002
  31. ↑ pg 165 of Takeda 2002
  32. ↑ NEWTYPE 100% COLLECTION: NEON GENESIS EVANGELION. 1997 Kadokawashoten. ISBN 4-04-852700-2. Partial translation.
  33. ↑ pg 167 of Takeda 2002
  34. ↑ "At the planning stage, director Hideaki Anno is reported to have said, "With recent robot anime series there have been too many instances of toy makers sticking their big noses in from the design stage so they can get a spec that is easy to turn into a toy. I don't want any interference from toy makers, so I'm going to design a robot that just cannot be turned into a toy." pg 97 of Fujie 2004
  35. ↑ Takeda continues: "He said the legs were too skinny, and then proceeded to give Otsuki a lecture on the principles of robot design. Otsuki is bitter about the incident to this day." pg 166–167 of Takeda 2002
  36. ↑ "Fans liked the concept, praising it for a psychoanalytical look at anime that had never been attempted before. Sato sees Episode 16 was of particular importance. A spherical black Angel called Ririeru (Leliel in English) appears and Shinji's Eva Unit 01 is absorbed into it. Normally, such close contact between an Evangelion and an Angel would have resulted in combat. Instead, in this episode, Shinji is confronted by another version of himself. The two Shinjis engage in conversation as the young boy probes "himself" about who he really is and the meaning of "self." The episode clearly shows how Shinji explores his inner self as he continues asking why it is that he has been selected to pilot the Eva. The series continues in this way with a strong focus on Shinji's internal struggles until Evangelion draws toward its climax." "Evangelion Special: From phenomenon to legacy"
  37. ↑ "A STORY OF COMMUNICATION: The Kazuya Tsurumaki Interview"
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 pg 162, Fujie 2004
  39. ↑ "Evangelion Special: From phenomenon to legacy"
  40. ↑ "Miyadai categorizes young Japanese into three groups. One is what he calls the 'street' group who seek only to enjoy the fads of the moment, such as those who crave for Tamagotchi 'virtual pet' toys and exchange tiny self-portrait photo seals taken from 'Print Club' machines with their friends. Another group is the 'otaku,' the rough equivalent of computer nerds -- people who withdraw into the world of video games and animation, rejecting communication with the outside world. The third is a middle group of the so-called 'good boys, good girls' who do well in school in line with the expectations of their parents. Miyadai says the middle group is now at a 'critical' stage. Like Ikari, who questions the reasons he has to fight, middle-group people have doubts about why they have to go to school to satisfy their families' expectations. 'It should be noted that Evangelion is attracting such middle-group people in addition to the otaku group,' Miyadai says." from "Cartoon 'Eva' captures sense of void among Japanese youth"
  41. ↑ "Although it draws upon earlier classic anime such as the Yamato series in terms of the ostensible narrative – alien invaders, in this case known as Angels, are attacking the Earth and only a small group of young people can save it, using impressive giant robots with which they synergize – the narrative's actual execution defamiliarizes this rather hackneyed story line." pg 424 of Napier 2002
  42. ↑ "Evangelion carries a large number of quotes from and references to other anime productions, such as the mecha designs of Ultraman, Space Battleship Yamato, and Gundam. The works of Go Nagai – such as Mazinga Z – and even the novelist Ryu Murakami are also referred to; in particular, Devilman is seen as a major source for the overall plot. This was so apparent that Evangelion became known as "the remixed anime". pg 9 of Fujie 2004
  43. ↑ pg 75 of Fujie 2004
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 "The overall design of Evangelion calls to mind Devilman by Go Nagai. In fact, the whole concept of the Evas, which are made from Adam, and harbor the souls of humans, can be considered borrowed from scenes from Devilman, where the soul of Akira Fudo is possessed by Amon, the Lord of War. Moreover, the heavily religious undertones, the suggestion of conflict with an indigenous people, and the cosmic view that mankind may not be the ultimate being all owe something to Devilman." pg 76 of Fujie 2004
  45. ↑ Anno, as quoted in Wong 1996
  46. ↑ From 17 February 2007 movie theater poster by Anno; translation from "Hideaki Anno Releases Statement About New Evangelion Movies: EVA creator posts message in theatres across Japan, hopes to lure new audiences to Evangelion films", 2007-02-20, Anime News Network.
  47. ↑ "It should be clear by now that Evangelion is a text that can be read on many levels. On the one hand, as Kotani and other critics point out, it can be seen as a coming-of-age story, expressed through the narrative of a young boy's growth vis-a-vis others, in particular the patriarchy represented by his father and the feminine presence represented by not only his colleagues but, as Kotani argues, by the EVA itself." "… a moment that suggests that Shinji's endeavor to develop a cohesive form of subjectivity has been successful. Or has it?" pg 429 of Napier 2002
  48. ↑ "Aside from Old Testament quotes, there are numerous cases in Evangelion of far-reaching references to such Freudian concepts as the Libido and death wish…", "Going off on a tangent, the choice of theme songs, "Thanatos – If I can't be yours" and "Come Sweet Death" both illustrate the importance of the death wish to the movie." pg 147, 150 of Fujie 2004
  49. ↑ "In the final episode, Anno is clearly referencing Freud and perhaps Lacan as the unseen voice inside Shinji's head explains to him that he creates his personality first through disassociating with the mother and then through distinguishing himself from others." pg 234 of Napier 2002
  50. ↑ "Shinji and Misato's descent into the seemingly bottomless depths of Nerv headquarters can be read, as critic Endo Toru suggests, as a descent into the unconsciousness, metonymically reinforced by the profusion of downward escalators and elevators from which the protagonists emerge into a disorienting maze of long empty corridors and bizarre machinery (84). It is surely no coincidence that, in the first episode, Misato and Shinji enter Nerv only to become hopelessly lost, a situation that recurs symbolically and concretely throughout the series until the final episode explicitly displays Shinji as "lost" in his own subconscious." pg 428 of Napier 2002
  51. ↑ "In the terms of the thermodynamic model which informs Freud's concept of the death drive, what is feared is the entropy' at work at the heart of all organization, all differentiation. By this same token the woman also signifies precisely that desired 'state where everything is the same': the pre-Oedipal bliss of the fusion of bodies in which infant and mother are "'inextricably mixed', that absence of the pain of differing, condition of identity and meaning, whose extinction is deferred until death." ―Victor Burgin
    Fletcher, John. Andrew Benjamin (Ed.). ed.. Abjection, Melancholia, and Love: The Work of Julia Kristeva. New York: Routledge. pp. 104–123. ISBN 0-415-04155-4. 
  52. ↑ "The hedgehog's dilemma… The nearer we get, the deeper we hurt each other… I see."
  53. ↑ pg 426 of Napier 2002
  54. ↑ "At first he insists that he does so to "save mankind." But when that answer is met with the response "Liar", he shifts to a more complex self-analysis… he admits to piloting the Eva because of his own need for the liking and respect of others, and finally acknowledges that he feels "worthless" unless he is joined with the Eva." pg 426 of Napier 2002
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 As quoted in pg 426 of Napier 2002
  56. ↑ Kentaro ONIZUKA. ""Neon Genesis Evangelion: Final Episode"". Literal Translation Series. Animanga.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-01.
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 "Although the scenes of combat are gripping and imaginative for the genre, what makes Evangelion truly groundbreaking are the psychic struggles in which the characters engage. These struggles are both wide-ranging and emotionally draining. They are also presented with surprising psychoanalytical sophistication as the characters try to come to grips with their own inner turmoil, their problematic relations with each other, and finally, their relation to more remote forms of Otherness – the gigantic machines that are the EVAs and with which they must synchronize, and the enigmatic Angels who present a riddle that is increasingly depicted in terms of what seems to be a Christian or perhaps Gnostic notion of apocalypse." pg 425 of Napier 2002
  58. ↑ "Anno says the new offering from Gainax will consider some of the ultimate questions posed by science fiction, and, indeed, philosophy, such as: What is the nature of evolution? What is humanity's relationship to his or her god? Does god, in fact, exist? What does it mean for the human race if that question can be answered definitively?" From "Gainax Returns to Anime with Shinseiki Evangelion", published in the February 1995 edition of Animerica, and as quoted in Neon Genesis Evangelion, volume 10.
  59. ↑ "There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool. If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice." ― Kazuya Tsurumaki
    EvaOtaku.com FAQ; see also an interview with Tsurumaki which contains the same quote[4]
  60. ↑ "Evangelion is like a puzzle, you know. Any person can see it and give his/her own answer. In other words, we're offering viewers to think by themselves, so that each person can imagine his/her own world. We will never offer the answers, even in the theatrical version. As for any Evangelion viewers, they may expect us to provide the 'all-about Eva' manuals, but there is no such thing. Don't expect to get answers by someone. Don't expect to be catered to all the time. We all have to find our own answers." from Hideaki Anno's Anime Expo '96 interview, pp20–3 in the November 1996 Newtype, as translated by Miyako Graham in issue 43, pages 40–41 of Protoculture Addicts and as quoted by Lawrence Eng[5][6] [7]
  61. ↑ "But Hiroki Sato, 32, head of the public relations department of GAINAX, the company that produced the animation, says various devices included in Evangelion are only elements of the product and are not directly linked to its theme. 'Anno made a soul-searching journey in producing Evangelion by including his daily sufferings and thinking about them,' Sato says." 'Cartoon 'Eva' captures sense of void among Japanese youth'
  62. ↑ In episode 23,Tear/Rei III, Ritsuko states that "These are dummies. And nothing but parts for Rei. Humans found a god, and thus, tried to obtain it. As a result, humanity was punished. That was 15 years ago. The god that they found vanished. However, they tried to revive the god themselves. It was Adam. A human was made from Adam to be close to the god. That is Eva." See also Fujie 2004: "Elsewhere, we learn, "That which was born of Adam is the Eva", effectively proving that Adam was the model for the Evangelions." (pg 48).
  63. ↑ "Adam, that from which we came. Must one who is born from Adam return to Adam, even though it would destroy man. Wait this isn't. Lilith! I see, I understand now. The Lilim, Lilith."[8]
  64. ↑ pg 60 of Fujie 2004
  65. ↑ "However the vessel which truly contains a soul is Rei. Only she has a soul. None of the other vessels have a soul. There was nothing within the room of Gaff. These Rei-like things here do not have a soul." from Episode 23, Rei III. Ritsuko's statement may also be translated as "These things are empty husks, they have no souls, no right to live. The room of Gaff, is empty."
  66. ↑ pg 172 of Fujie 2002
  67. ↑ "Fuyutsuki: "The doors of the Hall of Gaff are opening. So, the door to the beginning and the end of life has opened, then?" Ibuki: "The AT Field… Everyone's AT Field is disappearing." Keel: "The beginning and the end are at the same point. Right. This is the way it should be."" Quoted dialogue quoted on pg 154–155 of Fujie 2002
  68. ↑ Fujie 2002 takes the following dialogue as being particularly significant: ""Commence heat-extinguishing process at the same time as the portal of the Hall of Gaff opens." …In Japan we have, "The Egg of Lilith, the source of all life." It is from here that the soul of mankind is born and returns. As opposed to this, in Antarctica, while there is no specific, "Egg of Adam", when Misato says, "They did manage to keep the damage down to a minimum by having Adam revert to the egg before the other Angels awoke", we can understand that this is the source from which the Angels are born and return … What that means in concrete terms is that Kaworu Nagisa, born on the day of the Second Impact, is the last of the Angels with roots in Adam, and no more are born … Also, "She was the only girl who had a soul." As well as, "The Hall of Gaff was empty." And finally, "None of the Rei clones you see here have souls."… From all this we can see that there were in fact two Halls of Gaff serving as the source of souls, and that one of these was the Egg of Lilith inteded for human souls and stored in GeoFront in Japan." pg 144–146
  69. ↑ 69.0 69.1 69.2 Horn, Carl G. "Speaking Once as They Return: Gainax's Neon Genesis Evangelion". Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
  70. ↑ "References to: Cordwainer Smith and the Instrumentality Project". Yoko NGE All-In-One FAQ. Yoko NGE InfoCenter (2004). Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
  71. ↑ Galen Strickland. "Cordwainer Smith Profile". The Templeton Gate. Retrieved on 2006-08-19.
  72. ↑ Sartre, Jean-Paul (1980) [1943]. Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology. translated by Hazel E Barnes. pp. 86–112, 712–734. 
  73. ↑ Kierkegaard, Søren (1980) [1849]. The Sickness Unto Death. translated by Howard V Honh and Edna H Hong. Princeton University Press. pp. 1–67. 
  74. ↑ Tsuribe, Manabu. "Prison of Self-Consciousness: an Essay on Evangelion". Eva Monkey. Retrieved on 2006-08-19.
  75. ↑ "Neon Genesis Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain have much in common. They can readily be described as postmodern in terms of their concern with a notion of identity as fluctuating, their rapid and sometimes incoherent narrative pace, and their refusal of conventional forms of closure … More importantly, they share a complex and problematic attitude toward the real. The two stories also deal with issues that are perhaps culturally specific to Japan: the increasing distrust and alienation between the generations, the complicated role of childhood, and, most significantly, a privileging of the feminine, often in the form of the young girl or shōjo." "This contributes to a pervasive sense of the uncanny that imbues both narratives, linking them with the genres of horror and fantasy." pg 423–424 of Napier 2002
  76. ↑ Nakajima, Shin-suke (1999). "HK: Interview with Chiaki Konaka". Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
  77. ↑ "Neon Genesis's 14 year-old protagonist, Shinji Ikari, lives in Tokyo without contact with his family, and his mood is often illustrated by the use of shooting scenes from above, animation cells washed in drab blue, and passages of extreme action interspersed with reflective passages of stillness or close-ups of Ikari's face.
    (But, as Brophy explains, such innovation is by no means a first for Neon Genesis - in the late 1940s the Japanese cartoonist Osama Tezuka borrowed artistic techniques from German Expressionism in his four-volume cartoon version of Dostoyevsky's Crime And Punishment.)" The Age (Melbourne, Australia) January 14, 1999 Thursday Late Edition "Orient expressive". by David M. Walker GREEN GUIDE; Pg. 23
  78. ↑ Wong, Amos (February 2003). "Interview with Yutaka Izubuchi". Newtype USA 2 (2): 14–15. ISSN 1541-4817. 
  79. ↑ Hong, En (September 2002). "Feature: Animefringe Coverage: RahXephon". Animefringe. ISSN 17053692. http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/02.09/feature/4/index.php3. Retrieved on 2006-10-13. 
  80. ↑ Bertschy, Zac (2004-01-12). "Review: RahXephon DVD 7: Crescendo". Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2006-10-13.
  81. ↑ Oppliger, John (2002-08-20). "Is RahXephon an Evangelion Rip Off?". Ask John. Retrieved on 2006-10-13.
  82. ↑ "Grading SF for Realism": "Science fantasy: … Examples include Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy and the Shadowrun RPG (both of which incorporate supernatural elements into an otherwise typical medium (space opera) or very hard (cyberpunk) SF setting), and the Neongenesis [sic] Evangelion anime series."
  83. ↑ "www.evamonkey.com/addition_audio_drama.php". Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
  84. ↑ "EVA RE-TAKE". Kurogane's Anime Blog (February 7, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-09-01.
  85. ↑ "Evafics.org". Retrieved on 2008-09-01.
  86. ↑ "Neon Genesis Evangelion - Unofficial Fan Continuation". Eva-r.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-01.
  87. ↑ [9] Poster for hoax sequel Reprise of Evangelion
  88. ↑ "Now, in a remarkable turnaround, Fightstar's debut long-player, Grand Unification, has been called "stunning posthardcore" by Kerrang! magazine; it even put the boys on its cover. The record is inspired by Manga – particularly the Neon Genesis Evangelion series (act like you know). It's about time comics and metal got a pin-up." "GIG Fightstar", by Beth Pearson, from The Herald, March 16, 2006, GOING OUT; Pg. 2
  89. ↑ Sevakis, Justin (May 3, 2007). "Buried Treasure: Hideaki Anno Talks to Kids" (Web page). Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2007-05-03. ""Why is that robot-thingy called Evangelion?" "It comes from a Christian word meaning 'Gospel' and it's supposed to bring blessings. It has some Greek roots. I chose the name because it sounds complicated.""
  90. ↑ Liddell, Henry George with Robert Scott and Henry Stuart Jones. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford, 1940.

Further reading

External links

Official websites

Articles and information

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Creators
Hideaki Anno · Yoshiyuki Sadamoto · Gainax · Studio Khara
TV series
Neon Genesis Evangelion · List of NGE episodes  · Petit Eva: Evangelion@School
Films
Evangelion: Death and Rebirth · The End of Evangelion · Revival of Evangelion · Neon Genesis Evangelion (live-action movie project)
Rebuild of Evangelion
1.0 You Are (Not) Alone · 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance · 3.0 · Final
Manga
Neon Genesis Evangelion · Angelic Days · Shinji Ikari Raising Project · Gakuen Datenroku
Video games
Ayanami Raising Project · Shinji Ikari Raising Project · Iron Maiden · Iron Maiden 2nd · Evangelion 64 · Shinji and Good Friends · Evangelion 2 · Battle Orchestra
Music
Songs
"A Cruel Angel's Thesis" · "Komm, süßer Tod" · "Beautiful World"
Albums
Neon Genesis Evangelion (OST) · Neon Genesis Evangelion II · Neon Genesis Evangelion III · Neon Genesis Evangelion Addition · The End of Evangelion OST · ~refrain~ The songs were inspired by Evangelion · Neon Genesis Evangelion: S² Works · Evangelion: The Birthday of Rei Ayanami · Refrain of Evangelion ·  · Music from "Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone" · Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone Original Sound Track
Characters
Shinji Ikari · Rei Ayanami · Asuka Langley Soryu · Misato Katsuragi · Ritsuko Akagi · Gendo Ikari · Ryoji Kaji · Kaworu Nagisa · Toji Suzuhara · Yui Ikari
Glossary
Evangelions · Angels · Human Instrumentality Project · Timeline
Misc
List of media and episodes · Red Cross Book ·