Neon Genesis Evangelion

is a controversial popular anime, begun in 1995, directed and written by Hideaki Anno, and produced by Gainax. It begins as a post-apocalyptic mecha anime, but the focus quickly shifts from action to flashbacks and psychological analysis of the primary characters, particularly the main character, Shinji Ikari.

The creator/director, Hideaki Anno, suffered from a long period of depression prior to creating Evangelion; much of the show is based on his own experiences in dealing with depression and the psychoanalytic theory he learned from his psychotherapy. As a result, characters in the anime display a variety of emotional problems and mental illnesses. The series also makes reference to a number of Judeo-Christian symbols, particularly the book of Genesis and related apocrypha.

Neon Genesis Evangelion consists of 26 television episodes which were first aired on TV Tokyo from October 4, 1995, to March 27, 1996. The series was followed by two movies: Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion, both first screened in 1997. Death and Rebirth is a highly condensed re-edit of the series (Death) plus the first half of The End of Evangelion (Rebirth). The End of Evangelion is an an alternate version of the series ending, which either supplements or replaces episodes 25 and 26, depending on how it is interpreted.

The two movies were re-edited and re-released as a single movie, Revival of Evangelion in 1998. Two additional DVDs, subtitled Genesis Reborn and Resurrection, were released. They contain both the original final six episodes and director's cut of episodes 21 to 24 of the series.

Plot summary

In 2000, a group of scientists conducted an expedition in Antarctica where a large being of light had been discovered. They called this being Adam, and considered it the first "Angel". On September 13 they attempted to capture it, but apparently failed when it self-destructed, creating what would be called the Second Impact. The Second Impact altered the Earth's axial tilt and climate, causing widespread destruction and wiping out half of humanity, mostly in the South Hemisphere. The true nature of the Second Impact was concealed from the general public, who was led to believe that the devastation was caused by a small meteorite, traveling close to the speed of light, impacting in Antarctica.

Humanity slowly recovered from the disaster. In 2015, Tokyo-3, a militarized civilian city located on one of the last dry sections of Japan, began suffering attacks by strange monsters referred to as Angels. Conventional weapons are useless against the Angels, and the only known defense against them are the biomechanical mecha created by the paramilitary organization NERV, the Evangelions (Evas).

NERV is connected to three other mysterious organizations: GEHIRN (which started out as the investigation team for the Second Impact but became NERV later on); SEELE, and the Marduk Institute. NERV is, in theory, under the control of SEELE, and its primary task is to defend the Earth from Angel attack with a small number of Evangelions (Evas). The Evas have the outward appearance of massive humanoid robots, though it's later revealed that humans are actually shaped after Lillith, one of the first angels in NGE mythology.

However, NERV has its own secret agenda, driven by its Machiavellian commander Gendo Ikari: the Human Instrumentality Project, which, according to Gendo, is the path to unite all human minds into one entity in a worldwide display of enormous spiritual power, one that he's hellbent on seizing for himself.

The Eva Unit 02 (piloted by Asuka Langley Sohryu) landing on the missile destroyer USS Ramage, while fighting the sixth Angel Gaghiel at sea.

The Evas can apparently be piloted only by a few select children conceived after the Second Impact (14 year olds). Potential pilots are found by the Marduk Institute, which is later discovered to be composed of about 108 ghost companies. Gendo Ikari and NERV's chief scientist Ritsuko Akagi are in charge of making the final selection.

Each Eva has its own designated pilot, and there is a close bond between the pilot's soul and the human soul caged inside the Eva (except Eva-00, which needs only Rei's primal, ancient soul to function). It takes practice to synchronize (simply put, to work as one mind) with the Eva and normally a different pilot will be rejected. The higher a pilot's synchronization ratio, the better the pilot can control the Eva and fight more adeptly: during Shinji's initial piloting at a 40% synchronization he had difficulty simply making Eva-01 walk, however with higher sychonization ratios Evas can perform acrobatic feats of hand-to-hand combat. An Eva with a pilot inside with an 100% synchronization ratio is well-nigh invincible, and an Eva with a (previously believed completely impossible) "400%" synchronization ratio is possessed of demigod-like power.

The main character, Shinji Ikari, is Gendo Ikari's estranged son. Gendo asks him to become a pilot when the pilot of Eva-00, Rei Ayanami, is injured. Shinji reluctantly agrees and begins piloting Eva-01, and living with Major Misato Katsuragi. He and Rei battle angels together and are later joined by Asuka Langley Soryu, the pilot of Eva-02.While Ritsuko does mention at the beginning of the series that the Evas do have some biological components to them, the extent to which the Evas are biological is not immediately apparent. Eva-01 is in some way connected to Yui Ikari, Gendo's wife and Shinji's mother, since it contains her soul. Rei herself is a clone of Yui and is the soul of Lillith. It is implied that Eva-03 and Eva-04 contain the souls of their respective pilots' mothers as well.

It later becomes clear that the Evas are not really "robots" but rather living, biomechanical organisms. It is finally revealed, towards the end of the series, that Evas are essentially fallen Angels (units 00, 02, 03, and 04 made from Adam, the first Angel, and 01 made from Lilith) onto which mechanical components are incorporated. Part of the purpose for the mechanical components is to restrain and control them. This control is not perfect: both Eva-00 and Eva-01 go berserk over the course of the series.

Over time, the characters begin to learn of the second goal of NERV and SEELE, the Human Instrumentality Project, the Completion of Mankind. Its purpose is to force the evolution of humanity and thereby save it. To do so, they plan to break down the AT-Fields that separate individual human egos from each other, merging all human souls. When everyone comes to this state, they will no longer feel the pain or loneliness that would typically precipitate from interaction between humans.

At the end of the series, two separate factions come into conflict over whether to implement Instrumentality or not.

Ending one

In the last two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji faces his doubts and fears. Finally, he finds himself surrounded by friends and family who congratulate him on finally accepting himself, as he accepts Instrumentality. It can be interpreted as an alternate ending to the one shown in the movies, since Shinji rejects Instrumentality and returns to the physical world in his own body (something he had already done when he exceeded certain synchronization within the Eva-01) along Asuka Langley, his teammate whom he shares a complex love/hate relationship with, in End of Evangelion.

This ending—made up of flashbacks, strange, sketchy artwork, and flashing text—left many fans confused and unsatisfied. The main plot of the series—the battle against the angels—was never resolved; only Shinji's personal conflicts had any kind of resolution. Even that was open to interpretation. A year later, a second ending was released theatrically.

Ending two

The film The End of Evangelion picked up where episode 24 left off. SEELE's forces launch an all-out attack on NERV headquarters. Asuka realizes that she has a bond with Unit 02 and is not just its master, and this bond gives her the strength to battle "mass-production" Evas created by SEELE. As a result, she dies in battle. Misato, meanwhile, battles her way past SEELE's soldiers to get Shinji to his Eva.

Meanwhile, Gendo attempts to implement Instrumentality. Having his right hand bonded to the body of the fetus-like body of Adam, however, Rei takes over the process, and merges with Lilith, the second Angel. The AT-Fields of every human on Earth break down. Their bodies dissolve into pools of LCL. However, they do not die: their souls merge into one being.

Rei gives control of the process to Shinji. Initially he is happy, but finally he rejects the merged form. The light-being collapses. Finally, amidst the devastation, Asuka and Shinji lie unharmed on the ground.

The meaning of The End of Evangelion is purposely ambiguous, and it is not clear if it is intended to expand on the events of episodes 25 and 26 (meaning that those episodes reflected Shinji's point of view while inside the merged being), or completely replace them.

Characters

The characters of Evangelion.

The main character of Evangelion is Shinji Ikari, a shy, dour, and adolescent boy, who becomes an Eva pilot. For years, up until his mysterious summoning at the start of the series, he lived apart from his father with one of his teachers.

Other primary characters include:
*Shinji's fellow pilots Rei Ayanami, a silent girl frequently accused of being unemotional and Asuka Langley Soryu, a fiery, proud, red-headed girl. Shinji is afraid and jealous of Rei but also feels sympathy for her, and he dislikes Asuka's overbearing attitude but is sexually attracted to her.
*Gendo Ikari, Shinji's mysterious father and NERV's commander.
*Misato Katsuragi, NERV's head of strategy and tactics. She becomes Shinji and Asuka's guardian.
*Ritsuko Akagi, NERV's head scientist.

Most of the characters are struggling with their relationships with those around them, their inner demons, and their pasts. The pattern of relationships between the characters is complex.

According to Hideaki 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 or even historical.

The character designs have also contributed to the popularity of Evangelion. The attractive designs of the three main female leads, Asuka, Rei and Misato, have been immortalized in the dÅjinshi community and in subsequent anime.

Many of the characters' surnames come from the names of Japanese warships in World War II.

Inspirations and Symbolism

Evangelion is thick with allusions to biological, military, religious, and psychological concepts. Though the religious and biological concepts are sometimes (perhaps intentionally) used differently from how contemporary Christianity or biology use them, Anno's use of Freudian jargon and psychoanalytical theory is fairly accurate.

The interpretation of the symbols and concepts varies from individual to individual, and it is not clear how many are intentional or meaningful, nor which were merely design elements or coincidences. A number of these symbols were noted on the English DVD commentary for Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion.

Psychology and psychoanalytic theory

Anno made reference to Freudian psychoanalytic theory in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Several titles of episodes and background songs come from Sigmund Freud's works, and the characters and their desires represent various drives and concepts. In many cases the experiences of the characters represent a literal manifestation of the metaphorical concepts of psychoanalysis. Literary analyst Victor Burgin described one of the major tenets of psychoanalytic theory thus:

That is to say that the AT Field represents the barriers in communication between humans. The Human Instrumentality Project represents a return to a state where all people are one, as the mother (Yui, or Eva-01) and child (Shinji) are one when synchronized in the womb-like LCL bath.

The series also makes use of the existential philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre, who was critical of both Freudian psychosexual explanations and behaviorist theories . Sartre was also fascinated by Jewish mythology- yet another theme present in Evangelion, from the story of Lillith to the Chamber of Guf.

Some reference is made to other branches of clinical psychology.

While Shinji, Rei, and Asuka arguably represent the ego, super-ego, and id respectively, this is only one simple analysis.

In the U.S., one of the most popular theories is that the main characters represent the different methods people use to validate their own existence and individuality (analogous to the concept of AT-Fields). For example, Asuka validates herself on the basis of her competence and superiority, while Rei is dutiful to a fault.
*The Magi Supercomputers (revealed in the series to contain aspects of their creator, Dr. Naoko Akagi's mind) have also been seen by fans as representing the Freudian psyche, namely Balthasar (Naoko Akagi as a mother) is ego, Melchior (as a scientist) is superego, and Caspar (as a woman) is id.
*Rei and Asuka represent the Freudian Thanatos (death, self-destruction), and Eros (life, sex) drives. Shinji himself represents the Destrudo (the impulse to destroy), and Misato Katsuragi may represent its opposite, Libido (the drive for sex, personal development, and creation).
*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 mentioned by Misato Katsuragi as descriptive of her relationship with Shinji.
*The characters exhibit behaviors that are archetypal of certain personality disorders: schizoid (Rei: prefers solitary life, unemotional), narcissistic (Asuka: grandiose, unempathetic, arrogant), and avoidant (Shinji: fearful of rejection and shame, socially inhibited).
*Shinji may suffer from taijin kyofusho, a form of social anxiety that involves the fear of harming others through one's flaws.
*Episode 16's title, is a reference to the existentialist philosopher SÃ¸ren Kierkegaard's book The Sickness Unto Death. Asuka, Rei, and Shinji may represent Kierkegaard's three categories of existential despair: the loss of self to the finite realm of the senses, to the infinite realm of paradox and belief, and to the tension between the two extremes.
*Shinji (or Rei) and Asuka (or Misato) represent Orient and Occident, specifically the culture of Japan and Japanese values as opposed to Western culture and specifically American individualism.
*Ritsuko and Misato represent the antagonism of intellect and emotion.
*The five children represent the KÃ¼bler-Ross model's five stages of mortality acceptance: denial (Rei), anger (Shinji), bargaining (Asuka), depression (Toji), and acceptance (Kaworu).
*Terminal Operators Shigeru Aoba, Motoko Hyuga and Maya Ibuki represent the adult versions of Toji, Kensuke and Hikari respectively.
*The entry plugs and dummy plugs represent the phallus, a symbolic representation of masculine power.
*Toji and Kensuke represent pacifism and militarism, respectively, and may be parodies of Harry S. Truman and Douglas MacArthur.

Religion

NERV's logo featuring half a fig leaf. The caption reads "God's In His Heaven, All's Right With The World," a quote from a song from Pippa Passes, a dramatic poem by Robert Browning.

The most prominent symbolism takes its inspiration from Judeo-Christian sources and frequently uses iconography and themes from Judaism, Christianity, and in some cases Freemasonry.

Some staff members from the project have said that they originally used Christian symbolism only to give the project a unique edge against other giant robot shows. Christianity is practiced by only about 1% of the population in Japan. Assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki stated in an interview: "We just thought the visual symbols of Christianity looked cool." Whether this mindset changed over the course of the series' production, or has any relation to creator/director Hideaki Anno's symbolic intentions, is still a point of contention among fans.

The list of references goes on and on, with multiple equally plausible interpretations existing.
*Adam and Eve (known in many other languages as Eva) are a direct reference to the first human beings from the book of Genesis.
*The Christian cross is often shown, frequently represented by energy beams shooting up skyward.
*The second angel Lilith is shown being held on a cross. In Jewish folklore, Lilith is the first wife of Adam, and the first vampire.
*Lilith is impaled with the Lance of Longinus, the spear used to pierce the side of Jesus during his crucifixion.
*The Angels are a reference to the angels of God from the Old Testament. Their origin is never explained in the series, however.
*It has been theorized by some that the 17th Angel, Kaworu, represents Jesus due to his forgiving and thoughtful nature. On the other hand, Kaworu may represent Judas, who betrayed Jesus.
*The Magi supercomputers are named after the Magi (the three wise men) who were mentioned in one of the synoptic Gospels as having visited Jesus at his birth: Melichior, Balthazar and Caspar.
*Some have theorized that the triplet nature of the Magi to represent the Holy Trinity.
*The Tree of Sephiroth (Tree of Life)—an illustration of ten orbs showing the relationship between heaven and earth—is also mentioned.
*Shinji, Rei, and Asuka represent the Japanese gods Susanoo (god of storms, Amaterasu (goddess of the sun, and Ama-no-Uzume (goddess of revelry).
*Kaworu, Yui, and Rei represent the three parts of the Christian Trinity, although the same can be said of the Gendo, Shinji, and Rei trio.
*SEELE's logo and the mask of Lilith have seven eyes, and the main Evas (Eva-00, 01, and 02) have a total of seven eyes. The number seven has a number of meanings in Judeo-Christian and other religious traditions. In Japan and many Western traditions it is viewed as a lucky number. (Eva-03 has two eyes. Eva-04 was never shown but in production sketches it has two eyes. Units 05-13 have no eyes.)
*The total number of Evangelion units is thirteen, a number with several meanings in Christianity and Judaism. It is considered bad luck.
*The being made up of the combined Rei and Lilith has twelve wings, twice the number posessed by the highest rank of angels, the Seraphim, as described in . There are also twelve chairmen of SEELE. The number twelve has several other meanings: for example it is also the number of Apostles of Jesus and the number of Tribes of Israel.
*The Marduk Institute is named for Marduk, a Mesopotamian god worshipped in Babylon.
*The Marduk Institute is made up of 108 front organizations; 108 is an important number in Buddhism and Hinduism, and the number of beads on a typical japa mala.

Philosophy

Evangelion shows influences from a rather unusual figure, the science fiction author Dr. Paul Linebarger, better known by his pseudonym, Cordwainer Smith. Linebarger had an extremely unusual background - he 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 rather unusual work included strong influences from both East Asian culture and Christianity. Moreover, his work revolves around his own concept of the Instrumentality of Mankind, an all-powerful central government of humanity. Yoko NGE All-In-One FAQ Anno Hideaki has acknowledged Linebarger's influence on Evangelion, and insisted that his own series' Human Instrumentality Project be translated into English in a way to pay homage to Linebarger, although the two authors' conceptions of "instrumentality" are extremely different"Speaking Once as They Return", article on Neon Genesis Evangelion; homages and allusions which don't necessarily follow the original are sprinkled through Evangelion."By the way, Shinji's name came from a friend of mine. Misato's name came from the hero of a mange. The name Ritsuko came from a friend of mine in middle school. Even names that have no bearing on anything actually came from everywhere. Even names that have no bearing on anything actually came from the countless rules that govern these things. It might be fun if someone with free time could research them." Hideaki Ano, from his story treatment "What were we trying to make here?" written before NGE began being produced by Gainax, as recorded in Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 1, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, translated by Fred Burke. August 2003. ISBN 1-56931-294-X

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. In Hegel, the present seems to be the peak of human society because it has been constantly progressing towards an absolute reality and an absolute knowledge. In addition, Hegel's view of reality was that it was externalized by the essence, or spirit, human consciousness. Hegel's philosophy dealt with the absolute and mankind as a whole, and its popularity in the mid 1800's concerned SÃ¸ren Kierkegaard, especially in matters of faith, which he felt was something that was extremely personal. He reacted against this view of the world by focussing on the individual instead of the whole, and existence over essence. It is very easy to see how this concern for the individual prompted thinkers like Heidegger and Sartre in their theories of existentialism. The conflict Kierkegaard felt between Hegelianism and the individual is dramatized throughout the later episodes of the series as well as the movie "End of Evangelion."

Response

When first aired in Japan at a time slot intended for teenagers, Evangelion was not especially popular. However, when aired again in a time slot more suitable for adults, its popularity exploded and rekindled many adults' interest in anime.

Different endings

After the ending of the TV series, Gainax and Hideaki Anno received numerous letters and emails from fans, both congratulating and criticizing the last two episodes. Among these were death threats and letters of disappointment from fans who thought Anno had ruined the series for them. Prompted by these responses, Gainax launched the project to create a movie with a "proper" ending for the series in 1997. Due to scheduling difficulties, they released Death and Rebirth consisting of a character-based recap of the entire series (Death) and half of the "proper" ending to Evangelion (Rebirth). The project was completed later in the year, and contained the complete section of Rebirth, i.e. End of Evangelion. The film made around $12 million at the Japanese box office. (Blockbusters in Japan usually make $40-60 million, and a movie is considered to have done well if it makes more than $10 million.).

Despite the success of End of Evangelion, its ending was considered controversial by many fans. Some believe that it was a manifestation of Anno's frustrations with the fan culture that attacked his original ending, and used End of Evangelion as revenge against those. Others have argued that Anno intended End of Evangelion to be the proper climax all along but that he was unable to show it because of budget restraint and television content laws. It is possible that Anno attempted a succÃ¨s de scandale, purposely ending the TV series the way he did because he anticipated the frustration of EVA fans. This would help ensure the success, popularity, and controversy of End of Evangelion.

Another theory that is not commonly talked about is that it was to supplement the last two episodes; some believe the last two episodes occur in Shinji's mind, while the movie showed the events occurring to the world. Yet another theory is that neither endings are what Anno initially planned for the conclusion. Due to budget, he was unable to produce this ending for the TV series; due to the negative response of fans, he did not feel the obligation to share the "true" ending when given the opportunity to. Thus, this hypothetical "true" ending was never to be witnessed.

Ultimately, many have come to the conclusion that it will be up to the viewer to decide the finale, as everyone has different interpretations. A final theory based on this requires a deeper understanding of the television show. It proposes that the final episodes of the TV series represented one path a being (namely, Shinji) could take upon the finalization of the Human Instrumentality Project. The "choice" depicted in the TV series consists of Shinji becoming one with others. The Human Instrumentality Project's goal was to cease suffering, pain, violence, etc. by reforming all of humanity into a homogeneous form akin to the original primordial sea. This process involves an entity shedding its Absolute Terror Field (AT-Field) and rendering the orange substance shown in End of Evangelion. In this form there is nothing to be self-conscious about because there is no self. Conversely, the choice shown in End of Evangelion has Shinji rejecting the homogenization and affirming his boundaries of self. Though this decision leaves him susceptible and alone (in a sense), he retains the freedom of his own individuality. There is debate over whether End of Evangelion, being the final statement, is intended to be the "correct" statement. It is possible that Anno preferred his original choice as presented in the TV series, or even that the two endings exist for fans to interpret them for themselves as they wish.

The theory of a pre-planned ending in addition to episodes 25 and 26 is backed up by some evidence, including a still in the intro depicting Unit 01 with wings and still-frame shots of the deaths of Misato and Ritsuko which appeared in the TV ending. The deaths of these two characters correspond to events in End of Evangelion and would tend to disprove the theory that the tragic and violent end of various characters in End of Evangelion is due to Anno's frustration towards some fans. In addition, the plot of End of Evangelion does seem to match that of the TV series, providing closure to things such as the Instrumentality Project, the true purpose of NERV, and the private agenda of Gendo Ikari. Also, in the Director's Cut version of episode 24, the preview of the next episode shows concept frames from the fight between Asuka and the Eva series, and the title of the next episode is presented as "Air", which is the title of the first chapter from End Of Evangelion, rather than showing scenes from the TV series ending as it does in the non director's cut version. This may simply be a marketing tool by ADV to promote the End of Eva movie in the platinum series release, or it might indeed show that End of Eva was at least planned from the start, but due to budget restraints or other factors, was changed to the ending that appeared in the TV show.

On the other hand there is some evidence that Anno's frustrations began earlier than End of Evangelion, and that this film was the culmination of a growing anger as evidenced by the sudden shift in tone around episode 16 (It is also worth noting here that in this episode the Angels were going to speak to Shinji, but the creative team dropped this in favor of a more original concept in which the Angel shows Shinji various images within his mind, while he 'talks' to himself.). Several sources (interview with Kazuya Tsurumaki, interview with Hiroki Azuma) seem to indicate that although Evangelion was sketchily pre-planned (and Anno himself stated before production that he did not know what the ending would be)"It is a production where my only thought was to burn my feelings into film.
But I tried.
I don't know what the result will be.
That is because within me, the story is not yet finished. I don't know what will happen to Shinji, Misato, or Rei. I don't know where life will take them." Hideaki Ano, from his story treatment "What were we trying to make here?" written before NGE began being produced by Gainax, as recorded on page 171 Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 1, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, translated by Fred Burke. August 2003. ISBN 1-56931-294-X, the story details were open to alteration, possibly for the purpose of adapting to audience demands or more likely (regarding Anno's tastes and fights with sponsors) free directorial decision making. The shift in tone and style corresponded with a shift in Anno's worldview that would lead him to abandon the "otaku lifestyle" and temporarily leave anime for live action film making. He made his live-action debut with "Love and Pop" in 1998 (posters were designed by longtime collaborator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto), then went back to animation with the 26-episode "His and Her Circumstances", then made the live-action "Shiki-Jistu" in 2001 (which used brief pieces of animation in key scenes), and was uninvolved with animation until his participation in supervising (but not directing) the 2004 Cutey Honey OAV Project.

Commercial origins

Despite being generally highly regarded, the series has received criticism due to the many religious and psychological references, which some viewers see as being superficial. Additionally, the primary corporate backers were toy companies Bandai and Sega, giving rise to the criticism that the series was simply intended as a strictly commercial venture.

In response to this, fans argue that the show reveals an extremely complex understanding of psychological theory and that if the show were strictly a commercial venture, it would not have such a noncommercial ending. It can also be argued that the show's content was, in the end, more influenced by Anno than by Bandai, though despite creative conflicts between the sponsors and the director, the series was not widely perceived during its run (1995-96) as being the work of a visionary director or auteur such as Hayao Miyazaki. This general opinion changed somewhat when Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion came out in the late 90's, bringing Anno more respect and recognition as a filmmaker as well as fair amounts of fans of his work. It can be argued also that the wide distribution of his series through ADV Films and television in Europe, Australia, and the Americas has also contributed to his standing.

Influence

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, Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) were both low-key works, and Akira (1988) took most of its influence from n comic books. Mamoru Oshii had been quoted as saying that nobody wanted to watch "simple anime-like works" anymore. 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 End of Evangelion which are clear homages to the last movie for the Ideon series.

However, as much as Evangelion owes to the past, it has also had a large influence on many anime that followed it. The psychological nature of the show influenced later works such as Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) and Serial Experiments Lain (1998), both of which, like Eva, center around an ambiguous world-changing event to come. The show "His and Her Circumstances" (1999) which was also directed by Hideaki Anno shares many of the techniques (the experimental 'ripping-apart' of the animation and use of real photographs) and portrayed psychological conflicts in much the same way. More superficially, "Evangelion" started a wave of using Christian symbolism in other anime and related fields. While many find that the video game Xenogears (1998) shows obvious and major signs of being heavily influenced by Evangelion, its creators (Xenogears co-creator/co-writer Soraya Saga in particular) have denied this vehemently. Some feel that RahXephon is another work that bears strong influence from this series. Evangelion also dramatically changed the design of giant robots in many animated works. Previously, almost all mecha or giant robot shows took their "mechanical suit" designs from Gundam, Mazinger, and other similar shows from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Evangelion however changed this with its fast and sleek Evas, making a noticeable contrast to the arguably bulky and cumbersome looking Patlabors and Transformers of the past. Indeed, the style set and created by Evangelion has become the standard for most mecha shows since the late-90s.

Evangelion also introduced a new wave of fans who are far less interested in the technical aspects of science fiction anime and more interested in analyzing the metaphysical symbolism that they perceived, in contrast to Gundam and many previous anime of the hard science fiction genre.

Evangelion has also been explicitly referenced and parodied. In the Digimon Tamers series, a lot of 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 were modeled after EVA-01. Gainax's own His and Her Circumstances and FLCL had a few Eva parodies, as did Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Invader Zim's Christmas episode had a cameo parody of Evangelion (a reference to when Shinji was assimilated inside Eva Unit 01). In addition, in the same episode, a building can be seen with the label "MEMBRANE, friend of earth, enemy of santa" painted on it. This is possibly a reference to NERV.

"Evangelion" has been referenced in American media as well. In the 2002 movie "One Hour Photo" starring Robin Williams, the "Evangelion" real model action figure by Bandai, can be seen in several parts of the movie. The first time we see the figure, is when the York family visits the SavMart (a parody of Walmart) chain store, whereas the character Jake (Dylan Smith) begs his mother to buy him the "Eva" 05 action figure. In another scene, we see Robin Williams's character, Sy, offering the figure to Jake for free. However, Jake rejects the offer after telling him that his parents do not allow him to accept gifts. It is interesting to note that despite EVA 05 being mentioned as a good guy in the film, the series of the toyline is still referred as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and that the graphics on the blister card (with Japanese writing) are left untouched; some movies and shows usually rename or repackage an existing product with a generic name/graphic logo to save money from royalty fees.

In the game Final Fantasy VII, a suit of armor is located in the Battle Arena of the Golden Saucer. It is in fact the armor that Asuka used in the episode Magma Diver, and just to dispel any doubt, when searched it shows that it is "Type D" armor, the same name as Asuka's in that episode.

Even Anno himself decided to poke fun at his work. In the Eva soundtrack Addition, a twenty minute audio drama was included that reunited the entire voice acting cast, titled "After the End." The drama is set after episode 26 and has the characters discussing a sequel to the show, clearly breaking the fourth wall. Anno is believed to be featured as a guest voice in the piece, taking on the roles of the "Space God" and "Black Space God."

A fandub parody was also made, Evangelion: ReDeath, during the wait for Manga to release the films. The film features Gendo Ikari as a pimp with his own theme song, and Shinji is just oblivious.

In the online community, Eva is a common source of parody. English image board 4chan has a meme ("zOMG! Teh Rei!") based on the character Rei Ayanami. Numerous webcomics, such as Tsunami Channel and Punks and Nerds, have featured Evangelion tributes.

Translation notes

The official English translation and dubbed version of the series was produced by ADV Films, and the movies were produced by Manga Entertainment. The translations have a few flaws that, in some cases, are contradictory to the original, making the series more confusing. Some of these lines were re-recorded for the 'Platinum Edition' DVDs in 2004.

Title

The Japanese title for the series, Shin Seiki Evangelion, is composed of two parts: "Shin Seiki" and "Evangelion." The two translate literally from Japanese and a borrowed term from Greek, respectively, as "New Era/Century" and "Gospel." The decision to call the series Neon Genesis Evangelion in English was originally made by Gainax, and not, as some fans have believed, by translators.

The title, Neon Genesis Evangelion (Î½ÎÎ¿Î½ Î³ÎÎ½ÎµÏƒÎ¹Ï‚ Îµá½Î±Î³Î³ÎÎ»Î¹Î¿Î½), appears to be wholly Greek. It literally translates to "New Beginning Gospel" and is read in two parts. Neon, the neuter form of the word "Neos" (Î½ÎÎ¿Ï‚, Î½ÎÎ±, Î½ÎÎ¿Î½), literally means "new" or "young." Genesis (Î³ÎÎ½ÎµÏƒÎ¹Ï‚, ÎµÏ‰Ïƒ, á¼¡) means "origin, source" or "birth, race" and is also the Greek title for the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures, describing the creation of the universe and early Hebrew history. The Japanese term for the first book in the Bible is , perhaps a wordplay (with two different beginning and ending kanji) with "Shin Seiki" in the Japanese title. Evangelion is an Anglicized version of the Greek "Îµá½Î±Î³Î³ÎÎ»Î¹Î¿Î½" (euangelion) for "good news", and is typically translated "gospel" in the Bible. Initially, the word meant "good messenger", the prefix "eu" meaning "good" and "angelion" meaning "messenger" (from the same word that means "angel"), and was used to describe the runners who brought news in ancient Greece. It only came to mean "good message" or "good news" over time and eventually became most commonly associated with the Christian gospels. yhwh.com: THE EUONGALEON This dual meaning may be the reason both the series itself and the "mecha" are called Evangelion.

There has been some debate over the correct pronunciation of "Evangelion." In the original Japanese version a hard 'g' (IPA: ) pronunciation is used by all Japanese characters, and, episode 18 of the series, a native English-speaking announcer. All official secondary dubs, including the English one, use the pronunciation with a hard 'g'. On the other hand, in related words in English, such as "evangelist", the 'g' is soft (). The film One Hour Photo and numerous other parties prefer this reading; it is consistent with English phonetics rules. If the word "Evangelion" were in use in Modern English, the pronunciation would employ a soft 'g'. For the same reason, the pronunciation (with the first vowel rhyming with "Eve" instead of ) is not uncommon.

However, the hard 'g' and is correct in the original Greek and Japanese, and are the pronunciations preferred by Gainax.

Other words

The term Gehirn is German for "brain". Seele is the German term for "soul". Nerv is the German term for "nerve".

The term "Eva", a frequent abbreviation of Evangelion used in the anime, is the name of the biblical Eve in Greek, coming from the Hebrew name "Chavva" meaning "breath" or "life." There are frequent allusions to the biblical Adam and Eve throughout the series, as well as to the Evangelion's relationship with the Tree of Life. "Eva" is the variant of "Eve" used in German, among other languages).

"Children," the plural of "Child", is used to refer to each of the Eva pilots in the singular (e.g. Shinji is the "Third Children", not the "Third Child"). This is intentional, and not a translation error. The English language dub produced by ADV, however, uses the word "Child" instead of "Children." In the audio commentary track of Evangelion: Death and Rebirth the translators stated that they made the change intentionally because "children" sounded unnatural in English when used repeatedly to refer to a single child.

The Japanese word used to refer to the Angels is . The usual Japanese word for "angel" is . The English angel is derived from the Greek for "messenger" (á¼„Î³Î³ÎµÎ»Î¿Ï‚, Î¿Ï…, á½). The use of "Angel" in the English dub was specified by Anno and Gainax. The word "Angel" appears on video screens in NERV headquarters during Angel attacks in the original Japanese release.

The ADV version uses the term "NÂ² mine", a translation of . It is not semantically correct because mines are not used in the same manner they are used in the series (for example, being dropped from planes and being used in suicide missions)—a mine is a bomb left in a place that is triggered by an enemy that touches or approaches it.

International releases

United States

In the United States, the television series debuted on VHS in 1997 and on DVD in 2000 by ADV Films, while the movies were distributed by Manga Entertainment, each using most of the same voice actors. The series was one of a small number of anime to be broadcast, subtitled, on San Francisco Bay Area PBS member station KTEH, and has also been broadcast on The Anime Network. The first two episodes were aired, after heavy editing, on Cartoon Network's Toonami block as part of a special called "Giant Robot Week" in 2003. The entire series began on October 20, 2005 airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block Thursday nights at 12:30 a.m. Reruns of previous episodes were shown on Saturday nights at 1:00 a.m. It is no longer run on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, for the time being anyway. Unlike the show's run on Toonami, the Adult Swim run is only lightly edited, usually the seven dirty words. However, the slides which reflect the character's feelings have been replaced from their original Japanese lettering with English subtitles on the bottom. The slides aired on Adult Swim are fully written in English, with a slight delay allowing easy reading.

Europe

In the United Kingdom, the series and its accompanying films were released on VHS (Dub only) and DVD by the British divisions of ADV Films and Manga Entertainment and aired on the UK's Sci-Fi Channel during the summer of 2002, along with Martian Successor Nadesico and Blue Gender. Evangelion and Nadesico would later have a second run on that channel. Although the show itself was unedited, the ending credits of early episodes were sped up in order to preview the next episode alongside the ending theme.

The Catalan release of the series first aired in 2003 on Canal 33 as a part of late-night anime show. Although the Catalan dub was uncut, many fans complained about changes in the voice of Rei Ayanami.

The series was first released on VHS and DVD in Italy by Dynit, formerly Dynamic Italia, and broadcast over MTV Italy. It enjoyed great success, quickly gaining it a cult status. The manga, also translated in Italian, was released by Panini Comics under its Planet Manga inprint. The Evangelion movies were never broadcast on TV, but were released in 2005 in Italian on DVD by Panini Video. The series aired weekend mornings, dubbed, in Portugal on SIC, starting December 8, 1997, suffering several schedule moves in that timeslot. It was later released on DVD in 2002 by Dynamic Portugal, subbed and dubbed.

In Germany it was broadcast in 1998 and again in December 2000 and January 2001 by VOX once a week after midnight as a subtitled version. The first professionally dubbed German version of Evangelion did not appear until the ADV's release of the Platinum Edition DVD set in 2005. In Poland, the TV series aired twice over 2005 and 2006 on the computer-themed channel Hyper. Despite being rated as "for 12 and older", the show was not edited or censored but dubbed through the Polish practice of "simultaneous translation" by a lector. In Finland, Subtv first aired the episodes weekly in the beginning 2005. Additional "Director's Cut" episodes were aired after the original 26. They were scheduled at various times between 22:35 and 02:00. A rerun of the series began in March 2006, now with two episodes per week. This broadcast uses Japanese language with Finnish subtitles.

Australia

Evangelion was the first anime series to be broadcast by Australia's SBS Television and aired in prime time. News of the broadcast slowly spread, and as a result, there was an upsurge of viewers midway through the season. Consequently, SBS decided to rebroadcast the entire series, despite the fact that it had not yet fully completed the original run. This meant that SBS broadcast Evangelion twice a week, with the original run shown on Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., beginning on the January 2, 1999, and the second run shown on Mondays at the same time, beginning on March 22, 1999. The success of Evangelion prompted SBS to gain the rights to several other anime series like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Studio Ghibli films and many other anime features, including the two Evangelion movies, which it later broadcast in their entirety, with both Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion screened again in 2005. The entire series and the two movies are now available on DVD through Madman Entertainment [1], along with a new "Platinum" edition of the series.

Latin America

In Chile, the television series was broadcast on Sunday evenings by Chilevision during May-July 2002, with episodes dubbed into Latin American Spanish but unedited, and was later rerun twice during January through March 2003. For the rest of Latin America, and between 2000 and 2003 (in numerous occasions) Evangelion was broadcast on the Venezuela-based, anime and animation satellite channel Locomotion (which later became Animax). The series was also internationally broadcast in Latin America by Argentinian cable channel I-Sat during 2003 and 2004.

Other media

Manga

The manga of the series, written and illustrated by series character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, has been serialized in Shonen Ace since February 1995. The serialized and volumized editions are both published by Kadokawa Shoten. The manga exists as a separate entity from the anime, and features a number of distinct differences (examples: Shinji's eyes are brown instead of blue; Shinji and Rei's relationship is strengthed more; not all of the Angels that were in the anime appear in the manga). Drawing from the original story outline, the completed anime series, as well as his own artistic freedom, Sadamoto has portrayed an account of the story that has both distinct convergence and divergence with the anime version. The series is still in production with ten out of twelve planned volumes completed.

The manga is translated into English in North America by VIZ Media and in Singapore by Chuang Yi, and the Singaporean translation is imported to Australia by Madman Entertainment. The manga is also translated into Brazilian Portuguese by Conrad Editora, Mexican Spanish by Editorial Vid, Argentinian Spanish by Editorial Ivrea and French by GlÃ©nat, Swedish by Bonnier Carlsen, Polish by RafaÅ‚ Rzepka, Danish by Hans Kristian Bang and Finnish by Sangatsu Manga.

An additional manga of the franchise is Girlfriend of Steel 2, written and illustrated by Fumino Hayashi. The manga was originally serialized in Asuka Comics, and later reprinted in the U.S. (again in serial form) in the anime/pop-culture magazine Newtype USA under the title Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days. It was discontinued in this format after only half of the first volume was published. ADV Manga began publishing the series in graphic novel form on May 3, 2006. There is also a Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga.

Merchandising

Merchandise for Evangelion still comes out fairly regularly despite the fact that it is eleven years old. A large deal of the merchandise has an amusingly detached or even hilarious non-relation to the dark nature of the series, which is why Hideaki Anno is so opposed to them.

Video games

The series has also spawned various computer games, including Girlfriend of Steel and Girlfriend of Steel 2. While the former was shoehorned into the original plot, the latter takes place in a complete alternate universe. This later inspired a manga, which uses most of the Evangelion characters in a "normal" schoolyard romantic comedy/drama series. A Nintendo 64 Evangelion game, simply titled Neon Genesis Evangelion, featuring the main fights from the original anime and using multiple voice clips and images from the original series, was released by Bandai in 1999.

Aspects of Evangelion have made numerous appearances in the Super Robot Wars series by Banpresto. First included in Super Robot Wars F Final, characters and mecha from Evangelion have since become extremely popular parts of the series, and have appeared in Super Robot Wars Alpha, Alpha 3, MX, and other releases.

Live action movie

Pre-production of a live action version of Evangelion was announced in May 2003 by the American company ADV Films (which holds world-wide rights to the series outside of Asia and Australia), and will be made by ADV, Gainax, and Weta Workshop Ltd. It is estimated to be released as late as 2010. Hideaki Anno, the director of the anime, will not be directing this live-action film. Although Matt Greenfield has stated that many A-List Directors are interested in the project, no names have been announced yet, though Robin Williams has expressed interest in the film. [2] There is no definitive information on what the movie will focus. [3]

References

External links

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Encyclopedia BETA

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